PowerDVD Ultra (HD-DVD and Blu-Ray) [Text View] - Page 13

IAM4UK

10-07-07, 10:51 AM

I've got an HTPC with an ATI HD2600XT running at 1080p. Everything is working and the picture with normal DVD is great.

So I moved my Xbox 360 HD-DVD to the HTPC, installed all the right drivers, and now I can also watch DVDs with the 360 player. Everything is working fine - with DVDs.

But then I downloaded the latest PowerDVD trial and it doesn't recognize HD-DVD disks. (The error is something about "unsupported format". BTW, I can see the file structure just fine via Vista file explorer, so I know the disk is good.) Everything works fine with normal DVD and PowerDVD. I "though" HD-DVD support was available in the PowerDVD trial. Am I just wrong?

HD-DVD support is part of PowerDVD Ultra, for which there is no trial. That's why the version you loaded calls HD-DVD an "unsupported format."

Vern Dias

10-07-07, 11:03 AM

It's a private link for support use only and for thiose with open tickets, so I can not share it here. (Nor will I PM it to anyone).

Vern

Sapient1

10-07-07, 02:40 PM

I submitted a request on the new Fox titles and received a response giving me a link to the latest 3319 release. Unfortunately the link takes me to a password protected site and they failed to provide a userid and password to access the link!!!

If anyone hass the userid password, would they be so kind as to PM me with it, please?

Vern

I purchased PowerDVD Ultra 2 day's ago(download). I think I have the newest version available. It does not fix F4 nor does it address the Spiderman issue. I have the Pioneer BCD 2202 in my system and I also have the XBox 369 HD drive hooked up through USB. At this time I think I'll stop buying Blue ray disks until they resolve the issues with playback. HD works fine every time. Never had a Hiccup.

almostinsane

10-07-07, 02:45 PM

Since the issue with FF is with Java have you guys thought about updating your Java VM from Sun? Not sure if it would make a difference but it's a thought.

Sapient1

10-07-07, 05:40 PM

Since the issue with FF is with Java have you guys thought about updating your Java VM from Sun? Not sure if it would make a difference but it's a thought.

I downloaded the newest version of JAVA and verified it's install. I'm sorry to report that it didn't work.

Does anyone know if the Update software option works in PowerDVD Ultra. I don't see any updates available for my version. I took a look at the Aug update and it looks like it may actually be newer than the download (purchase) from 2 days ago. My software states the following. PowerDVD Version 7.3(Ultra) . DVD Version 7.3.3104a 1. I found this info by selecting, About, then I clicked my licensed to name box.

hamish b

10-07-07, 05:55 PM

im having major troubles palying vc1 titles on poweredvd
im using

vista 32
ati 2600xt cat 7.9
powerdvd 3104a
running 1080p at 48

all other codecs work fine

what happens is its choppy and very pixellated with green flashes and unwatchable
usually resluts in the whole computer crashing to blue screen then restart

it says something about an infinite loop. anybody else having this trouble?

the trial for arcsoft palys thhem fine

IAM4UK

10-07-07, 10:08 PM

I downloaded the newest version of JAVA and verified it's install. I'm sorry to report that it didn't work.

Does anyone know if the Update software option works in PowerDVD Ultra. I don't see any updates available for my version. I took a look at the Aug update and it looks like it may actually be newer than the download (purchase) from 2 days ago. My software states the following. PowerDVD Version 7.3(Ultra) . DVD Version 7.3.3104a 1. I found this info by selecting, About, then I clicked my licensed to name box.

Also updated Java to no avail.

PDVDU version 7.3.3104.a.1 is the last "public" patch/version. There's another patch to 3319 (?), but Cyberlink is only giving the link out sparingly (they have not answered my requests all week, for example). That new patch doesn't fix the new Fox problems anyway.

hamish b

10-07-07, 10:44 PM

kevekev30

10-07-07, 10:44 PM

Also updated Java to no avail.

PDVDU version 7.3.3104.a.1 is the last "public" patch/version. There's another patch to 3319 (?), but Cyberlink is only giving the link out sparingly (they have not answered my requests all week, for example). That new patch doesn't fix the new Fox problems anyway.

I disagree the new patch fixed the new fox problems. if you have anydvd enabled you need to disable it and the titles will work if not you have other problems.

druid01

10-08-07, 04:11 AM

Does the new 3319 build fix the Spiderman trilogy problem?

Also, link?

Not only does it not fix the Spiderman issues but ive discovered 3319 breaks Matrix Revolutions, says it requires an update which in 3104 worked fine. :(

lsdavinci

10-08-07, 09:18 AM

Update: The link has expired so my suggestion is to submit a ticket to cyberlink if you haven't done so yet and if you have, just wait a little longer. I will let them know that it does work but not as they instructed...

OK... Although YMMV, 3319 DOES FIX the Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer problem (albeit with little quirks here and there).

I spend Fri, Sat and Sun nights trying to fix this one problem which does include:
Making my blu-ray player into an internal drive.
Upgrading my video card to one that has a smaller heatsink.
PowerDVD breaking to the point I couldn't unistall or re-install.
Deleting all registry entires with Cyberlink.
Restoring my Vista to a date prior to this 3319 upgrade.

After all of the above, I still came to the exact same problem that I had on Thurs night. The retail install (from link provided by Cyberlink), then the 3319 patch. This gave me an installation that didn't play my FF4 disc, didn't play any BD disc for that matter. Even ones that were on hard drive, they didn't have audio. But HD-DVDs played fine.

Now I will start with the solution (my solution) here:

So I did one more thing before I called it a night: I simply re-installed the 3319 patch and VOILA!!!! First test has the BD movie on the hard drive. AUDIO WAS WORKING! and the for ultimate test, FF4. Popped it in, drive started spinning, screen went black, drive stopped for a moment and STARTED SPINNING AGAIN!!!! Then there was a little animated graphic of little circles completing a bigger circle in the middle lower part of the screen. And then came the previews (The Simpsons Movie) and then the FF4 menu. HOLY CR@P! I couldn't believe it. I watched the first 5 minutes and skipped to a couple of chapters. It looked and sounded AWESOME!

So to conclude, everything I did above wasn't necessary but I meant to do it for quite a while. The only thing I did different that seemed to have worked was the following:

1. Installed Retail version (3014 I believe). It does the uninstall and re-install.
2. Played a BD off the hd just to test. it worked.
3. Installed the 3319 patch.
4. Played the same BD. Picture was fine, no audio.
5. Reinstalled 3319 again.
6. Played the same BD. Picture and Sound worked.
7. Played FF4: ROTSS. WORKED!

The little quirk I mentioned above that I saw was that in the menu, I chose the audio setup (like I always do), made my selection, exited audio setup and went the play. Somehow the 2 Audio Setup buttons in the middle of the screen remained when the movie started playing. Couldn't get rid of them. So I stopped it. When I went to play again, it crashed. I rebooted, played the disc, went straight to play (the DTS-HD was default anyway) and everything was smooth from there on. Will it crash or do something weird while watching? Maybe but I'll find out tonight when I watch it with my son.

You know, after all that I went thru I can't help but think we're nothing but beta testers with cyberlink. But hey, this is a new format and Fox threw a monkey wrench in the works. I'm just glad that I didn't have to return the movie which I was close to doing yesterday.

As I said, YMMV so to help with the effort and to let Cyberlink know that maybe it might be a better idea to do what other companies do (like ASUS) and provide the option of installing beta patches which what I think 3319 is and let us have a go at it instead of having people wait and wait and wait and then providing them a link to something that, at first, doesn't seem to work. So PM me for the link and credentials you need to test yourself. Remember, you still need a CD-Key... and remember to post your results.

Good Luck!

Nimo

10-08-07, 11:56 AM

So PM me for the link and credentials you need to test yourself. Remember, you still need a CD-Key... and remember to post your results.
Good Luck!

You are without a doubt the kindest person, to give the link. There was also another guy a while back that did the same kudos to you two fine individuals. I quit updating after 3104 the "A" update cripples VC-1 due to the 16fps bug in XP 20fps Vista, using third party apps. I just bought Apocalypto yesterday and although PDVD plays the disk I still play it back in MPC because it just a better player.

I won't update their player until I test their updates on another PC, because they have a tendency of screwing your PC with poorly written installers/uninstallers. I don't trust them and I never really did ever since that last crappy update.

lsdavinci

10-08-07, 12:46 PM

You are without a doubt the kindest person, to give the link. There was also another guy a while back that did the same kudos to you two fine individuals. I quit updating after 3104 the "A" update cripples VC-1 due to the 16fps bug in XP 20fps Vista, using third party apps. I just bought Apocalypto yesterday and although PDVD plays the disk I still play it back in MPC because it just a better player.

I won't update their player until I test their updates on another PC, because they have a tendency of screwing your PC with poorly written installers/uninstallers. I don't trust them and I never really did ever since that last crappy update.

I definately agree. But in a way I'm glad it happened. It showed me the usefullness of Vista's Restore. Wow! I heard about it but never used it until now. It allowed me to restore to the OS just prior to the 3319 update and I was back up and running. Vista Restore is my official Plan B if PowerDVD runs amuck again...

jeffreydeng

10-08-07, 03:20 PM

Sapient1

10-08-07, 04:41 PM

Nimo

10-08-07, 06:10 PM

I definately agree. But in a way I'm glad it happened. It showed me the usefullness of Vista's Restore. Wow! I heard about it but never used it until now. It allowed me to restore to the OS just prior to the 3319 update and I was back up and running. Vista Restore is my official Plan B if PowerDVD runs amuck again...

That's good to hear although I have Vista I have never bothered using it, because I just don't use that OS anymore. I think I bought the update from Acronis, and I don't know how well Vista's restore works with raid configurations. I also keep images of my xp set up but PDVD imo just isn't worth a re image anymore... even though it only takes 6 min. PDVD has been downgraded to my garage PC test box using an old Northwood and a donated monitor. Anytime I run a new prog or update it usually goes to the garage first for a 24 hr test.:D

I can't even remember using PDVD to watch a whole movie, because I just don't bother using it anymore. As long as I can play it in MPC I will never use PDVD unless I'm forced to, I got tire of waiting for those guys at Cyber, but by that time I can usually get things working, utilizing AnyDVD or DVDFabHD, or even Decrypter for that matter great for mounting images. Tinder boxes are your best friend especially for the new titles.

Davinleeds

10-08-07, 06:20 PM

I'm still waiting to hear from support for the F4 AACS keys. No patch has been posted and no response for my request. Why the hell doesn't the Auto update work on this software. Why does it even attempt to update the critical files needed and then tell you the update was successful when it didn't even update anything. This software needs to be fixed. :mad:

I've had this update problem for 6 weeks and all they want me to do is uninstall/reinstall. Rippers are updated. Finally they sent me a BD update link for my HD DVD. Yeah, ok.

Vern Dias

10-08-07, 07:49 PM

3319 fixed the Fox titles for me.

Unfortunately it broke the ability to use YXY to do aspect ratio control. YXY used to allow me to move and size the PowerDVD windowed display to handle all aspect ratios on my constant height screen with an anamorphic lens.

With 3319, the display window cannot be moved in the downward direction enough to center the issue. Looks like I'll have to go back to the previous release....

Vern

XxDeadlyxX

10-08-07, 11:00 PM

Not only does it not fix the Spiderman issues but ive discovered 3319 breaks Matrix Revolutions, says it requires an update which in 3104 worked fine. :(

Ok now that is teh sux :mad:

Sapient1

10-09-07, 12:45 AM

OK people. I went to member services and found I had 1 month of voice support for being a Platinum member. I called and was given the link to the 3319 build. I installed the software and now F4 works. I noticed that someone said it broke HD's Matrix Revolutions. I checked out all three Matrix disks and they all worked. I did notice one thing about this build. It uses a hell of a lot more CPU power. I had to turn off Windows Side Bar and my Virus software to make BD run smooth. Otherwise it would chatter and the Video would start to fall appart. I run an AMD 64 X2 6000+ with 2 gigs of ram and a EVGA 8800GTS OC with 640 megs. Onboard sound (Realtek HD) I use the Xbox 360 Drive (USB)for HD's and an internal Pioneer BDC 2202 for BD. I also use a Gateway FPD2485W 24" HD monitor with DVI-D HDCP input.

Cap.T

10-09-07, 04:48 AM

Sapient1

10-09-07, 08:56 AM

I don't think this has been mentioned yet: The US-HD DVD of "Hulk" finally works with the 3319 patch.

I'm back to version 2911 anyways. I still can't should off Hardware Accerlation in any version above 2911. The picture quality with my Geforce 8800 GTS and Hardware Accerlation on is just unacceptable. Unfortuantly the good service people over at cyberlink keep telling me to just uncheck the box before starting the movie even after I explained to them, that the boxs checks itself back on as soon as a movie starts.

I don't understand why Hardware acceleration is bad for the 8800GTS. The only problem I have is the software uses so much of the systems resources. (As I said above). Maybe someone can explain why we should or should not use Hardware Eceleration to me.

Cap.T

10-09-07, 09:54 AM

Well as I said, the picture quality with Hardware Accerlation on is just not as good. The picture just doesn't have that 3D look is has in software mode. Also with HA on I've got some really bad Edge Enhancement. I tried diffrent settings in the NVidia Control Panel but it didn't change anything.

arfster

10-09-07, 11:35 AM

BigTony

10-09-07, 11:46 AM

Here is the link for 3319 patch, try it at your own risk:

http://download.cyberlink.com/ftpdload/patch/BD_HD/Tov30/DVD070813-02/PowerDVD_Ultra.exe

BigTony

tristartristan

10-09-07, 11:49 AM

tristartristan

10-09-07, 11:54 AM

Here's the link for the new player for HDDVD/BR:

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r19192049-Digital-Theater-2-FREE-Trial-with-HD-DVD-and-BD-Playback

This is the trial version!:)

bk1987

10-09-07, 11:57 AM

I don't think this has been mentioned yet: The US-HD DVD of "Hulk" finally works with the 3319 patch.

I'm back to version 2911 anyways. I still can't should off Hardware Accerlation in any version above 2911. The picture quality with my Geforce 8800 GTS and Hardware Accerlation on is just unacceptable. Unfortuantly the good service people over at cyberlink keep telling me to just uncheck the box before starting the movie even after I explained to them, that the boxs checks itself back on as soon as a movie starts.

what version drivers are you using, i use drivers 162.18 with pdvd 3104a and i can turn off HWA with a 8600gts and i see what your saying the pq is better with accerlation off

Cap.T

10-09-07, 12:02 PM

Yes I tried the Best Quality Option in PDVD. It didn't help. The Cyberlink-Service just sent me another answer to my call regarding the Hardware Accerlation issue:

-----------------------------

Thank you for contacting CyberLink Online Support.

That is great. You are now able watch one of your favorite movies using CyberLink Power DVD Ultra.

We suggest you to follow the steps given below to disable hardware acceleration:

Launch PowerDVD--->Go to Configuration-->Video-->clear the "Enable hardware acceleration.

Also, disable the hardware acceleration in the following way:
1.) Control Panel
2.) Display
3.) Settings
4.) Advanced
5.) Troubleshoot
6.) Set hardware acceleration to "none" or at minimum, disable all DirectDraw and Direct3D accelerations as well as all cursor and advanced drawing accelerations.

We also suggest you to update the display drivers, update drivers of NVIDIA graphics card. That should help in resolving the issue to a great extent. You can visit the manufacturer’s website to update it.

Now, try again to play the rest of your movies.

If the issue still persists then we request you to send us system log file (DxDiag.txt log file) for further analysis.

