AVStoDVD Codec issue

[pcapone]

I just tried to start AVStoDVD and when it opened at the bottom it said something about taking a look at my codecs. When i clicked it said i had Microsofts enabled which shouldnt be right. I installed ffdshow then installed LAV (which I already had installed) and restarted AVStoDVD. Got the same error again. I pulled up the settings box like it suggested and tried to select LAV and it gave me an error which i posted screenshot of below. I thought when you installed those they took ownership. I downloaded this http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=146910 which allows me to change settings but I dont want to do that yet incase its just something simple. After loading into the program it said I dont have AVISynth installed and I do. I reinstalled it too, reloaded AVStoDVD and still the same error. When installing AVISynth the first time and it got to the window asking for install folder location it had C:\Program Files (x86)\DIKO\AVISynth which is odd. So I went ahead and changed it to C:\Program Files (x86)\AVISynth and continued installing.

Any Ideas whats going on?

Screenshot:

[pcapone]

Also which should I stick with FFDshow or LAV? Which is better and more compatible?

[pcapone]

Ok I think I fixed the issue...

Now when I load it the log shows:

'20:33:06' AVStoDVD Release 2.8.3 loaded!
'20:33:06' AviSynth 2.6.0 is installed ("C:\Windows\system32\avisynth.dll").
'20:33:06' ffdshow 1.3.4532 32bit is installed ("C:\Program Files (x86)\ffdshow\ffdshow.ax").
'20:33:06' LAV Filters 0.68.0 is installed ("C:\Program Files (x86)\LAV Filters\x86\LAVVideo.ax").
'20:33:06' Warning! Having both ffdshow and LAV Filters installed may cause media decoding instability! Please consider removing one of them.
'20:33:06' ImgBurn 2.5.8 is installed ("C:\Program Files (x86)\ImgBurn\ImgBurn.exe").
'20:33:06' New AVStoDVD Project started!

So it seems its recognizing LAV, FFDshow, and AVISynth. Problem is when i load up that WinDSFilterTweaker application (the one in the link i posted) it still shows everything as Microsoft.

[DB83]

^^ surely that is just an series of option boxes where you can change the DS filters.

I have never heard of MERIT. That smells of a system take-over by a codec pack.

[pcapone]

Is it ok to leave both ffdshow and LAV on my machine or should I remove one? If I remove one which is the best to keep?

and should i change the settings in the box for each to ffdshow or LAV? Which would be the ones i should change?

[pcapone]

Im still confused on what to do with the codecs? Leave both on or remove one like suggested and then which to remove. Next changing the settings in the configuration box so that the system properly utilizes the correct one for each container.

[Cornucopia]

^^ surely that is just an series of option boxes where you can change the DS filters.

I have never heard of MERIT. That smells of a system take-over by a codec pack.

I'm a little surprised at your response, DB83.

Merit is Windows' official internal setting for which codec gets priority. There are utilities that allow you to manually tweak the merit of each codec (raising or lowering it's priority) and possible fallback options. Just like there are utilities that allow one to choose the default player for a certain filetype. Without such utilities, it's often a matter of which one natively has the highest merit "score", or which one was installed last.

Scott

[pcapone]

Ah so thats what that is. I was wondering as well.

[DB83]

^^ surely that is just an series of option boxes where you can change the DS filters.

I have never heard of MERIT. That smells of a system take-over by a codec pack.

I'm a little surprised at your response, DB83.

Merit is Windows' official internal setting for which codec gets priority. There are utilities that allow you to manually tweak the merit of each codec (raising or lowering it's priority) and possible fallback options. Just like there are utilities that allow one to choose the default player for a certain filetype. Without such utilities, it's often a matter of which one natively has the highest merit "score", or which one was installed last.

Scott

Thanks for that. I could have looked it up before posting but when I saw options with filters I do know I put 2 and 2 together and made the proverbial 5.

Still uncertain if that is the best option in this scenario since avstodvd suggests that if lav and ffdshow are installed one should be removed. What then is to guarantee that MERIT would select the best filter for this operation especially since Ms's own is on the top of the list.

[Cornucopia]

No guarantees.

If one HAD to remove something (not necessary unless problems are exhibited), I would choose ffdshow. LAVfilters seem both more encompassing and better coordinated. And better supported/updated.

Scott

[pcapone]

Thanks I guess I will leave them both until I run into problems. I just hope that they are actually being selected and used by applications and not Microsoft taking over everything.

[pcapone]

So far no issues so assuming I made the right move with this situation.