The DirectShow Tab

The DirectShow Tab allows to select the video/audio decoder and video renderer that are used for playback. The settings take effect immediately. If you select a decoder, the filter graph (the chain of DirectShow playback components ) will be rebuilt at once.

Decoder Selection | Renderer Selection

Decoder Selection

The drop-down lists in the Video/Audio Decoder sections contain all available decoders in your system that DirectShow regards as suitable for the according format (which doesn't necessarily mean they work well).

<System Default> lets Windows select the decoder - usually the one with the highest merit value in your system. It is recommendable to select a specific decoder that shows good results, however.

For DTS audio (sometimes contained in VOB- and M2TS files) the TSPlayer preferably uses the decoder selected for AC3, provided it can cope with this format.

It is recommendable to install the free LAV Filters package (easy to find in the web), because the included decoders cover almost all video and audio formats supported by the TSPlayer (including HEVC and exotic formats like AES3 audio). However, there are no freeware VC-1 decoders up to now that are compatible with the DVBViewer Filter output (which the TSPlayer uses as source filter / splitter / demultiplexer), so a commercial solution like Sonic or Cyberlink is required.

The Context Menu that appears after right-clicking the TSPlayer Main Window lists all DirectShow components (filters) that are used for playback. Open a filter's property page (if available) by selecting the according item. Grayed items indicate that the filter does not provide a property page. The DVBViewer Filter, serving as source filter, appears under the name „DVB Source“. It displays the current video/audio format on its property page. Please refer to the DVBViewer Filter manual for more information.

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Renderer Selection

The „Video“ drop-down list in the Renderer section allows to select the Video Renderer that renders the picture and delivers it to the graphics card driver:

If the selected renderer or the required mode is not available, the TSPlayer automatically falls back to the next best choice.

Please note: The (Standard and Custom) EVR is the only video renderer that enables hardware accelerated video decoding (DXVA2) under Vista and later Windows versions, thus saving a lot of CPU load (particularly in case of H.264 video), provided the graphics card supports decoding the format and the video decoder uses these capabilities. Please open the video decoder's property page by right-clicking the TSPlayer Main Window when video playback is going on and check whether it provides DXVA resp. hardware acceleration settings.

Subtitles displayed “on screen” are only available with the VMR 9 and EVR as Video Renderer.

The „Audio“ dropdown list in the Renderer section allows to select the Audio Renderer. It is responsible for outputting audio to the sound card. Each item represents an audio device, a specific way of accessing it or (particularly under Vista and later) a kind of audio output. By selecting an audio renderer you may switch over to a different sound cards, or under Vista and later to a different kind of audio output (PC speakers, SPDIF, HDMI...).

Audio renderers with „DirectSound“ in their name usually provide individual volume control for each program. Others (particularly „Default WaveOut“) are using the „global“ Windows volume control. In this case changing the volume in the TSPlayer will affect other programs. „Default“ as part of an audio renderer name refers to the default audio device selected in the Windows Control Panel.

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