Just a quick note:

Could not get my T2 WM9 to play AT ALL on Windows 2k3 server. Not much problem with XP (had to rebuild machine though).

Now that I'm sure many others like myself have received their $10 bargain, is there any update on what to do if you live in the UK for the license?
Plus if anyone could post the instructions of what to do (in an idiot-proof way!) it would be much appreciated.
Thanks
Dean.

Sorry - waht is the $10 bargain?

DeepDiscountDVD offer.

Dean-> Same here. What to do if living outside the states or Canada.

If you read earlier in this very long thread, they talk about non-US users and proxy servers. Not sure if it still works, but some seemed to get it to work.

Good Luck.

Finally got it work!
Ended up finding a proxy that worked but also discovered that I need to change the proxy in the Lan settings of internet tools, along with in WMP9 and changing the pc's time to a US time zone.

GOod luck guys, if I can do it, anyone can!

Dean.

I can't get it to work.

Have tried different proxies but they have stopped the proxy trick.
"You're using an anonymous proxy.... bla bla....

Worst money I ever spend :( :(

Originally posted by koberlin1
I tried playing the available HD trailers from the Microsoft WMP site but to no avail on my dual 1Gig....not even close. Maybe it is the new WMP9 for OSX? What a humbling experience...guess my dual 1 gig is already out of date ) :

I did download the Matrix HD trailers in Quicktime format which have the same resolution as the WMP trailers but a MUCH lower bitrate (like 1000 kbps). They still look dazzling with the low bitrate. Why is WMP's bitrate so high? I wonder if I could re-encode them in the WMP encoder on my PC with a lower bitrate... I totally want to check em out though! Would be nice on a Cinema Display I bet. Anyone lucky enough to experience this? I also think my AGP slot is 4X with a 64MB card...this I am sure does not help...

While they do look good for such a low bit rate I imagine you are viewing them on a 19" screen or something of the sort. Blowing it up to 50+" HD tv screen should more than reveal the quality difference.

I bought Inter Video's Win DVD 5 Platnuim w/InterActual built in and it works perfectly. Awesome Video quality. Now I'm working on getting connected to my HDTV in HD!!!!!!
Hoping to firewire it into my RX-Z9 then to my TV.
Let you know.

Flynn

Any way to stitch these files together - the 10 second pause between files is VERY annoying.

Hi,

Any way to play it from outside US ? :( !

--Patrice

laric-> Search this thread for Proxy and you will find some usefull info.

Thnaks Thue, I've allready done it, but it's a real pain do try many proxy before getting one work... for few days.

--Patrice

Yeah, It ain't easy being a Frog and a Wiking these days.

Haha Thue :)

laric you've got a PM.

Well, the InterActual Player completely hosed my W2K HTPC. Crashes even when I try to play a regular DVD with ZP or TT. Thanks!!!

Try system restore to an earlier index point.

Originally posted by Thue
Try system restore to an earlier index point.

W2K has system restore? Guess I should have a Ghost image.

I'm just going to wipe the drive and go to XP. I'm sick of the long W2K boot time anyway. T2 played fine on my XP machine doing the DVDRUN.exe thing without installing the POS IA player.

I'm having trouble getting my T2 HD disk to play. I begrudgingly installed intervideo. When I started intervideo, it started the T2 menu lead in that has the three options, DVD ROM, something about FX, and HD. When I select HD I get a splash screen telling me to use the autorun on the disk or double click install.exe. WHich I obviously had already done! I'm running Windows Media Player 9. I get the same thing when I start it in WMP9. So apparently it isn't phoning home. I have a valid license. Does anyone know what its problem is? Any work arounds? or tips? I would've never wasted money on this damn thing if it wouldn't play the HD stuff.... damn DRM crap. Go open source!! Freedom!!

I had a friend over last night here in Atlanta to show him the G70 and what it could do ---> my T2 that worked before from the DVD went into a loop looking for the *&^#* license.

The HTPC Internet connection was active and the browser was working fine. But the lame InterWhatever Player just keeps saying no license. InterWhatever software totally sucks for comparison with TT anyway - probably was better to show HDNet and TT material but it still ticks me off. :(

CRTs like to go straight into the movie without spending time on the desktop getting licenses - loading programs etc. omg - what a crock of BS. I feel like someone robbed me - ouch - come to think of it they did rob me. heheh.

I have a sudden urge to send the T2 disk back and demand a credit. This *&*&^#*^& internet license thing is again "a crock of BS" and a rip off. Major companies promising what they cannot deliver. So, I have paid for something I cannot use -----> when I want to use it. lol. Caveat Emptor.

T2 HD will be up again for a try sometime in 2005 with no guests present. Not really a big deal - but is this the same industry that is pushing HDCP and other things to limit my use of what I buy and pay for - lol - what a joke :)

You can play the T2 HD files without installing the annoying Interactual player. You can acquire a license and play it with MP9. See this post way back in this thread for instructions.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=2284057#post2284057

Originally posted by jschefdog
You can play the T2 HD files without installing the annoying Interactual player. You can acquire a license and play it with MP9. See this post way back in this thread for instructions.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=2284057#post2284057

I think this only works with XP. When I tried it in W2K, it didn't know what DVDRUN.exe was. However, playback couldn't be simpler once I installed XP using Windows Media Player 9 after doing the DVDRUN.exe thing. Watched the movie a couple of nights ago and was impressed.

Originally posted by Phat Phreddy
One thing I want to say in MS's defense...

The DRM itself does not need to be painful... Consider the BMW hire clips... I would not have even known they were DRM protected... I just put them in and played them...

Artisan have choosen to tie this with the IA player and adopt geographic restrictions... Artisan have had thier license server go down... Artisan have precisely 1 person on that cs@artisanent.com email (according to the reply I got from it) who sounds stressed to the point of a nervous breakdown...

It is Artisan who were not ready for this not necessarily the system itself... Problem is of course putting power into the hands of unready content owners...



My problem was a result of their server being down - like Phat says this is more the problem of Artisan probably being ill prepared and not doing it right.

My concern is that when I buy something I expect it to continue to work even if the company goes belly up. So this whole way of licensing is just plain scary and obscene because it protects the seller while the buyer is left not knowing when - if - or how long he can use the product. All the buyer knows for sure is that he has five days guaranteed maybe - depending on whether Artisan's servers are running are not.

