DVD Playback

[sub]

I seem to remember PowerDVD8 was a special case, and its decoder couldnt be used for playing DVDs or AC3 without the app feeding it a special license key (which GB-PVR cant do). Earlier versions like 5.x and 6.x didnt have this problem. I'm not sure about 7.x.

Try setting the audio renderer back to 'system default', and install AC3Filter or other audio decoder and try that.

[SLR_65]

I seem to remember PowerDVD8 was a special case, and its decoder couldnt be used for playing DVDs or AC3 without the app feeding it a special license key (which GB-PVR cant do). Earlier versions like 5.x and 6.x didnt have this problem. I'm not sure about 7.x.

Try setting the audio renderer back to 'system default', and install AC3Filter or other audio decoder and try that.

Thanks Sub!

I did a little net research and it seems that the earlier versions of PowerDVD wouldn't share their codecs from the trial version until you registered, so I imagine that in addition to being a special case needing a license key fed PowerDVD 8 probably also wont play nice until it's registered too.

I'll play a little more after work today, I'm wondering if I don't install my PowerDVD 6 with registration key if it wont do the trick . . . it says there are known compatiblity issues but if it installs the codecs that's all I need (in fact in a post about an earlier version of PowerDVD I read that if you install the full version, run it once, and then uninstall it will ask during uninstall if you want to uninstall the shared components and if you choose no it will leave the codecs behind . . . I'll give that shot). If it doesn't or it crashes the system or something it's no big deal . . . still waiting on my replacement drive from Seagate so this whole setup is just a trial run so total reloads are not a big issue for me right now.

[rob11252]

Try Navigator: DVD Navigator and Video Decoder: MPV Decoder Filter. That's the only combination which works flawlessly for me including access to menus on dvd. It works for iso and video_ts files.
Download this and follow instructions to register:
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/MPV_Decoder.htm

My setup is shown below.

The DVD's I ripped to the hard drive have encryption and region code removed for convenience so this doesn't cause any hiccups.

As a general note, please keep in mind that many video viewers and editors bring with them proprietary codecs (this means only they use it). So if an application plays a video and GBPVR doesn't means that YOU didn't provide appropriate codecs for it. I believe the best approach is to install MPV, MPA codecs first. Then, once you are familiar with the whole playback and codec issue, you may try other solutions to enhance your viewer experience.

PS. Can anybody tell me how to place jpg in the middle of the text? Mine always winds down at the bottom! Thanks.

[SLR_65]

Thanks Rob,

Unfortunately that didn't work for me, when I went to install it I got the following error from Windows:

The module "MPaDecFilter.ax" was loaded but
the call to DllRegisterServer failed with
error code 0x80070005.

For more information about this problem,
search online using the error code as a
search term.

I got the same error when I went to uninstall it too.

I did try and see if it was available in GBPVR before I unloaded, but it wasn't.

I would guess the problem is because I'm running Vista Ultimate and you are running XP (I installed the "unicode" XP version).

Take Care,

Steve

[sub]

On Vista you'd have to start a command prompt with 'run as administrator', then run the regsvr32 command from there.

[SLR_65]

Yep! That worked! THANKS Sub!

I like the Vista Ultimate for the most part, but I'm getting really tired of all the User Account Control and security bull!

Before I installed these two I did have an mpeg audio decoder, must've came from the Xvid codec install. Anyway, it wouldn't work with it. After this install that codec works now too!

With the System Default Video codec the DVD playback was ugly with lots of stutters and stuff. From what little I've watched, the MPV decoder seems nice and smooth.

Also, from what I gathered I thought it would work with DVDs that were not CSS protected but wouldn't with those that were, but that doesn't seem to be the case as I have a CSS protected commercial DVD in the drive now and it plays fine! If that's the case and the codec is free then maybe Sub would want to look at including it in the GBPVR installer?

