ffdshow isn't called if MPC is using Overlay Mixer?

[Rekrul]

In ffdshow, the Overlay page says that it supports Overlay Mixer and WMR9 in windowed mode, however it only seems to work if Media Player Classic is set to Overlay Mixer. In WMR9 Windowed, all of the sliders except Brightness are greyed out and even changing the brightness doesn't seem to affect the picture.

They do work when MPC is set to Overlay Mixer, but here's the problem; Half the time, ffdshow is never called, even though I'm playing an Xvid file and I have Xvid set to libavcodec on the codecs page. Set MPC to WMR9 and ffdshow is called. Change the output to Overlay Mixer, re-open the file and ffdshow closes.

It works with some files, but not most.

Why does the renderer selected in MPC affect whether or not ffdshow is called to decode the file? How can I make sure that it's called every time regardless of the renderer?

[clsid]

That shouldn't be happening. I always use Overlay and I never had such a problem.

Which decoder gets used instead of ffdshow when this happens? Did you make any changes to the output options in ffdshow?

[Rekrul]

That shouldn't be happening. I always use Overlay and I never had such a problem.

Which decoder gets used instead of ffdshow when this happens? Did you make any changes to the output options in ffdshow?

No, I haven't made any changes to the Output options.

This is very strange...

Just a few hours ago, I was watching a video and was experiencing the problem I posted about. I opened several different videos several times each and it happened every time. I haven't changed anything or even rebooted my system since then, but yet I just switched to the Overlay Mixer, opened the exact same videos and ffdshow loaded like it was supposed to.

This isn't a one-time fluke though, I've noticed it before.

As for what decoder gets used when ffdshow isn't called, I'm not sure. I only know that ffdshow isn't in use because the icon doesn't show up in the system tray and the video image is much too dark (I have ffdshow's options set to brighten it quite a bit).

To be honest, I'm not sure how to check what decoder is in use. I'm using Windows 98, so if such information is listed in 2K/NT/XP's task manager, I don't have access to it. I tried Process Explorer from SysInternals, but it doesn't seem to list codecs. even ffdshow isn't listed when it's being used.

How can I tell the next time this happens?

[Leak]

How can I tell the next time this happens?
Right-click the video, and look into the "Filter" submenu in the context menu - that'll list all filters used to play back your video (and, of course, you can click them to configure them).

If it's not using ffdshow, something else has to be listed in there...

[Rekrul]

Right-click the video, and look into the "Filter" submenu in the context menu - that'll list all filters used to play back your video (and, of course, you can click them to configure them).

If it's not using ffdshow, something else has to be listed in there...

Thanks for the info. I'll be sure to check the next time this happens.

[Rekrul]

That shouldn't be happening. I always use Overlay and I never had such a problem.

Which decoder gets used instead of ffdshow when this happens? Did you make any changes to the output options in ffdshow?

Ok, it just happened again and I've discovered the cause; It seems that ffdshow doesn't get called when MPC is set to use the Overlay Mixer and I have the S-Video out on my video card active. I use this to watch videos on my TV. I set the display properties to Clone so that I get the same image on both the monitor and the TV. When I do this, ffdshow won't load if MPC is using the Overlay Mixer. There's no icon in the system tray and if I open the video decoder configuration from the Start menu and make changes, like to the Gamma, they are not applied to the picture.

The Filters menu just lists "AVI Decompressor (XVID)" and when I select it, I get the following info (I blocked out the name of the video, but this happens with every one that I try);

http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/2530/capture03062007052251dl0.th.jpg (http://img512.imageshack.us/my.php?image=capture03062007052251dl0.jpg)
http://img390.imageshack.us/img390/6757/capture03062007052336dw8.th.jpg (http://img390.imageshack.us/my.php?image=capture03062007052336dw8.jpg)

Does this tell you anything?

Also, it seems that ffdshow won't get called for other video types either. For example, it should be used for FLV files, but it isn't. As soon as I select a different renderer on MPC's output page and re-open the file, ffdshow shows up normally. Of course then the Overlay options are unavailable. Contrary to the note on that page, they do not work in VMR9 (Windowed) mode, only the brightness slider is active.

It also works, if I disable the S-Video out and switch back to a single display in the Nvidia prefs.

[foxyshadis]

Try disabling the whitelist & blacklist options. There might be something weird interfering (though it shouldn't be).

[Rekrul]

Try disabling the whitelist & blacklist options. There might be something weird interfering (though it shouldn't be).

You lost me. I don't see any whitelist/blacklist option in ffdshow, MPC or the video card prefs.

[clsid]

(in recent versions)
ffdshow audio/video decoder configuration -> DirectShow Control

[Rekrul]

(in recent versions)
ffdshow audio/video decoder configuration -> DirectShow Control

Ok, I cleared both checkboxes in both the audio and video configurations. It didn't make any difference. If the Nvidia prefs are set to Clone (same image on monitor & TV) and MPC is set to Overlay Mixer, ffshow isn't called.

However, I've noticed something strange. I have ffdshow set to brighten the image and when I use Overlay Mixer the image appears as I want it. If I use WMR9 (Windowed), the image appears darker as if it's not applying all of my settings. I get the same results when the S-Video out is enabled (lighter image using Overlay Mixer, darker with WMR9).

To confirm that ffdshow was not running, I set it to only process the right half of the image. Using just the monitor, this shows up as it should. When the TV is enabled, the entire image is uniform.

As a further test, I set XVID to disabled in ffdshow, then viewed the same file using the Overlay Mixer. It was dark. So it appears that even though ffdshow doesn't appear to be called, something is causing the image to be lighter than it normally would be.

Note: All of my observations regarding lighter/darker were done by looking at the image on my monitor. I'm aware that the image on a TV is lighter than in Windows.

Summary:

TV disabled, Overlay Mixer (OM), XVID set to libavcodec - ffdshow called, light image.

TV disabled, VMR9-W, XVID set to libavcodec - ffdshow called, dark image.

TV disabled, OM or VMR9-W, XVID set to disabled - ffdshow not called, dark image.

TV enabled, Overlay Mixer (OM), XVID set to libavcodec - ffdshow not called, light image.

TV enabled, WMR9-W, XVID set to libavcodec - ffdshow called, dark image.

Note: I base my determination of ffdshow not being called on the fact that there's no icon in the system tray, files that need ffdshow to be viewed (like FLV) no longer work and opening and making changes to the video decoder config seems to have no effect on the image.