I buy about one or two movies every week. I will pass on anything that even looks like this or that DVI authentication stuff where they are limiting my ability in anyway to see on whatever equipment I prefer to use whether it is RGB - DVI - Component. This is just another paranoid greed attack by an industry that thinks their customers are thieves and act accordingly. Someday this attitude will bite them where it really hurts - IN their pocket books. muhahah.

So T2 is supposed to look better right? It looks the same to me , I have a BG 808 crt projector running at 720p using power stip . Maybe Im doing something wrong . It plays in the Interactual player no propblem , it just looks like the normal version. Pc power is no problem as well, I have a 3.2 gig machine and a nvidia 5600 vidio card . Any Ideas would be a great help.

Regards

Are you comparing it to the commercial T2 DVD output at 480P?

Jim Noyd. Yes I am comparing it to the retail version DVD , I think it's the Ultimate edition.

Regards

But, you're not scaling the retail version past 480p?

Originally posted by Tully
So T2 is supposed to look better right? It looks the same to me, I have a BG 808 crt projector running at 720p using power stip. Maybe Im doing something wrong. It plays in the Interactual player no propblem, it just looks like the normal version.Something must be wrong, as the difference is night and day to my eye's!

This is best demonstrated via this link...
http://207.136.67.23/film/dvdcompare/term2.htm

As can be seen by the comparison shots, the HD version has significantly more detail in the image, and appears significantly sharper.

Note especially the shot with the two girls holding their drink cups. Only on the HD version is the "Subway" logo clearly visible and readable! On the other 2 DVD versions this is just a smudge.

Of course, to see this improvement your display device must be capable of showing you the difference. ie: It must be able to fully resolve the individual 720p pixels.

Greg

I was doing something wrong alright, I was watching the wrong disc! What a putz I am .

Well it loaded up and played , and wow I am impressed. Great PQ!

I had no idea there was two discs of the movie in the box , I thought the other one was the extras.

Regards just mail all putz remarks directly to me LOL

Using Pentinum4 2.6 processor, the playback is not smooth. Need help for decent playback! Thanks in advance!

Alex

Also look at the top image in the comparisons were the girl is riding the bike. In the HD picture you can see and even almost read the STOP sign which is right above the old car driving down the street. The next image down you can barely make it out and on the bottom picture you would not even know it was there if it were not for the HD image at the top.

I have the following system:

Athlon64 3400+
Radeon 9700 Pro (128 MB)
1 GB PC3200 DDR
WinXP Home

And I am getting stuttering playback @ 100% CPU usage, even though the windowsmedia demos play perfectly smooth.

One issue I did notice is that my DVD drive is somehow locked into PIO mode, but I'm not sure how to switch out of that.

One issue I did notice is that my DVD drive is somehow locked into PIO mode, but I'm not sure how to switch out of that.
Fixed it by uninstalling the IDE controller and reinstalling it. Playback is smooth and consistent now with better CPU usage (although still fairly high).

richmond5 - the specs for this disc say 3.0 GHz processor minimum. I have tried playing on my 2.6 GHz machine and get choppy playback as well.

Has anyone gotten smooth playback with less than a 3.0 GHz processor?

Originally posted by seplant
richmond5 - the specs for this disc say 3.0 GHz processor minimum. I have tried playing on my 2.6 GHz machine and get choppy playback as well.

Has anyone gotten smooth playback with less than a 3.0 GHz processor?

This is achievable. Unfortunately, the entire equation contains numerous variables, and a 3 Ghz processor will not guarantee smooth playback. Basically, the crux of the problem is this: You have 41ms to grab the data off of the disc, decrypt it, decompress it, and render it (put simply -- there are a number of steps in playback).

There are a number of potential bottlenecks that can disrupt playback along this pipeline. We're working on some performance analyzation tools, but until the are finished, the best answer is to make the computer perform each step as fast as possible. This means the fastest proc you can use, fast memory, front-side bus, graphics card, drivers, etc. That being said, clearly nobody wants to go out and spend an extra $3000 on the fastest machine on the market when they likely already have a setup.

There are a number of known issues that must be in place for good playback, but the most import ones for 1080p playback are the support of AGP FastWrite and 200Mhz (800, Intel would say) front-side bus speeds. Fast (relative term, I know) CPUs and graphics cards are necessary and users have had the most luck with 3Ghz class machines as they tend to be higher end and have more of the necessary components. Even so, if a system takes 9ms to do something when it should be taking 3ms, the entire playback chain can be disrupted, resulting in things like dropped frames. This can happen outside of the main CPU, so you may be dropping frames even if task manager reports only 25% CPU utilization.

Until we are able to provide playback performance analysis tools, the forums provide excellent advice on individual components and driver experiences.

Until we are able to provide playback performance analysis tools, the forums provide excellent advice on individual components and driver experiences.
- john.green | program.manager | wmv.hd | microsoft.corporation


> I've already sent to feedback.

So did I...

> And this is not a feature
> request but a demanded requirement. Both Windows and
> Macintosh platforms should be able to play the same
> files.

Well by definition it still is a request for new features. Anyway, you
don't have to convice me. Every Mac user who uses this app can
immediately realize the awful limitations it has compared to the Windows
version.

> What if Apple released QuickTime for Windows
> without the ability to play QuickTime movies using the
> standard QuickTime codec? You bet all the Windows users
> would raise holly hell, but when it happens on the Mac,
> like this issue, no one from the company seems to pay
> attention or makes an effort to resolve the
> incompatibility.

Again, I fear that posting here won't make much of a difference. As I
was saying, I'm not sure any one from MS actually reads this newsgroups.
I've tried in the past to relay bug reports and features request
directly through the MVP program and it doesn't look like it has made
the slightest difference so far...
With the previous version, the installer was plain broken and didn't
work on most machines. We had to use a .pkg installer put together by
someone in the newsgroup and host it on the MVPs.prg website as a
workaround. It was simply never fixed by MS. I have very little hope....


Corentin

--
--- Mac:MS MVP (Francophone) ---
http://www.mvps.org - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
MVPs are not MS employees - Les MVP ne travaillent pas pour MS
Remove "NoSpam" to e-mail me - Retirez "NoSpam" pour m'écrire - news://microsoft.public.windowsmedia.player.mac



Who are all these people supposed to contact???

