Lordvorta, I have tried with two different versions, both the F version and 7.3.3304, and they both have the same problem. I guess I'm gonna have to try an older version. I didn't actually think it was PowerDVD itself, but I do have an even older version I can try with. Thanks for the tip! Funky stuff...

no one responded to me... but I solved the problems.

Turns out the hardware acceleration only messed up blu-ray playback. Also, While I was trying to fix the problem, I tried the latest catalyst drives from my sapphire ati 1950. This actually made the problem worse... Spent msot of the night trying to figure out why the video playback was missing (only audio). Anyway I rolled back to a version from earlier this year (7.1 I think) works fine now.

Confirmed. I went back to an old version I had laying around, 7.3.3104a, and I got full screen image with Van Helsing. Of course it didn't want to play Spiderman 3 from hard drive or disk, but at least I now know that this is the problem. Grrrr...

Where exactly does one find the version being run? I looked in the "about" section, but I did not find information such as 7.3.xx.

Although this software crashes my PC periodically, I have been reluctant to monkey with it too much given all the issues with not reading files from the hard drive with the latest revisions. In my case, if it could not read from the hard drive, it would pretty much be a useless product. I only get decent results when playing files from the hard drive.

Where exactly does one find the version being run? I looked in the "about" section, but I did not find information such as 7.3.xx.

Although this software crashes my PC periodically, I have been reluctant to monkey with it too much given all the issues with not reading files from the hard drive with the latest revisions. In my case, if it could not read from the hard drive, it would pretty much be a useless product. I only get decent results when playing files from the hard drive.

Click on about and were it say licensed to click on your name and should go to another page.

Has anyone's Transformers HD-DVD just stop playing? PDVD does not detect anything in the drive and when I choose the drive in Explorer it gives me a dialog box stating it cannot recognize the format.

I have the XBOX HD-DVD player and the only thing that is different than the last time I actually played and watched the movie is that the player is now on a different USB port. As a result it's using a different drive letter as well.

Now I thought this was a problem with the drive but then dropped in Superman Returns and it detected it and started playing without a problem. The disc is still very new looking with no scratches. I'm going to try Shrek the Third tonight just to make sure it's not a "new release" thing and it's just a Transformers thing. Please let me know if I'm not the only one. :(

Which upgrade did you apply? There seems to be no new update, only 3319f is listed on their homepage?!

TheMule!

I had 3104a (I believe). I popped in Shrek, and it asked me if I wanted to upgrade, so I said yes, thinking I can do system restore later if things go wrong. The version was 3319, but it didn't say which letter.

mhmm, that's interesting. Using the 3319f patch on their homepage usually displays the 'f'?! I'm going to try your method...

TheMule!

He is probably using the LG version for the upgrade. It points to a different page. I got the 3319 without any letter version too.

i got my refund from element 5, no questions asked good luck with it

Got my refund today as well, no problems either and I've had my license since mid-September. I'll just use the OEM copy that came with my LG drive until someone releases a better product.

what is funny is that only HD & Blu-ray is blocked. Standard Def DVD is still allowed to play via a HD or NAS. Go figure.

The version of PowerDVD I have ls labelled 7.3.3304.0 on the executable that installs the program. The version number on the program however is 7.3.3319.0.

Has anybody managed to play successfully the Video Essentials HD-DVD disc with PowerDVD?
I've tried it in my laptop (MCE 2005 SP2) with an ATI X1800, 1900x1200 screen and a Toshiba TS-L802A HD-DVD reader. I don't have any external monitors connected and I'm just trying to play it back on the laptop's screen.
I've tried the latest version of PowerDVD 7.3 Ultra but it was so bad that I went back to the 7.3.2911 version.

On the disc I can select an option (Video Tests) that gets me to another menu where I select a further option (Demonstration Meterial).

At this point, PowerDVD shows on the right part of the display the 'Play All' icon.
This is wrong.
At the same point, Microsoft's Interactivity Jumpstart software shows a list of icons under the 'Demonstration Material' with their icons on the right side of the panel. Not just the 'Play All' one.

Using PowerDVD or Microsoft's software, when I click on any of the icons on the right panel, the counters show what's coming through from the disc but nothing displays on the screen.

Playing back any EVO from the disc is no problem. It displays fine.

What might be the problem here?

Does PowerDVD have a problem understanding the DVD's structure? (missing icons).
Both programs can't display because of some codec problem? Why would the EVOs play then? I use FFDShow by the way.

Ripping the disc to hard disc and playing it from there, makes no difference. Activating or not AnyDVD 6.1.9.6 also makes no difference.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions?

Click on about and were it say licensed to click on your name and should go to another page.

Thanks, I also had trouble trying to find the version...................but was afraid to ask!

Has anybody managed to play successfully the Video Essentials HD-DVD disc with PowerDVD?
I've tried it in my laptop (MCE 2005 SP2) with an ATI X1800, 1900x1200 screen and a Toshiba TS-L802A HD-DVD reader. I don't have any external monitors connected and I'm just trying to play it back on the laptop's screen.
I've tried the latest version of PowerDVD 7.3 Ultra but it was so bad that I went back to the 7.3.2911 version.

On the disc I can select an option (Video Tests) that gets me to another menu where I select a further option (Demonstration Meterial).

At this point, PowerDVD shows on the right part of the display the 'Play All' icon.
This is wrong.
At the same point, Microsoft's Interactivity Jumpstart software shows a list of icons under the 'Demonstration Material' with their icons on the right side of the panel. Not just the 'Play All' one.

Using PowerDVD or Microsoft's software, when I click on any of the icons on the right panel, the counters show what's coming through from the disc but nothing displays on the screen.

Playing back any EVO from the disc is no problem. It displays fine.

What might be the problem here?

Does PowerDVD have a problem understanding the DVD's structure? (missing icons).
Both programs can't display because of some codec problem? Why would the EVOs play then? I use FFDShow by the way.

Ripping the disc to hard disc and playing it from there, makes no difference. Activating or not AnyDVD 6.1.9.6 also makes no difference.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions?

Are you using AnyDVD? There was a problem with AnyDVD enabled on the menus of the HD-DVD side of DVE. The workaround in this case is easy: just go to the AnyDVD settings for "Video HD DVD" and deselect "Remove first play title from HD-DVD". It seems that DVE needs to read the first play title for the menus to work correctly. HDCP will be properly stripped and the disc will work correctly (though it's a pretty horrible interface anyway, especially the HD-DVD side).

The first play title is just a dummy video file with some instructions, it's not a studio logo like with most or all movies. It seems like a half-assed attempt at preventing some copying of the disc via AnyDVD, but I don't know for sure.

Confirmed. I went back to an old version I had laying around, 7.3.3104a, and I got full screen image with Van Helsing. Of course it didn't want to play Spiderman 3 from hard drive or disk, but at least I now know that this is the problem. Grrrr...If you rip Spiderman 3 to the hard drive it should play fine with older versions of PDVD. I play it with 2911.

Thanks for the suggestion.

It doesn't seem to work in my case. Even removing AnyDVD doesn't help. The sub-selections are still missing.
Shouldn't AnyDVD be irrelevant in at least the case of playing back from the hard disk?
In the comments I've read, version 2911 doesn't require AnyDVD for hard disk playback.

Is it true that the latest patch for PowerDVD ultra blocks playback of ripped movies?

If true then Cyberlink is cutting their own throats, nothing new though, talk about bad decisions, terrible customer service and so on. I really hate this product and company.

How do I go about getting a Refund?? I spent $100 to play movies that are ALREADY on my HDD so now I need my money back.

Wait a minute here, Cyberlink disabled playback for BD and HD DVD on ripped copies from your hard drive?!

What version will this be?


WTF!

its the latest patch (ends in f) I think.

The have disabled the ability to open a folder on your drive. Really dumb, really annoying.

EVERYONE should demand their money back and put this company out of business.

Im PISSED because they simply say "Please upgrade", I upgrade and it SCREWS me. No warning, no nothing. I write software for a living and if I did this to client I wouldnt be working for them any more.

Wohoo! I'm still on 7.3.3319.0.

Wait . . .

why am I celebrating? :o


Slysoft should release a player and be done with it.

Looks like letter suffix to ultra includes hard drive disable.

Installed new video drivers, installed AnyDVD (which my trial was expired on anyways... gotta buy it) and Blu-Ray playback works.

Another issue I have now - overscan, only with PowerDVD playback. I have my 8800 Ultra outputting via HDMI. I use the screen resizing option in nVidia's ForceWare driver. Whenever I play a film in PDVD, it forces it to revert to the original unmodified resolution. Is there anything that can be done about this?

its the latest patch (ends in f) I think.

The have disabled the ability to open a folder on your drive. Really dumb, really annoying.

EVERYONE should demand their money back and put this company out of business.

Im PISSED because they simply say "Please upgrade", I upgrade and it SCREWS me. No warning, no nothing. I write software for a living and if I did this to client I wouldnt be working for them any more.

i requested my refund on the 15th and i still have not gotten a response, im going to send off another one, btw that is exactly what i said to them in my email that they give "no warning" they just make players useless

if they dont fix the 3319f or future vers and allow HDD playback, I am going to demand a refund also. 3319a was the last version that played from HDD for me. I can always just use the OEM from LG until another player is available. Man this sux...

EDIT: from info at Doom9...it looks like Cyberlink (claims) was pressured my AACS LA and movie studios to disable playback from HDD. If this is true and Cyberlink don't have the balls to take a stand, everybody should demand a refund. Which I did today (Nov 17/07) asking for a refund if this feature is not re-enstated.

Quote from Doom9.net

"And speaking of selling things to the public, Cyberlink recently removed one very useful feature from their PowerDVD Ultra player - the software used to play both HD formats from your harddisk, but that feature has disappeared without notice in the most recent patch. When asked, Cyberlink will tell you that the feature has been removed due to pressure from the AACS LA and the movie studios, but I wonder just where in the AACS license there's anything about playing HD content from your harddisk. After all, neither standard mandates AACS on all content - with HD DVD there's no mandatory AACS anywhere, with Blu-ray, AACS is mandatory on BDMV when on a BD-ROM disc. Cyberlink now faces a lot of upset customers that are demanding a refund, and I wonder what feature will have to go next. I think studios would like to get rid of playback of any unencrypted content, but they face the specs there (I have at least two HD DVD discs that have no AACS), so I think it's more likely that playback of BDMV without AACS will be next to go (so no more playing Blu-ray discs with AnyDVD HD running in the background) - that would also take care of the current BD+ loophole."

Mods/Admins: If this is against rules delete the quote.

Disable automatic update under player and read update pop ups.
And from reports, this seems the the next step. Why would you have archived movies? Don't you have the disks? The Next step is validated movies like microsoft. each movie connected AND VALIDATED. Welcome !

Thanks for the suggestion.

It doesn't seem to work in my case. Even removing AnyDVD doesn't help. The sub-selections are still missing.
Shouldn't AnyDVD be irrelevant in at least the case of playing back from the hard disk?
In the comments I've read, version 2911 doesn't require AnyDVD for hard disk playback.

From what I understand of what you said, you have a "play all" option, but also expect other options there (to the right of the menu)? If so, there aren't supposed to be any. And I don't know if you meant "click" like with the mouse, because you can't use the mouse with HD-DVD like you can with DVD (click on the part of the menu you want activated).

Anyway, there is only one "play all" option, but you can scroll down and up with your keyboard arrows. The interface is horrible, and there are no instructions whatsoever. The instructions are on the DVD side, and they are in video form, so you basically have to listen to what the guy says and fast-forward or rewind if you didn't get something. And the menus are different too in the DVD side and in the HD-DVD side, so you just have to memorize what chart tests what. Awful, awful interface.

Going to test on another system. If I rem correctly I was running PDVD 3319f and playing HD DVD media from HDDs without issues. The HDD disabled just after I got my LG Combo drive and played the 1st BD movie. PDVD needed an update and I had to say yes and thats when the HDD read started to fail. I will try on another system and disable the auto update and see if I can play BD media from a HDD with 3319f. Will report back.

Addendum: Just tested 3319f with new install with no update. It hosed the HDD playback. I sm back to running 3319a and it works fine.

if they dont fix the 3319f or future vers and allow HDD playback, I am going to demand a refund also. 3319a was the last version that played from HDD for me. I can always just use the OEM from LG until another player is available. Man this sux...

EDIT: from info at Doom9...it looks like Cyberlink (claims) was pressured my AACS LA and movie studios to disable playback from HDD. If this is true and Cyberlink don't have the balls to take a stand, everybody should demand a refund. Which I did today (Nov 17/07) asking for a refund if this feature is not re-enstated.

Quote from Doom9.net

"And speaking of selling things to the public, Cyberlink recently removed one very useful feature from their PowerDVD Ultra player - the software used to play both HD formats from your harddisk, but that feature has disappeared without notice in the most recent patch. When asked, Cyberlink will tell you that the feature has been removed due to pressure from the AACS LA and the movie studios, but I wonder just where in the AACS license there's anything about playing HD content from your harddisk. After all, neither standard mandates AACS on all content - with HD DVD there's no mandatory AACS anywhere, with Blu-ray, AACS is mandatory on BDMV when on a BD-ROM disc. Cyberlink now faces a lot of upset customers that are demanding a refund, and I wonder what feature will have to go next. I think studios would like to get rid of playback of any unencrypted content, but they face the specs there (I have at least two HD DVD discs that have no AACS), so I think it's more likely that playback of BDMV without AACS will be next to go (so no more playing Blu-ray discs with AnyDVD HD running in the background) - that would also take care of the current BD+ loophole."