DxDiag.txt: You can use the steps that follow to create this file......
--------------------------------------------

Of course I tried out the first option a great many times, but I seem to be unable to try the second option. I get till point 5 which is Troubleshoot but then Vista or NVidia won't let me change anything even though I'm logged in as administrator. I can't push the button that's in the Troubleshoot menu... Very strange. Could this be a driver issue and not a PowerDVD problem? I'm using the 163.69 Driver...

georgeorwell

10-09-07, 12:19 PM

Here's the link for the new player for HDDVD/BR:

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r19192049-Digital-Theater-2-FREE-Trial-with-HD-DVD-and-BD-Playback

This is the trial version!:)

Great, a supposed link to trial software, in Japanese, that you can't purchase, in the PowerDVD thread.

vladd

10-09-07, 12:24 PM

Here's the link for the new player for HDDVD/BR:

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r19192049-Digital-Theater-2-FREE-Trial-with-HD-DVD-and-BD-Playback

This is the trial version!:)Whole thread on it here: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=900666

arfster

10-09-07, 12:24 PM

We suggest you to follow the steps given below to disable hardware acceleration:

Launch PowerDVD--->Go to Configuration-->Video-->clear the "Enable hardware acceleration.

That's just ridiculous. They suggest fixing their bug by completely disabling all graphics cards functions on the entire PC. On top of that, they suggest it's a driver problem, when in reality the same thing happens with every driver/graphics card out there since 3104.

IanD

10-10-07, 12:18 AM

Installed the PDVD 3319 patch from the link, twice, on XP 8400GS 163.75beta.

1. HA still forced, regardless of whether the box is ticked or not.
2. King Kong still exhibits aliasing and reduced resolution, plus now noticeable banding on opening credits.
3. Fullscreen is now windowboxed (approx 1600x900 on a 1920x1440p72 desktop).
4. Clicking advanced video button in stopped mode closes PowerDVD completely so can't modify de-interlacing settings (with previous versions, PowerDVD crashed).
5. Screen flashes occasionally (possibly during scene changes).

For the drivers:

1. None/PAL/NTSC IVTC control reverts back to None when NTSC applied. I don't think IVTC is actually working.
2. 6500K adjustment still way too red.
3. WMV9 decoder playback of VC-1 with DXVA enabled still has blue horizontal bar across bottom of display in MPC.
4. Can't be arsed checking other parameters.

IMO, neither the beta drivers or PowerDVD update provide any benefit to correct HD-DVD playback (for entry level hardware), but are actually a backward step.

The windowboxing sounds very similar to the ATI 2400Pro anecdotal experiences unless the registry is tweaked. Are entry level graphics cards actually unable to play full 1080p quality?

Playing 300 HD-DVD in blue-screen PIP mode utilises 50% CPU (C2D 2.8GHz) and 870MB RAM even in hardware accelerated mode.

An 8500GT exhibits similar behaviour to the 8400GS, but also crashes after a while playing an HD-DVD (8400GS doesn't crash).

Vern Dias

10-10-07, 08:03 AM

More badness on 3319:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=11863501

Vern

Nimo

10-10-07, 10:06 AM

It sure seems after each patch, especially after 3104.0 they are adding more restrictions to the player. Heck I'm still using 94.20 drivers with my 3104.0 build but after that update that's when I noticed none of my third party players were working properly due to the fps bug. Re imaging was the only way to get the PC back in it's original state because they changed something in the registry and adding/removing PDVD doesn't fix this. The bug is still there unless I wipe my raid array completely and replace it with a new image.

Here is the link for 3319 patch, try it at your own risk:

http://download.cyberlink.com/ftpdload/patch/BD_HD/Tov30/DVD070813-02/PowerDVD_Ultra.exe

BigTony

BigTony thanks for posting that link I'm sure that will help out a lot of people that are frustrated with Cyber's poor response time. I'm sure you saved them a lot frustration. Although as I stated I have not bothered with anymore updates after 3104.0. And from the looks of it, seems things are getting worse...:mad:

AnthonyB

10-10-07, 03:06 PM

Does this patch allow the use of BD+ and MKB v4?

IanD

10-10-07, 07:46 PM

Has anyone else experienced fine aliasing with an 8x00 graphics card in HA mode and the 163.71 Nvidia drivers? Any ideas what it is and what might be required to eliminate it?

It's most noticeable in the opening credits of King Kong on the King Kong text, but also visible on any near-horizontal line. Not sure what is happening, but it looks like some form of interlacing, field order reversal, artifact.

I think it's robbing me of full 1080p resolution compared to software decoding.

I can't get into the PowerDVD de-interlacing controls as PowerDVD crashes whenever the advanced video options button is clicked, but I'm sure I had it set to None originally.

Hardware acceleration seems to be doing very different things than software decoding, when I think they should be working the same (apart from the acceleration bit).

user4avsforum

10-10-07, 07:58 PM

Great, a supposed link to trial software, in Japanese, that you can't purchase, in the PowerDVD thread.

As unhappy as most of us are with PDVDU I almost think this is appropriate. I for one will switch (to almost anything) as soon as there is an alternative.

CrisisDog

10-11-07, 09:10 AM

I am using Windows Vista MCE and PowerDVD. I am using ChainTech AV710 with latest driver downloaded from http://www.viaarena.com/default.aspx?PageID=420&OSID=36&CatID=2910&SubCatID=107. I connect AV710 to SOny receiver via optical spdif cable.

When playing DVD, MCE output DD to my receiver and I can see that DD indicator on the receiver. However when using PowerDVD, if I select 'Use SPDIF' for audio, no sound will be heard. It only work is I choose '2 speakers' for audio setting.

Does anyone know the way to fix this? Or can this be fixed? I really need DD/DTS to be out to my receiver since my receiver only has digital input for multiple speaker configuration. And I need to run PowerDVD for HD contents. If this is a known limit of AV710 I will need to buy other sound card.

I'm in the process of finishing off my first true dedicated HTPC. A few days ago I connected it up to my older Sony 5.1 receiver via SPDIF using a Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer card. I'm having the same issue. I can get 5.1 audio through Vista Media Center and PowerDVD Ultra *only* on regular DVDs. Once I throw in a Blu Ray disk or HD DVD, it will not output audio via SPDIF and I have to manually reconfigure PowerDVD Ultra to use two channel audio to get any sound. I contacted Cyberlink tech support and they state this is a known issue, and *should* be corrected in one of the upcoming patch updates. More waiting...

:(

originalsnuffy

10-11-07, 11:27 AM

CrisisDog;

I get spdif with PowerDVD ultra and HD DVD, no problem. Just select spdif as your sound output option in both windows and PowerDVD. IMPORTANT: remove ac3filter!

Sxrd55

10-11-07, 12:21 PM

Can anyone tell me if you can buy Powerdvd ultra for less than $99 it seems that's the only price I can find it for. I don’t want to update I need a full install.

shayking

10-11-07, 02:04 PM

sorry guys....IT's Almost BEEN 1 YEAR and look at this crap...
Rediculous....what the hell have they been Doing......???

$100, please do not purchase this software...i feel like pukeing

trevisthomas

10-11-07, 04:28 PM

jeffreydeng

10-11-07, 05:44 PM

CrisisDog;

I get spdif with PowerDVD ultra and HD DVD, no problem. Just select spdif as your sound output option in both windows and PowerDVD. IMPORTANT: remove ac3filter!

What sound card you are using? AV710 or something else?

And yes, I am using ac3filter. I will try this after I get back home today.

Update: No it doesn't work even I uninstall ac3filter. I am not happy about this.

jeffreydeng

10-11-07, 05:47 PM

I'm in the process of finishing off my first true dedicated HTPC. A few days ago I connected it up to my older Sony 5.1 receiver via SPDIF using a Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer card. I'm having the same issue. I can get 5.1 audio through Vista Media Center and PowerDVD Ultra *only* on regular DVDs. Once I throw in a Blu Ray disk or HD DVD, it will not output audio via SPDIF and I have to manually reconfigure PowerDVD Ultra to use two channel audio to get any sound. I contacted Cyberlink tech support and they state this is a known issue, and *should* be corrected in one of the upcoming patch updates. More waiting...

:(

The worse thing I am having is that I can not get DD5.1 on regular DVD either. I can overcome that by using MCE. But I have to use PDVD for BD nd HDDVD. That sucks.

trevisthomas

10-11-07, 05:49 PM

From what i saw last night, spdif is not in the list of the latest version. Maybe there is a driver issue that causes it to be removed but it's definitly in the older release.

originalsnuffy

10-11-07, 07:27 PM

OOOOH.....if they took spdif out of the new version, all bets are off. But for the spdif to work on my system, with my version of PowerDVD, I had to remove AC3 Filter.

CrisisDog

10-11-07, 08:43 PM

CrisisDog;

I get spdif with PowerDVD ultra and HD DVD, no problem. Just select spdif as your sound output option in both windows and PowerDVD. IMPORTANT: remove ac3filter!

Thanks for the info, but where is this "Remove AC3Filter" that you speak of?

:p

I've been up and down through the X-Fi driver configuration settings and the PowerDVD config screens, can't find it...

CrisisDog

10-11-07, 09:16 PM

Thanks for the info, but where is this "Remove AC3Filter" that you speak of?

:p

I've been up and down through the X-Fi driver configuration settings and the PowerDVD config screens, can't find it...

I think I just answered my own question. It seems to be a software codec package to play the digital audio content of files. Sorry, nope, didn't install it. This is a new PC with a base install of Vista Ultimate x32 and the latest PowerDVD Ultra. Not much else, yet.

Just as an FYI, here's the response I got from CyberLink support...

vCGaurav Reply 2007/10/10 12:11

Dear Keith,

Thank you for contacting CyberLink Online Support.

We understand your concern related with PowerDVD Ultra.

Regarding your issue, please note that PowerDVD Ultra does not support more then 2-channel using the SPDIF for HD-DVD and for Blu-Ray DVD. We wish to inform you that our Product & Development they already working on it and soon they will release the patch for this issue. Once we get any update from our Product & Development department, we will mention the same on our website, so please keep visit www.cyberlink.com for latest updates.

For new queries, you can contact us using the following link for immediate response:

>> index.jsp <<

Please feel free to contact us back for any further clarification in this issue or for any assistance related to CyberLink Products.

Thank You and Best Regards

originalsnuffy

10-11-07, 09:38 PM

The email from Cyberlink saying that they do not support more than 2 channels over spdif is humorous. I use the product...ac3 works just fine. So I do not get what is going on...looks like they disabled it in the recent release.

Is that a common experience? Yecch.

jeffreydeng

10-11-07, 09:39 PM

vCGaurav Reply 2007/10/10 12:11

Dear Keith,

Thank you for contacting CyberLink Online Support.

We understand your concern related with PowerDVD Ultra.

Regarding your issue, please note that PowerDVD Ultra does not support more then 2-channel using the SPDIF for HD-DVD and for Blu-Ray DVD. We wish to inform you that our Product & Development they already working on it and soon they will release the patch for this issue. Once we get any update from our Product & Development department, we will mention the same on our website, so please keep visit www.cyberlink.com for latest updates.

For new queries, you can contact us using the following link for immediate response:

>> index.jsp <<

Please feel free to contact us back for any further clarification in this issue or for any assistance related to CyberLink Products.

Thank You and Best Regards

This doesn;t seem to be right. I have been using EVGA 680i SLI mobo with the optical spdif output and connect it to JVC receiver for playing HDDVD and BD and I have been enjoying the DD and DTS audio. So why they are saying the PDVD Ultra only supports 2 channel of audio though spdif ? :(

almostinsane

10-11-07, 09:54 PM

I think they mean 2 channel PCM.

arfster

10-11-07, 10:23 PM

They probably mean it doesn't work flawlessly, so they prefer to say "don't support" rather than "it's broken". Gives them more time to fix it.

ballenjr

10-11-07, 11:01 PM

.... So i removed it all and reinstalled an old version, and quickly disabled the "check for updates" feature. Seems to work again now. I'm not sure which versions these were but i can attest to the fact that the newer version lacks a spdif out option.

I used to *hate* the intervideo people years ago but it seems like these jokers may be even worse.

Really dumb question, but where can you disable the "check for updates" feature. I've unchecked the "connect to the internet for product information" box, but I'm still getting messages for me to download the latest patch.

Any help would be appreciated.

vanjab

10-12-07, 03:17 AM

Holy crap there are 100 pages in this thread.

I'm a bad netizen but i happen to own the 360 HD-DVD drive and i wanted to see if what you guys said was true, that with PowerDVD it would work on my HTPC and it does. I've not purchased the ap yet because i dont want to spend money until i have a permanent internal combo drive. But last night, i fired things up... really to make sure it still worked after some other changes... and it told me that i needed to download a patch to "insure future compatibility" i said... "no not now" and so it kicked me in the teeth repeatedly and said mean things about my mother until i downloaded their 100mb "patch" after that came down and i installed it i found that my free king kong hd-dvd chugged horribly and no longer had surround sound. I thought that it was something else that i had done to the PC but eventually determined that it was the power dvd patch. So i removed it all and reinstalled an old version, and quickly disabled the "check for updates" feature. Seems to work again now. I'm not sure which versions these were but i can attest to the fact that the newer version lacks a spdif out option.

I used to *hate* the intervideo people years ago but it seems like these jokers may be even worse.

i dont remember installing a patch but something has slowed my playback down real good. im running powerdvd on an a64 x2 4200+ x1800 in vista, i cant get h/w accel to stay on for vc1, havent tried h264. It ran fine before, but now runs smooth for a few seconds before falling back to a frame every 10 seconds.

I ripped the hddvd to my hdd and it ran fine - is it possible that usb isnt fast enough for hddvd, or has powerdvd installed a patch with ou me realising?

crumpet

10-12-07, 05:10 AM

AngelEyes

10-12-07, 05:21 AM

guys i just installed power dvd ultra 7.3 and both hd-dvd and blu-ray are working spot on with TrueHD, DD+ and LPCM all being outputted to my receiver via analogue

tell me am i actually getting the HD audio or is it being downgraded somehow

DD+ appears to be untouched but DTS-HD MA is unsupported and just playsback the core DTS track. DD trueHD is downsampled to a maximum of 16bit 48hz although it may be that tracks originally at this sample rate are further downsampled. LPCM appears to be downsampled also for some reason although know one knows for sure.

Some claim to hear a difference when comparing TrueHD with LPCM, personally I can't. All the new tracks do sound a lot better than standard DD though :)

More info here: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=892863

Adam

crumpet

10-12-07, 05:40 AM

is there anyway to check if its being downsampled, how do you know ?

AngelEyes

10-12-07, 05:56 AM

is there anyway to check if its being downsampled, how do you know ?

Well if you read the thread (;)) you will see that cyberlink have confirmed a number of times that it is downsampled to comply with AACS. What prompted me to ask them was the fact I could not hear any improvement of a TrueHD (7.5 mbps) track over a DD+ (1.5mbs) track.

DD+ and TruHD definately sound better than vanilla DD which isn't in debate but the HiRes tracks don't seem any improvement over DD+ 1.5 mbps even though some are as high as 8mbps.

Do a few tests and see what you think. There is often a volume increase that obviously increases the dynamics a bit but a for the vast improvement I was expeccting... it's just not there.

I have some fairly good kit, M&K, Rotel, Arcam SVS etc. and I can't hear an improvement but at least one guy on the thread with a creative 5.1 setup can hear a difference...

The good new is that cyberlink and MS are working on creating a protected path in the OS (probably Vista only I am guessing) which should then allow them to remove the downsampling. However, when this will happen we don't know.

Adam

crumpet

10-12-07, 05:59 AM

so even using any dvd hd will not improve this situation
is that what you tried when you couldnt hear the diff ?

AngelEyes

10-12-07, 06:07 AM

so even using any dvd hd will not improve this situation
is that what you tried when you couldnt hear the diff ?