Is there anyway to get this entire movie to playback without pausing at the file changes? I like the quality of the video and the sound on my 106" screen but that long pause at each file change is just way to distracting.... but handy if you need to refresh your drink! ;)

As far as a feature recommendation, I would concur that it would be nice to have just a single large file that would eliminate the need for pauses periodically. It is quite jarring, especially since the divisions are ill-timed.

I wonder if simply copying the files to HD, then linking them to a single seamless file would improve overall performance and add a bit of consistency. Would be nice if MS/Artisan would 'patch' this particular movie to that effect, at least as an option.

I mean honestly, if you are going to connect to the internet to verify DRM, does it really matter what the source is if you've got a valid license?

Originally posted by Sharps97
[B]As far as a feature recommendation, I would concur that it would be nice to have just a single large file that would eliminate the need for pauses periodically. It is quite jarring, especially since the divisions are ill-timed.

In order to acheive files greater than 1 or 2 Gigabytes in size, we've had to have various mastering software (for example, Sonic's Rom Formatter and Gear Pro) create specialized UDF discs. Apparently, this had never been done before. T2, unfortunately, was split into multiple parts because of the limitations in this software when it shipped in addition to components of the DVD-ROM specification that precluded the use of very large files. We've been able to fix this in subsequent discs (current generation WMV HD titles) but T2 makes use of a number of smaller files. Windows Media Player 10 will allow you to acheive shorter time lags between clips, but currently has other issues (which we're addresssing with the developer of T2). We expect the experience to get better when the final Windows Media Player 10 ships.

I wonder if simply copying the files to HD, then linking them to a single seamless file would improve overall performance and add a bit of consistency. Would be nice if MS/Artisan would 'patch' this particular movie to that effect, at least as an option.

This will help a little, but there is no way to link DRM'd files in this manner. Unfortunately, there is no way to "patch" these discs, but the new version of Windows Media Player should help in the future.

Have 4 of the other WMV-HD discs and they all can be played using WINDVD 6.0, but I cannot get T2 to play with this program. Any idea why and how to do it.

Bill Gaw

In reflection, I'm glad a kind soul here (in this Forum) told me how to get the WM9 player into FULL SCREEN, it works on the four titles I own, even "T2" (BTW; I was able to activate it no problem again when I wanted to try the TIP on that title, wonder of wonders), and that's good enough for me as I have a 17" 16X9 flat panel monitor hooked to that computer, and did not want to fight some new program on that box. It already has PowerDVD 4 on it, well you get the idea, as to uninstalls not working right and leaving a mess. I admit, I'm getting too old to fight these box's, I just want stuff to work, but guess most folks share that thought too.

Odd too, while spec's say my P4 2.6 is not enough, I find it dose work, 800M FSB, 128M ATI video card, 512 M ram, and XP Home could be I got's enough of the right stuff even if not a 3 + Gig proc? OH! I'm not trying to do DD5.1 which makes a big difference. None the less I'm happy with it (MS license issues not with standing)

As for MS "program managers" who have no clue about their product, hard to believe but true! (guess they are not eating their own dog food!) Wonder what B.G. thinks about that? But then times have changed, in a lot of ways......

Take care, watch, record if you like, but mainly try to enjoy some HDTV of your choice tonight, there are a lot of options these days. Even the much hated ESPN-HD channel ROFLOL........ ;-O

mikey p: Are there some issues you are having or something, I don't foolwo? Are you having problems with WMP 9 going into fullscreen? Is there a problem with these disc's conflicting with PowerDVD 4? I'm not sure I follow your post.

Originally posted by mikey p
Odd too, while spec's say my P4 2.6 is not enough, I find it dose work, 800M FSB, 128M ATI video card, 512 M ram, and XP Home could be I got's enough of the right stuff even if not a 3 + Gig proc? OH! I'm not trying to do DD5.1 which makes a big difference. None the less I'm happy with it (MS license issues not with standing)


System requirements are a tough thing with these discs. Basically, you have 41ms to pull the data off of the disc, decrypt it, decode it, and render it. The 3Ghz recoomendation is really a soft # -- machines with lower specs are able to play this content back sometimes while even 3.2Ghz machines may not be able to. The problem really lies in the fact that there are about 43 potential bottlenecks in the system which all add up to whether or not you can play the content back.

We found that putting system requirements of 200Mhz core FSB (that's 800 in Intel speak) with AGP FastWrite enabled and PC3200 or faster RAM would be a bit obtuse for most users on the packaging. For reasons of simplification, we took the tact that most machines with 3Ghz processors are going to have more powerful components installed. Unfortunately with 40+ variables in the playback chain, any of which could break the experience (the chain is only as strong as the weakest link), coupled with the fact that they really do have to work together has proved to be a difficult classification problem. If a game runs slow, it runs slow -- you only get 25-30fps when you're expecting 50-60. If a movie runs slow, its linear nature will make glitches be unacceptable.

All of this being said, we're working hard on analyzation tools that can be used to determine if you can play the discs back before you buy them. Please stay tuned.

John,

I would be very interested in these analyzation tools you guys are working on. Will they be able to report where potential bottlenecks are present, or will they simply report pass/fail as far as being able to play the disc? The ability to report potential bottlenecks would be useful for determining problems with other applications as well.

One year later, I am now able to play the Hd verion of T2. Ok, it is stuttering on my P4 2.2Ghz, what should I do? Let me wait for blu-ray? Or another year when CPU is faster and cheaper? LOL

BTW, the picture is not that day and night.

"mikey p: Are there some issues you are having or something, I don't foolwo? Are you having problems with WMP 9 going into fullscreen? Is there a problem with these disc's conflicting with PowerDVD 4? I'm not sure I follow your post."

ChrisL01...... I HAD an issue getting the MS WM9 player to go full screen, as stated above, another user here told be how to solve that issue. I am not aware of any issues with PowerDVD and/or WM9 nor did I say there were, what I did say, was I was not too interested in trying various additional players that may or may not work and having to deal with "uninstalls" that did not.

Some how I can play the four titles I own, and am happy with results, as to the product, WMV-HD, it's self, that's another thing and out of scope of this thread.

