Good to hear your getting somewhere on your issues.

I really don't have the space to worry about ISO/File playback.. i'm only running 2 500gb drives and now, they are housing all the HD sports games i miss. lol. Currently at 90% capacity.

I'll definately be upgrading to the free upgrade... then waiting i think for the Arcsoft solution. It sounds to be the most flexible in terms of what i want. Right now, my Media Center PC is the SHIZZNIT.. lol. All my friends marvel at it and when i add Blu/HD playback on it, i'm expecting to BLOW peoples minds lol.

One question i have since your using PowerDVD now.. hows the audio? Do you have it fed into a reciever or is it processed via computer speakers?

Yeah, it's cool when the HTPC can do so much, especially when the images and sound are first rate!

The sound is being fed via SPDIF to my receiver from the motherboard ( Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L) , DD+ or DTS multichannel comes though perfectly.

I see the same thing on my 8800GT, XP SP2 Athlon 4400+
on Transformers. I was going to try this on Vista but it appears
that it may be a waste of time.

I get severe blocking everytime there is MPEG4 AVC content. I am
beginning to think that AVC/H264 decoding is broken on the 8800GT
eg Ratatouille. A couple of the Elecard H264 clips also show the same
blocking problem

When I go back to my 7800 GTX the AVC blocking problem goes away
(I think it is using software for most of the decode, CPU load is about 70%)

The 8800GT HW AVC Acceleration is halfbaked.
I am going to return the 8800GT until Nvidia/Cyberlink get this thing right.

I have an 8800GT, CPU C2D6850, 4GRam, Vista 64, and it's playing perfectly in PowerDVD ultra except Transformers HD-DVD.
For this particulat movie half of the screen is black and wite and the other half has some inversed colors.
Anyone having the same issue?

What is the work around I just saw mentioned that will enable you to play HD off your HDrive again with new version. I missed that post. thanks in advance.

Tong Chia is it possible to deactivate HWA in PowerDVD with the 8800 GT?

I have added HWUVD_DisableH264 and HWUVD_DisableVC1 both to the registry but hardware acceleration is still on. How the hell do i get rid of ati avivo.

Finally got HA to stay turned off but the picture is still fuzzy. I can only see half the picture and even that flickers.

What is the work around I just saw mentioned that will enable you to play HD off your HDrive again with new version. I missed that post. thanks in advance.


To store it as an ISO and play it from there. Although many expect this loophole to be closed in the future.

I am still using the 3104 version and it plays great on all my machines.

I see the same thing on my 8800GT, XP SP2 Athlon 4400+
on Transformers. I was going to try this on Vista but it appears
that it may be a waste of time.

I get severe blocking everytime there is MPEG4 AVC content. I am
beginning to think that AVC/H264 decoding is broken on the 8800GT
eg Ratatouille. A couple of the Elecard H264 clips also show the same
blocking problem

When I go back to my 7800 GTX the AVC blocking problem goes away
(I think it is using software for most of the decode, CPU load is about 70%)

The 8800GT HW AVC Acceleration is halfbaked.
I am going to return the 8800GT until Nvidia/Cyberlink get this thing right.

You must have some other problem. Transformers works for me.

WinXP SP2
Core2D@3.15Gig
8800GT
169.02

Only disk I've found that does not work is Ratatouille. It *does* work in Vista with 169.02 though.

I am still using the 3104 version and it plays great on all my machines.

Yup same here 3104 is as far as I will go, and the latest AnyD but still prefer MPC for playback. As far as the the down sampling goes I still think it's sending MLP to the sound card because I can't tell any difference in loss. Using the Sonic decoders it lists the same MLP 5.1 6419 kbps in MPC so I don't think my build is DS in PDVD and if it is I can't hear the difference.

To store it as an ISO and play it from there. Although many expect this loophole to be closed in the future.

I am still using the 3104 version and it plays great on all my machines.


I am using 3319a and so far everything worked fine except it doesnt play Evan Almighty at all unless you rename the 002 XPL file to block playing the web content.

Finally got HA to stay turned off but the picture is still fuzzy. I can only see half the picture and even that flickers.

Reinstalled windows and same s**t still doesnt work. Normal DVD are playing fine in powerdvd. Just my Blu-ray and HD-DVD wont work.

I have issues with all the HD-DVD that have u-control or some kind of special BS (Troy, Bourne movies, Transformers, Shreak 3,...). ALl the rest of the movies are working ok.
Aparently this is a bug for 8800GT cards (driver 169.xx)
All the Blu-ray movies work perfectly.

Is there a newer build for PowerDVD ultra (newer than 3516) ?

does anyone have 3104 and spiderman 3 BD working from disk ( +/- anyDVD) ?

My setup gets stuck at the spider logo, I see it for a second, then black screen.

I did get it to work with 3319a, but I uninstalled it for Reclock-able 3104.

p.

Tong Chia is it possible to deactivate HWA in PowerDVD with the 8800 GT?

It can be turned off if I play media files such as the mp4 files for Elecard's
site. With the thing off the playback is very smooth.

However I have not found a way to turn it off while playing a HD or BD movies
I tried the registry hacks mentioned on this thread but the Information
panel always reports DXVA and HWA is enabled

Thank you. Well that's sucks. There goes my main reason to throw out my 8800 GTS card for this on.

does anyone have 3104 and spiderman 3 BD working from disk ( +/- anyDVD) ?

My setup gets stuck at the spider logo, I see it for a second, then black screen.

I did get it to work with 3319a, but I uninstalled it for Reclock-able 3104.

p.

I had to install 3319a, because nothing earlier worked with Spiderman 3. I guess it's not about HDCP, but the freaking blu-ray specs not being finalized. 3319a probably introduced an update for BD-J or something like that.

I guess it's not about HDCP, but the freaking blu-ray specs not being finalized.

Don't think so. It plays perfectly with any (hard drive playback enabled) version if it's ripped to a hard drive with AnyDVD ripper first.

Don't think so. It plays perfectly with any (hard drive playback enabled) version if it's ripped to a hard drive with AnyDVD ripper first.

Thanks Andy, Mastiff.

hmm, brings up another question, anyone know what is the highest version of PDVD that is Reclock-able, and has HDD access? anyone have reclock running on a ver of PDVD higher than 3104?

I tried 3319a(?), but when playing there was no audio and the 'audio' tab disappeared under config. Once I disabled Reclock from starting, PDVD worked fine.

p.

Reinstalled windows and same s**t still doesnt work. Normal DVD are playing fine in powerdvd. Just my Blu-ray and HD-DVD wont work.

Ahh fixed it but it was somthing so stupid. CCC was set to 50hz by default everytime i install CCC and normally when i do this it has massive black borders around the screen so i was guessing everything was ok because i was getting 1:1 pixel mapping and other media was playing fine. Wasted all that time reinstalling xp, ATi drivers and power dvd lol. Well good thing its working and now i got a nice clean install of the OS. To many install/reisntall of apps and drivers before.

Whats the trick to playing the Transforms HD-DVD? This is the first title that just didnt work.

When I hit the Play button in the movie menus, I get the Rating of the motion picture... then the whole PowerDVD player exits... Nice app.

I dropped back to 3104a when they dropped hard drive playback. Now Heroes Season 1 Disc 2 does not play. I know there was an issue but not sure what the fix is. The other discs play fine. Disc 2 just gives me a blank screen.

I tried to playback a Joe Kane HD-DVD, DVE, I can get the menu to come up, I can even select the test material, but I can't get anything to play..

Anybody else tried this disc?

BTW, I am at PDVD 3516

PS, the more I play with PowerDVD, the more glad I kept my Toshiba HD player!

This same thing happens to me with the Transformers HD-DVD. But, my PowerDVD Ultra 3516 will just close when its starts. This is the first time I've had a problem with any movies.

I tied to playback a Joe Kane HD-DVD, DVE, I can get the menu to come up, I can even select the test material, but I can't get anything to play..

Anybody else tried this disc?

BTW, I am at PDVD 3516

I see the same thing on my 8800GT, XP SP2 Athlon 4400+
on Transformers. I was going to try this on Vista but it appears
that it may be a waste of time.

I get severe blocking everytime there is MPEG4 AVC content. I am
beginning to think that AVC/H264 decoding is broken on the 8800GT
eg Ratatouille. A couple of the Elecard H264 clips also show the same
blocking problem

When I go back to my 7800 GTX the AVC blocking problem goes away
(I think it is using software for most of the decode, CPU load is about 70%)

The 8800GT HW AVC Acceleration is halfbaked.
I am going to return the 8800GT until Nvidia/Cyberlink get this thing right.

do you good frame rates on 28 weeks later or spiderman or other recent blurray avc movies? your setup is similar to mine but mine has CPU at like 93% and gets all choppy for lots of stuff. never for HD DVD so far and never for mpeg2 or vc1 blur-ray, but for recent bluray avc, most especially and perhaps only ones that use compressed lossless audio format.

while i am at it has anyone noticed that 3516 has better pic quality or am i crazy.

I tried to playback a Joe Kane HD-DVD, DVE, I can get the menu to come up, I can even select the test material, but I can't get anything to play..

Anybody else tried this disc?

BTW, I am at PDVD 3516

PS, the more I play with PowerDVD, the more glad I kept my Toshiba HD player!

I believe this disc has issues if you run with AnyDVD-HD enabled and skip to the menu, like the HD-DVD of The Host if AnyDVD misses out the preliminary trailers the menu system doesn't function correctly.

If you do have AnyDVD-HD try disabling it, or removing the option to skip trailers ( can't remember the exact terminology, not at my HTPC ) and re try running DVE.

Worth a try.

KH

Thanks Andy, Mastiff.

hmm, brings up another question, anyone know what is the highest version of PDVD that is Reclock-able, and has HDD access? anyone have reclock running on a ver of PDVD higher than 3104?

I tried 3319a(?), but when playing there was no audio and the 'audio' tab disappeared under config. Once I disabled Reclock from starting, PDVD worked fine.

p.

The latest to work with ReClock is the latest patch available, 3516 :) The latest before that was 3104a, between those none worked with ReClock.

I dropped back to 3104a when they dropped hard drive playback. Now Heroes Season 1 Disc 2 does not play. I know there was an issue but not sure what the fix is. The other discs play fine. Disc 2 just gives me a blank screen.

Disc 2 (and Disc5 I think) have web content so PDVD chokes on it. Rip it and rename the larger XPL.

The latest to work with ReClock is the latest patch available, 3516 :) The latest before that was 3104a, between those none worked with ReClock.

thanks for the info!

p.

Disc 2 (and Disc5 I think) have web content so PDVD chokes on it. Rip it and rename the larger XPL.

Will renaming the larger XPL on other java BDs allow PDVD to play them as well?

I cannot play Spidy 3, POTC, Speed, ROTSS and some others with 3104a.

Hey guys, I've got a bit of a problem. It can be seen here: http://members.iinet.net.au/~hniven/error.jpg

Does anyone know what is going on here? It only occurs on SD DVDs, Blu Ray and HD DVD play fine, and the problem is not contained to PowerDVD. The exact same thing happens in WinDVD, but not in MPC or VLC. It used to play the movies fine, but after it crashed during playback one time, it now has that line through the center, almost as if it cannot line up the image fast enough (it looks fine when there is next to no movement).

Thanks,

Will renaming the larger XPL on other java BDs allow PDVD to play them as well?

I cannot play Spidy 3, POTC, Speed, ROTSS and some others with 3104a.

Nope. The XPL renaming trick is only for web enabled content that messes up with PowerDVD. I don't have any problems playing any of the titles that you mentioned using 3319.a or any other title for that matter.

I believe this disc has issues if you run with AnyDVD-HD enabled and skip to the menu, like the HD-DVD of The Host if AnyDVD misses out the preliminary trailers the menu system doesn't function correctly.

If you do have AnyDVD-HD try disabling it, or removing the option to skip trailers ( can't remember the exact terminology, not at my HTPC ) and re try running DVE.

Worth a try.

KH

I'll check for those settings, I noticed that there quite a few to choose from, I have left all of them in the default setting, I wish there was a bit of a manual or FAQ on the settings required?

BTW, the other problem I have with AnyDVD is that if it is NOT running then no movie will play, what's up with that?

Hey guys, I've got a bit of a problem. It can be seen here: image removed by replying poster

Does anyone know what is going on here? It only occurs on SD DVDs, Blu Ray and HD DVD play fine, and the problem is not contained to PowerDVD. The exact same thing happens in WinDVD, but not in MPC or VLC. It used to play the movies fine, but after it crashed during playback one time, it now has that line through the center, almost as if it cannot line up the image fast enough (it looks fine when there is next to no movement).

Thanks,

I was having the same problem with PDVD and even Windows Media Center and Player, appeared to be the codec being used, After a reboot they all worked again, I don't know why...

BTW, the other problem I have with AnyDVD is that if it is NOT running then no movie will play, what's up with that?

Could be something in your playback chain thats not HDCP compatible ?

I'll check the option when I return and get back to you in this thread.

KH

Could be something in your playback chain thats not HDCP compatible ?

I'll check the option when I return and get back to you in this thread.

KH

That could be true, I run a dual monitor setup, a VGA monitor and a HDCP compliant projector are both connected to the ATI Video card?

Disc 2 (and Disc5 I think) have web content so PDVD chokes on it. Rip it and rename the larger XPL.

you can also go to networking conrol panel and temporarily disable your network connection. that's the fastest, easiest way to make heroes s1 disc 2 work. (of disconnect if you use a modem and not highspeed)

as long as it sees no internet connection it doesn't try to load the stuff that hangs it.

That could be true, I run a dual monitor setup, a VGA monitor and a HDCP compliant projector are both connected to the ATI Video card?

yeah, it's probably the HDCP thing getting you.

I had a very similar problem, but with mine the BD and HDDVD movies had the split in the middle, and DVD's played fine. When I ran the system checker that comes with PDVD it said my video card and display weren't HDCP compatible (which was wrong). I then ran the Vista system capability checker and it gave me very low scores for my video. I can't remember what I did next, but somehow I got Vista to properly recognize my video card, giving me the expected high scores, and after that PDVD ran fine as well, and reported everything was HDCP compatible.
Sorry I can't be more help.
Mike

Hey guys, I've got a bit of a problem. It can be seen here:
Does anyone know what is going on here? It only occurs on SD DVDs, Blu Ray and HD DVD play fine, and the problem is not contained to PowerDVD. The exact same thing happens in WinDVD, but not in MPC or VLC. It used to play the movies fine, but after it crashed during playback one time, it now has that line through the center, almost as if it cannot line up the image fast enough (it looks fine when there is next to no movement).

Thanks,

That could be true, I run a dual monitor setup, a VGA monitor and a HDCP compliant projector are both connected to the ATI Video card?

Try disabling dual view and switch to single view for the display you are using. See if that corrects the problem. I have a different card, but have noticed the same thing on a dual monitor set up.....only thing that would correct it was to only feed one display.

I for one have have had one heck of a time with getting s/pdiff to output Dolby Digital. It always gave me 2 channel stereo!

Reported the problem to Cyberlink several time "canned message" acknowledged it but had no fix to offer.

Well after a number of PDVD version changes I finally decided to get a new PCI sound card turning off the on board ADI 1985 sound.

Bye the way TheaterTek had no problem outputting correctly trough the S/pdif.

Anyway, I got the Sondigo Inferno uninstalled SounMax drivers, turned off onboard sound, put in the card and loaded the new drivers.

WORKS GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have the:
Asus P4C800E- Deluxe
P4 @ 3.2Ghz overclocked by 10% t0 3.5Ghz
1gb Ram

Rew

I believe this disc has issues if you run with AnyDVD-HD enabled and skip to the menu, like the HD-DVD of The Host if AnyDVD misses out the preliminary trailers the menu system doesn't function correctly.

If you do have AnyDVD-HD try disabling it, or removing the option to skip trailers ( can't remember the exact terminology, not at my HTPC ) and re try running DVE.

