PowerDVD Ultra (HD-DVD and Blu-Ray)

[uncertainty]

I am running vista 64 bit Ultimate with powerdvd 2911 build. I am running the gigabyte 8500GT with 160.04 WHQL drivers.
What I have seen are
powerdvd plays 720p h264 files fine and I do have hardware acceleration.
powerdvd fails on 1080p h264 files. I was able to play these using zoom player 5.5 alpha using ffdshow decoderrs and EVR.
The major problems with powerdvd start when playing hddvd's or bluray movies wither from my harddrive or from the disk drive. First vista goes into basic mode whenever I play them. The movies itself play fine when power dvd is windowed, but as soon as I go full screen, the video starts flashing and most times I end up with a blank screen with no video, but audio is still playing correctly. I cannot get any video on my monitor even if I press Alt+F4 to kill powerdvd and the only way to restore video is to reset the PC.

I only have a single monitor so I am not running clone mode, and I have an Athlon 3800+ X2 which should be plenty. Any ideas about whats going on? Vista going into basic mode tells me powerdvd might not be using EVR. is there a way to force it to use EVR?
forgot to mention, this is on a fresh vista installation and powerdvd was upgraded to 2911 from 2605.

I have the same card as you and the same exact problems running under Windows XP 32bit. Picture is fine in windowed mode but as soon as I go full screen in 1080i (via the component out on the 8500gt) I get a blank screen after a couple seconds of viewing and audio is fine.

Were you able to resolve your issue? thanks

[olegy]

Just tried reinstalling the drivers but its a no go. I can get DD/DTS via SPDIF in ZoomPlayer etc but only Stereo in PDVD ( I can choose SPDIF in the menu but the moment PDVD plays it reverts to Stereo ) - VERY frustrating indeed :mad:
Paul

I have a similar problem. Cannot output DD/DTS via spdif in PowerDVD.
Speakers only.
Outputs just fine in any other player.
Anyone knows a work around? Registry tweaks perhaps?
Is there anyone successfully outputting spdif in 3104a?
Thanks.

[salacious]

I have a similar problem. Cannot output DD/DTS via spdif in PowerDVD.
Speakers only.
Outputs just fine in any other player.
Anyone knows a work around? Registry tweaks perhaps?
Is there anyone successfully outputting spdif in 3104a?
Thanks.
Do you have AC3filter or similar running? If I had this running with PCM it always ran in stereo and wouldn't let me use Pro-Logic IIx

[olegy]

Do you have AC3filter or similar running? If I had this running with PCM it always ran in stereo and wouldn't let me use Pro-Logic IIx

PowerDVD does not use AC3Filter.
If I run any direcshow capable players, then AC3Filter kicks in. And it is set to spdif pass through and working fine.

My main area of concern is Vista, which disables spdif over the protected sound path.
However, in my case the content is not protected.

[nikosk]

Hi all,

this is my first post here, since I'm quite new to the sport.

Just built a HTPC with a ATI2600Pro in it. I'm trying to watch matroska mkv files in h264 but PowerDVD is not able to play them. I have installed Haali media Spliter but to no sucess.
If I rename them to .mp4 and deactivate the AVIVO hardware acceleration, only then it is possible to watch them.

They play fine in MPC, but without hardware accceleration, even though I have selected the Cyberlink's filter as an external one. (BTW which of them should I be using? and should I browse for it, or select it from the list?) I checked this from an TS file (1080i, h264) which both PowerDVD and MPC play just fine and the CPU utillization difference was about 30-40% (low tens for PDVD, upper 40s MPC)

Is there any way to watch mkv from Powerdvd? Should I demux them and to what? (using what?)

Thank you all for this great forums!!!

[noobiemaxpowers]

I know I posted this in a seperate thread, but no one responded. Has anyone gotten Chicken Little (Blu-Ray) to play on PDVD and Vista? It starts, then will freeze my entire system after a minute of play. I thought it was the disc at first, but I got another disc from NetFlix, and the same issue. I've had no other issues with any other Blu-Ray titles, and I am updated to the latest version. Just thought it was weird with only THIS title.


Same thing here, I can skip through the movie, but if I let it play it will crash in about 42 seconds. anyone have any idea? (could it be firm ware, I have Sonys BWU-100A)

[AngelEyes]

PowerDVD does not use AC3Filter.
If I run any direcshow capable players, then AC3Filter kicks in. And it is set to spdif pass through and working fine.

My main area of concern is Vista, which disables spdif over the protected sound path.
However, in my case the content is not protected.


PowerDVD will use AC3 filter if you install it after PowerDVD as it can override the merit of the cyberlink drivers. I have this porblem with PowerDVD using either FFDSHOW or AC3 filter when watching HD discs and i couldn't get uncompressed audio to work correctly as these fuilters just downsampled it.

Adam

[deandob]

Adam, can you explain how you can tell that powerDVD downsamples? I assume its just with SPDIF output as I'm sure with analog outputs there is no downsampling.

[AngelEyes]

I can't claim it does for sure but I couldn't hear any difference at all in sound quality between DD+ and Uncompressed until I used filmerit to force PowerDVD to utilise the Cyberlink decoder / filters rather than FFDSHOW or AC3 which it was using.

I am using 8 x analogue.

It would be very easy for the signal to get downsampled, check the settings available in AC3 or FFDSHOW for instance and you can easliy sey it to any type of output you want.

Now I have the cyberlink decoder and filter i can defintaly hear a big improvement in sound quality as well as a perceived volume change when switching between audio tracks. :D

[Andy o]

I can't claim it does for sure but I couldn't hear any difference at all in sound quality between DD+ and Uncompressed until I used filmerit to force PowerDVD to utilise the Cyberlink decoder / filters rather than FFDSHOW or AC3 which it was using.

I am using 8 x analogue.

It would be very easy for the signal to get downsampled, check the settings available in AC3 or FFDSHOW for instance and you can easliy sey it to any type of output you want.

Now I have the cyberlink decoder and filter i can defintaly hear a big improvement in sound quality as well as a perceived volume change when switching between audio tracks. :D

Hi there, not criticizing you, but I am skeptical about there being a lot of difference of discernible quality between uncompressed and a well-mastered Dolby Digital or DTS soundtrack. Uncompressed high-resolution audio (more than 16-bit, 96KHz and such) makes for more potential for higher dynamic range, but I don't think anyone can distinguish resolution difference by itself, especially when most of us don't have $5000 or more sound equipment. It is my opinion that that's the main reason why high-resolution audio failed, not because of that format war, though the war didn't help. And that's why I think the high-resolution video formats won't fail (we'll at least have one), because the resolution differences are VERY noticeable to everyone.

In any case, the difference you are most likely experiencing is that of dynamic range. Dolby Digital and DDPlus have an option for dynamic range compression, which your two decoders may be using differently. DTS and Dolby TrueHD (based on MLP, I think) don't have that, so when you switch between formats you'll most likely hear a big volume difference, depending on your DD settings.

[AngelEyes]

Hi there, not criticizing you, but I am skeptical about there being a lot of difference of discernible quality between uncompressed and a well-mastered Dolby Digital or DTS soundtrack. Uncompressed high-resolution audio (more than 16-bit, 96KHz and such) makes for more potential for higher dynamic range, but I don't think anyone can distinguish resolution difference by itself, especially when most of us don't have $5000 or more sound equipment. It is my opinion that that's the main reason why high-resolution audio failed, not because of that format war, though the war didn't help. And that's why I think the high-resolution video formats won't fail (we'll at least have one), because the resolution differences are VERY noticeable to everyone.

In any case, the difference you are most likely experiencing is that of dynamic range. Dolby Digital and DDPlus have an option for dynamic range compression, which your two decoders may be using differently. DTS and Dolby TrueHD (based on MLP, I think) don't have that, so when you switch between formats you'll most likely hear a big volume difference, depending on your DD settings.

Hi Andy,

no offence taken :D

I certainly don't profess to be an 'expert' in how PowerDVD works but I have studied up as much as I can and been in touch with Cyberlink enough times to get some small idea of what I am doing :)

The facts I have from my experience are that if Cyberlink's decoder and filter are not used then there is zero difference in sound quality and/or volume when switching audion tracks on my system. After forcing PowerDVD to use the Cyberlink decoder and filter (previous installs of codecs had messed this up) I could hear both a volume change and a widening of the soundfield and an increase in detail.

My Audio kit retails at around £12,000 so I would hope that if a difference can be detected my kit is up to the job.

I have a pet hate of Dynamic Range Compensation and always actively seek out the settings to disable it so I am pretty sure it isn't a factor. I also accept that different tracks often are mastered at different volumes, the same was often true with vanilla DD and DTS compaisons. I completely agree about a good DD+ track being close to an uncompressed track. Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead Man's Chest is a good example as it is subtle, however if you have the volume fairly loud the difference is quite obvious.

Adam

[TivoMad]

Hi All,
Just wanted to ask if anyone has used the HD-DVD version of Digital Video Essentials under PowerDVD Ultra ? I can get to the Video Calibration menu and scroll up and down through the test patterns but I can't find any way to actually navigate to the actual pattern. I've tried every key on the keyboard and every button on the remote. I've also enabled mouse support for HD-DVD and tried to select the pattern with that but it still doesn't do anything. I have installed the latest Cyberlink patch for PDVD Ultra but still no joy. Any ideas ?

Kind Regards,
Trevor.

[RichB]

I was trying to play The Prestige last night and I could not get the SPDIF to output Dolby Digital even when playing that sound track with my X-FI Xtreme music. Any ideas?

- Rich

[IAM4UK]

Hi All,
Just wanted to ask if anyone has used the HD-DVD version of Digital Video Essentials under PowerDVD Ultra ? I can get to the Video Calibration menu and scroll up and down through the test patterns but I can't find any way to actually navigate to the actual pattern. I've tried every key on the keyboard and every button on the remote. I've also enabled mouse support for HD-DVD and tried to select the pattern with that but it still doesn't do anything. I have installed the latest Cyberlink patch for PDVD Ultra but still no joy. Any ideas ?

