FFDshow, and SageTv

[mikejaner]

Could anybody please help me with a small walkthrough of getting the Sonic Decoder and FFDshow to work together?

I think I did the Sonic registry key right, and I disabled all hardware settings in the Sonic setup under control panel. Whenever I select FFDshow as the decoder, I get the 0x80040217 Video Decoder Input Pin error. Thanks for any input.

[stanger89]

run regedit

go to:
HTLM\Software\Sonic\Cinemaster DS DVD\2.5\VideoDecoder
Set UseDXVA to 0
Add the DWORD AllowAllRenderers=1

[mikejaner]

yeah, I have those set, and it didn't help

[stanger89]

Do have Raw Video set to All Available in the ffdshow codecs section?

[mikejaner]

That did it. Thanks!!!

[stanger89]

Cool

[flashbacck]

Hi, I'm getting the same 0x80040217 error when I try to use ffdshow as my video decoder. I'm not using the sonic decoders and I already have Raw Video set to all supported. I have the intervideo, ati mmc and nvdvd decoders installed already. Can anyone help me?

[kny3twalker]

the problem is you have to make your default decoder in your systwm sonic to use ffdshow with it

use this to make sonic your default

[xlr8shun]

Originally posted by kny3twalker
the problem is you have to make your default decoder in your systwm sonic to use ffdshow with it

he shouldnt... ive used ffdshow w/ nvdvd2.x, 3.x, with sonic, and with elecard.

use nvdvd3 now.

if you do use sonic though, you need to disable dxva in the sonic decoders, there is a regedit somewhere around these forums.

<EDIT> oh duh, its at the top of this page

[kny3twalker]

are you saying by using the default video render you do this or are you saying that you can choose ffd show the video decoder and then use any decoder with it like sonic, elecard
cause only decoder that gets used when doing ffdshow video decoder is the system default
which can be found by mediaplayer options dvd advanced

if you use the default video render yes you can choose the decoder and ffdshow will insert itself
one other way is to get NVDVD 3 and it has the ability to postprocessing in the player options
and with the old alpha release of ffdshow you can choose it to be a post processor

[flashbacck]

uh. ok, well when I look at mediaplayer->tools>dvd>advanced. The AC3filter pops up. How do I use the filter manager to set a new default?

[kny3twalker]

go into the filter manager and click on direct show
then find ac3 filter and change its merit to normal
then find the audio and video decoder you want to be the highest merit(system default) and make it preferred +1 you should probably make sure that no other decoder has a higher merit as well
and just because ac3 filter is the system audio default decoder
your video one is something else so you only need to change the ac3 merit if you want another decoder to be the system default

[xlr8shun]

Originally posted by kny3twalker
are you saying that you can choose ffd show the video decoder and then use any decoder with it like sonic, elecard

yah, and as you said it uses your default system codec.

the nvidia codec installs at 'preferred' anyway so im sure its his default. fddshow works fine with nvidia codecs through sage, thats what im using now (video only).

what i was saying is, you dont _have_ to use sonic w/fddshow (which looks like you implied in the part i quoted above).

-

flashbacck, when you use nvdvd through sage, do you get a new icon in your tray? to adjust the nvdvd properties?

are you using version 2.x or 3? if you're using 3, did you install a real 2.x version? ie: no warez.. (3 needs a real license).

if you dont get an icon in the tray when you're watching something in sage, its possible that your nvdvd install is fubar for some reason and while you've set sage to use those codecs, it fails, and falls back to the next available. which is probably your intervideo. im not sure about the ati codecs, or if they even work with ffdshow. im not sure if the intervideo work with ffdshow either, as i said, only ones ive used were listed above: sonic, nvdvd2.x, 3.x, and elecard.

[kny3twalker]

I said sonic, elecard
sorry forgot etc.......
Yes I get the little icon in my task bar when using nvdvd and yes I got version 3
I have never tried to use ffdshow with other codecs other than elecard and nvdvd so you are one up on me by doing it with sonic

when v2 of nvdvd is installed I can adjust the properties
when I install v3 over it I cannot adjust the properties from the taskbar anymore

[flashbacck]

Hey Xlr8,
I'm using NVDVD 2.55.
When I set Sage to use nvidia's decoder then, yes, I do see the toolbar icon. But when I set Sage to use "default" I don't.