Worth a try.

KH

Well, I checked the setting under HD DVD and found that "Remove first play title from HD DVD" was checked, so I removed the check and I could play the demostration material, but only the demonstration material, nothing else.

It didn't matter what I selected, the first thing that played was the demo, even when I pressed the 'back' button!?

BUT, if I use the keyboard to navigate the on screen menu's I can get things to work. (yes, I have the mouse control enabled in teh HD-DVD tab of configuration). Weird!?

BTW, playback is on a VGA connected monitor, so HDCP doesn't seem to be interferring.

Try disabling dual view and switch to single view for the display you are using. See if that corrects the problem. I have a different card, but have noticed the same thing on a dual monitor set up.....only thing that would correct it was to only feed one display.

Do you have a analog and a digital display connected?

I can run PDVD on the VGA monitor without a problem by itself, or with the projector turned on I can run PDVD back on either display when both are up and running.

Strange...

Cyber FAQS say one monitor at a time and mouse control is title dependent

Cyber FAQS say one monitor at a time and mouse control is title dependent

As for the mouse, I can believe that, some work and some don't.

I just tried a 'Media Center' remote control and the arrow buttons worked great (a work around at least).

With regards to 'one monitor at a time', I should clarify that I have 2 monitors operating on the same video card, but PowerDVD is only playing back on one screen at any one time.

In the audio tab think its in advanced do you guys enable LFE? Or should i be leaving this disabled. I got a 5.1 setup. I got wharfdale 9.1 diamonds as the fronts.

In the audio tab think its in advanced do you guys enable LFE? Or should i be leaving this disabled. I got a 5.1 setup. I got wharfdale 9.1 diamonds as the fronts.

This program just kills me! I am at the latest version (3516), and the advanced tab is greyed out, so SPDIF mixing!?

IIRC, when I was at 3319f it was available and so was SPDIF mixing...

I have two also, PJ and monitor, but PDVD displays on one or the other. From FAQS:Issue

Cannot see the video on the display and projector at the same time.



Cause

Blu-ray Disc or HD DVD specification only allows video output to one display device at a time.



Solution

Please switch the video to output only to either the projector or the display.

Whats the trick to playing the Transforms HD-DVD? This is the first title that just didnt work.

When I hit the Play button in the movie menus, I get the Rating of the motion picture... then the whole PowerDVD player exits... Nice app.

Transformers plays just fine for me. Tested it last night. I'm using the LG OEM version of PDVD. I did update, but not sure how to tell what version I'm running; it just says 7.3 in the About screen.

The issue I'm having is switching the Audio to SPDIF. I just hear popping and static. Switching back to 2-Speaker Stereo, I at least get Stereo that my Receiver then decodes into DPLII. But I can get DD5.1/DTS via SPDIF watching SD DVDs through Media Center. I'm using an Audigy 2/ZS. Any help is appreciated!

This program just kills me! I am at the latest version (3516), and the advanced tab is greyed out, so SPDIF mixing!?

IIRC, when I was at 3319f it was available and so was SPDIF mixing...

Thats strange am using 3516 and the button works fine. But am connected via analog.

I also have never been able to do S/PDIF mixing in PowerDVD, not that I've ever needed to. My card can do Dolby Digital Live and DTS Connect (essentially the same). I have tried all builds up to 3319f (never tried 3516), and none of them let me do it, either in XP or in Vista x86.

Another thing, in Vista, PowerDVD won't pass through S/PDIF unless I select the digital output as the default under the Vista playback devices control panel (so I have to switch to/from speaker from/to S/PDIF every time I need passthrough).

So am i meant to enable LFE or not?

PowerDVD 3516 doesn't play the Star Trek: TOS S1 Starfleet Access features. Only PiP works. :(

When I run two displays, the second one displays a windowed box instead of full screen. What if I get two video cards?

I have two also, PJ and monitor, but PDVD displays on one or the other. From FAQS:Issue

Cannot see the video on the display and projector at the same time.



Cause

Blu-ray Disc or HD DVD specification only allows video output to one display device at a time.



Solution

Please switch the video to output only to either the projector or the display.

Wonder if it works on V64

So am i meant to enable LFE or not?


not if you have a sub connected to the .1 channel.

I wrote Cyberlink technical support last week after purchasing a $59 upgrade to Ultra from 7 Deluxe, and they haven't contacted me yet.

I went to run the upgrade installer, and it tells me that it "will now uninstall PowerDVD", which I assume is the installer's way of telling me that it needs to uninstall my existing copy. Anyway, after doing that, the installer just quits, and never installs Ultra.

Any suggestions?

I have AC3Filers installed for MPC playback but in PWDVD the only way to get S/PDIF to show up is to open the config portion of PWDVD without anything loaded, just Power Crap and you.

known issue in powerdvd ultra. The SPDIF setting in audio output doesn't seem to stick. You have to start the movie, then stop it then open the config panel and select SPDIF output then start the movie again. Hopefully this get's fixed in the next rev.

Hi all,

PowerDVD Ultra sometimes displays a green screen instead of the video when I play a Blu-ray or HD-DVD disc. The only way I have found to fix the problem so far is to reboot the system.

Usually the disc intro videos and the buttons on the menus will display fine, but the disc's main video and menu background will just be a green screen. This makes me suspect copy protection and/or HDCP. Audio works fine when this happens.

I am using PowerDVD Ultra on a Velocity Micro CineMagix Grand Theater with a LG GGC-H20N drive and ATI Radeon HD 2600XT video card, with a HDMI connection to a Samsung HL-T6189S HDTV.

Has anyone else experienced this problem?

Thanks!

storm,

sounds more like a driver issue than copy protection. If it were copy protection you would see snow on the TV and no audio either. Try updating or reinstalling your video card drivers.

Thats strange am using 3516 and the button works fine. But am connected via analog.

When you say connected via analog, do you mean from the HTPC's sound card? If yes then I don't see why that should affect the SPDIF settings.

So am i meant to enable LFE or not?

As for your question about LFE, again if you are connected via the analog outputs on your sound card and it can provide a LFE connection then your choice to use it would depend on if you have sub available to connect to that line out. Otherwise if you leave it unchecked, and the speakers are set to large in your sound cards control panel the LFE will get mixed in the the front left and right speakers.

When I run two displays, the second one displays a windowed box instead of full screen. What if I get two video cards? It would be helpful to know the video card you are using...

I'm not sure what you mean "windowed box", but if you are running an ATI card then you need to make sure that both monitors are correctly configured in the Catalyst display manager as to their capabilities. Then you should use the 'extended desktop' feature which will essentually place the program you want to run in one display at a time.

It sounds to me that the displays are running in 'cloned mode' and thereby using the monitor attributes from the primary monitor for both displays, this would look like a 'windowed box' on a secondary display with a higher native resolution.

Sort of like running those small You-tube videos in the middle of you regular monitor. ;)

Hi all,

PowerDVD Ultra sometimes displays a green screen instead of the video when I play a Blu-ray or HD-DVD disc. The only way I have found to fix the problem so far is to reboot the system.

Usually the disc intro videos and the buttons on the menus will display fine, but the disc's main video and menu background will just be a green screen. This makes me suspect copy protection and/or HDCP. Audio works fine when this happens.

I am using PowerDVD Ultra on a Velocity Micro CineMagix Grand Theater with a LG GGC-H20N drive and ATI Radeon HD 2600XT video card, with a HDMI connection to a Samsung HL-T6189S HDTV.

Has anyone else experienced this problem?

Thanks!

I aggree with "ssaeed", it sounds like a video driver problem, in fact I had this with my HD2600Pro until I installed a later driver.

Originally I used the driver suite that came with the video card and I got a green screen display, upgrading to Cat 7.10 fixed that for me, I eventually went to Cat 7.7 because it was the only level that I could find that allowed me to enble ATI Avivo (hardware acceleration) within the configuration panel of PowerDVD.

As for your question about LFE, again if you are connected via the analog outputs on your sound card and it can provide a LFE connection then your choice to use it would depend on if you have sub available to connect to that line out. Otherwise if you leave it unchecked, and the speakers are set to large in your sound cards control panel the LFE will get mixed in the the front left and right speakers.

Thanks for the reply skibum5000 and Sherwood.

HTPC has a prelude 7.1 connected via 3 rca cables to my receiver. I have a sub and its been connected to my receiver.

If i leave it on would it ruin the effect on how it should sound? I just tested with it enabled and played back 300 and enabled TrueHD. I watched the starting bit with the warner logo and thunderstorm sound. I quite like the way it sounded, I need to test with LFE disabled.

I have a 8800gt running in extended display mode. Second display is windowed box, black border on all sides, but only with hd movies. Dvds are fine in their aspect ratio widescreen. This is with latest PD, but with older version before 3.319 it also ran fine, no windowed box.

It would be helpful to know the video card you are using...

I'm not sure what you mean "windowed box", but if you are running an ATI card then you need to make sure that both monitors are correctly configured in the Catalyst display manager as to their capabilities. Then you should use the 'extended desktop' feature which will essentually place the program you want to run in one display at a time.

It sounds to me that the displays are running in 'cloned mode' and thereby using the monitor attributes from the primary monitor for both displays, this would look like a 'windowed box' on a secondary display with a higher native resolution.

Sort of like running those small You-tube videos in the middle of you regular monitor. ;)

I have a 8800gt running in extended display mode. Second display is windowed box, black border on all sides, but only with hd movies. Dvds are fine in their aspect ratio widescreen. This is with latest PD, but with older version before 3.319 it also ran fine, no windowed box.


hmmmm, I have seen this before, in fact on one systems images that I have version 3319f installed, when I would drag the player over to the secondary display, the player filled the entire screen, but when I started the movie it reverted to a smaller image centered on a black background. I this what you see?

Thanks for the reply skibum5000 and Sherwood.

HTPC has a prelude 7.1 connected via 3 rca cables to my receiver. I have a sub and its been connected to my receiver.

If i leave it on would it ruin the effect on how it should sound? I just tested with it enabled and played back 300 and enabled TrueHD. I watched the starting bit with the warner logo and thunderstorm sound. I quite like the way it sounded, I need to test with LFE disabled.

blingo when you say "connected via 3 rca cables to my receiver", do you mean "3-pairs" or just "3 single cables"? You also mention TrueHD, this is an HDMI based sound stream, does your receiver support that?

If you intend on using analog outputs from your sound card, and assuming that the AV receiver has analog input jacks for multi channel sound, then you should either hook up 6 (5.1) or 8 (7.1) channels to your receiver, with the X.1 channel being the LFE channel.

With the sub connected to the receiver, I would suspect that the AV receiver has the appropriate bass management circuits to combine the LFE signal and any bass directed from the other speakers and pass it to the sub woofer. All of this control can be done by the receiver if it so equipped.

I wrote Cyberlink technical support last week after purchasing a $59 upgrade to Ultra from 7 Deluxe, and they haven't contacted me yet.

I went to run the upgrade installer, and it tells me that it "will now uninstall PowerDVD", which I assume is the installer's way of telling me that it needs to uninstall my existing copy. Anyway, after doing that, the installer just quits, and never installs Ultra.

Any suggestions?

I think the upgrade key also works with a completely new installation of PDVD Ultra but I am not certain. Try it!

Delete installation folders and registry entries manually, then install and run MS Install Cleanup.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301/en-us

Yes, only happens with the new PD, but I need it to watch BD+ movies. If I use the second display as my primary and disable my first display, it will play full screen. So my question was what if you use two video cards, one for my primary display and one for the secondary display?

hmmmm, I have seen this before, in fact on one systems images that I have version 3319f installed, when I would drag the player over to the secondary display, the player filled the entire screen, but when I started the movie it reverted to a smaller image centered on a black background. I this what you see?

As far as your question-you may be the first to try. I never saw this question, but the software does limit display function. For me, I just drag PDVD to the display I want to use, click fullscreen, and it is.

Matt or anyone, could you please tell me what you have set in your options for HD-DVD? Maybe I changed a setting for HD-DVD which is causing it to mess up. I noticed PowerDVD created a folder off my C: drive called HD_DVD after I tried to play the file. It only had one file in there info.txt with a Deviceid=weird code.

Maybe I changed the default folder for HDVD-DVD file store? I dont even know what the default is to put it back.

Transformers plays just fine for me. Tested it last night. I'm using the LG OEM version of PDVD. I did update, but not sure how to tell what version I'm running; it just says 7.3 in the About screen.

The issue I'm having is switching the Audio to SPDIF. I just hear popping and static. Switching back to 2-Speaker Stereo, I at least get Stereo that my Receiver then decodes into DPLII. But I can get DD5.1/DTS via SPDIF watching SD DVDs through Media Center. I'm using an Audigy 2/ZS. Any help is appreciated!

With regard to watching transformers....I must admit that it was way easier to simply watch the disc on the Xbox 360. But by going into the menu commands, I definitely was able to get it to play with PowerDVD. I did cancel the web download before proceeding to the menu commands.

I think the upgrade key also works with a completely new installation of PDVD Ultra but I am not certain. Try it!

Delete installation folders and registry entries manually, then install and run MS Install Cleanup.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301/en-us

I'm not sure what you mean. When I run the installer for the upgrade (that I downloaded directly from Cyberlink) it uninstalls the old version and then quits. If I try to rerun the installer, it gives me an error message that I must have an existing version of PowerDVD installed. It is at this point that I scream and yell at the computer, because I DID have a previous version of PowerDVD installed, before the Ultra installer uninstalled it.

Can someone PLEASE help me? Cyberlink once again has my money on an upgrade, and they refuse to answer my question so that I can get what I paid for.

You and me both need to the full ..not upgrade.. version of the latest version. Does someone have the link to the latest full installer of Ultra? I know for a fact my retail key does work.

I'm not sure what you mean. When I run the installer for the upgrade (that I downloaded directly from Cyberlink) it uninstalls the old version and then quits. If I try to rerun the installer, it gives me an error message that I must have an existing version of PowerDVD installed. It is at this point that I scream and yell at the computer, because I DID have a previous version of PowerDVD installed, before the Ultra installer uninstalled it.

Can someone PLEASE help me? Cyberlink once again has my money on an upgrade, and they refuse to answer my question so that I can get what I paid for.

You and me both need to the full ..not upgrade.. version of the latest version. Does someone have the link to the latest full installer of Ultra? I know for a fact my retail key does work.

I just cannot believe Cyberlink would release an upgrade where the installer uninstalls the old version and then quits. This is totally absurd and a gross lack of quality assurance if they can't even get their most likely off-the-shelf installer to work. If anything, the software should attempt to install the new version and then and only then delete the old version, so that if something goes wrong, I can see what the problem is without going through the trouble of reinstalling Version 7.

This is my third time buying an upgrade version off the Cyberlink web site, and each and every time, I've had one issue or another, where the company has usually been forced to give me a full version of the program in order to resolve the problem. If the crippled upgrade installers work so poorly, why do they even bother offering them? I mean, they can see from my purchase history on their website that I have a long history of purchasing PowerDVD, so why won't they just let me download the regular installer for the upgrade price? ARGH! $#@% @#%$ #%$#!!!

Okay, I just found out its not Transformers... its all my HD-DVD's.

I just emailed their tech support and asked them to send me the full retail installer for the latest version. I'm curious what the tech support hours are for India.

Anyway, I need to know after I uninstall the software what keys in the registry should I remove besides the HKLM/software/cyberlink and HKLU/software/cyberlink keys.


I just cannot believe Cyberlink would release an upgrade where the installer uninstalls the old version and then quits. This is totally absurd and a gross lack of quality assurance if they can't even get their most likely off-the-shelf installer to work. If anything, the software should attempt to install the new version and then and only then delete the old version, so that if something goes wrong, I can see what the problem is without going through the trouble of reinstalling Version 7.