Kind Regards,
Trevor.
I've tried and failed with this title also, Trevor. I suspect you are using AnyDVD. Here's the Catch-22: You can't play this title without either AnyDVD or a setup that PDVDU properly recognizes as HDCP-compliant. But unless AnyDVD is disabled, the menus in DVE-HD will act as you describe.
My solution was to buy a new HDCP-compliant ATI 2600Pro; however, I then learned that ATI is lying about HDCP-compliance, and PDVD still reports that it is not compliant.
So, my next solution was to rip DVE-HD to my hard drive, and use the online reference manual to figure out which .EVO files held which tests I wanted to run. I played those files directly, thus bypassing the menus. Too much work, but there you have it.

[TivoMad]

I've tried and failed with this title also, Trevor. I suspect you are using AnyDVD. Here's the Catch-22: You can't play this title without either AnyDVD or a setup that PDVDU properly recognizes as HDCP-compliant. But unless AnyDVD is disabled, the menus in DVE-HD will act as you describe.
My solution was to buy a new HDCP-compliant ATI 2600Pro; however, I then learned that ATI is lying about HDCP-compliance, and PDVD still reports that it is not compliant.
So, my next solution was to rip DVE-HD to my hard drive, and use the online reference manual to figure out which .EVO files held which tests I wanted to run. I played those files directly, thus bypassing the menus. Too much work, but there you have it.

You are right, I am (or should say was) using AnyDVDHD. I disabled it and guess what, it all works now :) Thanks so much for that, I would never have guessed that AnyDVD-HD was the culprit. I can now get on with calibrating the system - brilliant! Looks like my card actually really is HDCP compliant.

Thanks again - just shows how useful these forums are !

Kind Regards,
Trevor.

[sdharris]

Anyone get the menu for The Host hd-dvd to work? I can't select play, scene selection, setup etc for the right audio track and subtitles. Same problem with Brotherhood of the Wolf. Right click in PD shows audio track, subtitle greyed out.

I had the same problem when I played my HD copy of the Host with HP's QuickPlay. I returned the disk for a new one, and I still have the problem. I was able to use QuickPlay to go directly to the different titles and chapters on the DVD, skipping the menu, but I can't select the original Korean language or subtitles. So I can watch the movie if I am willing to put up with the English Dub.

[saintsaints]

It's like watching a bad kung fu movie that way, I wonder if Windvd would work better.

I had the same problem when I played my HD copy of the Host with HP's QuickPlay. I returned the disk for a new one, and I still have the problem. I was able to use QuickPlay to go directly to the different titles and chapters on the DVD, skipping the menu, but I can't select the original Korean language or subtitles. So I can watch the movie if I am willing to put up with the English Dub.

[Cap.T]

OK, so what would you guys advice right now: Using the 2911-Version without Hardware acc. or using the latest build which seems to force Hardware acc. I'm using Vista and the Geforce 8800 GTS with the 162.22 Driver. I didn't have any issues with the picture after I installed the latest PowerDVD-Patch. However I did notice that while watching a movie Hardware acc. was active even though I had not activated it. Someone told me I should go back to 2911 and not use Hardware acc. because the picture would be better without it. He said something about BOB beeing forced when Hardware acc. is on or something. I have no idea what he means... :)

[JDLIVE]

Received "The Good Shepard" from Netflix on Saturday and when I try to play it, I just get a black screen. Audio is OK, no video after I hit play from the main menu. I tried selecting a few scenes individually, those play OK, but not the main feature. I upgraded to the most recent patch available (070703-04), that didn't help.

This happened once before and I think just restarting the app or maybe rebooting fixed it. No such luck this time. No other problems after watching dozens of BD and HD-DVD discs. Running XPSP2, nvidia 8800GTS/320. Any ideas?

[Dan@SI]

For those using the MCE remote or a universal with MCE codes (I use the H890), when using PowerDVD, which command will cause the control bar to appear? I can use the basic commands like play, pause, skip, etc but haven't figured out how to make the control bar appear so I can tell where I am in the movie. So, can anyone help me out?

[Dan@SI]

Forget it! DUH, I figured out all I had to do was hit the pause button and I got all the info I needed. DONE, FINE, PLEASE NO FLAMES AS IT TAKE A TRIP WEST!

[hamish b]

im having slight troubles with blu ray and power dvd

all blu ray discs work perfectly except the discs that are encodeed in avc
the problem is that it stutters occassionally. Not a constant thing but every so often it stutters like its dropping a frame

i am using powerdvd 7.3 latest patch, (3104a) 8600gts latest drivers and evr

cpu is 6600 duocore, 2 gig ram , blu ray pioneer drive (tested both from drive and ripped hdd bluray movie)

cpu usage 15% tops

i did get wmp 11 to play casino royal (avc) and it played smoothly so i assume the problem is with poweredvd

has anyone else had this problem?
disks that arent playing correctly are casino royal and apocalypto

[IAM4UK]

My setup is similar, Hamish, but I did not experience the stuttering. "Casino Royale" plays flawlessly.
Pioneer BDC202; ATI 2600Pro; PDVDU7.3.3104, and old P4 630 CPU.

Your machine obviously has more horsepower than mine, but perhaps the 8600GTS is not handling AVC properly.

[hamish b]

i might try reinstalling the 8600gts driver and also the powerdvd patch

funny thing is that wmp11 played it smoothly but powerdvd didnt

mind its not like its a choppy mess but the occassional stutter which still can be quite annoying

[IAM4UK]

Could it have something to do with 3:2 pulldown?

[hamish b]

i thought that too, tried disabling the deinterlacing, and then played with all the different deinterlacing options including the option in the nvidia drivers

i ussually use the no deinterlacing option

weird thing is all other bluray and hd dvd discs including vc-1 codec ones play flawlessly

maybe its a sound issue? (i did disable spdif output to 2 speakers but that didnt help)

[nathan_h]

im having slight troubles with blu ray and power dvd

all blu ray discs work perfectly except the discs that are encodeed in avc
the problem is that it stutters occassionally. Not a constant thing but every so often it stutters like its dropping a frame

i am using powerdvd 7.3 latest patch, (3104a) 8600gts latest drivers and evr

cpu is 6600 duocore, 2 gig ram , blu ray pioneer drive (tested both from drive and ripped hdd bluray movie)

cpu usage 15% tops

i did get wmp 11 to play casino royal (avc) and it played smoothly so i assume the problem is with poweredvd

has anyone else had this problem?
disks that arent playing correctly are casino royal and apocalypto

Which OS?

[JDLIVE]

Well I got "The Good Shepard" to play after downloading new drivers from nvidia. Still had an issue where it stopped playing at chapter 19, so I ended up watching the end via the SD DVD side. Actually didn't look too bad, even with just PDVD and not Zoom Player + FFDShow. One plus for HD DVD, I guess. :)

[hamish b]

Which OS?


its vista

[hamish b]

ok , this is weird
i can get casino royal to play smoothly if i open my m2ts file (the one with the movie on it) from the stream folder from my hdd rip
it asks as i open it if i want to disable the clev-2 enhancement and if i want to disable the smart deinterlacing. I tick yes and it proceeds to play the movie flawlessly
funny thing is my clev 2 is disabled and so is my deinterlacing
but as soon as i open my casino royal from the main file heading or from the actual disk drive it goes back to stuttering
could my powerdvd be accidentally using smart deinterlacing every time avc is used evethough the box is unticked?
I assume this proves it is a powerdvd problem?

[dstoe]

ok , this is weird
i can get casino royal to play smoothly if i open my m2ts file (the one with the movie on it) from the stream folder from my hdd rip
(...)
but as soon as i open my casino royal from the main file heading or from the actual disk drive it goes back to stuttering


I think it could be with and without AACS. Your hdd rip is less cpu intensive, as it has no encryption to decode simultaneously.

[hamish b]

I think it could be with and without AACS. Your hdd rip is less cpu intensive, as it has no encryption to decode simultaneously.

but if i watch the hdd rip with all the menus etc it stutters, which should be stripped of aacs
it only stops stuttering if i explore the casino royal file and only open the largest video file

it may be an evr and avc compatabilty thing

[Dan@SI]

Today, I changed out my GeForce 7950GT KO card with a 8600GTS. Results are CPU usage went up but it eliminated the audio stutter problem I was having before and the video seems smoother and I am able to simultaneously display the movie on the PC input to my 26" Samsung HDTV and my Sanyo Front projector, both set at 1360x768. However, somewhere in the process of vidcard change and update to the newest nvidia driver, now King Kong HD DVD feature only plays in a small window in the corner of the screen and looks to be low rez even there (the intro stuff hawking HD DVD, warning me not to be a criminal...fills the screen; shrinkage starts when the feature starts). CPU usage looks OK (30-60%), plenty of memory... I only got into the HD business a few days ago so I only have 4 HD movies so far--the other three play full screen at full rez. The only difference between the four movies that I can discern is that the audio track on King Kong is at 1500+KHz while the audio on the other three is 640KHz. Can anyone offer suggestions of what to try? I did not have the King Kong small display problem with the 7950 GT KO vidcard.

WinXPMCE SP2 current with updates, AMD Athlon 62FX (dual core, 2.8 MHz), 2GB memory, ASUS M2N32-SLI Mobo, PowerDVD 7.3.3104a, single eVGA 8600GTS with driver just released a few days ago, running clone mode @ 1360x768, current on all drivers and mobo bios.

[rgathright]

I just purchased the Xbox HD-DVD drive today with the BB special going on. While rebuilding my HTPC I came across an old copy of "PowerDVD". I installed this and will try to upgrade from it. It shows now my cost would be $80. Before I do this upgrade is PowerDVD Ultra the best one to have to get the Xbox HD-DVD to work properly? Also do I want to download this or can I buy an actually disk?

[nathan_h]

"BB special"?

[rgathright]

Best Buy (BB)

[dm]

I can't seem to get cyberlink powerdvd 7.3 (3104a version) to run with hardware accleration on and HD-DVD. I can play a regular DVD and the H/W accel is on.

My setup:
xbox HD-DVD
anydvd HD software 6.1.6.7
powerdvd 7.3.3104a
xp sp2
x1600 pro video card DVI out
king kong HD-DVD
CPU P4 2.6GHz O/C to 3.2GHz
1 GB dual channel RAM
ASUS P4P800 motherboard

again, I have selected in the cyberlink video options to have h/w acc on. It works with regular DVD's but not with HD-DVD (king kong).

any ideas? king kong does not play smooth in software mode.

[MidnightWatcher]

I can't seem to get cyberlink powerdvd 7.3 (3104a version) to run with hardware accleration on and HD-DVD. I can play a regular DVD and the H/W accel is on.