While I was playing I tried to take the CLVSD.ax and CLAud.ax files from my XP machine and put them on my Vista machine - as I understand it, these are the audio codec files from the registered PowerDVD V6.0 on my XP machine. I put them in the System32 directory and registered them and they did register, but they don't work. They are listed in GBPVR Config but when I choose them they act just like the system default codecs - jumpy video and no audio. Maybe there was a dll or other files I needed to bring, I dunno - I was just playing!

THNAKS Guys . . . I may want to see if I can figure out how to add this stuff to the DVD section of the Wiki!

Take Care,

Steve

[sub]

If that's the case and the codec is free then maybe Sub would want to look at including it in the GBPVR installer?

There is no such thing as a "free" MPEG2 decoder. If I was to include it with GB-PVR, then I'd be required to pay a per-user license fee to the MPEG licensing agency. The free ones on the net are varying levels of illegal, from pirated decoders from commercial applications, to those that are annonymously released with no one living up to the licensing requirements. I'll just leave it up to user to install their own decoders.

Good to hear that got you working though.

[SLR_65]

I see, yeah, paying per user when ya give the software away is kind of out of the question, isn't it!

Thanks sooo much for your help AND for the GREAT software!!!! So far I've just played with it with a small hard drive and using my computer monitor for the display. I can't wait till my 750gb drive gets back from Seagate and I can get the final load up done and then get the thing hooked up to the TV!!!

Earlier I had played with MythTV, GBPVR, SageTV, and Beyond TV. GBPVR I liked but the remote didn't work well and I really didn't want to horse with making it work. Turns out that was a simple fix (I did a post on how to make the Haupaugge 1062 remote work perfectly). MythTV didn't go so well, even using Mythbuntu I still didn't get things working. SageTV I liked but when I had XP loaded Sage kept crashing on me. BeyondTV worked, but the interface was kinda clunky - especially going to Beyond Media.

All in all I'm very happy I decided to look at GBPVR again and see if I could get the remote working! Now that it is I've found GBPVR to be very easy to use and I think it's going to do everything I've been looking for a media center to do!

Heck, I think I'm out of things to get working/tweak on! Time to try some plug-ins, eh?

THANKS again for all your generosity in developing and supporting such a GREAT product!

Take Care,

Steve

[SLR_65]

I've got a couple DVDs that are not playing well - they are kinda blurry when the video pans.

These DVDs are homemade DVDs of an old TV Show called "Combat!". The AVIs play fine, but the DVDs are blurry on fast movement. If I rip them to the hard drive and play them from the Video Library they are still blurry.

Vista Media Player plays them just fine though.

I'm sure it's a codec issue. I downloaded a program that was supposed to tell ya what codec Vista Media Center was using and it says it's using the Microsoft MPEG-2 Video Decoder.

That decoder is an option under Playback in GBPVR, but it's not under DVD.

Do I take it that GBPVR uses the codec selected for DVDs even when using the Video Library selection and loading files off the hard drive? (i.e. it uses that player and codec if it sees DVD video files, no matter if they are actually on a DVD or not?)

If that is the case is there any way to make it use the Microsoft MPEG-2 Video Decoder?

Currently I'm using the MPV decoder. It does work, but on these couple discs it's not working so well.

My system consists of:

*) Motherboard - Asus M2NPV-VM
*) CPU - AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ with the 65nm core
*) Memory - 2 gigs Kingston DDR2 800 mhz
*) Hard drive - Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3750330AS 750GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s
*) DVD burner - BenQ DW1620
*) Tuner card - Gateway OEM PVR-150, came with an usb ir receiver / blaster unit and remote (I do plan on adding another tuner card or two, I just came across that one cheap)
*) Case - Antec NSK-2480
*) Operating system - Windows Vista Ultimate SP1
*) Nvidia video driver is 175.19
*) The bios is set to 256 mb video memory

I'm not hooked to a TV yet, still playing with an old Gateway 17" CRT.

Suggestions???

Thanks!!!

Steve

[sub]

If that is the case is there any way to make it use the Microsoft MPEG-2 Video Decoder?

You can add its name to the <SupportedDVDDecoders> setting in config.xml.