Mods/Admins: If this is against rules delete the quote.

man, it really amazes me how difficult blu ray makes it for you to watch there movies, its like you can buy our movies but you can only watch them the way we say, i was going to go format neutral so many times and just when im ready to support blu ray also, they throw some more bs our way

Dang, I just found out that criticizing bluray (or HD-DVD) in particular is frowned upon here, so I had to delete this post. Anyway, I just got a dual LG drive, the new one. What version of Power DVD does it come with?

EDIT: from info at Doom9...it looks like Cyberlink (claims) was pressured my AACS LA and movie studios to disable playback from HDD. If this is true and Cyberlink don't have the balls to take a stand, everybody should demand a refund. Which I did today (Nov 17/07) asking for a refund if this feature is not re-enstated.




It is not a matter of having the "balls" to stand up to them. If they do not play nice with them then all their keys and any future keys could be pulled. This would be even worse than what we are dealing with now.

I think they are in a bit of a bind now and I am not sure how they can get out of it.

Most of you are directing your anger in the wrong direction.

It is not a matter of having the "balls" to stand up to them. If they do not play nice with them then all their keys and any future keys could be pulled. This would be even worse than what we are dealing with now.

I think they are in a bit of a bind now and I am not sure how they can get out of it.

Most of you are directing your anger in the wrong direction.

I hear what you're saying, but I still say it's baloney! There are DRM-free HD DVDs on the market, not to mention home authored Blu-ray discs. I mean, they left DVD playback from a HDD perfectly intact, they only removed HD DVD and Blu-ray HDD playback capabilities. I don't care if AACS LA is freaking out because their so-called unbreakable DRM has been bypassed, they had all the chances in the world to enable legitimate backups when they designed the new HD DRM scheme, but all they could come up with was the half-a$$ed managed copy. Sorry, Cyberlink is cow-towing to the AACS LA mafia.

It is not a matter of having the "balls" to stand up to them. If they do not play nice with them then all their keys and any future keys could be pulled. This would be even worse than what we are dealing with now.

I think they are in a bit of a bind now and I am not sure how they can get out of it.

Most of you are directing your anger in the wrong direction.

I can understand where you are coming from, but the product I initially bought is not what its is now. I bought a lot of hardware so i can set up my HD media server so I can stream content thru my house. This was a product that did allow me to do that. Now they (Cyberlink) has made the product not usable for one of its intended use. If they can not provide me with an up to date product that allow the same functionality as when it was 1st sold to me, then I want a refund. if the product is going to required me to use the disk, then I would not use the PDVD product and get a standalone player(s). The Cyberlink product is just not functionalble (esp sound and interactivity) enuf to be used as a disk only player.

PS now just hope that Slyfox could/would come out with a HD player.

its the latest patch (ends in f) I think.

The have disabled the ability to open a folder on your drive. Really dumb, really annoying.

EVERYONE should demand their money back and put this company out of business.

Im PISSED because they simply say "Please upgrade", I upgrade and it SCREWS me. No warning, no nothing. I write software for a living and if I did this to client I wouldnt be working for them any more.

moreso we should not buy anything from the studios. it's they who are putting on this ridiculous HDCP and stuff that wont let people watch without special monitors, making them downsample 24bits to 16bits, i mean seriously who trades 24bit 48 or 96kHz movie tracks?! who even trades movie audio only tracks? come on. it's stuff like this that makes me really start rooting more and more for the copiers and hackers and all.

Yeah, it's definitely not a garden variety problem - thus the suggestion of an ide/sata cable failure.
I upgraded to a new mobo with true 16x PCI-E and this meant a complete XP re-install. Installed PowerDVD 2911 without the prior upgrade path and now software decoding is around 50% of a C2D 2.2GHz (I dropped my E4500 back to stock speed) with an 8600GT.

I don't know whether it was lots of old PowerDVD baggage, a damaged XP install or the previous 4x PCI-E that was causing the 100% CPU utilisation figures, but it looks like my setup was at fault, my previous experience unusual and can't be used as a gauge.

However, I notice that software playback of King Kong is a lot more pulldown juddery than I remembered, now.

Still have to test hardware acceleration on the new setup and see if that is any different.

I bought an iMac for the primary purpose of making a HTPC to run my high end CRT projector Barco 1209. After many sleepless nights I have the ability to play movies using PowerDVD off HDD under XP. What I discovered tonight was that a Toshiba HD-DVD player produced a crisper picture. This surprised me because both digital streams were ported through the same Lumagen and there should be no difference between decompressed MPEG (so I thought) as far as color and resolution.

So, it looks like the "perfect" solution would be to port the HDD files through the Toshiba and make it look like a disk drive (fat chance...pun intended). The alternative would be to record the movie on HD-DVD-RW and play it on the player, not clean and elegant to do but nicer picture.

This would bypass the crap with Power(less)DVD

BTW, is PowerDVD the ONLY solution that plays HD from a HDD?

Comments?

I upgraded to a new mobo with true 16x PCI-E and this meant a complete XP re-install. Installed PowerDVD 2911 without the prior upgrade path and now software decoding is around 50% of a C2D 2.2GHz (I dropped my E4500 back to stock speed) with an 8600GT.

I don't know whether it was lots of old PowerDVD baggage, a damaged XP install or the previous 4x PCI-E that was causing the 100% CPU utilisation figures, but it looks like my setup was at fault, my previous experience unusual and can't be used as a gauge.

However, I notice that software playback of King Kong is a lot more pulldown juddery than I remembered, now.

Still have to test hardware acceleration on the new setup and see if that is any different.

Good to hear you finally fixed the fault.

From what I understand of what you said, you have a "play all" option, but also expect other options there (to the right of the menu)? If so, there aren't supposed to be any. And I don't know if you meant "click" like with the mouse, because you can't use the mouse with HD-DVD like you can with DVD (click on the part of the menu you want activated).

I did a screen capture to show what I mean.

The image is from the screen in question when I'm using Microsoft's HD DVD Simulator. I could not get a similar image from PowerDVD. Hypersnap couldn't capture the overlay PDVD is using.

94692

What PDVD shows is:
On the left, there's only the "Demonstration Material' selection. The options below it are missing.
On the right, there's a "Play All" option that can be scrolled up or down to similar "Play All" options. No "Swelltone" or any others are visible.

The mouse is working fine for the selections by the way. If I disable it and use the keyboard, the same things happen.

I'm removing and reinstalling all the codes in case the problem is there even though I don't see how.

I don't know whether it was lots of old PowerDVD baggage, a damaged XP install or the previous 4x PCI-E that was causing the 100% CPU utilisation figures, but it looks like my setup was at fault, my previous experience unusual and can't be used as a gauge.

However, I notice that software playback of King Kong is a lot more pulldown juddery than I remembered, now.


Weird. Sorry we couldn't help pinpoint the fault, but it sounds like a totally random one.

KK has u-control doesn't it? That can potentially cause problems with certain drivers, and possibly with early versions of PDVD. If you have any other u-control discs, perhaps try see if that's the problem.

Just starting with Bluray, PDVD on XP MCE2005 with all the latest patches. Graphics card is Saphire Radeon HD2600 XT connected via HDMI to a 1080p display (HDMI 1.3). I am using the Pioneer BDC-202 Bluray drive

At present, I only have 2 BD discs, Casino Royale & Order of the Phoenix.

I was playing Casino Royale with PDVD 7.3 2911 without any problems. However, Order of the Phoenix just caused PDVD to hang as soon as the disc was loaded. I then updated PDVD to 7.3 3304. Now Casino Royal won't play the movie much beyond the "Play Movie" screen. I get a couple of text screens & then when the MGM Lion should come up PDVD just closes itself down.

When I try Order of the Phoenix PDVD just closes itself down when the disc loads.

I tried updating to 3319f & that didn't work any diffderently. I tried disabling h/w acceleration just to see but that didn't work either.

This stuff is just not ready for sale yet.

I wonder if this is an HDCP issue, but that being said PDVD shouldn't just close down. I had a look in the event log & the system log is showing 4 or 5 sidebyside error mesages nos 58 & 59. Don't really know if this is relevant.

Good to hear you finally fixed the fault.

Yes! Glad to hear it, Ian!

I did a screen capture to show what I mean.

The image is from the screen in question when I'm using Microsoft's HD DVD Simulator. I could not get a similar image from PowerDVD. Hypersnap couldn't capture the overlay PDVD is using.

94692

What PDVD shows is:
On the left, there's only the "Demonstration Material' selection. The options below it are missing.
On the right, there's a "Play All" option that can be scrolled up or down to similar "Play All" options. No "Swelltone" or any others are visible.

The mouse is working fine for the selections by the way. If I disable it and use the keyboard, the same things happen.

I'm removing and reinstalling all the codes in case the problem is there even though I don't see how.

I see. What you describe is exactly how this disc behaves in PowerDVD with AnyDVD running. Are you running it from HDD? If so, you may have ripped it with the wrong settings, so now even if AnyDVD is not running you still get the same thing. If you got the disc, try it with AnyDVD, but disable the "remove first play title" option in the HD-DVD section of AnyDVD, or just try it without AnyDVD, but from the actual original HD-DVD disc.

As far as I can tell, this behavior is caused by the removal of the apparently dummy first play title from the disc.

Thanks for looking into it Andy o.

You're probably right about that option being enabled when I ripped the disc. I tend to activate everything I see.
I'll try ripping the disc later and see what happens. I can't do that at the moment. The drive started misbehaving and can't read bootable CDs. I'll take it to the service center for replacement while it's under warranty.

Thanks again for the help.

Wait a minute here, Cyberlink disabled playback for BD and HD DVD on ripped copies from your hard drive?!

What version will this be?


WTF!

I just updated to 7.3.3319f. And same here. No Blu-ray or HD-DVD from HDD anymore!!!!
Just bought the ultra version for 99 USD and the trail version worked fine.
After i payed and updated it all bloked!
I did not pay for this sh*t. So i'm trying a refund.

Has anyone here who's been "bloked" try to use ImgBurn to make-and-mount their HDD files as an .iso? Apparently one of the backup programs will soon have an iso output which also will help.

Yup...worked great--PDVD version 3319.. used AnyDVDHD to rip files and ImgBurn to make ISO of Fantastic Four SS

Yes, using AnyDVD to rip the disc and then ImgBurn to create the ISO works great. One may also want to use MyMovies 2.30 which has Daemon Tools integration, so I really don't get why people are complaining so much. I actually do understand a little, but how much more work is it to create an ISO and mount it? Not much. Plus, slysoft is putting in an ISO creator to cut down on the steps for us.

So, let's all take a deep breath, relax, and be happy again.

As far as all these people with problems using XP, I have a question....is HD playback from BR and HD-DVD supposed to work? By that I mean out of the box and sanctioned by any software playback program? I just trying to get at the idea that you might not want to complain if it's not "supposed" to work anyway.

I'm not trying to be a jerk with that last paragraph, I am definitely ignorant on the subject of XP and HD-DVD/BR playback. I thought the whole HDCP thing was a Vista only feature.

Please enlighten me.

As far as all these people with problems using XP, I have a question....is HD playback from BR and HD-DVD supposed to work? By that I mean out of the box and sanctioned by any software playback program? I just trying to get at the idea that you might not want to complain if it's not "supposed" to work anyway.

I'm not trying to be a jerk with that last paragraph, I am definitely ignorant on the subject of XP and HD-DVD/BR playback. I thought the whole HDCP thing was a Vista only feature.

Please enlighten me.

You would be mistaken. PowerDVD 7.2/7.3 has always worked with BD/HD from a Hard Drive/NAS. After build 3319a, it is not allowed. SD still works on a hard drive/NAS on builds after 3319a. There is a rumor that 3319u may bring back the HD playback. We will see.

HD discs work just fine with XP. I do it all the time. In fact, we just learned that IanD, who was one of the last (the last?) having specific XP trouble, fixed it by a reinstall and change of some hardware. He was just very unlucky, and had been having trouble for a long time. Other troubles are more related to the card drivers, rather than the OS.

There is a rumor that 3319u may bring back the HD playback. We will see.

Where have you hear that?




So, has anyone trouble with PDVD and Studio Canal Optimum releases? Subtitle problem?

The very BEST play back of an HD-DVD I have seen was a Toshiba HD-DVD player. It is better in quality image than my iMac either under XP or OSX and better than my PC under XP. If I could come up with a way to "port" the HD content to it I would blow off all the alternatives.

All I have to do is figure out how to "feed" player with content that emulates an HD-DVD player output. Unfortunately that is a huge challenge. That would be the killer ap!

So, has anyone trouble with PDVD and Studio Canal Optimum releases? Subtitle problem?

Seems like there are issues with Studio Canal subs's with PDVD. I don't get subs with Bro of the Wolf (French import) either. The subs work fine when I connect the 360ao to the X360.

Where have you hear that?

There was post on the Slysoft forum from someone that had received an email from Cyberlink saying that the disabled function would be back in a future update. It was scheduled for 11/16 but that has come and gone and no update so take it with a grain (block) of salt.

In Powerdvd Ultra 7.3, I don't have any de-interlacers listed in the Advcanced page of the Video tab, besides Weave. Every screenshot or discussion I see regarding this states that I should have at least a couple, including bob and maybe per-pixel adaptative, listed as a GUID.

I'm using a 8500gt with the latest drivers (165.75).

http://guuzu.com/agarwal/image/3805/original.jpg

As a result, all my interlaced content are VERY blocky. Does someone knows why I'm lacking those de-interlacing filters? Thanks a lot!

Your driver install must be totally screwed. Try cleaning with drivercleaner or xdc, then install (maybe another driver version).

