Yeah for DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks, PowerDVD does show the proper lossless variable bitrate (usually between 3mbps-6mbps... I guess it's much higher than TrueHD because all of Fox's releases are 24-bit I think, most TrueHD tracks I've seen usually hover between 1mbps-2mbps - they are Warner's 16-bit TrueHD... plus DTS-HD uses a slightly higher bitrate anyway for whatever reason).

The question is whether it is actually decoding what it says... or if it is just reading the lossless extension but only outputting the core DTS 1.5MB track.

Earlier in the thread someone who had a Samsung BDP-1400 said that he compared it to PowerDVD and found that PowerDVD only outputs the DTS core.

Arcsoft trial player information only shows 1.5MB in information, not the lossless bitrate like PowerDVD does. There again it only shows 192kbps for TrueHD on the Spiderman films from what I remember, so you can't really trust that. Plus Arcsoft had problems with mixing the rear channels up on some movies, so I uninstalled it.

The good thing is that the DTS-HD tracks sound spectacular from what I can tell, MUCH better than any DVD DTS 768kbps tracks. So if what I'm hearing is only the core 1.5MB, I wonder how much better it would sound with the full MA extension.

So if you're hearing the core 1.5 Mb, and it sounds better than DVD DTS tracks, it might be the higher bitrate. I really don't think I have the equipment to be able to tell the difference, so I would just like to be able to listen to something, anything, but alas, PowerDVD can't extract the 7.1 "core" I guess. It doesn't even work through S/PDIF, which I was thinking it should.

I really wonder what happened with the Pan's Labyrinth HD-DVD. They're going blu-ray on us with that crap about the non-standard audio format. DD plus is supposed to be mandatory for HD-DVD, Almighty Wikipedia says so!

So if you're hearing the core 1.5 Mb, and it sounds better than DVD DTS tracks, it might be the higher bitrate. I really don't think I have the equipment to be able to tell the difference, so I would just like to be able to listen to something, anything, but alas, PowerDVD can't extract the 7.1 "core" I guess. It doesn't even work through S/PDIF, which I was thinking it should.

I really wonder what happened with the Pan's Labyrinth HD-DVD. They're going blu-ray on us with that crap about the non-standard audio format. DD plus is supposed to be mandatory for HD-DVD, Almighty Wikipedia says so!

Yeh the reason it probably sounds better is 1) it has double the bitrate of DTS on DVD and 2) the source is probably mastered a LOT better generally for DTS-HD hence the core still sounds damn good.

Hmm, not sure if it is supposed to extract a 5.1 or 7.1 DTS core from a 7.1 track... can anyone who has a standalone confirm which?

Regarding Pan's Labrinth being New Line's first HD-DVD release, it seems they are doing the same thing as Fox has done with their Blu-ray releases, only using DTS-HD Master Audio and leaving out standard Dolby Digital which is supposed to be required on all Blu-ray discs much like DD+ is "required" on HD-DVD. Although it will suck if PowerDVD can't play the 7.1 MA track at all... if this is a bug hopefully it is fixed in the next release soon with the Profile 1.1 support.

I'll be picking up Hairspray on Blu-ray soon so I will test to see if the 7.1 MA track on that works in PowerDVD... can anyone who has it confirm if it works or not? I'm using Analog out so it may be different to SPDIF.

Regarding Pan's Labrinth being New Line's first HD-DVD release, it seems they are doing the same thing as Fox has done with their Blu-ray releases, only using DTS-HD Master Audio and leaving out standard Dolby Digital which is supposed to be required on all Blu-ray discs much like DD+ is "required" on HD-DVD. Although it will suck if PowerDVD can't play the 7.1 MA track... if this is a bug hopefully it is fixed in the next release soon with the Profile 1.1 support.

I'll be picking up Hairspray on Blu-ray soon so I will test to see if the 7.1 MA track on that works in PowerDVD... can anyone who has it confirm if it works or not? I'm using Analog out so it may be different to SPDIF.

I didn't know blu-ray had any requirements for audio. I did know about HD-DVD, and I've read that everywhere where HD-DVD specs are listed. So I guess that would make Pan's Labyrinth a non-standard HD-DVD.

By the way, I have tried analog and S/PDIF, niether work. Setting the channels to different numbers doesn't work either. It seems we'll be forced to upgrade to another PowerDVD version or build just for this. And I was just starting to get cozy with 3319a.

What settings are you using to get DTS-HD from power dvd and are you going via analogue or spdif?

Has anyone tried the latest version of pdvd ? I find hd and blue-ray play fine but normal dvd has tearing mid sreen which i have not been able to get rid of yet.

What settings are you using to get DTS-HD from power dvd and are you going via analogue or spdif?

Has anyone tried the latest version of pdvd ? I find hd and blue-ray play fine but normal dvd has tearing mid sreen which i have not been able to get rid of yet.

I'm using Analog and the Information says Audio: DTS-HD xxxxkbps

On the subject of analog audio output in PDVDU, has anyone noticed that the centre channel output from PDVD is much quieter than the surround channels. As you have to put your amp into 5.1 analog mode for this to work, you lose all DSP options and controls.

I've tried a few BR disks with various audio tracks, and they all seem to exhibit this problem. All the audio control settings are set to 'max' in PDVD, although I haven't yet tried reducing the volume of all but the centre channel to see if this helps the problem.

3516 can display PiP (see RE3:Extinction) altough it has some nasty bugs (as I posted before). PiP is Profile 1.1 right? So 3516 is some kind of profile 1.1 beta version. :eek:

Originally Posted by Andy o
I really wonder what happened with the Pan's Labyrinth HD-DVD. They're going blu-ray on us with that crap about the non-standard audio format. DD plus is supposed to be mandatory for HD-DVD, Almighty Wikipedia says so!

Maybe that is just for the U.S. because all my import HD-DVD's are DTS not DD.

How do you get PDVD to switch audio tracks? I tried about 6 different HD-DVDs last night and I could not get any of them to change from the Dolby Digital Plus track to the Lossless tracks or the commentary tracks for that matter.

I tried click on the audio language portion but it was grayed out.

How do you get PDVD to switch audio tracks? I tried about 6 different HD-DVDs last night and I could not get any of them to change from the Dolby Digital Plus track to the Lossless tracks or the commentary tracks for that matter.

I tried click on the audio language portion but it was grayed out.

I use the "H" key on the KB and that cycles thru the audio tracks. Just turn on Info in PDVD to confirm which audio track has been selected.

I use the "H" key on the KB and that cycles thru the audio tracks. Just turn on Info in PDVD to confirm which audio track has been selected.

Thank you kind sir!

SPDIF in Vista/ Ok took someones advice and picked the digital sound output in Vista sound settings. YES I can now use SPDIF the movies stay in SPDIF. BUT....
After exiting each movie I get what sounds like a bad Helicopter noise like the old Cammanche game. The only way to get rid of it is to open more music. I have uninstalled my B enspire sound card drivers and PDVD Ultra 3319A and reenstalled it. Anythinga else I might be missing.

Just got my LG GGC-H20 installed in my system:

Vista 64
Intel Q6600
Gigabyte x38 MB
AnyDVD HD (trial) 6.3.0.3
PowerDVD Ultra (DVD071102, build 3516)
BFG 8800GT OC
LG BR/HD-DVD

I played SpiderMan3 on BR no issues. Sound is excellent, no issues with PQ. On HD-DVD, KingKong plays great, but Bourne Ultimatum and Transformers comes up with black screen and no audio or video.

Once rebooted and attemtped a restart and got a PowerDVD internal error 80040216. This occured on both the Bourne and Transformers HD DVD.

Any help would be appreciated. I am in the process of reinstalling the latest patch, just checking if I missed something. (PS, I did search and found nothing)

HELP!!

Thanks,

Ted

For me, both Bourne and Transformers work fine, but you have to quickly (I mean really quickly) cancel the web data screen. If I do that, both disks go to the menu and play fine.

For me, both Bourne and Transformers work fine, but you have to quickly (I mean really quickly) cancel the web data screen. If I do that, both disks go to the menu and play fine.

I don't get that far... just black on both, but Kong HD plays fine. Blu ray plays fine. Any settings to look at you can think of?

Hmmm...if I don't cancel the web updates on those disks, I too will get black screens, then if I kill PowerDVD and restart it, that's when I get the 80040216 error. I only ever get the error after killing the powerdvd process, never on the first try, but I always at least see the loading screens w/ the cancel button. I have an AMD X2 and an ATI 3850 so that might be the difference of how those disks startup.

Man I'm so pissed. Would somebody else please release an english-language HD/BD player so I can ditch this Cyberlink crap?

