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eXDee

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#24896 5-Aug-2008 23:59

Finally have built a proper HTPC!
AMD 5200
Asus M3N EMH HDMI (geforce 8200)
2gb Ram
Nvidia Geforce 8500GT 512mb
Mediaportal latest SVN
XP Pro w/latest updates & .NET 3.5

First up in my many to come questions is hardware acceleration.

I've taken the PDVD8 h264 codec and registered it, from the latest build (i think).
Because our UHF aerial and cabling needs sorting, im testing with the samples.

In mediaportal, i get 50% usage while playing the TVone sample in mediaportal. In MPC-HC, when i right click and enable DXVA in the pdvd8 settings, i get less than 3%. Not sure how im meant to add it in mediaportal- but i noticed the following mentioned in another thread, which i don't have when i choose PowerDVD8 in television settings.

Mediaportal configuration (Advanced Mode)
-> DirectShow Filter Control
-> PowerDVD 8 Decoder Settings
-> Turn OFF "Use hardware accleration"

So how do i get it going?

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#154531 6-Aug-2008 08:06

1) You definiatly don't want to turn OFF hardware acceleration! thoses direct show filter settings are on the main tree of the MediaPortal configuration not under television. and make sure HA is turned ON.

2) If it's still not working you need to confirm which codecs are being used by MediaPortal. i.e run MediaPortal in windowed mode and use the graphedit "Connect to remote graph" feature, this will allow you to see the exact filters MP is using.

3) Don't use EVR under XP (Also set under the directshow filter section).

4) Don't use Xp use vista, it will be easier and the picture will look much better.

5) You still haven't decided on a TV card? Maybe get an hvr2200, what are your requirements?

6) The are many more hours of troubleshooting, fiddling, hair pulling, etc ahead, don't give up it will be worth it in the end!

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eXDee

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#154679 6-Aug-2008 16:22

mcraenz: 1) You definiatly don't want to turn OFF hardware acceleration! thoses direct show filter settings are on the main tree of the MediaPortal configuration not under television. and make sure HA is turned ON.

2) If it's still not working you need to confirm which codecs are being used by MediaPortal. i.e run MediaPortal in windowed mode and use the graphedit "Connect to remote graph" feature, this will allow you to see the exact filters MP is using.

3) Don't use EVR under XP (Also set under the directshow filter section).

4) Don't use Xp use vista, it will be easier and the picture will look much better.

5) You still haven't decided on a TV card? Maybe get an hvr2200, what are your requirements?

6) The are many more hours of troubleshooting, fiddling, hair pulling, etc ahead, don't give up it will be worth it in the end!

1) I just took that quote which mentions PowerDVD8 hardware acceleration under directshow filter control. I'm not wanting to turn it off of course, i want it on. But i don't have any option to turn on/off hardware acceleration anywhere in the mediaportal config as far as i can tell, only change codecs it in television. That's pretty much what im trying to ask - how do i enable it in mediaportal? In Media Play Classic i simply right click and tick DxVA.

2) I know im using PDV8, and graphedit confirms this.

3) Not sure where i mentioned EVR, but apparently it works fine under .net 3?

4) I'm not shelling out a couple of hundred for vista, especially when i'm not too keen on some of its 'features' hich im not going to debate. Also my experience with using and fixing problems hasn't really been pleasent. If i already owned it i would consider using it however.

5) Forgot to mention i already have a HVR-2200, just the UHF aerial and cabling needs replacing, which is why im not testing with live TV (unless i setup the 91 element in the lounge again).

6) I've noticed, hence why i said first of many questions.

Cheers for your help.

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#154744 6-Aug-2008 19:55

When i checked earlier this week, the latest build of pdvd8 is 1830

Hmm, yes i noticed the video section didn't have an option for pdvd settings.

Have you tried checking that hardware accleration is enabled in the pdvd player?
I am not sure if the options in the pdvd player extend to the pdvd codec, but you could try it and see.
Load powerdvd -> options -> video ; turn on H.A.

Also make sure you are using VRM9 mediaportal on XP.

you can always add mpc-hc as an external player.

as per mcraenz, most ppl recommend vista, as its supposed to be easier for hardware acceleration,
however for me EVR didn't work well, and EVR seems to be compulsory for hardware accel in vista,
hence i went back to XP. I think a lot of the ATI users have trouble with EVR and MediaPortal.

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.

eXDee

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#154760 6-Aug-2008 20:46

Thanks for the reply.
External player would be a very last resort, i'd rather software decode than have to do that.

I mentioned that i registered the pdvd8 codec by itself, ie copied the videofilter folder out, and then used regsvr32 to register it, the rest of the program isn't installed. This works perfectly fine in MPC but i cant figure out how you enable hardware acceleration or view codec properties in mediaportal. People seem to have had success doing this with the trial codecs so i assume the full version one would work fine if not better too.

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#154762 6-Aug-2008 20:53

ahh perhaps you have to fully install pdvd8, and then mediaportal will realise you have it installed and enable the options to change the pdvd8 settings within mediaportal configuration?