This is my third time buying an upgrade version off the Cyberlink web site, and each and every time, I've had one issue or another, where the company has usually been forced to give me a full version of the program in order to resolve the problem. If the crippled upgrade installers work so poorly, why do they even bother offering them? I mean, they can see from my purchase history on their website that I have a long history of purchasing PowerDVD, so why won't they just let me download the regular installer for the upgrade price? ARGH! $#@% @#%$ #%$#!!!

Have any of you tried actually changing default HD_DVD folder location? I think it's possible thats why mine broke. This is the first disc I've played thats used the Web enabled updater for HD-DVD movies. The original location was under the Cyberlink directory under program files. The new location I put was on Z:\PowerDVD\HD_DVD

Thanks for the reply skibum5000 and Sherwood.

HTPC has a prelude 7.1 connected via 3 rca cables to my receiver. I have a sub and its been connected to my receiver.

If i leave it on would it ruin the effect on how it should sound? I just tested with it enabled and played back 300 and enabled TrueHD. I watched the starting bit with the warner logo and thunderstorm sound. I quite like the way it sounded, I need to test with LFE disabled.

you should leave it off otherwise you are doubling up on the low-frequency stuff (and also pushing your mains more, which unless they are full-range and superb, will straing more and have reduced quality due to more distortion).

better to adjust your sub higher if that is what you really want (and perhaps it is even set below refernece as is, it can be tricky to adjust the sub properly)

blingo when you say "connected via 3 rca cables to my receiver", do you mean "3-pairs" or just "3 single cables"? You also mention TrueHD, this is an HDMI based sound stream, does your receiver support that?

If you intend on using analog outputs from your sound card, and assuming that the AV receiver has analog input jacks for multi channel sound, then you should either hook up 6 (5.1) or 8 (7.1) channels to your receiver, with the X.1 channel being the LFE channel.

With the sub connected to the receiver, I would suspect that the AV receiver has the appropriate bass management circuits to combine the LFE signal and any bass directed from the other speakers and pass it to the sub woofer. All of this control can be done by the receiver if it so equipped.

TrueHD has nothing to do with HDMI. you need HDMI if you want to send it out in digital mode but the format can just as easily be sent over analog out the format TrueHD itself has nothing to do with how you send it out.

the way these sound cards work is they only take three cables, one drives FR,FL another drivers SL,SR, another drives C,Sub they split into two RCA connectors on the far end. in his case actually if he has 7.1 he might want a 4th cable to get the RL,RR.

most receivers don't do bass management over analog inputs (although certainly some do) and even if it does it might end up getting full LFE sent to sub plus re-mixing in the same LFE from the mains (as well as any lower main stuff that it also wants to send over) but it depends.


i'd suggest turning off LFE, going to the auzentech control panel (Actually the prelude might be different than the x-meridian since it think creative has to write the code for them now but if it happens to be same as for x-merid) and set bass management to also have it route some of the lower bass that is not LFE channel stuff also to your sub (if your receiver does not automatically do this itself and it might be cleaner in this analog case to let the computer do it) say maybe around 70-95Hz depending. quite a few setups work best with the mains and all relieved of low frequency stuff. make sure to adjust the subwoofer to match the rest of the system.

I just cannot believe Cyberlink would release an upgrade where the installer uninstalls the old version and then quits. This is totally absurd and a gross lack of quality assurance if they can't even get their most likely off-the-shelf installer to work. If anything, the software should attempt to install the new version and then and only then delete the old version, so that if something goes wrong, I can see what the problem is without going through the trouble of reinstalling Version 7.

This is my third time buying an upgrade version off the Cyberlink web site, and each and every time, I've had one issue or another, where the company has usually been forced to give me a full version of the program in order to resolve the problem. If the crippled upgrade installers work so poorly, why do they even bother offering them? I mean, they can see from my purchase history on their website that I have a long history of purchasing PowerDVD, so why won't they just let me download the regular installer for the upgrade price? ARGH! $#@% @#%$ #%$#!!!

it's not as bad as the installed for a version a few months ago that also unisntalled media center for you as well as many icons from the start menu, pretty much any default microsoft program link plus others. :eek:
that was the worst disaster i have ever experienced froma ny professional companies installer. ever.

do you good frame rates on 28 weeks later or spiderman or other recent blurray avc movies? your setup is similar to mine but mine has CPU at like 93% and gets all choppy for lots of stuff. never for HD DVD so far and never for mpeg2 or vc1 blur-ray, but for recent bluray avc, most especially and perhaps only ones that use compressed lossless audio format.

while i am at it has anyone noticed that 3516 has better pic quality or am i crazy.

I am not getting any judder with Spiderman. Is there a frame rate display
on PDVD?.

The 7800 GTX is actually pretty good except for the the high CPU usage
on MPEG4 AVC (70% is peak it is usually closer to 65% avg). The card
is sitting on a PCIe X16 slot with 16lanes assigned to it.

I am not getting any judder with Spiderman. Is there a frame rate display
on PDVD?.

The 7800 GTX is actually pretty good except for the the high CPU usage
on MPEG4 AVC (70% is peak it is usually closer to 65% avg). The card
is sitting on a PCIe X16 slot with 16lanes assigned to it.

hmm i am at 93-100% with spiderman using vista, 8800gts, amd xs 4400+
and it is NOT smooth

ack! i could swear whatever calibration profile i chose before worked with powerdvd ultra for all movies now with 3516, while it seems better otherwise, switching to my spidervision calibrated profile does nothing! i'm stuck with my monitor's default too red display! it still works for SD DVD but not for either hi-def format! no matter what i do i can't seem to get it to react to my profile :(
if this is how future version will be too i'm sunk:( :mad:

unless it is some new way the new nvidioa 169 beta driver is working?
but that seems much better in many ways so i hope they didn't break ability to color balance hidef video?

I'm not sure what you mean. When I run the installer for the upgrade (that I downloaded directly from Cyberlink) it uninstalls the old version and then quits. If I try to rerun the installer, it gives me an error message that I must have an existing version of PowerDVD installed. It is at this point that I scream and yell at the computer, because I DID have a previous version of PowerDVD installed, before the Ultra installer uninstalled it.

Can someone PLEASE help me? Cyberlink once again has my money on an upgrade, and they refuse to answer my question so that I can get what I paid for.


OK, I have to be clearer. Download the full installer from the web somewhere (there are tools with which you can find the full installer on cyberlink's website) and try if your serial works. I wouldn't bother with Cyberlink support.

ack! i could swear whatever calibration profile i chose before worked with powerdvd ultra for all moviesIt never has.

blingo when you say "connected via 3 rca cables to my receiver", do you mean "3-pairs" or just "3 single cables"? You also mention TrueHD, this is an HDMI based sound stream, does your receiver support that?

If you intend on using analog outputs from your sound card, and assuming that the AV receiver has analog input jacks for multi channel sound, then you should either hook up 6 (5.1) or 8 (7.1) channels to your receiver, with the X.1 channel being the LFE channel.

With the sub connected to the receiver, I would suspect that the AV receiver has the appropriate bass management circuits to combine the LFE signal and any bass directed from the other speakers and pass it to the sub woofer. All of this control can be done by the receiver if it so equipped.'

Each cable has 2 connectors. Its a 3.5mm to 2 rca (red/white) this is done 3 times. So one cable to 2 for front channel. One cable to 2 for rears and one cable to 2 for centre and subwoofer then all 6 cables go into my Sony 1200ES receiver into the multi channel in.

The new formats can be done by analog out.

OK, one last problem (sorry everyone). I have my HTPC hooked up to my Samy 1080p DLP TV via DVI -> HDMI, and my video card is a GeForce 8400GS (with HDCP support) set to 1920x1080. With most applications, I'm not having any display issues or overscan problems, but some applications, like Beyond TV and PowerDVD Ultra like to change my display resolution, stretching the image beyond the edges of my screen. Once I quit the application, my display resolution goes back to normal (i.e. my task bar which was stretched "below" the TV set reappears). So far, only some video applications do this. I also know that it is software related, as PowerDVD 7 did not exhibit this behavior, but Ultra does. I have tried disabling video hardware acceleration to see if the problem is related to PureVideo HD (the video stretching occurs regardless of the hardware acceleration settings). I will also point out that the stretching does not occur when I use analog VGA, although with this video card, the analog output produces a very snowy picture. Any thoughts on how to fix this?

I got it working with a reinstall OS, don't know what but its full screen on secondary display now.

As far as your question-you may be the first to try. I never saw this question, but the software does limit display function. For me, I just drag PDVD to the display I want to use, click fullscreen, and it is.

I just cannot believe Cyberlink would release an upgrade where the installer uninstalls the old version and then quits.

To be fair, that's a significant improvement on their previous attempts (which trashed your setup so much you couldn't even install any version of PDVD).

hmm i am at 93-100% with spiderman using vista, 8800gts, amd xs 4400+
and it is NOT smooth
AFAIK, the 8800GTS, which a great gaming card, isn't great for BR/HD-DVD since it doesn't offoad the HD decoding on the hardware. No PureVideoHD with that card was my understandin, so your CPU is doing all the decoding. The newer cards have it (8800GT, not GTS), and many lower end cards as well, like my 8600GT, but they are not as good for gaming of course.

Could someone please be kind enough to PM me with how to find it? I still havent received a reply back from Cyberlink's support.

OK, I have to be clearer. Download the full installer from the web somewhere (there are tools with which you can find the full installer on cyberlink's website) and try if your serial works. I wouldn't bother with Cyberlink support.

'

Each cable has 2 connectors. Its a 3.5mm to 2 rca (red/white) this is done 3 times. So one cable to 2 for front channel. One cable to 2 for rears and one cable to 2 for centre and subwoofer then all 6 cables go into my Sony 1200ES receiver into the multi channel in.

The new formats can be done by analog out.

Ahhh, that is what I thought but you didn't say (many people are so quick to type a message but not many re-read to be sure they are giving the complete picture).

As for True HD and the possiblilty of using analog outputs, that is not in dispute, it is just that most people are expecting that all players can output TrueHD and that all receivers can accept it, definitely not true.

The connection scheme you use will work fine, the information on the LFE channel is unique depending on how the player and receiver handle bass management (skibum mentioned doubling up on the bass with LFE on, not true).

Since your receiver takes descrete connection for all 6 channels then you should enable LFE within the player, the receiver will handle the rest. The purpose of the LFE channels is to put the extreme bass on a channel that can easily be directed to a subwoofer that can handle it. With some receivers you can even roll off other low frequencies (low pass filters) from the other channels to the sub especially if your main speakers are smaller and cannot handle the low bass.

Yes, only happens with the new PD, but I need it to watch BD+ movies. If I use the second display as my primary and disable my first display, it will play full screen. So my question was what if you use two video cards, one for my primary display and one for the secondary display?

I don't know about 2 separate video cards, but unless I miss my guess the set-up you have should do the job.

I have had various problems with displays and playback with PowerDVD, it is working fine for me on a dual headed video card at PDVD 3516 so I don't see why it wouldn't work for you.

Remember I had your problem at 3319, but it now works at 3516, hmmmm, the culprit is likely PDVD!

I just saw your latest post: I got it working with a reinstall OS, don't know what but its full screen on secondary display now.

The re-install probably fixed it by cleaning up PDVD problems!, with so many reports of installs and upgrades going bad it would seem that the more you play with this software the more likely something will break!

Ahhh, that is what I thought but you didn't say (many people are so quick to type a message but not many re-read to be sure they are giving the complete picture).

As for True HD and the possiblilty of using analog outputs, that is not in dispute, it is just that most people are expecting that all players can output TrueHD and that all receivers can accept it, definitely not true.

The connection scheme you use will work fine, the information on the LFE channel is unique depending on how the player and receiver handle bass management (skibum mentioned doubling up on the bass with LFE on, not true).

Since your receiver takes descrete connection for all 6 channels then you should enable LFE within the player, the receiver will handle the rest. The purpose of the LFE channels is to put the extreme bass on a channel that can easily be directed to a subwoofer that can handle it. With some receivers you can even roll off other low frequencies (low pass filters) from the other channels to the sub especially if your main speakers are smaller and cannot handle the low bass.

Thanks for the help Sherwood and sorry about the confusion. I should have been more clear. If i show you the fronts am using and the spec would you be able to work out if i should leave it enabled or disabled. I think it should be on the speakers are good but properly not that great at bass.

This is the fronts am using. Specs are also on that page
http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/page/moreinfo.cfm/Product_ID/2197

Software companies wonder why people download from newgroups/torrent to get their apps... geez... I can't believe I'm having to resort to getting the full installer this way... for a legitimate purpose.

Software companies wonder why people download from newgroups/torrent to get their apps... geez... I can't believe I'm having to resort to getting the full installer this way... for a legitimate purpose.

I just ask Cyberlink tech support for a complete download version. I had to provide some info and they sent me a link to the newest version in a couple of days. This was done using threir online trouble reporting setup. Just stated that I lost the initial setup files and I needed a new set. But this is with the full retail version, not upgrades. Done this twice and never had an issue so far. All the prev (older) version upgrades will just delete the current (newest) ver and install. Thats how I am still running 3319a on most of my systems.

Is there any other customizing i could do to improve audio/video quailty? Already got rid of HA and set it to Best Quailty. Seen things like Smart Video De-interlacing. Was wondering if its good to turn things like this off. Any registry tweaks. I read on here someone saying vmr9 is not possible in pdvd but in the registry i seen things to do with vmr9 in the powerdvd directory, not a clue what it does.

Ahhh, that is what I thought but you didn't say (many people are so quick to type a message but not many re-read to be sure they are giving the complete picture).

As for True HD and the possiblilty of using analog outputs, that is not in dispute, it is just that most people are expecting that all players can output TrueHD and that all receivers can accept it, definitely not true.

The connection scheme you use will work fine, the information on the LFE channel is unique depending on how the player and receiver handle bass management (skibum mentioned doubling up on the bass with LFE on, not true).

Since your receiver takes descrete connection for all 6 channels then you should enable LFE within the player, the receiver will handle the rest. The purpose of the LFE channels is to put the extreme bass on a channel that can easily be directed to a subwoofer that can handle it. With some receivers you can even roll off other low frequencies (low pass filters) from the other channels to the sub especially if your main speakers are smaller and cannot handle the low bass.

i believe you are misinterpreting the powerdvd LFE setting. having it checked means it mixes in the LFE channel with the front left and right (and I think still sends it out the subwoofer out, but not 100% sure) and leaving it unchecked does not turn it off it simply leaves it all going to the sub out channel and does not mix it into the fronts.

the LFE button on powerdvd does not toggle the LFE on and off overall, it just toggles it on or off to be mixed into the front channels. now if your receiver does actually handle bass management over analog in (and many don't) and that is how you have your system setup, then you do want it checked. i suspect that it still sends it over the sub channel either way, i don't think it plays with that even if it also mixes it into the fronts, but i haven't checked, so i think you could potential get a doubling up depending upon how your levels are adjusted and all, but maybe it does shut off the sub input. and if you use software for analog bass management i'm also afraid that it would still be getting the sub channel input and then mixing in the same lfe already going to that from the mains as well, althoguh again this last point i haven't tested yet.

anyway my receiver only does bass management for digital inputs so when i use analog out to it i set the x-meridian to drive my fronts,sides,center as small and then have it cross stuff rolled off starting at 94Hz to my sub and i leave. i leave LFE off because i don't see the point of having it have to mix into the main fronts and then have x-meridian send it back to the sub anyway and moreso because i am afraid that it still sends lfe to the sub channel anyway and then i will get the sub lfe stuff plus xmeridian mixing the fronts lfe stuff into the sub on top of that.

for what it is worth pwoerdvd even suggest to only set lfe on for good headphoen and speaker system that lack a subwoofer connection (i.e. 2.0 and 4.0 etc. type setups), although there are situations you might want to try it anyway.

Thanks for the help Sherwood and sorry about the confusion. I should have been more clear. If i show you the fronts am using and the spec would you be able to work out if i should leave it enabled or disabled. I think it should be on the speakers are good but properly not that great at bass.