The downsampling is put in place by cyberlink because the current hardware/software has loopholes that would allow someone to gain access to the copy protected soundtracks. It isn't dependent on the disc or anydvd or anything else, it is there to protect Cyberlink from being sued.

The sound is downsampled in the player before it is sent to the soundcard driver.

As mentioned, if you read the thread in my previous post all your questiosn should be answered. :)

Adam

RichB

10-12-07, 08:06 AM

Well if you read the thread (;)) you will see that cyberlink have confirmed a number of times that it is downsampled to comply with AACS. What prompted me to ask them was the fact I could not hear any improvement of a TrueHD (7.5 mbps) track over a DD+ (1.5mbs) track.

DD+ and TruHD definately sound better than vanilla DD which isn't in debate but the HiRes tracks don't seem any improvement over DD+ 1.5 mbps even though some are as high as 8mbps.

Do a few tests and see what you think. There is often a volume increase that obviously increases the dynamics a bit but a for the vast improvement I was expeccting... it's just not there.

I have some fairly good kit, M&K, Rotel, Arcam SVS etc. and I can't hear an improvement but at least one guy on the thread with a creative 5.1 setup can hear a difference...

The good new is that cyberlink and MS are working on creating a protected path in the OS (probably Vista only I am guessing) which should then allow them to remove the downsampling. However, when this will happen we don't know.

Adam

I have a similar experience. With Dave Matthews live the 2 channel 16/48 sound track sound much better than the 96/24 multi-channel PCM.

I am running a Modded X-FI with LM4562's to a Integra Research RDC1 to a Sunfire Cinema Grand Signature amp to Revel speakers. If it were better, I think I would hear it.

Can someone else try this title and report their findings?

- Rich

Jim HTPC

10-12-07, 09:25 AM

Those that want the latest patch and can't wait can go to a link on the aacsla.com webpage.

The link is: http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/patch/enu/index.jsp

You need to use IE due to the use of ActiveX and you can then download the patch.

Not sure to tell what version it turned into, it just shows 7.3 as always for me.

AngelEyes

10-12-07, 11:11 AM

Go to about and then click on your name it should show this is version 3319.0.

Thanks for the link :)

trevisthomas

10-12-07, 12:07 PM

I ripped the hddvd to my hdd and it ran fine - is it possible that usb isnt fast enough for hddvd, or has powerdvd installed a patch with ou me realising? The interface is plenty fast for hddvd. I mean Microsoft wouldnt have gotten the drive to work on the xbox using usb if it wasnt. Now that dosent mean that there isnt a problem with the usb port on your pc though.

vanjab

10-12-07, 12:27 PM

The interface is plenty fast for hddvd. I mean Microsoft wouldnt have gotten the drive to work on the xbox using usb if it wasnt. Now that dosent mean that there isnt a problem with the usb port on your pc though.

Preety sure everything is ok. Does anydvd use up alot of power when decrypting aacs?

I'm just playing back some movies in the japanese Arcsoft player. They're definitely running better, but still slightly chuggy.
I don't understand why powerdvd worked fine, then started lagging horribly. When i updated to the absolute latest version, i got it running much smoother, but still choppy.

Am i expecting too much from a dual core 4200+? I can't find a way to turn HW Accel on for vc1 on my x1800, is that normal? Would upgrading to a 2600 pro fix it? I'm willing to go out and buy one, if it will certainly allow vc1 playback.

trevisthomas

10-12-07, 12:39 PM

Preety sure everything is ok. Does anydvd use up alot of power when decrypting aacs?

I'm just playing back some movies in the japanese Arcsoft player. They're definitely running better, but still slightly chuggy.
I don't understand why powerdvd worked fine, then started lagging horribly. When i updated to the absolute latest version, i got it running much smoother, but still choppy.

Am i expecting too much from a dual core 4200+? I can't find a way to turn HW Accel on for vc1 on my x1800, is that normal? Would upgrading to a 2600 pro fix it? I'm willing to go out and buy one, if it will certainly allow vc1 playback.
I am by no means an expert in any of this but it sure sounds like you're describing the exact same thing i saw with their new version. The latest version removed spdif so my only audio option was AAC and when i tried switching to higher and higher numbers of AAC channels the movies were randomly unplayable. They'd hit scenes where it turned into a slide show and i never had anything like that before the upgrade. I removed the latest version to get spdif back and now it works perfectly again.

This really makes me afraid to plop down the cash for a br/hd combo drive. I just got a PS3 for ratchet and clank so i'll probably let htpc hddvd/br playback mature a while longer.

originalsnuffy

10-12-07, 12:47 PM

Is it confirmed that the latest version of this product turns off spdif support for everybody?

If so....I 'd recommend going back a version. With the new ATI drivers 7.10, and the next to last rev. of PowerDVD...the picture is very nice indeed. Resolution is not full HD...more like 1300x700 (I am at work not home). Had to settle for lower resolution so I could switch between HDMI through the receiver and direct in of VGA. Every so often I crash the HDMI output in hi res mode using PowerDVD, and VGA mode has it limits!

Tinker

10-12-07, 01:13 PM

SPDIF works on the three systems that uses optical digital (X-mystique and X-plosion)for sound with PDVD 3319. Maybe the Auzentech cards are recoding the audio? Works fine with anolog (X-meridian) on my main HTPC also.

user4avsforum

10-12-07, 01:45 PM

Holy crap there are 100 pages in this thread.

I'm a bad netizen but i happen to own the 360 HD-DVD drive and i wanted to see if what you guys said was true, that with PowerDVD it would work on my HTPC and it does. I've not purchased the ap yet because i dont want to spend money until i have a permanent internal combo drive. But last night, i fired things up... really to make sure it still worked after some other changes... and it told me that i needed to download a patch to "insure future compatibility" i said... "no not now" and so it kicked me in the teeth repeatedly and said mean things about my mother until i downloaded their 100mb "patch" after that came down and i installed it i found that my free king kong hd-dvd chugged horribly and no longer had surround sound. I thought that it was something else that i had done to the PC but eventually determined that it was the power dvd patch. So i removed it all and reinstalled an old version, and quickly disabled the "check for updates" feature. Seems to work again now. I'm not sure which versions these were but i can attest to the fact that the newer version lacks a spdif out option.

I used to *hate* the intervideo people years ago but it seems like these jokers may be even worse.

Since you have not spent the $ yet I suggest you not do so.

It is probably easier to get high quality HD DVD output using the Japanese ArcSoft demo software than to struggle through the PDVDU/nVidia fiasco.

When I finally got it working, I not only had a PDVDU solution that produces judder and horizontal banding, my HDTV and overall MCE experience has declined with the use of the required nVidia drivers and PDVD MPEG2 decoder.

My plan is to switch to the ArcSoft software as soon as it is available in english; if it had been available when I got my 360 AO I would have used it rather than PDVDU. Hopefully MS or someone will release a fully integrated MCE HD DVD solution that actually works.

BMELVIN

10-12-07, 02:45 PM

I have the older 2910 build - Do I have to install the 3410.a version first then install the 3319 patch over top of the 3410 version? Or can I just directly install the 3319 over the older 2910 build version. Or do I have to un install the old version 2910 and treat the 3319 as a brand new full version?

I am confused?:confused:

arfster

10-12-07, 03:01 PM

Just install the newest one - these "patches" actually just completely uninstall what yoyu have there before, and rewrite everything new.

BMELVIN

10-12-07, 03:10 PM

Just install the newest one - these "patches" actually just completely uninstall what yoyu have there before, and rewrite everything new.
OK so all I need to do is install the 3319 version and it will auotmatically un install my old version and intall the new?

salacious

10-12-07, 03:59 PM

OK so all I need to do is install the 3319 version and it will auotmatically un install my old version and intall the new?

These patches require that you already have PowerDVD Ultra installed. If you don't the installation will fail. When it does install it will remove the current build for you.

SPDIF works on my machine with build 3319. My machine is running Vista Home Premium with a NVidia 8500GT (drivers 163.69) with Realtek ALC-882 onboard audio (drivers 1.78). I still can't turn hardware acceleration off, I think the last build which that worked on was 2911

vanjab

10-12-07, 10:23 PM

I am by no means an expert in any of this but it sure sounds like you're describing the exact same thing i saw with their new version. The latest version removed spdif so my only audio option was AAC and when i tried switching to higher and higher numbers of AAC channels the movies were randomly unplayable. They'd hit scenes where it turned into a slide show and i never had anything like that before the upgrade. I removed the latest version to get spdif back and now it works perfectly again.

edit: I'm looking at a 2400pro right now, does hw accel work for vc1 in pdvd?

CCDAstro

10-13-07, 12:54 AM

FYI, I just got a new link from customer service and it shows 3319a. The one that I downloaded this PM in response to the program dialog was 3319....

Getting late so will try it tomorrow....

SPIDF works on my XP with an external Soundblaster USB card and 3319.0

BMELVIN

10-15-07, 12:07 PM

IanD

10-15-07, 08:22 PM

I have tried downloading the latest version 3410a and the 3310 link and both are giving me an error code under my intallation wizard shield error 1628 "" failed to complete installation "" . My software is Vista 32bit. I have tried saving the program and then running it and then just straight running the program. Any idea what the problem is? And what to do next?
If you are downloading the patch, I think you need a previous version of PowerDVD already installed IIRC. Although you would think PowerDVD would provide a specific error message if that was the case. Not sure if this is your problem though.

Tom899

10-15-07, 09:52 PM

Nimo

10-15-07, 09:58 PM

This is showing that info while playing a video?

Tom899

10-15-07, 10:18 PM

This is showing that info while playing a video?
Well, I'm not sure. I am having problems and looking for something obvious. Sunday I bought a Radeon HD 2600XT to bring everything up compliance. Well, I had a dissapointing experiance, I would either get a green screen or it would play for a few minutes and then crap out. I had the new 7.10 Catalyst installed but just couldn't get it to work properly. Today I took the card back for a refund, basically it didn't perform as well under normal operation as the ATI X850XT I took out, that was the deal breaker. So now I'm trying to figure out which Nvidia card to buy? I would like to get into the 8800 series because of more ram than the 256 that the 8600 has, but reading that the 8800's don't have the best HD? What should I get that will be best for HD in my PC?
Back to the original question, does your DirectX show (not in use) either playing or not playing? I can't check mine until I get another vid card,
Thanks,
Tom

arfster

10-15-07, 10:33 PM

Back to the original question, does your DirectX show (not in use) either playing or not playing?

It shows in use if it's accelerated. If you're using a 2600XT with 7.10, mpeg2 HD no longer accelerates. Anything else should.

Tom899

10-15-07, 11:51 PM

It shows in use if it's accelerated. If you're using a 2600XT with 7.10, mpeg2 HD no longer accelerates. Anything else should.

Ok - so can I assume that this should only be checked while a movie is playing?
Thanks

Geronimo.USMC

10-15-07, 11:53 PM

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2007/10/08/powerdvd_ultra_audio_downsampling_explained/1

one_2go

10-16-07, 07:05 AM

Rob_Quads

10-16-07, 07:19 AM

originalsnuffy

10-16-07, 07:49 AM

Rob--

Take a look at your corresponding settings within Windows itself.

one_2go

10-16-07, 08:13 AM

I am running PowerDVD version 3104a on a system with a CMI8768 based sound card.
Playing DD plays fine coming through the SPDIF optical output of the sound card but if I am playing a TrueHD or Uncompressed PCM disc all I am getting out of the card via analogue is the front left and right channels.

Is there a trick to getting PowerDVD to output 6 channel analogue?
The only way I have gotten this to work is using the MOBO HD decoder and connecting the MOBO analogue sound outputs to my receiver 6 channel input. I have 3 cables that are 3.5 mm jack on one end and dual RCA jacks on the other.

This forum has a few threads that discuss how to get the HD audio of the HTPC into a receiver/Amp.

IAM4UK

10-16-07, 09:24 AM

I find the patch distribution from Cyberlink for PDVD 7 Ultra a bit difficult. for example the patch 3319 version is no where to be found and from the download site the only one for Ultra is 3104a. For the latest patch version 3410a it states on the site Ultra users do not download this patch.

Anyone got an idea what the latest version & patch is for Ultra?

Thanks

It seems 3104a.1 is the latest publicly released patch for Ultra, while 3319 (or perhaps 3319a???) is the latest "hidden" patch. I can only guess that Cyberlink hides many of their patches because they are only beta-quality. However, their public releases are obviously only beta-quality as well, and we have the honor of paying them about a hundred bucks to be their testers. Cyberlink is a bad company, but their product PDVDUltra is currently the least-lame playback option for full-featured HD-DVD and bD. It is sad.

CCDAstro

10-16-07, 11:00 AM

BTW, as of last Friday the patch that CS was sending links to was 3319a....

I have yet to try it as so far the 3319 works - although I have not tired it with one of the new Blu-Ray titles.

RichB

10-16-07, 11:26 AM

BTW, as of last Friday the patch that CS was sending links to was 3319a....

I have yet to try it as so far the 3319 works - although I have not tired it with one of the new Blu-Ray titles.

I am not sure which version of 3319 that I tried, but PowerDVD would not play with anything but a green screen after my system went to sleep and was restored. I had to reboot to playback again.d

Also, Playback took about 20 seconds longer to start playing anything HDM.

Vista32 System restore did not work to restore. I had to uninstall, find an old version full install, update. It took at least an hour to recover.

I suspect this is why these versions have not been released.

- Rich

Nimo

10-16-07, 04:44 PM

I don't believe it it actually played! Even though it still breaks VC-1 on MPC with the 16fps bug it's still a crappy player.;)

Tinker

10-16-07, 05:16 PM

Tried to play Transformers with PDVD 3319 and it doesnt get pass the web loading screen. Anybody have a link for 3319a (sent e-mail to cyberlink support but still no answer).

Nimo

10-16-07, 06:14 PM

Tried to play Transformers with PDVD 3319 and it doesnt get pass the web loading screen. Anybody have a link for 3319a (sent e-mail to cyberlink support but still no answer).

Edit:Sorry I was fiddiling with the DT2 codec and for some odd reason the Arcsoft update launched in MPC, I forget which codec it actually was sorry for the lack of memory on my part.
Funny thing when I launched MPC it was using Arcsoft web update, it seems Acrsofts codecs get a little confused which player it's in. So just make sure you have auto update activated in DT2 and both players will play the movie. AnyDVD is always good to have even though you are HDCP compliant doesn't mean all your disks will play.

CCDAstro

10-16-07, 06:42 PM

Funny thing when I launched PDVD it was using Arcsoft web update

Now that is just plain odd. Are the two companies related?

I was gonna look at the new LG BH200 set top combo tomorrow (if they are in stock here) and see if I can get them to drop in one of the discs in question. I wonder if they will play in a just released set top? I bet not.

Of course, this is all the fault of those buttholes in Hollywood. Not just greedy but incompetent as well.

lip

10-16-07, 06:53 PM

Jim HTPC

10-16-07, 07:09 PM

Tried to play Transformers with PDVD 3319 and it doesnt get pass the web loading screen. Anybody have a link for 3319a (sent e-mail to cyberlink support but still no answer).

I have 3319 and I get the same thing

Tinker

10-16-07, 07:09 PM

Anyone getting slight freezing, could be the DL transition, with the 360 add-on and Ultra software?
I've asked this before but I assumed a software update would have resolved it but now it's becoming a bit annoying.

Thanks in advance!

LIP

Yes, even on movies stored on HDDs on my server. Just a slight hitch. It seems to be at the layer change.