You sure that it's driver related, and not Windows related (ie, something missing in directshow) ?

Could be - try install the latest directshow update.

The very BEST play back of an HD-DVD I have seen was a Toshiba HD-DVD player. It is better in quality image than my iMac either under XP or OSX and better than my PC under XP. If I could come up with a way to "port" the HD content to it I would blow off all the alternatives.

Push "eject" button, remove disc. You can now take your HD content where ever you like!

Could be - try install the latest directshow update.

Doesn't that comes with DirectX? I already have the latest DirectX 9.0c installed (ran websetup.exe yesterday).

You would be mistaken. PowerDVD 7.2/7.3 has always worked with BD/HD from a Hard Drive/NAS. After build 3319a, it is not allowed. SD still works on a hard drive/NAS on builds after 3319a. There is a rumor that 3319u may bring back the HD playback. We will see.

I wasn't talking about HDD playback, I was more curious about the HDCP/DRM/anything else.

I have a great method for getting around HDD playback. Make and ISO and use Daemon tools/My Movies 2.3 to make it automated.

Looks as though the AACS is the cause of Cyberlink's woes. Check out the news listed on their website at http://www.aacsla.com/home

Looks as though Cyberlink has been in trouble with them back in April as well.

Latest News:

September 7, 2007 - AACS LA Announces Security Updates
Advanced Access Content System Licensing Administrator, LLC (“AACS LA”) announces that it has taken action to expire AACS encryption keys being used in an illegitimate product made by an unlicensed party to make unauthorized copies of HD DVD and Blu-ray movies. In accomplishing this expiration, AACS LA worked closely with the licensee which manufactured the player from which the AACS keys were extracted.

Consumers can easily continue to enjoy content that is protected by the AACS technology by downloading the latest version of their HD DVD and Blu-ray software players, thereby refreshing the encryption keys associated with those players. Consumers are advised to check with the manufacturer of their AACS-enabled Blu-ray or HD DVD PC-based player to make sure you have installed the latest version. The following manufacturer has provided a link to provide relevant information and facilitate consumer updating of their players:

CyberLink – publishers of PowerDVD products
http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/patch/index.jsp

Looks as though the AACS is the cause of Cyberlink's woes. Check out the news listed on their website at http://www.aacsla.com/home

Looks as though Cyberlink has been in trouble with them back in April as well.

Latest News:

September 7, 2007 - AACS LA Announces Security Updates
Advanced Access Content System Licensing Administrator, LLC (“AACS LA”) announces that it has taken action to expire AACS encryption keys being used in an illegitimate product made by an unlicensed party to make unauthorized copies of HD DVD and Blu-ray movies. In accomplishing this expiration, AACS LA worked closely with the licensee which manufactured the player from which the AACS keys were extracted.

Consumers can easily continue to enjoy content that is protected by the AACS technology by downloading the latest version of their HD DVD and Blu-ray software players, thereby refreshing the encryption keys associated with those players. Consumers are advised to check with the manufacturer of their AACS-enabled Blu-ray or HD DVD PC-based player to make sure you have installed the latest version. The following manufacturer has provided a link to provide relevant information and facilitate consumer updating of their players:

CyberLink – publishers of PowerDVD products
http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/patch/index.jsp

That is more than 2 months old and they were referring to AnyDVD HD. And we all know how long that lasted. MKBv4 was bypassed in a matter of 3 weeks.

I have read many pages of this thread, but can't fine the answer to two simple questions:
1) Can PowerDVD output 1080p/24 (for discs encoded that way)?
2) Can PowerDVD output digital audio over HDMI for BD or HD-DVD?

1) I think this depends on your graphics card/driver which would need to output some multiple of 24hz. Not sure tbh.
2) Absolutely not. There is no secure path within the operating system to allow this (AACS again). You can output analogue but as you must know by now that is downsampled in the player itself.

For those of you using the ISO format for playback of HDD HD material, how have you got it setup. I have tryed going this route with my ISO on a shared path on my server. When mounted in damien tools the path is shares/videos/movie title/movie.iso and PDVD reports invaild dvd structure or something like that.. Do I have to have the iso on the main drive or is there a way to get it to work from a nas.

Are you sure analogue audio gets down sampled?

Seems like there is no way around the audio track becoming analogue at some point - speakers aren't digital - there is no protected path from amp to speaker!

So surely we can get HBR audio from the analogue outs of an HTPC!!!

btl.

PowerDVD limits audio to 48kHz and 16bit, this has a long thead on these forums and it has been admitted to by CyberLink. I haven't read the thread recently but Realtek are suppose to writting drivers that will allow secure audio in Windows. And then we can look forward to an updated version of PowerDVD to support this.

I don't know if this limitation affects DVD-Audio which PowerDVD also supports but I guess it would

Are you sure analogue audio gets down sampled?

Seems like there is no way around the audio track becoming analogue at some point - speakers aren't digital - there is no protected path from amp to speaker!

So surely we can get HBR audio from the analogue outs of an HTPC!!!

btl.

Nope. The "secure path" in question is the path between PowerDVD and your sound chip or sound card-- during which time it is still digital. Currently there are few solutions which can encrypt this path, and therefore it is downsampled to 48kHz 16bit.

I know in saying this I walk the fine line between useful and annoying (because it's a pretty good bet anyone who would care already knows), but onboard Intel HDMI devices can send 7.1 LPCM over HDMI. I don't know if PowerDVD supports this or not, yet, but even if they did it would still be downconverted to 48kHz and 16bit because the HD Audio path is not encrypted. FYI

Anyone have an NVIDIA 8800GT card? I'm having issues with PowerDVD 3319a (and earlier) with massive blocking on certain AVC titles, like Ratatouille. It only happens when h/w accel is on (which is now forced on since after version 2911 I think).

If I play Rat in MPC with the same Cyberlink h264 decoder, I have the same issue UNLESS I disable DXVA.

Anyone confirm? I tried the 169.02, 169.04, and 169.09 NVIDIA drivers.

This doesn't occur on other titles, like Transformers HD-DVD. And it doesn't happen on all the previews and teasers on the Ratatouille disc. Only maybe 40% of them.

This issue is really killing me as there is now no way to turn off h/w acceleration. :(

I have read many pages of this thread, but can't fine the answer to two simple questions:
1) Can PowerDVD output 1080p/24 (for discs encoded that way)?
2) Can PowerDVD output digital audio over HDMI for BD or HD-DVD?

1. I output 24 Hz from my 8600GTS card into my JVC RS-1 projector. Works great!

2. What others have said.

/Anders

I have read many pages of this thread, but can't fine the answer to two simple questions:
1) Can PowerDVD output 1080p/24 (for discs encoded that way)?
2) Can PowerDVD output digital audio over HDMI for BD or HD-DVD?

I get 1080p24 from mine to a W9000 (HDMI) from an ATI HD2600Pro, OEM version of PowerDVD Ultra, LG Super Multi-Blue HD-DVD/Blu-Ray drive.

I have the latest LG Super Multi-Blue drive, PowerDVD Ultra OEM, Windows Vista 32bit, Diamond ATI HD2600Pro 512 MB and the latest Catalyst Suite 7.10 on my HTPC.

Playback is not smooth all of the time on HD-DVD, and is terrible on Blu-Ray discs.

What I think it is, and I have not figured how to fix it... hardware acceleration from the video card (or lack thereof).

Under the video tab inside the configration GUI of PowerDVD there is a box to check for hardware acceleration. I checked this box but when I looked during playback, it was no longer checked. Stop the playback and it is back to checked!

Also while playing back there are a number of advanced options under the video tab that do no appear when the playback is stopped.

Any pointers would be great!

There was post on the Slysoft forum from someone that had received an email from Cyberlink saying that the disabled function would be back in a future update. It was scheduled for 11/16 but that has come and gone and no update so take it with a grain (block) of salt.

I remember reading the post (http://forum.slysoft.com/showthread.php?t=9727) you're referring to and coming to the conclusion that people were making a huge leap in assuming that HDD playback would be back in the next release. The Cyberlink representative never said that HDD playback would be re-enabled in their reply.

I've tried suggestions to check "force reclock..." I still do not get the reclock icon to appear. How do I get it working?

Darren

I have the latest LG Super Multi-Blue drive, PowerDVD Ultra OEM, Windows Vista 32bit, Diamond ATI HD2600Pro 512 MB and the latest Catalyst Suite 7.10 on my HTPC.

Playback is not smooth all of the time on HD-DVD, and is terrible on Blu-Ray discs.

What I think it is, and I have not figured how to fix it... hardware acceleration from the video card (or lack thereof).

Under the video tab inside the configration GUI of PowerDVD there is a box to check for hardware acceleration. I checked this box but when I looked during playback, it was no longer checked. Stop the playback and it is back to checked!

Also while playing back there are a number of advanced options under the video tab that do no appear when the playback is stopped.

Any pointers would be great!

I've had the same issue with every Catalyst version except 7.7. Have you tried that driver version?

Anyone have an NVIDIA 8800GT card? I'm having issues with PowerDVD 3319a (and earlier) with massive blocking on certain AVC titles, like Ratatouille. It only happens when h/w accel is on (which is now forced on since after version 2911 I think).

If I play Rat in MPC with the same Cyberlink h264 decoder, I have the same issue UNLESS I disable DXVA.

Anyone confirm? I tried the 169.02, 169.04, and 169.09 NVIDIA drivers.

This doesn't occur on other titles, like Transformers HD-DVD. And it doesn't happen on all the previews and teasers on the Ratatouille disc. Only maybe 40% of them.

This issue is really killing me as there is now no way to turn off h/w acceleration. :(

i have been using 162.18 with pwdvd 3314a and there is no hw acceleration, i believe hw acc, had to do with the newer drivers, at least in win xp, btw the pq has been better without hw acc, for me in win xp but you need a strong cpu

I've tried suggestions to check "force reclock..." I still do not get the reclock icon to appear. How do I get it working?

DarrenI check all of these options:

Set ReClock as preferred renderer
Force ReClock to be loaded in place of default DirectSound/Wave renderers
Force ReClock to be loaded in PowerDVD

I think it's actually the second one (force in place of default renderers) that causes it to be loaded in PDVD. The "Force to be loaded in PowerDVD" option only applies to older versions of PDVD and does not work for PDVD ultra.

Note that you can't use reclock with the latest patches. You will not get any sound if you enable it. You can only use reclock with versions < 3319.

I have the latest LG Super Multi-Blue drive, PowerDVD Ultra OEM, Windows Vista 32bit, Diamond ATI HD2600Pro 512 MB and the latest Catalyst Suite 7.10 on my HTPC.

Playback is not smooth all of the time on HD-DVD, and is terrible on Blu-Ray discs.

What I think it is, and I have not figured how to fix it... hardware acceleration from the video card (or lack thereof).

Under the video tab inside the configration GUI of PowerDVD there is a box to check for hardware acceleration. I checked this box but when I looked during playback, it was no longer checked. Stop the playback and it is back to checked!

Also while playing back there are a number of advanced options under the video tab that do no appear when the playback is stopped.

Any pointers would be great!What is your CPU and what version of PDVD are you using? I think only the latest versions actually enable hardware acceleration on ATI cards. The ATI HD 2X00 thread has lots of information on using hardware acceleration with those cards. If your CPU is up to it, I think it's less trouble to just do software decoding anyway.

I've had the same issue with every Catalyst version except 7.7. Have you tried that driver version?

Hmmm, I think that may be the next thing to try then, I have only tried v7.10 so far.

Thanks!

I remember reading the post (http://forum.slysoft.com/showthread.php?t=9727) you're referring to and coming to the conclusion that people were making a huge leap in assuming that HDD playback would be back in the next release. The Cyberlink representative never said that HDD playback would be re-enabled in their reply.

I agree with you. I was just pointing out where he probably got the information. Besides, that is why I said "It was scheduled for 11/16 but that has come and gone and no update so take it with a grain (block) of salt."

Not only do I think that this feature will never make it back but I also suspect that Cyberlink will close the ISO loophole in the next update.

What is your CPU and what version of PDVD are you using? I think only the latest versions actually enable hardware acceleration on ATI cards. The ATI HD 2X00 thread has lots of information on using hardware acceleration with those cards. If your CPU is up to it, I think it's less trouble to just do software decoding anyway.

Intel P4 D 945 (3.4 GHz dual core)

PowerDVD Ultra 7.3 LG OEM BD+HD-DVD Build 2925

At this point I would have to say that the CPU isn't up to the task, although it is firmly in the middle of the 'recommended list', not the minimum list...

I'll look for the ATI 2X00 thread.

Thanks

It will become a player, only. AnyHD DVD will help but updates will be a month behind, so we'll wait to htpc our movies every qtr. This will move HD adopters to stand alone players which will have crappy updates, oh, like it is now. BTW 20% off at http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/Slysoft-offers-20-Thanksgiving-discount.html

I agree with you. I was just pointing out where he probably got the information. Besides, that is why I said "It was scheduled for 11/16 but that has come and gone and no update so take it with a grain (block) of salt."

Not only do I think that this feature will never make it back but I also suspect that Cyberlink will close the ISO loophole in the next update.

WHAT ISO loophole? ;)

I agree with you. I was just pointing out where he probably got the information. Besides, that is why I said "It was scheduled for 11/16 but that has come and gone and no update so take it with a grain (block) of salt."

Not only do I think that this feature will never make it back but I also suspect that Cyberlink will close the ISO loophole in the next update.


Are you guys saying that you can't play back a HDD based ISO with the retail version of PowerDVD Ultra?

WHAT ISO loophole? ;)

Ahhhh, never mind. I dunno what I was talking about. Disregard that last message about ISO's. Move along. Nothing to see here.