I finally made time to watch Pan's Labyrinth, which I've been looking forward to for a while now. I'm running the latest PDVD patch, and use SPDIF connection to my surround processor. Unlike the previous poster who mentioned audio problems with this disk, I did get DTS 5.1, so the latest version of PDVD is smart enough to play the "core" DTS track for SPDIF connection. But I was getting really jerky video, far worse than I've ever seen with any title before.

I knew my Radeon 1950 Pro doesn't accelerate VC-1, and I thought maybe this disc has a really high bitrate and my CPU just couldn't keep up. So, I ordered a new Radeon 2600Pro. The card arrived and I installed it today. On my first playback attempt, the video was great but then I noticed I was only getting 2.0 sound. I've seen this before, sometimes PDVD "loses" the SPDIF setting and I have to stop playback and go into the configration to select SPDIF again. But once I do this and resume playback, the jerky video is back. For whatever reason, sending the 1.5mbps core DTS track over SPDIF screws up the video. So if I want to actually watch this disc, I have to do so with with 2.0 sound.

JKohn,

Are you using 3516? Probably my fault for using 3319a, but I have been hanging around a long time around this thread, and I can't recall people mentioning that DTS-HD MA will work with something newer than 3319a. If so, that sucks. I can't play some new BRs with 3516.

Thanks for the info, I'm gonna try 3516 now.

I am playing DTS-MA with 3516 just fine over analog but I don't know if it's downsampled or core stream. Nevertheless most DTS-MA titles rock, so I don't have anything to complain. Also web features in Transformers and Bourne 3 work fine if you deactivate AnyDVD HD! If you want to use AnyDVD HD with these titles click "rename XPL file" in the AnyDVD HD-DVD tab. Web content is not working with AnyDVD HD enabled!

@ Andy O: Can you tell us which BRs you cannot play?

I am playing blu-ray and hd/dvd through pdvd(latest) and so far all have played perfectly and I get great sound through spdif, but my amp only says dd or dts. I connected with analogue leads but got no sound at all (Rathbone can you tell me how you connected with analogue please ?) I may have set up wrong.
The only problem I experience with pdvd is I get tearing mid screen when playing a normal dvd no prob's on bd or hd any idea's ?


Bc.

I am playing DTS-MA with 3516 just fine over analog but I don't know if it's downsampled or core stream. Nevertheless most DTS-MA titles rock, so I don't have anything to complain. Also web features in Transformers and Bourne 3 work fine if you deactivate AnyDVD HD! If you want to use AnyDVD HD with these titles click "rename XPL file" in the AnyDVD HD-DVD tab. Web content is not working with AnyDVD HD enabled!

@ Andy O: Can you tell us which BRs you cannot play?

I couldn't play the Simpsons with 3516 and AnyDVD, but that's a known problem. I also had some trouble with a couple of discs of Prison Break, but that's not a PowerDVD thing. They fixed Prison Break with AnyDVD 6.3.0.1, but with 6.3.0.2 it broke again, and as late as 6.3.0.4 it still wasn't fixed again. I posted at the AnyDVD HD forums, but it seems they couldn't find the cause, or didn't have the Prison Break discs to reproduce the error. I don't have the discs anymore to test with newer versions.

JKohn,

Are you using 3516? Probably my fault for using 3319a, but I have been hanging around a long time around this thread, and I can't recall people mentioning that DTS-HD MA will work with something newer than 3319a. If so, that sucks. I can't play some new BRs with 3516.

Thanks for the info, I'm gonna try 3516 now.

Yes, I'm running 3516. But like I said I'm using SPDIF.

I saw 300 HD DVD with HD sound over analogue cables in PowerDVD. It automatically changed config to headphone. I choose 6 speaker configuration and CMEI II, but the sound was strangely not powerfull enough compared to headphone. Do I have a wrong version of PowerDVD Ultra, or should I leave it at headphone in the future, to get the best sound??
What should I do to get best HD sound?

Just got my LG GGC-H20 installed in my system:

Vista 64
Intel Q6600
Gigabyte x38 MB
AnyDVD HD (trial) 6.3.0.3
PowerDVD Ultra (DVD071102, build 3516)
BFG 8800GT OC
LG BR/HD-DVD

I played SpiderMan3 on BR no issues. Sound is excellent, no issues with PQ. On HD-DVD, KingKong plays great, but Bourne Ultimatum and Transformers comes up with black screen and no audio or video.

Once rebooted and attemtped a restart and got a PowerDVD internal error 80040216. This occured on both the Bourne and Transformers HD DVD.

Any help would be appreciated. I am in the process of reinstalling the latest patch, just checking if I missed something. (PS, I did search and found nothing)

HELP!!

Thanks,

Ted

I found the issue, now working on a solution:

I use the clone monitor feature in the Nvidia control panel. When that is engaged, the HD Transformers and Bourne do not work. When it is turned off they work fine.

Funny thing is that the Cyberlink advisor fails the driver and HDCP when Clone is on, but is okay when off. So cloning must be against copy protection rules, but why doesn't AnyDVD HD take care of this for playback?

Ted

I'm having a problem with PowerDVD Ultra I can't figure out. Two weeks ago I watched "The Simpsons"-Movie on Blu-Ray with PowerDVD. Everything worked fine and even before that I never had bigger problems watching Blu-Rays or HD DVDs.

A few days ago I got Blade Runner on BR an tried to watch that. After a few minutes PowerDVD crashed and took my pc down with it. After a restart I tried to watch it again, but PDVD went down again. I figured it was a problem that was related to the disc.

Today I wanted to watch Master and Commander and the same thing happend. After a few minutes PDVD crashed and my PC went down with it. I tried a few other discs (Warner, FOX, Sony it doesn't matter) after a few minutes everything crashes. I tried watching HD DVD again and to my big suprise, that works without any problems. No crashes for over two hours.

I tried it with diffrent PowerDVD-Versions (3319a, f and 3517) and installed the latest NVidia Beta Driver (169.28), nothing helps. I didn't install any new software or drivers over the last two weeks. I just don't know, where this problems comes from. Do you guys have an idea? BTW: My OS is Vista 32-Bit.

Do you guys have an idea? BTW: My OS is Vista 32-Bit.

Try v3104
also try uninstall/re-installing 3319 but disable internet access before trying to play The Simpsons Movie

Try v3104
also try uninstall/re-installing 3319 but disable internet access before trying to play The Simpsons Movie

Hmm it seems to be something else. I just installed the Arcsoft Trial-Player and it does exactly the same thing. After a few minutes my PC just stops and nothing works anymore until I reboot. I tried HD DVD for a few minutes and no problems. What could I possible have done to my PC that it doesn't want to play BR anymore? I tried it now with "Master and Commander", "Blade Runner" and "Harry Potter 5". HP 5 doesn't even start with Arcsoft. Vista crashes as soon as I hit the Play-Button.

Oh man I really don't want to reinstall Vista after I did that just 5 weeks ago...

I have played through analogue and the sound is very low and as Bjur stated it was better when set to headphone for some reason. is there a way around this ?

As much as I hate to say it I too had to go back to PDVD to play DAT because of the DTHD track. Same old 3104 player in 6 channel using my Aud 2 analogs to my VR-615 KW.

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o65/freedombikesusa/dthd.jpg

Crap, I just saw this at the slysoft forums

http://forum.slysoft.com/showthread.php?p=77849#post77849

Warner is going Blu-ray exclusive. Must be because we're so angry at BD+ so the studios thought "Well, whatever pisses off the tech-savvy consumers must be good".

Nimo, what is DAT, and does it have a DTS-HD MA track, or just DTS-HD (not lossless)?

Hi Andy o, DAT is Day After Tomorrow, and it's DTS-HD only for this movie.

For those of you who need a tiny app to force this app to remember its size and position in a window when you start it, use this free app.

http://www.southbaypc.com/AutoSizer/

Hi Andy o, DAT is Day After Tomorrow, and it's DTS-HD only for this movie.

Thanks. Just looked it up, that blu-ray has DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. PowerDVD might just be incompatible with DTS-HD-MA 7.1, but with 5.1 it can extract the core fine. Maybe 3516 will work for me, haven't tried yet.

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

I get the PDVD error message after ripping, then create iso, then play. If I reboot, then mount it plays without the error message you describe. PDVD version is 3319a. All my ISO files are on my NAS. I even got the same error message from my local temp folder. Reboot HTPC and mount again. See if it works now.

Has anyone been able to get Transformers to rip to their hard drive or get it to play from the disc smoothly? I am getting a lot of stuttering when I play the disc and it errors out halfway through AnyDVD ripping it.