My setup:
xbox HD-DVD
anydvd HD software 6.1.6.7
powerdvd 7.3.3104a
xp sp2
x1600 pro video card DVI out
king kong HD-DVD
CPU P4 2.6GHz O/C to 3.2GHz
1 GB dual channel RAM
ASUS P4P800 motherboard

again, I have selected in the cyberlink video options to have h/w acc on. It works with regular DVD's but not with HD-DVD (king kong).
You need an ATI X2400 or X2600 video card. The X1600 does not enable hardware acceleration.

any ideas? king kong does not play smooth in software mode.
You need an ATI X2400 or X2600. The 1x00 series will not enable hardware acceleration.

[hamish b]

does anynody with a 8600 card find with the latest pdvd patch that they cant disable hw accel.
i untick the box then when watching bluray movies the box is reticked and faded out?

im having troubles with avc titles and as mentioned in earlie posts and i want to work out if its drivers, software or card

[arfster]

[QUOTE=hamish b]does anynody with a 8600 card find with the latest pdvd patch that they cant disable hw accel./QUOTE]

Same with the ATI 2400/2600. The only way to test with it off now is to fire the video through the cyberlink avc directshow codec, where you certainly can turn it off.

[tristartristan]

Please guys,

stop using "mat. accelerate" and haft of yours troubles will desappear!!! :)


Don't shoot the messenger!!!! :D

[hamish b]

Please guys,

stop using "mat. accelerate" and haft of yours troubles will desappear!!! :)


Don't shoot the messenger!!!! :D

huh?

i did some experimenting in graph edit and when i use standard video renderer it plays smooth as silk
when i use evr it jumps and tears

i think there is a problem with avc codec, evr and the 8600 cards with refresh rates at 48 hz

if anybody has the same set up as me

vista premium
6600 duocore
powerdvd latest patch
8xxx seris card (8600gts)
1920 x 1080 48hz

could they tell me if they are getting smooth playback on avc encoded titles

[arfster]

i did some experimenting in graph edit and when i use standard video renderer it plays smooth as silk
when i use evr it jumps and tears


The reason for that is that only EVR supports hardware h264 acceleration in Vista, so with video renderer (aka vmr7) you are in software mode. Did you try disabling hardware acceleration in the cyberlink decoder? (using EVR).

[hamish b]

The reason for that is that only EVR supports hardware h264 acceleration in Vista, so with video renderer (aka vmr7) you are in software mode. Did you try disabling hardware acceleration in the cyberlink decoder? (using EVR).


yeah tried that, didnt make any difference

temptd maybe to do a complete reinstall of the os, but ill wait til i get confirmation that someone with a similair set up is having no problems

[Cap.T]

Is it even possible to turn off hardware acc. with version 3104a? I didn't turn it on in the options menu, but everytime I start a movie hardware acc. activates itself and I'm not allowed to turn it off. I'm using a NVidia 8800 GTS, 162.22 Drivers and Vista 32 Bit.

[hamish b]

no you cant turn it off

you can if you use graph edit but in powerdvd its always on with latest patch

capt.t do you get smooth playback with your set up and avc coded blu ray disks

eg casino royale

[Cap.T]

no you cant turn it off

you can if you use graph edit but in powerdvd its always on with latest patch

capt.t do you get smooth playback with your set up and avc coded blu ray disks

eg casino royale

Yes, I get smooth playback with both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. Just yesterday I watched parts of "Dead Men's Chest" first with PowerDVD 2911 without Hardware acc. and then with 3104a with forced Hardware acc. I had no playback problem with both Versions, but I believe that the picture was a little bit sharper with Version 2911 and deactivated Hardware acc. but that could just have been imagination. However for the time beeing I'm not going to install the patch and continue with 2911. Why isn't it possible to turn of Hardware acc. with the latest version? Is that a bug or something that is intented?

[georgeorwell]

I have PowerDVD Ultra and have been using it fine for HD DVD. I'm getting ready to add a Blue Ray drive to my PC....my question is, can you use both formats with the new version of PowerDVD? Seems like months ago I read on another forum how to do it, but you had to uninstall/reinstall and do all kinds of weird things for it to play both formats.

[Ted White]

I apologize for not reading the whole thread but is anyone else having problems with certain BR disc menus? I have ben trying to watch "Premonition" on BR and have not been able to get past the movie menu... Can't click "play" or anything else.

Working with the folks at Cyberlink, I have stripped all elements of previous version and re-installed completely, then the patch. Still no luck.

Now I get this from Cyberlink:
In regard to your issue, kindly provide us the below mentioned information for further troubleshooting:

1. Kindly download the BD/HD Advisor tool from the website and then run the test and provide us the log file of the test for further troubleshooting. Below is the link to download the Advisor tool from the website:

ftp://CS1:Advisor@ftp.gocyberlink.com

2. Provide us the Graphics card's brand & model.

3. Provide us the Display device's brand & model.

4. The connection of DVI or HDMI (DVI-2-HDMI, HDMI-2-DVI, or another converter if used)

5. The HD DVD and Blu-ray title you're playing


Am I the only one with this issue??

[arfster]

I've had no problems with AVC discs, with a 8500GT, 8800GTS, and ATI 2400pro/2600xt. Casino Royale, Babel, the 2 Pirates films, and a fair few others I can't think of right now.

[bowser15]

I have PowerDVD Ultra and have been using it fine for HD DVD. I'm getting ready to add a Blue Ray drive to my PC....my question is, can you use both formats with the new version of PowerDVD? Seems like months ago I read on another forum how to do it, but you had to uninstall/reinstall and do all kinds of weird things for it to play both formats.

Yes you can play both formats, as long as you have version 7.3.26** or higher. I've been watching both formats with 2911.

[Ted White]

I've played Casino Royale just fine also. Premonition was the first title with this issue.

[JDLIVE]

I apologize for not reading the whole thread but is anyone else having problems with certain BR disc menus? I have ben trying to watch "Premonition" on BR and have not been able to get past the movie menu... Can't click "play" or anything else.

Using the mouse or keyboard? I've found often the mouse won't work, but the keyboard up/down/enter/esc will let you navigate.

[Ted White]

Well, that's a good point, I was using the mouse. But I've always used the mouse on any other BD.

[rgathright]

I will be buying Ultra this weekend for the HD-DVD Xbox I just got. If I do the download can I copy it to a disk?

[ChrisCarter]

I will be buying Ultra this weekend for the HD-DVD Xbox I just got. If I do the download can I copy it to a disk?

I just bought it last night and did exactly that, so I guess your answer is Yes.

-Chris

[ajkev24]

my mb has ati sb600 and having issues with detecting my bd player...flashed the bios w/ newest version and updated my ati driver for my mb...any one havin the same issue
rig
amd x2 3600+ @ 2.35
8500gt anydvd latest and powerdvd latest
2 gig ram
gigabyte 690v micro mb
pioneer bdc 2202 been dyin to watch bluray
xb 360 add on
any ideas?

[rgreenpc]

I am seriously thinking of adding a Blu-ray or combo drive to my VMC box... but I keep reading the issues many people seem to have with playback.

Is the software just not yet ready for primetime?

My wife doesn't want to have to "fiddle" with anything, she wants to put in a disc and sit back and relax.

As a matter of fact she really doesn't even care about menus, extras or anything else.

Question -

How is video quality of stand alone players vs Computer based units?

I am trying to simplify the Living Room Home Theater and only have the Vista Media Center and the combo drive (or blu-ray and x360 hd-dvd drive) and that would be ideal.

The current system:
Dell Core 2 Duo 2.6 GHZ
2gb of Ram (upgarding to 4gb)
Nvidia 8800GTS
Xbox360 HD-DVD Drive (but I have actually yet to take it from my Xbox and mate it to the PC)
Dvi->HDMI cable to Sony 1080I TV (to be replaced this fall with a 1080p with 120hz and 24p support)

The last one also begs the question, do any of the programs out there support 24p?

[sparklan]

I am seriously thinking of adding a Blu-ray or combo drive to my VMC box... but I keep reading the issues many people seem to have with playback.

Is the software just not yet ready for primetime?

My wife doesn't want to have to "fiddle" with anything, she wants to put in a disc and sit back and relax.

As a matter of fact she really doesn't even care about menus, extras or anything else.

Question -

How is video quality of stand alone players vs Computer based units?

I am trying to simplify the Living Room Home Theater and only have the Vista Media Center and the combo drive (or blu-ray and x360 hd-dvd drive) and that would be ideal.

In my opinion the software is deffinitely ready for primetime. The slackers here, have been nvidia and ATI. Drivers are finally being released that are handling the HD formats but it's been a long road. I don't run media center, but PowerDVD can be made to auto startup in full screen when an HD-DVD or Blu-Ray disc is inserted. Once there, a keyboard, mouse, or a mutimedia remote of your choice will do the trick.

[rgreenpc]

In my opinion the software is deffinitely ready for primetime. The slackers here, have been nvidia and ATI. Drivers are finally being released that are handling the HD formats but it's been a long road. I don't run media center, but PowerDVD can be made to auto startup in full screen when an HD-DVD or Blu-Ray disc is inserted. Once there, a keyboard, mouse, or a mutimedia remote of your choice will do the trick.

How do they handle the various HD audio formats? Would I need to get an X-Meridian type card to output those formats?

[<><]

just one question,
what do you guys have your "Dynamic Range Compression" set to? ... esp those using 6ch analog out to a receiver.

Thanks

[Mark_A_W]

just one question,
what do you guys have your "Dynamic Range Compression" set to? ... esp those using 6ch analog out to a receiver.

Thanks

I pondered that myself, and ended up using "Quiet Environment to experience Full Dynamic Range".

I wish there was an "Off" setting as it would be much clearer.

Sometimes software seems written by aliens...

[rgathright]

I will be connecting my newly rebuilt HTPC to my HDTV this weekend. Once it is setup I then will install the Xbox HD-DVD drive. After readying the thousands of messages this is what I know I will need.

1) Install latest video card drivers (8600GTS).
2) Connect the HD-DVD drive to HTPC prior to installing PowerDVD Ultra. Install software??
3) Install PowerDVD Ultra - will the HD-DVD player actually need to be turned on?

What else needs to be done to get this working?

[rgathright]

Hellooooooooo

[nathan_h]

Is what you described not working? Sounds like it is how most people do it. Assuming your video card is HDCP compliant, your processor is fast enough, you have enough RAM, etc., you should be good to go.