Nimo

10-16-07, 07:09 PM

Well as posted some are getting playback, with the 3319 update but I don't know if they have DT2 installed. Even though DT2 plays the file it plays very poor. PDVD is playing this title perfect on my Tosh with FS off @120Hz 24fps 5:5 in the TV menu. Also as I mentioned in an earlier post ArcSoft needs to work on their aliasing so in this one rare moment in space & time PDVD is the better player even though it breaks PB of MPC VC-1.

Tinker

10-16-07, 07:12 PM

I have 3319 and I get the same thing

In another thread ncinsguy mentioned disconnecting the internet connection. I did that and the Transformer disc now works.

Nimo

10-16-07, 07:50 PM

I'll DC the connection because PDVD just quit... I mean just quit and I was back to my DT:confused: OH Yea Cybercrap player!!:D Forgot I was using it space & time moment:eek:

lip

10-16-07, 08:07 PM

Yes, even on movies stored on HDDs on my server. Just a slight hitch. It seems to be at the layer change.

Thanks!
I guess it's an Ultra bug then...it's not huge but on some movies it's a bit of a pain as the delay is actually over a second...
I still like the convenience of the addon with the HTCP as opposed to a standalone unit.

Regards,

LIP

JDLIVE

10-16-07, 08:12 PM

PowerDVD Ultra shows the last three items (not in use), I'm especially worried about the DirectX VA, is this normal? I have Vista 32bit Ultimate.
Thanks,
Tom

Hardware Information:
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 FX-60 Dual Core Processor running at 2613 MHz
3DNow! Technology: In Use
Enhanced 3DNow! Technology: In Use
3DNow! Professional Technology: In Use
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: Speakers (Auzen X-Meridian 7.1) (not in use)
SPDIF Output Device: Speakers (Auzen X-Meridian 7.1) (not in use)

Just installed the 3319 patch and I'm seeing the same thing, my audio card (Revo 7.1) is "not in use" and I can't get any audio via analog or SPDIF. When a movie is playing, I have no audio tab when I bring up the config screen. Without a movie running, I can select the output method, but that doesn't help once the movie starts. Tried with both a new HDDVD (Transformers) and Blu-Ray ripped to my hard drive.

Nimo

10-16-07, 08:12 PM

Here is what the update splash screen looks like:
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o65/freedombikesusa/DSC00955.jpg
Now when I first plopped the disk in I launched DT2 first and PDVD wasn't even updated I was still using 3104.0 after the update it played just fine in PDVD but breaks VC-1 in MPC XP.
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o65/freedombikesusa/opt.jpg

Edit: Sorry for the poor photos my Sony Cybershot is acting weird anybody know what's causing the bend FX??.

Jim HTPC

10-16-07, 10:03 PM

In another thread ncinsguy mentioned disconnecting the internet connection. I did that and the Transformer disc now works.

Thanks. I told Symantec to block all access to the internet for PowerDVD. Now it plays just fine. WOW! What an excellent soundtrack. Probably the first DD I liked.

A definite MUST BUY - TRANSFORMERS on HD DVD!!!

talon95

10-16-07, 10:19 PM

Yea, I get some odd web update screen when the Transformers disk first starts playing. I just hit cancel and it goes on and loads the menu.

lip

10-16-07, 11:05 PM

Kaido

10-16-07, 11:28 PM

Is there a way to integrate PowerDVD Ultra into Vista Media Center? I just ordered a combo Blu-ray/HD-DVD drive and I want to use it with the media center interface instead of the PowerDVD player. Is that possible?

lip

10-16-07, 11:37 PM

HELP!!!!
Made the mistake of updating Ultra as it stated I had to when I started Ultra...now I have no sound on any of my HD-DVD's...

I'm only using onboard sound (nvidia mboard) and an analog output...

LIP

Update:
Now I went back to an older version but PDVD tries to force me to update the software with transformers HD-DVD...other HD-DVD's work and play fine...the problem is if I upgrade, I lose audio on all HD-DVD's!!!

Hopefully someone can help.

Thanks.

LIP

BigTony

10-16-07, 11:38 PM

Kaido

10-16-07, 11:42 PM

Kaido,
what is the link for combo blu-ray/hd-dvd drive you ordered?

Funny you should ask :D It just became available - got it $282.27 shipped, be sure to choose Canada-US shipping for $9.99 (not the default $30 shipping option) and to remove the $8 insurance:

http://www.ncixus.com/products/26553/GGC-H20N%2FL/LG%20Electronics/

lip

10-17-07, 12:20 AM

Update:
Now I went back to an older version but PDVD tries to force me to update the software with transformers HD-DVD...other HD-DVD's work and play fine...the problem is if I upgrade, I lose audio on all HD-DVD's!!!

Hopefully someone can help.

Thanks.

LIP

Update 2:
Installed the update again and boom...sound is back...very strange...

LIP

lip

10-17-07, 12:57 AM

Anyone get the web update to work with transformers? For me it just sits there for ever....

LIP

lip

10-17-07, 12:59 AM

Just installed the 3319 patch and I'm seeing the same thing, my audio card (Revo 7.1) is "not in use" and I can't get any audio via analog or SPDIF. When a movie is playing, I have no audio tab when I bring up the config screen. Without a movie running, I can select the output method, but that doesn't help once the movie starts. Tried with both a new HDDVD (Transformers) and Blu-Ray ripped to my hard drive.
I had the same problem so I ended up going to an XP restore point from yesterday, updating the software again and now the sound is back...very strange...
Also strange is that with transformers it forced me to do the update or it wouldn't play...

LIP

Tinker

10-17-07, 01:24 AM

Anyone get the web update to work with transformers? For me it just sits there for ever....

LIP

No... loaded 3319a and it didnt work any better then 3319. Only way to play it so far is to not have internet connection enable. I just temp disable network connection for Transformers.

Rathbone

10-17-07, 03:29 AM

Funny thing when I launched PDVD it was using Arcsoft web update, it seems Acrsofts codecs get a little confused which player it's in. So just make sure you have auto update activated in DT2 and both players will play the movie. AnyDVD is always good to have even though you are HDCP compliant doesn't mean all your disks will play.

Could you please give us a screenshot of the japanese version where to find Auto Update in DT2?

talon95

10-17-07, 06:30 AM

No... loaded 3319a and it didnt work any better then 3319. Only way to play it so far is to not have internet connection enable. I just temp disable network connection for Transformers.

Hitting "enter" on the keyboard doesn't work?? Works every time for me with my internet connection active.

slaman

10-17-07, 08:59 AM

Has anyone experienced a problem similar to this?

I play an HD DVD file using Cyberlink, and after about 10 seconds, my computer reboots... I can play the HD DVDs fine in MPC, but would prefer Cyberlink because I can actually get navigation...

It's happened with all versions of Cyberlink PowerDVD I've tried... it can't be heat related, but no other CPU-intensive application reboots my computer!

Tested using Planet Earth and Hot Fuzz

originalsnuffy

10-17-07, 09:05 AM

I used to have Cyberlink PowerDVD crashes all the time under Vista. And the crashes were nasty...very long reboots, often invoking chkdsk.

They were usually due to the copy protection handshaking inherent in both Blu-ray and HD DVD. A combination of finding a stable video driver (in my case, ATI 7.10) and ripping the files to the hard drive worked. I do not like the idea of ripping my discs to the drive in order to play the movie (slow and inconvenient, to say the least). But it does allow the HTPC to in fact function as a...HTPC.

slaman

10-17-07, 09:29 AM

Tinker

10-17-07, 12:13 PM

Hitting "enter" on the keyboard doesn't work?? Works every time for me with my internet connection active.

Thanks, that works....now I feel real stupid for not trying that :o.

mkloharry

10-17-07, 12:26 PM

Update 2:
Installed the update again and boom...sound is back...very strange...

LIP
I had the same problem after the update, no spif for any program. I installed 3401a again, then I had spif output. Then I applied the Transformer patch again spif works, watching transformers right now with spif 5.1 All my other programs that use spif also are works now too. Don't ask don't tell. Strange. I hope Arcsoft digital theater goes on sale for the USA soon. It plays Transformers just fine, but 5.1 is disabled on the demo.:confused:

sigma957

10-17-07, 01:13 PM

I'm confused after reading all of these posts. I'm currently at 3104a and want to play new discs (28 Weeks Later and Transformers). I'm getting the "critical component of the player requires periodic updates" message. What is the proper procedure to upgrade and not lose spdif?

Rathbone

10-17-07, 03:37 PM

CCDAstro

10-17-07, 06:27 PM

Just tried 3319 and Transformers and everything worked, including SPIDF. Only one short glitch near the middle, probably a layer...

Network disabled and external Creative USB soundcard.

Surf's Up still does not play at all but DOES play on the ArcSoft demo.

I am tired of this PC crap and am gonna get a combo player once the LG BH200 shows up, probably next week. Then the PC will be for wide screen games as God intended! <g>

scottb4u

10-17-07, 08:09 PM

I've done the upgrade but I understand there is another upgrade 3314.1 or 3314.a and that will play "Surfs Up". But my 3314 does not play it...

Anyone have a link? PM me!

lip

10-17-07, 10:39 PM

Has anyone got PDVD to play any of the web enabled HD-DVD content on any movie?

LIP

sigma957

10-18-07, 02:52 AM

28 weeks later works with 3319, you have to update. 3104a didn't work for me with this title.OK, so I installed the new patch, and yes, 28 Weeks Later plays, but like others, I get no audio. I reinstalled the 3104 patch and audio came back (but of course I can't play 28 Weeks Later). I don't know how people are getting the latest patch to work without losing audio, but it's a total bust for me. I guess I just stay at 3104 and wait for the next patch to hopefully fix the audio issue. Who develops software like this and stays in business...

mefromfl

10-18-07, 05:38 AM

ok i'm so confuse, can someone please tell me what i need to install for powerdvd to play .x264?

Rathbone

10-18-07, 06:02 AM

I find this whole patch discussion quite confusing. Can we make a list of all the patches for PowerDVD Ultra 7.3 please. I think some people are posting patches that don't exist imho (e.g. 3401 instead 3104)

I know of:

2605
2605n
2911
3104a
3104a.1
3304
3319
3319a

Fred Seger

10-18-07, 12:53 PM

I'd been having a audio problems with Powerdvd. They seemed to get worse with each update. I have an x-plosion card set to dts interative. Running vista 32. I had powerdvd set to 6 channel output. First my regular dvd's stopped working (audio and sound). (That's alright cause they playback fine in zoomplayer and MCE). Not only would the sound not work. It would prevent audio from anything until I logout of windows. I read in this thread that going analog might fixed other problems, so I tried that. It worked, but not well because bass management, speaker levels, etc.. are not sufficient in the auzentech drivers, and my receiver doesn't doesn't process the multi-channel input. So I went back to dts interactive.

Then I changed the speaker setup in powerdvd to 8 channels and everything works fine.

Thought I'd share what fixed my problem in case other people have the same problem and search this thread.

Morphx2

10-18-07, 01:38 PM

I am getting horrible fps performance or something is wrong.

Every movie I try it goes EXTREMELY slow and choppy. I am using an HD-DVD on my 360 drive connected to my computer.

I tried 2 different computers and the same thing. I tried Superman 2, transformers, and the hulk and each movie is the same thing. :-\

one computer is my gaming one with an 8800 640 meg graphic card and the other is an onboard geforce 6150.

using the arcsoft trial in japanese, it worked flawlessly..but nothing is working in powerdvd

slaman

10-18-07, 03:48 PM

JDLIVE

10-18-07, 08:21 PM

Cyberlink sent me a link to download 3319a, but still no luck. The Transformers HDDVD plays, but no audio. I also get no audio on any other disc I try to play as well as ripped discs on the hard drive. I have a transport stream of a college football game that does play with audio, however.

Nimo

10-19-07, 01:31 AM

Could you please give us a screenshot of the japanese version where to find Auto Update in DT2?

I can't cap the screen but if you right click in the player where it says Arcsoft it's the first one in the drop down menu. Actually if you go to the folder everything is in english there is an update .exe if you launch that in the folder it will bring up the update screen. Then you will know what it looks like in the drop menu.

I find this whole patch discussion quite confusing. Can we make a list of all the patches for PowerDVD Ultra 7.3 please. I think some people are posting patches that don't exist imho (e.g. 3401 instead 3104)

I know of:

2605
2605n
2911
3104a
3104a.1
3304
3319
3319a

Well I also noticed now my retail version now updates straight to 3319 patch, without having to cut off chicken heads and dance the bonfire. But this patch causes the PC to hard lock never had that problem before, re imaged back to 3104, but this time I registered the VC-1 decoder and just dumped the player completely, good riddance PDVD!

Regards.

meyer2

10-19-07, 03:33 AM

Why do people use these beta fixes then complain they screw up their computers?

The latest official release is 3104a.1

AngelEyes

10-19-07, 03:37 AM

Why do people use these beta fixes then complain they screw up their computers?

The latest official release is 3104a.1

For our amusement? :D

Rathbone

10-19-07, 05:31 AM

Why do people use these beta fixes then complain they screw up their computers?

The latest official release is 3104a.1

Maybe we want to watch our BD+ and MKV4 movies? ;)

RichB

10-19-07, 08:10 AM

Maybe we want to watch our BD+ and MKV4 movies? ;)

Forget the movie. We just want to watch BD+ and MKV4 turn our screen blank.

- Rich

Nimo

10-19-07, 11:29 AM

meyer2 Why do people use these beta fixes then complain they screw up their computers?

The latest official release is 3104a.1

There's an official patch? Wow :eek: LMAO!!

lsdavinci

10-19-07, 11:39 AM

BTW, forgot to mention that Transformers works fine on 3319. I disabled the networking as recommended and voila! It rocks! both PQ & AQ!!!

I will try Surf's Up this weekend...

slothy

10-19-07, 11:47 AM

the thing that ticks me off is the don't post what they actually fix/break with the patch notes.

sigma957

10-19-07, 12:09 PM

Why do people use these beta fixes then complain they screw up their computers?

The latest official release is 3104a.1
If you try to play one of the new discs and click "Yes" on the "critical component of the player requires periodic updates... would you like to update now?" message, it takes you to a web page that downloads the 3319 update. There is no mention of it being a "beta" patch. I would call that an official release.

sigma957

10-19-07, 12:26 PM

Nimo

10-19-07, 01:41 PM

People who are running the latest patch (that plays Transformers, etc.) and are NOT having audio trouble, what OS and sound card are you running?

I am running XP with a Revolution 7.1 and get no audio whatsoever on any disc with the latest patch. In fact, if I play a disc and bring up the settings screen, there is no "audio" tab.

You will have to do the Cyber Cha Cha, first you need two chicken heads a bonfire and some singing chants.:D But seriously just keep un/installing until you get your results, some have had to do it more than a few times good luck!

I'm using XP, even though I get sound from cyber crappy player spdif/5.1 DD the sound starts to lose sync, and then the player will either just quit or hard lock the PC. I just looped P1 for 5hrs in MPC and my rig is solid as far as stability. It's these crappy decoder engines that need to be addressed. As stated I'm done with PDVD it's just me and Anydvd and DT2 + MPC + VLC. When DT2's decengine.dll gets addressed in the N. American retail version this player should be the "Bomb Diggity";)

Jim HTPC

10-19-07, 01:44 PM

I am using Windows Xp Pro SP2, MSI 8600 GTS video with latest beta drivers, M-Audio Revo 7.1 using coax out (set to digital in the control panel & version 1028 drivers).

Then power up PDVD, go to settings and select SPDIF under the audio tab. Then start the movie. Played DD+ just fine for Transformers.

Oh PDVD version is 3319 (downloaded automatically from website) when I popped the Transformer disc in. Once it was installed, I had to tell Cyberlink to not have access to the internet to avoid the EVO file showing the downloading graphics.... it just went straight to the movie.