Has anyone noticed that on the advanced audio menu of PDVD it lists the quiet environment as giving the user the "full" dynamic range of Dolby. It lists the normal environment as giving the user the compressed dynamic range of Dolby. Shouldn't it be the other way around?

Thanks. Just looked it up, that blu-ray has DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. PowerDVD might just be incompatible with DTS-HD-MA 7.1, but with 5.1 it can extract the core fine. Maybe 3516 will work for me, haven't tried yet.

PowerDVD works with 6.1 DTS-HD MA tracks - X-Men 3 works fine. As does Stargate which is DTS-HD High Resolution 6.1, so I'm not sure why it wouldn't work with 7.1. I need to pick up Pan's Labyrinth or Hairspray to check :)

Has anyone noticed that on the advanced audio menu of PDVD it lists the quiet environment as giving the user the "full" dynamic range of Dolby. It lists the normal environment as giving the user the compressed dynamic range of Dolby. Shouldn't it be the other way around?

Always select 'Quiet', if you set it as Normal then it makes Dolby Digital Plus tracks sound way too soft and it sounds like a totally different track... everything sounds flat and lifeless.

For example, switching from DD+ to TrueHD on 'Normal' results in a massive volume increase, however when it is set to 'Quiet' they are the same volume.

Has anyone been able to get Transformers to rip to their hard drive or get it to play from the disc smoothly? I am getting a lot of stuttering when I play the disc and it errors out halfway through AnyDVD ripping it.

Transformers plays and rips smooth for me.

others don't however.

I get the PDVD error message after ripping, then create iso, then play. If I reboot, then mount it plays without the error message you describe. PDVD version is 3319a. All my ISO files are on my NAS. I even got the same error message from my local temp folder. Reboot HTPC and mount again. See if it works now.


Map your network folder to a drive and it should work just fine. That's what I'm doing now with my HTPC, which is playing movies from my 4TB Storage Server.

Hmm it seems to be something else. I just installed the Arcsoft Trial-Player and it does exactly the same thing. After a few minutes my PC just stops and nothing works anymore until I reboot. I tried HD DVD for a few minutes and no problems. What could I possible have done to my PC that it doesn't want to play BR anymore? I tried it now with "Master and Commander", "Blade Runner" and "Harry Potter 5". HP 5 doesn't even start with Arcsoft. Vista crashes as soon as I hit the Play-Button.

Oh man I really don't want to reinstall Vista after I did that just 5 weeks ago...

Ok, so i did what I didn't want to do and reinstalled Vista. And I still can't watch Blu-Ray. After a few minutes my sytem crashes. This happens in the Arcsoft Trial Software and in PowerDVD. I just don't get what it could be. I wachted "Day after tomorrow", "Sunshine" and some episode of "Prison Break" a few weeks ago without any problems. Nothing on my system changed since then. And after I just reinstalled everything I pretty sure it's not a software problem. Could my Pioneer BR-Drive be damaged? HD DVD continues to work fine...

Ok, so i did what I didn't want to do and reinstalled Vista. And I still can't watch Blu-Ray. After a few minutes my sytem crashes. This happens in the Arcsoft Trial Software and in PowerDVD. I just don't get what it could be. I wachted "Day after tomorrow", "Sunshine" and some episode of "Prison Break" a few weeks ago without any problems. Nothing on my system changed since then. And after I just reinstalled everything I pretty sure it's not a software problem. Could my Pioneer BR-Drive be damaged? HD DVD continues to work fine...

Nothing has changed? Not even vid card drivers?

Nothing has changed? Not even vid card drivers?

Nope, not even those. I used the beta driver 169.17 since it's been out. All the BRs I mentioned worked with that driver when I watched them 2 weeks ago. That's what I don't get. Why would it just stop working when nothing on the system changed.



Update: OK. I'm pretty certain now, that the drive is broken. I just tried ripping a BR-Disc (something I've never done before, because I never needed it) and again after a few minutes my system crashed. After that I tried ripping a normal DVD in the drive. System crash again. Now I'm trying to rip the same DVD with another DVD-Drive and so far that works without any problems. So it can only be the drive itself, right?

Nope, not even those. I used the beta driver 169.17 since it's been out. All the BRs I mentioned worked with that driver when I watched them 2 weeks ago. That's what I don't get. Why would it just stop working when nothing on the system changed.



Update: OK. I'm pretty certain now, that the drive is broken. I just tried ripping a BR-Disc (something I've never done before, because I never needed it) and again after a few minutes my system crashed. After that I tried ripping a normal DVD in the drive. System crash again. Now I'm trying to rip the same DVD with another DVD-Drive and so far that works without any problems. So it can only be the drive itself, right?

Unplug the drive and plug it in again... I know it sounds stupid but often I've found the most complicated problems are the most simple. Probably won't fix it but I always do that as a rule before declaring anything as broken.

Digital Video Essentials - HD

Anyone got this to work with PDVD? I get it to load, I can get to the various menus, but I can't actually get it to do any of the functions. At the last menu level, it won't let me select anything. Also, there's no sound (not sure if there's supposed to be sound on the menus), and the "Additional Info" seems always blank (although I wasn't paying close attention to that).

So anyone get DVE-HD to work?

Edit: Saw some of the previous posts about enabling trailers. I disabled AnyDVD but it still didn't work (although I didn't get trailers either). So I'm re-ripping with trailers enabled, and we'll see how it does. Will post in a few minutes.

Edit: Okay, re-ripped and I can now play things, but there's no audio, except for the sample tracks. Not sure if that's intentional, but it makes it a little hard for a novice calbrator like me to figure out what to do with each of the patterns. Anyone know if the patterns are supposed to have audio with them?

Unplug the drive and plug it in again... I know it sounds stupid but often I've found the most complicated problems are the most simple. Probably won't fix it but I always do that as a rule before declaring anything as broken.

I got the same idea and pluged the cable into another SATA-Port and believe it or not that actually seems to have fixed the problem! I can't believe it. Could it really have been that simple? That would be really great. I hope it keeps working. Thanks for the tip by the way.

how do you play mkv files on Powerdvd even though i have ffdshow in my system?

Digital Video Essentials - HD

Anyone got this to work with PDVD? I get it to load, I can get to the various menus, but I can't actually get it to do any of the functions. At the last menu level, it won't let me select anything. Also, there's no sound (not sure if there's supposed to be sound on the menus), and the "Additional Info" seems always blank (although I wasn't paying close attention to that).

So anyone get DVE-HD to work?

Edit: Saw some of the previous posts about enabling trailers. I disabled AnyDVD but it still didn't work (although I didn't get trailers either). So I'm re-ripping with trailers enabled, and we'll see how it does. Will post in a few minutes.I couldn't get DVE-HD working either but, I wasn't playing it from the HDD, just using the disc. Like you, I could navigate to the test patterns but, couldn't select any to view.

I finally gave up on it and used the SD side. Despite the color space difference, I managed to get things dialed in to my satisfaction.

For me, PDVD (3516) has had problems with menus on most of my BD and HD DVD titles. It's quirky for sure but, I've been able to at least play all of my titles, so far...

I'm hoping someone can give me some help on a playback problem I'm having.

I have a new HTPC build based on the HTPC build sticky thread here. The basic config of the box is:

- PNY GeForce 8600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready
- LG Blu-ray/HD DVD-ROM Model GGC-H20L
- Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz
- ASUS P5K-VM LGA 775 Intel G33 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
- Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)

I'm able to use PDVD to play back regular DVDs on my Panny AE900. When I try to play an HD-DVD or Blu-ray DVD I get this:

http://lh4.google.com/chuckr/R37-NK5FsjI/AAAAAAAADbg/-ic0N2t2V_c/IMG_2096.JPG?imgmax=800

This problem starts as soon as PDVD starts playing. I don't know of a good way to describe the problem - only a picture does it justice.

I've tried using both the bundled PDVD and PDVD Ultra with the same results. I have the latest nvidia drivers and have mucked around quite a bit with various nvidia control panel settings, but nothing has made a difference.

My gut tells me there's something wrong with the video card and I should RMA it, but I want to check here to see if there's some sort of config issue I'm not understanding.

Thanks....

I'm hoping someone can give me some help on a playback problem I'm having.

I have a new HTPC build based on the HTPC build sticky thread here. The basic config of the box is:

- PNY GeForce 8600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready
- LG Blu-ray/HD DVD-ROM Model GGC-H20L
- Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz
- ASUS P5K-VM LGA 775 Intel G33 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
- Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)

I'm able to use PDVD to play back regular DVDs on my Panny AE900. When I try to play an HD-DVD or Blu-ray DVD I get this:

http://lh4.google.com/chuckr/R37-NK5FsjI/AAAAAAAADbg/-ic0N2t2V_c/IMG_2096.JPG?imgmax=800

This problem starts as soon as PDVD starts playing. I don't know of a good way to describe the problem - only a picture does it justice.