Are you guys saying that you can't play back a HDD based ISO with the retail version of PowerDVD Ultra?

No, we're talking about how Cyberlink disabled playback of ripped HD-DVD and BluRay disks - basically the feature the bulk of the people are upset about being removed. At this point, playback of mounted ISO's seems to be working for most of those who have tried it, though it wouldn't be a shock if Cyberlink gets forced by AACS to find a way to disable that too.

In Powerdvd Ultra 7.3, I don't have any de-interlacers listed in the Advcanced page of the Video tab, besides Weave. Every screenshot or discussion I see regarding this states that I should have at least a couple, including bob and maybe per-pixel adaptative, listed as a GUID.

I'm using a 8500gt with the latest drivers (165.75).

As a result, all my interlaced content are VERY blocky. Does someone knows why I'm lacking those de-interlacing filters? Thanks a lot!

Now I'm stumpled... I just installed PowerDVD (7.3 Ultra, build 2911) on a different PC, which has Vista 32bit (versus XP on my other on) and a 8500gt too. Guess what? I have the exact same problem. PowerDVD lists no hardware de-interlacer besides Weave.

Could you guys check what de-interlacers you have listed in there, ideally guys with 8500/8600 cards? Also, please tell what driver version you have, along with any info you might find relevant. That would be very helpful. Thanks a lot!

Under Video/Advanced/perform hardware deinterlacing I now have a new option. a series of numbers. One was Weave and the other Bob (still there) but now in{}. Didn't have this recently, anyone else? Letter numeric with 32 characters and dashes. In non play mode.

Update up:

http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/download/dl_patch_397_112_ENU.html

Update up:

http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/download/dl_patch_397_112_ENU.html

who wants to be the guinea pig?

who wants to be the guinea pig?

v3516...

That is quite a large jump in version numbers compared to recent updates. Maybe they changed a lot and actually made this a real program.

who wants to be the guinea pig?

Ahh, the advantages of having a ghost setup on hard disk 2. Gimme 10 minutes.

Edit: scratch that, their download site is painfully slow, only getting 100KB/sec. I go watch TV for half an hour *snore*

Ahh, the advantages of having a ghost setup on hard disk 2.

Gimme 10 minutes.

Nice.

Damn, this is killing me... I'm collecting posts which shows in an obvious fashion that someone has more than 1 hardware de-interlacing options in pdvd using a 8500gt specifically, posts which states which version of pdvd and which version of the forceware driver was used. Well, I tried every combination, making sure to properly clean the drivers between each try (with XDC), and I still DON'T have those damned de-interlacing options. :mad:

I'll REALLY be happy when someone figures this one out!

Jeez, that was slow - 100MB normally takes a minute, not 30. Installing.....

Don't DL. Does not fix the Hard Drive issue.

Discs seem to work fine though. Can't see any obvious improvements though.

You can no longer select HD files for the media directories. Only SD files. So it's even more restricted. Or maybe it was like that with 3319f.

Just use ISO's.

any special settings in ImgBurn to burn the rip to iso? keeps telling me the evo files are too big.

:(

do you select udf mode? that doest give errors

The hits keep coming: this new version not only doesn't restore the HDD playback functionality, but further eliminates the feature of playing .evo and .mt2s files directly. Next up: Cyberlink will kill playback of "mounted" .ISO files.

We HTPC users need a HD player. Arcsoft? Anyone? Beuller?

cmorreale: Use UDF format and do not maintain full pathnames.

cmorreale: Use UDF format and do not maintain full pathnames.

Thanks!

Intel P4 D 945 (3.4 GHz dual core)

PowerDVD Ultra 7.3 LG OEM BD+HD-DVD Build 2925

At this point I would have to say that the CPU isn't up to the task, although it is firmly in the middle of the 'recommended list', not the minimum list...

I'll look for the ATI 2X00 thread.

Thanks

Howdy, thought I would chime in here. I have no problems with playback with a lesser system than you. I suspect it is your software, most probably PDVD.

I strongly suggest you do a fresh vista install with the latest ATI drivers and the full version of PDVD 3319f (as long as you don't mind losing playback from the hard drive) Then install the latest version of AnyDVD-HD. Although you may have to disable this still for some BD titles.

I'm using a 2400pro with an AMD 3800+ and cpu usage is usually below 50% with any disc.

I was having all sorts of weird problems with my setup until I did a fresh install. That fixed everything.

Good Luck

Howdy, thought I would chime in here. I have no problems with playback with a lesser system than you. I suspect it is your software, most probably PDVD.

I strongly suggest you do a fresh vista install with the latest ATI drivers and the full version of PDVD 3319f (as long as you don't mind losing playback from the hard drive) Then install the latest version of AnyDVD-HD. Although you may have to disable this still for some BD titles.

I'm using a 2400pro with an AMD 3800+ and cpu usage is usually below 50% with any disc.

I was having all sorts of weird problems with my setup until I did a fresh install. That fixed everything.

Good Luck

thanks Wilson, I'll consider your suggestion if I can't sort things out...

I was going to try Catalyst 7.7 first, then possibly a re-install of PowerDVD.

Sounds like you have been able to check the hardware acceleration box and it remains checked during playback?

i have been using 162.18 with pwdvd 3314a and there is no hw acceleration, i believe hw acc, had to do with the newer drivers, at least in win xp, btw the pq has been better without hw acc, for me in win xp but you need a strong cpu

Thanks for the reply bk1987!

Is 162.18 for Vista and the 8800GT (not the GTS)? I am running Windows XP.

Damn, I may have to use that if I want to use PowerDVD, and have another OS image for games using the later 169.0x drivers. Damn PowerDVD SUCKS.

Usually I use MPC, but for BD+ discs I'm forced to use PowerDVD

1. I output 24 Hz from my 8600GTS card into my JVC RS-1 projector. Works great!

2. What others have said.

/Anders


I have the same graphics card and pj. Care to share how you enabled 24 on the 8600 GTS?

Thx

Jdude

Heads up folks, the new 3516 build (http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/download/patches_112_ENU.html) fixes a lot of playback issues with titles such as Troy DC and Transformers. I just upgraded to the new build and now all web-enabled extras work on Transformers.

I have the same graphics card and pj. Care to share how you enabled 24 on the 8600 GTS?

Thx

Jdude

It really depends on what your monitor tells the graphics card it can handle. Most graphics cards can output a very wide range of refresh rates, but unless you use tweaking software, the regular driver won't let you change to a rate that your monitor/tv does not say it supports.

Heads up folks, the new 3516 build (http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/download/patches_112_ENU.html) fixes a lot of playback issues with titles such as Troy DC and Transformers. I just upgraded to the new build and now all web-enabled extras work on Transformers.

What are the extras? I don't think I had much trouble playing Transformers before (besides losing a couple of neurons, but that's not my computer). Anyway, I don't care much for extras, I would gladly pay less for movie-only discs (a la superbit, or discs that took less space :D). But I am just curious to see how extras in HD compare with extras in DVD.

Hi:

Searched and I couldn't find an answer to this but how does one access the dual display options in the advanced video properties settings?

It just stays blanked out whether there is a movie playing or not. I'd like to get PDVD set up to play on my TV - which is my second monitor - without having to set the TV as the primary monitor every time I want to watch a movie. That is a step the wife just won't get.

Thanks

Heads up folks, the new 3516 build (http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/download/patches_112_ENU.html) fixes a lot of playback issues with titles such as Troy DC and Transformers. I just upgraded to the new build and now all web-enabled extras work on Transformers.


Did they fix the audio downgrade. If that along with the web enable features are fixed then maybe I can accept Powerdvd as a standalone disk only playback replacement and over look the removal of the HDD playback. But it still rubs me the wrong way. They just made my HD server redundant and makes standalone players better options for HDM.

thanks Wilson, I'll consider your suggestion if I can't sort things out...

I was going to try Catalyst 7.7 first, then possibly a re-install of PowerDVD.

Sounds like you have been able to check the hardware acceleration box and it remains checked during playback?


Hi,

No probs.

Yes the hardware acc. box is ticked and stays ticked. Works a treat! The LG PDVD is very limited. You can't upgrade it, according to Cyberlink, so its virtually useless for future BD titles. Dump it now and save the hassles.

With 3516 playback of EVO and M2TS files directly from disc is not possible anymore. :mad:

Had to do that in the past for some titles (Troy DC) which didn't work correctly with the latest versions. So even that we won't be allowed to do. :mad:

...although given that Troy DC now works properly, is this a problem?

...although given that Troy DC now works properly, is this a problem?

It's not a problem RIGHT NOW, but it helped me in the past for some titles that did not work properly with PowerDVD.

Wow this whole HD video fiasco has gone from totally sucking to a suckfest orgy. The AACS people are going wild here. Shame on Cyberlink too. Tomorrow I'm getting a couple of new titles (Ocean's 13 HD-DVD and possibly Ratatouille Blu-ray, if I can find it at BB). Will see how they work with 2911 and AnyDVD.

I asked cyberlink support for my money back if they will not give us harddisc playback back. There response that the DVD-Forum has made the decision that HD-DVDs are not allowed to be playback from a harddisk.

I asked cyberlink support for my money back if they will not give us harddisc playback back. There response that the DVD-Forum has made the decision that HD-DVDs are not allowed to be playback from a harddisk.


Essentially irrelevant - you didn't buy the product from the DVD forum.

I think we need a simple procedure to install two versions of this product. The first would be the most stable version that allows playback from hard drives. The second would be whatever the latest and greatest update is from Cyberlink.

Now, I am not quite clear how to install two versions of the same product, but that seems like the correct workaround.

Well, I think I'm aware of how this can be done but I do not want to post it for it might somehow get back to cyberlink. I will test over the holidays to see if it works. Until that time however, I'm assuming build 3104 (or maybe 3319a) would be the last version to work with HDD stored movies. Is there a possibility of this older version still wanting to be updated or is there a way of turning that off?

So now with my Panasonic AVCHD hi-def video camera, I can no longer drag and drop my files to PowerDVD ultra to play?? Sony AVCHD basically is the same which is just like a Blu ray movie structure.

Wonder what all the folks who bought their cameras are feeling like now that Sony has indirectly effected this change to PowerDVD ultra.

Another knife in the back of the consumer, and another foot in the grave for these wonderful new hi-def formats.

:mad:

What are the extras? I don't think I had much trouble playing Transformers before (besides losing a couple of neurons, but that's not my computer). Anyway, I don't care much for extras, I would gladly pay less for movie-only discs (a la superbit, or discs that took less space :D). But I am just curious to see how extras in HD compare with extras in DVD.
Well, you can download extras for the Transformers HD DVD (like classified transmissions for example). This review (http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/1110/transformers.html) notes the following:

Paramount has really loaded this two-platter set, not only with a superior set of extras carried over from the standard-def DVD (all presented here in terrific-quality 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 video), but also with a host of cutting-edge HD DVD exclusives (see the section below for more on those)...

The concept of exclusive content on high-def disc releases is hardly a novel one these days, but Paramount has promised to take HD exclusives to the next level with its HD DVD release of 'Transformers,' and I have to say they've made good on the promise. Not only do we get a couple of nice HD DVD-exclusives encoded on the discs themselves, but we also get a suite of web-enabled features that, for once, are actually worth watching.


First up, on disc one, is the "Transformers Heads Up Display" picture-in-picture commentary. This one is something of a departure from the PIP tracks on past HD DVD titles. There is no on-set interview footage or other material culled from the featurettes; instead, this is an everything-but-the-kitchen track that mixes trivia pop-ups, animatics, voice cast recordings and other production odds and ends. The good news is that it avoids repetition with the copious documentary material. The bad news is that it feels a bit haphazard at times, with no real running narrative. Still, taken on its own terms, the material is pretty good (the recordings of the voice talent at work are particularly nifty), while the pop-up factoids are specifically geared to the making of the movie so that does help to bridge it all together a bit.


Next, lets look at some of the web-enabled features coming to this disc. As mentioned above, while previous HD DVD discs have included web-enabled features such as "U-Shop" on discs like Universal's 'Evan Almighty (http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/1049/evanalmighty.html)' or shared bookmarks on '300 (http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/300.html),' until now, the real good stuff has remained a mere promise -- a "future download" away from reality.


Paramount is hoping to change that with "Transformers,' offering up an initial suite of six web-enabled features, with promises of even to more to come in the weeks and months to follow. Note that as I write this, none of the features outlined below are accessible online; Paramount plans to roll out each of the first batch of features over the course of the first six days following the disc's release on Tuesday October 16. The studio did, however, preview a few of the features at the press event mentioned above, which is how I can give you a taste of them here.


Much like previous web-enabled HD DVD discs from Universal and Warner, there is a central download center which serves as home base for the disc's web-enabed features (provided your player is connected to the Internet, of course). Here, you can perform a one-time registration as well as "log in" once you've registered. (Note that according to Paramount, whenever you place the disc in the player in the future, and again provided you are connected to the internet, your player will notify you if there is any new web-enabled content available for download.)


First up is the centerpiece feature, dubbed the "Intelligence Center." Activate this feature, and the film begins, but it's rescaled to a smaller size and wrapped in a custom skin. You can now watch the movie with the assistance of five different "Widgets." The "Robot Status" widget lists icons on the left side of the screen for each Autobot and Decepticon in the movie. The icons will activate whenever a particular robot is on the screen, and will keep track of their "damage," allowing you to literally "keep score" as the movie plays. Other widgets include "Data Manager," which provides a detailed pop-up of various tech info on each robot (vehicle type, weapons, etc); and "Alerts," a sort of extension of a subtitle fact track that provides somewhat snarky info on various events as they happen on screen (at one point, our attention is pointed to a seemingly random extra, who it is claimed was seen in Michael Bay's 'Armageddon' "over 24 times"). The only widget I found completely useless was the "GPS Tracker," which tells us which part of the world a scene is taking place.