Nimo

10-19-07, 01:50 PM

it worked flawlessly..but nothing is working in powerdvd

Just reinstall, thats all you can do anything over the 3104.0 patch is a fps bug in Vista it's 20fps in XP it's 16fps. Also as I had mentioned before PDVD's VC-1 decoder sees all Blu-ray/HD DVD titles as DVD disks at 720x480 resolutions when viewing ReClock's property's.:confused:

Your best bet is to go back to your retail copy and just install either 2911 and either update it to anything prior to 3104.a/3319 and use AnyDVD for now with DT2 and ReClock.

sigma957

10-19-07, 02:09 PM

Your best bet is to go back to your retail copy and just install either 2911 and either update it to anything prior to 3104.a/3319 and use AnyDVD for now with DT2 and ReClock.I don't think AnyDVD works with the newer discs yet.

XxDeadlyxX

10-19-07, 08:28 PM

Far out how long do we have to wait for the Spider-Man movies to play :/

CCDAstro

10-19-07, 10:00 PM

Far out how long do we have to wait for the Spider-Man movies to play :/

Until the new combo players are released in a few weeks and we can have the privilege of spending $1000......

IanD

10-19-07, 11:31 PM

I am getting horrible fps performance or something is wrong.

Every movie I try it goes EXTREMELY slow and choppy. I am using an HD-DVD on my 360 drive connected to my computer.
With PowerDVD 7.3.2911 and 7600GS and 163.75 beta drivers in XP, I'm getting the same choppy issue in HA mode (looks like 16fps or something): switch to software decode mode and all is smooth, so it's definitely something to do with the HA. If I go back to 162.18, there's much less chop and it's almost smooth, but acceleration is less (ie CPU usage is a bit higher). Interestingly, 162.18 is before the 8x00 series HA acceleration was implemented IIRC, so the problems seem to have arrived with the HA drivers.

With an 8600GT or a 8400GS, there is very little choppiness with the latest drivers, but the image is aliased as though the 24fps frames have been split into fields and then woven back in reverse field order. The 7600GS does not have the field reversal issue but has choppiness.

None of the Nvidia/PowerDVD solutions is suitable at the moment for XP.

If Arcsoft or Nero work okay, then it must be a PowerDVD issue in the way they are accessing the HA functions through the drivers. Considering the number of Nvidia driver revisions, it's perhaps not surprising Cyberlink can't keep up, especially when they have to contend with new DRM requirements too. Not defending Cyberlink, just trying to explain what might be happening.

IanD

10-20-07, 03:39 AM

Just reinstall, thats all you can do anything over the 3104.0 patch is a fps bug in Vista it's 20fps in XP it's 16fps. Also as I had mentioned before PDVD's VC-1 decoder sees all Blu-ray/HD DVD titles as DVD disks at 720x480 resolutions when viewing ReClock's property's.:confused:

Your best bet is to go back to your retail copy and just install either 2911 and either update it to anything prior to 3104.a/3319 and use AnyDVD for now with DT2 and ReClock.
Have just upgraded to 8600GT, PDVD 7.3.3104.a and Nvidia 163.75 beta.

VC-1 playback now smooth with no noticeable stutter; interlaced material seems to be automatically de-interlaced (so 300 "Fact or Fiction" extra now has no combing); de-interlacing controls don't seem to do anything; HA is automatically enabled; Saturation slider has no effect now; however, there is still aliasing on all material as though the frames are being split into fields and then woven back in reverse field order.

Despite the aliasing, I think this is the best HD-DVD has looked on my PC so far.

If Cyberlink can fix that damn aliasing, I think I could be happy with this setup.

Oops, spoke too soon: there seems to be an issue with the analogue audio centre channel fading in and out. Have gone back to PDVD 7.3.2911 and all is well: still no stuttering but still aliasing.

Alpha10

10-20-07, 04:05 AM

I have some good news bad news going on...

I installed the new 3319a patch and finally after nearly 10 months of complaining I can play HULK, wooohoooo

However I then put Spider-man 3 in and although it actually plays I get bad stuttering and my CPU sits at around 100% (AMD X2 4.2GHz, XP2, 2Gig RAM and ATI X1950Pro(512Mb)) :mad::mad:

pclausen

10-20-07, 08:47 AM

Hi,

I'm running 3319a under Vista Ultimate 64 on an Asus W2P notebook with a built-in HD-DVD drive and 1920x1200 display. ATI x1700 graphics, and T7200 Core 2 Duo 2GHz CPU.

Everything runs fine on the local display, but when I connect to my Denon 3808 AVR via the built-in HDMI connector, I get a "Cannot detect display connection type" shortly after the studio logo plays (I do get sound out the HDMI via the receiver) and then PowerDVD exists.

My notebook is fully HDCP compliant, as is my Denon 3808, as well as the display (Panasonic 65" 9UK plasma.) I haven't tried connecting directly to the display, but there would be no point as the only way to get digital audio out of my notebook is via the HDMI connector.

It doesn't matter if I mirror, extend, or switch to the external display for my desktop. I get the same message each time. The only way I can get a HD-DVD to play is when I disconnect the HDMI cable from my notebook.

I this a known limitation of PowerDVD? (no support for notebooks connected to external displays, even if everything in the video path is HDCP compliant)

Thanks!

Peter

Morphx2

10-20-07, 03:05 PM

Ug, I am getting the green screen using powerdvd now. It was working fine and I did nothing to it :(

Andy o

10-20-07, 04:16 PM

Irish_Comer

10-20-07, 05:20 PM

Tinker

10-20-07, 06:21 PM

WTF! A 99 MB patch just to play the latest movies. What the hell are they (and by THEY I mean everyone involved except the user) thinking! The only ones for whom it is hard is us the freaking users who have HDCP-compliant machines. I have AnyDVD, but it's not updated yet. And all this just makes me glad I can copy movies to my HDD.

The patch actually removes any old versions of PDVD and then loads a complete updated version. You will have to have an old version installed before the patch will work. Also you will prob have to re-enter the serial number again after its installs.

Morphx2

10-21-07, 02:18 AM

Any idea how I can get rid of the green screen when playing hd-dvd's? I have an 8400gs nvidia card. Maybe a certain driver or something?

mgl

10-21-07, 05:07 AM

I've skimmed through the last few pages of this thread but I' found no mention of a problem with the latest patch and reclock. I have video and sound if I disable reclock, but no sound if I enable it. Has anyone else experienced this problem.

Same here, perhaps it´s a kind of copy protecion of the audio stream. This is really to bad, because without reclock in XP there will be never a jouder free playback.

IanD

10-21-07, 05:11 AM

Any idea how I can get rid of the green screen when playing hd-dvd's? I have an 8400gs nvidia card. Maybe a certain driver or something?
I was able to play HD-DVD with an 8400GS, PowerDVD 7.3.2911 and 163.71 drivers with HA enabled under XP (although the image is aliased).

The only time I have seen a green screen is when I attempted to play an evo off an HD-DVD in a Xbox 360 add-on across a network in MPC. I updated AnyDVD HD on the PC the Xbox 360 add-on was connected to and that cured the green screen. I have no idea what actually creates the green screen effect.

I have noticed that hardware acceleration seems to be one of the evils the end user is grappling with. Have you tried playing a HD-DVD in software decode mode? I know the video will probably be a complete slideshow for a slow CPU, but it might rule out the source or how the source is being accessed as the problem. This was how I determined my green screen problem was related to AnyDVD HD version issues.

If playing an HD-DVD in PowerDVD in software decode mode, a trick to reduce CPU usage by half is to set Video->Advanced->Video Quality=Normal. The image will likely be very aliased, but it's still watchable.

mefromfl

10-21-07, 06:44 AM

What codecs are you guys installing to play .mvk files on powerdvd?

IanD

10-21-07, 10:18 AM

What codecs are you guys installing to play .mvk files on powerdvd?
PowerDVD anecdotally has a problem with certain encode parameters that may be used in X.264 mkv files, if their decoder is used, resulting in 16fps or 20fps playback of 24fps source.

Consequently I only use PowerDVD for commercial VC-1 and AVC HD playback.

For film source HDTV I use dscaler IVTC with MPC and I use CoreAVC for H.264 mkv file playback also with MPC as front end. Haven't hit on a decoder/player combination yet for interlaced mpeg2 HDTV.

sigma957

10-21-07, 11:31 AM

I've skimmed through the last few pages of this thread but I' found no mention of a problem with the latest patch and reclock. I have video and sound if I disable reclock, but no sound if I enable it. Has anyone else experienced this problem.

I'm running Windows XP, with 7XXX Nvidia and M-Audio revolution sound card.Yes, that's it. Disabling reclock solved my audio problems with the new patch. So now I can play the new discs, but I have to put up with slight micro-stutters...

JDLIVE

10-21-07, 04:00 PM

Yes, that's it. Disabling reclock solved my audio problems with the new patch. So now I can play the new discs, but I have to put up with slight micro-stutters...

Aha! Same here....didn't even think of looking at reclock.

johnny124

10-21-07, 04:12 PM

Irish_Comer

10-21-07, 04:23 PM

Same here, perhaps it´s a kind of copy protecion of the audio stream. This is really to bad, because without reclock in XP there will be never a jouder free playback.

I set up a dual boot on my PC with XP and Vista. First problem, no bloody Vista drivers yet for the MAudio Revolution 7.1:mad:. Used the onboard sound on my Asus P5B motherboard with SPDIF. I still have the same micro stutter every 10 seconds or so that I have with XP without reclock.:confused:

How can the people behind these formats really expect them to ever be taken on by Joe Public?:(

IanD

10-22-07, 01:21 AM

Having a bit of a powerdvd problem - tried Transformers hd-dvd, but got very choppy playback. Powerdvd asked to update, so I allowed it, and then I updated my video drivers also (nvidia 7600 GS, gigabyte branded). However, now when I play anything in powerdvd the picture is zoomed in, and I get only approx. 1/4 of the screen showing (even in fullscreen)...I've gone through all the options I can find but can't see how to resolve this. Have even installed a previous version of powerdvd but same problem. Only thing that seems to fix it is rolling my video driver back, but I don't really want to do this if I can avoid it.
PowerDVD 7.3.3319 seems to windowbox video for many Nvidia graphics cards with the latest drivers. PDVD 7.3.3104 doesn't have the windowboxing issue with 163.75 beta drivers, but I'm not sure if it will play Transformers.

I have tried a 7600GS with PDVD 7.3.2911 and Nvidia 162.18 and it provides the best PQ I have seen (because 8600GT, 8400GS alias the image), but playback seems to be at a slightly reduced rate (ie has a sort of flicker slideshow effect).

I've tried the latest drivers, but the slideshow effect seems to get worse the newer the driver is.

I would like to try earlier drivers, but my graphics card is not recognised before 158.22, or PowerDVD says the drivers are not adequate: maybe I can find some between 158 and 162 that work.

I noticed that with 162.18, CPU usage is higher than with newer drivers, but slideshow effect is less: seems to me that there is some interplay between PowerDVD and driver versions that impacts adversely on the hardware acceleration.

What are the earliest drivers that will work with your 7600GS and PowerDVD?

Transformers uses the newer AACS v4 I believe, so this may force a particular PowerDVD version and consequently you might have to use earlier drivers.

I haven't tried it yet, but can you get better results with software decoding only in PowerDVD?

slaman

10-22-07, 10:28 AM

No one has any ideas what could be causing PowerDVD to reboot my computer? At 720p, playing an HD DVD is fine... no problems... At 1080p, playing an HD DVD reboots the computer after about 10 seconds.

I tried three versions of PowerDVD, and three different Catalyst driver sets...

So frustrating... makes PowerDVD completely unusable.

I'm playing the HD DVD files off my hard drive - do I enable/disable hardware acceleration? Do I need to use AnyDVD? Does it have anything to do with HDCP and my DVI -> HDMI cable?

Andy o

10-22-07, 10:38 AM

I had to update Power DVD to the latest (3319?) to be able to play Transformers. I have an Nvidia 8600 GTS, with 163.44 drivers if I recall correctly, in Vista x86, playing at 1920x1200. Apart from being the stupidest movie in my recent memory, with one of the stupidest scenes in any stupid movie I've seen, no major hard/software issues here. Didn't use AnyDVD as it is not updated yet for Transformers. It's the first HD-DVD I've tried yet that didn't work with AnyDVD though, and I expect it to be updated pretty soon.

So I had to play HDCP-style. Apart from the super annoying "updating some crap" screen that comes up when you start the disc, and the studio logo that comes up next, I didn't have much trouble, though a couple of times if I left the menu running, PowerDVD would just shut down, like a crash but with no error message.

And IanD, you gotta be the unluckiest Nvidia user, still having the aliasing issue. Anyone else having it still?

JDLIVE

10-22-07, 01:29 PM

How can the people behind these formats really expect them to ever be taken on by Joe Public?:(

Joe Public is not using an HTPC.

CCDAstro

10-22-07, 02:14 PM

Joe Public is not using an HTPC.

But the hardware players are also having some of these problems.....

clehner

10-22-07, 02:46 PM

Specifically, afaik there are no consumer BR players that are region free, none at all!

johnny124

10-22-07, 03:09 PM

PowerDVD 7.3.3319 seems to...
Thanks for your reply Ian. When I try to use a driver from the Nvidia website I get different issues - e.g. if I use the latest (non-beta) driver, powerdvd doesn't windowbox the picture, but there is a lot of noise present - almost as though the colour palette has been dropped right down. It disappears if I use the latest driver from the gigabyte website, but that starts off the windowboxing.

Tried a couple of other drivers direct from the nvidia website and they bring different issues too (e.g. picture mostly black etc).

Are the drivers from gigabyte really tailored to my card to such a degree that standard nvidia ones shouldn't work? Or could overclocking (CPU not GPU) be causing these "noise" problems?

IanD

10-22-07, 07:22 PM

Thanks for your reply Ian. When I try to use a driver from the Nvidia website I get different issues - e.g. if I use the latest (non-beta) driver, powerdvd doesn't windowbox the picture, but there is a lot of noise present - almost as though the colour palette has been dropped right down. It disappears if I use the latest driver from the gigabyte website, but that starts off the windowboxing.

Tried a couple of other drivers direct from the nvidia website and they bring different issues too (e.g. picture mostly black etc).

Are the drivers from gigabyte really tailored to my card to such a degree that standard nvidia ones shouldn't work? Or could overclocking (CPU not GPU) be causing these "noise" problems?
I have the Leadtek version of your 7600GS and you are more fortunate than I, because the Leadtek drivers on the CD fail to install and so I have to use the Nvidia ones.

Whilst there are sometimes peculiarities to a card's design that require tailored drivers from the manufacturer, I think these days most are standard reference designs and should be capable of using the official Nvidia drivers.

That noise and colour reduction is probably what is called banding or solarisation: it's the type of thing you see if you lower your desktop colour setting to 8 bit colour and try to view a photograph. I have no idea why it should occur, but I have noticed it too to varying degrees with the 7600GS and driver/PDVD combinations. I don't overclock the GPU, so it probably isn't that having an effect in your case.

Have you tried PowerDVD 7.3.2911 and Nvidia 162.18? It gives me the best result for the 7600, although there are still issues.

Have you tried disabling hardware acceleration for comparison? Apart from maxing the CPU, I don't have any issues on any of the cards with only software decoding. It kinda shows that all the problems are related to the hardware acceleration specific aspects of the cards.

I believe many of the issues we are experiencing are due to interaction between the drivers and how PowerDVD performs accelerated decoding. When I hear reports of Arcsoft's player software producing better results than PowerDVD and none of the issues, it must be partly due to Cyberlink's implementation. That doesn't help us struggling with PowerDVD though.