I've tried using both the bundled PDVD and PDVD Ultra with the same results. I have the latest nvidia drivers and have mucked around quite a bit with various nvidia control panel settings, but nothing has made a difference.

My gut tells me there's something wrong with the video card and I should RMA it, but I want to check here to see if there's some sort of config issue I'm not understanding.

Thanks....

I had a similar problem...update your video drivers to fix the problem. That worked for me.

how do you play mkv files on Powerdvd even though i have ffdshow in my system?

You'll need the CoreAVC codecs.

I have the latest drivers. The nvidia site shows latest as:
ForceWare Release 169 WHQL
Version: 169.21

Checking my nvidia control panel, I'm at 169.21.

I'm going to try and unistall the nvidia drivers and re-install it (this is on Windows XP Pro).

I have the latest drivers. The nvidia site shows latest as:
ForceWare Release 169 WHQL
Version: 169.21

Checking my nvidia control panel, I'm at 169.21.

I'm going to try and unistall the nvidia drivers and re-install it (this is on Windows XP Pro).

I had something similar happen when I went from 3319 and upgraded. In fact I may not have even used beyond 3319, recollection is fuzzy. My problem was the entire image was in the upper left corner 30% of the screen and the last scan line replicated below similar to what you see. I had a board with an integrated ATI 1250 and I was told to upgrade the drivers. Unfortunately, ATI did not support the changes required for the decoding for that 1250 chip. So I ended up getting an iMac with the 2600 ATI chip and it did support drivers for this decoding. That is the reason I suspected that yours was a driver issue. It was an educated guess. You might contact nVidia to see if they have a solution. I assume that if your card is PCIX and HDCP compliant, that it would still be supported. Good Luck....

i have corecodec. will that works or not? what is the setting for it?

You need the mastroka splitter to play MKV's.

I had something similar happen when I went from 3319 and upgraded. In fact I may not have even used beyond 3319, recollection is fuzzy. My problem was the entire image was in the upper left corner 30% of the screen and the last scan line replicated below similar to what you see. I had a board with an integrated ATI 1250 and I was told to upgrade the drivers. Unfortunately, ATI did not support the changes required for the decoding for that 1250 chip. So I ended up getting an iMac with the 2600 ATI chip and it did support drivers for this decoding. That is the reason I suspected that yours was a driver issue. It was an educated guess. You might contact nVidia to see if they have a solution. I assume that if your card is PCIX and HDCP compliant, that it would still be supported. Good Luck....

I went and uninstalled and reinstalled the nvidia drivers and blu-ray works now with PDVD. HD-DVD almost works - it looks fine, but PDVD silently exits right after the Universal logo on the "The Bourne Ultimatum". Nice. I'll mess with that some more and see, but that's the only HD-DVD disk I have to try.

So for future reference for people, I'll document what I did on Windows XP Pro:
- Went to add/remove programs and removed all nvidia drivers and software
- Re-downloaded the latest nforce install package.
- Installed with the nforce installer. Did the basic config stuff.
- Tested HD playback with PDVD. I didn't run any of the fancy wizards or display optimization programs from nvidia (which I did do the first time).

Thanks for the pointers.

Weird thing with HD MPEG-2's. Some of them show up in a small window when played in PDVD. Any idea why?

Specifically, the HDnet and InHD test patterns that I TTG's from my S3, as well as some movies. Here's what I've tested:
1) They are all 1920x1080
2) I used DSDump to turn the .tivo's into .mpg's
3) When playing in anything else (WMP, Nero Showtime) they play as full screen
4) When playing in PDVD, they play as little things in the middle of the screen, looks like about 1/4 of the real estate.

So questions:
- Is there any way, in PDVD, to see what it thinks the resolution of the video is?
- Is there any way to force a full screen of the video?
- Any thoughts as to why this is happening with only a small subset of my HD MPEG's (all DSDumped from .tivo files)?

Thanks!
-Mark

I went and uninstalled and reinstalled the nvidia drivers and blu-ray works now with PDVD. HD-DVD almost works - it looks fine, but PDVD silently exits right after the Universal logo on the "The Bourne Ultimatum". Nice. I'll mess with that some more and see, but that's the only HD-DVD disk I have to try.

So for future reference for people, I'll document what I did on Windows XP Pro:
- Went to add/remove programs and removed all nvidia drivers and software
- Re-downloaded the latest nforce install package.
- Installed with the nforce installer. Did the basic config stuff.
- Tested HD playback with PDVD. I didn't run any of the fancy wizards or display optimization programs from nvidia (which I did do the first time).

Thanks for the pointers.

Chuck,

I see you are a local. Hopefully you have power. I am still on generator with little hope of seeing real PGE power until Monday or Tuesday. But my HT progress continues on a generator. I too have teh same Bourne HD disk and never had any issues with it as it came with my HP drive. Did you get one of the LG dual use drives?

Barry

This topic came up earlier, but I don't recall seeing much in the way of replies (and just did a few searches that came up empty)...

I'm having trouble using the menus on HD DVD's (haven't tried menus on Blurays yet). I haven't tried lots of discs yet, but for both 300 and Transformers, I can bring up the root menu but am not able to use the arrow keys to navigate through the menu. I undocked the controls (which I'm assuming put me into "Player Mode") and opened the Menu/Number Pad - all of the arrow keys appear to be grayed out even when the root menu is displayed.

I get the same result with AnyDVD HD running, disabled, and not running at all.

Any ideas? Are there some movies that people have definitely had success with using the menus?

System:
Windows XP MCE 2005
Zalman HD160 Case
Asus P5W DH Deluxe
E6850 Core 2 Duo 3.0GHz 1333FSB
4GB Corsair XMS2 6400
Gigabyte HD2600 XT (Passively Cooled)
Holo3D II
RME DIGI 96/8 Pad
Creative Labs X-Fi Elite Pro
PowerDVD 7.3 Ultra (build 3516)
TheaterTek 2.0 (latest patch)
AnyDVD HD (latest version)
PowerStrip
ATI Catalyst 7.10 (I believe that's what's installed - I'll be upgrading to 7.12 when I get some free time)

I found the issue, now working on a solution:

I use the clone monitor feature in the Nvidia control panel. When that is engaged, the HD Transformers and Bourne do not work. When it is turned off they work fine.

Funny thing is that the Cyberlink advisor fails the driver and HDCP when Clone is on, but is okay when off. So cloning must be against copy protection rules, but why doesn't AnyDVD HD take care of this for playback?

Ted

Anyone with thoughts on my use of secondary monitor in Clone mode and it's impact on playback?

Vista 64
Intel Q6600
Gigabyte x38 MB
AnyDVD HD (trial) 6.3.0.3
PowerDVD Ultra (DVD071102, build 3516)
BFG 8800GT OC
LG BR/HD-DVD

If anyone how has a Bluray dvd with smart menu could let me know if they are able to get the menu screen up i would be grateful as all my bluray dvds are smart menu films, and although i can get the popup menu to come up, i cannot get the main menu screen.

When i insert the film it plays immediately, hasn't powerdvd implemented smart menus yet ?

thanks

Here are my specs:
Gigabyte P35-DS3Rrev2
C2D E6750 (nothing overclocked)
4GB PC5400
Vista 32 Ultimate
Nvidia 8600GT
XBOX360 Addon

With AnyDVD running, I use IMGBurn in read mode to create an ISO of the disc. With DaemonTools I load the ISO and PDVD plays it very nicely. Transformers, all the Harry Potter, Bourne, every one I've tried actually play perfectly. Now, I am only feeding a 720P signal to my plasma, so I'm not rying a 1080 resolution. That may be part of it, I don't really have a way to test larger resolutions. Now, having said all that, I'm not a PQ junkie. To me it looks fantastic, but my eyes are untrained. I'll see about doing a screenie or 2 and see if you agree.

I still really want to try the Arcsoft player, though. Good to have choices.

OK, quick question. How DO I take screen shot is Powerdvd of HD DVd material. It's disabled. What would be the best program to use? Would Snagit work? I have a copy around here somewhere I just don't want to install more than I need to on the HTPC. I like to keep it clean.

Transformers plays and rips smooth for me.

others don't however.

I am still having trouble ripping Transformers with AnyDVD. It fails at 49% everytime. Can someone describe exactly what process they use to rip the disc. What version of AnyDVD are you using? What settings in AnyDVD do you use?

I am also getting a lot of stuttering when I try to play the movie from the disc. Any help on this would be much appreciated.

