NPVR and Decoder Question

[z06racer66]

Today while working on my htpc and npvr 2.0.3, I noticed that my AC/DC Live at Donnington had some audio issues. After it mounts, it plays the introduction just fine, but then everything after that is silent. I had pretty much everything set to use ffdshow audio (I have SAF5 installed), and I was trying to figure out the settings within ffdshow. After failing time after time, I decided to try other decoders. However, npvr still is using ffdshow. I now have all of the audio decoders in npvr set to disabled, rebooted and it still uses ffdshow for the dvd (and my mp3's).

So, I think my questions are:
1) When changing decoders, what needs to be done in order for it to be changed? Restart the video/audio? Restart npvr? Reboot the computer?

2) Any clue as to why ffdshow is still an active decoder when all my audio decoders were disabled?

3) Finally, anyone have a clue as to why the introduction of the dvd has audio but then everything after that is silent?

Thanks for your help.

[sub]

What type of file is it, or is this a DVD? If the latter, are you changing the decoders on the Settings -> DVD screen? You dont need to restart the app, just change the decoder selection, then restart the file or DVD you're wanting to watch.

[z06racer66]

It's an .iso (DVD). I also changed the DVD settings too to have the audio disabled but it still starts ffdshow audio.

[sub]

From memory, with DVDs it'll always end up rendering the audio video pins, so if you set them to disabled, then you'll just get whatever the system decides is the default (probably ffdshow in your setup). If you explicitly specify decoders, then it should use those instead.

[z06racer66]

So, in the DVD settings, I set AC3 Audio to Hauppauge AC3 Decoder. When I try playing the DVD, ffdshow audio decoder starts and the introduction is played. When the actual DVD menu is shown, it is all silent.

[z06racer66]

There must be something funky going on with my system. I see in my npvr.log that it's adding two audio decoders...

2011-03-05 20:28:19.753 [DEBUG][1] running: E:\ -mount 0,"\\NAS\Volume_1\Media\Video\Music\AC-DC - Live at Donnington\AC-DC Live at Donnington.iso"
2011-03-05 20:28:23.347 [DEBUG][1] Adding EVR renderer
2011-03-05 20:28:23.618 [DEBUG][1] about to load video decoder
2011-03-05 20:28:23.635 [DEBUG][1] about to load audio decoder
2011-03-05 20:28:23.818 [DEBUG][1] Source Aspect Ratio: 4x3
2011-03-05 20:28:23.819 [DEBUG][1] Setting display rect: 0.083665,0.000000,0.916335,1.000000
2011-03-05 20:28:23.877 [DEBUG][1] Graph filter list:
2011-03-05 20:28:23.878 [DEBUG][1] - Default DirectSound Device
2011-03-05 20:28:23.878 [DEBUG][1] - Hauppauge AC3 Decoder
2011-03-05 20:28:23.878 [DEBUG][1] - EVR Renderer
2011-03-05 20:28:23.878 [DEBUG][1] - ffdshow Audio Decoder
2011-03-05 20:28:23.878 [DEBUG][1] - MainConcept (HCW) MPEG-2 Video Decoder
2011-03-05 20:28:23.878 [DEBUG][1] - DVD Navigator

[sub]

It should use whatever decoder is named in your <DVDDecoderAC3> setting in config.xml, so first check what you have in config.xml. The Settings -> DVD page should be setting this.

[z06racer66]

The config.xml has: <DVDDecoderAC3>Hauppauge AC3 Decoder</DVDDecoderAC3>

My npvr.log has:

2011-03-05 21:16:02.559 [DEBUG][1] running: E:\ -mount 0,"\\NAS\Volume_1\Media\Video\Music\AC-DC - Live at Donnington\AC-DC Live at Donnington.iso"
2011-03-05 21:16:06.157 [DEBUG][1] Adding EVR renderer
2011-03-05 21:16:06.426 [DEBUG][1] about to load video decoder
2011-03-05 21:16:06.442 [DEBUG][1] about to load audio decoder
2011-03-05 21:16:06.613 [DEBUG][1] Source Aspect Ratio: 4x3
2011-03-05 21:16:06.614 [DEBUG][1] Setting display rect: 0.083665,0.000000,0.916335,1.000000
2011-03-05 21:16:06.671 [DEBUG][1] Graph filter list:
2011-03-05 21:16:06.671 [DEBUG][1] - Default DirectSound Device
2011-03-05 21:16:06.671 [DEBUG][1] - Hauppauge AC3 Decoder
2011-03-05 21:16:06.671 [DEBUG][1] - EVR Renderer
2011-03-05 21:16:06.671 [DEBUG][1] - ffdshow Audio Decoder
2011-03-05 21:16:06.671 [DEBUG][1] - MainConcept (HCW) MPEG-2 Video Decoder
2011-03-05 21:16:06.671 [DEBUG][1] - DVD Navigator

[sub]

It's probably because the Hauppauge AC3 Decoder doesnt support CSS encrypted AC3, so fails to hook up, and falls back to using the default decoder.

[hoborg]

As a SAF5 user, you should use FFDshow for both audio and video DVD decoding.