IanD

10-22-07, 07:32 PM

And IanD, you gotta be the unluckiest Nvidia user, still having the aliasing issue. Anyone else having it still?
I'm sure most of it is due to XP and Cyberlink's implementation for hardware decoding. If I use software decoding, all is well and I get a great result, except my CPU is maxed just for movie playback and if I enable IME, it just grinds to a halt.

I don't understand why an 7600GS doesn't have the aliasing problem (although it has it's own issues). But once you see how good HD can look on the 7600 without the aliasing, you really want to sort out the hardware acceleration issues for the other cards.

I'm at the point where I'm seriously considering a more powerful CPU and just jettison all this hardware acceleration crap.

drsmithdtv

10-23-07, 01:29 AM

With GPU acceleration enabled (8600GTS) I have found that I am getting a rescaling of VC1 with with PowerDVD and MPC.

With PowerDVD the rescaling is only in the vertical (1080) resolution. I have tried various versions of the software (2911 patch and 3104a patch and others) and have found that the rescaling sometimes only manifests itself itself without GPU acceleration but always manifests itself with GPU acceleration (for those versions of PowerDVD 7.3 that GPU acceleration works).

The rescaling manifests itself in two forms depending on the PowerDVD version. The most obvious manifestation is a rescaling of the 1080 vertical height of the VC1 video onto about 1074 pixels with three pixels top and bottom remaining blank (3104a patch). The second manifestation (2911 patch) is much more subtle but can be described from the DVE-HD 1920x1080 geometry test pattern (1080TITLE3_1.EVO) as follows.

The DVE-HD 1920x1080 geometry test pattern consists of a series of vertical and horizontal lines two pixels wide and a series of circles. When examining the horizontal lines on a Dell 2405 FPW at 1920x1080 (1:1 pixel mapped) with a 10x hand lens, the lines are not of equal brightness. At the top of the screen the top row of pixels is slightly brighter than the second row of pixels. Moving onto the second top horizontal line the top row of pixels is also slightly brighter than the second row. There is also a very slight grey shade to the row of pixels above the brighter top row. Towards the bottom of the screen this reverses with the the second row of pixels being slightly brighter than the top row of pixels and there is a slight grey shading on the row of pixels below the brighter second row.

This suggests to me that PowerDVD is rescaling the 1080 vertical height of the EVO on something slightly more, say about 1080 and a half pixels. The effect on the DVE-HD pixel clock and phase pattern (1080TITLE2_25.EVO) is more dramatic. The contrast between pixels on the test bars is much less than when the test pattern is 1:1 pixel mapped.

I have not observed any rescaling of the 1920 horizontal resolution with PowerDVD.

Morphx2

10-23-07, 01:59 AM

I was able to play HD-DVD with an 8400GS, PowerDVD 7.3.2911 and 163.71 drivers with HA enabled under XP (although the image is aliased).

The only time I have seen a green screen is when I attempted to play an evo off an HD-DVD in a Xbox 360 add-on across a network in MPC. I updated AnyDVD HD on the PC the Xbox 360 add-on was connected to and that cured the green screen. I have no idea what actually creates the green screen effect.

I have noticed that hardware acceleration seems to be one of the evils the end user is grappling with. Have you tried playing a HD-DVD in software decode mode? I know the video will probably be a complete slideshow for a slow CPU, but it might rule out the source or how the source is being accessed as the problem. This was how I determined my green screen problem was related to AnyDVD HD version issues.

If playing an HD-DVD in PowerDVD in software decode mode, a trick to reduce CPU usage by half is to set Video->Advanced->Video Quality=Normal. The image will likely be very aliased, but it's still watchable.

I cant even turn off hardware acceleration for HD-DVD's...it wont let me.

ZED72

10-23-07, 02:17 AM

I have a strange problem with PowerDVD Ultra (7.3.3120.0) and S/PDIF -output. This problem exists only when I try to watch HD DVD -movies.

If S/PDIF is in use there is really awful, kind of irregular stuttering or judder (is this correct term?) in the picture. If I use 6 speaker analog output there is only slight "normal" judder (caused by 24p frame rate?) which can be seen only in slow horizontal movements and that can be tolerated.

My HTPC´s graphics card is Ati Radeon HD2400 Pro AGP (display mode 1280x720@60Hz, primary display is Sanyo PLV-Z4 projector) and sound card is SB Live 24 Bit. There is no difference in CPU usage no matter which sound output I use.

I already installed 3 analog RCA -cables as a workaround solution, but I still would like to use digital S/PDIF -output if possible. Any ideas what could cause this problem?

drsmithdtv

10-23-07, 03:06 AM

I cant even turn off hardware acceleration for HD-DVD's...it wont let me.
I've found versions 3104a and 3304.0 to be like this.

I have also found that with the above two versions the program crashes whenever I attempt to access the advanced settings under DVD feature within the video configuration tab.

IanD

10-23-07, 06:53 PM

I've found versions 3104a and 3304.0 to be like this.

I have also found that with the above two versions the program crashes whenever I attempt to access the advanced settings under DVD feature within the video configuration tab.
I found 3104 and above forces hardware acceleration on and 3319 additionally windowboxes video to 1600x900 on a 1920x1440 desktop under XP. PDVD 2911 is still the most stable, but unfortunately will probably not play the latest AACS v4 titles. Cyberlink is forcing us to choose between a rock or a hard place.

Do you have Cineplayer 4.3 and/or ffdshow installed?

Under XP, I had the same crashes and the debug indicated an ffdshow issue: uninstalled ffdshow and then the problem was indicated as cinemasteraudio.dll; uninstalled Cineplayer 4.3 and now I don't have any crashes when opening the advanced video config.

It's a PITA though, because I wanted MPC playback capability of HD-DVD as well as PowerDVD.

jtscribe

10-23-07, 07:58 PM

I found 3104 and above forces hardware acceleration on and 3319 additionally windowboxes video to 1600x900 on a 1920x1440 desktop under XP. PDVD 2911 is still the most stable, but unfortunately will probably not play the latest AACS v4 titles. Cyberlink is forcing us to choose between a rock or a hard place.

Do you have Cineplayer 4.3 and/or ffdshow installed?

Under XP, I had the same crashes and the debug indicated an ffdshow issue: uninstalled ffdshow and then the problem was indicated as cinemasteraudio.dll; uninstalled Cineplayer 4.3 and now I don't have any crashes when opening the advanced video config.

It's a PITA though, because I wanted MPC playback capability of HD-DVD as well as PowerDVD.

If you combined 2911 with AnyDVD, would that work with newer titles?

slothy

10-23-07, 08:04 PM

If you combined 2911 with AnyDVD, would that work with newer titles?

well anydvd is not able to play/strip the newer titles as of right now.

arfster

10-23-07, 08:05 PM

I found 3104 and above forces hardware acceleration on and 3319 additionally windowboxes video to 1600x900 on a 1920x1440 desktop under XP.

If it's exactly 1600 wide, that's also the precise number of pixels that the 2400/2600 ended up with in PDVD, due to usesort (which PDVD started using after 2911). Fortunately there was a reghack for ATI to escape it.

IanD

10-23-07, 08:40 PM

If it's exactly 1600 wide, that's also the precise number of pixels that the 2400/2600 ended up with in PDVD, due to usesort (which PDVD started using after 2911). Fortunately there was a reghack for ATI to escape it.
Well, it looks to be about 1600 pixels, based on the comparative width of the black bars at the sides, but difficult to tell exactly.

Why this change though, because v2911 is fine (apart from aliasing)?

I thought the reghack for ATI was a driver issue, but it doesn't surprise me if Cyberlink are getting it wrong too.

With the forced acceleration and now the windowboxing plus the ongoing aliasing (even in 3319), anyone could be forgiven for thinking Cyberlink are deliberately crippling VGA output under XP. Beforehand, I could get around the aliasing issue by using software decode only in PowerDVD, but since v2911, that option has been taken away. Each new release seems to wind the quality back even further or make it more difficult to achieve. It was my understanding that analogue resolution was only to be reduced if the IDC? flag was set in the source material and then only after expiry of the sunset clause.

Does anyone know anything about Nvidia reghacks equivalent to the ATI ones?

Also, does anyone have any information about whether PowerDVD upgrades then downgrades retain any of the upgraded elements? When I upgraded to 3319, the desktop icon changed, but when I downgraded it stayed the same, so at least one item wasn't reverted. Anecdotally I have also heard about someone who upgraded to 3911 to play Transformers, then downgraded to 3104 and was still able to play Transformers: this sounds like certain elements of an upgrade remain. Actually I would be happy if the 3319 upgrade left behind the new v4 AACS keys, when downgraded to 2911. ;)

arfster

10-23-07, 11:09 PM

Well, it looks to be about 1600 pixels, based on the comparative width of the black bars at the sides, but difficult to tell exactly.

Why this change though, because v2911 is fine (apart from aliasing)?

No idea why, but >2911 Cyberlink's installations include a setting UseSORT=1. In the ATI installations, "SORTOverrideVidSizeCaps" refers to the active window size for protected mode HDDVD/Bluray playback - you need to set this value higher to fill a 1080p screen, as by default it only fills 1600 wide (it was renamed to VForceMaxResSize after cat7.8). I grumbled to ATI about this, it's supposedly fixed in cat 7.11. Guess you guys need to do the same with NVidia.

This is one of the rare good things you can say about ATI: their drivers are nice and tweakable (fortunately so, given the number of issues they have). However, at least you have a shot at fixing a problem.

With regard to downgrading versions, I'd be entirely unsurprised if elements of old installs remain. PowerDVD's uninstall routines have always been a disaster.

Cap.T

10-24-07, 01:47 AM

Do you guys report your problems with PDVD via there website? I wrote them about the problem with Hardware Accerlation about two weeks ago and they didn't seem to know about that. If more people were to report it, maybe they would fix it faster.

mva5580

10-24-07, 03:02 AM

This is seriously one screwed up program. From installation to updating to actual performance, this program is nowhere near worth 100 bucks.

drsmithdtv

10-24-07, 06:42 AM

I found 3104 and above forces hardware acceleration on and 3319 additionally windowboxes video to 1600x900 on a 1920x1440 desktop under XP. PDVD 2911 is still the most stable, but unfortunately will probably not play the latest AACS v4 titles. Cyberlink is forcing us to choose between a rock or a hard place.

Do you have Cineplayer 4.3 and/or ffdshow installed?

Under XP, I had the same crashes and the debug indicated an ffdshow issue: uninstalled ffdshow and then the problem was indicated as cinemasteraudio.dll; uninstalled Cineplayer 4.3 and now I don't have any crashes when opening the advanced video config.

It's a PITA though, because I wanted MPC playback capability of HD-DVD as well as PowerDVD.
I had both installed. I have now uninstalled Cineplayer 4.3 and I am now able to access the advanced features under DVD feature with version 3304.0.

I too would like an alternative to PowerDVD, but with my hardware the MPC option is also rescaling with DXVA enabled, it's more processor intensive than PowerDVD playback via a modified .XPL and I am also having issues with playback with VMR9.

IAM4UK

10-24-07, 09:35 AM

When will we see some real competition in the HD media playback software? Corel seems not to be serious about it; Arcsoft may or may not have a good player for those of us not in Japan; Nero is a big question mark to me at this point; and Cyberlink has provided us with a continually frustrating program. Are we asking too much to be able to play HD discs on our PCs? (I guess the studios may think so, since they have treated us consumers like thieves for years.)

mpgxsvcd

10-24-07, 10:12 AM

What is the absolute bare minimum processor and video card you need to play an HD-DVD movie without any dropped frames, on the highest quality setting, with PowerDVD ultra? I tried the X-box 360 add on with my 3.0 Ghz P4 and my ATI x1600 and it didn’t even come close even at the lowest quality setting in PowerDVD.

If I bought an ATI 2600XT would that allow my P4 to play the HD-DVD’s?

FLingier

10-24-07, 10:16 AM

IAM4UK

10-24-07, 01:20 PM

mpgxsvcd, it's tough to answer your question about absolute bare minimum. I used to have a P4 3.0GHz, and I think you could use that processor with an nvidia 8500GT or AMD 2400HD PRO. Another approach would be to change the processor to a Core 2 Duo at 2.0 GHz or faster. The first way would cost about eighty bucks after tax/shipping; the latter about one hundred thirty bucks or less.

mva5580

10-24-07, 01:34 PM

I'm having issues with this program that I'm REALLY hoping someone can help me out with.

I've been running it with pretty much no issues. I've downloaded and installed the patch on the Cyberlink site. But I picked up Transformers, and when I put it in, it gives me the message about a critical update being available. I go to the link and download that patch. But when I run it, it goes through the first step of showing the files loading, and then the program just shuts down and nothing else happens. So while all my other HD-DVD's work fine, Transformers refuses to run.

Can someone help me out with this? Is there a solution? Did I maybe install patches in the wrong order or something? Any help would be GREATLY appreciated, just so I can know that I'm all caught up. Thanks!

salacious

10-24-07, 02:10 PM

Can someone help me out with this? Is there a solution? Did I maybe install patches in the wrong order or something? Any help would be GREATLY appreciated, just so I can know that I'm all caught up. Thanks!

Check what build you are using of PDVD. If you go to the About screen and click on your name below "This product is licensed to". The screen will change and it tells you the build number etc.
On my machine I have
DVD Version 7.3.3319.0
UI 3304_TaRe30(Ultra)
DShow 3319_TaRe31_Ultra
Setup 3734
RC 070815_Tare3

I did have a problem before with one of the upgrade patches (it didn't like XP MCE) and I got a full install from CS. If you contact CS you may get a direct link to build 3319a or whatever the latest version that they are giving out.

mva5580

10-24-07, 02:17 PM

Thanks man I will check it out. I appreciate it.

sigma957

10-24-07, 03:43 PM

No idea why, but >2911 Cyberlink's installations include a setting UseSORT=1. In the ATI installations, "SORTOverrideVidSizeCaps" refers to the active window size for protected mode HDDVD/Bluray playback - you need to set this value higher to fill a 1080p screen, as by default it only fills 1600 wide (it was renamed to VForceMaxResSize after cat7.8). I grumbled to ATI about this, it's supposedly fixed in cat 7.11. Guess you guys need to do the same with NVidia.

This is one of the rare good things you can say about ATI: their drivers are nice and tweakable (fortunately so, given the number of issues they have). However, at least you have a shot at fixing a problem.

With regard to downgrading versions, I'd be entirely unsurprised if elements of old installs remain. PowerDVD's uninstall routines have always been a disaster.Can you elaborate a little on this. If I understand correctly, output is limited to 1600x1080 when playing titles at 1920x1080?

I see the "UseSORT" setting in the registry under HKLM\Software\Cyberlink\PowerDVD. Where do I find SORTOverrideVidSizeCaps or VForceMaxResSize? I searched HKLM\Software\ATI but didn't find them (I'm using Cat 7.10).

arfster

10-24-07, 03:53 PM

Can you elaborate a little on this. If I understand correctly, output is limited to 1600x1080 when playing titles at 1920x1080?

Yup - it leaves you with borders to left and right of the image. On a 2560*1600 screen the video is tiny.

I see the "UseSORT" setting in the registry under HKLM\Software\Cyberlink\PowerDVD. Where do I find SORTOverrideVidSizeCaps or VForceMaxResSize? I searched HKLM\Software\ATI but didn't find them (I'm using Cat 7.10).

They're not there by default, you have to add them. See my sig for details.

Davinleeds

10-24-07, 05:53 PM

Got my Transformers last night. Seemed to hang on web update, hit enter and it started. Have version 3119.

sigma957

10-24-07, 05:59 PM

Yup - it leaves you with borders to left and right of the image. On a 2560*1600 screen the video is tiny.