OK, quick question. How DO I take screen shot is Powerdvd of HD DVd material. It's disabled. What would be the best program to use? Would Snagit work? I have a copy around here somewhere I just don't want to install more than I need to on the HTPC. I like to keep it clean.

AACS forbids screenshots of HD discs. The only way I know is to enable AnyDVD HD. This removes AACS and if you use ArcSoft DT2 trial it lets you make screenshots of non AACS protected discs (the screnshot button isn't greyed out anymore). :p

Hi guys, I have a question, not about playback, but about how to remove images on the screen of a film!

When I right click to go to title menu, it brings up a menu dialogue box for "choose scene, special features, play film" and when I choose one of the options, the menu dialogue stays on the screen!

I don't know how to get rid of it. I tried escape and searching for all the options but I couldn't get rid of it.

So, how are the screenshots being made in the Hd DVD software forum? They CAN'T be taking photos of their screens. I do have anydvd hd running, but only have PDVD right now (Since my Japanese is really bad). I'm waiting for DT2 come hit the market in English.

Thanks

Some questions/issues... hopefully someone can help out!

1) How can I adjust the picture settings for HDDVD? I go to the video settings, make changes, but it only seems to effect MPEG, not HDDVD or BluRay (from ISO's).

2) Related to #1, my blacks are really crushed through PDVD. With MPEG's and adjusting the video settings, I'm able to mostly fix it, but this doesn't seem to have any effect of HDDVD's and ISO's. Thoughts?

3) Is there any way to see the attributes of the video, like resolution? Particularly for MPEG's. I have a problem where some HD MPEG's aren't filling the screen, and I'm curious if PDVD thinks the resolution is really that small?

4) Any advice on a sound card to get all 7.1 tracks? Even if I need to feed analog to my AVR, I'd like to be able to get all 7.1 discrete tracks out of things that have them.

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
-Mark

If anyone how has a Bluray dvd with smart menu could let me know if they are able to get the menu screen up i would be grateful as all my bluray dvds are smart menu films, and although i can get the popup menu to come up, i cannot get the main menu screen.

When i insert the film it plays immediately, hasn't powerdvd implemented smart menus yet ?

thanks


http://forum.slysoft.com/showpost.php?p=66160&postcount=37

I am still having trouble ripping Transformers with AnyDVD. It fails at 49% everytime. Can someone describe exactly what process they use to rip the disc. What version of AnyDVD are you using? What settings in AnyDVD do you use?

I am also getting a lot of stuttering when I try to play the movie from the disc. Any help on this would be much appreciated.

Did you try cleaning the disc? wash it with some warm water and soap.

Any update on when the new PowerDVD Profile 1.1 build will be released?

I have a new build and am encountering some problems with stuttering when playing HD DVD material. My system specs are below:

Intel Core2 Quad 6600
XFX NVIDIA 8800GT 512MB
Samsung SyncMaster 225BW
2 GB RAM
Windows Vista Ultimate

I have altered no settings in PowerDVD Ultra edition (most recent build); I have AnyDVD running. When I first saw some stuttering, I unchecked the box that said "Enable hardware acceleration" and I thought that worked, but a few minutes into the movie I noticed that there was still some stuttering. Pausing the video and then hitting play was a temporary fix, but the problems occurred again a few minutes later.

Any suggestions for this problem?

I went and uninstalled and reinstalled the nvidia drivers and blu-ray works now with PDVD. HD-DVD almost works - it looks fine, but PDVD silently exits right after the Universal logo on the "The Bourne Ultimatum". Nice. I'll mess with that some more and see, but that's the only HD-DVD disk I have to try.
If you are using AnyDVD HD, I think the recommended fix for Universal titles is to enable "rename highest .xpl" in the settings. Not sure if this works for all Universal, but may help with Bourne Ultimatum.

Otherwise, the latest PDVD generally works with most titles, but introduces more DRM effects (eg no HDD playback, unless you rip to ISO and mount with Daemon Tools).

1) How can I adjust the picture settings for HDDVD? I go to the video settings, make changes, but it only seems to effect MPEG, not HDDVD or BluRay (from ISO's).

I've noticed under XP with Nvidia 8x00 and PDVD 3516 that hardware acceleration is always enabled and this seems to disable all the video colour controls. I can't even adjust video colour in the Nvidia control panel.

Things were different in PDVD 2911: with hardware acceleration disabled, I could adjust everything via the PDVD control panel or the Nvidia Control Panel.

I really dislike PowerDVD taking over control like this.

Oh, this was for HD-DVD: I haven't tried mpeg2 or Bluray.

2) Related to #1, my blacks are really crushed through PDVD. With MPEG's and adjusting the video settings, I'm able to mostly fix it, but this doesn't seem to have any effect of HDDVD's and ISO's. Thoughts?

As above with PDVD removing control when in hardware acceleration mode.

However, if you change the registry setting (can't remember it exactly, but something like the following):

HKLM->Software->Cyberlink->PowerDVD->COLORSPACE

from it's default value of 3 to a value of 1 and then reboot, it should help with the crushed blacks and restore things to reference levels.

Unfortunately this change also seems to desaturate the image, so is not without its own issues. I used to be able to compensate by boosting saturation in the Nvidia Control Panel, but that doesn't seem to work now.

3) Is there any way to see the attributes of the video, like resolution? Particularly for MPEG's. I have a problem where some HD MPEG's aren't filling the screen, and I'm curious if PDVD thinks the resolution is really that small?

If an HD MPEG is authored from 4:3 material, then it won't fill a widescreen. But I expect you are talking about something slightly different.

The "show information" option in PDVD I think distinguishes between mpeg2 and HD mpeg2.

4) Any advice on a sound card to get all 7.1 tracks? Even if I need to feed analog to my AVR, I'd like to be able to get all 7.1 discrete tracks out of things that have them.

Can't comment. Not sure if PDVD will decode better than 5.1. Most mobos have 8 channel analogue output these days: have you tried that first?

Do AVRs have 8 channel analogue input? Mine is only 6 channel.

Anyone else having issues with "Lost" season 3 bD set? I have no problems with discs 1-3, but discs 4-5 show just a black screen after the "Buena Vista Home Entertainment" logo. Ideas?

Intel C2D 6550 at stock speed (2.33GHz)
DVDU 3319a
AnyDVD HD running (latest build) to overcome false reporting from Cyberlink about HDCP on my Samsung DLP monitor.

I am new to the whole PC movie watching thing. I have been using the Xbox360 with the HDDVD Add-on. Since a few weeks, I have a Laptop with a Bluray drive and HDMI output. Is capable of doing audio and video over HDMI. Right now I am considering upgrading to a HDMI receiver to hook up the laptop and enjoy Bluray. I figured PowerDVD Ultra is the best way of playback on the laptop, and now I have a question which you guys might be able to answer.

The receiver I am willing to buy is a not-HDMI v1.3 receiver. So I have to output my movies on the laptop to multichannel PCM. What do you guys think will happen when a Bluray or HDDVD with for example TrueHD track is played? Will it be decoded to multichannel PCM? Are there settings in the PowerDVD that have to be adjusted to get the PCM output? In the Control Panel at my HDMI Audio device there is no such term as PCM to be found. I don not have the receiver yet, and I would like to now if it is possible to output the audio in PCM format, before I am buying. Do I need extra codecs? And what do you guys think will happen when I just select the PCM audio track on a Bluray?

Thanks.

I am new to the whole PC movie watching thing. I have been using the Xbox360 with the HDDVD Add-on. Since a few weeks, I have a Laptop with a Bluray drive and HDMI output. Is capable of doing audio and video over HDMI. Right now I am considering upgrading to a HDMI receiver to hook up the laptop and enjoy Bluray. I figured PowerDVD Ultra is the best way of playback on the laptop, and now I have a question which you guys might be able to answer.

The receiver I am willing to buy is a not-HDMI v1.3 receiver. So I have to output my movies on the laptop to multichannel PCM. What do you guys think will happen when a Bluray or HDDVD with for example TrueHD track is played? Will it be decoded to multichannel PCM? Are there settings in the PowerDVD that have to be adjusted to get the PCM output? In the Control Panel at my HDMI Audio device there is no such term as PCM to be found. I don not have the receiver yet, and I would like to now if it is possible to output the audio in PCM format, before I am buying. Do I need extra codecs? And what do you guys think will happen when I just select the PCM audio track on a Bluray?

Thanks.