I bought this the week it first came out, about a year ago. The playback was smooth with no problems on my athlon xp2100 o/c'ed to 2334mhz with a radeon 9600xt on my NEC Me991sb monitor. My friends p4 2.5 was jerky quite often, not smooth at all.

I have a 3.0 GHz P4 with a NVidia 5700 Ultra. The playback of T2 is very jerky and basically unwatchable. I don't have issues with Coral Reef Adventure. I'm expecting a few other WMVHD titles in the next week or so and will see if I have issue with those.

John

Hi John.green,

Can I play any WMV HD disk (even 1080p) in 720p resolution, so I can use a less powerful computer (3.0- ghz)? My display unit is only 720p native rez.

Xiaoyu,

Here’s a link to the alpha of a new tool we've been working on to determine whether your system can play back WMV HD content. This tool performs operations simulating system behavior during WMV HD playback. After it runs, you’ll see results for 720p and 1080p playback including individual ratings for the processor, video subsystem, and memory subsystem plus an overall rating. You’ll then be asked whether you want to return the results to Microsoft. Please say yes... this information will only be used to enhance the prediction capabilities of the tool and to help other users troubleshoot playback issues.

Keep in mind that this is an early alpha. We’re planning to build a consumer-friendly UI for the release version, but wanted to share this with you as early as possible so enjoy the DOS color bars in the exe while you can :).

Check it out and let us know what you think.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/content_provider/film/wmvhdtool_intro.aspx

Originally posted by xiaoyu
Hi John.green,

Can I play any WMV HD disk (even 1080p) in 720p resolution, so I can use a less powerful computer (3.0- ghz)? My display unit is only 720p native rez.

Xiaoyu,
Some discs have both 720p and 1080p programs on them. Either way, they'll scale down to whatever resolution your computer is set to display to. Try using the tool I posted above to determine the capabilities of your PC.

John.... Thanks for posting this tool, I'll try it on my 2.6 Gig P4 shortly, though it seems to work all OK, however I'm NOT trying to process DD5.1 / DTS either. None the less thanks!

Actually... moving performance discussion to its own thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=426317

Ok, I got the license. Now I'm just trying to get playback that doesn't jump from frame to frame. I have an AMD Athlon 64 3000+ at 2GHz. I have an NVidia 6600GT graphics card. I have 768MB of RAM. I have the NVidia DVD decoder (not sure if it matters). I have an Audigy 2 sound card (and the SPDIF is outputting Dolby Digital). I have WMP 10.

CPU usage jumps to 100% as soon as it starts playing.

Why can't I get smooth video playback?

Originally posted by Karnis
Ok, I am getting an error that says
"Playback failed due to an error with the audio subsystem. Please ensure the sound card is properly installed or close any applications that may use the sound card."

There is nothing wrong with my sound card and no other applications using it are running. Trying to play the files in WMP9 only brings up another Interactual box telling me to insert the DVD in the drive. The license has been acquired.

I knew that the POS Interactual player was trouble & this proves it. I went to the online & help & it said to uninstall-reinstall Interactual, which I did with no luck. Then it listed some garbage about reinstalling DX, or the sound card drivers....sorry, no way. Everything in my system works fine.

This is absoluetly a deal killer for me. Nothing should be this hard.

I am having exactly the same problems, i get a sound card eoor in interactual player and insert disc in windows media player. ive uninstall interactual player and deleted the registry keys using regedit, still the problem remains. Any solutins?

thanks.

Originally posted by Karnis
Ok, I am getting an error that says
"Playback failed due to an error with the audio subsystem. Please ensure the sound card is properly installed or close any applications that may use the sound card."

There is nothing wrong with my sound card and no other applications using it are running. Trying to play the files in WMP9 only brings up another Interactual box telling me to insert the DVD in the drive. The license has been acquired.

I knew that the POS Interactual player was trouble & this proves it. I went to the online & help & it said to uninstall-reinstall Interactual, which I did with no luck. Then it listed some garbage about reinstalling DX, or the sound card drivers....sorry, no way. Everything in my system works fine.

This is absoluetly a deal killer for me. Nothing should be this hard.

I am having exactly the same problems, i get a sound card eoor in interactual player and insert disc in windows media player. ive uninstall interactual player and deleted the registry keys using regedit, still the problem remains. Any solutions?

thanks.

I am unable to acquire a license and I am in the U.S. I have tried things mentioned in this thread but nothing seems to work. I continue to get "There was a problem issuing license please try again later." How much later, it has been over a week and still have nothing. This is absolutey ludicrous. I would appreciate any help.

"I am unable to acquire a license and I am in the U.S."

Should this be the same thread that was in HTPC (a long time ago), what you need to know IS in here, due to that information I was able to get this title to work, I'm sorry I don't remember what I did, and likewise would need to re-read here to figure it out again.

My major fear of HD-DVD is they (Tobby & MS) will pull another stunt like this, well you get the idea, I'd think? Sorry my memory is so poor, I know you want to watch the title, as I did back then. Good luck and take care.

I am unable to acquire a license to play T2 in WMV-HD tonight. Can anyone else? This is absolutely ridiculous. Can you get a refund if you can't access media due to idiotic DRM implementation?

Ok, I got it to work. I changed all of my computer's hardware, and it really screwed up DRM. I had to rename my Documents and settings/all users/DRM folder to something else. Then I made a new DRM folder. Then I ran the dvdrun.exe program and I was able to get a license. I then could open it up in WMP. Ugh!

Josh, please PM me and I will get someone to help you. I am sorry you are having problems.

Amir
Microsoft

Thanks for the offer, Amir! As I said above, I got it working. This was the only DRM key that I cared about, so I didn't mind renaming the DRM directory to get it to work. A search on microsoft.com troubleshooting got me the info I needed. I still don't like the DRM setup that Artisan has employed for this title, however.

Is there any way to get WMV-HD titles to play in Media Center 2005, btw?

The video quality of this title is amazing, btw. I'm seriously considering using WMV encoder to backup some of my MCE HD recordings to DVD, even with the limitation that you can't easily incorporate an AC3 stream into the file.

Oh, I am glad it worked out. Most of the titles are designed to run in MCE. I think only some of the super early ones did not. All the ones I have watched from Europe have had MCE 10' UI.

