LAV and Haali splitter preference?

[`Orum]

I'm trying to have LAV Filters installed at the same time as Haali Media Splitter (needed for eac3to/dss2), and use LAV whenever possible (as it supports some things HMS does not). While they are both technically "installed", and I paid careful attention not to check any of the boxes when installing HMS, it's still being used as the preferred splitter. So, how do I set things up so that LAV is used by default over HMS where possible?

I thought that Win7DSFilterTweaker would fix the issue, and set "LAV Video/Audio" wherever applicable, but this appears to only affect the preferred codec and not which splitter to use. I also looked at LAV and HMS settings for any "merit" or preference settings, but I can't seem to find any such settings in either.

Any ideas?

[foxyshadis]

You probably want Directshow Filter Manager, where you can reduce the merit for Haali. (By default, LAV is slightly higher than Haali.) Win7DSFilterTweaker only sets preferred decoders, and doesn't touch splitters.

[IanD]

If you are using MPC with LAV filters, I think you can add the LAV filters as "Prefer" and the Haali Splitter as "Block" to MPC in the external filters section, so it won't use Haali as the splitter when playing videos through MPC, but will leave it unaffected for eac3to. Ideally you would use MPC as the front end only with all its splitters and decoders disabled, so it uses LAV instead.

[`Orum]

Originally Posted by foxyshadis

You probably want Directshow Filter Manager, where you can reduce the merit for Haali. (By default, LAV is slightly higher than Haali.) Win7DSFilterTweaker only sets preferred decoders, and doesn't touch splitters.

LAV is indeed at a higher priority than HMS, and yet, for some reason, HMS is still preferred. I lowered HMS's priority as well, just to have a larger gap between the two, and still no dice.

So, if it has lower merit, why is it still used instead of LAV? Do I need to install LAV after HMS (as I currently installed LAV before)?

Originally Posted by IanD

If you are using MPC with LAV filters...

I am (with external LAV--or will be once I fix this issue), but I'd like it to work by default everywhere, particularly for GraphStudioNext (and clones).

[cyberbeing]

Yes, you would need run the LAV Filters installer after HMS, and have it set itself as the source filter for formats you want it used instead of Haali.

Haali always sets itself as the default source filter for all supported formats whenever it is installed.

[filler56789]

Originally Posted by cyberbeing

......

Haali always sets itself as the default source filter for all supported formats whenever it is installed.

Perhaps JEEB could fix that specific MAJOR annoyance, since he has access to the source-code of Haali Media Splitter.

[`Orum]

Originally Posted by cyberbeing

Yes, you would need run the LAV Filters installer after HMS, and have it set itself as the source filter for formats you want it used instead of Haali.

Ah, that did indeed fix it. That's rather annoying and unusual, but at least I know the workaround now. Thanks.

Originally Posted by cyberbeing

Haali always sets itself as the default source filter for all supported formats whenever it is installed.

Hrm, that's odd, as I thought unchecking everything on here on install would prevent that, but I guess not:

[clsid]

It always sets itself as preferred for Matroska, not for the other formats (if unchecked).

You can easily change preferred splitters with Codec Tweak Tool.

[filler56789]

• Disable MPC internal Matroska splitter

• Disable Gabest's Matroska splitter

Are those options still necessary in 2014?

[`Orum]

Ran into another problem now. If I try to play any avs script with both audio and video streams in a DirectShow player (e.g. MPC-HC; GraphStudioNext), the audio will play and the video will not render. The problem is, I think, that LAV is still inserted in the render path, trying to take this raw YV12 video and 'decode' it (or ideally pass-through assuming YV12 output is checked), which it can't seem to handle, and rendering fails. A quick look at LAV's video options doesn't reveal anything for raw YV12.

Strangely, this doesn't happen when there is either no audio or no video, which leads me to believe it's an issue with the interleaved A/V requiring a splitter (where it chooses LAV), which then forces video decoding. For example:

# Does not play correctly in DirectShow players.  Problem appears to be independent of which audio source filter is used.
vid = dss2("foo.flv").ColorYUV(levels="TV->PC")
aud = FFAudioSource("foo.flv")
AudioDub(vid, aud)

# This by itself does play however... (Edit: only in MPC-HC (which has all internal splitters/decoders disabled); not in GraphStudioNext)
dss2("foo.flv").ColorYUV(levels="TV->PC")

# ...as does this
FFAudioSource("foo.flv")

All cases listed above open just fine in players that are VFW based, such as AvsP or VirtualDub. The MPC-HC error that appears when opening is:

AVI/WAV File Source::Avisynth video #1

Media Type 0:
--------------------------
Video: YV12 1920x1080 30fps

AM_MEDIA_TYPE: 
majortype: MEDIATYPE_Video {73646976-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}
subtype: MEDIASUBTYPE_YV12 {32315659-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}
formattype: FORMAT_VideoInfo {05589F80-C356-11CE-BF01-00AA0055595A}
bFixedSizeSamples: 1
bTemporalCompression: 0
lSampleSize: 3110400
cbFormat: 88

Which again leads me to believe there is some weirdness with LAV and raw YV12, which only manifests itself when it's interleaved with audio. So, what's happening exactly, and what can I do to fix it? I thought that unchecking "raw video" and "raw audio" in LAV's splitter settings would fix it, but no such luck. Any ideas?

Edit: Nevermind, this problem seems to be associated with the EVR renderer, and not Haali/LAV specifically. Using madVR solved the problem.

[cyberbeing]

You require a VFW YV12 decoder like FFDShow, Divx, Xvid, Helix, etc to output Avisynth YV12 as-is to most renders. madVR is an exception, since it has built-in support for raw YUV VFW input from Avisynth.

[nevcairiel]

You could also use LAV Splitter as a source filter for the AviSynth scripts, it would then load LAV Video to properly deal with the YV12 video, and ensure compatibility with all renderers.

[`Orum]

Originally Posted by nevcairiel

You could also use LAV Splitter as a source filter for the AviSynth scripts, it would then load LAV Video to properly deal with the YV12 video, and ensure compatibility with all renderers.

Ah, I didn't realize it was possible to use LAV Splitter as a source filter. How is that done (other than DirectShowSource, which doesn't appear to solve the issue)?

But I've had enough issues with madVR to want to get others working correctly. I may just install helix for the time being.

[filler56789]

^ Either AviSource, OR DSS2Mod.