Vista comes with an MPEG2 decoder built in, but it's not as good as the NVidia codec. I did have the Nvidia one working using a reg-hack, but I changed one of the Nvidia settings and broke it! Back to the MS codec now. I'm wondering what people have found to be the best quality MPEG-2 codec? My main concern is DVD playback. I'm currently using Windows Vista and MPC HC for DVD playback. So far I've tested the Cyberlink Video/SP Decoder (PDVD7), Microsoft MPEG-2 Video Decoder, FFDShow Video Decoder and MPC HC's internal MPEG-2 Decoder.
I hope you got the dual core but either way you should have not problems with OTA Mpeg2 files. Perfect playback and codecs are challenging. The 3200 should be ok as long as you get the hardware acceleration working.
Not sure what Nvidia PureVideo you are using but they are pretty old at this point I bought the PureVideoBronze awhile back thinking they would be newer but they still sucked. I like the Cyberlink codecs for MPEG2 playback but I am not particularly found of their software. I have Cyberlink 8 but don't like to install it becasue of some auto play functions I can't seem turn off. It also seems to no longer displays the codces to sage when I install an update. I have tried for find a minimalist setup for my Clients and here is what I do.
My main clients are Vista64 but it appears to work for Windows7 32 and 64 on my dual boot Desktop. The main machines are ATI 4550 but the same setup works flawlessly on my Asrock 780G/3200 Test box which is now Vista 64. (Athlon 5400)
Clean install of Vista
Update Service Pack 1
Update Service Pack 2
All other online updates
Latest ATI 3200 Drivers from ATI site '9-12_vista64_win7_64_dd_ccc_wdm_enu.exe'
Latest Realtek HD Drivers from thier site. 'Vista_Win7_R236.exe'
FlashPlayer: latest beta to get hardware acceleration 'flashplayer10_1_p2_activex_121709.exe' and 'flashplayer10_1_p2_plugin_121709.exe'
Silverlight: Silverlight.exe
Latest DirectX: 'directx_aug2009_redist.exe'
Cyberlink8 or CLVDPack(Clean install of Cyberlink Codecs without the Player)
FFDShow: 'ffdshow-20041012.exe'
Haali Media Splitter: Latested gives me problems with VC1 files 'MatroskaSplitter110109.exe'
SageTV Client: 'SageTVClient_V6_6_2Setup.exe'
SageMC: 'sagemc_6_3_9a_full.zip'
I generally also install VLC, it does not help with Sage but will playback most files in its own lite player: 'vlc-1.0.3-win32.exe'
I also install the Arcsoft TME software that came with my HD-PVR to playback my BluRay rips but I do not use those codecs in Sage. (Have to physically attach the HD-PVR to it once in order to install updates.)
I test on my dual monitor setup with the main one running 1920x1080.
In Sage I select EVR Cyberlink 8 for MPEG2 Cyberlink 8 for h.264. I use FFDShow for the Audio Decoder Filter
Turn Windows Areo: (seems to be off by default)
My Netflix playback had bad tearing and a google search indicated having Areo on would fix it. It worked and appears to fix the minor tearing I got in Sage as well.
I can play back without problems. 1080p BluRay rips, h.264 files from HD-PVR 1080i and 720p, 1080i MPEG2 files from my HDHR, DVD rips, MakeMKV mkv files from DVDs (No Menu DVDs), Other older formats Divx etc.
Not sure what Nvidia PureVideo you are using but they are pretty old at this point I bought the PureVideoBronze awhile back thinking they would be newer but they still sucked. I like the Cyberlink codecs for MPEG2 playback but I am not particularly found of their software. I have Cyberlink 8 but don't like to install it becasue of some auto play functions I can't seem turn off. It also seems to no longer displays the codces to sage when I install an update. I have tried for find a minimalist setup for my Clients and here is what I do.