[rgathright]

I do not know=I will be doing it this weekend. I just want to make sure I have everything I need to make it work as painless as possible. :)

[nathan_h]

Murphy's law says that you've got everything you SHOULD need. And you are missing something no one thought to mention.

So I think you are going to find you are missing SOMETHING but I don't know what :)

[rgathright]

No doubt!!!

[Baker_God]

Anybody have problems with avivo and Ultra? My hardware acceleration works fine, but none of the color options in the avivo control panel actually register with powerdvd. I move sliders and the picture stays the same. What's weird is that it works fine with the powerdvd trial and a non HD capable version of powerdvd deluxe. I'm really getting frustrated here as without being able to adjust my levels these hd-dvd's look really bad.

[Alan_Arkin]

I recently installed the patch/upgrade for my Powerdvd (It previously said Powerdvd BD edition) to Ultra. Since then, the two Blu-Ray discs (Deja Vu and Blood Diamond) both freeze and can't restart about 5-10 minutes in. I have just installed the latest Forceware driver (162.22) and have an X6800, an 8800GTX, and 2 gig ram. It is running on my Sharp 1080p LCD and the sound is SPDIF.

Any ideas?

[bowser15]

I recently installed the patch/upgrade for my Powerdvd (It previously said Powerdvd BD edition) to Ultra. Since then, the two Blu-Ray discs (Deja Vu and Blood Diamond) both freeze and can't restart about 5-10 minutes in. I have just installed the latest Forceware driver (162.22) and have an X6800, an 8800GTX, and 2 gig ram. It is running on my Sharp 1080p LCD and the sound is SPDIF.

Any ideas?

I would try a fresh install. The patches from Cyberlink have been notorious for screwing up playback. Start a support request on Cyberlink's website and say you are having trouble installing the patch. They will send you the full version of the latest build.

I will be connecting my newly rebuilt HTPC to my HDTV this weekend. Once it is setup I then will install the Xbox HD-DVD drive. After readying the thousands of messages this is what I know I will need.

1) Install latest video card drivers (8600GTS).
2) Connect the HD-DVD drive to HTPC prior to installing PowerDVD Ultra. Install software??
3) Install PowerDVD Ultra - will the HD-DVD player actually need to be turned on?

What else needs to be done to get this working?

1. If you are using XP the nvidia drivers still do not support decoding of avc hd/blu-ray discs. But, if you are running vista this should not be a problem for those drivers do support avc decoding.

2. If you are running XP I believe you plug in the drive and two new hardware devices will appear, one for the drive and the other for a memory device inside the drive. The driver for the xbox hddvd drive will install fine but xp will not be able to find one for the memory device. You don't need the memory device so you can disable in Device Manager or just leave it there. If you are running Vista, all the drivers for the hddvd drive are build in, so just plug it in and it will be installed it.

3. The drive will not need to be turned on or off, it just goes to sleep when the computer shuts off and turns on when the computer boots up.

The order in which you plan to install everything seems to be ok though. Good luck. It's worth it too. The quality over regular dvd is often understated in my opinion.

[rgathright]

Hmmm - I was wanting to stay away from Vista.

[bowser15]

Hmmm - I was wanting to stay away from Vista.

I guess it's up to personal preference but I've moved all of my computers to vista and have had no real problem. On a side note, Nvidia was supposed to have xp drivers that decoded avc in june, and as far as I know they still have not released any? Does anybody else know anything about this?

[jamesbong]

just make sure you can browse your hd-dvd folder before installing power dvd 7.3 :)

[Jim HTPC]

I just tried the movie HARSH TIMES on HD DVD and noticed video stutter regardless enabling Hardware acceleration, or not. Has anyone else used PD 7.3 and had no problems? The Eagles concert DVD and Harsh Times are the only movies that appear to stutter in slow motion, then speed up. I've own/rented over 70 HD/Blu-ray discs without a single problem. There are no scratches on the disc either.

Config:

Core 2 Duo 6700
nVidia 8800GTS 640MB version
Xp Pro
PowerDVD 7.3

Confirmation would be helpful.

[IAM4UK]

Jim, with that hardware, you should be able to plow through any HD content without making the CPU or GPU sweat. There has to be a software issue behind the stuttering you mention.

[Rathbone]

New patch for retail version: 3104a.1 dated August 6th. :D

http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/download/patches_112_ENU.html

I never had flawless playback with XP. Since I use Vista, playback is perfect with my 8600GT and Forceware 163.11, altough PowerDVD is not: Still cannot active subs in French Brotherhood of Wolves and all other Studio Canal titles of the second wave. Maybe this patch fixes that.

[Socio]

FYI:

I got the HD version of the Warriors, it looks fantastic, but it is the only movie in my collection that stutters, and it drives me nuts.

I noticed it is not using VC-1 it is using something called "Mpeg-4 AVC" and pegs my CPU @ 100%.

If your experiencing stuttering it maybe because the movie you are trying to watch is using this format and bringing your system to its knees. I have a ATi 1950 Pro and dual 3.06 processors and it brings mine to its knees thats for sure.

[arfster]

I noticed it is not using VC-1 it is using something called "Mpeg-4 AVC" and pegs my CPU @ 100%.

If your experiencing stuttering it maybe because the movie you are trying to watch is using this format and bringing your system to its knees. I have a ATi 1950 Pro and dual 3.06 processors and it brings mine to its knees thats for sure.

Yeah, h264 is just nasty on a CPU. Probably your graphics card isn't helping at all, in which case it's no surprise a dual 3ghz (p4?) can't cope. Without acceleration you need a C2D 2ghz or Athlon X2 2.4ghz minimum.


By the way, anyone notice any difrference with the new PDVD build?

[Andy o]

FYI:

I got the HD version of the Warriors, it looks fantastic, but it is the only movie in my collection that stutters, and it drives me nuts.

I noticed it is not using VC-1 it is using something called "Mpeg-4 AVC" and pegs my CPU @ 100%.

If your experiencing stuttering it maybe because the movie you are trying to watch is using this format and bringing your system to its knees. I have a ATi 1950 Pro and dual 3.06 processors and it brings mine to its knees thats for sure.

That's H.264, and that's why the new Nvidia 8600 and 8500 and ATI 2600 and 2400 series were basically created. You get one of those cards your CPU will be in the 20's or even lower. But I assume you have a Pentium D though, right? Core 2 duos over 2GHz don't have any trouble with H.264 in blurays and HD-DVDs in my experience.

[Rathbone]

Build 3104a.1 finxes the following issues:

* Improve Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD title compatibility with PowerDVD Ultra

* Enables support for secure BD/HD DVD playback on Intel 965/946 graphics chip with Windows Vista Aero-glass on.

Subs on Studio Canal titles still don't work. :(

[MidnightWatcher]

When are they going to fix compatibility with the Hulk?

[slimm]

When are they going to fix compatibility with the Hulk?

Apparently not with this patch :(

[nathan_h]

That's H.264, and that's why the new Nvidia 8600 and 8500 and ATI 2600 and 2400 series were basically created for. You get one of those cards your CPU will be in the 20's or even lower.

It may go without saying but just so newbies don't get confused: With nVidia, you'll be good under Vista but out of luck (so far) under XP.

[Raid5]

Hi

I'm tearing my hair out with this one

power dvd Ultra 7.3 on my sony
viao FZ11s and hav it connected to my
marantz 2600 reciever via a hdmi port.

I cant get 5.1 sound from my dvd's or HD-DVD's I
ony get 2 channels through my HDMI

the hardware info i get is

Hardware Information:
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo
CPU T7100 @ running at 1794 MHz
3DNow! Technology: Not Detected
Enhanced 3DNow! Technology: Not
Detected
3DNow! Professional Technology: Not
Detected
IA MMX Technology: In Use
IA Streaming SIMD Extensions: In Use
IA SSE 2: In Use
Video Accelerator: DirectX VA (not
in use)
Multispeaker Audio Device: HDMI
(SigmaTel High Definition (not in use)
SPDIF Output Device: HDMI (SigmaTel
High Definition (not in use)


notice above it says not in use but it
is in use as I also have WINDVD
installed and get 5.1 through the hdmi.

At this point I'm not bothered if I get lossless PCM ..I just want 5.1 dammit :)

I am running on Vista btw

Please help

Tia

[scottb4u]

fully delete and re-install your sound driver.

[tristartristan]

tia,

what is your audio configuration in pwdvd?

[jp2]

does anyone know the command line switch to force pdvd ultra to use the "Open movie file on hard disk drive" instead of "Open media files"? I am trying to configure a front end application to automatically launch pdvd and then play bluray files on a hdd and retain full menu control.
thanks,
jp

[Raid5]

tia,

what is your audio configuration in pwdvd?

I only get the options for 2 speaker, 4 speaker 6 speakers and so forth..I did a reg hack last night that enabled the use SPIDF tick box but it made no difference.

I've tried running anydvd HD with it to see if its a DRM issue and still no joy .

It just dos'nt find my HDMI Audio sound card ..funnily WINDVD has a use HDMI button that works and even Nero Showtime finds it

The best App for this laptop viewing HD-DVD / Blueray is Powerdvd by a mile but this sound issue sucks..

Sigmatel are crap for support of their cards ..there's not even an interface to manage it properly ..I only have the sound options you get with Vista

I will try to uninstall re-install drivers as suggested but I suspect I'm gonna have to wait for a patch / upgrade to Powerdvd before it recognize this soundcard / driver

[NaTT]

I can't claim it does for sure but I couldn't hear any difference at all in sound quality between DD+ and Uncompressed until I used filmerit to force PowerDVD to utilise the Cyberlink decoder / filters rather than FFDSHOW or AC3 which it was using.

I am using 8 x analogue.

It would be very easy for the signal to get downsampled, check the settings available in AC3 or FFDSHOW for instance and you can easliy sey it to any type of output you want.

Now I have the cyberlink decoder and filter i can defintaly hear a big improvement in sound quality as well as a perceived volume change when switching between audio tracks. :D

How do I ensure PDVD is using the cyberlink decoders?
I can't hear this described difference over analogue (I've a HDA X-Mystique, perhaps it's not good enough?).
I recently installed 3104a so I assume it's taken priority.

PS I know it can be heard on much less expensive kit than you say you have. I heard Casino Royale on a PS3, £800 Denon and say about £1000 worth of speakers and it was night and day different.