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eXDee

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#155002 7-Aug-2008 16:57

Okay, i've fully installed PowerDVD8 now, and i now have the menu in the config. Even though every box was ticked i couldnt get acceleration, then i remembered that someone said that subs + h264 + dxva don't play nice. I don't use subtitles, but i had them setup as per Goose's guide.
Removed directvobsub from post processing, and now im getting 5% usage on all samples. Hooray! Interestingly enough MPC using the pdvd8 filter gets about 3%, but im not going to complain.

Now i'd like some advice from anyone that has got sky IR Blasting working, has a hvr-2200 setup correctly (do hybrid settings etc need to be added?) and anyone that has a good source for weather data.

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#155235 8-Aug-2008 15:49

eXDee: Okay, i've fully installed PowerDVD8 now, and i now have the menu in the config. Even though every box was ticked i couldnt get acceleration, then i remembered that someone said that subs + h264 + dxva don't play nice. I don't use subtitles, but i had them setup as per Goose's guide.
Removed directvobsub from post processing, and now im getting 5% usage on all samples. Hooray! Interestingly enough MPC using the pdvd8 filter gets about 3%, but im not going to complain.

Now i'd like some advice from anyone that has got sky IR Blasting working, has a hvr-2200 setup correctly (do hybrid settings etc need to be added?) and anyone that has a good source for weather data.

if you need subs there is an option in MPC-HC to still get H.A. with subs, google is your friend here.
for weather in MP RC2 you just add christchurch in MP RC2 Config.
if you want to watch analog & digital on HVR2200, yes you must setup as hybrid. then increase the analog priority on the 2nd hybrid tuner so that it is prefered over the analog on the 1st hybrid tuner.

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.

eXDee

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#155277 8-Aug-2008 17:33

Don't need/want subs really, never have used them.
Im in hamilton, so putting that in doesn't give me any weather images by default, hence why i asked if anyone knew of any region specific or national ones.

Whats the hybrid configuration? Do i combine one of each (analogue and digital) to get it working right? is setting it up as hybrid necessary? How does this tie in with the Sky input on SVHS on analogue?

I did say i would ask a lot of questions

kiwijunglist

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#155292 8-Aug-2008 18:31

eXDee: Don't need/want subs really, never have used them.
Im in hamilton, so putting that in doesn't give me any weather images by default, hence why i asked if anyone knew of any region specific or national ones.

Whats the hybrid configuration? Do i combine one of each (analogue and digital) to get it working right? is setting it up as hybrid necessary? How does this tie in with the Sky input on SVHS on analogue?

I did say i would ask a lot of questions

(1) Hybrid setup

It's in the mediaportal wiki

http://www.team-mediaportal.com/manual/TV-Server/Configuration/TVServers/HybridCards

After following the steps above, you need to change the priority.
Goto the 4th Card, ie the 2nd analog
Increase the priority so its the 2nd highest priority
(The higher the number the higher the priority)
This means that one hybrid is prefered for digital and one hybrid is prefered for analog.

ie...

1. the first hybrid has a higher digital priority compared to the 2nd hybrid

2. the second hybrid has a higher analog priority compared to the 1st hyrbid

(2) Weather images

Search the forums, there are already posts on suitable image files for NZ.

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.

eXDee

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#155296 8-Aug-2008 19:03

Well i couldnt tell which card was which so i accidentally added a card to two hybrid groups, and now tvserver is screwed and wont start.

Which config files do i edit to change the hybrid setup to remove the configuration? Looked in all users appdata and program files folder, cant see any.

kiwijunglist

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#155305 8-Aug-2008 19:42

eXDee: Well i couldnt tell which card was which so i accidentally added a card to two hybrid groups, and now tvserver is screwed and wont start.

Which config files do i edit to change the hybrid setup to remove the configuration? Looked in all users appdata and program files folder, cant see any.

just reboot, i've had that problem before. when setting up hybrid tuners windows goes all laggy. just do things slowly. if you crash then i find a reboot sorts it out.

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eXDee

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#155308 8-Aug-2008 19:53

Rebooting was the first thing i did, the TV service can't start and im pretty sure its because i added a tuner to two groups. Also pretty sure all i need to do is find the hybrid settings file and edit that, but i cant seem to find it...

kiwijunglist

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#155310 8-Aug-2008 20:09

you could try taskmgr then end task for tv-service.
then load tvserver config, and then it may ask if you want to start the tv-service as its not running, and you could select no.
^use at own risk ;-P

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.

eXDee

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#155312 8-Aug-2008 20:13

TV service isn't running - it cant start. When i open TVserver config, it tells me this, and i tell it not to start, but i dont get a config window either.
I'm positive if someone can just tell me where the config files are for hybrid cards that i can simply edit it. Time to make a thread on the MP forums.

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#155313 8-Aug-2008 20:15

bugger

if you need a copy of my config files then email me with which file you want from which dirs.
my email is my geekzone user name @ gmail.com

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