My main clients are Vista64 but it appears to work for Windows7 32 and 64 on my dual boot Desktop. The main machines are ATI 4550 but the same setup works flawlessly on my Asrock 780G/3200 Test box which is now Vista 64. (Athlon 5400)
Clean install of Vista
Update Service Pack 1
Update Service Pack 2
All other online updates
Latest ATI 3200 Drivers from ATI site '9-12_vista64_win7_64_dd_ccc_wdm_enu.exe'
Latest Realtek HD Drivers from thier site. 'Vista_Win7_R236.exe'
FlashPlayer: latest beta to get hardware acceleration 'flashplayer10_1_p2_activex_121709.exe' and 'flashplayer10_1_p2_plugin_121709.exe'
Silverlight: Silverlight.exe
Latest DirectX: 'directx_aug2009_redist.exe'
Cyberlink8 or CLVDPack(Clean install of Cyberlink Codecs without the Player)
FFDShow: 'ffdshow-20041012.exe'
Haali Media Splitter: Latested gives me problems with VC1 files 'MatroskaSplitter110109.exe'
SageTV Client: 'SageTVClient_V6_6_2Setup.exe'
SageMC: 'sagemc_6_3_9a_full.zip'
I generally also install VLC, it does not help with Sage but will playback most files in its own lite player: 'vlc-1.0.3-win32.exe'
I also install the Arcsoft TME software that came with my HD-PVR to playback my BluRay rips but I do not use those codecs in Sage. (Have to physically attach the HD-PVR to it once in order to install updates.)
I test on my dual monitor setup with the main one running 1920x1080.
In Sage I select EVR Cyberlink 8 for MPEG2 Cyberlink 8 for h.264. I use FFDShow for the Audio Decoder Filter
Turn Windows Areo: (seems to be off by default)
My Netflix playback had bad tearing and a google search indicated having Areo on would fix it. It worked and appears to fix the minor tearing I got in Sage as well.
I can play back without problems. 1080p BluRay rips, h.264 files from HD-PVR 1080i and 720p, 1080i MPEG2 files from my HDHR, DVD rips, MakeMKV mkv files from DVDs (No Menu DVDs), Other older formats Divx etc.
Mpeg 2 Decoder Vista Usb
Hi, I'm having serious issues with mpeg2 playback on my system (retail Vista
Home Premium x64, fully up-to-date.) I first noticed the problem when Media
Center was not playing the video portion of live TV (I was using a Hauppauge
PVR card, but swapped in an ATi Theater 550 to test.) Further testing shows
that anything using the default decoders (i.e. Windows Media Player) fails to
play any mpeg2 file- I get audio, but no video. A lot of searching has led
me to believe that the problem was caused when I installed Nero 7 for a short
time. I've since uninstalled Nero, but I'm still having the same problem.
When I try to play an mpeg-2 file in Media Player and look at the file
properties, it tells me that it's using the 'MainConcept MPEG Video Decoder.'
I'm assuming this isn't the decoder provided by Microsoft.
Since Nero has been uninstalled, and there's nothing listed in 'Programs and
Features' that looks like it would affect that decoder, can anyone tell me
how I might nuke this (obviously broken) decoder and go back to the
Microsoft-provided one? Media Center is all but useless to me without this
working.
Thanks,
Jim
Home Premium x64, fully up-to-date.) I first noticed the problem when Media
Center was not playing the video portion of live TV (I was using a Hauppauge
PVR card, but swapped in an ATi Theater 550 to test.) Further testing shows
that anything using the default decoders (i.e. Windows Media Player) fails to
play any mpeg2 file- I get audio, but no video. A lot of searching has led
me to believe that the problem was caused when I installed Nero 7 for a short
time. I've since uninstalled Nero, but I'm still having the same problem.
When I try to play an mpeg-2 file in Media Player and look at the file
properties, it tells me that it's using the 'MainConcept MPEG Video Decoder.'
I'm assuming this isn't the decoder provided by Microsoft.
Since Nero has been uninstalled, and there's nothing listed in 'Programs and
Features' that looks like it would affect that decoder, can anyone tell me
how I might nuke this (obviously broken) decoder and go back to the
Microsoft-provided one? Media Center is all but useless to me without this
working.
Thanks,
Jim