At the moment there is no way of getting multi channel PCM out of a PC. The HDMI cards from ATI only output what SPDIF could (2 ch PCM or compressed AC3 or DTS). So the only way to get lossless audio out of the PC is to do it over analog. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

At the moment there is no way of getting multi channel PCM out of a PC. The HDMI cards from ATI only output what SPDIF could (2 ch PCM or compressed AC3 or DTS). So the only way to get lossless audio out of the PC is to do it over analog. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.I really really though I read that PowerDVD is able to convert TrueHD to multichannel PCM and sent it over HDMI numurous times in this thread. Downconverted...but still multichannel PCM.

I just want to know what I have to do or use on my laptop to get multichannel PCM output.

I have a new build and am encountering some problems with stuttering when playing HD DVD material. My system specs are below:



Which build?

I'm a newby at this so please be patient.

I've just finished building my pride and joy HTPC and find that no way can I get Ultra to play HD content (of the red or blue varieties) from my LG combo drive.

I've tried about every version of Ultra but to no avail.

AnyDVD knows what is in the drive and I can rip to the hard drive so the LG is working fine.

When PDVD launches there is drive activity but nothing happens - no error messages. NOTHING. It plays SD content fine.

I'm running Vista Ultimate on a Core2Duo 6850 with 2GB DDR2 1066mhz on an ASUS PK5C motherboard, with ATI 2900 XT (Catalyst and AVIVO 7.7) via DVI to a Hyundai 240w so the hardware spec should be perfectly OK.

Cyberlink recommended 071102-03 so that is the version currently on the machine.

This may be something or nothing but PDVD insists on asking me to register every time it loads - even though it is properly activated and already registered.

Am I missing something obvious - has anyone else had these problems?

HELP!!!!

I'm hoping someone can give me some help on a playback problem I'm having.

I have a new HTPC build based on the HTPC build sticky thread here. The basic config of the box is:

- PNY GeForce 8600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready
- LG Blu-ray/HD DVD-ROM Model GGC-H20L
- Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz
- ASUS P5K-VM LGA 775 Intel G33 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
- Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)

I'm able to use PDVD to play back regular DVDs on my Panny AE900. When I try to play an HD-DVD or Blu-ray DVD I get this:

http://lh4.google.com/chuckr/R37-NK5FsjI/AAAAAAAADbg/-ic0N2t2V_c/IMG_2096.JPG?imgmax=800

This problem starts as soon as PDVD starts playing. I don't know of a good way to describe the problem - only a picture does it justice.

I've tried using both the bundled PDVD and PDVD Ultra with the same results. I have the latest nvidia drivers and have mucked around quite a bit with various nvidia control panel settings, but nothing has made a difference.

My gut tells me there's something wrong with the video card and I should RMA it, but I want to check here to see if there's some sort of config issue I'm not understanding.

Thanks....


This is a strange one. I had seen your post and today I had updated my nVidia drivers to the latest nvidia offering. As soon as I rebooted and put in a BR disk, the exact same started happening to me. I went back to the older, original drivers that came with my card and I am now back to normal.

Followup: I did as suggested, uninstalled all nvidia drivers and then installed the latest 169.21 drivers and now it all works just fine. Thanks for your research.

Which build?

The .exe file I downloaded says "3516" at the end. Is this what you are looking for?

HKLM->Software->Cyberlink->PowerDVD->COLORSPACE

from it's default value of 3 to a value of 1 and then reboot, it should help with the crushed blacks and restore things to reference levels.

Unfortunately this change also seems to desaturate the image, so is not without its own issues. I used to be able to compensate by boosting saturation in the Nvidia Control Panel, but that doesn't seem to work now.

Okay, found the setting (just add HDDVD to the above RegEdit path). Will test tonight and post results.


If an HD MPEG is authored from 4:3 material, then it won't fill a widescreen. But I expect you are talking about something slightly different.

The "show information" option in PDVD I think distinguishes between mpeg2 and HD mpeg2.

Definitely 16x9 MPEG, from Tivo S3 and converted using DSDump. It plays as 16x9, just small in the middle of the screen. And only with PDVD. With Nero and WMP, it properly displays in full screen. Really weird.

And there's nothing on that Show Information screen about resolution. Any other ideas about where to look for resolution information?

Not sure if PDVD will decode better than 5.1. Most mobos have 8 channel analogue output these days: have you tried that first?

Do AVRs have 8 channel analogue input? Mine is only 6 channel.

My AVR (Onkyo 905) has 8 channel analog input. My MoBo doesn't seem to have that output (ASUS P5WDG2 WS Pro), but I might have misplaced some dongle somewhere.

Anyone know a good 8-channel audio board that works with Vista and PDVD for the full 8 channels, and is likely to work with other soft players coming out soon?

Guys,
is there a way to change the default screen PowerDVD puts up, i.e. the girl with the red background. I would like to make my own.

Thanks

Yes..

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=12560958

Guys,
is there a way to change the default screen PowerDVD puts up, i.e. the girl with the red background. I would like to make my own.

Thanks

I really really though I read that PowerDVD is able to convert TrueHD to multichannel PCM and sent it over HDMI numurous times in this thread. Downconverted...but still multichannel PCM.

I just want to know what I have to do or use on my laptop to get multichannel PCM output.
The way people are doing this is either the motherboard has a built-in HDMI port that already couples the audio via internal "HD Audio Link" (not S/PDIF like ATI cards are doing) or they have a motherboard with built-in video and the HD Audio Link header, and they have an ADD2 card for HDMI output from the both of them. I can't imagine any other way to do this at current moment.

As for your laptop, I'm really not sure. Does it have an HDMI port? If it does, you're at least part of the way there. It still depends on how it couples audio with the HDMI signal, but if it does it the same as the way mentioned above, you probably could get uncompressed PCM multi-channel over the HDMI connection.

Does build 3516 not work with BD+ titles like Die Hard 4? I get error 80040216 when I attempt to play this particular title. On the other hand, I have no issues playing titles such as Bourne Ultimatum, Transformers, Cars or Spiderman 3.

System specs as follows:

Asus P5E-VM HDMI
Q6600
LG combo drive

Vista Home Premium 32bit & AnyDVD 6.3.0.6 (the latest)

The titles listed above plays directly from the disc as well as ISO images from the HD. Die Hard 4 doesn't play either way.

Thanks!

Got my LG GGC-H20L today and I'm using PDVD Ultra 7.3.3319f. BD seems to be playing fine (I've only tried the Weeds Season 1 disc though), and I'm getting downconverted DTS-HD-->DTS-ES fine via optical.

However I have a problem with the way it displays Blu-ray on full screen with my desktop res at 1080p...

Computer is running Vista x64 and videocard is an ATi X1950pro, running Catalyst 7.12; also I pass the HDCP test in Cyberlink's advisor thingy. TV is a 50" Sony SXRD. I can set my desktop to 720p standard and by going two notches up in the driver's scaling/overscan/underscan slider it fills the screen just about perfectly. On 1080p, I use just one notch above centre to make it fit the screen right. This is without using custom resolutions in the HDTV menu, it's just by using the scaling options.

What happens is, when I go to fullscreen on when playing back the disc [Weeds Season 1, 1080p and it says "16x9" format on the case sleeve] with a 1080p display/desktop res, I get a border around the video that's about 1 to 1.5 inches around the image. On DVDs this does not happen.

If I play the disc with the desktop at 720p and go to full screen it fills the screen fine, just as it does with DVDs at either res. TV still shows 720p and 1080p as the display input accordingly in both cases. PDVD's little controls/menu bar at the bottom even takes up the full width of the screen in 1080p mode but the video does not.

Anyone know why this is happening? What I did after that was change my 1080p settings to custom res instead... This disables the scaling options but lets you set the horizontal and vertical independently. The TV still gets a 1080p signal from the videocard either way (either scaling or custom res) btw. When I did this and tried to play the BD again, it seems to fill the screen much better. However there is still a very small border around the video about a couple of mm on each side.

The way I have it now I can live with it like that, but I'm curious as to why PDVD is putting any sort of border at all around the BD video and why it puts more of a border around it when I use over/under scan controls in the driver instead of custom res. What makes no sense to me is that it works at 720p without a problem, and also DVDs play fullscreen in either res without a problem.

Any thoughts? :confused:

Does build 3516 not work with BD+ titles like Die Hard 4? I get error 80040216 when I attempt to play this particular title. On the other hand, I have no issues playing titles such as Bourne Ultimatum, Transformers, Cars or Spiderman 3.

...

Vista Home Premium 32bit & AnyDVD 6.3.0.6 (the latest)

Apparently the latest PDVD (3516) detects AnyDVD I think and won't play the BD+ disc. To play it you're going to have to disable AnyDVD, but then I'm imagining you only have it because you don't have an HDCP complaint display? I think in that case analog is the only way you can watch the movie. I'm not sure about that but I saw a post not too long ago which said pretty much exactly that^ about BD+ discs.