This is the fronts am using. Specs are also on that page
http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/page/moreinfo.cfm/Product_ID/2197

First off, my recommendation: Within the PowerDVD player, do not check the 'enable' box for LFE found inside of the Configuration/Audio/Advanced/Miscellaneous

Definitely nice speakers, but with a 130mm mid/bass driver for the low end it is not going to handle low bass or LFE information, the 50Hz spec tells that story.

To compliment these speakers you really need a separate powered subwoofer, do you have a subwoofer connected to the receiver?

If you don't have a subwoofer and have the speaker size set to large then the LFE will be re-directed to the front main speakers (see pg. 63 in your manual), and you will likely overdrive the speakers.

Pages 55 and 56 in the Sony manual have excellant descriptions of the speaker size setting choices, the WHARFEDALE's should be set to 'small'.

Bass redirection in this receiver are described on pages 63 and 64, basically controlled by the size set for the speakers and whether you have a sub connected and enabled in the speaker setting menu.

If you do have a subwoofer connected then set the speaker size to small, enable the subwoofer in the menu and you should be golden!

BTW, these settings for the speakers and bass redirection within your receiver will apply to all sources.

I hope this helps...

i believe you are misinterpreting the powerdvd LFE setting. having it checked means it mixes in the LFE channel with the front left and right (and I think still sends it out the subwoofer out, but not 100% sure) and leaving it unchecked does not turn it off it simply leaves it all going to the sub out channel and does not mix it into the fronts.

the LFE button on powerdvd does not toggle the LFE on and off overall, it just toggles it on or off to be mixed into the front channels. now if your receiver does actually handle bass management over analog in (and many don't) and that is how you have your system setup, then you do want it checked. i suspect that it still sends it over the sub channel either way, i don't think it plays with that even if it also mixes it into the fronts, but i haven't checked, so i think you could potential get a doubling up depending upon how your levels are adjusted and all, but maybe it does shut off the sub input. and if you use software for analog bass management i'm also afraid that it would still be getting the sub channel input and then mixing in the same lfe already going to that from the mains as well, althoguh again this last point i haven't tested yet.

anyway my receiver only does bass management for digital inputs so when i use analog out to it i set the x-meridian to drive my fronts,sides,center as small and then have it cross stuff rolled off starting at 94Hz to my sub and i leave. i leave LFE off because i don't see the point of having it have to mix into the main fronts and then have x-meridian send it back to the sub anyway and moreso because i am afraid that it still sends lfe to the sub channel anyway and then i will get the sub lfe stuff plus xmeridian mixing the fronts lfe stuff into the sub on top of that.

for what it is worth pwoerdvd even suggest to only set lfe on for good headphoen and speaker system that lack a subwoofer connection (i.e. 2.0 and 4.0 etc. type setups), although there are situations you might want to try it anyway.

Hmmmm, from page 86 in the PowerDVD manual, I read the process you describe, "PowerDVD is mixing the LFE channel into the front main speakers". Thanks for pointing out this setting box! I hope that as you have suggested, the checking of this box does not put LFE into both the front channels and the LFE channel at the same time as this would be entirely incorrect!

This process should be left to the AV receiver, it has the ability to do this independent of the sound sources and that way it is best tailored for all sound types, movies or music. It would also appear that both the Sony receiver and my Denon apply bass management to all sound sources not just 'digital' ones, which I would think was preferable considering the speakers connected to the receiver determine these settings more then anything else.

From Dolby's own specification on x.1 sound, LFE information is not included in the front main speakers mix, it is for effects such as explosions, earthquakes and other high-energy, low-frequency special effects. In fact multi channel music productions may not include any LFE information at all.

In any case for blingo and his setup, his receiver when set correctly will handle to LFE and front speakers independent of what is set in PowerDVD.

Thanks a million sherwood i will change some settings around. I got a KEF sub connected. I got the fronts set to LARGE right now and will change them to small and see how that goes :)
Thanks again mate

Ok I have a 8800GTX, Q6600 and 4GB Ram and Transformers has a wierd stutter every 30 seconds or so. CPU usage is only 20-25%. I have over 50 other titles and all play flawlessly. Using build 3516.

Anyone else get this?

Ok I have a 8800GTX, Q6600 and 4GB Ram and Transformers has a wierd stutter every 30 seconds or so. CPU usage is only 20-25%. I have over 50 other titles and all play flawlessly. Using build 3516.

Anyone else get this?

Ok I was trying random things to fix it and found a solution... seems to be the movie doesn't like quad cores... set the affinity in task manager for PowerDVD to only 2 cores and it is either greatly reduced or gone completely.

Ok I was trying random things to fix it and found a solution... seems to be the movie doesn't like quad cores... set the affinity in task manager for PowerDVD to only 2 cores and it is either greatly reduced or gone completely.

Very strange that only one movie would be effected from this. I would have though it was down to the player supporting x number of cores.

I have the same exact configuration (except I have a 8500GT, 4GB RAM, Quad core Q6600 3516)... and the same intermittent suttering. It was very brief 1 second gittters in the video once every 30 second; but pretty annoying. Not necessarily on the fast action scenes... just randon. This is also the first movie that Ive ran into with this problem.

At least this is reproducible.

PS: BTW: I was able to finally play my HD-DVD movies after a clean install of the full version of PDVD Ultra.

Ok I have a 8800GTX, Q6600 and 4GB Ram and Transformers has a wierd stutter every 30 seconds or so. CPU usage is only 20-25%. I have over 50 other titles and all play flawlessly. Using build 3516.

Anyone else get this?

I have an amd 4600 x2, Nvidia 7800 with 256mb & 2gb Ram. On the LG I have been able to play every Blu-ray no problem. Machine operates at between 48 to 60% utilization on both cores.

I have struggled tremendously with the Transformers HD DVD Blu-ray. Origionally it would just stutter alot and finally freeze. Then it would freeze and the computer would reboot.

I bought the PDVD upgrade (the uncompressed sound is great) and began testing again. Blu-Rays still worked great.

Transformers was running well until half way through the movie freeze then reboot. I began checking all of my programs that have automatic update. I found my antivirus updated right at the time of the crash.

Does any know if HD-DVD is mucking with the internet while the movie is playing? I could see an update causing the movie to skip but freeze and reboot makes me think something else is going on.

I have struggled tremendously with the Transformers HD DVD Blu-ray.

Maybe the format is defective? :p

Does anyone know if there is a SINGLE file somwhere of Power DVD Ultra 7.3 (latest November Build) that does not require me to install it three times if I need to reformat my computer again?

I have a file for PDVD 7.2, the HDDVD/Blu-Ray fix 7.3, and the Vista fix for 7.3(F?)

Does anyone know if there is a SINGLE file somwhere of Power DVD Ultra 7.3 (latest November Build) that does not require me to install it three times if I need to reformat my computer again?

I have a file for PDVD 7.2, the HDDVD/Blu-Ray fix 7.3, and the Vista fix for 7.3(F?)

So, dosn't the latest patch 3516 include all fixes you need..? http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/download/updates_112_ENU.html

Does anyone know if there is a SINGLE file somwhere of Power DVD Ultra 7.3 (latest November Build) that does not require me to install it three times if I need to reformat my computer again?

I have a file for PDVD 7.2, the HDDVD/Blu-Ray fix 7.3, and the Vista fix for 7.3(F?)

Not that I have tried it this way but, isn't the 100MB 3516 download that you are able to link to within the PowerDVD program a complete standalone install?

I thought that the process asked you to deinstall the previous program before running this one?

I have 3516 installed right now, but I got to it through 3 upgrade steps, if I want to re-install the OS to get a clean install I would rather not go through 2 other versions to get there!

Otherwise, I am with you.

Not that I have tried it this way but, isn't the 100MB 3516 download that you are able to link to within the PowerDVD program a complete standalone install?

Haven't tried either, but I also think it is. At least you need to re-enter your serialcode...

You know, I thought this same thing last night... 2 Possibilities came to mind:

1) Mucking with the internet somehow during the movie.
2) Quad-core multithreading not handled correctly for hardware acceleration.

Something is definitively different about this movie than the rest of them.


Does any know if HD-DVD is mucking with the internet while the movie is playing? I could see an update causing the movie to skip but freeze and reboot makes me think something else is going on.

Yeah, thats the whole problem... the one that's linked to download is an "update" although, it has all the files necessary to do a full install, it is different than the full install and will only install if there's a previous version. I'm sure there might be a hack to fix this. But, its just easier to find the full installer somewhere on the internet.

You do not need to upgrade 3 times... only once after you install the full version... to the latest one. But, if you can find the latest full version, thats ideal.

Not that I have tried it this way but, isn't the 100MB 3516 download that you are able to link to within the PowerDVD program a complete standalone install?

I thought that the process asked you to deinstall the previous program before running this one?

I have 3516 installed right now, but I got to it through 3 upgrade steps, if I want to re-install the OS to get a clean install I would rather not go through 2 other versions to get there!

Otherwise, I am with you.

You know, I thought this same thing last night... 2 Possibilities came to mind:

1) Mucking with the internet somehow during the movie.
2) Quad-core multithreading not handled correctly for hardware acceleration.

Something is definitively different about this movie than the rest of them.

Have you had any other problems with other HD DVD titles?

Zero. I've only played about 20 or so from Netflix.. I honestly didn't ever think Id be one of the people on this thread complaining about having a problem playing back a movie until this one. I've also never had problems playing back >50 blu-ray movies.

Have you had any other problems with other HD DVD titles?

Ok I was trying random things to fix it and found a solution... seems to be the movie doesn't like quad cores... set the affinity in task manager for PowerDVD to only 2 cores and it is either greatly reduced or gone completely.

So by this inference, are you saying that PowerDVD has been written to recognize dual core processors and take advantage of this?

Also you mentioned, "set the affinity in task manager for PowerDVD to only 2 cores"

I didn't know that was possible?

If this is true... it would be a problem with the Nvidia driver. What throws me off is it never happens on any other HD-DVD titles or Blu-ray. Something is definitely different about this particular HD-DVD title.

So by this inference, are you saying that PowerDVD has been written to recognize dual core processors and take advantage of this?

Also you mentioned, "set the affinity in task manager for PowerDVD to only 2 cores"

I didn't know that was possible?

I don't have any constant stuttering as you guys described, but thought I'd share my experience to perhaps help someone. I run the 8800gt, e6850 core2duo, 4 gigs of dd2r-6400 memory....I did have an issue where the whole movie seems to play fine but random little hiccups would occur...I know it's random because if I rewind, the problem cannot be reproduced at will. I was always suspicious something is wrong because under the Windows Experience Index in Vista, it rated my card as a 3.7 for Aero environment and 4.0 for gaming....which I thought was suspiciously low. I installed many different versions of the drivers but then read on other forums that nvidia drivers don't get completely cleaned out if you don't follow certain steps. So what you do is you remove the device and software completely under device manager. Then proceed to use an app from guru3d called drivesweeper to remove any leftover nvidia files. And then install the driver....I went from 169.12 to 167.35 and scored a 5.9/5.9 for both the graphics category. I then got suspicious and removed the entire driver again and installed 169.12 and the score stayed....somehow through all the mucking around ont he drivers, it left the system with drivers that weren't optimized. Now everything plays and works like a charm, BD and HD-DVD. Hope this helps someone.

Hey, has anyone given any thought to my problem? I just read on the nVidia site that their drivers have an underscan feature that is specifically designed to compensate for TV overscan, and during my normal use of the PC, when I am not watching high-def movies, it seems to be working fine. Now, when a video starts playing, and my screen instantly goes into an overscan mode, does that mean the software is somehow defeating it? I also read that overscan compensation does not work with HDCP on Windows XP (I'm running Windows Vista), but perhaps it is possible that the Blu-Ray and HD-DVD titles are enabling HDCP, which in turn disables overscan compensation??? That still doesn't explain why DVD Shrink and BeyondTV exhibit the same behavior and disable overscan compensation, but Windows Media Player does not, and PowerDVD only does it for high-def content. I'm totally confused.

OK, one last problem (sorry everyone). I have my HTPC hooked up to my Samy 1080p DLP TV via DVI -> HDMI, and my video card is a GeForce 8400GS (with HDCP support) set to 1920x1080. With most applications, I'm not having any display issues or overscan problems, but some applications, like Beyond TV and PowerDVD Ultra like to change my display resolution, stretching the image beyond the edges of my screen. Once I quit the application, my display resolution goes back to normal (i.e. my task bar which was stretched "below" the TV set reappears). So far, only some video applications do this. I also know that it is software related, as PowerDVD 7 did not exhibit this behavior, but Ultra does. I have tried disabling video hardware acceleration to see if the problem is related to PureVideo HD (the video stretching occurs regardless of the hardware acceleration settings). I will also point out that the stretching does not occur when I use analog VGA, although with this video card, the analog output produces a very snowy picture. Any thoughts on how to fix this?

I have an amd 4600 x2, Nvidia 7800 with 256mb & 2gb Ram. On the LG I have been able to play every Blu-ray no problem. Machine operates at between 48 to 60% utilization on both cores.

I have struggled tremendously with the Transformers HD DVD Blu-ray. Origionally it would just stutter alot and finally freeze. Then it would freeze and the computer would reboot.

I bought the PDVD upgrade (the uncompressed sound is great) and began testing again. Blu-Rays still worked great.

Transformers was running well until half way through the movie freeze then reboot. I began checking all of my programs that have automatic update. I found my antivirus updated right at the time of the crash.

Does any know if HD-DVD is mucking with the internet while the movie is playing? I could see an update causing the movie to skip but freeze and reboot makes me think something else is going on.

Ok here is one for the books. I disconnected the internet and played Transformers. There were two spots where the screen froze but the movie recovered and played through. What the heck is Dreamworks thinking? I want to watch the movie without tinker toys playing in the background. It would be interesting if there was a way to tell what was happening in the background.

A post a few above this one mentioned cleaning all of the old nvidia drivers off and doing a clean install. I will try this to see if it gets rid of the freeze frame.

Hey, has anyone given any thought to my problem? I just read on the nVidia site that their drivers have an underscan feature that is specifically designed to compensate for TV overscan, and during my normal use of the PC, when I am not watching high-def movies, it seems to be working fine. Now, when a video starts playing, and my screen instantly goes into an overscan mode, does that mean the software is somehow defeating it? I also read that overscan compensation does not work with HDCP on Windows XP (I'm running Windows Vista), but perhaps it is possible that the Blu-Ray and HD-DVD titles are enabling HDCP, which in turn disables overscan compensation??? That still doesn't explain why DVD Shrink and BeyondTV exhibit the same behavior and disable overscan compensation, but Windows Media Player does not, and PowerDVD only does it for high-def content. I'm totally confused.

Have you tried changing the picture size and placement through the tv's UI. I was able to do the on my Sammy DLP.

Zero. I've only played about 20 or so from Netflix.. I honestly didn't ever think Id be one of the people on this thread complaining about having a problem playing back a movie until this one. I've also never had problems playing back >50 blu-ray movies.

Thanks, I am glad to hear that it seems to be an isolated event. I am interested to see how Shrek III plays since it is also from Dreamworks.

Have you tried changing the picture size and placement through the tv's UI. I was able to do the on my Sammy DLP.

The picture size adjustment is only available with the PC input. The problem I am seeing only occurs when using the DVI -> HDMI interface.

Thanks, I am glad to hear that it seems to be an isolated event. I am interested to see how Shrek III plays since it is also from Dreamworks.

I can say though I have played both transformers and Shrek 3 without a hitch......transformers just has a layer break at the end of chapter 12/beginning of chapter 13 where Sam's parents are talking about grounding him and powerdvd to my knowledge handles it horribly so it makes a nice skip.....but Shrek 3 I did not see this issue.....did see it with some other movies though like pride & prejudice/inside man/king kong. Good luck to you guys resolving the issue.