And thanks for the kind words on video quality. Much appreciated.

Amir

i've never gotten around to watching/installing T2 extreme on my new HTPC. it seems rather MESSY and requires patches, etc. and fails to support DD5.1 if i'm not mistaken
http://player.interactual.com/help/support/articles/0134.asp

does this muck up any codecs or VLC?

if and when this is operable can someone recap the DRM issues... i'm assuming the HD movie will be playable as any normal DVD without restrictions? seems like a major headache.

Hi!

I can get up to the Internet Explorer connections screen but I have an always on broadband connection and dont have anything to select in order to go to the advanced settings. I live in the UK BTW. Am I missing something?

chinch,

You actually don't have to install the InterActual player or anything else in order to watch the WMV file. You just need Windows Media Player to open the file and to run the DVDRUN exe application to get a license.

The full workaround, posted earlier, is:

a. From a command prompt (Start…Run…"cmd"), navigate to the DVD drive root.

b. Run the DVDRUN.EXE program (type DVDRUN.EXE and hit enter). The program should exit silently if successful, or display an error dialog if a problem was encountered. For instance, if the PC is not connected to the internet, a dialog will display saying that an internet connection is required.

c. Once DVDRUN has finished, start Windows Media Player 9 Series. Do a File…Open, and navigate to the folder on the DVD that contains the WMV files: \common\win\lang\en\t2x\esource. To play the entire film, simply open the CHAP_0.ASX file. You can also open the WMV files individually.

d. The license acquisition window will come up and a EULA will appear the first time through. Once you agree to the EULA, a license will be delivered. Press the play button to start the movie.

Just as with the InterActual Player, you will need to acquire new licenses, using this method from the DVD, every 5 days.

-Dan

dgehred, thanks for not making me read all the pages of this thread! Finally got it to run on my sons machine. Now we can carry it up stairs and try it out on the big screen. :D

THANKS. i'll print this now and put it in the DVD case :)

chinch,

You actually don't have to install the InterActual player or anything else in order to watch the WMV file. You just need Windows Media Player to open the file and to run the DVDRUN exe application to get a license.

The full workaround, posted earlier, is:

a. From a command prompt (Start…Run…"cmd"), navigate to the DVD drive root.

b. Run the DVDRUN.EXE program (type DVDRUN.EXE and hit enter). The program should exit silently if successful, or display an error dialog if a problem was encountered. For instance, if the PC is not connected to the internet, a dialog will display saying that an internet connection is required.

c. Once DVDRUN has finished, start Windows Media Player 9 Series. Do a File…Open, and navigate to the folder on the DVD that contains the WMV files: \common\win\lang\en\t2x\esource. To play the entire film, simply open the CHAP_0.ASX file. You can also open the WMV files individually.

d. The license acquisition window will come up and a EULA will appear the first time through. Once you agree to the EULA, a license will be delivered. Press the play button to start the movie.

Just as with the InterActual Player, you will need to acquire new licenses, using this method from the DVD, every 5 days.

-Dan

Hangs on the license aquisition page. I'm tired of dealing with this.

Hangs on the license aquisition page. I'm tired of dealing with this.
Seriously. I don't know how many hours I spent trying to get this DVD to work, but I was never able to watch it in all its alleged hi-def glory. Now, I find the regularly encoded DVD transfer is actually superior to the Ultimate Edition; less edge enhancement and richer contrast makes for a better overall image. However, the lack of DTS audio is a small -- but noticeable -- detraction.

I would advise most people just to stay far, far away from this DVD set. It's just not worth the hassle.

I bought this title about a year ago and never really watched it much since all I could do was watch it on my PC monitor (17" LCD). Recently setup a modest PVR setup with a Shuttle PC (Athlon XP 2000+ with onboard VIA video) connected to a Toshiba 52" DLP RP TV over VGA. The native res of the DLP is 1280x720 I think.

Tried playing the movie in this setup. It works okay, the PQ is pretty good and relatively smoothly (which is surprising given the modest hardware setup) but I am having aspect ratio problems. I am running my desktop at 1024x768 (which is what Toshiba recommend as the input via the VGA input on the DLP RP and in fact is the highest res I can run on the desktop and still get a picture on the Toshiba). I have the DLP set to widescreen mode. In this configuration the picture has an AR of about 3.08:1 which is not tall enough. WMP or the Interactual player has no way of changing the AR.

Out of interest I have tried playing a couple of non DRM HD wmv clips that I downloaded from Microsoft's site (Dust to Glory and the T2 Extreme teaser) and they exhibit the same AR problems. But since they don't have DRM I am able to play them in bsplayer and zoomplayer and correct the AR.

So just wondering for those folks who are playing this disc on HD display devices, how are you managing to correct for this AR problem?

Thanks

Actually, Windows Media Player has full aspect control although it is hard to find. Go to Tools->Options->Devices->Display->Properties. There, you can use the slider to adjust the aspect ratio.

Amir
Microsoft

Thanks for the response but I can't see display as a device (I am using WMP 9). I can only see drives and speaker. Guess I have to upgrade to WMP 10?

Larry

Yes, you need to upgrade to MP 10 to see that option. Sorry I didn't mention this before.

Amir

Snap! Worked like a treat. Now I can T2 Extreme in a more suitable AR

Thanks

Glad it worked out!

Amir

Aspect ratios are a bane.
I'll just mention that I've never had a problem.
It'll be some software misbehaving.
Keep upgrading or trying something different.
I think I mostly used mp9 but I mostly used a 16/9 pixel screen.
Good luck.

The buried WMP10 settings for AR Amir provided me worked fine. Now I need to upgrade my PC since while the Athlon XP2000+ plays the sample HD clips okay, it stutters a bit playing T2 Extreme. Given the bit rates are similar I guess it's the 15% or so DRM overhead of playing the T2 disc (the samples don't have DRM)

I am also using a 16:9 display device (the Toshiba DLP RP TV). When fed a signal via VGA there are only two possible AR choices - 16:9 (widescreen) or 4:3. On other signal sources (component, etc.) there are a number of other choices which might have fixed the problem without scaling in the software

Any wise sage help me with the T2 Extreme HD workaround - I'm in the UK using XP Pro & WMP10. I have made sure that the WMP uses the same details as Internet Explorer, but when I look under Tools, Options & Connections in Internet Explorer to set up the US-friendly proxy, I have no connection showing to change!! I'm using broadband via cable & as I said XP Pro - any bright ideas how I set up proxy detail, as the PC doesn't sem to think I have a connection!!!?

