US OTA, WIndows 7, NPVR and decoders

[elbryyan]

Just trying to get a feel of what people are using with US free OTA tv as far as decoders along with Windows 7. I plan to move to NPVR once the tv guide becomes integrated for Schedules direct or when the final realease comes. I've had recent problems with W7 and getting live tv to play which has been a result of decoders. So I'm asking to see what other people are using and with what success with this type of setup. Looking for more free options if availalble but just want something reliable with recordings and playback. Thanks.

[whurlston]

A basic ffdshow, AC3Filter and/or MPC-HC standalone filters show work just fine. Or Hoborgs SAF5 (which is basically what I just mentioned).

[elbryyan]

Do you do any tweaking with the ffdshow? I've tried it before without making any configurations and it seems to be alot more jerky and I see alot of tearing i the picture.

[johnsonx42]

I've no problems at all with using the Microsoft DTV-DVD video decoder for OTA video here. The ATI MPEG-2 decoder (from the AVIVO download) works fine too. For audio, I use the Microsoft DTV-DVD Audio decoder for MP2, and AC3Filter for AC3. I have all the other decoders set to Disabled.

[mikeh49]

I'm with Johnson. With Win7, I get the best performance. i.e., picture, from the MS DTV-DVD video and audio decoders. I've got AC3 in there somewhere, but I'm not sure it's needed. I record clear QAM with the dvr-ms mux (better skipping than ts) and firewire from the STB using the ATI mux to mpeg.

[johnsonx42]

you do need AC3Filter, because the Microsoft DTV-DVD won't decode AC3 for third-party apps. You can select it, but you'll get silence.

[pBS]

with ffdshow, you just need to set output colorspaces to nv12 only and check the interlace boxes under that and you'll be good..
it only gives half acceleration, but it's the important half... [deinterlacing]

[elbryyan]

Thanks for the input. I'll give those a try and see what kind of results I get. I'm really looking forward to getting NPVR as or primary system.

[whurlston]

I only use ffdshow for audio. For video, I'm currently using PDVD decoders but the MPC-HC video decoders work well too.

[mvallevand]

I use ffdshow tryouts 100% for audio (ac3 and mpeg) and video (mpeg2 and h264) and the h264 performance is better than the Arcsoft decoder I got with my HD PVR.

Martin