Which codec for Media Center 2005?

[Gyrobob]

Which codec is correct for Media Center 2005?

The fast forward and reverse functions (after working fine for 5 years) have stopped working mostly. They start and stop in all kinds of strange places.

Some folks have suggested it is a codec problem.

I installed another decoder (nVIDIA PureVideo Decoder 1.02-223) which shows it is a compatible decoder when running the windows XP video decoder checkup utility. "Mainconcept mpeg video decoder" is the only other item shown, and it has a red x beside it, indicating it is not compatible. The nVidia decoder is selected as the preferred decoder.


Since neither of these solve the problem, it seems I need a different codec. Which codec is the right one for an HP pavilion m7250n desktop running XP Media Center 2005?


If this is not a codec problem, I'd surely like to hear some suggestions for other solutions.


Thanks,

[redwudz]

A codec is specific to each format, such as MPEG-2, MPEG-1, Divx/Xvid, H.264, etc. You likely have quite a few installed. The question would be which one is causing a problem, if that is your problem. You can use MediaInfo, tree view, with one of your problem videos and it will tell you which one the video needs.

Gspot may work even better as you can use the 'render' operation at the bottom and it will show the exact codecs, filters, etc., that are being used for playback.

You may also have one too many codecs and they are interfering with each other. Codec Packs have been known to do this. Then there are two types of decoders, VFW and Direct Show. Some one else here can probably give you more information on that.

But it's usually easier to just uninstall the excess codecs if you have more than one of the same type.

Since you mention MPEG, I'm guessing that's where your problem is. The MPEG-2 codec is not part of XP, so it has to be added. If you just need a MPEG-2 codec that should be compatible with Media Center, maybe Stinkys MPEG2 Codec. Optionally, the ffdshow program should work to play back most any common format. It's not a codec pack and doesn't seem to share their problems.

[edDV]

dvr-ms is MPeg2 muxed inside a proprietary wrapper.

Any more questions?

[Gyrobob]

I'm not sure what "muxed inside a proprietary wrapper" means. Is dvr-ms an mpeg2? If so, has mine gotten corrupted? If so, how do I fix it so the fast forward and reverse work normally.

When I did decheck.exe to check for installed codecs I got the following:



[IMG]file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/HP_ADM%7E1/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/msohtml1/01/clip_image002.jpg[/IMG]It shows the only compatible codec is the nvideo codec. Is deccheck.exe not showing all the applicable codecs?

Is it possible my fast forward / reverse problem has nothing to do with codecs?

What would cause a system that worked very well as a DVR for half a decade to develop this problem all of a sudden?

Thanks for the info.

[edDV]

I have MCE running in Vista and Win7. Your problem seems specific to XP MCE. I suspect the nVidia codec install has taken priority over Windows DirectShow codecs. Best people to ask are at http://thegreenbutton.com/files/default.aspx.

Here is a overview description of the DVR-MS format. It is VBR MPeg2 + MP2 or AC3 audio in a proprietary ASF wrapper that contains all the DVR metadata for operation within MCE. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVR-MS

Here is a typical DVR-MS file as displayed in Mediainfo. You can see that the DVR-MS wrapper contains all the DVR metadata. You can extract the MPeg video and audio with VLC and other utilities.