Hey, has anyone given any thought to my problem? I just read on the nVidia site that their drivers have an underscan feature that is specifically designed to compensate for TV overscan, and during my normal use of the PC, when I am not watching high-def movies, it seems to be working fine. Now, when a video starts playing, and my screen instantly goes into an overscan mode, does that mean the software is somehow defeating it? I also read that overscan compensation does not work with HDCP on Windows XP (I'm running Windows Vista), but perhaps it is possible that the Blu-Ray and HD-DVD titles are enabling HDCP, which in turn disables overscan compensation??? That still doesn't explain why DVD Shrink and BeyondTV exhibit the same behavior and disable overscan compensation, but Windows Media Player does not, and PowerDVD only does it for high-def content. I'm totally confused.

This really sounds like something on the computer side instead of the TV side...because obviously the input (computer) is able to give a signal properly scaled by your TV.....Have you tried resizing the view space manually under nvidia's control panel? I didn't have to do that and just let the thing automatically adjust but everything has been perfect so far. Good luck.

So by this inference, are you saying that PowerDVD has been written to recognize dual core processors and take advantage of this?

Also you mentioned, "set the affinity in task manager for PowerDVD to only 2 cores"

I didn't know that was possible?
I just right click on th process and then from set affinity untick the cores.

that's weird. i have a 4400 which is not that much slower and an 8800gts and the highbitrate bluray avc plus compressed lossless audio are not smooth for me. i wonder if something is going weird with my stup.


I have an amd 4600 x2, Nvidia 7800 with 256mb & 2gb Ram. On the LG I have been able to play every Blu-ray no problem. Machine operates at between 48 to 60% utilization on both cores.

I have struggled tremendously with the Transformers HD DVD Blu-ray. Origionally it would just stutter alot and finally freeze. Then it would freeze and the computer would reboot.

I bought the PDVD upgrade (the uncompressed sound is great) and began testing again. Blu-Rays still worked great.

Transformers was running well until half way through the movie freeze then reboot. I began checking all of my programs that have automatic update. I found my antivirus updated right at the time of the crash.

Does any know if HD-DVD is mucking with the internet while the movie is playing? I could see an update causing the movie to skip but freeze and reboot makes me think something else is going on.

You're describing the same symptom me and XxDeadlyxX mentioned above.. neither of us experienced constant stuttering... only "random little hiccups would occur" as you mentioned once every so often... sometimes as frequently as once every 30 seconds... but usually as seldom as once every 3-5 minutes. I already have the 169.09 installed on a clean OS.. so nothing to clean and upgrade. I cant reproduce this in any other movies.... only Transformers.

I don't have any constant stuttering as you guys described, but thought I'd share my experience to perhaps help someone. I run the 8800gt, e6850 core2duo, 4 gigs of dd2r-6400 memory....I did have an issue where the whole movie seems to play fine but random little hiccups would occur...I know it's random because if I rewind, the problem cannot be reproduced at will. I was always suspicious something is wrong because under the Windows Experience Index in Vista, it rated my card as a 3.7 for Aero environment and 4.0 for gaming....which I thought was suspiciously low. I installed many different versions of the drivers but then read on other forums that nvidia drivers don't get completely cleaned out if you don't follow certain steps. So what you do is you remove the device and software completely under device manager. Then proceed to use an app from guru3d called drivesweeper to remove any leftover nvidia files. And then install the driver....I went from 169.12 to 167.35 and scored a 5.9/5.9 for both the graphics category. I then got suspicious and removed the entire driver again and installed 169.12 and the score stayed....somehow through all the mucking around ont he drivers, it left the system with drivers that weren't optimized. Now everything plays and works like a charm, BD and HD-DVD. Hope this helps someone.

ditto

For those of you with the transformers issue....have you guys tried turning OFF hardware acceleration? Your processor usage will go way up, but at least you'll be able to see if it's related to the nvidia card most of you guys are running or not. I'm very curious to see the results with hardware accel off.

im running a ati radeon 3850...

im running a ati radeon 3850...

Maybe it's a general HW acceleration issue? I would test this myself but I don't own transformers.

This really sounds like something on the computer side instead of the TV side...because obviously the input (computer) is able to give a signal properly scaled by your TV.....Have you tried resizing the view space manually under nvidia's control panel? I didn't have to do that and just let the thing automatically adjust but everything has been perfect so far. Good luck.

If you are referring to that screen that comes up with the green arrows in each of the four corners, yes, I tried adjusting the screen. Obviously, I have to do it once the DVD software is up and running, because that is the only time I have the overscan problem. What happens next is that the video window starts flashing between the movie and a black screen, the whole thing stops, and then PowerDVD tells me that I don't have HDCP support. Apparently, either the Purevideo HD decoder gets messed up if you try to adjust the picture size during playback, or once again, it is a problem that overscan compensation does not work with HDCP enabled.

Sounds like a decoder issue... Good news is that it's popular enough of a title (and issue is reproducible).

Maybe it's a general HW acceleration issue? I would test this myself but I don't own transformers.

Does my fix work for everyone with Quads? I've tested it again and before I change the affinity it definitely has the random stuttering every time, then after closing and restarting PowerDVD and setting the affinity, it plays fine. I wonder what is causing it... probably the Web features... although it also happened on build 3319f when Web features didn't even work.

Also I would turn of HW acceleration, but 3516 doesn't let you and unless there is a registry tweak for Nvidia (I know there is for ATI), doesn't seem there is a way to turn it off.

Ill test this tonight and reply back...

Does my fix work for everyone with Quads? I've tested it again and before I change the affinity it definitely has the random stuttering every time, then after closing and restarting PowerDVD and setting the affinity, it plays fine. I wonder what is causing it... probably the Web features... although it also happened on build 3319f when Web features didn't even work.

Also I would turn of HW acceleration, but 3516 doesn't let you and unless there is a registry tweak for Nvidia (I know there is for ATI), doesn't seem there is a way to turn it off.

I installed the system from scratch when I built it, and the first set of drivers I installed was 169.02 since it's WHQL from nvidia's website. I had no problem with playback except when playing transformers, I just get a green screen and I can hear the sounds an see the menus....but not the movie. Since then upgrading to 169.12 has resolved this but came up the little hiccups (all movies randomly, not just transformers)....I did the driver clean up with the guru3d tool and reinstalled 163.75 and fixed everything.....then I uninstalled this and installed 169.12 back again and everything has been fine. It would be weird the issue only exists on Transformers.....nothing special about the movie...VC1 is VC1. I'd be curious to see people's results with the affinity fix posted earlier.

If you are referring to that screen that comes up with the green arrows in each of the four corners, yes, I tried adjusting the screen. Obviously, I have to do it once the DVD software is up and running, because that is the only time I have the overscan problem. What happens next is that the video window starts flashing between the movie and a black screen, the whole thing stops, and then PowerDVD tells me that I don't have HDCP support. Apparently, either the Purevideo HD decoder gets messed up if you try to adjust the picture size during playback, or once again, it is a problem that overscan compensation does not work with HDCP enabled.

Try to deselect the automatic checkbox and select manual, adjust your desktop normally and then run the movie....see if changing it to manual keeps the settings locked. I've seen some weird behavior on this option as well since sometimes when I select automaticallly resize, it resizes my desktop perfectly but other times when I do it, it doesn't do it right the first time but does it correctly the 2nd time.....this happens while I was installing and uninstalling drivers back and forth. Good luck.

Try to deselect the automatic checkbox and select manual, adjust your desktop normally and then run the movie....see if changing it to manual keeps the settings locked. I've seen some weird behavior on this option as well since sometimes when I select automaticallly resize, it resizes my desktop perfectly but other times when I do it, it doesn't do it right the first time but does it correctly the 2nd time.....this happens while I was installing and uninstalling drivers back and forth. Good luck.

Which automatic checkbox are you referring to? Can you tell me what menu it is under? I had some sliders that allowed me to adjust how much of the screen area appears on my display (again, it's a blue screen with green arrows in the four corners and a horizontal and vertical slide bar). I can adjust it before I play the movie, but it still changes back to the overscan mode when I start playing the movie. If I try to adjust it AFTER the movie has started playing, it gives me the flashing problem and then quits.

XxDeadlyxX, on the first try, I wasn't successful in eliminating the video judder by disabling two of my CPU cores for PDVD only.

The second try, I disabled two of my CPU cores for:
1) PDVD
2) RichVideo
3) PowerDVD server

This fix the problem dead in its tracks. So, long as we know its related to multicore processing greater than 2.. thats all we should be concerned with. It's up to Cyberlink to fix this bug.

I did discover one more bug in this version... If I enable virtual dolby or Cyberlink Virtual audio, it breaks HD-DVD playback when the actual movie starts... and PowerDVD just exits memory without any errors.

It seems that Cyberlink introduced significant bugs when reducing functionality of disk playback.... Something they did broke it.

Does my fix work for everyone with Quads? I've tested it again and before I change the affinity it definitely has the random stuttering every time, then after closing and restarting PowerDVD and setting the affinity, it plays fine. I wonder what is causing it... probably the Web features... although it also happened on build 3319f when Web features didn't even work.

Also I would turn of HW acceleration, but 3516 doesn't let you and unless there is a registry tweak for Nvidia (I know there is for ATI), doesn't seem there is a way to turn it off.

I always completely disable richvideo.exe and pdvdserv.exe after installing updates. It pisses me off to no end when programs put unnecessary crap in my startup, even the big names like Adobe and others are doing it, when they should know better. It's even worse when they do it sneakily. You should kill altogether those two from your startups via msconfig, and you shouldn't have to worry about them.

There are something things I do that on.. I stopped doing things like that though on software where I question the competency of the software company's R&D team and engineers (ie, Logitech webcam stuff and PowerDVD). I wouldnt be surprised if Cyberlink didnt bother testing their product without richvideo.exe and pdvdserv.exe... and somewhere in their programming they presume you have them in memory.. not having them in memory breaks something indirectly...

Shoot.. I just changed the default directory of the HD-DVD folder and the HD-DVD webupdate already thinks there was something wrong and created a C:\HD-DVD folder with a file in it and another file C:\diagnostics.... I'm afraid to do anything with the software other than the default install. They've traumatized me LOL!


I always completely disable richvideo.exe and pdvdserv.exe after installing updates. It pisses me off to no end when programs put unnecessary crap in my startup, even the big names like Adobe and others are doing it, when they should know better. It's even worse when they do it sneakily. You should kill altogether those two from your startups via msconfig, and you shouldn't have to worry about them.

QUESTION:

My HTPC is configured in 720p because 1080p is WAY too small.

So far, i have not found a way to make my PDDVD play HD Movies in 1080p WITHOUT moving my desktop res to 1080p.

Is this a limitation of the software or have any of you guys found a "workaround"?

Thanks. :)

OH... and i got the PDVD remote problem figured out.. i mapped the program through the IMON reciever on the front of my GDMX01 case. Almost there. :)

You can use PowerStrip (search for it on the web) to launch PowerDVD at 1080p and when you exit I think it will take you back to 720p.

QUESTION:

My HTPC is configured in 720p because 1080p is WAY too small.

So far, i have not found a way to make my PDDVD play HD Movies in 1080p WITHOUT moving my desktop res to 1080p.

Is this a limitation of the software or have any of you guys found a "workaround"?

Thanks. :)

OH... and i got the PDVD remote problem figured out.. i mapped the program through the IMON reciever on the front of my GDMX01 case. Almost there. :)

Ahh.. Powerstripe... know it well, but i haven't used it since i bought my trusty ole Gefore 2 lmao. I was thinking Powerstripe was an ATI only thing back then though.. i had a Radeon 64ddr in a rig too lol! Lan stuff.. for Quake 2, 3 and UT99.

I'll look it up, thanks for responding!

that's weird. i have a 4400 which is not that much slower and an 8800gts and the highbitrate bluray avc plus compressed lossless audio are not smooth for me. i wonder if something is going weird with my stup.

well the new anydvdhd 6.3.0.0 runs in the background with powerdvdultra and interesting simply doing that and now my spiderman is suddenly all but jitter free! either anydvd means no realtime AACS is needed (and thus AACS uses too much CPU time and sucks) or it decodes it more efficiently than powerdvd can (in which case powerdvd and AACS suck :D )

i installed PowerDVD Ultra Deluxe 7.3.3516 and I can't get surround sound to work anymore. it was just working fine with 7.2 before I removed it for 7.3.3516 (i removed 7.2 because of weird artifacts in the video playback). i do get 2 channel sound, but when i select SPDIF i get no sound. and no, it's not a trial version, it's activated

surround sound still works fine in other av apps (like vista media center), so i know it's something up with PowerDVD.

any ideas?

p.s. - the sound card is chaintech av-710 with latest envy24 drivers

guys, just installed vista x86 and running a radeon 3850 pdvd 3516. I have hardware acc turned on and deinterlace option turned on in AVIVO as well. I am seeing some interlacing artifacts in the video. I dont recall seeing them in windows XP...anyone else experience this?

Which automatic checkbox are you referring to? Can you tell me what menu it is under? I had some sliders that allowed me to adjust how much of the screen area appears on my display (again, it's a blue screen with green arrows in the four corners and a horizontal and vertical slide bar). I can adjust it before I play the movie, but it still changes back to the overscan mode when I start playing the movie. If I try to adjust it AFTER the movie has started playing, it gives me the flashing problem and then quits.

I would #1) make sure your tv display settings is set to display the native HD resolution signal from the connection (in my case, the samsung lcds call it "just scan.")

#2) right click on desktop and enter nvidia control panel, then hit the tab under "video/television" for resizing. Then you will see 2 options, do not resize or resize, if it's already checked on resize since you resized it....hit the do not resize and then resize again and you'll notice you can apply the changes....if you apply the changes....the computer will automatically try to resize accordingly to what it thinks it sees on the screen. If this does not work still....I said to resize manually using the screen you're speaking of and making sure it locks this. Try a quick reset and then see if powerdvd is still doing this.....if not....I would either 1) change drivers (either upgrade or rollback to another version to see if it helps after completely removing it via my posts before) 2) try reinstalling powerdvd.

Good luck.

Anyone knows any way to remove the red splash screen with the girl's picture? Nothing against her personally, but she looks **way too much** like a former employee whom I rather not see every time I play a BD or HD disc! The downloadable skins provide a different background, but this comes with a smaller on screen control which I find cumbersome.

Thanks!!

i just use the all black skin found here: http://www.nathanm.com/cyberlink-powerdvd-all-black-skin/

extract it into the skins folder under your powerdvd install directory and change the skin under powerdvd's options

just do a google search for powerdvd skins

i just use the all black skin found here: http://www.nathanm.com/cyberlink-powerdvd-all-black-skin/

extract it into the skins folder under your powerdvd install directory and change the skin under powerdvd's options

just do a google search for powerdvd skins

Thanks!! Just what I was looking for!!

I am currently using powerDVD for HD DVD files on my computer, but I would like to add an internal Bru-Ray drive to view and store Blu-Ray as well. Will I be able to use PowerDVD to watch the Blu-Ray on the same system as HD DVD? I'm sure this has been addressed, but if anyone wouldn't mind saving me from combing the threads I would sure appreciate it.

I am currently using powerDVD for HD DVD files on my computer, but I would like to add an internal Bru-Ray drive to view and store Blu-Ray as well. Will I be able to use PowerDVD to watch the Blu-Ray on the same system as HD DVD? I'm sure this has been addressed, but if anyone wouldn't mind saving me from combing the threads I would sure appreciate it.

Yes.

I am currently using powerDVD for HD DVD files on my computer, but I would like to add an internal Bru-Ray drive to view and store Blu-Ray as well. Will I be able to use PowerDVD to watch the Blu-Ray on the same system as HD DVD? I'm sure this has been addressed, but if anyone wouldn't mind saving me from combing the threads I would sure appreciate it.