[Maggie Guy]

Been skimming this thread and have so far been unsuccessful finding keyboard commands for PowerDVD Ultra. Specifically a command to end the program. I am using MyHTPC as a front end and have it configured to start upon queueing a ripped HD-DVD file, but cannot figure out how to end the program without using the mouse. Also it would be nice if the program would automatically close at the end of a movie or go to screen saver as I have a CRT projector.

[Maggie Guy]

is there a list of keyboard shortcuts and command line parameters for powerdvd ultra? I cant seem to find any of info on their website.

thanks for any help.

Anyone?

[Rick Guynn]

There's a whole bunch of them listed in the help file that installs with the program. Just look for "hotkeys".

[ChrisCarter]

Anyone?

Ctrl-X closes PowerDVD.

Download the manual (http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/download/dl_guide_405_112_ENU.html) from their website, and you'll find the hotkeys starting on pg. 19.

-Chris

[Maggie Guy]

Thanks Guys!

[hozer]

Hi

I'm tearing my hair out with this one

power dvd Ultra 7.3 on my sony
viao FZ11s and hav it connected to my
marantz 2600 reciever via a hdmi port.

I cant get 5.1 sound from my dvd's or HD-DVD's I
ony get 2 channels through my HDMI

the hardware info i get is

Hardware Information:
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo
CPU T7100 @ running at 1794 MHz
3DNow! Technology: Not Detected
Enhanced 3DNow! Technology: Not
Detected
3DNow! Professional Technology: Not
Detected
IA MMX Technology: In Use
IA Streaming SIMD Extensions: In Use
IA SSE 2: In Use
Video Accelerator: DirectX VA (not
in use)
Multispeaker Audio Device: HDMI
(SigmaTel High Definition (not in use)
SPDIF Output Device: HDMI (SigmaTel
High Definition (not in use)


notice above it says not in use but it
is in use as I also have WINDVD
installed and get 5.1 through the hdmi.

At this point I'm not bothered if I get lossless PCM ..I just want 5.1 dammit :)

I am running on Vista btw

Please help

Tia

This place has all your answers to all of your questions ( well at least to most of them )

Click Here Dude!! (http://beam.to/xboxhd)

Cya :D

[jp2]

Thanks for the link to the pdvd user's guide but I still can't find any command line switches to have a front end app launch pdvd and automatically start playing bluray files from the hdd (with menu support). I can do this with hd-dvd files by just pointing to the xpl file but I don't know if there is a similar file with bluray. Thanks again for trying to help.
jp

[ECH]

Why can't I use my mouse to interact with HD DVD movie using powerDVD? For example when I am at the main menu of PE I can't use my mouse to click on start. I can get the mouse to hover over start but when I click it nothing happens. I have to use the keyboard. And where is the snapshot option for HD?

Edit: I had to enable HD mouse so that's done.
Edit: The capture button is grayed out, why? How do I change this?

[dfordham]

Thanks for the link to the pdvd user's guide but I still can't find any command line switches to have a front end app launch pdvd and automatically start playing bluray files from the hdd (with menu support). I can do this with hd-dvd files by just pointing to the xpl file but I don't know if there is a similar file with bluray. Thanks again for trying to help.
jp

According to the fellow who wrote MyMovies, Blu-ray titles can't be started via the command line in PDVD; HD-DVD titles can. He has contacted Cyberlink and they don't show much enthusiasm for adding this functionality.

It is possible to start ISO rips of Blu-ray titles. Details are on the MyMovies web site

[NaTT]

How do I ensure PDVD is using the cyberlink decoders?
I can't hear this described difference over analogue (I've a HDA X-Mystique, perhaps it's not good enough?).
I recently installed 3104a so I assume it's taken priority.

PS I know it can be heard on much less expensive kit than you say you have. I heard Casino Royale on a PS3, £800 Denon and say about £1000 worth of speakers and it was night and day different.

I used Filmerit to set all the Cyberlink audio filters to "preferred" 0800000.
I can now hear that the HD track is quiter than the SD track, but tbh I can't really hear a qualitative difference. Is this likely to be beacause the Mystique sound card only has 24/96 DACs and not the fuill 24/192? (this is the same as the Meridian and Prelude to come)

[Mark_A_W]

I can select the TrueHD track on my system - I have a Revo 5.1, which is 24/192.

[Demi9OD]

I am experiencing some PQ issues with the latest version of PowerDVD (build 3104a) and ATI 7.7 Drivers (1900xt). It looks like there is something bumping levels from 0-255 to 16-255. Blacks are not really black on my Pio 4280 or my regular monitor. There is a clear difference between the black level of the bars of 2.35:1 film and the actual picture itself, and everything looks fairly washed out. The problem is not showing itself with other codecs, just Cyberlink, and the problem does not occur with the older version of 7.3 (build 2602).

[Maggie Guy]

I am having a video problem as well. Movies start at some predetermined brightness/contrast, level fairly dark overall. When I open up the configuration window the video settings engage and take effect. I even tried this with a really bright, washed out preset, started the movie and it was dark. Opened the control window and bammo, the bright washed out settings kicked in. Anyone else have this issue? Also on my ripped copy of Dune I can't get rid of the subtitles? What's up with that?

[Sxrd55]

Question for you all. I am having some problems playing Blu Ray files off my HDD's. Some movies will play perfectly with powerdvd 7 but others will play but with no sound. If I open the same file with VLC media player I then get sound but no picture! And its reverse for other files. Neither of these players are the full versions so could that be the problem? And if so would upgrading to Powerdvd ultra take care of this problem? Or could having both VLC and PDVD on the same system be causing problems? Any suggestions would be helpful.

Thanks!

Vista Ultimate
6600 X2 CPU
XFX 7950GT
Asus P5W Deluxe
Corsair XMS2 1GB x 4

[jvrobert]

After applying the latest patch (3104a) their seems to be a split in two groups of user experiences:

The first group A has experienced some bad issues:
1.) Video shows blacks bars when switching to fullscreen
2.) Powerdvd switches off vista aero mode when playing hd content

The second group B has made experiences exactly the other way round:
1.) Video shows without black bars when switching to fullscreen
2.) Powerdvd doesn't switch off vista aero at any time

After some investigation it seems that group A are the owners of an ATI 2400 and group B are the owners of an ATI2600 or any other graphic card.

So it seems that the 2400 is limited by powerdvd in combination with the drivers.

In order to prove my investigation and to clear things up it would be rather nice if anyone could tell us to which group A or B you belong and which graphic card you own. Thanks in advance!

TheMule!

I've got vertical black bars on my display. It is...how do I say this.. slightly irritating that this stuff all works so poorly. PowerDVD is crap, and the ATI drivers are crap. I seriously regret purchasing either.

I just built a fresh install of Vista 32 on a brand new C2D + 2600XT, installed a fresh install of PowerDVD, plugged in my 360 HDDVD, and expected it would just work. Of course, it didn't - I'm displaying to a 60" SXRD with 1080i res, and I get a 1" black bar all around the picture, no matter what I do with over/underscan in the horrible, horrible ATI drivers.

What's also funny is AVIVO and/or PowerDVD can't even manage to play a DVD correctly, I get a wierd horizontal "cut" in the middle of the screen, like it spliced the top half of the screen together with the bottom but sloppily joined them together or something.

All in all I'm disgusted with the progress made byt he vendors in the HTPC world since I built my last one 2 years ago, which with theatertek had all around better video quality. But I'm not bitter ;) Maybe I just chose wrong when I picked a 2600xt instead of an 8600GT.

[Mark_A_W]

Try Powerstrip to create a custom resolution.

And I've never seen tearing with my 2600XT. I think your display is causing it, as I use CRT multisync displays, and get no tearing.

It all just works for me.

[AnthonyB]

Is there a hotkey to enable of disable the "Show Information"?

I just couldn't find it.

[shayking]

just a note;
with latest PowerDVD patch, I do have harware acceleration *In Use* when viewing MPEG-4-AVC,HD-DVD "BABEL" with my AIW x1900..

maybe someday VC1 will get accelerated....wishfull thinking...

[MidnightWatcher]

just a note;
with latest PowerDVD patch, I do have harware acceleration *In Use* when viewing MPEG-4-AVC,HD-DVD "BABEL" with my AIW x1900..

maybe someday VC1 will get accelerated....wishfull thinking...
What is your OS?

[Socio]

Anyone else have problems with Borne Identity and Borne Supremacy HD DVD's?

I picked them both up today from BB and both have the exact same problem, the video gets stuck but the audio continues to play. I can pause and then unpause when the video stops and it will continue for about 30 seconds then the video stops again.

I have near two dozen HD DVDs and none of them display this kind of behavior. Does anyone else that have these HD DVD's experience this problem?

I am not sure if they are both from a bad batch of disks or if the problem is on my end.

Thanks

[MidnightWatcher]

Is there a hotkey to enable of disable the "Show Information"?

I just couldn't find it.
{shift}+d

[MidnightWatcher]

Anyone else have problems with Borne Identity and Borne Supremacy HD DVD's?

I picked them both up today from BB and both have the exact same problem, the video gets stuck but the audio continues to play. I can pause and then unpause when the video stops and it will continue for about 30 seconds then the video stops again.

I have near two dozen HD DVDs and none of them display this kind of behavior. Does anyone else that have these HD DVD's experience this problem?

I am not sure if they are both from a bad batch of disks or if the problem is on my end.

Thanks
They both play perfectly fine for me. Do you have the latest patch installed for PDVD Ultra? What is the refresh rate of your display? What drivers are you using for your video card? What is the OS? Are you using ReClock?

[Socio]

After screwing around with them I finally figured out the problem it is that damn U Control crap and it does not want to shut off before you start the movie. So I have to start the movie then go back to the title screen to get it to turn off and stay off, once I do that the movies run smooth.

[jvrobert]

I fixed my problem as well. It turned out, as everyone says, that ATI's CCC is just a horrible, horrible thing. I uninstalled all the ATI crap, and then reinstalled just the 7.7 drivers sans CCC. Then I started up powerdvd and King Kong played in all its glory, edge to edge with no black bars on the sides.

I have horrible overscan, but I actually want that. I want my display to have 1920x1080 pixels with no wierd underscan, extra unnecessary scaling etc.. and I could't get it to work with CCC. Sure, it's bad for the desktop but it's how movies are supposed to be viewed.

