Upgrade Live TV codecs in win 7 without breaking DRM?

[jachin99]

I have been looking through the old Hack7MC site via the web archive, and I came across a post about upgrading live TV codecs. This is already possible via Sharks codec pack BUT the caveat has been that it only works with 32 bit windows. I scrolled through the comments to see if there was ever a work around, and it appears there MIGHT be. I also noticed how old the conversation was, and I wonder if there is a 64 bit version of these codecs available in newer builds of PowerDVD. EIDT: Apparently, from powerdvd 13 and on, cyberlink's codecs will only work with their products. For the time being I'm not in the mood to break anything but if someone wants to give it a try, here is a link what I have been reading. https://web.archive.org/web/20150223132 ... coder.html I'm doing a quick dirty job of documenting this, and I'll try to grab files, and get a little more context in a bit.

If found this in comment 2042, and this user claims to have it working in x64 windows by using the preferred filter tweaker in ffdshow?

From user ricopicouk:

_A2999B32CFD14E0385CC0CC8DB803CB4
size: 981 KB (1,004,944 bytes)
Which I found in the filename: PowerDVD9_Trial+BD_with+Dolby_.1719_DVD090514-08.exe

From stormking:

Thanks ricopicouk. I used your key with the latest trial and have the cyberlink codec working on Windows 7 x64 build 7201 – so it is working under x64.

Notes:
- I did not have to change the filename “msmpeg2vdec.dll”, as I could not anyway due to permission problems.
- FFDShow launches and is receiving a raw NV12 video stream from CyberLink. I don’t understand how FFDShow is being enabled – it must be the default handler of this NV12 stream, I guess.
- So now for my digital TV channels I can have FFDShow; 1) deinterlace w/ yadif, 2) postprocess luminance and full luma range, 3) levels, auto, 4) Resize to 1920×1080 (keep aspect) w/ Spline on luma and chroma, w/ luma gaussian blur: 0.20 and luma and chrome sharpen 1.50. Looks pretty good for SD QAM.
- The flickering I have noticed w/ the MS Decoder not handling interlaced QAM channels is gone w/ the CyberLink codec which properly handles interlaced video and does not create flickering artifacts.
- CyberLink does not show up as a choice in MCDU, which I have now left on the MS Decoder – while making the above modification to the registry to enable CyberLink as the default codec. Apparently, I do not need to set MCDU to FFDShow anymore if I set all the choices in “Preferred Filter Tweaker” to FFDShow. Although CyberLink is not a choice under 64bit default MPEG2 decoder, it is under 32bit and somehow by making the above manual tweak – it works.
- Between the manaul regedit, the MCDU tool and the “Preferred Filter Tweaker” it is confusing what is setting what – as when you alter the MPEG2 selection on the PFT tool, this does not change the same registry setting discussed in this article. So the difference between these 2 default MPEG2 decoders isn’t clear.

So, it works but not clear why. My original thought was that even if its 32bit filter, if you start the 32bit Media Player prior to starting MC, MC will use the 32bit version of MP and thus use the 32bit filters. However, this is unnecessary as wmplayer.exe (32 or 64) is not launched with CyberLink codec enabled. So, I guess MC can use 32 or 64bit filters.

[jachin99]

Here is another claimed success story where powerdvd codecs are working on live tv in win 7 x64. I'm wondering how I can view the filters WMC is using to verify any successes.
It’s in 32 bit mode.
These are my steps.
Install windows 7 and x64 codecs from shark codec.
Install the powerdvd codec like above or I just installed powerdvd 9.
Use win7DSFilterTweaker to set all your codecs to ffdshow and powerdvd for 32bit mpeg2
open config for x64 shark codecs and set to use 32x windows media player. Then media center will use powerdvd codec 32x for live tv.
Good luck only thing that won’t work is mp4 playback because of media foundation which if turned off breaks live tv.
Good luck. Still waiting for a native x64 codec but for now powerdvd is noticeably better than the Microsoft alternative.

[jachin99]

A little bit more information https://web.archive.org/web/20110414045 ... aces-vmcd/