Cheers

Paul

Tools/Internet Connections/Connections/LAN Settings

Exactly, in LAN settings you should cancel the "find automatic server" (or something like that) and choose Proxy server at the bottom. There you put the proxy number and port of a proxy server in US or Canada (make sure it is a transparent one). I live in Mexico City and got this worked fine, I did had to try a few servers before it worked. At the end I did it with a canadian server.

Hope you nail it

By the way, I have Windows XP and Windows Media player 9, but I don't think your configuartion is the problem.

Thanks guys - need to track down a suitable proxy server address now then

Check your PM

This is mostly for Amir, but anyone can chime in,

I am planning to upgrade my laptop to a desktop with MCE so that I can Play WMV HD titles, however I can't find the titles any where in the US(Though Europe has been Mentioned). If I get titles from Europe somehow will I be able to Play them here in the US.

Thanks,

you could get them online from Amazon, Best Buy, etc. It's amazing that living in the US you try to get them elswhere, while us, who live outside the US, are always trying to get some of the stuff you have and we don't.

Patonzon,

Thanks, The other side always looks green.

The local BestBuy doesn't have any and If I search on-line on their website,
nothing comes up. As far as amazon I see only documentary titles (dolphins, speed etc).

Thanks
sdavid21

I just bought Amazon, The living sea and Coral reef adventure from Amazon.com, they shipped them to me to Mexico City, though I have to wait more than a month for them to arrive. Also my girlfriend (that just came back from the US) got me T2 extreme edition from a Target store for 7 USdls. She looked for more titles with no luck, but you can easily find them online.

phew! after reading 28 pages over the last few days and still not being able to watch my new HD DVD I am about to give up. I will try the last way on this page to see if it works but could anyone be so kind as to drop me a PM with the information I need to play it from the UK ;)

These are pics of messages Im reapetedly getting so I cant even finish the DVDRUN.exe

AV Forums > Source Material > Movies & Movie DVDs
Cannot play T2 Extreme DVD

sorry for posting a link to another site but I cannot upload the pics

Thanks in advance

John

John, I am sorry you are having problems. I have asked someone to contact you to help resolve.

Thanks,
Amir
Microsoft

Hi Amir the message I got from your friend was information I already understood. I was hoping someone could let me know what the fault was.

The problem I am having is nothing to do with region control. I dont even get that far. If you look at my post in the other forum there are screen shots of the problem I am having.

Can anyone PM me an IP that works please

John

John, hang in there. We will help debug through the problem. The friends you are mentioning work in my group and were the key people in the development of these titles :). So we will get to the buttom of this.

Amir

Thanks Amir and your friends are bieng very helpful

John

I've read/skimmed through all of the thread's pages but it doesn't seem like anyone has the particular problem I've having. I think that I'm able to get a license because dvdrun.exe runs without error and I find the T2 key in the registry after I run it (though the license server link others have posted never works for me, it just gets stuck on "upgrading..."). After getting the license, when I try to open the ASX file or one of the WMV files, I get the same error: "Windows Media Player encountered an unknown error." and a link that takes me to MS telling me the error code: C00D11CD . I have Win2K with WMP9 fully upgraded. I have tried many things, but to no avail (including copying one of the WMV's to disk to see if the problem was my DVD read speed). Any ideas?

For completeness, further info: I am in the USA, on a home wireless network, connected to the internet through the network, I have Duron 1600 overclocked to 1800 MHz with 150 MHz FSB, 512MB DDR Dual channel RAM, Radeon 9600 128MB, DVD-ROM 5X

Thanks.

I have that same issue. After hours and hours of troubleshooting, I decided that the Governator wasn't THAT important... :) But I would like to find out why this isn't working...

I had no issues playing T2 following these instructions provided here.

PQ is good, I hate the 5 sec gap between files, and the DRM implementation sucks.

When I run dvdrun.exe a sercurity alert comes up saying that I have not choosen to trust the certificate. Does anyone know how i can get rid of this. thanks

Jeez, it's been how many YEARS and this is still a problem?!? Yep!!! I just wasted a couple of hours on this. Interactuals site is as useless as Apple's for info because they assume that their poo isn't odorific.

I pop the 2nd disc of the T2 Extreme DVD set and after installing the IA player, upgraded it to 2.6 and applying the T2 Patch, it never allows me to get past the System Spec screen behind the HD pick. (DVD ROM option doesn't go anywhere past "Insert disc into DVD-ROM drive." Hello?)

Using the method in the previous page with DVDRUN.EXE and opening manually with WMP10, it played until I tried to jump ahead with the slider at which point WMP froze. Launching IA, even after a reboot goes nowhere. It acts as if it's in a regular player attached to a TV - not a HTPC.

What's the secret of getting things to work as advertised? TIA!

Hi All,
I just saw this thread and want to contribute that Terminator 2 WMV-HD can be played on Xbox 360 through wireless connection.

Also others have reported that 'Step into Liquid' WMV-HD dvd can also be played through Xbox 360.

See THIS (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7268558&&#post7268558) thread for more information.

Rhoniel

Well i can play the DVD with the workaround by executing the wmv's directly but I am trying to just put the disc in and let InterActual play it but then when I click on High Definition all it says is

"this disc contains the complete Theatrical Version of the film in Microsoft Windows Media 9 series, playable in high definition and 5.1 sound Exclusively on your PC. The resolution is higher than standard DVD format.
To play, put this disc in your computer DVD-ROM drive. Upon disc insertion, the DVD will open Interactual player. If Interactual player does not open automatically...
*Close your computer's default DVD player
*In "My Computer", double-click the DVD-ROM drive
*Double-click "install.exe" to run the application.

Return to main menu "

So i can only click on return to main menu !!! It won't play.
Whats up with that ?

Has anyone successfully played back this disc using MCE interface? If so, could you please post instruction on how you manage to do it? Thanks in advance.

Hi

Anyone know a working proxy for this to work. Ive been trying for the last five days to no avail and its really doing my head in. Tried proxy switcher with no sucess.

