Can WMP12 do on the fly transcoding?

I was using a different media server while running Win XP Pro because WMP11
was not fully DLNA compliant. With Windows 7 64-bit, WMP12 sees and works
well with my Pioneer Pro-111FD plasma, but I can't seem to figure out how to
do on the fly transcoding for the AVI videos in my Library. Is this possible?

Yes it's possible. Try it with another clip to be sure. If the files
are playable in WMP, in general it *should* work as long as the
decoder (code) you've got can be used effectively by WMP

Big buck bunny is a good test clip for this content - choose the "MP4"
AVI file type from http://www.bigbuckbunny.org/index.php/download/

I'm running this down now from WMP12 to a Netgear 'digital
entertainer' SD device, and WMP is transcoding from 1080p to PAL SD
format.

I know this is being transcoded, because the DE device will play files
from an attached USB2 stick - but refuses to play that format size
(too large for it to handle in HD) but is streams OK from WMP12 - well
with a little breakup due I think to the wifi, CPU is at 75% / 3 core
64-bit.

On the fly transcoding does take a great deal of CPU grunt, so you'll
need a very recent multicore PC to make this work well.

But in the meantime here's more data
which I have collected -

I can play the following AVI types directly on WMP12 - DivX 5.x/6.x, Motion
JPEG, and DVC/DV Video. It turns out my plasma - while indicating (in the
manual) it can only play MPEG1, MPEG2, WMV9, and MP4 - will play the DivX
5.x/6.x and Motion JPEG AVIs when served to it by WMP12 - but not the DVC/DV
Video. It seems like what I need to do is tell WMP12 when serving this video
type to the Pioneer device to transcode into something else. How would this
be possible?

I have the horsepower to do it.

Download and run the GSpot program from
http://www.headbands.com/gspot/

Try loading the DV AVI in GSpot, and press the [1] and [2] buttons to
test rendering. Can GSpot decode the video using the DirectX decoders?

Is it possible you've downloaded a codec pack of some sort which might
have broken this capability as usual ? K-Lite, Mega Codec Pack, Vista
Codec Pack etc might be some names that ring a bell here...

I admit I haven't tested streaming DV-AVI videos, if I have time this
week I'll give it a try, as I've a bunch of DV tapes here.

How did you actually acquire the files - can you convert any using
windows moviemaker, or another video editing program, then re-try that
step with the convertted WMV video ?

There's one more thing, coincidentally I was reading up on this a few
minutes later. This techy blog from an MS guy :

http://blogs.msdn.com/mediasdkstuff/...windows-7.aspx

" Also in Win 7 DirectShow has a list of blocked filters for certain
media subtypes. The Filter Graph Manager skips filters on this list.
An application can modify the list of blocked filters by using the
IAMPluginControl interface. Changes to this list affect the
application's current process, and are discarded after the process
ends. See the IAMPluginControl interface entry below for more detailed
information."

What it actually says is "If a program wants to, it can lock some
video types (codecs/plugins) out from other programs using them"

So it's quite possible that another running program *could* prevent
WMP seeing a valid DV decoder, if I've interpreted this correctly.

In that case, transcoding may suddently not be available, so try
shutting down all running and background programs to see if you can
identify anything which might cause this side effect.

Typically that might be stuff like Nero, Sony Vegas or even windows
media center or moviemaker for all I know... and any background / tray
icons those use.

These are my AVIs created via VHS capture under Sony Vegas Pro using a
Canopus ADVC110 video capture device. I have a number of converters that I
could use. I did try a conversion to MPG on one and that showed up and played
fine in my plasma's Home Media Gallery menu. BTW, the titles like these that
do not play show up in the display's HMG but grayed out.

Thing is I don't want to convert hundreds of hours of material at this
point. :-(

I'll take another look, but I'm pretty sure I checked this on a fresh boot
startup without it working. In this state I have nothing running other than
my Squeeze Center streaming audio server (does not do any video), and
SpeedFan.

Is there any way for me to see what is blocked, per above?

I checked my processes. There's a couple of iTunes background processes, an
Adobe Flash thing, and Apple Mobile Device Service.

This may or may not be of any help, but in WMP12 when I add any of these
videos to the Playlist, there is no "Send To" option - which I though was
supposed to be available. But again, they DO play within WMP.

That's probably important info, though I'm not sure what to make of
it. I'll see if I can repro these steps *this* weekend then, again if
I get time to try it...

/me sets reminder...

Hoping you have some new info.

I got the reminder, but was in the pub. Hopefully this weekend...

So I got round to testing this at least.

The bad news from my end is that I wasn't able to test the streaming
as I'd hoped. The netgear device I have ("digital entertainer live"),
doesn't actually support DV-AVI playback (it just lists generically
AVI supported on the box)

I setup some AVIs I'd captured from my DV cam, about 2-3 minutes
worth, so not huge files. DV is 25Mbps which is a little marginal on
my 54g wifi but should work. I didn't try other codecs inside AVI
container.

Placing the AVI in a monitored folder in WMP12, that was playable in
the player (first test)

I then connected the device to WMPs library and tested some other
video types - WMV, MPEG2, VOB (DVD) and similar.

The device was able to playback WMV and MPEG2 content from WMP12, and
it could see the DV-AVI as a thumbnail, but said "Not supported" when
I tried to play it back. The VOB file wasn't visible from WMP's
library.

I guess this means WMP recognises the file and is prepared to try to
play it, generating a thumbnail indicates the connection was fine and
it could negotiate with the device to be a video renderer.

I then put the DV-AVI and VOB onto a Lacie network streamer / hard
disk. This time, the VOB file could be played from the network.

However, the DV-AVI was still reported as 'Not supported' which means
WMP wasn't specifically at fault for it not being streamed - the
Netgear device presumably either can't render 25Mbps video reliably or
doesn't decode it (it won't decode anything over 720p video of any
type)

Unfortunately I was unable to get a Vista machine to display *any*
videos in the WMP12 library, I'm not sure why as I thought this was
possible... perhaps my sharing permissions are wrong there.

So I guess I've drawn an "inconclusive" experimental straw - I don't
currently have a device I can complete the tests with - perhaps if you
can loan a Sony PS3 that might be a useful test device to try to
eliminate the TV as a cause of non-playback.

Sorry I've not been much use, I thought I'd have more luck with this
one...


Out of curiosity, did you get the Big bnuck bunny clip (MPEG4) playing
OK ? This is to test the ability to break out the video from within
the AVI container format.

This probably isn't relevant, but may be worth checking : Tim De Baets
has suggested some settings which may be in the registry already, to
make sure WMP recognises AVI as addable to the media library
or http://tinyurl.com/yzbv728

As far as I remember, you can add AVI to the library - that is, it
appears there and you're not just playing back by opening the file in
windows explorer, right ?

The only other option I suggest trying is a different DLNA server. The
Twonky media server worked well enough for a
friend with his PS3, and should offer full DLNA compliance and
transcoding. Have a pop at the free trial to see how you get on.

Neil, thanks so much for the excellent effort. I'm busy for the next couple
of days but will try some of this and will get back to you on how it turns
out.