If I unregister all the codecs but nvidia's using the filter manager, would that automatically set the default to nvidia's?

Also, is it possible for sage to use codecs not shown on its list? I have the Dvico Fusion HDTV card which installs its own video codecs. I was just wondering if somehow sage was defaulting to that...

[xlr8shun]

Originally posted by flashbacck
Hey Xlr8,
I'm using NVDVD 2.55.
When I set Sage to use nvidia's decoder then, yes, I do see the toolbar icon. But when I set Sage to use "default" I don't.

ok so at least nvdvd is installed correctly, and working correctly.

Originally posted by flashbacck
If I unregister all the codecs but nvidia's using the filter manager, would that automatically set the default to nvidia's?

i wouldnt do that, you're liable to screw something up

Originally posted by flashbacck
Also, is it possible for sage to use codecs not shown on its list? I have the Dvico Fusion HDTV card which installs its own video codecs. I was just wondering if somehow sage was defaulting to that...

yes it is possible, there is a line in your properties file, shut down sage, open the file, find the line

videoframe/additional_video_filters=ffdshow MPEG-4 Video Decoder,In,Out;NVIDIA Video Post Processor,XForm In,XForm Out

you can add a new codec by getting graph edit, and finding out the real name of the codec, and the names of the outputs and inputs. then enter this in the line above.

for instance if i was adding a wmv decoder (this wont work in sage, just an example) i'd open up graph edit, click graph>insert filters, find the DirectShow filters tree, expand it, scroll all the way down to windows media video decoder, left click on the filter, and click the "insert filter" button, then close, you'll now see the 'real name' and the input and output names to use.

if i wanted to add windows media video decoder to the above line i would add at the end of the line

;Windows Media Video Decoder,XForm In,XForm Out

make sure you add the begining ; you need to use a semicolon to seperate decoders you add.

you would do the same thing, only substitute your hdtv decoder for windows media video decoder. im not sure if it will work with sage, or even with fddshow, and yes it might very well be your default filter, you can check that with filter manager, compare the merits of both decoders, which one is higher? thats the one being used.

[Watter]

Originally posted by flashbacck
Hi, I'm getting the same 0x80040217 error when I try to use ffdshow as my video decoder. I'm not using the sonic decoders and I already have Raw Video set to all supported. I have the intervideo, ati mmc and nvdvd decoders installed already. Can anyone help me?

This is driving me nuts! I cannot figure out how to get FFDShow working with my Sonic decoder. I'm getting the same error (0x80040217).

I can get FFDShow working with this decoder using Zoomplayer, so I know that I have it fundamentally setup correct, but whenever I choose FFDShow as my video decoder in Sage, I get the error. When I got to Media Player > Options > DVD > Advanced, I only see my default audio decoder listed (which is the Cinemaster codec, BTW) but not the default video decoder. is there any other way for me to view what video decoder is my current default one?

I used FilterManager to set the Cinemaster codec to Preferred+1 and I can find any other filter in the long, LONG list that is set higher.

As I said, nutso!

Thanks in advance for any advice anyone might have.

-Watter

[stanger89]

Try playing an MPEG in WMP and going to file->properties and see what video decoder it is using.

[Watter]

Originally posted by stanger89
Try playing an MPEG in WMP and going to file->properties and see what video decoder it is using.

Good idea. Here's what happens when I do that:

If I have FFDShow's Raw Video set to "All Supported" then guess what? The video starts and a see a nice little FFDShow OSD in the top left corner. Sweet! Looking at File > Properties I can confirm that WMP is using FFDShow as the filter.

If I then go into FFDShow and disable Raw Video and then restart WMP and play a video I get different results, of course. The FFDShow OSD is gone and File > Properties shows that I'm using the Sonic Cinemaster codec, exactlya s I should be.

Grrrrr..... Ok, so I shut down WMP, re-enable Raw Video in FFDShow and start SageTV. If I set the video decoder to Cinemaster, I can view videos but no FFDShow OSD. If I select Default then I get the same thing. If I select FFDShow then bam, I get the 0x80040217 error about not connecting pins or something.

That's when I pulled out my shotgun and put my HTPC out of it's misery....

Thanks for the quick response, mikejaner. Any other ideas?

-Watter

[xlr8shun]

did you do the regedit to disable vmr and allow all renderers?

can also find these options in the control panel, but they are named differently.