So I now understand why people hate CCC, it's junk. Are there any other tools that allow control of all the other options, e.g. the AVIVO settings, etc...?

[Mark_A_W]

Anyone else have problems with Borne Identity and Borne Supremacy HD DVD's?

I picked them both up today from BB and both have the exact same problem, the video gets stuck but the audio continues to play. I can pause and then unpause when the video stops and it will continue for about 30 seconds then the video stops again.

I have near two dozen HD DVDs and none of them display this kind of behavior. Does anyone else that have these HD DVD's experience this problem?

I am not sure if they are both from a bad batch of disks or if the problem is on my end.

Thanks

This happens with Reclock for me, when watching King Kong. Without reclock it's fine.. I like reclock, but it needs an update (Ogo, where are you??).

[wulfher]

Sorry but what is CCC ?

[dstoe]

Sorry but what is CCC ?

Catalyst Control Center (ATI Driver Stuff)

[Rathbone]

Could someone please post the link to the MS tool that cleans the PDVD installation! Had to uninstall, but something went wrong. Now I cannot reinstall!

[Andy o]

Anyone found a fix for the menus of movies such as The Host? I saw a post some days ago about it but no luck. I have found a workaround, which is right-click-->Go To and select title and chapter (for The host, title 3), and to change subtitles and audio, you can't use context menus, but you can use the buttons in the control bar (or Hotkeys U and H) to toggle subs and audio directly. For this movie's audio (USA version) is English DTS-HD-->English DDPlus-->Korean DTS-HD-->Korean DDPlus-->Commentary. Subs are eng-->spanish-->eng closed captions. To turn off subtitles, though, I guess you have to restart the movie.

But a fix would be better. Anyone knows if this is a PowerDVD problem, or WinDVD also has this? Or is it AnyDVD? I can't test it right now without AnyDVD because my ATI card doesn't do HDCP over DVI, but strangely it does over HDMI. I'm probably gonna be getting the 8600GT if ATI doesn't fix this, but I digress. The only key that seems to work for the menu while playing the movie is the down arrow, which makes the menu appear, but then you can't do anything as far as I can tell.

[AnthonyB]

{shift}+d

Thanks!

[shayking]

What is your OS?
Hello,

Vista x64
Q6600 - 2Gram
AIWx1900 : CCC 7.8 beta
PowerDVD 7 : Latest Patch 3xxx
XBox HDDVD

TEST: Babel* HD-DVD_ MPEG4-AVC _25-30Mbps
HW accel off = CPU @ 22%-30% ^--^ spikes
HW accel on = CPU @ 14% ----- Flat

far from the 0% CPU the UVDecoder Cards have built in , but it is working and availabe.

Apperently there is ATI/Microsoft/ VC1 accel issue's/development to be resolved in the near future...

so if you-we have "x1000 series+" we will see Hardware Accel on BD & HDDVD's eventionally...

[rgreenpc]

Is there a way to tie commands to my harmony remote ( so that I can go to the menu? ) I can use the transport functons but I cant end the program from the remote, nor can I get to the menus.

[Schlotkins]

Silly question: I'm thinking of buying a Sony VAIO FZ laptop with the HDMI port, but not the bluray drive. If I purchase an internal blu-ray drive, put it in an external USB 2.0 case, is there any reason PowerDVD would not let me play movies? Clearly, the video card has HDCP.

Thanks,
Chris

[peteness]

If I purchase an internal blu-ray drive, put it in an external USB 2.0 case, is there any reason PowerDVD would not let me play movies? Clearly, the video card has HDCP.


I'm using an internal Blu-ray drive in an external USB 2.0 case on my HTPC. It works just fine.

- Pete

[AVSAR]

Having significant audio issues with latest patch on Vista Ultimate when playing HD content via the hard drive. I cannot get anything beyond stereo sound even though 5.1 works fine through Media Center with SD DVDs on hard drive.

Anyone else have this problem and figure out a solution?


P5W Deluxe w/E6600
NVidia 162.2 on 7600GT w/HDMI & toslink passthrough

[Sarvatt]

same problem here, I've never had it working no matter which version it was though. Interested if you find an answer, would be nice if we could force ffdshow and have it reencode to 640k ac3 like I do for everything else :D

edit: using hd2400 pro HDMI, realtek ALC655 spdif and Envy24 spdif, analog works fine but isnt an option.

[Andy o]

I'm using the latest patch (3104b or something like that) and I don't have any trouble. Though I did notice that with Dolby TrueHD soundtracks, at least for HD-DVDs (don't have a blu-ray drive) if your speaker setup is set to 2 speakers or headphones, the TrueHD 5.1 turns into TrueHD 2.0, negating Dolby Virtual Speaker, and most importantly, Dolby Headphone. I don't know if that change is part of the Dolby TrueHD specs or PowerDVD is doing it, nevertheless it sucks, but luckily Dolby Headphone is the main reason I got my Sondigo Inferno sound card, which takes multichannel and mixes it into DH.

Also, I have noticed that if the speaker setup is set to 6 channel it won't work well (I have a 6 ch setup). If I have 6 channel set on PDVD and 6-ch input on the sondigo control panel, my surround speakers work funny. The surrounds are not isolated (with speaker white noise test, you can hear some on the other surround speaker. If I set PDVD to 6 ch and 8ch input on the card, then it seemingly works fine, but in that same situation, if I set 6 ch on PDVD, either 6 or 8 ch input on the card, and Dolby Headphone output on the card, Dolby Headphone's separation for the surrounds sucks. The only way to have everything work well, including Dolby Headphone via the sound card, is to have PDVD set in 8-ch output. Then, even when the Sondigo is set to 6-ch input it works just fine.

AVSAR, an off topic question, you have the p5W deluxe and Vista Ultimate, right? So are you having any trouble with sleep or hibernate modes? I have another PC with that combo, and a E4300 CPU and the PC can't stay in any sleep or hibernate mode for more than about 15 minutes. It will always wake up after a while.

Thanks.

[XxDeadlyxX]

Is there any solution to the Vista 16-235 EVR problem? The only fix I have is turning down the nvidia video brightness by 3%... but the video quality (particuarly dark scenes) is degraded compared to XP's working 0-255.

Any fix for this?

[arfster]

Is there any solution to the Vista 16-235 EVR problem? The only fix I have is turning down the nvidia video brightness by 3%... but the video quality (particuarly dark scenes) is degraded compared to XP's working 0-255.

Any fix for this?

That's not a bug - 16 to 235 are the correct levels, as they are originally on the disc, and as any DVD/Bluray/cable box uses. 0-255 may be useful for displaying on some PC monitors, but it's simply wrong to have it as a default.

[XxDeadlyxX]

That's not a bug - 16 to 235 are the correct levels, as they are originally on the disc, and as any DVD/Bluray/cable box uses. 0-255 may be useful for displaying on some PC monitors, but it's simply wrong to have it as a default.

Ah ok.. well how come the black bars in the 16:9 frame for a 2.35:1 movie are actually grey on Vista? On XP they are black as they should be. This affects the whole 16:9 frame, not just the black bars. Having to reduce video brightness in Nvidia control panel in Vista to compensate doesn't get back all the black detail... it looks weird and washed out and many dark areas have a pink-ish look. In XP there is no problem and no need to mess around with any brightness settings.

[arfster]

Ah ok.. well how come the black bars in the 16:9 frame for a 2.35:1 movie are actually grey on Vista?

Probably they're at black-16, rather than (sub-black) 0. I think the video drivers are a factor in this. Easy way to tell is to printscreen, paste into mspaint, select a pixel with pick colour tool, alt-c, alt-e, alt-d, check the RGB values. They're probably 16/16/16.

[Andy o]

As the minimum in the video is 16, and the black bars in a 2.35:1 movie are part of the frame anyway, just like any other "black" part of the movie, they will also be 16. The black bars out of the 16:9 frame might be black or gray, depending on the driver.

I am all for the least amount of messing with the video at default levels, but I also think black should be black. I still don't understand why is this 16-235 a standard in video. Do you know if when messing with overlay or video settings, the card (ATI HD2000s or Nvidia 8000s) is doing the processing in 8-bit or in 10-bit (or higher)? I personally can't tell if there's any posterization due to "expansion" with my 2600 pro, and I don't mind either way or the other, if I don't like "gray" black, I can always mess with contrast to do my own "expansion" for the same results as default ATI.

[voranand]

That's not a bug - 16 to 235 are the correct levels, as they are originally on the disc, and as any DVD/Bluray/cable box uses. 0-255 may be useful for displaying on some PC monitors, but it's simply wrong to have it as a default.

You're saying it's the correct level. so are you saying when we view the contents (HD, DVD) on computer monitor, the black will be grey. But when we view it on HDTV, the black bar will be black? I want to understand this issue. It affected every players in my Vista Ultimate machine and I hate grey black bar.

[MidnightWatcher]

Calibrate your HDTV (adjust brightness and contrast...)

[Andy o]

Calibrate your HDTV (adjust brightness and contrast...)
... so the gray will be black in the HDTV? Then what will be black? I think if we wanna get black out of gray-16 the way to go is tweak the contrast in the video only, as in the overlay settings, or the ERV settings.

By the way, is there NO video at all that comes with 0-255 levels? Is it a color space thing? A bandwidth limitation passed on from slower times? I see no other reason not to do native 0-255 nowadays.

[voranand]

Calibrate your HDTV (adjust brightness and contrast...)

We're talking about the level of black bar not in sync with the video here, i.e. the black in the content is perfect but the black bar is just dark grey, which is annoying (moreso if your TV or PJ is really good). The method you mentioned won't work in this situation.

[IAM4UK]

When you calibrate the brightness (black level) on your monitor/tv, level "16" ought to look more black than grey.

[Andy o]

We're talking about the level of black bar not in sync with the video here, i.e. the black in the content is perfect but the black bar is just dark grey, which is annoying (moreso if your TV or PJ is really good). The method you mentioned won't work in this situation.
Hmm, I may have misunderstood you from before. Everything in the video window that is black should be gray, not just the bars. in other words, the video's bottom end should have the RGB value of 16, 16, 16 or something like that. Black is 0,0,0. That would be a native 16-235 video displayed properly. You might get further real black bars if you have a screen taller than 16:9, but those are added by the player, and they are not in the video itself, as are the "black" bars on 2.35:1 content.