Other web-enabled content features to be rolled out in the days following the disc's initial release include the following:

"Movie Guide" will be a dedicated subtitle fact track with trivia on the film's production, filmmakers and cast. Unique to this track, Paramount is pledging to keep the material updated in real-time, à la the IMDB, so the guide will never go outdated.
"MyClips" is Paramount's version of Universal's "MyScenes," and is just as it sounds -- the ability to share your favorite bookmarked scenes with other web-enabled users.
"Menubots," will allow you to customize the disc's actual menus based on your favorite characters. Sounds nifty.
I should mention that the quality of these web-enabled features isn't likely to impress. With current HD DVD players limited to a maximum 168Mb of accessible storage, there's clearly not much room for truly exciting graphics or high-quality video and audio material. So while the coolness factor of web-enabled extras is still exciting -- it's all fresh and snazzy at this point -- I can't help but wonder, down the road, how compelling any of this material is going to be once the neat-o factor wears off.


Closing out the HD DVD exclusives, there's one last little bonus included, and it's one that hasn't been promoted much in the studio's press materials. On disc two, there is the "Transformers Tech Inspector." This nifty little viewer allows you to study each one of the film's Autobots and Decepticons, from head to toe. Select one of three body areas (upper, middle, or lower), and the viewer will give you a whirling 360-degree view in excellent high-def detail. According to Paramount, this material just didn't look good enough in standard-def, so it was dropped from the DVD version. Another high-five for high-def (and it also helps to make up for the previously mentioned lame "Concepts" gallery in the disc's standard supplements).

Did they fix the audio downgrade. If that along with the web enable features are fixed then maybe I can accept Powerdvd as a standalone disk only playback replacement and over look the removal of the HDD playback. But it still rubs me the wrong way. They just made my HD server redundant and makes standalone players better options for HDM.
You know, I haven't noticed any audio downgrade with PowerDVD Ultra. I popped in Superman Returns and Batman Begins, and hear no downgrade when selecting TrueHD.

Wow... I hope I'm not too off base here...but here goes my rant! Ignore now!

Stop complaining about playback from HDD. Make an ISO and mount it....works great. For individual file playback that others mention....I don't know what to tell you. I haven't played around with that. I guess you can bitch about that. :)

Done......let's all stop bitching so much. :) Now if they'd only stop downsampling ALL audio tracks. I'd like to hear if anyone knows anything about that.

-Brian

Wow... I hope I'm not too off base here...but here goes my rant! Ignore now!

Stop complaining about playback from HDD. Make an ISO and mount it....works great. For individual file playback that others mention....I don't know what to tell you. I haven't played around with that. I guess you can bitch about that. :)

Done......let's all stop bitching so much. :) Now if they'd only stop downsampling ALL audio tracks. I'd like to hear if anyone knows anything about that.

-Brian

Sorry, but the HDD fiasco is more real and more annoying than some esoteric conversion from 24/96 to 16/48. Some people with thousands of $$ in sound equipment might be able to hear a slight difference. Or then again, they may not.

I haven't seen any credible evidence (i.e. properly done double-blind tests) that there is a difference with properly mastered and enconded 16/48 and 24/96 tracks. In the early days of CD there was bad sound, but not because of sampling frequency, but because of the primitive AA filters that had to be applied near the high end. Now with 24/96 and higher mastering and editing, an end product at 16/48 is very good, if not indistinguishable. Note that I'm not talking about compressed audio, but uncompressed 16/48, which is perfectly attainable with our current equipment.

I remain to be convinced, but anyway, even if there's a difference, it is not at all that important really, is it? I mean, compared to NOT being able to PLAY your stuff AT ALL.

Wow... I hope I'm not too off base here...but here goes my rant! Ignore now!

Stop complaining about playback from HDD. Make an ISO and mount it....works great. For individual file playback that others mention....I don't know what to tell you. I haven't played around with that. I guess you can bitch about that

If I could automate the mounting of the ISO through my home automation system I would. Can we even rip HD-DVDs to ISO?

All my DVDs (SD and HD) are in folders and my HA software knows about all off them, I simply use a touch screen to play them.

Mounting the ISO means I have to control of the HTPC which is a closet 50 feet away.

Im sure we will have HDD playback with software that isnt made in the US. I will wait for that too happen

Well, guess people are just wanting to get their point across. So if it sounds like bitchin'.. it just people really venting their frustrations at this whole mess. Kinda like you mentioned while bitchin' about the audio tracks. :D

Eventually they'll be more options available and maybe, just maybe, the studios will wake up one day and realize they're doing more harm than good with all the HDCP, AACS, Blu Ray vs. HD DVD, etc.. BS they have created. ( not holding my breath though )

Good luck to all as they tackle these and many more problems to come I'm sure.

Now if they'd only stop downsampling ALL audio tracks


99% of the population doesnt care about this nor could they even tell the difference so its a wasted effort from a business cost point.

The sound on Transformers was incredible now, same with Matrix last night. Conclusion the whole "downsampling" complaints is just "splitting hairs"

OT: I have been comparing the original Matrix vs HD matrix. I suspect once I watch HD movies over and over that I will continue to see more differences. I have seen the Matrix probably 50 times over the years but HD Matrix gave me a whole new experience sound and picture wise.

the studios will wake up one day and realize they're doing more harm than good with all the HDCP, AACS, Blu Ray vs. HD DVD, etc.. BS they have created. ( not holding my breath though )


You would think the sales numbers would tell them there is a problem!!

I got my refund today! Nothing more to say!

TheMule!

I got my refund today! Nothing more to say!

TheMule!

Wow, cool did you call, email? what did you do?

I was told by cyberlink to contact element5. I then wrote them an email explaining the situation (that an elementary feature of powerdvd has been removed after the purchase) and asked them for a full refund. After 3 working days i got the confirmation for the full refund today.

TheMule!

Sorry to be a pain, do you have that email address?

Sorry penngray, i wasn't quite right: Element5 has their own customer care center system which i used at first step. Try this:
1.) www.element5.com
2.) Choose "customer service" on the left side
3.) Choose "Who should I contact with questions about my order, payment, or delivery?" on the right side
4.) Choose "Submit Question" on the right side
5.) Choose "Cancel my order" from the dropdown box
After that you have to choose from the following dropdown boxes by your own and fill out the questionnaire.

After this first step you can communicate (if neccessary) via mail.

TheMule!

mule how long ago did u buy it? reason i ask is i bought mine back when it first came out, which has been awhile. Just trying to figure out if its been to long to even bother to get a refund

I saw on some previous posts where some purchased back in the summer. Fact of the matter is, if you bought it to play from HDD, and now you can't.. it shouldn't matter how long ago you purchased it. You should get your money back..or file with BBB.. or even both?!

thanks mule, went to the site and submitted my cancel order...I only purchased 2 weeks ago so this should be easy.

I think anyone that owns the product should get a refund, they changed a major functionality in the product without warning. We all need to upgade to watch new releases and in doing these "auto" upgrades it screws us.

This is a horrible business decision and I would hope all owners will demand a refund...I can only dream about that happening but I know it wont. Yes, I want Cyberlink to go under because of bad customer service and bad decisions.

If they lose enough money because of HDD playback issues, they will have to choose their loyalties. The fact is that anyone with PC can rip clean copies at will so we don't need a version that can play from disc! They should offer a package that ONLY plays from HDD and give it away. They are not in violation of any laws to allow playback of non-protected HD files. Fortunately my copy was FREE with my Toshiba drive.

Just did mine, mine was purchased in February hopefully it works and arcsoft gets their butt in gear.

I purchased mine as soon as cyberlink published powerdvd ultra. So there is no time limit for a full refund.

TheMule!

Sorry, but the HDD fiasco is more real and more annoying than some esoteric conversion from 24/96 to 16/48. Some people with thousands of $$ in sound equipment might be able to hear a slight difference. Or then again, they may not.

I haven't seen any credible evidence (i.e. properly done double-blind tests) that there is a difference with properly mastered and enconded 16/48 and 24/96 tracks. In the early days of CD there was bad sound, but not because of sampling frequency, but because of the primitive AA filters that had to be applied near the high end. Now with 24/96 and higher mastering and editing, an end product at 16/48 is very good, if not indistinguishable. Note that I'm not talking about compressed audio, but uncompressed 16/48, which is perfectly attainable with our current equipment.

I remain to be convinced, but anyway, even if there's a difference, it is not at all that important really, is it? I mean, compared to NOT being able to PLAY your stuff AT ALL.


Blocking HDD playback is a disaster. Almost, 3104a worked better than 3319x anyway. I cannot wait for a credible alternative. I wish SlySoft would make a HDD capable player for BD and HD and charge for it. It give them the incentive to continue to support it. Then there is Arcsoft.... Arcsoft, hire a translator for gods sake :D

Concerning down-sampling. That still bugs me. I have been working out HDMI audio issues between my Lumagen XP and Oppo 980H. It seems that the wrong setting was used so playing Seal, I was getting 44.1 instead of 88.1. The Oppo was doing the down-sampling. Let me tell you, it was terrible. There may be good down-sampling, but I have heard the bad kind ;)

- Rich

I, too, just requested a refund via phone (1-800-406-4966 US) from Element5.

According to the rep, they file a request with Cyberlink, who has 2 days to respond/dispute to the request. Then the money is refunded to the credit card. I ordered it 3 weeks ago, so I can still dispute the charge on my CC if necessary.

I was waiting for the new patch, with the hope they would see reason, but apparently not.

Just curious.. has anyone with the latest build of ultra tried dragging and dropping the files onto the main screen of pwrdvdultra when it's open? Not just HD DVD or Blu ray folders, just simply an mpeg to see if it'll play.

I have said it before, and I'm gonna repeat it one more time: Do a dual boot with identical setups, with the only difference being a stable version (if there is such a thing) with hard drive playback on one system and the latest craze (for new disks) on the other. That is both impossible to block and easy to do, if you have software like Acronis Trueimage.

I tried installing two vers. I used a second PC and loaded 3516 (newest) and then copied all the files over to another system with 3319a (last ver that work with HDD) in a diff folder. I set up diff short cuts for each version. They launched OK but 3516 now would not work with the web enabled feature of Transformers and still will not allow HDD. 3319a on the the same PC will allow HDD and still not work with the web stuff. Tried the other way also and had same results. Was hopping to to use each ver seperately to get features of each as needed, but my simple test didnt work. Hope somebody can work it out. Or hope Slysoft release a player.

Just curious.. has anyone with the latest build of ultra tried dragging and dropping the files onto the main screen of pwrdvdultra when it's open? Not just HD DVD or Blu ray folders, just simply an mpeg to see if it'll play.

Actually with ripped BD mpeg files, I can drop the usally largest file (movie)into MS media player 11 and it will play, but very choppy. Doesnt work with HD DVD .evo file at all.

Sorry penngray, i wasn't quite right: Element5 has their own customer care center system which i used at first step. Try this:
1.) www.element5.com
2.) Choose "customer service" on the left side
3.) Choose "Who should I contact with questions about my order, payment, or delivery?" on the right side
4.) Choose "Submit Question" on the right side
5.) Choose "Cancel my order" from the dropdown box
After that you have to choose from the following dropdown boxes by your own and fill out the questionnaire.

After this first step you can communicate (if neccessary) via mail.

TheMule!

THX for the hint, I just got the feedback from Cyberlink that I should go as well through the same process to get my money back...which I will do now...

I think we need a simple procedure to install two versions of this product. The first would be the most stable version that allows playback from hard drives. The second would be whatever the latest and greatest update is from Cyberlink.I haven't tried 3516 yet, but this works for me:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=12225009#post12225009

If they lose enough money because of HDD playback issues, they will have to choose their loyalties.Much as I hate to defend Cyberlink, I'm afraid they are at the mercy of the movie studios. If they don't toe the line and do whatever the studios say, they just revoke Cyberlink's keys and the product is finished.

I know everyone is hoping Arcsoft will swoop in and save the day, but will hollywood's demands on them be any different? It will be the same for any company who wants to sell their product legitimately in the US. Our only hope is for some off shore company, like SlySoft, to build a player using "unauthorized" decoding methods that will always be a week or 2 behind the AACS curve.

Actually, watching the predicament that Cyberlink is in now, I'd be surprised if any software company would be willing to market a similar product knowing the kind of restrictions they will face and lack of control they will have over their own product.

Just FYI.

The ripped movie files themselves can be played in Theatertek using a custom graph.

Theatertek forum (http://www.theatertek.com/Forums/showthread.php?t=9813)

No Menus etc but works great

Darren

The shame of this fiasco is that the HTPC is an ideal HD media playback device. Many of us who are "format-neutral" are so because we get both via our HTPC, and we actually would not buy either format's standalone players.

Do the studios suffer because we put our DVDs on HDD for MCE or some other front-end to provide a simple library interface? Obviously not. Why should HD discs be different? Their paranoia is not justified based on HTPC users; we're not the pirates.

The daft thing is playing off HD really makes no difference. Pirates will simply stop putting them in this format, and instead remux them uncompressed to mkv/avi/whatever. If anything this eases piracy, because stripping the menus/extras cuts countless gigabytes off the download, and doesn't need dodgy software like PDVD to actually play.