Okay, found the setting (just add HDDVD to the above RegEdit path). Will test tonight and post results.

And there's nothing on that Show Information screen about resolution. Any other ideas about where to look for resolution information?

I have no idea what actually happens when the COLORSPACE is changed to 1, 2, or 3, but 1 fixes up aliasing and brightness issues I have with hardware acceleration mode, at the expense of desaturation and maybe a softer image (difficult to be sure: it just could be the loss of aliasing which removes a perceived sharpening effect).

Show Information doesn't actually show resolution, but I was sure that it indicates "HD MPEG2" for an HD source and just "MPEG2" for an SD source.

Alternatively, you could try playing a source file in graphedit (or MPC) and check the filter properties: it may give some information. VLC might also show some information about the source file.

Just out of interest, when DTV first began broadcast here, adverts were sometimes 4:3 letterbox inside a 16:9 frame, giving a tiny image in the centre of the screen with black bars all round. The frame was still 16:9, but what was inside, wasn't. I still see some actual programs broadcast in this way, where the source is 4:3 letterbox but the broadcaster won't scale to the 16:9 frame in order to save bandwidth (it takes less bits to encode all that static blackness).

Update on black crush...

The Registry setting made a tiny bit of difference, but not enough.

I discovered with nVidia, if you have acceleration in PDVD, you can use the nVidia control panel settings by:
- Under Video and Television
- Under Adjust video color settings
- Check the "Use the NVidia Control Panel color settings"
- Then slide the bars

Unfortunately, the settings aren't granular enough, but they get you close.

I've traded severe black crush for a little white crush (which is overall a lot more visually appealing, if I have to choose one).

One note - you'll only see changes while a video is playing. And with calibration images, they only update every few seconds (MPEG/VC1 full frame refresh I assume).

My settings:
- Brightness +68
- Contrast +54
- Hue +100 (or 0, not sure it matters)
- Saturation +55
- Gamma doesn't seem to work
- Red Gamma +7
- Green Gamma +6
- Blue Gamma +3

My current test scenes are the ones that prompted this, specifically:
- 30 minutes into "33" episode of BSG (HD DVD). A scene with Adama and Tigh talking, and their uniforms were completely crushed. Now i can see the detail in them, and the background colors of the bridge are diverse.

- The scene in the second part of the mini series, where they are coming out of the cloud, and there's a 5-10 minute space fight scene. With the black crush, it was really difficult to visually follow what was going on. Now it's clear, almost 3-D (like it's supposed to be). And the blacks are still inky.

Overall the picture is a smidgen washed out, but I don't have the granularity of controls to get this tighter. I think it's minimal, and the colors look good, and the blacks are deep and contrasty and inky, without being crushed, so I think I'm happy.

If anyone else has more advice on this, especially using the HD DVD DVE (with no audio for some reason, so I have only my amateur knowledge of what I'm doing with it), that would be great.

I'm using an Onkyo 905 and Sony Black Pearl on a Stewart FHG3, if that matters. My Sony was professionally calibrated.

Just out of interest, when DTV first began broadcast here, adverts were sometimes 4:3 letterbox inside a 16:9 frame, giving a tiny image in the centre of the screen with black bars all round. The frame was still 16:9, but what was inside, wasn't. I still see some actual programs broadcast in this way, where the source is 4:3 letterbox but the broadcaster won't scale to the 16:9 frame in order to save bandwidth (it takes less bits to encode all that static blackness).

It's from HDnet and InHD, both are 100% HD. These are the calibration patterns they run once a week. Definitely 1920x1080, according to Nero at least. There are a few other MPEG's like this.

In PDVD, "A Scanner Darkly" plays fine, says "MPEG-2" at ~15mb/s. But "2010" plays small, says "MPEG-2" at ~18mb/s. In Nero and WMP, they play full screen and show 1920x1080 resolution.

I was just curious if PDVD for some reason didn't think it was 1920x1080.

So I found where to look - under Configuration/Information, it displays stuff. For the videos that are small, it says 1920x1080. However for videos that work, I get no information and just a bunch of hardware acceleration information. It also says "DirectShow" for the not working ones, and IA acceleration for the working ones.

Really weird. Any thoughts on what this even means?

I am struggling to understand PureVideo HD and how it works with PDVD ultra. I have windows XP Pro, GIGABYTE GV-NX85T256H GF8500, LG multi-player, AMD AM2 X2 4800+. I can run HD-DVD and BR disks with little problem. My CPU usage runs around 50% to 85% regardless of wether Hardware acceleration is checked or not in the OEM version of PDVD. I am guessing I do not have PureVideo HD operating somehow. I do have the latest Forceware drivers from the Nvidea site.

Any ideas?

Apparently the latest PDVD (3516) detects AnyDVD I think and won't play the BD+ disc. To play it you're going to have to disable AnyDVD, but then I'm imagining you only have it because you don't have an HDCP complaint display? I think in that case analog is the only way you can watch the movie. I'm not sure about that but I saw a post not too long ago which said pretty much exactly that^ about BD+ discs.
Thanks. Actually my display is HDCP compliant, but I'm going through a Denon 3808 receiver (to get lossless audio) but apparently the Intel HDMI drivers for my Asus HDMI mobo do not yet support HDCP repeaters like my 3808.

Anyway, you were right! Disabling AnyDVD did the trick and allows me to play Die Hard 4 just fine. Of course I had to connect my HDMI output directly to my display, so no sound.

Just when I thought I had everything working, lossless audio and all, then Cyberlink pulls this crap. Damn, just can't win I guess. Hopefully Arcsoft DT2 will be an improvement over PDVD.

not to worry, you didn't have lossless audio anyway, since PDVD downsamples the HD audio before sending it to your sound card.
You did have a single cable soultion though.....

I thought PDVD allowed 16bit 48KHz TrueHD, DTS-MA and LPCM to pass through without downsampling, no? Also, I'm not using a sounds card as the HDMI audio capapility is built in on the new G35 Intel boards.

I thought PDVD allowed 16bit 48KHz TrueHD, DTS-MA and LPCM to pass through without downsampling, no? Also, I'm not using a sounds card as the HDMI audio capapility is built in on the new G35 Intel boards.

AFAIK you are correct except about DTS-MA, which I believe PDVD only plays the core 1.5mbps track. Anything greater than 16bit 48hz is of course downsampled, unless they fixed it all and just didn't bother to tell anyone of course... :rolleyes:

I thought PDVD allowed 16bit 48KHz TrueHD, DTS-MA and LPCM to pass through without downsampling, no? Also, I'm not using a sounds card as the HDMI audio capapility is built in on the new G35 Intel boards.

You still have a sound card just not a physical "soundcard" that's plugged in anywhere. There still has to be an audio chipset (likely a Realtek or a C-Media, etc) somewhere on the board and you'll still have to have drivers installed accordingly.

Are you actually able to pass TrueHD and DTS-HD MA over HDMI? I thought PDVD could only do LPCM (pre-decoded) versions of those over HDMI? Also PDVD downsamples before it hits the sound driver so LPCM would be down-converted nonetheless. Now if you can get TrueHD and DTS-HD MA natively output I guess that would be a lot better, but I was under the impression it was only LPCM from PDVD?

Ok... so is a 4.6MBps 48khz/16-bit LPCM track, or a 16-bit TrueHD track downsampled? If PowerDVD downsamples to 48khz/16-bit shouldn't they play properly over analog?

I'm having problems with subtitles on HD-DVDs. With the new version of PowerDVD 3516 they are still always on. I have always ripped and edited them out of the xpl file to play properly.

Now that I'm using 3516 I can't play files and have switched to ripping them to files, editing the xpl, and then making an iso with imgburn. But when I do this somehow the xpl file has the subtitle lines back in them when the iso is mounted. Is this is common problem, or something just with my setup?

How are people solving the subtitle problem with the 3516 build?

Ok... so is a 4.6MBps 48khz/16-bit LPCM track, or a 16-bit TrueHD track downsampled? If PowerDVD downsamples to 48khz/16-bit shouldn't they play properly over analog?

If it starts at 48kHz/16-bit then I can't imagine it would be downsampled anymore since it's already there. I would make sense that it would get played without any sampling changes because applying a sample rate conversion to 48/16 to output 48/16 would do nothing at all as there's nothing to convert.

Are there actually 48/16 LPCM tracks on HD and Blu-ray discs though?

If it starts at 48kHz/16-bit then I can't imagine it would be downsampled anymore since it's already there. I would make sense that it would get played without any sampling changes because applying a sample rate conversion to 48/16 to output 48/16 would do nothing at all as there's nothing to convert.