If you are actually playing video with a native 2.35:1 aspect ratio on something taller than that, like a 16:9 screen or such, and you get gray bars, then it also would be the player.

[voranand]

When you calibrate the brightness (black level) on your monitor/tv, level "16" ought to look more black than grey.

It's more black, but not black.

[voranand]

Hmm, I may have misunderstood you from before. Everything in the video window that is black should be gray, not just the bars. in other words, the video's bottom end should have the RGB value of 16, 16, 16 or something like that. Black is 0,0,0. That would be a native 16-235 video displayed properly. You might get further real black bars if you have a screen taller than 16:9, but those are added by the player, and they are not in the video itself, as are the "black" bars on 2.35:1 content.

If you are actually playing video with a native 2.35:1 aspect ratio on something taller than that, like a 16:9 screen or such, and you get gray bars, then it also would be the player.

The video is fine. Only the bar created by players is (dark) grey. Almost black but not as black. You can tell by compare it to the black in the content.
I tested with WMP11, MPC and TheaterTek, the result is just the same. If the black in the content is the same as in the bar, the calibration will solve the problem.

[Thefabulousfab]

Is there any solution to the Vista 16-235 EVR problem? The only fix I have is turning down the nvidia video brightness by 3%... but the video quality (particuarly dark scenes) is degraded compared to XP's working 0-255.

Any fix for this?

I got kind of the same problem with xp and the last version of powerDVD ultra with a 7600gt... but the wierdest thing is that it's only with blu-ray...

With HD-DVDs and DVDs The black bars are black... and the black level on the image is good
and with blu-ray the black bars are grey... but even if the level on the image is better(darker) than on the bars it still seemd messed up and I have to lower the brightness...

If anybody got an idea...

[Stereodude]

Does the latest version of PowerDVD support VMR9 yet for HD-DVD and Blu-Ray under XP?

[maxleung]

No VMR9 in XP as far as I can tell for Blu-ray.

[MickeyDora]

No VMR9 in XP as far as I can tell for Blu-ray.

Under what GPU? I get VRM9 for blu-ray with no problem.

[Stereodude]

No VMR9 in XP as far as I can tell for Blu-ray.What about HD-DVD? Heck, I guess I should ask about DVD too. Best I can tell PowerDVD is all Overlay under XP with my 7900GS.

[MickeyDora]

I get VMR9 on both formats using an 8800GTS and XP.

[arfster]

I get VMR9 on both formats using an 8800GTS and XP.

How do you know?

[MickeyDora]

How do you know?

Go to Configurations --->INFO ----> at the bottom of the first group you will see overlay or VMR9.

[MickeyDora]

Here is a screencap of what you need to look for:

http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s221/avsatcox/HA-PDVD.jpg

[arfster]

That just says DXVA - which says nothing about whether it's VMR9 or not.

[MickeyDora]

That just says DXVA - which says nothing about whether it's VMR9 or not.

With PowerDVD its one and the same.

[arfster]

With PowerDVD its one and the same.

It says that same thing in Vista, whether it's using a custom renderer in disc mode, or EVR in media mode.

[kapone]

Hmm...this was on the Velocity Micro website...

Play Movie 1.5 is coming!

What’s that? It’s Cyberlink’s plug-in for Media Center that allows seemless playback of Blu-ray AND HD-DVD media! It will replace our PlayBD plug-in that only does Blu-ray. And to boot, it does hook into NVIDIA’s PureVideo HD and ATI’s AVIVO technology to enhance visual quality and reduce CPU overhead. Here’s the real kicker – it also plays DVDs and it’s noticeably better in image quality than Microsoft’s own MPEG2 decoder! So even if you’re not interested in Blu-ray or HD-DVD; if you’re a discerning A/V enthusiast, Play Movie 1.5 is the bee’s knees.

An answer to our problems?? :D:D

[Nimo]

Just to add more confusion here is a cap of 6.5 in action and even though I'm running an ATi 9700 with an nVidia decoder it says overlay, even though I know it's VMR9 because the screen shots just don't lie.

http://home.earthlink.net/~smurfer/k1.jpg

[Kirby Baker]

Hmm...this was on the Velocity Micro website...



An answer to our problems?? :D:D
Doesnt it still open up another player window on top of MCE?

[arfster]

For media mode you can find out - run ffdshow audio, set codec uncompressed to all, and tray to on. Then play a file in PDVD, the ffdshow icon will pop up in the tray, and you can right-click to see what renderer is in use.

This doesn't apply to disc mode (hddvd/bluray/dvd) though, because that uses some customhackjob of a renderer to stop the pirates.

[MickeyDora]

.... even though I know it's VMR9 because the screen shots just don't lie.

If I remember correctly, if you are playing a movie and do PRNTSCRN and paste it onto MS Paint and it shows the movie image then its VMR9.

[acukier]

Hello folks.

I´ve jus got on my harddisk the movie Ghost Rider - a 45Gb file with all features of Blu-ray Version. The thing is:

- I´m using PowerDVD Ultra 7.3 with last patch - 3104a.1
- My card is a PNY 8500GT

- I can see normally the Menu, the Extras, but the movie itself - only Audio! I have a big green screen!

Can anyone help me? Is the file protected? How could I solve this problem?

Thanks a lot!

Alex

[MickeyDora]

I´ve jus downloaded a torrent of Ghost Rider - a 45Gb file with all features of Blu-ray Version.

I don't think you will get any love around here after you admitted to the above.

[mikemav]

While this isn't the "let's talk openly about B.T." forum, it also isn't the Soapbox forum either. No offense MickeyDora, but could we please keep this on topic and help people with their playback problems instead of pointing out what people have "admitted" to without contributing anything new? Not trying to start a flame war or a debate on P2P- let's just keep it positive if possible.
For example- Alex, it may help if you let us know what format the file is in. Is it an .EVO or an HDVD-TS file? Did you try playing just the main movie file directly?

[acukier]

Mike and Mickey (post edited... ;) )


The movie is in a directory BD, and I can open the index file (from Blu-ray). I can see the Trailer preview sequence, I can go to the main Menu, choos the legends, see all Making ofs, navigate to the Chapter List etc. But when I play the movie... blue screen with perfect sound...

Is it because I´ve chose - Enable Hardware Acceleration?

I got latest nvidia official drivers (162.11 I think), and the new beta 163, but none of them could manage with it... :(

[Jim HTPC]

Here's an update with the problem I had with Harsh Times - HDDVD.

I had severe stutter in the video. It was like watching Bourne Supremacy x 10.

My system consisted of:

EVGA 8800GTS - v162.18 drivers
Intel 6700 Core 2 Duo
2 GB Corsair DDR2 PC800
Windows Xp Pro
Power DVD Ultra 7.3 build 3104a.1

What was strange was that I've rented over 60 movies on both Blu-ray and HDDVD and there has not been a problem until I tried to watch Harsh Times.

So I thought I'd try the newer 8600GTS card with the newer PureVideo 2. Well I have good news and bad news.

Good News: The 8600GTS Diamond Plus from MSI has an HDMI connector and included HDMI cable. I'll never use the cable but it's in the box. My video stutter problem disappeared!!! The card is also shorter than the 8800GTS. The dedicated power connector works with standard 4 pin power connectors. So you don't need an adapter or newer power supply with PCIe power connectors on video cards.

Bad News: This card is LOUD. It is much louder than the 8800GTS. I could not hear the fans when my AC was running when I had the 8800GTS installed. The opposite happens when I installed the 8600GTS. I can clearly hear the fan running with the AC running. I already decided to water cool the HTPC so that will not be an issue (waiting for parts to arrive). Also the Component Video dongle cable from MSI is TERRIBLE!!!!!! When I hooked it up I had only B&W video on my TV and there was video noise everywhere. The nVidia control panel only gave me the option of S-VHS for TV input. It turned out to be the dongle. You could feel it wasn't making a good physical connection. So I tried the component video dongle that came with my EVGA 8800GTS. BIG DIFFERENCE. It sunk into place securely and had instant color, and no noise. The nVidia control panel saw the component input and allowed me to go to 1080i.

My question goes to MSI's engineers. What were they thinking? Making a card clearly geared for living room/theater use and they make it too loud. If you need HDMI and want this card... just prepare to add after market cooling to get rid of the fan noise. Either that, or add a potentiometer for the fan power on the card.

Makes me wonder if the talk about the 8800 series chip having bugs (broken) is true.

Hopefully this will help people who are considering both cards. For me the clear answer is 8600GTS all the way.

[nathan_h]

For those making a video card choice, your experience is instructive. Also worth noting, for video playback, I think the 8500 cards are equivalent, and some (like mine) are passively cooled (= silent) and cheaper (c. <100) than even the 8600 series.

[Tinker]

PDVD ULTRA 3104 causes stutters with my MSI 7600GT Diamond plus card (HDMI) with C2D E6600 @ 2.9, EVGA 8600GTS (DVI) with AMD X2 4800 and ASUS 8800GTS (Component) with C2D E6400 @ 3.2. Reverted to older ver (29xx/27xx ?) and stutters disappeared.

addendum: thats playing HD DVD on 360 addons and from HDD's.

[Stereodude]

You can add, "The Host" to the list of titles that doesn't work with 3401a.1. It will get to the main menu, but you can't start the movie playing with either the keyboard or the mouse. It seems you can't navigate through the menu. :(

[Ted White]

what an entirely frustrating issue this is.

[Davinleeds]

Letters from Iwo Jima would not work for me. PDVD7.3,.2605.0 2Ch

[MidnightWatcher]

Letters from Iwo Jima would not work for me. PDVD7.3,.2605.0 2Ch
Install the latest patch.

[Davinleeds]

Cyber support says I have latest.

[Ted White]

I have latest also

[MidnightWatcher]

1. Make sure your monitor's refresh rate is 60 Hz or 72 Hz only
2. Uncheck Hardware Acceleration if it does not appear to be working on your system
3. If enabled, turn off Video Enhancement
4. Use the "Original" color profile only
5. Set De-Interlacing Mode to "None"
6. Set Video Quality to "Best" (May increase CPU usage)
7. Set Audio Output Mode to "No Effect"

Make sure that you don't have any other background processes running that may be eating up considerable CPU cycles. If you're not getting good playback then try downloading ReClock and turn "Force Reclock to be loaded in place of default DirectSound/Wave renderers" to ON and all other force settings to OFF.