The daft thing is playing off HD really makes no difference. Pirates will simply stop putting them in this format, and instead remux them uncompressed to mkv/avi/whatever. If anything this eases piracy, because stripping the menus/extras cuts countless gigabytes off the download, and doesn't need dodgy software like PDVD to actually play.

They're probably trying to stop people from playing copies of the BD+ titles which currently cannot be re-encoded (because of BD+). If Slysoft adds full BD+ removal in the future, it will be pointless at that point though.

Someone on av forum raised a interesting point.
I am surprised that turning hardware acceleration off make the picture quality better as the modern day graphics card has dedicated hardware to deal with HD and this hardware has been rated very highly. It has been pitted against top end AV gear and wipes the floor with them in both SD and HD media.

Is it really better with HA switched off. I think it is from what i have seen but i aint tested alot.

What do you guys think?

Yes, it is better. SW decode definitely delivers a more detailed image. I have found this to be true for several years now, both on NVidia and ATI video cards. In addition, it allows the use of additional processing with ffdshow, Dscaler4 and the like for DVD.

Vern

I dd screenshots a while back, and with the 2600xt in Vista it's identical between software and hardware (yes, you can screenshot accelerated video in Vista).

It's down to your driver/os/card/setup I guess. There are so many potential problems.

Some on av forum raised a intresting point.
I am surprised that turning hardware acceleration off make the picture quality better as the modern day graphics card has dedicated hardware to deal with HD and this hardware has been rated very highly. It has been pitted against top end AV gear and wipes the floor with them in both SD and HD media.

Is it really better with HA switched off. I think it is from what i have seen but i tested alot.

What do you guys think?

i have found pq to be better in sw mode than hw with a 8600gts in win xp im setting up a dual boot with vista soon because from what i gather the pq in vista is better

Yes, it is better. SW decode definitely delivers a more detailed image. I have found this to be true for several years now, both on NVidia and ATI video cards. In addition, it allows the use of additional processing with ffdshow, Dscaler4 and the like for DVD.

Vern

I agree, here with an ATI2600XT and Windows XP.

Yes, 3516 still does not allow playback from HDD.

Solution: Use Imgburn (google for it) to take your rips and convert them to a single ISO. (And for future rip everything to ISO, assuming you want to retain PowerDVD as the playback software). Install daemon tools and voila, playback from HDD with all of the latest features of PowerDVD (which are well..er..lemme stop at that).

If you use My movies with your MCE/WMC, it "should" be able to automount your HD DVD/BD rips using daemon tools and launch PowerDVD to play it.

Now that I think about it, this is probably a better way to rip and play HD DVDs/BD disks, as this in effect emulates a disk MINUS any encryption. A lot of software may have restrictions on playback from hdd, but they can NEVER have restrictions on playback from a drive (duh..:) ) and daemon tools makes the rip look like a drive to the playback software.

Thanks for the feedback.

Interestingly, the Arcsoft player does NOT play the movie when mounted this way using daemon tools. Hmm...

Yes, 3516 still does not allow playback from HDD.

Solution: Use Imgburn (google for it) to take your rips and convert them to a single ISO. (And for future rip everything to ISO, assuming you want to retain PowerDVD as the playback software). Install daemon tools and voila, playback from HDD with all of the latest features of PowerDVD (which are well..er..lemme stop at that).

If you use My movies with your MCE/WMC, it "should" be able to automount your HD DVD/BD rips using daemon tools and launch PowerDVD to play it.

Now that I think about it, this is probably a better way to rip and play HD DVDs/BD disks, as this in effect emulates a disk MINUS any encryption. A lot of software may have restrictions on playback from hdd, but they can NEVER have restrictions on playback from a drive (duh..:) ) and daemon tools makes the rip look like a drive to the playback software.
I only have these issue using ISO. I already rip and reduced the files for over 100 HDM and I do not know of a way to make them ISO so I can mount them. If I had to redo all my movies from disc again, there is no way I know of that i can strip out the menus, previews and all the other fluff.

Yes, 3516 still does not allow playback from HDD.

Solution: Use Imgburn (google for it) to take your rips and convert them to a single ISO. (And for future rip everything to ISO, assuming you want to retain PowerDVD as the playback software). Install daemon tools and voila, playback from HDD with all of the latest features of PowerDVD (which are well..er..lemme stop at that).

I've been doing this way from the start, the problem is ripped BD+ ISOs won't play using 3516, at least FF_2 won't although it plays fine with 3319a.

guys,
I am about to get the LG combo drive. If I purchase PowerDVD Ultra from cyberlink will it work with this drive or do I need to use the version that comes with the drive?

The LG combo drive comes with PowerDVD version 2911 and you can upgrade it to 3319(without any letter) version.

Yes, using AnyDVD to rip the disc and then ImgBurn to create the ISO works great. One may also want to use MyMovies 2.30 which has Daemon Tools integration, so I really don't get why people are complaining so much. I actually do understand a little, but how much more work is it to create an ISO and mount it? Not much. Plus, slysoft is putting in an ISO creator to cut down on the steps for us.

So, let's all take a deep breath, relax, and be happy again.



Please enlighten me.

I have tryed to get it to work ths way but have run into a problem. Heres my setup, my ISO file is located in a shared folder on my nas. Daemon tools is located on my HTPC. When I mount the iso in daemon tools and launch PDVD I get an invalid disk structure error from PDVD. When mounting it this way the file structues looks like /shares/videos/Movie/movie.iso If I mount the iso from the same drive that daemon tools is on then the file structure looks like /Move/movie.iso and plays fine.. So I guess my question is can I leave my ISO on my nas or do they have to be on my htpc to work... Which will suck....Hope this makes sense and as always thanks for you help

thats bizzare, if you mount the ISO in daemon tools the actual path to the ISO file should not matter to powerdvd, as far as it is concerned it sees a virtual drive with a disc in it mounted locally.

The LG combo drive comes with PowerDVD version 2911 and you can upgrade it to 3319(without any letter) version.

This is (of course) a 'cost' upgrade through Cyberlink?

I have tryed to get it to work ths way but have run into a problem. Heres my setup, my ISO file is located in a shared folder on my nas. Daemon tools is located on my HTPC. When I mount the iso in daemon tools and launch PDVD I get an invalid disk structure error from PDVD. When mounting it this way the file structues looks like /shares/videos/Movie/movie.iso If I mount the iso from the same drive that daemon tools is on then the file structure looks like /Move/movie.iso and plays fine.. So I guess my question is can I leave my ISO on my nas or do they have to be on my htpc to work... Which will suck....Hope this makes sense and as always thanks for you help

Oh yes it makes sense. It has to do with UNC paths. :)

You have to redo your My Movies collection.

1. Map a drive on your HTPC that points to your movies directory. (looks like //shares/videos). You can leave the XML files and JPG coverart files there.
2. Go into Collection Management on your HTPC and create a new database. This WILL wipe your existing database, so you may wanna make a backup just in case.
3. Once the new database is created. Go into File-->Import-->Folder Content in Collection Management and point it to the MAPPED DRIVE that you just created in step 1. It should find and identify all your movies correctly (since the XML files and jpg coverart are still there).
4. Make sure your daemon tools is configured correctly in My Movies (which it looks like it is).
5. Fire up Media Center, go into My Movies --> Movie Collection, click on one of your HD movies and click watch. It should automount and play fine now.

This is (of course) a 'cost' upgrade through Cyberlink?

No cost at all. 3319a is for retail version and 3319 is for LG.

Hi,

No probs.

Yes the hardware acc. box is ticked and stays ticked. Works a treat! The LG PDVD is very limited. You can't upgrade it, according to Cyberlink, so its virtually useless for future BD titles. Dump it now and save the hassles.

Wilson,

Ok, that worked to smooth out the video, the processor usuage dropped significantly and even the previously unwatchable Ghost Rider plays smoothly!

But, now Transformers won't play at all, bummer! (Green screen)

I understand your comment about the upgrade limitations to the OEM version, but...

Will buying the latest retail version or paying to go from the OEM to a 'retail' upgrade still permit me to upgrade to the latest Catalyst drivers or to keep the hardware acceleration do I have to stay with v7.7?

In my opinion there is not point in upgrading PowerDVD if I can't use the hardware acceleration...

Do you have hardware acceleration on v7.10 and the latest version Of PowerDVD?

Thanks!

No cost at all. 3319a is for retail version and 3319 is for LG.


Hmmm, I didn't find any way to upgrade my copy to that level, in fact I couldn't find any updates for it at all? BTW the version that came with my drive was 2925.

Is the upgrade for HD-DVD and BD playback? Can you provide a link?

thanks

Hmmm, I didn't find any way to upgrade my copy to that level, in fact I couldn't find any updates for it at all? BTW the version that came with my drive was 2925.

Is the upgrade for HD-DVD and BD playback? Can you provide a link?

thanks


Sorry, I don't have the link. This how I upgraded to 3319. I pop in Ratatouille BD and PDvD popups saying I need to upgrade in order to watch this movie. When I click OK, it leads me to a download page which is different from the current PDvD download website. It didn't ask for any KEY during or after the installation.

Ahhhh, I see, does this 'new' version of PowerDVD still play HD-DVD?

I could always rent the movie for the upgrade...

Much as I hate to defend Cyberlink, I'm afraid they are at the mercy of the movie studios. If they don't toe the line and do whatever the studios say, they just revoke Cyberlink's keys and the product is finished.

Not really, if there is a separate product from them or others that ONLY plays from HDD or otherunencrypted sources then the studios can just suck it up.....

Studios do one thing, two weeks later it is defeated......and the legitimate user is inconvenienced enough to avoid using or BUYING the technology.

Does Reclock work with the newest version?

I have the same graphics card and pj. Care to share how you enabled 24 on the 8600 GTS?

Thx

Jdude

Sure, PJ is hooked up through DVI -> HDMI. In NVIDIA's control panel, advanced settings, the Change resolution screen shows a number of refresh rates, e.g. 23, 24, 59, 60 (there are a couple of others too that I don't remember). I just pick 24 from the list.

Ahhhh, I see, does this 'new' version of PowerDVD still play HD-DVD?

I could always rent the movie for the upgrade...

Just got King Kong HD from Netflix tonight. Pop it in, and it plays. :-)

Hi guys, just installed my LG dual drive...

First bluray disc I got is Spiderman 3. But it doesn't play with AnyDVD 6.2.0.1 (latest, released today). Nor did it play with 6.2.0.0 beta. Both of those report the disc correctly decrypted. It also doesn't play without AnyDVD. Have tried PowerDVD 2911, 3104, 3104a.1, and 3319 (no letter). Is the ability to play these newer movies from 3319a onwards? If so, is there a link where I can download this version? I never got to download it, I just jumped to 3319f.

Just got King Kong HD from Netflix tonight. Pop it in, and it plays. :-)

Cool!

BTW, I tried the Blu-Ray title "Ghost Rider" again, I mentioned smooth before, but I should add not perfect, it still freezes up and skips once and awhile...

Hmmmm

Hi guys, just installed my LG dual drive...

First bluray disc I got is Spiderman 3. But it doesn't play with AnyDVD 6.2.0.1 (latest, released today). Nor did it play with 6.2.0.0 beta. Both of those report the disc correctly decrypted. It also doesn't play without AnyDVD. Have tried PowerDVD 2911, 3104, 3104a.1, and 3319 (no letter). Is the ability to play these newer movies from 3319a onwards? If so, is there a link where I can download this version? I never got to download it, I just jumped to 3319f.

Andy, what model of LG drive? There are more then one...

Your post is a bit cryptic, you mentioned that you "just jumped to 3319f" but asked where you can download it from?

Curious, what version did the drive come with? What version are you at now?

Sorry if it was confusing. I jumped from 3319 right to 3319f, so I didn't have the 3319a update in my HDD. But never mind, I already got 3319a, I'm a little shy as to say how ;). It does play with 3319a. Man, NOT a good first blu-ray experience. HD-DVD never gave me any trouble as long as AnyDVD kept up. I think it's because blu-ray is not finalized yet, so updates to software don't only include AACS keys, but also actual needed software features to play it. Oh well.

Sorry if it was confusing. I jumped from 3319 right to 3319f, so I didn't have the 3319a update in my HDD. But never mind, I already got 3319a, I'm a little shy as to say how ;). It does play with 3319a. Man, NOT a good first blu-ray experience. HD-DVD never gave me any trouble as long as AnyDVD kept up. I think it's because blu-ray is not finalized yet, so updates to software don't only include AACS keys, but also actual needed software features to play it. Oh well.

Ahhhh, OK, won't ask! :cool:

Not sure what AnyDVD has to do with all of this though, and this question is not just for Andy:

Forgeting for a moment about HDD based material, PowerDVD doesn't need any other software running to be able to playback a HD-DVD or Blu-Ray disc, does it?

Is it possible to shut off Hardware Accerlation using 8800 GTS cards with the 3516 Version? Is hasn't worked since 2911, which means I still have to use that version. That means I can't watch any new FOX and Sony titles, which kind of sucks... :(

Ahhhh, OK, won't ask! :cool:

Not sure what AnyDVD has to do with all of this though, and this question is not just for Andy:

Forgeting for a moment about HDD based material, PowerDVD doesn't need any other software running to be able to playback a HD-DVD or Blu-Ray disc, does it?

The reason I mentioned AnyDVD is because it reported the disc correctly decrypted, but PowerDVD still wouldn't play it. No error messages, just a white spider icon that appears for a split second and then just black. When played properly, with PowerDVD 3319a, the spider icon turns gradually into a black icon and then the menu comes up. So, I figured the problem must be with the PowerDVD version being "incomplete" to play the disc.

