GB-PVR with on-board Sigma Hardware Decoder

[Big Dawg]

I have installed GB-PVR to my Fujitsu-Siemens Activy, which is a Pentium III based set-top box, offered mainly to the German and UK markets. Mine was purchased in US for US use. Anyway, the motherboard features a Sigma Designs EM8400 hardware decoder built-in, sending overlay video to the built-in 2d graphic accelerator, a Cyberpro TVIA 5005. In some apps, I was able to enable software decoding using graphedit. Is this possible in GB-PVR? My cpu usage is way high (100%) without, although it runs fairly smoothly. Apparently the Sigma X-card option is incompatible, as its selection in options-->playback crash/freezes the program. I have also tried to use Sash's' Netstream2000 compatibility drivers, which is also EM8400 based (I think) but GB-PVR won't even boot if I force my Hardware to use those drivers.

[sub]

Unfortunately, unless you find a way to get the XCard or Netstream2000 drivers working with this device, GB-PVR will not be able use it.

[sash]

not familair with the drivers for this. but chances are if it can be updated. it might work.. from my experience with working with sigma drivers and filters. they are highly universal.. but since it is built onto the board it might be access abit differently that why it crashes. what you can try is just expanding the the dxshow filters of my driver pack and registering the them. and then testing them to see if they work in graphedit.. now there is a bit of a catch the new drivers changed slightly how they work with the sigma pcm swapper filter.. so if your drivers for this built in chip is not the basic same build . I believe the builds 2.4 then you would have to try an older version if it does not work for you-- just goto sigma ftp site and download an older version of an xcard driver package ( or netstream 4000) and expand the filters from it and test.. if you're wondering what the pcm swapper for it basically for allowing audio to be played out the digital output of the sigma card which I would assume this Fujitsu-Siemens Activy has..

give me a file list of your driver package for this device - as related to em8400 and I tell if it might work.. or what you might need to do

I looked it up at http://www.fujitsu-siemens.co.uk/support...ads_1.html it a windows 98 build -- mine are Nt drivers.. download netstream 4000 driver for 98 and test those. and very old drivers at that for this device-- listed on thier site year 2000.. my package is based on 2004 build for NT product..

[sash]

okay I downloaded the driver set from fujitsu this card is based on the Ventura 2000 / Galaxy 2 / Activy ™ goto the sigma site and try and try netstream4000 drivers. but i think all you should have to do is update the dxfilter alone.. because it looks like they should work out of the box the original drivers. if no osd is showing I think perhaps you do not have on screen osd chip other then the dvd osd chip which is different..

[Big Dawg]

Sash: I need more info about what you are telling me to do. First, all of my drivers are from a german site where development on this particular piece of hardware has been ongoing over the years, the EM8400 WinXP driver (v.1.69) was downloaded here: http://activy.ultimate-it-solutions.de/d...3ebf66ff7a
Now, do I replace one of the (dll) drivers in the package with the directshow drivers that you refered to? How do I know which is the directshow driver? My Sigma Design drivers already show up in Graphedit (at lease in MyTheatre); do I need to install others? If so, how? Thanks.

CWJ

[sash]

hi there,
when you use your machine on MT and you build your filters does it work via the em8400 decoder and MT..???

anyways I would download the driver install package for the netstream4000 or xcard at sigma designs. and do a forced upgrade to that driver package and see if it works.. according to the installer the galaxy is supported ( if I remember correctly from sdk).

then should be all you should need to do.. but say if it crashes. then simply before you uninstall the driver for netstream 4000 goto your system32 folder and copy the directshow filtes for the sigma card they all start wit RM rmswap.ax,rmsplit.ax, rmmpeg2.ax .etc... then once you reinstalled a compatible driver again try again only by registering the above mention files ( make copies of your original filter if you want)

or you can use the cmd expand if you did not wish to try to install the drivers, and just use the dxshow filter from the netstream 4000 or xcard..

but since it using the rmvpe32.dll ( which is only found in xcard driver packages it allows the communication between the em8400 output and the video cards video inlay) perhaps an xcard driver would be better.. the driver package for the galaxy is from August 12, 2002 ( from the german website), I would try a driver package from that time line first.. if it worked then .. also since it uses the rmvpe32.dll if you use a newer driver of the xcard it probable advisable to download the newer rmvpe32.dll from the sigmadesign ftp site (if it still there) -- ftp://ftp.sigmadesigns.com/

ftp://ftp.sigmadesigns.com/Xcard/XCv1_0k1.zip try updating to this driver first.. or maybe
ftp://ftp.sigmadesigns.com/NetStr_4000/N4_1_0k1.zip

I hope my description not to confusing, because really since I do not have the machine, it really going to have to be a trial and error on your part.. but most times if your device has all the need properties compatible chips ( em8400) it should work .. if gb- pvr does not see it then it probabbly because rmmpeg2.ax is too old of version and mostly likely you only need to update rmsplitt.ax, rmmpeg2.ax, and rmswapper.ax since these are basically universal across all sigma cards..

but yet since it needs the rmvpe32.dll to out put to video card. perhaps gb-pvr need the same -- I have no idea how this machine works with this built in em8400. does it out put to videocard then via the videocards tv encoder.. or does it use the em8400 and sigma tv encoder (ADV7170 chip) if it out puts via video tv encoder then sub would need to add the option to build using the sigma vpe filter ( perhaps there is a configuation to manually insert this filter--- sub ???)

[sash]

I thought about this last night.. I think probably, this device works,

mpeg> em8400> video card ( via the builtin video inlay path)> out put via the tv encoder of the video card..
and the graphs probably need to be built this way.

mpeg file> sigma splitter > sigma hardware decoder > sigma vpe render

if it built this way then you would just use gb-pvr in overly manager mode, and set the mpeg playing to default system .. and view the mpeg you proably need gr-pvr to build the graph using sigma vpe as the video render.. but this is just guess of how your device works..

[shspvr]

If I recall rigth GB-PVR dosen't work with VIP mode

[shspvr]

Big Dawg are you see a in graphedit "Sigma Designs MPEG-2 hardware decoder"?.

[Big Dawg]

That's exactly the decoder I see/use in graph edit. However,I can't find a filter for just "mpeg". I am trying to get more detailed instructions, Sash. Am I trying to use a directshow filter for the first/input filter? Is it GP-PVR Filesource? or something else? What is VPI mode?