They're not there by default, you have to add them. See my sig for details.Thanks, I get it now.

cheezthis

10-25-07, 12:13 AM

RedTee

10-25-07, 02:41 AM

IanD

10-25-07, 06:25 AM

I'm not sure if others are encountering this, but when I play Transformers with version3319, I have no problems watching the movie in windowed mode. However, if I increase to full screen in 47 inch LCD glory, the computer crashes causing a reboot. Using cat 7.10 with tweaks per ExDeus in XP. Using a 2400pro (pci) in a X2 3800 s939 mobo.

Also, I get pretty high cpu use of the dual cores (50 ish), when I am accustomed to 20ish in VC1 titles. Anyone know if a 8500 gt will cause me less problems with Transformers, will be doing test this weekend unless I hear otherwise.
I don't think my 8500GT experience is unique, but I found the 8500GT would crash PowerDVD in XP after a short while if hardware acceleration was enabled. In software decode mode for PowerDVD, the PQ on the 8500GT was amazing and no crashes, but 100% C2D 2.8GHz CPU for King Kong HD-DVD: forget about enabling IME or using a slower CPU.

However, hardware acceleration does work for the 8400GS with PowerDVD and no crashes, but the image is aliased (looks like they separated the frame into fields and then wove it back together with the reverse field order). I expect the image is aliased for the 8500GT too before it crashes.

Unless I had a particularly faulty 8500GT, I can't recommend that graphics card under XP without improved drivers and/or PowerDVD.

I found a 2400Pro produced aliased images too with PowerDVD, although it didn't crash (Catalyst 7.7 with tweaks). I didn't like the blurred but edge enhanced look, posterisation noise on colour, lack of 72Hz, plus issues with interlaced extras on 300 HD-DVD that I got with the 2400Pro, so I sold it. I don't think that card is ready for prime time yet either.

Now using an 8600GT: it's the best of a bad bunch, but still producing aliased images with PowerDVD. It's easy to miss the aliasing because of the high resolution, but it blurs the image and reduces the apparent resolution one should be able to obtain from 1080p24 source.

Should mention that I have been using PowerDVD 7.3.2911 for all these tests as it seems the most stable, but it won't permit playing of Transformers.

XP is still very problematic for HD with all cards using PowerDVD.

With the latest PowerDVD 3319 required to play Transformers, Nvidia graphics card owners now have to contend with windowboxing of video to 1600x900 as well as aliasing in XP and hardware acceleration forced on regardless.

IanD

10-25-07, 06:43 AM

I saw some previous talk about 7600 cards (previous page).

I have tried the last couple of drivers on my 7600 gs (agp), but still cannot get my hd-dvd drive to play. Power DVD shuts down about 2 seconds into loading and playing the disc. I have tried both King Kong and Batman Begins.

Hardware Accel. is off, and I am using an analog display (plasma connected vga). It's a P4 CPU at 3.36 ghz.

Is there something I missed in this thread that I need to do? Any other info you guys need to help? I have been trying this for the last week, and have been reading non-stop. I've reached a point where I just want to quit and start over with a new pc, but I don't think that's necessary honestly.
PowerDVD seems to require HDCP to play nice, even if using VGA, and unless I'm mistaken, AGP isn't a protected path like PCI-E and may be construed by PowerDVD as non-complying. These are just guesses as to what may be happening: I could be wrong.

You could try using AnyDVD HD to remove AACS, but I don't know if that will help in your case.

However, with only a P4 3.4GHz CPU, I doubt you would have the grunt to play HD-DVD in software decode mode. With a C2D 2.8GHz, it takes 100% CPU to play King Kong HD-DVD with PowerDVD in software decode mode, so the best you might see is a slideshow.

Try enabling hardware acceleration as it should bring your CPU into the ballpark and see if that gets things working. Maybe then try AnyDVD HD.

Note that HD-DVD (VC-1) is not accelerated as much as H.264 by any of the Nvidia graphics cards.

I've tried a 7600GS PCI-E (HDCP with HDMI) and it does work in hardware accelerated mode with PowerDVD under XP, however I had best results with PowerDVD 7.3.2911 and Nvidia 162.18 drivers so you might want to use that combination. I'm only using VGA, so can't talk about DVI/HDMI. It's not without its issues as interlaced content is handled very badly and there is a stutter in playback of 24fps content that looks like it is only rendering 20fps, despite CPU being less than 40%. But it produces the best PQ I have seen for hardware acceleration of all the cards I have tested (8600GT, 8500GT, 8400GS, 7600GS, 2400Pro).

I think the Nvidia 7600 has promise, particularly since I think it is similar to the new Nvidia mobo chipset, which is supposed to be able to handle HD, but it needs better drivers and PowerDVD software to maximise its capabilities.

drsmithdtv

10-25-07, 06:59 AM

IanD

10-25-07, 08:04 AM

With regard to CPU load from HD-DVD playback, the XPL file can be edited in notepad to avoid playback of unnecessary components of the EVO thereby reducing CPU load. It is however a bit of a learning curve to work out what to edit so for some a hardware upgrade may be a better alternative.
Doesn't always work: I've already stripped King Kong to the minimum on HDD and that's my test title for 100% CPU load on a C2D 2.8GHz for software decoding with PowerDVD.

With reference to my previous expressions of hope that a PowerDVD upgrade to 3319 and then downgrade to 2911 might retain the AACS v4 keys of the newest patch and the stability of the older install, my hopes were dashed when I attempted to play Transformers on the now downgraded 2911 and received a request to update critical components. So, no Transformers playback for me yet unfortunately, because the latest patch windowboxes video, forces HA and exhibits aliasing. :(

tristartristan

10-25-07, 08:19 AM

Can you desactivate HA with the new 3319.a path?

joenobody33

10-25-07, 08:34 AM

http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/2306/videoinfoboxrh2.gif

When I play back any HD media on one computer with PDVD Ultra it says (High-Definition) next to the codec type and bitrate. If PDVD doesn't say that, does it mean that the program is down rezzing the video?

h_xd

10-25-07, 08:42 AM

Tested Transformers HDDVD last night, crashed PD (3319) a few minutes into the movie. I'm using xbox addon, p4 3.6ghz, 7950GT (HDCP) and XP, tried both geforce 71 and 75 beta drivers. AnyDVD (6184), backupHDDVD, Nero 8 showtime (w/HDDVD plugin) all failed.

There seems to be a firmware update to the xbox HDDVD drive but I don't have the console to do it. Any way to update through a PC?

cheezthis

10-25-07, 11:58 AM

PowerDVD seems to require HDCP to play nice, even if using VGA, and unless I'm mistaken, AGP isn't a protected path like PCI-E and may be construed by PowerDVD as non-complying. These are just guesses as to what may be happening: I could be wrong.

You could try using AnyDVD HD to remove AACS, but I don't know if that will help in your case.

However, with only a P4 3.4GHz CPU, I doubt you would have the grunt to play HD-DVD in software decode mode. With a C2D 2.8GHz, it takes 100% CPU to play King Kong HD-DVD with PowerDVD in software decode mode, so the best you might see is a slideshow.

Try enabling hardware acceleration as it should bring your CPU into the ballpark and see if that gets things working. Maybe then try AnyDVD HD.

Note that HD-DVD (VC-1) is not accelerated as much as H.264 by any of the Nvidia graphics cards.

I've tried a 7600GS PCI-E (HDCP with HDMI) and it does work in hardware accelerated mode with PowerDVD under XP, however I had best results with PowerDVD 7.3.2911 and Nvidia 162.18 drivers so you might want to use that combination. I'm only using VGA, so can't talk about DVI/HDMI. It's not without its issues as interlaced content is handled very badly and there is a stutter in playback of 24fps content that looks like it is only rendering 20fps, despite CPU being less than 40%. But it produces the best PQ I have seen for hardware acceleration of all the cards I have tested (8600GT, 8500GT, 8400GS, 7600GS, 2400Pro).

I think the Nvidia 7600 has promise, particularly since I think it is similar to the new Nvidia mobo chipset, which is supposed to be able to handle HD, but it needs better drivers and PowerDVD software to maximise its capabilities.

Thanks for the help and ideas, it is greatly appreciated. I had already tried turning HA on and using AnyDVD actually but encountered the same problem each time.

My cpu load does initially go to 100%, and then hangs around 80% just before the program shuts down. I keep thinking this is something related to compatibility. I had no idea AGP could be a problem as well.

RedTee

10-25-07, 02:50 PM

Thanks for your insight and experience. Makes me really wonder if a standalone player (since there are getting so much cheaper) is the way to go. Fun to play with the AnyDVD to rip my movies on to harddrive therefore eliminating the need to change discs and reduce risk of damaging disc.

I don't think my 8500GT experience is unique, but I found the 8500GT would crash PowerDVD in XP after a short while if hardware acceleration was enabled. In software decode mode for PowerDVD, the PQ on the 8500GT was amazing and no crashes, but 100% C2D 2.8GHz CPU for King Kong HD-DVD: forget about enabling IME or using a slower CPU.

However, hardware acceleration does work for the 8400GS with PowerDVD and no crashes, but the image is aliased (looks like they separated the frame into fields and then wove it back together with the reverse field order). I expect the image is aliased for the 8500GT too before it crashes.

Unless I had a particularly faulty 8500GT, I can't recommend that graphics card under XP without improved drivers and/or PowerDVD.

I found a 2400Pro produced aliased images too with PowerDVD, although it didn't crash (Catalyst 7.7 with tweaks). I didn't like the blurred but edge enhanced look, posterisation noise on colour, lack of 72Hz, plus issues with interlaced extras on 300 HD-DVD that I got with the 2400Pro, so I sold it. I don't think that card is ready for prime time yet either.

Now using an 8600GT: it's the best of a bad bunch, but still producing aliased images with PowerDVD. It's easy to miss the aliasing because of the high resolution, but it blurs the image and reduces the apparent resolution one should be able to obtain from 1080p24 source.

Should mention that I have been using PowerDVD 7.3.2911 for all these tests as it seems the most stable, but it won't permit playing of Transformers.

XP is still very problematic for HD with all cards using PowerDVD.

With the latest PowerDVD 3319 required to play Transformers, Nvidia graphics card owners now have to contend with windowboxing of video to 1600x900 as well as aliasing in XP and hardware acceleration forced on regardless.

IanD

10-25-07, 08:32 PM

IanD

10-25-07, 08:56 PM

Thanks for the help and ideas, it is greatly appreciated. I had already tried turning HA on and using AnyDVD actually but encountered the same problem each time.

My cpu load does initially go to 100%, and then hangs around 80% just before the program shuts down. I keep thinking this is something related to compatibility. I had no idea AGP could be a problem as well.
Have you tried downloading and running Cyberlink's hardware advisor? It should indicate whether your setup passes or fails their requirements and highlight any problem areas.

When I play an HD-DVD in PowerDVD, even though I have HA enabled, CPU jumps to around 80% briefly on startup and then settles down to around 20% when actually playing the feature. This also happens when navigating the menu between title playback, but the load always settles when actually playing the item. I suspect that acceleration is only really used for playing an actual file, but between files (navigation and file playback setup) it's mainly software decoding. If you already have an underpowered CPU, I suppose PowerDVD could crash when trying to initiate files via software but is getting bogged down.

Are you using only a single title for testing? It's possible the menu structures are causing issues.

AnyDVD HD has a "magic file replacement" feature whereby it copies the .XPL (similar to DVD ifo) file that PowerDVD uses for navigation, from the disc to your HDD and then uses the HDD copy for playback. This enables the .XPL file to be modified and change the way a disc is played. With suitable modification of the .XPL file, all menus and advanced features can be stripped from playback. There is a description of how to edit the .XPL file on forum.doom9.org: search for a thread title containing IME and look around page 2. Since you are already using AnyDVD HD, it might be worth you modifying an .XPL file to strip all but the basic main feature, then testing it out. If you have success, this might indicate that the problem lies with menu navigation.

Make sure you have enough RAM: in XP, running PowerDVD uses around 700MB of my 1GB single channel system memory: anything less and you might run into paging issues.

I don't know what else to suggest, although I think there is an Avs forum thread discussing AGP Nvidia cards: maybe there will be some useful experience there.

My AGP comment was gleaned from another forum thread: I don't know how relevant it is in reality, but since Cyberlink seem so preoccupied with DRM protection, if the AGP bus is not secured then I wouldn't be surprised if they won't playback HD over it.

membrane22

10-25-07, 10:48 PM

Anybody has an issue that after installing symantec endpoint powerdvd will crash on a windows vista OS.

thank you very nuch for the info

TokyoShoe

10-25-07, 11:03 PM

Is there ANY way to get PowerDVD (Latest version) to actually DOWNLOAD Web Updates for HD-DVDs like Transformers or Heroes. I have yet to get it to work successfully, how about anyone else?

gtgray

10-25-07, 11:13 PM

If you have an HDMI/HDCP HDTV, then standalone is the only way to go at the moment for stable playback.

However, for those who need 72Hz for CRT display, an HTPC is the only option at the moment and it sucks.

I don't think the industry really wants PC playback of protected HD material to succeed, so I guess they are making it as difficult as possible in the hopes it will dissuade most consumers.

Somebody better tell HP what the industry does not want. HP is selling tons of HDM capable machines. It a huge underpinning of the current and future consumer pc strategy. They are even beginning to talk about HD/Blu drives in commcial desktops and notebooks. Yeah PowerDVD is not really that sorted out yet, but it will be in time. To me the whole HTPC is both a hobby and an exercise in frustration. I have stand alones players to watch hi def one.. but sooner or late my HTPC will actually work as a single front end for all this crap.

IAM4UK

10-26-07, 12:18 AM

Have you tried downloading and running Cyberlink's hardware advisor? It should indicate whether your setup passes or fails their requirements and highlight any problem areas.

I've run the Advisor many times, and it always says my setup is not HDCP compliant. I have an HDCP compliant monitor (Samsung HLN-617W) and have tried four different HDCP compliant graphics adaptors featuring AMD 2400HD PRO and nvidia 8500GT chips. The current card I'm trying is the newest 8500 from ASUS. Per Cyberlink feedback, I've verified that the DVI cable is DVI-D instead of DVI-I (not sure why that makes a difference, but so they say).

This is aggravating. AnyDVD-HD used to be a solution to the erroneous HDCP compliance reportage in PDVDU, but not with any releases since early October. In spite of my good-faith efforts in buying HDCP compliant equipment, I have no way to watch these new releases. Surely there must be a solution...

IanD

10-26-07, 12:51 AM

I've run the Advisor many times, and it always says my setup is not HDCP compliant. I have an HDCP compliant monitor (Samsung HLN-617W) and have tried four different HDCP compliant graphics adaptors featuring AMD 2400HD PRO and nvidia 8500GT chips. The current card I'm trying is the newest 8500 from ASUS. Per Cyberlink feedback, I've verified that the DVI cable is DVI-D instead of DVI-I (not sure why that makes a difference, but so they say).

This is aggravating. AnyDVD-HD used to be a solution to the erroneous HDCP compliance reportage in PDVDU, but not with any releases since early October. In spite of my good-faith efforts in buying HDCP compliant equipment, I have no way to watch these new releases. Surely there must be a solution...
Assuming all the graphics cards you have tried have actually been HDCP enabled (many weren't, particularly low-end ones from MSI), your results seem to point to an HDCP issue with your display.

Are you connecting via DVI or HDMI to the display? I guess it's possible that your display only supports HDCP via HDMI.

I'm also assuming you are connecting directly from the PC to display and not via a receiver: HDMI repeaters seem to cause some issues.

Can you connect your display to a working standalone HD-DVD player and confirm that it works? If it doesn't then it must be a display issue.