Cheers

Im based in the UK and struggling to find a suitable US proxy - tried loads of lists but the best result I get is the message 'you are using an anonymous proxy' or just a blank license screen.

Anybody have any working proxies they could send me?

Thanks

The anonymous proxies seem to work intermittently and given the DRM check occurs each 7 days it can be bit of a hassle at times.

I gave up with the proxies and instead did the following.

Dialled a US ISP using iPass (you only have to be online for a few minutes) and got the licence. Then watched the movie.

If you want to watch it several times or whenever you feel like it you can follow the instructions on this board to remove DRM from the files and copy them to the local HD. It's not exactly an intuitive procedure and it's fairly complex but it does work.

Then you can play the movie from the HD anytime you want to without having to worry about DRM checking

I solved the "Loading... Please Wait" looping for eternity problem in WMP10. I didn't go through this whole thread, so I don't know if it was posted already. Go to the uninstall instructions for WMP11 on the Microsoft WMP site's FAQ and there is a link to install Windows Media Format 9.5 Runtime. I installed that and it worked great for me.

anyone a/b compare this to the bluray version yet?

I hate to bring up an old topic but has anyone had the trouble of the second disc not showing up? When I pop it in my computer my dvd rom drive changes to a cdrom drive. I can't even explore the disc, it's as if its not even there.

I hate to bring up an old topic but has anyone had the trouble of the second disc not showing up? When I pop it in my computer my dvd rom drive changes to a cdrom drive. I can't even explore the disc, it's as if its not even there.

I haven't had that problem but I can't play the HD disk because I can't acquire the license needed for playback even though my location is in Canada. I think the problem is I need WMP9 but I'm using WMP10. I don't know how to get WMP9. Any help?

I'm hoping to decrypt it after I get the license:
http://archive2.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=527136&page=2&pp=30

Playing this is a complete and total flipping fiasco.

Why Microsoft thought that depending upon Intervocative for DVD playback software was a good idea is beyond me. They make the most atrocious software I've ever experienced.

Tried playing the DVD on Windows Media Center 2005. Computer hard-froze when I tried to zoom the window to full screen.

Installed the "t2patch". It has been sitting at "Loading...please wait" for 15 minutes now.

Gonna try FairUse4WHM to make this playable. No wonder no other studios wasted their time/money trying to release in this format.

WMD HD isn't so bad a format. I bought a couple of titles from HDNET in that format and they play fine. What killed T2 Extreme was the particularly onerous DRM they had. While it was designed to stop the disc being played outside the US (amongst other constraints), from reading the thread it made life pretty hard for US users also.

Way back in the early days of the release folks did release a process (pretty complex) for removing the DRM on that particular title which I did. Now I can play it with WMP with no prolems but it's not a title I play all the time.

It's all been superceded now by BluRay and HD-DVD.

Larry

WMV is fine.

It was WMV with complicated DRM and forcing people to install software that isn't even as well-coded as some Spyware.

I ended up rolling back to WMP10, clearing the DRM branch in my Registry, deleting the DRM folder off my hard drive, and re-personalizing WMP10 through a special page on Microsoft's site. That worked. Oh, and I had to copy the files to the hard drive since anytime I pointed Windows Media Center to the DVD, it started the DVD and asked me to install Intervocative.

So after all that, I found out my SO's sound card is the crappy Fortissimo Hercules II which is fraudulently advertised as having 5.1 sound. It only passes 5.1 sound thru the optical when playing in the bundled PowerDVD software and only when playing DTS movies. Everything else is stereo or 4 channel.

So Sarah Connor's (Linda Hamilton's) voiceover narration was almost muted because it's 80% center channel which is not active on the FH2. The picture was impressive, but I'm not gonna watch with no center channel.

*Sigh* -- Got a new motherboard, CPU, RAM, graphics card (X1300), etc. etc. for the home theater and put WMC2005 on it, just playing with it to see what I can do and really had hopes that T2 Extreme would blow me away. :(

Playing this is a complete and total flipping fiasco.

Why Microsoft thought that depending upon Intervocative for DVD playback software was a good idea is beyond me. They make the most atrocious software I've ever experienced.

Tried playing the DVD on Windows Media Center 2005. Computer hard-froze when I tried to zoom the window to full screen.

Installed the "t2patch". It has been sitting at "Loading...please wait" for 15 minutes now.

Gonna try FairUse4WHM to make this playable. No wonder no other studios wasted their time/money trying to release in this format.

It wasn't the WMV team that chose that or the overall model. They let the Artisan impliment it as they wanted. Note that didn't happen again.

Net is if you are really concerned with T2 in HD, the new HD-DVDs are a better route as it is from a much newer encoder and is a much higher bitrate.

Thread Necromancy Ahoy!

How about some comparisons between the WM9 Extreme edition and the new French/UK Directors cut HD DVD release? Or even the BluRay version vs. WM9 encode... if anyone can get it to work ;)

How about some comparisons between the WM9 Extreme edition and the new French/UK Directors cut HD DVD release? Or even the BluRay version vs. WM9 encode... if anyone can get it to work ;)

Or just test the trailer.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/musicandvideo/hdvideo/contentshowcase.aspx

It's funny I see this old thread pop up 2 days after I dug out the disc and watched it again. I must say it held its ground against lots of other HD DVD and Blu-rays I've been watching recently on my 720p screen. Sound was excellent too. I personally won't bother to purchase a new hi-def version of the movie.
I'm running Vista and did not have a problem acquiring the license - of course, after running the dvdrun.exe from the root of the disc - Vista warned me that the Intervideo plugin had known compatibility issues and I chose not to install it. Obviously someone still maintains the license server after all these years. :)

I bought the dvd on sale for $7.99 yesterday. I've been perusing dvd deals and ps2 game deals since the last ps3 firmware started upconverting. However I primarily became interested in the wmv version so that I could run higher-than-dvd def on my laptop screen since it doesn't have a blu-ray player in it. Also the price is nice vs blu-ray price and I can run it on my htpc/gaming rig as well.