Just make sure both are up and running and the OS detects them before installing (or re-installing) PowerDVD.

well the new anydvdhd 6.3.0.0 runs in the background with powerdvdultra and interesting simply doing that and now my spiderman is suddenly all but jitter free! either anydvd means no realtime AACS is needed (and thus AACS uses too much CPU time and sucks) or it decodes it more efficiently than powerdvd can (in which case powerdvd and AACS suck :D )

I find that if AnYDVDHD isn't running I can't even playback a movie!?

I find that if AnYDVDHD isn't running I can't even playback a movie!?

i had found that with recent combinations of pwoerdvd,nvidia drivers and anydvdhd for quite a while (i never tried it that often, but recently at least, yeah it wouldn't play).

however, in frustration and recalling rumours about AACS using up cpu cycles, and rumours that they would try to make anydvdhd work again i tried:
anydvdhd 6.3.0.0
powerdvd ultra 3516
nvidia beta vista 169.12

and it worked.
at least yesterday. i HOPE today after reboot, but i haven't tried it yet.

Thanks for the responses on combining Blu-Ray and HD DVD with PowerDVD. So, I will need to re-install PowerDVD after installing the Blu-Ray drive? Will there be a selection during reinstallation to allow playback from both formats?

Thanks for the responses on combining Blu-Ray and HD DVD with PowerDVD. So, I will need to re-install PowerDVD after installing the Blu-Ray drive? Will there be a selection during reinstallation to allow playback from both formats?

I didn't need to re-install PDVD after installing LG BD/HD combo drive.

I am getting notable frame dropping in one partcular Blu-ray title, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Best I can tell it only happen whenever the bitrate goes past 26Mbps. Perhaps the fact that it is MPEG-4 could also be an issue, as it is the only disk I have which uses that format. Anyway, has anyone else had or heard of others having trouble with such disks?

QUESTION:

My HTPC is configured in 720p because 1080p is WAY too small.

So far, i have not found a way to make my PDDVD play HD Movies in 1080p WITHOUT moving my desktop res to 1080p.

Is this a limitation of the software or have any of you guys found a "workaround"?

Thanks. :)

OH... and i got the PDVD remote problem figured out.. i mapped the program through the IMON reciever on the front of my GDMX01 case. Almost there. :)


Set your display resolution to 1080p. If you're using XP or MCE 2005, right-click on the desktop and select properties.

Go to the Settings tab and choose the Advanced button and change your DPI settings to custom setting and choose 150%. That should enlarge things.

Then go back to the Display Properties and under the Apperance tab change your font size to Large.

Hi fellows,
I just received my LG-HD/BD drive and just finished installing it. I tried the new Pirates of the Caribeean (part 3) BD disc and It plays fine with full 5.1 sound.

Now, I'm wondering how do I back-up this BD-DVD disc to my hard drive?
What application do I need? DVDShrink?
I have AnyDVD-HD and ImgBurn.
I'm running Vista 32-bit Ultimate

just imgburn...use the read mode and make an ISO. Then mount the ISO with daemontools.

FYI - I asked Cyberlink some Q's on PDVD & I thought I would share their prompt but not very encoraging response (any other workaround or suggestions would be warmly welcome!):

Questions to Cyberlink:

Hi, I've got V7.5 (after free upgrade of the OEM version that came with the LG GGV-H20 combo BluRay / HD-DVD Drive) but have a couple of questions I can not find the answer for:
1) Sound Over HDMI (I'd like to output the 5.1PCM track over HDMI) - I can output sound over S/PDIF but not HDMI (works on all other programs just for PDVD)
2) Integration with HTPC Front End - I can start up PDVD from inside my HTPC SW (JR Media Center) and control it with my MCE RC just fine but would like PDVD to close OR handback control to the HTPC SW when playback is finished or stoped. Are there any switches (or other means) to enable this?
3) 1080/24p Support - Can PDVD be configured to dynamically change the video output to 1080/24p when playing BluRay / HD-DVD then revert to the previous resolution / timing settings when playback is finished?

Response from Cyberlink:

Thank you for contacting CyberLink Online Customer Support.

In regard to your issue, we regret to say that all the 3 points which you have mentioned in your email are not supported PowerDVD Ultra software and therefore will not work. The PowerDVD Ultra is not designed to provide such features.

We regret the inconvenience you have encountered so far.

just imgburn...use the read mode and make an ISO. Then mount the ISO with daemontools.

So is an ISO file that is needed? I thought that it needed to be in UDF format?

And just to confirm this still works at 3516?

FYI - I asked Cyberlink some Q's on PDVD & I thought I would share their prompt but not very encoraging response (any other workaround or suggestions would be warmly welcome!):

Questions to Cyberlink:

Hi, I've got V7.5 (after free upgrade of the OEM version that came with the LG GGV-H20 combo BluRay / HD-DVD Drive) but have a couple of questions I can not find the answer for:
1) Sound Over HDMI (I'd like to output the 5.1PCM track over HDMI) - I can output sound over S/PDIF but not HDMI (works on all other programs just for PDVD)
2) Integration with HTPC Front End - I can start up PDVD from inside my HTPC SW (JR Media Center) and control it with my MCE RC just fine but would like PDVD to close OR handback control to the HTPC SW when playback is finished or stoped. Are there any switches (or other means) to enable this?
3) 1080/24p Support - Can PDVD be configured to dynamically change the video output to 1080/24p when playing BluRay / HD-DVD then revert to the previous resolution / timing settings when playback is finished?

Response from Cyberlink:

Thank you for contacting CyberLink Online Customer Support.

In regard to your issue, we regret to say that all the 3 points which you have mentioned in your email are not supported PowerDVD Ultra software and therefore will not work. The PowerDVD Ultra is not designed to provide such features.

We regret the inconvenience you have encountered so far.

With regards to question #3 above, you are getting 1080p24 playback though, right? I do...

I am getting notable frame dropping in one partcular Blu-ray title, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Best I can tell it only happen whenever the bitrate goes past 26Mbps. Perhaps the fact that it is MPEG-4 could also be an issue, as it is the only disk I have which uses that format. Anyway, has anyone else had or heard of others having trouble with such disks?

yes, and i just found that running anydvdhd in the background seems to help jsut enough by probably helping reduce the AACS decryption load in one way or another. but if you don't already have it let me test a little more first.

just imgburn...use the read mode and make an ISO. Then mount the ISO with daemontools.

Thank you very much.

Regards,

With regards to question #3 above, you are getting 1080p24 playback though, right? I do...


Yup - thanks to archibael's suggestion I use batch files to get ResChange to swap between 24hz and 50hz manually.

I would #1) make sure your tv display settings is set to display the native HD resolution signal from the connection (in my case, the samsung lcds call it "just scan.")

#2) right click on desktop and enter nvidia control panel, then hit the tab under "video/television" for resizing. Then you will see 2 options, do not resize or resize, if it's already checked on resize since you resized it....hit the do not resize and then resize again and you'll notice you can apply the changes....if you apply the changes....the computer will automatically try to resize accordingly to what it thinks it sees on the screen. If this does not work still....I said to resize manually using the screen you're speaking of and making sure it locks this. Try a quick reset and then see if powerdvd is still doing this.....if not....I would either 1) change drivers (either upgrade or rollback to another version to see if it helps after completely removing it via my posts before) 2) try reinstalling powerdvd.

Good luck.

First, I was able to ameliorate the problem by going into my Samsung TV's service mode and turning off the overscan feature. When it plays movies, it now cuts off roughly half the height of the taskbar from the bottom of the screen, which is probably not enough overscan to get up in arms about; however, I have noticed that I can still see slightly more of the image around the edges when I have a movie windowed as opposed to running full screen, and it's annoying me that I am cutting off part of the picture, no matter how small it is.

Secondly, I know perfectly well the setting you mention. I have been working with it extensively, and as I said, no matter how I have adjusted the picture using the resize menu, those settings are TEMPORARILY discarded when I start to watch a high definition movie. If I make my screen as small or as large as possible before I play back a movie, I will have the same amount of overscan when I start the movie. Once the movie stops, the screen goes back to being normal. If I try to adjust the screen DURING playback, with the old version of the drivers, it would cause the video to flash to a black screen for a few moments, and then PowerDVD would tell me that HDCP was not available on the system. The curent (beta) version of the nVidia drivers don't even allow you to reduce the size of the screen while a video is playing, but only before or afterwards. The more I look at it, the more I am beginning to think that the card does not support overscan compensation when HDCP is enabled. Perhaps it is a limitation of the 8400GS.

guys,

is it possible for powerdvd to output 24hz video, and more importantly will the video card (Radeon 3850) output at 24hz?

guys,

is it possible for powerdvd to output 24hz video, and more importantly will the video card (Radeon 3850) output at 24hz?

You need three things to get smooth 24p output:
1) 24p Media (all BluRay / HD-DVD) & PDVD = OK
2) 24hz (or a multiple) support from your Graphics Card = OK for me on an Intel G33 and I use ResChange to change from between 50 and 25hz
3) Monitor that will support 24hz (or a multiple) = OK for me on a Pio Kuro 60" but not all TV's / Displays support this frequency.

Thanks
Nathan

Does PDVD Ultra work with Windows MCE remote control?

Does PDVD Ultra work with Windows MCE remote control?

Yes - I've got it working as we speak

Yes, I use with via Girder + USB-UIRT

Does PDVD Ultra work with Windows MCE remote control?

Anyone have problems running ISO with:
PDVD 3516
Daemon V4.10
Imgburn
AnyDVD HD

Anything above PDVD 3319a gives me either Unrecognize Format or Internal Error but only on Live Free/Die Hard and The Day After Tomorrow?

I just installed my LG drive, and the PowerDVD 7.3 it came with, ripped World's End with anydvd-HD, and am watching it . Video bitrate is between 20 and 40 Mbps, Dolby 5.1 at 640 kbps.

Processor between 30-40%
Intel x6800 cpu @2.93ghz
2 GB ram
8800 ultra in SLI
hardware acceleration on

LPCM runs at 6912 kbps

So is an ISO file that is needed? I thought that it needed to be in UDF format?

Yes, it is UDF, but imgburn calls the resulting file an ISO.

guys does anydvdhd have any negative effects on the system? Can I set it up to only run when I want to rip a disc?

8800 ultra in SLI


:eek::eek: in an HTPC??? (Just kidding, I'm sure it's your gaming machine as well).

yes, and i just found that running anydvdhd in the background seems to help jsut enough by probably helping reduce the AACS decryption load in one way or another. but if you don't already have it let me test a little more first.
I didn't have the program but I downloaded the free trial at your suggestion, and while it says it removed the AACS encryption, that movie drops frames during high bitrate scenes just the same. CPU usage never tops 30% on my C2D, but I wonder if maybe the transfer speed from the drive just isn't enough or if perhaps it is my 8800gt's hardware acceleration that is choking. Regardless, I'd like to find the cause of the issue, so I'd like to hear what more testing on your system turns up.

And has anyone else run The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, either playing smoothly or with dropped frames?

guys does anydvdhd have any negative effects on the system? Can I set it up to only run when I want to rip a disc?

Yes, from months of using it, it's perfectly "disable-able". You know what, I find these "sneaky" or "shady" (as some would like us believe) programs much cleaner and less annoying than the supposedly mainstream or "clean" ones. Just not going too far, PowerDVD installed at least 3 totally unnecessary sneaky processes, and now with 3516 I noticed it installs a fourth one, brs.exe or something like that. You need to go to msconfig to disable these, or better, get autoruns from sysinternals.com. With AnyDVD, you can disable autostart right there from the program itself easily.

By the way, anyone playing movies in a laptop with either a nVidia 8400 or 8700? How's HW acceleration working? I'm thinking of building myself a laptop for work.

guys does anydvdhd have any negative effects on the system? Can I set it up to only run when I want to rip a disc?

of course, jsut turn off auto-start in the menu.

that said, for me at least, for whatever reason if I don't have it running in the background, spiderman is all choppy and if it IS running then it is smooth.
just tested that out again.

i hope it will also solve the choppiness in my other new avc highbitrate blurays too. if so, it might actualy be good to just leave it running, at least for some people.

What bitrates are you seeing in Spiderman where it was choppy without AnyDVD? And are you using a videocard that supports hardware acceleration, or if not what CPU?

ditto, what videocard are you using. From reading a lot of the posts on here most folks with playback issues seem to be using nvidia cards.

I'm using a 8600GTS with 163.75 drivers, and no (major) playback issues. No choppiness and such with either blu-rays or HD-DVDs, but I do get a thin green line at the bottom of the 16:9 frame in full screen with 163 drivers. With 169 drivers it's not there, but I get forced levels expansion for HD and not for SD, which is a pretty annoying bug, so I'm sticking with 163 for the time being.

Whats forced levels expansions?

I'm using a 8600GTS with 163.75 drivers, and no (major) playback issues. No choppiness and such with either blu-rays or HD-DVDs, but I do get a thin green line at the bottom of the 16:9 frame in full screen with 163 drivers. With 169 drivers it's not there, but I get forced levels expansion for HD and not for SD, which is a pretty annoying bug, so I'm sticking with 163 for the time being.

ditto, what videocard are you using. From reading a lot of the posts on here most folks with playback issues seem to be using nvidia cards.
8800gt here, with the 169.09 drivers.


Has anyone else run The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, either playing smoothly or with dropped frames?

Whats forced levels expansions?

That's when the video card expands dark gray (supposedly 16, 16, 16 in RGB values) to black (0, 0, 0), and gray 235, 235, 235 to white. 16-235 are supposed to be the native video levels of most (all?) video, so the darkest you'll see in the video, without contrast adjustment, is a dark gray, and the brightest, a light gray instead of white.

ATI cards have been forcing expansion on all video as far as I can remember and it's annoying to some purists, but you're gonna have to calibrate or expand yourself anyway, so it's not a big problem for me, though I'd prefer not having it expanded and do it myself. But what the latest ATI and now nVidia 169 drivers are doing, is forcing expansion only on HD titles, but not on SD, so if your HD is expanded, then your SD titles will look bad, and if you calibrate for SD, then your HD will be over-expanded, losing lots of detail in the shadows and in clipping the bright areas. With the ATI drivers there is a key you can add to the registry to at least force expansion on both, but with nVidia I don't know of such thing.

Yes, it is UDF, but imgburn calls the resulting file an ISO.

Ok, I was wondering about the setting that needs to be chosen, when making the 'image'?

What bitrates are you seeing in Spiderman where it was choppy without AnyDVD? And are you using a videocard that supports hardware acceleration, or if not what CPU?

i have an 8800GTS. it's fast for gaming and main decoding for MPEG2 and VC1 but doesn't do some of the extra processing stuff or AVC decoding at all, so it's not so fast for AVC stuff.

AMD X2 4400+ socket 939
i dont' recall the bitrates off-hand but it is AVC and it's not low and it also has compressed lossless audio at full bitrate which adds more strain (PCM takes lots less CPU strain, same with DD+, DD, DTS,DTS-HD but trueHD and moreso DTS-MA take lots CPU)

anyway most of spiderman isn't quite smooth certainly at least very second or two it hits a bad part.

using anydvdhd for some reason frame rate goes noticeably up, most is more or less silky smooth, even though cpu strainingg doesn't seem to drop all that much, if some, according to taskmanager, i don't think taskmanage polls all that frequencly though.

i need to try the anydvdhd thing with some other titles that were jumpy

I'm using a 8600GTS with 163.75 drivers, and no (major) playback issues. No choppiness and such with either blu-rays or HD-DVDs, but I do get a thin green line at the bottom of the 16:9 frame in full screen with 163 drivers. With 169 drivers it's not there, but I get forced levels expansion for HD and not for SD, which is a pretty annoying bug, so I'm sticking with 163 for the time being.

maybe i'm crazy but i thought either before the latest pwoerdvd or maybe it was the 169 drivers that my monitor profile worked with HD DVD and bluray stuff, now it only works for SD DVD and HDTV. maybe i was mistaken and it never worked before, but i thought i had checked.

i knew i suddenly got HD levels expansion wasn't sure if it was the new powerdvd or the new drivers, but it appears it is the 169 drivers.

whatever the cause it is very annoying to not let a perfect monitor profile to work during hd dvd and bluray, aside for photo work, those are the most important things for it to work with.

