windows 7 decoders

[amittzor]

hi sub,

apperantly win 7 has it's own decoders for playing video files (xvid, x264) so even if i'm installing external decoders, it uses the internal.

is there any way to force gbpvr to work with a selected decoder (i know that there's an option for selecting h264 in the config, but even when i'm choosing it, it still plays with the internal)

thanks in advance,
amit

[stustunz]

change the merit
check whats been used with "graph edit"
then change with "gspot"

[richardw456]

Stustunz, I tried that with ffdshow (changing the merit) and it didn't work. Didn't try gspot, but I do know Windows 7 uses a new scheme called Media Foundation instead of directshow to pick decoders. If it finds a media foundation decoder it runs with them. I found the built in decoder stutters on h264.

[amittzor]

you can't cange the merit of the internal win7 decoder

[stustunz]

crap sounds like they are still trying to control everything like they did in vista

[sub]

Media Foundation is something kind of different, and relates to protected media path stuff (DRM etc). GB-PVR will still be using Directshow, not Media Foundation, and should honor your decoder selection. For H.264 TV channels, or playing back .ts recordings with H.264, it'll still use the H.264 decoder you've selected. If that decoder is unable to connect for some reason though, it may fall back to using the system default decoder though.

If you post the pvrx2.exe-native.log showing your attempt, I'll take a look.

[richardw456]

Sub, have you tried Windows 7? I am up to 7068, and I can't get PVRX2 to use ffdshow to decode even livetv. It goes right to the built in decoder. I think GBPVR uses Media Player for playback, right? It looks like Microsoft locks down Media PLayer and Media Center to use the internal decoder first, then if the internal can't decode it goes to a directshow decoder. That's what I get, and that's what I read on Doom 9. And that damn internal h264 decoder sucks!! Stutters badly. I am going to play with it tonight, want me to clean up the logs and let you see them?

[sub]

Sub, have you tried Windows 7?

No I havnt. I dont have any extra machines I can install it on.

[richardw456]

Well, here's what I did. I don't have a HD PVR so I can't record with h.264, so I played an mkv with h264. I have ffdshow set as the default h264 decoder in config, but when I payed the file it used the built in decoder. I zipped up the logs so you can see. You did say the h264 decoder needs more work than the mpeg2 decoders, so I thought I'd give a heads up.

[sub]

The decoder settings are only honoured when you play a .mpg or .ts file. With a .mkv file you'll get whatever the system default decoders are (Microsoft H.264 decoder in this case).