ffdshow and .ts files

[richardw456]

Remember, the decoder selections in the config app only apply to live tv, or files GB-PVR records (.mpg, .ts, .dvr-ms). All other file types (including .mkv, .avi etc) just use whatever the system defaults are, so wont pay any attention to you config app setting to use ffdshow. You can use third party utilities to change the filter merit to change those system defaults, so that it perfers other decoders like ffdshow.

That explains a lot. I was having trouble playing back MKV files in GBPVR. I figured out it was the built in Media Foundation codec. I take it that GBPVR doesn't build a graph, and lets the system do it. Win 7 looks first at Media Foundation codecs, and uses them, never even looking at Dshow, as far as I can tell. No matter what you do with the merit on FFDshow, it never gets a look. I found a way to disable the Win 7 codec, and now it works fine. When I get some free time I'll uninstall WMP and let you know how it works out. Also, since MPC HC builds it's own graph, it never uses the built in Win 7 decoder.
Thatks again!!

[sub]

Sorry but thats not right. GB-PVR always uses directshow for playback, even for files .mkv files. It leaves it up to Windows to decide what Directshow decoders to use though. It definitely wont be using Media Foundation for playback. Some of the Microsoft decoder make themselves available to both Media Foundation and Directshow though.

[mvallevand]

Is there a way that I can get GBPVR to use the Haali splitter with h264 ts files? WMP has no problem with ffdshow and the Haali splitter, but PVRx2 only launches ffdshow.

Martin

[sub]

Sorry, no. GBPVR always uses its only build in GBPVR TS Reader filter for .ts files, so cant use the Haali splitter. The next version should let it connect with ffdshow though.

Annoyingly each decoder manufacturer did their H.264 decoder a different way, so I need to explicitly add support for any H.264 decoders I want GB-PVR to work with.

[mvallevand]

I have no problem with the build in TS Reader. Does it only work with Arcsoft for h264 decoding?

Martin

[sub]

The current release works with the Cyberlink, ArcSoft and CoreAVC decoders.

The next version adds support for Microsoft's H.264 decoder (from Windows 7), and the ffdshow decoder. The Microsoft H.264 decoder seems to work well, but the ffdshow decoder is a bit flakey (doesnt seem to like stream characteristics dynamic changing in live tv).

[mvallevand]

Thanks, it seems to make sense for me to build a good Win 7 machine in preparation for this..

Martin

[sub]

About two weeks ago I managed to screw my Vista development machine, so I bought myself a new 1.5TB HDD, and did a new install on Windows 7. I thought it was a good opportunity and timing to make sure GB-PVR worked well on Win7 before its released.

[richardw456]

The current release works with the Cyberlink, ArcSoft and CoreAVC decoders.

The next version adds support for Microsoft's H.264 decoder (from Windows 7), and the ffdshow decoder. The Microsoft H.264 decoder seems to work well, but the ffdshow decoder is a bit flakey (doesnt seem to like stream characteristics dynamic changing in live tv).

Funny, when playing back MKV files with h264 in them, I found the Microsoft decoder was dropping frames (like 1 in 3) and FFDshow worked great. I could always play them with MPC-HC, and once I defeated the Microsoft decoder, FFDshow played them fine in Media Player and GBPVR.

[richardw456]

Just for the record, last night I uninstalled WMP from my Windows 7 computer and GBPVR worked fine. Also, there was some talk over at the Doom 9 forum about FFDshow and streaming video late last week, it may work better with the latest build.