General
CompleteName : D:\America's Heartland_KVIE_03_11_2010_19_29_02.dvr-ms
Format : Windows Media
FileSize/String : 705 MiB
Duration/String : 30mn 57s
OverallBitRate_Mode/String : Variable
OverallBitRate/String : 3 182 Kbps
OverallBitRate_Maximum/String : 80.7 Mbps
Movie : America's Heartland
Movie/More : Personal tour of the White House garden; vegetable and dessert dish; dairy cows; farmers market in Hawaii.
ThanksTo : ;;;
Genre : Travel,Series
LawRating : TV-G
Original/Released_Date : 0001-01-01T00:00:00Z
Encoded_Date : UTC 2010-11-04 02:29:02.608
Cover : Y
WM/MediaStationCallSign : KVIE
WM/MediaStationName : KVIE
WM/MediaNetworkAffiliation : PBS Affiliate
WM/MediaOriginalChannel : 6
WM/MediaOriginalBroadcastDateTim : 2010-10-30T00:00:00Z
WM/WMRVServiceID : 28457466
WM/WMRVProgramID : !829883CFF940C430B6FD92A4F1993ED1!
WM/MediaOriginalRunTime : 18000000000
WM/WMRVEncodeTime : 634244345425836620
WM/MediaIsStereo : Yes
WM/VideoClosedCaptioning : Yes
WM/MediaIsRepeat : No
WM/MediaIsLive : No
WM/MediaIsTape : No
WM/MediaIsDelay : No
WM/MediaIsSubtitled : No
WM/MediaIsMovie : No
WM/MediaIsPremiere : No
WM/MediaIsFinale : No
WM/MediaIsSAP : No
WM/WMRVRequestID : 11069284
WM/WMRVScheduleItemID : 47282699
WM/WMRVQuality : 0
WM/WMRVOriginalSoftPrePadding : 4294967236
WM/WMRVOriginalSoftPostPadding : 0
WM/WMRVActualSoftPrePadding : 4294967236
WM/WMRVHardPrePadding : 0
Provider : Zap2it
WM/ProviderCopyright : © 2010 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Service: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=8430
WM/WMRVEndTime : 634244363995019210
WM/WMRVExpirationDate : 4703607668705591271
WM/WMRVBitrate : 4613676609462685663
WM/WMRVKeepUntil : 4294967295
WM/WMRVHardPostPadding : 0
WM/WMRVActualSoftPostPadding : 0
WM/WMRVContentProtectedPercent : 0
WM/WMRVInBandRatingSystem : 255
WM/WMRVInBandRatingLevel : 255
WM/WMRVInBandRatingAttributes : 0
WM/WMRVWatched : No
WM/WMRVATSCContent : No
WM/WMRVDTVContent : Yes
WM/WMRVHDContent : No
WM/WMRVContentProtected : No
WM/MediaThumbTimeStamp : 4648556622268653901
WM/MediaThumbWidth : 360
WM/MediaThumbHeight : 240
WM/MediaThumbStride : 1080
WM/MediaThumbRet : 0
WM/MediaThumbType : 3
WM/MediaThumbRatingSystem : 255
WM/MediaThumbRatingLevel : 255
WM/MediaThumbRatingAttributes : 0
WM/MediaThumbAspectRatioX : 4
WM/MediaThumbAspectRatioY : 3

Video
ID/String : 1
Format : MPEG Video
Format_Version : Version 2
Format_Profile : Main@Main
Format_Settings_BVOP/String : Yes
Format_Settings_Matrix/String : Default
Format_Settings_GOP : M=3, N=15
CodecID : DVR
CodecID/Hint : ASF
Duration/String : 30mn 57s
BitRate_Mode/String : Variable
BitRate/String : 2 503 Kbps
BitRate_Nominal/String : 3 750 Kbps
Width/String : 720 pixels
Height/String : 480 pixels
DisplayAspectRatio/String : 4:3
FrameRate_Mode/String : Variable
FrameRate/String : 29.970 fps
Standard : NTSC
ColorSpace : YUV
ChromaSubsampling : 4:2:0
BitDepth/String : 8 bits
ScanType/String : Interlaced
ScanOrder/String : Top Field First
Bits-(Pixel*Frame) : 0.242
StreamSize/String : 554 MiB (79%)
Language/String : English

Audio
ID/String : 2
Format : MPEG Audio
Format_Version : Version 1
Format_Profile : Layer 2
Duration/String : 30mn 57s
BitRate_Mode/String : Constant
BitRate/String : 384 Kbps
Channel(s)/String : 2 channels
SamplingRate/String : 48.0 KHz
Video_Delay/String : 7ms
StreamSize/String : 85.0 MiB (12%)
Language/String : English

[Gyrobob]

I had the problem before I installed the Nvidia codec. I tried the NVidia codec because i had the problem.

How do I get the original codec re-installed? is it a Windows DirectShow codec?

[edDV]

I had the problem before I installed the Nvidia codec. I tried the NVidia codec because i had the problem.

How do I get the original codec re-installed? is it a Windows DirectShow codec?

Ask at the green door forum. I've never used the XP version.

I'd do the format re-install routine.