I'm running windows vista with media player 11. I can't get the wmv's to run from the harddrive even if I have the dvd in the drive. I also can't drag the files to my playlist editor to set them up to play one after another. I can open the files from media player by pointing to them on the dvd drive from the file-open menu on media player. They are buried deep in the folder heirarchy unfortunately :(

Otherwise it looks very good so far - at least on my laptop. I'm going to try it out on my westinghouse 37" 1080p lcd next.

I tried it out on my desktop htpc/gaming pc and the media player11 on that system allows me to cue the wmv's all at once, or drag and drop them, and I can add them to a playlist and save it. So that was apparently an issue with my hp laptop.

I'm now going to see if the license will remain for awhile enabling me to play the files off my harddrive without the dvd in the drive. Apparently I can just refresh the license once in awhile popping the dvd in rather than being required to have the dvd in the drive every time I want to play the files back.

Quality is good with the 1440 x 816 on my1080p monitor. I'm happy with the purchase even with the annoying license thing.

Or just test the trailer.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/musicandvideo/hdvideo/contentshowcase.aspx


Thanks for the link.

Sorry to dredge up an old issue. I purchased this years ago and just tried to play it in my PC according to the workaround in this thread. (I don't have blu-ray yet and just got a new 1080 monitor that I want to test with this software. All required specs are met. I'm running WMP 11.) I see the T2 license server popup with custom background but received message: "There was a problem issuing licenses. Please try again later." Tried yesterday and today with no luck. Can someone check if the server still works for them, or is it inactive and will never produce a license again? (i.e., this HD feature is dead at this point because the InterActual licensing server is not supported and will no longer produce licenses.) Thanks.

Sorry to dredge up an old issue. I purchased this years ago and just tried to play it in my PC according to the workaround in this thread. (I don't have blu-ray yet and just got a new 1080 monitor that I want to test with this software. All required specs are met. I'm running WMP 11.) I see the T2 license server popup with custom background but received message: "There was a problem issuing licenses. Please try again later." Tried yesterday and today with no luck. Can someone check if the server still works for them, or is it inactive and will never produce a license again? (i.e., this HD feature is dead at this point because the InterActual licensing server is not supported and will no longer produce licenses.) Thanks.

I paid full price for one of these in a nice tin box when they first came out. And I never did get it to play before running out of my very limited patience for dealing with copy protection problems. It would probably be reassuring to me to hear they had finally dropped support so I don't have to continue to procrastinate on this. ;)

And it would be more evidence my belief that ALL phone home media will eventually become unplayable, no matter how big the sponsoring company.

But I'll wait for final results here.

- Tom

There was a discussion in this thread which might still be there or deleted on how to get around the copy protection. It was pretty involved including grabbing the Japanese version of WMP or something. I did it myself since I had real problems also playing this title. The process just removed the DRM from each file resulting in 4 WMV files that could be played anywhere.

I think now it's better to wait for or purchase the BD version which would be better than the WMV one and much easier to play.

Sorry to dredge up an old issue. I purchased this years ago and just tried to play it in my PC according to the workaround in this thread. (I don't have blu-ray yet and just got a new 1080 monitor that I want to test with this software. All required specs are met. I'm running WMP 11.) I see the T2 license server popup with custom background but received message: "There was a problem issuing licenses. Please try again later." Tried yesterday and today with no luck. Can someone check if the server still works for them, or is it inactive and will never produce a license again? (i.e., this HD feature is dead at this point because the InterActual licensing server is not supported and will no longer produce licenses.) Thanks.

I just got around to trying out my copy about a week ago on my new computer that runs on Vista. The version on the interactual player on the disc may be out of date ( you should install the interactual player that comes on the disc). Fill out the registration and install the software and when you try to run it you will be prompted that there is a new version on the player install it. Reboot and play the disc. I was not prompted about any license issues so I think the server was down for a short time. But that fact I was able to download a player update shows that they have an active server somewhere.

Nope, licensing still doesn't work. I'm running windows xp and going through windows media player trying to play chap0 on the disc. The licensing site still pops up and says there is a problem issuing licenses try again later. I won't hold my breath. (The interactual player old or new didn't work at all for me. It wouldn't even look for the license.) If someone can repost that way to play the files without it looking for the license, since they aren't supporting the license any longer, please post here. Thanks.

So has anyone got the WMV HD to work lately? All I get is a License Acquisition box that says The page cannot be displayed. And sometimes a box that says I need Internet Explorer version 5.0 or later :confused:. I'm thinking the license server is no longer even running?

I even installed the Interactual player and got the latest update for it.

Anybody know if Microsoft even has an official position on this issue?

Is support officially dropped?

- Tom

Anybody know if Microsoft even has an official position on this issue?

Is support officially dropped?

- Tom

Not one of Microsoft's greatest ventures to be sure. I wonder just how many people actually managed to play this title?

Anyway though I also own a copy and was able to play it, the effort was way too much for the reward and I double (actually triple) dipped this title and got the BluRay version.


That's probably the easiest way moving forward - no online DRM nonsense, TrueHD audio versus WMAPro and you can watch more easily on your TV/PJ

PS

[Mods -you can strike this out if you think I have gone off the straight and narrow, but earlier on in this thread (now deleted I think) were rather complex instructions on how to remove the DRM from the title. I followed them and it worked so I have DRM free versions of the four files but even so it's not the best platform to be watching the title.]

Got it years ago and played once. Heard you could play it via hddvd drive connected to 360, didn't work. Got HDDVD, now BD. And there's another release.:)

At the risk of straying OT, I have triple dipped this title. The special edition Laserdisc(!), the WMV Pro version (in the steelcase) and now the BD version. I would only be persuaded to put my finger in the pie again if they went back to the original film elements (negative, IP or whatever) and rescanned it completely, at least to the same standard as has been done on the 007 movies.

I think the license server still works but you need to use a specific version of WMP or something.

Does anyone know anything about this?? I've been trying to get it to work for an hour. I'm starting to think they no longer support it. I guess that's my fault for actually buying something. I figured I could use it forever. Guess not.

There was an official patch to remove the DRM years ago. I believe this is it, I used it along time ago and it worked then, haven't verified with my current PC. Just delete the .txt extension and run it. Again no promises.

I'm pulling my hair out trying to get this darn dvd to work. I've done everything that ppl have said to try, and still nothing will work. I am runing Windows Vista and WMP version 11. I want to watch the original theatrical version not the extended special edition. Can anyone help me?