I have a low-end media PC (3000+, 2gb RAM, Radeon 2400Pro, Vista Home Premium) on which I have installed the OEM version of Power DVD Ultra. When I play HD discs, the CPU is maxed out to 100% and playback is very choppy.

Does the OEM version use the 2400Pro's hardware acceleration? Is there anything special I need to do to enable hardware acceleration? All I can find is a checkbox in the PowerDVD configuration, but while a disc is playing, this checkbox is not set.

maybe i'm crazy but i thought either before the latest pwoerdvd or maybe it was the 169 drivers that my monitor profile worked with HD DVD and bluray stuff, now it only works for SD DVD and HDTV. maybe i was mistaken and it never worked before, but i thought i had checked.

i knew i suddenly got HD levels expansion wasn't sure if it was the new powerdvd or the new drivers, but it appears it is the 169 drivers.

whatever the cause it is very annoying to not let a perfect monitor profile to work during hd dvd and bluray, aside for photo work, those are the most important things for it to work with.

Well, I think you know that the monitor "profile" for PowerDVD only changes the stuff for video, and it is totally unrelated to the ICC monitor profile that hardware or software calibration tools make for our Windows environment. I do know what you mean, though. I also cannot change video levels within PowerDVD for HD material. I have to go to nVidia Control Panel.

I mention this, because I am also dealing with something annoying for some time now with nVidia drivers. The ICC monitor calibration that is supposed to load at startup, only loads to then be unloaded by the nVidia driver. I have to load it again manually, but every time I open nVidia control panel and even click on ANY slider, the calibration unloads again. I think someone else mentioned this before, but anyone else who has their monitor calibrated for photo work (like with an iOne or a Spyder) having the same problem? I have tried with nVidia drivers I think since 162 through all the 169 betas that work with my 8600 GTS.

Well, I think you know that the monitor "profile" for PowerDVD only changes the stuff for video, and it is totally unrelated to the ICC monitor profile that hardware or software calibration tools make for our Windows environment. I do know what you mean, though. I also cannot change video levels within PowerDVD for HD material. I have to go to nVidia Control Panel.

I mention this, because I am also dealing with something annoying for some time now with nVidia drivers. The ICC monitor calibration that is supposed to load at startup, only loads to then be unloaded by the nVidia driver. I have to load it again manually, but every time I open nVidia control panel and even click on ANY slider, the calibration unloads again. I think someone else mentioned this before, but anyone else who has their monitor calibrated for photo work (like with an iOne or a Spyder) having the same problem? I have tried with nVidia drivers I think since 162 through all the 169 betas that work with my 8600 GTS.

yeah,if you touch anything in the video color area it resets it, but when you go an reset your monitor profile it leaves the new levels expansion taht you set for video while leaving the basic color profile still altered (for SD DVD through powerdvd and HDTV through media center).

it also has a tendency to load then get unloaded at startup, but not always. at least the spyder profile choser is quick and easy to use.

just frustrating that i can use the nvidia slider to set the expansion and my ICC profile to set the colors for SD DVD through pwoerdvd and for HDTV but i can't set the colors now for powerdvd hd dvd or bluray, whichi care abotu being correct much moreso than SD DVD or HDTV! i guess i could try to play with pwoerdvd settings or nvidia color stuff but the slider there seems primitve and not really up to the task at all, plus it puts in a lot more guesswork.

i tried anotehr title spiderman2 that also become mysteriously smooth with anydvdhd in the background but all choppy without it.

yeah,if you touch anything in the video color area it resets it, but when you go an reset your monitor profile it leaves the new levels expansion taht you set for video while leaving the basic color profile still altered (for SD DVD through powerdvd and HDTV through media center).

it also has a tendency to load then get unloaded at startup, but not always. at least the spyder profile choser is quick and easy to use.

just frustrating that i can use the nvidia slider to set the expansion and my ICC profile to set the colors for SD DVD through pwoerdvd and for HDTV but i can't set the colors now for powerdvd hd dvd or bluray, whichi care abotu being correct much moreso than SD DVD or HDTV! i guess i could try to play with pwoerdvd settings or nvidia color stuff but the slider there seems primitve and not really up to the task at all, plus it puts in a lot more guesswork.


I don't think you should mix both "profiles". They have nothing to do with each other. The ICC profile controls all of Windows (except for the overlay, and I guess now, the EVR), and tells some ICC color-"aware" programs, like photoshop, how to output color to be consistent with other profiled monitors with the same parameters. Your "profile" of PowerDVD is just the way you set video, and it affects only the video window. The ICC profile is mainly for still image work. When you say you have to use your ICC profile to set the colors for SD-DVD, how can you do it? The Spyder 2 program doesn't let you calibrate video as far as I know. I used to use it, now I use the EyeOne 2, but they behave similarly.

But with all this mucking around I've realized something else, that my ICC profile indeed affects SD video, but it doesn't seem to affect HD. With my system and my monitor it's not much of a deal because the ICC profile corrections are not very discernible, but if I play in some other monitor whose ICC profile greatly alters the native output of the graphics card, then for example white in SD will look very different than in HD, not just in brightness but more importantly in color cast. I wonder what this "different video settings for HD and SD" thing is all about with the latest ATI and nVidia drivers.

Anyone got a solution for the mouse pointer being visible during playback APART from moving it off the screen or getting the keyboard out? Is there a switch / option in PDVD to hid this?
Thanks
Nathan

This has to be the lamest bug aside from the player when in a window doesnt save it's size and position. I dont have a way to force it to do what it's supposed to. :(

Anyone got a solution for the mouse pointer being visible during playback APART from moving it off the screen or getting the keyboard out? Is there a switch / option in PDVD to hid this?
Thanks
Nathan

I don't think you should mix both "profiles". They have nothing to do with each other. The ICC profile controls all of Windows (except for the overlay, and I guess now, the EVR), and tells some ICC color-"aware" programs, like photoshop, how to output color to be consistent with other profiled monitors with the same parameters. Your "profile" of PowerDVD is just the way you set video, and it affects only the video window. The ICC profile is mainly for still image work. When you say you have to use your ICC profile to set the colors for SD-DVD, how can you do it? The Spyder 2 program doesn't let you calibrate video as far as I know. I used to use it, now I use the EyeOne 2, but they behave similarly.

But with all this mucking around I've realized something else, that my ICC profile indeed affects SD video, but it doesn't seem to affect HD. With my system and my monitor it's not much of a deal because the ICC profile corrections are not very discernible, but if I play in some other monitor whose ICC profile greatly alters the native output of the graphics card, then for example white in SD will look very different than in HD, not just in brightness but more importantly in color cast. I wonder what this "different video settings for HD and SD" thing is all about with the latest ATI and nVidia drivers.

i wsn't so much mixing them as with pre-169 nvidia you had to adjust brightness and contrast otherwise stuff would be washed out on displayer that can only take PC-levels. so i had to do that, but then i found if i hit the spyder profile choser it would adjust the colors not just for desktop but for at least a number of video modes too while having them still retain the levels expansion set with teh nvidia brightness and contrast controls.

i notice quite a difference between stock monitor and spyder 2 profile. stock has too much red and not enough green it seems and some stuff is too saturated and some too bright, etc.

but with 169 yeah HD and SD seem to be treated entirely differently. the nvidia control and brightness and so on can still alter HD, but the levels are already set and spyder 2 ICC profile now (or maybe it never did) doesn't alter it at all. SD is same as it's been long for a long while. no auto-level expansion and nvidia and ICC both affect it. actually i shouldn't say HD vs. SD since HDTV affected by both settings (although weirldy it also now seems to be one step off from proper levels).

Anyone got a solution for the mouse pointer being visible during playback APART from moving it off the screen or getting the keyboard out? Is there a switch / option in PDVD to hid this?
Thanks
Nathan

i believe that many versions agao the mouse would disappear after a while, but yeah now you need to move it to the edge.

Anyone got a solution for the mouse pointer being visible during playback APART from moving it off the screen or getting the keyboard out? Is there a switch / option in PDVD to hid this?
Thanks
Nathan

I find this only happens if I have the OSD showing in the corner of the screen displaying info about the disc/file being played. Right click and disable that and the mouse pointer will dissapear after a few seconds.

Nope... not for me. I see the arrow pop up every now and then... having to put the arrow to the corner of the screen even when there's no OSD. I haven't tried disabling OSD text completely, but seems a bit drastic for compensating for a bug.

I find this only happens if I have the OSD showing in the corner of the screen displaying info about the disc/file being played. Right click and disable that and the mouse pointer will dissapear after a few seconds.

Ok, I was wondering about the setting that needs to be chosen, when making the 'image'?

Al, select UDF only, see these screenshots:

http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/995/picture1ql3.th.jpg (http://img91.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture1ql3.jpg)

Why when i set the resolution of the TV to 1920x1080 and maximize a bluray disc in Pdvd it will not cover from side to side? I have attached a photo to show what i mean.

Also does anyone know why with the 7.11 catalyst drivers on i cannot make the TV my primary display and not have the monitor attached? it tells me i have an invalid driver, yet works when the TV is set up as an extended monitor

athlon 4400 dual core
radeon 2600xt (monitor on dvi, tv on HDMI)
lg combo drive
pdvd ultra
CCC 7.11
philips 42" 1080p lcd

http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/467/1003915nn4.th.jpg (http://img505.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1003915nn4.jpg)

I went into the "about" menu, hunted around the activation options etc....
and still can't figure out where the information is buried about which version I have.

I have not updated in a while, and based on the on-going discussion here, I may not. I guess you have to if you use blu-ray; but my source material is hd-dvd. I guess if I did update, I'd have to learn how to use the daemon tools option to play "virtual discs".

Say, are there any cheap (or at least resonable priced) blu-ray drives out yet for PCs? (or better yet combo drives?). I know that you can order a combo LG for a $300 add on price for new PCs from HP...but the drive is around $800 at retail as far as I can tell.

Anyone experience Cybersaying 163.75 WHQL is not good enough?

Say, are there any cheap (or at least resonable priced) blu-ray drives out yet for PCs? (or better yet combo drives?). I know that you can order a combo LG for a $300 add on price for new PCs from HP...but the drive is around $800 at retail as far as I can tell.

Many of us have bought the LG GGC-H20L from newegg, ncix for at or under $299. I have also seen posts of folks picking them up at Fry's for about that price also. It is a combo drive that plays both PDVD and HD DVD.

I had to upgrade PDVD to get transformers HD DVD to play. If you have to go to iso's it is not that big of a deal. Daemon tools is pretty easy to setup.

Check out this thread: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=927751

Many of us have bought the LG GGC-H20L from newegg, ncix for at or under $299. I have also seen posts of folks picking them up at Fry's for about that price also. It is a combo drive that plays both PDVD and HD DVD.
Mine was $280 postpaid, from NCIX, and it only took two days or so to arrive. If only getting it working were so easy!

If only getting it working were so easy!

Isn't that the truth. For once though I think the aggravation was worth it. The picture and sound are fantastic.

Why when i set the resolution of the TV to 1920x1080 and maximize a bluray disc in Pdvd it will not cover from side to side? I have attached a photo to show what i mean.

Also does anyone know why with the 7.11 catalyst drivers on i cannot make the TV my primary display and not have the monitor attached? it tells me i have an invalid driver, yet works when the TV is set up as an extended monitor

athlon 4400 dual core
radeon 2600xt (monitor on dvi, tv on HDMI)
lg combo drive
pdvd ultra
CCC 7.11
philips 42" 1080p lcd

http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/467/1003915nn4.th.jpg (http://img505.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1003915nn4.jpg)

Yep, you're screwed by ATI's drivers. Check out arfter's post:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=11659897&postcount=2121

Use the "VForceMaxResSize" key to tweak your registry. Restart the computer, and it should work.

Picked up an LG drive today from Fry's. Install was flawless. PDVD OEM installed without a problem, and downloaded an update. I am able to play 5.1 thru SPDIF.
My HTPC:
Windows Vista Ultimate x64
Intel DP35DP board
Intel Core 2 Duo E4500
2GB PC6400
nVidia 8600GT
2 ATI 650 tuners
2 SATA HDDs - 500GB + 160GB
LG Drive
Pioneer DVD burner
Microsoft Remote Control
Samsung 46" LNT-4665F

So far I have been using Vista Media Center for DVD and HDTV playback. I have calibrated my TV for correct level of brightness/contrast.

Here comes the question/concern - what levels of black/white does PowerDVD output - 0-255 or 16-235? I played a few blurays and hd-dvds, and blacks look gray, very gray. I have to turn down the brighness substantially. This compromises the correct level for playing DVDs and HDTV thru Vista Media Center.

Is there a solution to this, or do I have to keep adjusting the brightness?

That depends on your video drivers. I'm using the 169.09s and everything comes out looking proper with the display calibrated for 0-255.

That depends on your video drivers. I'm using the 169.09s and everything comes out looking proper with the display calibrated for 0-255.

I am using 163.75. Is there a setting in the drivers, or is it different from release to release? My display is calibrated for 16-235 because this is how Vista Media Center outputs.

My experience with Media Center in Vista is that it does its own expansion, so if you do expansion in your driver, you'll get double expansion. Read a few posts up to see our experiences with 169 drivers, they do expansion only for HD, and not for SD. That's the main reason why I'm staying with 163.75 for the time being.

My experience with Media Center in Vista is that it does its own expansion, so if you do expansion in your driver, you'll get double expansion. Read a few posts up to see our experiences with 169 drivers, they do expansion only for HD, and not for SD. That's the main reason why I'm staying with 163.75 for the time being.

Well I don't know. When playing SD DVD and HDTV recorded over the air in Vista Media Center, black is 16, and white is 235, and my TV is calibrated to that. TV is connected via DVI-to-HDMI cable. My Desktop looks normal at those TV settings.

In Power DVD, however, black is 0, and white is 255. So blacks look gray.

Am I missing something here?
What should I do? I want my Vista Media Center to remain unchanged, and PowerDVD to use 16-235.

I read a few posts back, but do not exactly get what the difference is between 163 and 169 drivers.

Alright, I figured it out. Installed 169.12 Beta, and PDVD now displays HD-DVD and Bluray in 16-235. Exactly what I needed.

Another question - The Fifth Element Bluray only has uncompressed audio and Dolby TrueHD. The OEM PDVD somehow plays it in 2 channels only. Will upgrading to the retail version be able to play 5.1?

Well I don't know. When playing SD DVD and HDTV recorded over the air in Vista Media Center, black is 16, and white is 235, and my TV is calibrated to that. TV is connected via DVI-to-HDMI cable. My Desktop looks normal at those TV settings.

In Power DVD, however, black is 0, and white is 255. So blacks look gray.

Am I missing something here?
What should I do? I want my Vista Media Center to remain unchanged, and PowerDVD to use 16-235.

I read a few posts back, but do not exactly get what the difference is between 163 and 169 drivers.

I think you might have it backwards, blacks look black when black is 0. When black is 16 it looks gray. If you did get it backwards, what you say fits my experience exactly. So I get auto expansion in Media Center, and not in PowerDVD (so PowerDVD is displaying native, as it should).

And with 169 drivers, in PowerDVD you are getting expanded, i.e. black blacks and white whites, right?

Yep, you're screwed by ATI's drivers. Check out arfter's post:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=11659897&postcount=2121

Use the "VForceMaxResSize" key to tweak your registry. Restart the computer, and it should work.

thanks for the reply but unfortunatly the script didnt fix the issue on my machine, maybe its because im using the newest ati drivers? hm

Here comes the question/concern - what levels of black/white does PowerDVD output - 0-255 or 16-235? I played a few blurays and hd-dvds, and blacks look gray, very gray. I have to turn down the brighness substantially. This compromises the correct level for playing DVDs and HDTV thru Vista Media Center.

