Fallback video codec?

hello vorum!

I consider myself at least a vvvv intermediate allthough I stuck with the following problem:

There is a new machine, that won’t play any video (filestream-videotexture-quad-renderer) and there is not even the video’s duration displayed on the filestream’s output pin (or anything else).

here the stats:

  • latest official vvvv version.
  • PC, Windows32 XP Pro, SP2
  • AMD Athlon64 3200+ (2.0GHz), 2GB Ram
  • Nvidia Quadro NVS 285 (latest drivers)

Installed software:

  • QuickTime Pro
  • Windows Media Player 10
  • VLC Mediaplayer

…so on the one hand my question would be, what codec can be seen as “should always at least play” (regardless of performance).

…and on the other: after I tried at least avi uncompressed (!), sorenson3, sorenson, cinepack and mpeg2, what else could I do?! I mean, this aint an old machine, that graphics card should support dx 9c, there are three major mediaplayers installed the come along together with dozens of codecs. btw, needless to say that all videos play flawlessly with the mediaplayers.

I want to see videoframes!..
I am stumped with this.

regards,
~d

ehlo domino,

under windows there are several ways for a video to be played back. different mediaplayers use different techniques. vvvv uses the VMR9 directshow filter.

your best test is always with mediaplayer classic (mpc) which lets you choose between different playback techniques including VMR9 in renderless mode.

in mpc:
VIEW -> Options -> Playback -> Output
select
VMR9 (renderless)
and
Use texture surfaces and render video in 3D

restart mpc.
this comes closest to the way vvvv plays back videos. if this plays your videos vvvv should play them too. note that this is not true for any quicktime format. where mpc plays .mov files natively vvvv needs quicktime directshow filters (see FAQ Codecs.

also make sure the NVS drivers really supports dx9. run dxdiag.exe and check the display tab. under driver it should mention a DDI-Version of 9 (or higher)

thank you joreg very much for this very vvvvaluable information!
It will surely find it’s way into my vvv-survival-kit-knowledgebase as I often have to find a working codec.

this time I tracked the error down to something that feels like a bug… something that makes video filestreams not working when a EX9 Renderer is a: not connected/present or b: hidden (alt+3).
kind of consequent but can be quite disturbing during patching.

I’ll come back to this when I have further information about it.

thank you,
~d

I have had a similar problem myself… my videos will play in Media Player Classic, QuickTime, Windows Media Player etc. as a standalone, and i’ve downloaded a ton of codecs, but nothing will play in vvvv. It has something to do with EXP Renderer, but I will try your solution.

I thought it might have something to do w/ the fact that I’m running this off of Parallels (MacBook Pro, Windows XP) but now i’m not so sure…

Can someone confirm this bug?

L

Do you guys use more than one screen to show it? Or in an other way: is your output renderer window in a second screen like beamer?
If so, then set your graficcard to SPAN-mode. Otherwise the videotexture is stored in a different buffer area (for first screen, where there the patch is) and the second screen cant get access to this buffer. Its weird, but its how it works on cards.