PowerDVD as it is doesn't need any software to play HD discs, but it does need hardware. Even when you are fully HDCP compliant, as I was earlier in the year when I built my HTPC, many times HDCP doesn't play nice, and AnyDVD enters the game. It happened to me. I have gone through 2 ATI cards (a 2400 pro and a 2600 pro), which are HDCP compliant, but it didn't work for me.

It turns out, when I was already returning the 2600, that the driver was at fault. But it only didn't work with my HDCP computer monitor, whereas with a LCD TV it did work, so I suspected the monitor for a while. And this didn't happen to a lot of other people, just some of us. The driver was already mature. The card came with Catalyst 7.5, and I went through 7.6, 7.6 hotfix, 7.7, and finally 7.8 fixed HDCP, but it was too late, and good riddance. The nVidia 8600 GTS has given me far less trouble since, but I reckon on XP, nVidia had been short of a disaster until later.

But all this trouble is because of the stupid AACS and HDCP (especially) schemes. Having to buy new hardware when yours is perfectly capable is a slap in the face, nay, a kick in the balls, to the consumer. Even if AnyDVD didn't help as much, if the AACS pigs don't want me using it, then there's only one thing to do, isn't it?

I know this response is a few pages old, but I feel I need to clear up some air.

I wanted people to stop "bitchin" about the lack of HDD playback because there was a vey easy solution in creating an ISO and mounting it with Daemon tools. If your automation software can't automate the mounting of the ISO, then I suggest you complain about that instead since you may actually be able to get that working.

I just got worked up because I saw a couple of people complaining in multiple threads about the same thing and I first tried to spread the knowledge about the ISO work around, but people still complained.

We all want the same thing: an easy, automated way to playback HD and BR from a HDD. Yes, it sucks that the rules changed, but if there's anything I've learned from reading here the past few years is that people here don't give up and eventually find a way to get what they what one way or another.

Peace out.

Sorry, wasn't my intention to get you "worked up". You gotta admit, though, that the sound issue is not as inconvenient as the HDD issue. Maybe, as another said, for 1% of people, but not for the vast majority.

I think everyone knew about the ISO workaround, it's just that it's inconvenient to do it. With 20+ GB per disc, it can take very long, besides one needing double the space per movie. And I don't know about other BD's but Spiderman 3 is 48 GB or so! Slysoft can make it easier if/when they provide automated ISO generation, but till then it's still a hassle.

I think everyone knew about the ISO workaround, it's just that it's inconvenient to do it. With 20+ GB per disc, it can take very long, besides one needing double the space per movie. And I don't know about other BD's but Spiderman 3 is 48 GB or so! Slysoft can make it easier if/when they provide automated ISO generation, but till then it's still a hassle.

Ripping to ISO doesn't really take double disc space as you can create the ISO directly from the disc using Imageburn with AnyDVD HD running.

The problem however is that BD+ ISOs will NOT play with the recent versions of PoweDVD. So, yes, ISO playback is good for non BD+ discs but it is still not a complete solution. YET! We will have and see what Slysoft come up with.

Ripping to ISO doesn't really take double disc space as you can create the ISO directly from the disc using Imageburn with AnyDVD HD running.

The problem however is that BD+ ISOs will NOT play with the recent versions of PoweDVD. So, yes, ISO playback is good for non BD+ discs but it is still not a complete solution. YET! We will have and see what Slysoft come up with.

I see, so I missed that! My apologies then.

About BD+, have you tried the latest AnydVD 6.2.0.1? It was released yesterday. From the changelog:

[...]
- New (HD DVD & Blu-ray): Support for all MKBv4 titles
- New (Blu-ray): Workaround, so PowerDVD Ultra continues to play, if
AnyDVD is enabled
- New (Blu-ray): AnyDVD ripper copies BD+ titles
- New (Blu-ray): Removed "BD+ not supported" warning, as all available BD+
titles can be copied with AnyDVD ripper, or can be watched on HTPC without
HDCP using PowerDVD 3104 and AnyDVD.
[...]

About BD+, have you tried the latest AnydVD 6.2.0.1? It was released yesterday. From the changelog:

Yes, BD+ ISOs so far will playback with PDVD 3319a or 3104 for example but you need the newer versions to be able to use web content if that is of interest to you. IMHO as more features are added to discs then we will always need the latest PDVD to be able to use them.

Getting some kind of jitter every 30-60 seconds or so with Transformers in both this build and 3319f... I have about 50 titles but only happens with this one... got Q6600 + 8800 so CPU usage is very low so it isn't that... hmmm.

Still the movie was so awesome I put up with it and hardly noticed :D :p

Yes, BD+ ISOs so far will playback with PDVD 3319a or 3104 for example but you need the newer versions to be able to use web content if that is of interest to you. IMHO as more features are added to discs then we will always need the latest PDVD to be able to use them.

Lickily for me, I couldn't care less for the extra features.:D

What could happen, though is that the un-finalized bastards at the BD camp start using some new java thingy or BD++ or something.

I know this response is a few pages old, but I feel I need to clear up some air.

I wanted people to stop "bitchin" about the lack of HDD playback because there was a vey easy solution in creating an ISO and mounting it with Daemon tools. If your automation software can't automate the mounting of the ISO, then I suggest you complain about that instead since you may actually be able to get that working.

I just got worked up because I saw a couple of people complaining in multiple threads about the same thing and I first tried to spread the knowledge about the ISO work around, but people still complained.

We all want the same thing: an easy, automated way to playback HD and BR from a HDD. Yes, it sucks that the rules changed, but if there's anything I've learned from reading here the past few years is that people here don't give up and eventually find a way to get what they what one way or another.

Peace out.

ISO works but how do you convert files you already ripped and stripped out all the menus , previews and all the added fluff and only have the movies. Also when you are ripping to ISO is there a way to remove the all the prev mentioned stuff before or after. So ISO does not meet all the needs for some. If there is a easy method of doing the movie only, I would surely like to know.

How do you strip the menus? I would like to strip some stuff too. Thanks in advance.

How do you strip the menus? I would like to strip some stuff too. Thanks in advance.

Only works with HD DVD movies, can not do reducing with BluRay movies yet.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=11078136&postcount=7

Looks a little more daunting then it really is. Once you understand how it works it really simple to do.

We are referring to the build number right! the version is all the same right now; 7.3?

So what is the general concenses, go with the latest version, update when newer versions are available?

Before I move forward from my OEM copy of PowerDVD, I would like to know that spending the money will improve the situation not make it worse!

We are referring to the build number right! the version is all the same right now; 7.3?

So what is the general concenses, go with the latest version, update when newer versions are available?

Before I move forward from my OEM copy of PowerDVD, I would like to know that spending the money will improve the situation not make it worse!

Hard to say since AACS for some odd reason told Cyberlink to do this when in fact, we are supposed to be able to store/stream content on our PC's. It seems somebody got really mad and just said screw it pull the plug on stored files. Although I agree, Cyberlink should have takin a more firm stance on behalf of their customers, and at least should have raised a fist to say this is really unfair to our customers who rely on this feature to stream video exclusively.:o

They really need to do away with all this crap, and just get on with whats important, to enjoy a movie for crying out loud....

I know this response is a few pages old, but I feel I need to clear up some air.

I wanted people to stop "bitchin" about the lack of HDD playback because there was a vey easy solution in creating an ISO and mounting it with Daemon tools. If your automation software can't automate the mounting of the ISO, then I suggest you complain about that instead since you may actually be able to get that working.

I just got worked up because I saw a couple of people complaining in multiple threads about the same thing and I first tried to spread the knowledge about the ISO work around, but people still complained.

We all want the same thing: an easy, automated way to playback HD and BR from a HDD. Yes, it sucks that the rules changed, but if there's anything I've learned from reading here the past few years is that people here don't give up and eventually find a way to get what they what one way or another.

Peace out.


Im sorry but ISO format is a horrible way to store my movies! Becuase its too much pain to mount each one back and play it. HECK, It might as well get the DVD back out and insert damn DVD!!! Ask my wife to mount an ISO image? I think not.

You know some of us have full house DVD playback systems in place so can we get back to the real world now, peace out to you too ;)

Im sorry but ISO format is a horrible way to store my movies! Becuase its too much pain to mount each one back and play it. HECK, It might as well get the DVD back out and insert damn DVD!!! Ask my wife to mount an ISO image? I think not.

You know some of us have full house DVD playback systems in place so can we get back to the real world now, peace out to you too ;)

Well I don't know what kind of setup you have but for me iso playback is a one click affair.

I just click and play just like any other file. Upon clicking the iso in mediaportal it's automatically mounted in the background using daemontools and Vista's own auto play feature fires up PowerDVD and plays the "disc".

My wife handles it fine ;) But then since it's all done automatically she doesn't even know she's mounting an iso.

Im sorry but ISO format is a horrible way to store my movies! Becuase its too much pain to mount each one back and play it. HECK, It might as well get the DVD back out and insert damn DVD!!! Ask my wife to mount an ISO image? I think not.

You obviously haven't looked too hard for a solution then :)

Using Zoom I just select the required ISO (DVD or HD DVD/BD) from the media library and it automatically mounts and plays. :p All from my remote control.

No I'm not saying Zoom plays HD ISOs, I'm saying I use it's media library to launch them.

Well got e-mail back from Cyberlink about refund if they can not re-enstate the HDD playback of HDM. Basically was told that a refund is only allow within 30 days of purchase and since I got the product in Dec 2006 I am not able to get a refund. They fricking change the product. This is the last product I will buy or rec from Cyberlink.

EDIT: Above is just some venting....well I will just keep using the older vers for HDD playback and the newer vers for disk only playback. Lucky I have two systems in my main rack.

Well got e-mail back from Cyberlink about refund if they can not re-enstate the HDD playback of HDM. Basically was told that a refund is only allow within 30 days of purchase and since I got the product in Dec 2006 I am not able to get a refund. They fricking change the product. This is the last product I will buy or rec from Cyberlink.


If you paid by credit card, claim a refund from your card provider.

Well got e-mail back from Cyberlink about refund if they can not re-enstate the HDD playback of HDM. Basically was told that a refund is only allow within 30 days of purchase and since I got the product in Dec 2006 I am not able to get a refund. They fricking change the product. This is the last product I will buy or rec from Cyberlink.

The 30 days is BS, they refunded me a few days ago and I bought in mid-September. Granted, I was only at about 60 days and you're going on a year, but you could at least call them on their 30 day card and see what happens.

I was quite honestly surprised they didn't give me any grief - 30 days is the general rule. Sounds like they're going case by case in regards to refunds.

Only works with HD DVD movies, can not do reducing with BluRay movies yet.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=11078136&postcount=7

Looks a little more daunting then it really is. Once you understand how it works it really simple to do.
I do this too although I go further and strip the menu references as well only leaving playback of the video and an audio track for the main feature.

With HD-DVD's that contain a picture in picture playback feature the reduction in CPU load with playback via PowerDVD (3319a or earlier) is quiet substantial.

Using Zoom I just select the required ISO (DVD or HD DVD/BD) from the media library and it automatically mounts and plays. All from my remote control.

No I'm not saying Zoom plays HD ISOs, I'm saying I use it's media library to launch them.

Well, you got me on that one, I didnt know zoom did that. I do use Zoomplayer too for regular DVDs but CQC doesnt have that in the driver for Zoomplayer so it would still be a modification.

I wish I could use Zoom for HD :(

I had an nVidia 8500 and, with PowerDVD, it largely worked just fine with hardware acceleration. However, I couldn't get the VGA out of the 8500 to work with my Sony tv.

So, I purchased an ATI 2400Pro card. It works great with the VGA out and I get 1920x1080. I installed the latest drivers from ATI that they posted today, v7.11. I also downloaded and installed the latest Power DVD patch.

The problem is this. When I go to the Power DVD configuration option, it shows "Enable Hardware Acceleration (ATI Avivo)" with a checkmark on it. However, when I actually start playing a Blu-Ray disc, this option gets disabled and the checkmark goes away. There is no way to turn it back on and I get 100% CPU utilization.

I have searched this thread and it seems like others have had this but I have not found a resolution. It seems this should be just plug and play.

This is frustrating. What should I try to get hardware acceleration working with the 2400Pro? Thanks!

What type of Bluray disc? If it's mpeg2, the 2400 doesn't acceleratate that in Bluray.

What type of Bluray disc? If it's mpeg2, the 2400 doesn't acceleratate that in Bluray.
Casino Royale

Well got e-mail back from Cyberlink about refund if they can not re-enstate the HDD playback of HDM. Basically was told that a refund is only allow within 30 days of purchase and since I got the product in Dec 2006 I am not able to get a refund. They fricking change the product. This is the last product I will buy or rec from Cyberlink.

EDIT: Above is just some venting....well I will just keep using the older vers for HDD playback and the newer vers for disk only playback. Lucky I have two systems in my main rack.

if this is going to be there position, i wonder if a class action suit could be an option, after all they removed a major feature without warning rendering the program unusable for many people

I had an nVidia 8500 and, with PowerDVD, it largely worked just fine with hardware acceleration. However, I couldn't get the VGA out of the 8500 to work with my Sony tv.

So, I purchased an ATI 2400Pro card. It works great with the VGA out and I get 1920x1080. I installed the latest drivers from ATI that they posted today, v7.11. I also downloaded and installed the latest Power DVD patch.

The problem is this. When I go to the Power DVD configuration option, it shows "Enable Hardware Acceleration (ATI Avivo)" with a checkmark on it. However, when I actually start playing a Blu-Ray disc, this option gets disabled and the checkmark goes away. There is no way to turn it back on and I get 100% CPU utilization.

I have searched this thread and it seems like others have had this but I have not found a resolution. It seems this should be just plug and play.