Is there a solution to this, or do I have to keep adjusting the brightness?

I have found this to be a function of the Nvidia drivers. I have to turn down the contrast and brightness for the card first and then calibrate the projector in order to get an acceptable black level range on my projector.

I think you might have it backwards, blacks look black when black is 0. When black is 16 it looks gray. If you did get it backwards, what you say fits my experience exactly. So I get auto expansion in Media Center, and not in PowerDVD (so PowerDVD is displaying native, as it should).

And with 169 drivers, in PowerDVD you are getting expanded, i.e. black blacks and white whites, right?

I am confused, and I think I have it backwards. What is auto expansion?
My Desktop is displayed normally, there is no black or white crush. I have a calibration SD DVD that I downloaded from this forum. The calibration DVD has black and white levels. When I watch this DVD in Vista MC [both 163 and 169 drivers], I do not see levels of black below 16 and levels of white above 235, and my DVDs and HDTV look good. Is this what you refer to expanded?

In PDVD, I see all 0 to 255 levels from the SD DVD tests, but with the 169 drivers, HD-DVD and Blueray appear to be blacker than 163 drivers.

Are you saying this not the correct behavior?

Al, select UDF only, see these screenshots:

http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/995/picture1ql3.th.jpg (http://img91.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture1ql3.jpg)

Thanks, Replied via PM...

Why when i set the resolution of the TV to 1920x1080 and maximize a bluray disc in Pdvd it will not cover from side to side? I have attached a photo to show what i mean.

Also does anyone know why with the 7.11 catalyst drivers on i cannot make the TV my primary display and not have the monitor attached? it tells me i have an invalid driver, yet works when the TV is set up as an extended monitor

athlon 4400 dual core
radeon 2600xt (monitor on dvi, tv on HDMI)
lg combo drive
pdvd ultra
CCC 7.11
philips 42" 1080p lcd

http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/467/1003915nn4.th.jpg (http://img505.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1003915nn4.jpg)

Your image doesn't load so I can't be sure, but I get what you describe on PDVD 3319f but not on build 3516. (You should provide that information when posting).

As for the single monitor, you should check within the CCC manager that you have a valid configuration for the Philips TV and you monitor. There should be no reason that you can not have the TV as the primary display.

BTW, why would you want to disable the monitor, are you disconnecting it from the HTPC?

When I loaded PowerDVD today it prompted me to download 3319f. I did, and it seemed to install fine. But when I click "Update", the message is still there telling me about 3319ff. So is this just a dumb message, or is it an indication that 3319f isn't installed. I check the "About" info, but I can't find the build number. How the heck do I determine what's currently installed?

I just downloaded the big 99MB update on their site and all worked fine for me. No more prompts either.

When I loaded PowerDVD today it prompted me to download 3319f. I did, and it seemed to install fine. But when I click "Update", the message is still there telling me about 3319ff. So is this just a dumb message, or is it an indication that 3319f isn't installed. I check the "About" info, but I can't find the build number. How the heck do I determine what's currently installed?

+1

Is the version of the PowerDVD.exe the actual build for the whole package?

In the About PowerDVD dialog box, click on your name and it will show you the build number

Another question - The Fifth Element Bluray only has uncompressed audio and Dolby TrueHD. The OEM PDVD somehow plays it in 2 channels only. Will upgrading to the retail version be able to play 5.1?The retail version supports 2 methods of playing uncompressed audio. You can either output multi-channel analog via your sound card, or use "SPDIF Mixing" to encode the uncompressed audio to DTS on-the-fly.

I always completely disable richvideo.exe and pdvdserv.exe after installing updates. It pisses me off to no end when programs put unnecessary crap in my startup, even the big names like Adobe and others are doing it, when they should know better. It's even worse when they do it sneakily. You should kill altogether those two from your startups via msconfig, and you shouldn't have to worry about them.

This is probably a dumb question, but...

How does one disable richvideo.exe and pdvdser.exe? Is it matter of just finding these files and deleting them or is there something more to it?

In the About PowerDVD dialog box, click on your name and it will show you the build number

Thank you! That was so incredibly NOT obvious. :-) BTW, I do have the right version, so apparently the update message is static.

How does one disable richvideo.exe and pdvdser.exe?You can use a startup manager like autoruns to disable them.

The retail version supports 2 methods of playing uncompressed audio. You can either output multi-channel analog via your sound card, or use "SPDIF Mixing" to encode the uncompressed audio to DTS on-the-fly.

What other [software] options do I have? A plug-in for Media Center would be ideal, is someone aware if one is in the works? Sorry if this has been asked before.

The retail version supports 2 methods of playing uncompressed audio. You can either output multi-channel analog via your sound card, or use "SPDIF Mixing" to encode the uncompressed audio to DTS on-the-fly.

Hi sigma957,

I wasn't aware of the "SPDIF Mixing" option. It's always greyed out on my systems. Does this only work with some soundcards? For instance DD Live or DTS Connect enabled sound devices?

Thanks,

Wo0zy

Edit: Sorry. Got it now. I needed to be playing an uncompressed soundtrack before I could select it. My Bad :(

Hi sigma957,

I wasn't aware of the "SPDIF Mixing" option. It's always greyed out on my systems. Does this only work with some soundcards? For instance DD Live or DTS Connect enabled sound devices?

Thanks,

Wo0zy

Edit: Sorry. Got it now. I needed to be playing an uncompressed soundtrack before I could select it. My Bad :(

So it has to be selected manually each time?

I've been given yes and no answers on this but maybe something changed. Do Blu-ray Plus movies in iso work on PD?

I've been given yes and no answers on this but maybe something changed. Do Blu-ray Plus movies in iso work on PD?

Yes, but you have to use Daemon Tools. I tried with Power ISO and it didn't work. Others have said that you need to select UDF only in imgburn, but I haven't tested otherwise. Mine work with only UDF selected and mounting with Daemon Tools.

You can use a startup manager like autoruns to disable them.


Thanks for your answer. I went into msconfig and disabled pdvdser.exe in the startup manager. Didn't see richvideo.exe, though. Is it hidden somewhere?

FYI for HTPC users wanting to play Blu-ray / HD-DVD from their front ends, I've posted over the the JR Media Center fourm ( http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=43879.0 ) details on how to:
1) embed PowerDVD playback,
2) move the mouse out of the way
3) change the PC's frame rate to 24hz

The script is written for JR Media Center (which I think is the best out there for a number of reasons) but would not take much editing to get it to work with any other HTPC front end.

Thanks
Nathan

FYI I asked Cyberlink:

The mouse pointer is visible during playback (HD-DVD / BluRay) and as I use a Remote Control I can not drag it off the side of the screen. How do you hide the pointer?

& their valuable response was:

In regard to your issue, we regret to say that the mouse pointer will be visible during the playback and there is no way to drag it off the screen.

In regard to your issue, we regret to say that the mouse pointer will be visible during the playback and there is no way to drag it off the screen.
:eek:

Hopefully if we adjust for the language barrier, the real answer is that it's a bug that will be fixed in a future version of the software. If that's the intended behavior, then they are officially a lost cause...

Thanks for your answer. I went into msconfig and disabled pdvdser.exe in the startup manager. Didn't see richvideo.exe, though. Is it hidden somewhere?

Richvideo is under the "services" tab. You can alternatively go to Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Services and disable it. As previously mentioned, a good tool is Autoruns, which you can find at Sysinternals.com.

Just in case, Sysinternals got eaten by Microsoft, so don't get scared when you get redirected into a Microsoft page, the programs are still there, and still being updated by the great Mark Russinovich, who mostly singlehandedly put the words "rootkit" and "Sony" together in the consciousness of millions of people (he wasn't working at MS at that time).

I am confused, and I think I have it backwards. What is auto expansion?
My Desktop is displayed normally, there is no black or white crush. I have a calibration SD DVD that I downloaded from this forum. The calibration DVD has black and white levels. When I watch this DVD in Vista MC [both 163 and 169 drivers], I do not see levels of black below 16 and levels of white above 235, and my DVDs and HDTV look good. Is this what you refer to expanded?

In PDVD, I see all 0 to 255 levels from the SD DVD tests, but with the 169 drivers, HD-DVD and Blueray appear to be blacker than 163 drivers.

Are you saying this not the correct behavior?

RGB values (or levels) in current PCs run from zero (darkest - no brightness) to 255 (brightest). Thus, RGB 0, 0, 0, which means values zero for all three red, green and blue pixels, is black. Similarly 255, 255, 255 is white. Anything else that has the same values for R, G, and B is gray. Since we're only talking about contrast here, we only need to use one number, assuming all three RGB values are the same. 0 is black, 16 is dark gray, 235 is light gray, and 255 is white. We say 0-255 or 16-235 to indicate the darkest and brightest levels of gray respectively.

Video natively usually has 16-235 values, which means that in order to see black as black and white as white in the video, you need to adjust contrast so 16 in the video will turn to zero and 235 will turn to 255. This is "expansion". When you see black blacks and white whites, most likely expansion is being done. If you see what's supposed to be black as dark gray, then probably you're viewing the video in the native levels, and you might want to calibrate either your display, your graphics card, or your software.

The problem is that the 169 drivers do auto expansion for HD material, and not for SD. So I get black blacks and white whites in HD stuff, and for DVD I get gray-black and gray-white. If I calibrate in the driver for DVDs to look 0-255, then my HD material will be "over-expanded", so I'll lose detail in the dark areas and clip the bright areas.

With the 163 drivers, auto expansion is not done at all, and thus you can calibrate in the driver. This works for me fine.

With Vista Media Center, it's even worse. It, like many other newer programs, assumes the user is a complete idiot, and pretends to do everything automatically. It does expansion automatically. I have experienced "double expansion" with an ATI card, which forces its own expansion, and Vista Media Center. You cannot turn off expansion in either. That's why I prefer NOTHING to do auto expansion for me. I'll do it when I want and from where I want, thank you very much.

RGB values (or levels) in current PCs run from zero (darkest - no brightness) to 255 (brightest). Thus, RGB 0, 0, 0, which means values zero for all three red, green and blue pixels, is black. Similarly 255, 255, 255 is white. Anything else that has the same values for R, G, and B is gray. Since we're only talking about contrast here, we only need to use one number, assuming all three RGB values are the same. 0 is black, 16 is dark gray, 235 is light gray, and 255 is white. We say 0-255 or 16-235 to indicate the darkest and brightest levels of gray respectively.

Video natively usually has 16-235 values, which means that in order to see black as black and white as white in the video, you need to adjust contrast so 16 in the video will turn to zero and 235 will turn to 255. This is "expansion". When you see black blacks and white whites, most likely expansion is being done. If you see what's supposed to be black as dark gray, then probably you're viewing the video in the native levels, and you might want to calibrate either your display, your graphics card, or your software.

The problem is that the 169 drivers do auto expansion for HD material, and not for SD. So I get black blacks and white whites in HD stuff, and for DVD I get gray-black and gray-white. If I calibrate in the driver for DVDs to look 0-255, then my HD material will be "over-expanded", so I'll lose detail in the dark areas and clip the bright areas.

With the 163 drivers, auto expansion is not done at all, and thus you can calibrate in the driver. This works for me fine.

With Vista Media Center, it's even worse. It, like many other newer programs, assumes the user is a complete idiot, and pretends to do everything automatically. It does expansion automatically. I have experienced "double expansion" with an ATI card, which forces its own expansion, and Vista Media Center. You cannot turn off expansion in either. That's why I prefer NOTHING to do auto expansion for me. I'll do it when I want and from where I want, thank you very much.

Thanks a lot for explaining. To me, though, it looks like Vista Media Center is doing it right, so is PowerDVD with the 169 drivers, except for SD DVD. But you can still watch SD DVD using VMC, that's what I do.
When you calibrate your display for video 0-255, do you do it from the driver or the display? If the display, doesn't this cause your desktop to look awfully dark?

Thanks a lot for explaining. To me, though, it looks like Vista Media Center is doing it right, so is PowerDVD with the 169 drivers, except for SD DVD. But you can still watch SD DVD using VMC, that's what I do.
When you calibrate your display for video 0-255, do you do it from the driver or the display? If the display, doesn't this cause your desktop to look awfully dark?

With the 163 drivers, Vista Media Center should do it right, but with the 169 ones, as both the drivers and Media Center do auto expansion, you'll get double expansion, so you'll lose detail in the blacks and clip the whites. This will only happen with HD, though because the 169 drivers have the annoying bug to only do expansion on HD material. If you have an HD calibration disc, you'll notice this. For SD video, though, Media Center should still function the same as with 163 drivers, doing auto expansion, but the 169 drivers don't do it for SD, so it's still OK.

I do video calibration from the driver, because of what you say. In the driver there are separate levels adjustments for video. I don't touch my monitor. I calibrate it with a EyeOne colorimeter (for photo work) and then don't touch it.

I do video calibration from the driver, because of what you say. In the driver there are separate levels adjustments for video. I don't touch my monitor. I calibrate it with a EyeOne colorimeter (for photo work) and then don't touch it.

Andy o.
When you say you do video calibration in the driver, do you mean that you go into the nvidia control panel under 'Adjust Desktop Color Settings' or 'Adjust Video Color Settings' and calibrate with test patterns from there.
Or..
Is there somewhere else that you manually input for 0-255 expansion.

I like to keep my PowerDVD program shortcut in a subfolder called Multimedia. (I'm talking about the shortcut that you get to by selecting Start->All Programs.) I also like to keep all the shortcuts in the All User folder, not the individual user folders.

But every time I boot PowerDVD is recreating the shortcuts in the user root folder. How the heck do I stop it from doing this?

With the 163 drivers, Vista Media Center should do it right, but with the 169 ones, as both the drivers and Media Center do auto expansion, you'll get double expansion, so you'll lose detail in the blacks and clip the whites. This will only happen with HD, though because the 169 drivers have the annoying bug to only do expansion on HD material.


By HD, do you mean HD-DVD and Blu-ray, or 1080i or 720p recorded from ATSC HDTV as well? I certainly don't see double expansion with 169 drivers in Vista Media Center for recorded HDTV, the black and white levels are normal, both for SD-DVD and HDTV material recorded from my ATSC tuners.


If you have an HD calibration disc, you'll notice this. For SD video, though, Media Center should still function the same as with 163 drivers, doing auto expansion, but the 169 drivers don't do it for SD, so it's still OK.

I don't have an HD calibration disc, but even if I did I wouldn't be able to play it in Vista Media Center, right, only with PowerDVD.

For me 169.12 drivers are good. I watch SD-DVD and HDTV using Vista Media Center, and HD-DVD and Blu-ray using PowerDVD.

For me 169.12 drivers are good. I watch SD-DVD and HDTV using Vista Media Center, and HD-DVD and Blu-ray using PowerDVD.
Same here with the 169.09s, though I don't have any HD in VMC and only own Blu-ray movies so far. No clipping issues with my display calabrated to 0-255 in either of those two programs though. On the other hand I get no expantion with Arcsoft's player, so I do have to recalibrate my display for that.

Andy, do you know what the Richvideo service does? I personally don't feel totally comfortable disabling PDVD dependencies (although, my gut feeling is that it is safe to do). I can just imagine getting an ambiguous error message sometime in the future...

PS: I've emailed back and forth with Mark R... over 12 years ago when testing one of his tools for WinNT 4 when it was first released. What a small world!

Richvideo is under the "services" tab. You can alternatively go to Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Services and disable it. As previously mentioned, a good tool is Autoruns, which you can find at Sysinternals.com.

Just in case, Sysinternals got eaten by Microsoft, so don't get scared when you get redirected into a Microsoft page, the programs are still there, and still being updated by the great Mark Russinovich, who mostly singlehandedly put the words "rootkit" and "Sony" together in the consciousness of millions of people (he wasn't working at MS at that time).