[MidnightWatcher]

Cyber support says I have latest.
Looks like you have an OEM version. Others have purchased PowerDVD Ultra off eBay for about $10, ymmv.

[arfster]

Looks like you have an OEM version. Others have purchased PowerDVD Ultra off eBay for about $10, ymmv.

Chances of a $10 version being legit off ebay: 0.000001%.

Chances of any software at all on ebay being legit: not much higher.

[MidnightWatcher]

Chances of a $10 version being legit off ebay: 0.000001%.

Chances of any software at all on ebay being legit: not much higher.
Perhaps, or maybe it is legit but does not include support from Cyberlink. One could purchase it, register it with Cyberlink and see. Right now someone has it for US$7.99.

[videolover]

Has anyone been able to play "Disturbia" on Blu-ray?

[MKANET]

No problems with here. In fact, I never had probably with any blu-ray or hd-dvd I've ever rented. I go through at least 16 blu-ray and hd-dvds a month.

Has anyone been able to play "Disturbia" on Blu-ray?

[Andy o]

Anybody knows what the Video->advanced->Video Quality options do? I only get that tab when playing HD-DVDs, not regular dvds, and the options themselves "auto", "Best Quality", "Good Quality" and "Normal Quality" are very suspect for me. I can't see any difference in the video either.

[Dan@SI]

Need assistance please. When I try to play a HD-DVD from HDD or direct from XBOX player, the 1080p video is relegated to a small box in the upper left hand corner of the display area and sometimes it is color/contrast distorted; it appears to be 256x512 in size. I have run the CyberLink BD-HD-Advisor and get all green. OS is WinXPMCE SP2, AMD 62FX CPU (dual core 2.8G), 2G RAM. I am using nvidia 8600gts card with 6.14.11.6218 driver (Forceware Release 162.18 7-26-2007), PowerDVD 7.3.2911.0 (get same results with the .3104a version), AnyDVD HD (current version), DVI to HDMI cable between the video card and the video processor for Optoma HD81-LV DLP front projector at 1080p and DVI to DVI cable with Monster DVI-to-HDMI adapter on each end (I assume these are HDCP compliant but have been unable to confirm) between the processor and actual projector. Standard DVDs scale and play fine. 1080i and 720p HDTV displays fine. If I use my HDTV as a monitor and connect via VGA at 1360x768 most HD-DVDs play fine either from HDD or direct from the XBOX player (King Kong is the exception). If I set the resolution of the vid card to 720p, HD DVD movies from HDD play fine. (King King still doesn't work well). I've run a Registry Mechanic to clean up the registry.

So, please provide your suggestions.

Thanks!

[sarah99]

When I try to play a HD-DVD from HDD or direct from XBOX player, the 1080p video is relegated to a small box in the upper left hand corner of the display area

This is most likely a bug in the NVidia drivers, I'm sure I have seen a registry hack to fix this somewhere.

[Dan@SI]

Ok, Sarah, I'll run down that path for a while; starting with a reload of the driver just to make sure the code hasn't become corrupt. And, of course, if you recall where I can look, I sure would appreciate the help.

Thanks!

[slothy]

dan


check with the AA settings, i remember seeing that people who had the same problem either had to turn it off or set it to 2x, i cant remember which way it was. see if that helps

[Ted White]

Midnight, you are really kind and helpful with these setting suggestions.

I'm running HDMI out of PC through a new Moome card into my G90. Getting stuttering on BR, HD-DVD and DVD at 1080p60.

Playing DVD at 60Hz through Theatertek is fine. So this is a PowerDVD settings issue somewhere.

[Dan@SI]

Slothy,

Thanks very much for the suggestion. I am pretty sure that I had AA set to be application controlled but I will verify. AND, this afternoon, I identified the problem and solved it sorta. It is beginning to become clear that I started having the problem when I upgraded my vid card from nvidia 7950GT KO to 8600GTS; I haven't had much time to play with the stuff so cause and effect are a little cloudy. Anyway, I was having some audio hiccups with the older card/drivers; when I changed cards, the audio problem was solved but I think the screwed up video started. So this afternoon, I uninstalled the 162.18 drivers, removed the 8600GTS, installed the 7950GT, and loaded the 94.24 drivers and 'viola' the video problem is solved. I still get an occasional audio hiccup so I am still a little dissatisfied but this is big progress (going backwards thanks to our NV friends, I think). Anyway, for now I can put up with a brief audio hiccup every 10 min or so as long as I can see the video in 1080p. I wonder if I could use the 94.24 driver on the 8600gts card even though the driver is not supposed to support any 8xxx cards? Maybe NV will fix this with the next release???

Thanks again!

[Dan@SI]

Well, I watched the HD-DVD movie The Fastest Indian tonight and I still have the very occasional stutter in sound, maybe an infinitesimal amount of video stutter. It shouldn't be CPU related as it probably averages no more than 40% on each processor, I have plenty of RAM. So, next I will upgrade the 7950GT driver to the current recommended driver, 162.18, and see if that fixes the audio or breaks the video and I'll check that AA thing that Slothy suggested; if that isn't the solution, I may experiment with the 94.24 driver in the 8600 card to see what happens unless someone can tell me something will blow up. Anyway, this was the first time I have been able to watch a 1080p movie in true 1080p and it was very nice.

[slothy]

also try checking hardware accel on or off in powerdvd to see if that helps.

[MidnightWatcher]

Midnight, you are really kind and helpful with these setting suggestions.

I'm running HDMI out of PC through a new Moome card into my G90. Getting stuttering on BR, HD-DVD and DVD at 1080p60.

Playing DVD at 60Hz through Theatertek is fine. So this is a PowerDVD settings issue somewhere.
Hi Ted, you may have posted this elsewhere, but what video card are you using, and what driver version? Since I'm not having any stuttering issue I can't offer any additional suggestions other than to try a different driver version for your video card. In fact, make sure that all Windows updates are installed, as well as the latest drivers for your motherboard and soundcard.

By the way, if you're using Vista x86 or x64 be sure to install the following updates, particularly the Compatibility and Reliability pack:

938979 (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=938979) Vista Performance and Reliability Pack

This update resolves a number of individual issues which may be affecting some computers running Windows Vista. These issues have been reported by customers using the Error Reporting service, product support, or other means. Installing this update will improve the performance and responsiveness for some scenarios and improves reliability of Windows Vista in a variety of scenarios. Some examples of the improvements contained in this update are:

• Improves performance in resuming back to the desktop from the Photo and Windows Energy screensaver.
• Resolves an issue where some secured web pages using advanced security technologies may not get displayed in Internet Explorer on Windows Vista.
• Resolves an issue where a shared printer may not get installed if the printer is connected to a Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 system and User Access Control is disabled on the Vista client.
• Resolves an issue where creating AVI files on Vista may get corrupted.
• Improves the performance in calculating the ‘estimated time remaining’ when copying/moving large files.
• Improves performance in bringing up Login Screen after resuming from Hibernate.
• Resolves an issue where synchronization of offline files to a server can get corrupted.
• Resolves a compatibility issue with RAW images created by Canon EOS 1D/1DS Digital SLR Camera which can lead to data loss. This only affects RAW images created by these two specific camera models.
• Resolves an issue where a computer can lose its default Gateway address when resuming from sleep mode.
• Improves the performance when copying or moving entire directories containing large amounts of data or files.
• Improves the performance of Vista’s Memory Manager in specific customer scenarios and prevents some issues which may lead to memory corruption.

938194 (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=938194) Vista Compatibility and Reliability Pack

This update resolves a number of individual issues which may be affecting some computers running Windows Vista. These issues have been reported by customers using the Error Reporting service, product support, or other means. Installing this update will improve the reliability and hardware compatibility of Windows Vista in a variety of scenarios. Some examples of the improvements contained in this update are:

• Improved reliability and compatibility of Vista when used with newer graphics cards in several specific scenarios and configurations.
• Improved reliability when working with external displays on a laptop.
• Increased compatibility with many video drivers.
• Improved visual appearance of games with high intensity graphics.
• Improved quality of playback for HD DVD and Blu-ray disks on large monitors.
• Improved reliability for Internet Explorer when some third party toolbars are installed on Vista.
• Improved Vista reliability in networking configuration scenarios.
• Improved the reliability of Windows Calendar in Vista.
• Improved reliability of systems that were upgraded from XP to Vista.
• Increased compatibility with many printer drivers.
• Increased reliability and performance of Vista when entering sleep and resuming from sleep.

NOTE: Official patches are the exact same as the previously leaked patches -- same CRC and digital signatures. No need to reinstall them if you've already installed the leaked patches.

[XxDeadlyxX]

Anyone else get a green line at the bottom of MPEG-4 BD movies with the new 163.44 Nvidia drivers?

[IanD]

Anybody knows what the Video->advanced->Video Quality options do? I only get that tab when playing HD-DVDs, not regular dvds, and the options themselves "auto", "Best Quality", "Good Quality" and "Normal Quality" are very suspect for me. I can't see any difference in the video either.
I'm running XP 8500GT for HD-DVD in software mode (because the official drivers don't support hardware acceleration).

If I use Normal Quality, CPU is around 50% on a C2D 2.4GHz, Best Quality CPU is 100%.

I'm not sure what the settings actually do, but looking at the beginning of King Kong with that black text on yellow background, I get jaggies on edges and mild posterisation in Normal Quality, but all is very smooth in Best Quality. Picture quality overall is a bit flat and there are some occasional edge artifacts in Normal Quality but everything is very clean and detailed with high contrast in Best Quality.

I too would like to know exactly what is different between the modes, but Best Quality definitely has a 3D look to it and is what I was expecting from HD (although it is not night and day different and you only really notice it when looking closely or comparing between modes for certain scenes). I just wish I could use Best Quality on my setup, but it runs like a slideshow. Normal Quality is watchable (barely).

Maybe this is different under Vista or with acceleration enabled, but it is definitely noticeable on my setup.

[Andy o]

What resolution is your display set at? From what you say, it could be the quality of the scaling, and it could also be the reason why I don't see a difference, since I'm seeing the HD-DVDs at the native 1080p. Anyway, thanks for your input, now I know where to look to test.

I got a Pentium Dual-Core 2160 (Allendale core, I think, so Core 2 duo family) slightly OC'd at 2.25GHz, so yours should be more powerful, but as far as I can remember, when I was u