This is frustrating. What should I try to get hardware acceleration working with the 2400Pro? Thanks!

Mike, I will answer a question for you and maybe you might reciprocate...:D

Hardware acceleration, the quest for it anyway! I have asked and found that this is a known problem with the later drivers and so it would seem still is with Catalyst v7.11, I have determined is hardware acceleration does work in version 7.7 (which I am now running).

Now for my question, what process is used to apply upgrades/updates for the PowerDVD software? I checked the version of the actual exe file I m running and it is 7.3.3304.0 dated 6/9/2007.

I am currently downloading and update to/for 3319f and it is huge ~98MB!

Do we need to remove the current software then run this executable or do you just run it and it takes care of the rest?

Thanks!

Al,
You just download and run it, it will uninstall the older version and install the new. I have the retail version and had to re-enter the serial number.

Are you guys using the AGP or PCI-E version of the 2400Pro?

Al,
You just download and run it, it will uninstall the older version and install the new. I have the retail version and had to re-enter the serial number.

Are you guys using the AGP or PCI-E version of the 2400Pro?

Al and ssaeed, I just downloaded and ran the new one. I too had to resubmit my serial number. I have PCI Express.

I wish Cyberlink would give some clue as to why it is disabled. I mean they know it's ATI Avivo as they display it, just disabled. Well enabled to start, and then disabled during playback. Very frustrating.

I mean they know it's ATI Avivo as they display it, just disabled. Well enabled to start, and then disabled during playback. Very frustrating.


I have been trying to get my ATI color/saturation/gamma etc settings to work and they seem to be disabled. Is this related to PowerDVD? Is that what I understand here?

I wish Cyberlink would give some clue as to why it is disabled. I mean they know it's ATI Avivo as they display it, just disabled. Well enabled to start, and then disabled during playback. Very frustrating.

Mike,
Im having the same problem. I have a nvidia 8800gtx and I can enable hardware acceleration for pure video but on playing a movie file it unchecks itself....buggy software.

So what is the last release of PDVD that supports the playing back of files from the hard drive and can I roll back to that release?

Could someone post a link?

thank you in advance,
ej

3104 and 3319a

Can I still find these at the PDVD website?

I have a P4 processor using a HD2600XT PCie card running PDVD 7.3 Ultra with the latest patch. I can run Casino Royale perfectly with 40% processor utilisation when running Spiderman 3 it maxes the processor out at 100%. What I have noticed is that Spiderman three is using True HD audio whilst Casino Royale is normal 5.1 audio. Both use MPEG4-AVC which I know runs from the UVD chip on the graphics card. Is it the sound that is pegging the processor. Any help would gratfully be recieved. BTW I am using Bluray.

Ok guys,

now, we know that this three versions work well: 2219, 3105, 3319.a.



i want to know which one does you choose if you need to get a beautiful pictiure in HD?:)

Mike,
Im having the same problem. I have a nvidia 8800gtx and I can enable hardware acceleration for pure video but on playing a movie file it unchecks itself....buggy software.

When that happens it's almost certainly not PDVD's fault - it's down to the drivers advertising that acceleration is available, but not actually being able to start it up.

When that happens it's almost certainly not PDVD's fault - it's down to the drivers advertising that acceleration is available, but not actually being able to start it up.

No, that may be PDVD's fault. We went from one version that would let you keep HWA off to another version that would not (with the same vid drivers).

No, that may be PDVD's fault. We went from one version that would let you keep HWA off to another version that would not (with the same vid drivers).

That's a different matter entirely - what the above post was about was acceleration failing. It's easy to replicate this with ATI by breaking acceleration in the registry, for example.

Al and ssaeed, I just downloaded and ran the new one. I too had to resubmit my serial number. I have PCI Express.

I wish Cyberlink would give some clue as to why it is disabled. I mean they know it's ATI Avivo as they display it, just disabled. Well enabled to start, and then disabled during playback. Very frustrating.

Mike, ATI hardware acceleration works for me on a HD2600Pro at Calayst 7.7

Ok guys,

now, we know that this three versions work well: 2219, 3105, 3319.a.



i want to know which one does you choose if you need to get a beautiful pictiure in HD?:)


OK, where are you guys checking the version number? Do you look at the detail information of the application executable itself or...where?

3319a is the version I have and I will keep the install.exe for that too.

With this version, can I play new movies if I rip them with anyDVD first? I was going shopping tomorrow for more HD movies :D

Al,
You just download and run it, it will uninstall the older version and install the new. I have the retail version and had to re-enter the serial number.

Are you guys using the AGP or PCI-E version of the 2400Pro?


thanks, for the info.

I have the PCI-e version of the HD2600Pro 512 MB and I run Catalyst 7.7

3319a is the version I have and I will keep the install.exe for that too.

With this version, can I play new movies if I rip them with anyDVD first? I was going shopping tomorrow for more HD movies :D

Peenngray, were do you read that version number?

Peenngray, were do you read that version number?

Click in the "This product is licensed to" box ("about" window).

OK, where are you guys checking the version number? Do you look at the detail information of the application executable itself or...where?

You can check the version number by right-clicking on the PDVD window and then About... Then click on your name ("This product is licensed to:").

By the way, the other poster you replied to probably meant builds 2911, and 3104 instead of 2219 and 3105.

Using 3104a and AnyDVD 6.2.

Is it possible to get rid of the "critical component requires periodic download ...." message?

You can check the version number by right-clicking on the PDVD window and then About... Then click on your name ("This product is licensed to:").

By the way, the other poster you replied to probably meant builds 2911, and 3104 instead of 2219 and 3105.

I'll have to check the version number when I get home... I think that mine is 3304? There must a ton of versions out there, the OEM version I used to use was 2925.

Between Catalyst drivers, hardware acceleration (or the lack of) and different releases of PowerDVD this is a mess! :eek:

The current version I am running won't load a movie from the HDD, and now it won't allow me to run dual displays with different resolutions, one a HDCP projector and the other an analog monitor. Somehow this doesn't seem like much of and 'upgrade' from where I sit! :mad:

I wonder if the 'update/upgrade' to 3319f will make things worse or better?

Using 3104a and AnyDVD 6.2.

Is it possible to get rid of the "critical component requires periodic download ...." message?

Shut down AnyDVD. I had the same problem,and it turned out that certain versions of PDVD does not play nice with AnyDVD.

Have still got cthe message after closing AnyDVD.

Guess I will continue with Zoomplayer, which works fine.

Have still got cthe message after closing AnyDVD.

Guess I will continue with Zoomplayer, which works fine.

So does Zoomplayer work for both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray?

Does it support hardware acceleration with ATI cards?

thanks

Build 3516 has fixed three known problems for me. The audio tests in Digital Video Essentials HD no longer crash PowerDVD, the PiP video commentary in MI:3 now jumps back to the correct time and online content works with Knocked Up

I'm using a NVidia 8500GT but I haven't upgraded to the lastest Vista drivers, I'm still running 163.69

Can any registered retail version of PowerDVD Ultra be upgraded to build 3516 for free?

Is there any reason I shouldn't go to 3516 versus 3319f?

I can't get anything past 7.1 (which I bought back in February) to install correctly. Both HD-DVD's and Blu-Ray disks play for 15 seconds, then hang. Doesn't make any difference if the source is the LG combo drive or off a hard disk. Also doesn't make any difference if Any DVD is loaded or not. I've tried just about every version I can find on the net too. All this on a C2D computer with a 8800GT card.
I have a trouble ticket into Cyberlink, there response is that they have escalated the problem to the development team.
I completely un-installed, even the registry entries and the cyberlink service (which stills hangs around after a 'normal' un-install.)
I've had it with this software, can't wait until a good replacement surfaces somewhere.
In the past, I've been able to diagnose and fix just about every computer problem I've run up against, but this one has me beat.

The Trick is to use early build with HD-DVD only connected to PC.;)

So does Zoomplayer work for both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray?

Does it support hardware acceleration with ATI cards?

thanks

Yes it does for everything I've tried, both HD and Blue-ray. I usually only play the main movie as there appears to be no available HD or BD navigator usable in ZP.

Regarding hardware acceleration, it seems to support whatever the combination of renderer and video card does. I have 8600 GTS so dont know about ATI.

Unable to get hardware acceleration to work on my ATI 2400Pro, Cyberlink technical support provided me a new build very similar to the public build. I tried it and..... I wish I could say all my problems went away. Nope. Hardware acceleration is enabled before you start BluRay playback. Start playing BluRay and you get 100% CPU utilization, and hardware acceleration option grayed out and no checkmark. I might need to check that ZoomPlayer I read others having success with.

Unable to get hardware acceleration to work on my ATI 2400Pro, Cyberlink technical support provided me a new build very similar to the public build. I tried it and..... I wish I could say all my problems went away. Nope. Hardware acceleration is enabled before you start BluRay playback. Start playing BluRay and you get 100% CPU utilization, and hardware acceleration option grayed out and no checkmark. I might need to check that ZoomPlayer I read others having success with.


I am at build 3516, and with an ATI HD2600Pro and Catalyst 7.7 hardware acceleration stays checked while a HD-DVD movie is running. If I can, I will rent a Blu-Ray disc and see if the same holds true (can't see why it wouldn't).

I firmly believe that this is a ATI driver issue and that has held true through 3 versions of PowerDVD Ultra.

Have you tried Catalyst 7.7?

Does Zoomplayer support HD-dvd and HDD playback? Would it make a replacement for PowerDVD?

I can't get anything past 7.1 (which I bought back in February) to install correctly. Both HD-DVD's and Blu-Ray disks play for 15 seconds, then hang. Doesn't make any difference if the source is the LG combo drive or off a hard disk. Also doesn't make any difference if Any DVD is loaded or not. I've tried just about every version I can find on the net too. All this on a C2D computer with a 8800GT card.
I have a trouble ticket into Cyberlink, there response is that they have escalated the problem to the development team.
I completely un-installed, even the registry entries and the cyberlink service (which stills hangs around after a 'normal' un-install.)
I've had it with this software, can't wait until a good replacement surfaces somewhere.
In the past, I've been able to diagnose and fix just about every computer problem I've run up against, but this one has me beat.


In this case i would uninstall video drivers, install them fresh again after using driver cleaner/

If you cant install any other drivers apart from 7.7 there may be an issue with your card, contact its manufacture.

Otherwise,since you have a 8800, make sure you power supply is up to its job,as its a work out both for video card and cpu and if it only happens then, something may not be receiving enough power, i was having exac same prob, reinstalling drivers and replacing psu helped.

Does Zoomplayer support HD-dvd and HDD playback? Would it make a replacement for PowerDVD?






until now, there's no alternative!!!!!!

Casino Royale

The intro to Casino Royale is MPEG2 HD and as artfser said the HD2400pro cannot accelerate this content. The MPEG4-AVC of the movie should be fine. However if like me you rely on the card to do all of the movie processing dont use the latest patches they are crap and have broken the acceleration. People might question that but most people are using dual core procs so they are not seeing the issue as bad as my self as I am using a P4 3.0ghz. I have rolled back to 7.9 ccc (xp) and 7.7 ccc (vista) with the reg fixes thanks to artfser and friends. Using PDVD 3104 ANYTHING higher and it will break. With this setup everything works fine. The down side to this is that you will not be able to play any of the new titles with the enhanced Java menus because only the latest Cyberlink patches support this. I am a very un-happy chappy with Cyberlink!!!!!! :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

Finally since Version 3104a ReClock is back in game :) tested it yesterday with cat 7.11.
For people like me who don't need playing Hd content from Harddisk this is indeed good news! speedup 24->25 hz, no stuttering!

Bad news: Still the problem (corrupted picture) with 720p50hz and HD content is not fixed, using Cat. 7.11 and latest PowerDVD 3516. All other modes 1080i 50/60hz and 720p 60hz work fine. Will have to switch to 1080i each time when viewing HD content from disc. pitty.

The intro to Casino Royale is MPEG2 HD and as artfser said the HD2400pro cannot accelerate this content. The MPEG4-AVC of the movie should be fine.
My testing was the actual movie content and I tried multiple BluRay discs. I am using the latest ATI drives (7.11). I don't know if it's PowerDVD, ATI, or some combination. It's clear the software companies are using us as "testers."

I am going to stick with the latest revisions of their software for now. If they don't have a resolution within the next week or so, I will revert back to my nVidia 8500 where I do get hardware acceleration (just have other problems to deal with, but less obnoxious than no hardware acceleration).

Does Zoomplayer support HD-dvd and HDD playback? Would it make a replacement for PowerDVD?

Windows media player classic plays HD movies from what I have read, you need the right codecs. Im nut sure about BR but they do play .evo files.

Yes it does for everything I've tried, both HD and Blue-ray. I usually only play the main movie as there appears to be no available HD or BD navigator usable in ZP.


Zoomplayer plays HD and Blu-Ray?? I have Zoomplayer professional but its an older version, I guess I will download the new version and try it.

The comment about it being an ATI bug may be correct. I found this on the ATI web site related to my 2400:

737-28517: Radeon™ HD2400 series: With some h.264 titles that have MPEG2 intros, playback may switch from hardware accelerated to software once the introductory content is finished.

The information in this article applies to the following configuration(s):
Radeon™ HD2400 series
Windows XP Professional
Windows XP Home Edition
Windows XP Media Center Edition
Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
Symptoms:
With some h.264 titles that have MPEG2 intros, playback may switch from hardware accelerated to software once the introductory content is finished.

Solution:
Currently there is no solution.

ATI Engineering has been advised of this issue and is investigating. Any updates will be published when they become available.