Will the Samsung accept VGA? That might be an option as it doesn't specifically require HDCP handshaking (although PowerDVD may still prefer to have an HDCP capable graphics card). I know the quality won't be as good as digital interconnect, but if it gets you going until the actual cause can be resolved, then that's something. I'm having to accept aliased images via my HTPC, just so I can watch my purchased HD-DVDs and until Cyberlink/Nvidia lift their game.

Yes, the trials and tribulations the consumer has to go through just to play a purchased HD-DVD via a PC is becoming ridiculous and it is extremely frustrating.

cheezthis

10-26-07, 03:13 AM

Have you tried downloading and running Cyberlink's hardware advisor? It should indicate whether your setup passes or fails their requirements and highlight any problem areas.

When I play an HD-DVD in PowerDVD, even though I have HA enabled, CPU jumps to around 80% briefly on startup and then settles down to around 20% when actually playing the feature. This also happens when navigating the menu between title playback, but the load always settles when actually playing the item. I suspect that acceleration is only really used for playing an actual file, but between files (navigation and file playback setup) it's mainly software decoding. If you already have an underpowered CPU, I suppose PowerDVD could crash when trying to initiate files via software but is getting bogged down.

Are you using only a single title for testing? It's possible the menu structures are causing issues.

AnyDVD HD has a "magic file replacement" feature whereby it copies the .XPL (similar to DVD ifo) file that PowerDVD uses for navigation, from the disc to your HDD and then uses the HDD copy for playback. This enables the .XPL file to be modified and change the way a disc is played. With suitable modification of the .XPL file, all menus and advanced features can be stripped from playback. There is a description of how to edit the .XPL file on forum.doom9.org: search for a thread title containing IME and look around page 2. Since you are already using AnyDVD HD, it might be worth you modifying an .XPL file to strip all but the basic main feature, then testing it out. If you have success, this might indicate that the problem lies with menu navigation.

Make sure you have enough RAM: in XP, running PowerDVD uses around 700MB of my 1GB single channel system memory: anything less and you might run into paging issues.

I don't know what else to suggest, although I think there is an Avs forum thread discussing AGP Nvidia cards: maybe there will be some useful experience there.

My AGP comment was gleaned from another forum thread: I don't know how relevant it is in reality, but since Cyberlink seem so preoccupied with DRM protection, if the AGP bus is not secured then I wouldn't be surprised if they won't playback HD over it.

Thanks again for all the time and help. I will check into all that regarding AnyDVD HD as well as the AGP card thread.

I did use the cyberlink adviser, and it said all was green except that the card (7600 gs) was a yellow. Actually, it did say my cpu was yellow, but it was assuming 2.8 (which is overclocked to 3.36, and the site states 3.2 is minimum). I am running 1 GB ram, ddr, but I forgot the speed at this moment.

One piece that leaves me wondering however is this:
I have a few hd ts files from broadcasts I recorded via firewire. They play reasonably well, but the frame rate does seem off (whether it's vlc or powerdvd). I then streamed them to my ps3, and they played back perfectly in terms of video frames. The ps3 is a pretty powerful machine apparently. So, if the pc struggles a bit with those, I have a feeling that the machine is not quite up to the task for hd-dvd nor blu-ray.

I have been testing with Batman Begins and the King Kong disc that came with the drive.

Your agp comment still intrigues me though. I will find out, and if there's a trick, then I will be sure to share it with everyone.

Thanks again.

tristartristan

10-26-07, 06:11 AM

Can you desactivate HA with the new 3319.a path?

up:)

IAM4UK

10-26-07, 10:11 AM

Assuming all the graphics cards you have tried have actually been HDCP enabled (many weren't, particularly low-end ones from MSI), your results seem to point to an HDCP issue with your display.

Are you connecting via DVI or HDMI to the display? I guess it's possible that your display only supports HDCP via HDMI.

I have used both DVI-D and HDMI cables; neither solved the HDCP issue.

I'm also assuming you are connecting directly from the PC to display and not via a receiver: HDMI repeaters seem to cause some issues.

I connect directly from the 8500GT to the Samsung HLN-617W; however, I did try putting a Gefen HDTV switch (HDCP compliant) in the path to see if that made any difference. It didn't.

Can you connect your display to a working standalone HD-DVD player and confirm that it works? If it doesn't then it must be a display issue.

I have no standalone player to test with; however, I have a Scientific Atlanta 8300HD DVR that requires HDCP for digital connection, and I have used it to verify that the DVI input on the Samsung HLN-617W is HDCP compliant.

Will the Samsung accept VGA? That might be an option as it doesn't specifically require HDCP handshaking (although PowerDVD may still prefer to have an HDCP capable graphics card). I know the quality won't be as good as digital interconnect, but if it gets you going until the actual cause can be resolved, then that's something. I'm having to accept aliased images via my HTPC, just so I can watch my purchased HD-DVDs and until Cyberlink/Nvidia lift their game.

Yes, the Samsung has a VGA input. I'm using that for my XBOX360 (guess that's a standalone player, but doesn't help me test the digital connection). I suppose I could use the component video breakout also, but that is accepting defeat. My objective is a digital connection from HTPC to monitor, with HD-DVD and bD playback. I have purchased equipment that claims to allow this, and I intend to find a way to use it. Thanks for your suggestions and help.

originalsnuffy

10-26-07, 10:43 AM

IAM4UK;

What content are you playing. And do you you have the card feeding two displays simultaneously?

By the way, I do not think Cyberlink's hardware advisor is particularly trustworthy. I think my system fails on multiple counts, but with tweaking I can play HD content pretty well. The main issues have to do with...HDCP...as stated by others.

IAM4UK

10-26-07, 11:41 AM

snuffy, I am trying to play HD-DVD and bD. I have only one display. The Cyberlink Advisor may be untrustworthy, but if it says I'm not HDCP compliant, and the PDVDU program says I'm not HDCP compliant, I get no picture with HD-DVD and bD media. Slysoft's software workaround no longer helps, as Cyberlink apparently checks to see if that utility is running, and fails to play if it is.

originalsnuffy

10-26-07, 12:34 PM

Maybe you need to revert to an older version of Cyberlink.

IAM4UK

10-26-07, 02:25 PM

Earlier versions won't play titles released since 2 October.

kapone

10-26-07, 05:13 PM

New problem.

If you have your HD DVDs (I assume for BD as well) ripped to a NAS or server, the SAME movie, if played on more than one machine, causes the SECOND machine to stutter. The first one continues playing flawlessly. Is there some file lokcing going on?

(It's not the server or the machines, or the network. Everything has enough headroom. I can play 4 DIFFERENT HD DVDs from the server just fine).

aunder

10-26-07, 06:12 PM

I had a two week old HTPC build, running XP, with a dual core opteron 165 and a PNY 8600GT video card. Have used it successfully to watch HDTV via a networked HDHOMERUN for the past couple of weeks. My display is a Mits WD2000 projector. My new LG GGC-H20L Blue-Ray/HD-DVD combo drive showed up yesterday and I spent about 8 hours with it last night trying to find some combination of all the pieces that would play my new Transformers movie. Here's a recap of my trials and errors:

1) PowerDVD OEM version included with the LG drive was my first attempt. It would blue screen every time.

2) Uninstalled the OEM version and bought PDVD ULTRA, and installed it. Good news was that I didn't blue screen any more. Bad news was it wouldn't play at all, nor were the errors consistent. I typically got a switch to a black screen and the counter would show 1 second and then it would freeze. Sometimes it would act like it was trying harder and I'd eventually getting a message about "my graphics card not being compatible... or dual display enabled". Everything in my display path "should" be ok with HDCP...

3) Downloaded and tried the new Arcsoft HD player trial, and it worked, but my CPU would hit 100% pretty frequently and that (I assume) was causing my video to stutter. I also couldn't get more than 2 channel audio working, which might just be a trial limiation. I assume it wasn't using the acceleration on my NVIDIA card, even though I'm pretty sure I got that option enabled in it's configuration. This was some relief and I took the fact that it sorta worked to mean I didn't have an issue with the disk or drive (and perhaps some confirmation that my HDCP was ok).

4) Tried AnyDVD to see if that was an "end around" with PDVD's apparent issue with my HDCP. I couldn't get it to recognize/decrypt the Transformers DVD, which upon investigation, I take to be a known issue as it's a brand new DVD. Tried DVDFAB and it couldn't recognize the Transformers DVD either.

5) SUCCESS! I threw in an extra hard drive into the machine and installed Vista Ultimate, then the latest NVIDIA drivers, then my new PDVD Ultra. Everything worked fine. So I take whatever my issue was previously with PowerDVD on XP to be something about how PDVD works on XP vs. Vista, or something related to a bad install (I had first installed the OEM, then uninstalled, then installed the newly purchased ULTRA). CPU utilization was around 30-35% during the opening "space" sequence, which I take to mean PDVD is offloading to my 8600GT as it should.

So now I'm off to get my audio drivers in Vista up to snuff and make sure I can get 5.1 out via SPDIF and such. I haven't watched it enough yet to know how good it looks, though my first impression is that it wasn't quite as smooth as the Arcsoft player, though it certainly wasn't stuttering like the Arcsoft was. I'll have to try the Arcsoft trial on Vista and see if it still stutters there like it did on XP.

rdewey

10-26-07, 06:56 PM

Has anyone here installed the latest version of PDVD ultra on Vista home premium, and then tried to play a home video file from media center? When I do this, media center crashes. If I uninstall PDVD ultra, the problem goes away. This is clearly a bug due to PDVD, I guess. Any thoughts on a fix?

I have tried running the utility that sets the default decoder; this makes no difference in this behavior.

hamish b

10-26-07, 07:11 PM

hey iam4uk
i had the same problem, advisor saying my monitor wasnt compliant (which it is)
i then was stuffing around and tried my dvi to hdmi dongle that came with the card. (i had previosly been using just dvi) and i also tried connecting it to a dodgy hdmi to vga hdcp convertor.
after this my advisor went back to all green
i tried both then individually, all green
i then disconnected the hdmi dongle and the dodgy box and went back to my original dvi out to hdcp compliant monitor and it was all still green
its like the hdmi dongle or the other hdcp interface reset it all
i dont know which item did but if you have the hdmi convertor its worth a try

another note, when i reinstalled vista a week ago the advisor told me everything was compliant as well.
when i installed powerstrip and updated my monitor driver it went back to red.
the above process is what got it back to all green

Stereodude

10-26-07, 09:17 PM

Is there ANY way to get PowerDVD (Latest version) to actually DOWNLOAD Web Updates for HD-DVDs like Transformers or Heroes. I have yet to get it to work successfully, how about anyone else?Supposedly you disconnect your PC from the internet and it works fine.

IAM4UK

10-26-07, 09:53 PM

IanD

10-26-07, 11:18 PM

Thanks for the insight, Hamish, but I don't know what it means. My Samsung HLN-617W has no HDMI, only DVI for digital input.

I assume that the "Advisor" and PDVDU are of one accord regarding HDCP. That is, if the Advisor is red, your discs won't play in PDVDU. If green, they will.

For grins, I hooked up a different monitor. Green. That would indicate that my HLN-617W is not compliant; however, my SA8300HD says otherwise, as does Samsung. And I'm not replacing a 61" HDTV over this quirky PDVDU. Damn the studios and the pirates who've brought us to this consumer-hostile HD media nightmare.
I think what it means is that once PDVD detects a compliant installation, it retains it unless something major changes to trigger a re-detection. Could be a bug, but maybe a useful one.

I expect the "Advisor" is a replication of the detection code used in PDVD and thus should be in accord.

Now you have hooked up a different but compliant monitor, is it still green if you connect your Samsung again? I expect not, since the display type is probably re-detected and this might trigger the compliance circuitry once more.

I damn the studios for thinking that intellectual property can be righteously and completely controlled forever and for attempting to achieve that with complicated DRM that impacts all users: there will always be "piracy" IMO; the trick is to make legitimate purchase more appealing to a greater majority.

Laserfan

10-26-07, 11:45 PM

I had to re-install my Ultra after a catastrophic PC problem, going with an 18 month old backup. Now every other day or so I get a dialog to Register--who knows how to make this go away?

hamish b

10-26-07, 11:56 PM

Now you have hooked up a different but compliant monitor, is it still green if you connect your Samsung again? I expect not, since the display type is probably re-detected and this might trigger the compliance circuitry once more.

thats what i did with the hdcp compliant hdmi convertor, when i replugged my monitor directly with the dvi output of my ati card it became green

but, i did go into device manger and i unistalled the driver for my display device under the monitors tab.
after i uninstalled the driver, i rebooted, it found the driver and it was green

the problem is i dont know which process i did that made it green again, and im reluctant to investigate incase i lose the green compliant light again

so this is what i did, try em all

1.removed powerstrip
2.plugged into a different hdcp monitor
3.used the dvi to hdmi plug (youll than have to get a hdmi to dvi convertor for the other end)
4.uninstalled the display driver under monitors in device manger
5.uninstall both powerstrip and cyberlink advisor and reinstall
6.i reinstalled the ati drivers too but i think that didnt result in anything
make sure there isnt 2 monitors plugeed in at the same time (ive heard this disables hdcp on some cads)
7. replugged into my normal input on my monitor

perservere, i almost lost my mind and was trying to find inf files etc butafter doing everything mentioned above it went green again

i just wish i knew which one did it

XxDrAg0nxX

10-27-07, 01:59 AM

Hmm... So is it safe to say:

" ALL HDTVs with HDMI inputs ARE HDCP compliant?"

Cos i am currently considering this one by Sharp: http://www.sharp.com.sg/SharpProducts/products_main.asp?prodCatID=10&prodSubCatID=36

The details does not state if its HDCP compliant :(

Alpha10

10-27-07, 09:42 AM

IAM4UK

10-27-07, 11:50 AM

I'll uninstall my monitor driver, and tinker some more with cables and switches. Having proven that my HLN-617W is HDCP compliant as Samsung claims, and having proven my EN8500GT is HDCP compliant as ASUS claims, I am blaming Cyberlink at this point for their HDCP recognition. It's important, obviously, since we cannot watch HD media when Cyberlink reports the setup is non-compliant. Cyberlink's reporting is wrong.

JDLIVE

10-27-07, 06:30 PM

I had to re-install my Ultra after a catastrophic PC problem, going with an 18 month old backup. Now every other day or so I get a dialog to Register--who knows how to make this go away?

Enter your CD key?

JDLIVE

10-27-07, 06:30 PM

Hmm... So is it safe to say:

" ALL HDTVs with HDMI inputs ARE HDCP compliant?"

Yes.

IAM4UK

10-27-07, 06:47 PM

ortimer

10-27-07, 08:28 PM

Spoke too soon about my Samsung HLN-617W being HDCP compliant. I had read that it was in all the documentation Samsung provided about it, and indeed Samsung's website still explicitly states that it is. However, having hooked up my HTPC to another monitor via the same DVI cable, and learning that the other monitor is HDCP compliant, I was suspicious about the Samsung. I called Samsung, and learned that in fact the HLN series is NOT HDCP compliant. That's bad.

I had the same model TV hooked up to my HTPC (via DVI) for a good 6 months with no problems. Then, one day, my computer no longer recognized my TV. I tinkered with it for hours, going as far as replacing my video card a few times (I tried various ATI and nVidia cards -- all HDCP compliant). I decided I was due for a TV upgrade anyway and ended up getting a good deal on a Toshiba DLP (so far so good).

I suspect that the problem with the Sammy has something to do with the EDID being somehow corrupted. My next step would've been to try something like a DVI DETECTIVE or DVI DOCTOR.

Regardless of what customer service says, the HLN series is supposed to be HDCP compliant.