Are there actually 48/16 LPCM tracks on HD and Blu-ray discs though?

Yeah there are heaps. Almost all of Warner's TrueHD and LPCM tracks are 16-bit, and most of Sony LPCM tracks are 16-bit, but their newer TrueHD tracks are 24-bit, so it's probably half half. Also Disney's US releases are 24-bit, however the same movies such as POTC1/2 here in Australia are only 16-bit :o

Got my LG GGC-H20L today and I'm using PDVD Ultra 7.3.3319f.

...

However I have a problem with the way it displays Blu-ray on full screen with my desktop res at 1080p...

Computer is running Vista x64 and videocard is an ATi X1950pro, running Catalyst 7.12; also I pass the HDCP test in Cyberlink's advisor thingy. TV is a 50" Sony SXRD. I can set my desktop to 720p standard and by going two notches up in the driver's scaling/overscan/underscan slider it fills the screen just about perfectly. On 1080p, I use just one notch above centre to make it fit the screen right. This is without using custom resolutions in the HDTV menu, it's just by using the scaling options.

What happens is, when I go to fullscreen on when playing back the disc [Weeds Season 1, 1080p and it says "16x9" format on the case sleeve] with a 1080p display/desktop res, I get a border around the video that's about 1 to 1.5 inches around the image. On DVDs this does not happen.

If I play the disc with the desktop at 720p and go to full screen it fills the screen fine, just as it does with DVDs at either res.

...

Anyone know why this is happening? Any thoughts? :confused:
Sorry to repeat the question but anyone know anything about this? No one's experienced this?

I found the following thread at SlySoft's forums on a google search, it may have to do with Catalyst 7.12. I guess I'll have to remove it, install 7.11 and see... Still kind of puzzled how it doesn't affect 1280x720, or DVDs though...

http://forum.slysoft.com/showthread.php?p=75080

You still have a sound card just not a physical "soundcard" that's plugged in anywhere. There still has to be an audio chipset (likely a Realtek or a C-Media, etc) somewhere on the board and you'll still have to have drivers installed accordingly.

This isn't quite true, there is a Realtech card on the MB but you don't use it, I actually have it disabled and no drivers installed. The LPCM is output from another the Intel G35 chip.

I am not exactly sure what difference this makes, probably PDVD still downsamples it but just wanted to make the point you don't use the onboard soundcard.

Are you actually able to pass TrueHD and DTS-HD MA over HDMI? I thought PDVD could only do LPCM (pre-decoded) versions of those over HDMI? Also PDVD downsamples before it hits the sound driver so LPCM would be down-converted nonetheless. Now if you can get TrueHD and DTS-HD MA natively output I guess that would be a lot better, but I was under the impression it was only LPCM from PDVD?

The HDMI is 1.2 so no bitstream output, just Multichannel PCM via HDMI.

I might be wrong here (read I'm testing my understanding, awaits flaming) but nothing with the capability of sending the bitstream signal (even standalone players) "can" send bitstream because flags on the discs themselves allow/deny this and to date Hollywood has decided to deny this.
But this is of no loss to us (no pun intended) since, unlike DD and DTS of old, having the player uncompress the sound is no worse than having a posh reciever do it, more over, having the player do it means the on-line content / extras can be mixed in before sending it to a receiver to do bass management etc.

I might be wrong here (read I'm testing my understanding, awaits flaming) but nothing with the capability of sending the bitstream signal (even standalone players) "can" send bitstream because flags on the discs themselves allow/deny this and to date Hollywood has decided to deny this.
But this is of no loss to us (no pun intended) since, unlike DD and DTS of old, having the player uncompress the sound is no worse than having a posh reciever do it, more over, having the player do it means the on-line content / extras can be mixed in before sending it to a receiver to do bass management etc.

This is one of those 'myths' I am afraid, I believed it at one point as well. The disc authoring simply required the player to mix menu noises etc before outputting LPCM. If you use Bitstream obviously no mixing is done in the player so you lose these annoying noises. On some discs this may mean you can't listen to the audio on commentaries or PIP clips but AFAIK this is the only downside of Bitstream and Pre-Amp/Receiver Decoding.

On the plus side if your Reciever can accept bitstream it can also accept LPCM so you could always configure it differently if you want those extras at any time.

From an HTPC point of view, Bitstream seems to be the only way to bypass any 'crap' the software player may add or take away in the form of downsampling etc.

Does PowerDVD output multichannel PCM standard (over HDMI)? Only when a high bitrate codec is played? Or do I need to change settings in PowerDVD or Windows Vista Audio Control Panel to get multichannel PCM?

Does PowerDVD output multichannel PCM standard (over HDMI)? Only when a high bitrate codec is played? Or do I need to change settings in PowerDVD or Windows Vista Audio Control Panel to get multichannel PCM?

PDVD just outputs the number of channels you select, it doesn't know whether they are Analogue or Digital. The output method is handled by your operating system etc. in Vista I select HDMI in the 'Sound' control panel and the bit rate/depth and this is what Vista outputs.

You don't need to change anything for different file types or formats.

PDVD just outputs the number of channels you select, it doesn't know whether they are Analogue or Digital. The output method is handled by your operating system etc. in Vista I select HDMI in the 'Sound' control panel and the bit rate/depth and this is what Vista outputs.

You don't need to change anything for different file types or formats.Thank you very much for an answer I can actually use :)

I will test this out as soon as I get my hands on a HDMI receiver.

Thank you very much for an answer I can actually use :)

I will test this out as soon as I get my hands on a HDMI receiver.

No problem :D

If you are going for an Intel G35 based MB like then Asus P5E-V HDMI, then it is worth noting a lot of Denon Receiver owners seem to have problems passing the video. I have an onkyo 805 and haven't had any problems at all. Things like this can save you any number of headaches. :)

Check out the P35 motherboards thread for more information.

I'm having problems with subtitles on HD-DVDs. With the new version of PowerDVD 3516 they are still always on. I have always ripped and edited them out of the xpl file to play properly.

Now that I'm using 3516 I can't play files and have switched to ripping them to files, editing the xpl, and then making an iso with imgburn. But when I do this somehow the xpl file has the subtitle lines back in them when the iso is mounted. Is this is common problem, or something just with my setup?

How are people solving the subtitle problem with the 3516 build?
I think AnyDVD's "magic file replacement" facility can create unexpected results if one is not aware of what .xpl versions are being used at any point in time. It is possible the "magic file replacement" .xpl created when the original disc was first inserted, is being used in preference to a modified .xpl in a folder if AnyDVD is running when the ISO is created.

The most convenient method I have found is to rip an original disc directly to ISO with ImgBurn and AnyDVD running, but minimal "removals" activated in AnyDVD and no .xpl modifications made.

On playback, use AnyDVD's "magic file replacement" to edit the .xpl as required: it's effectively the same as reading the original disc but from a mounted ISO instead. Note that I'm informed if the hash of the ISO is different from the original disc, AnyDVD will probably create a different entry in the "magic file replacement" folder to the original disc. It can then be difficult determining which one relates to which "disc", unless you erase all references from the folder, allow AnyDVD to recreate them and note which one is which as they are created.

Alternatively, you should be able to use the "magic file replacement" facility with the original disc to configure subtitles as required and confirm it works with PowerDVD. When you rip to ISO with AnyDVD running, it should use the modified .xpl when compiling the ISO.

There shouldn't be a need to rip an original disc to HDD folders and then create an ISO from the folders: more efficient to rip to ISO directly from the disc.

I prefer the first method because the ISO source is then as close to the original as possible and retains all elements that can be modified, as required, down the track: if you only save a modified .xpl, there is less scope to make further changes in the future, or to re-enable subtitles as you have already "lost" information through prior modifications.

The "magic file replacement" facility can become a little confusing as to which .xpl is actually being used, but it's easy to just erase the folder, re-insert the original disc and AnyDVD will create a fresh .xpl

I'm still trying to decide which of the "removal" options are worthwhile ticking in AnyDVD HD when creating the ISO. Removing certain elements that permit the title to work with the current PowerDVD, means that the ISO can simply be mounted and played, but also means that if those removed features become useful in future, they are already gone and can only be restored with difficulty (if at all). I suspect the best move is only to remove AACS with AnyDVD HD when creating the ISO and then use AnyDVD (and magic file replacement) to remove other features and modify the .xpl as required. The ISO then becomes equivalent to the original disc, but with the advantage of being already decrypted.

Have someone with Win XP and Nvidia 8xxx graphics, get PDVD work/play properly and stable without any crashes with v. 169.21 drivers? Seems that always I try to play VC1 content HD DVD´s the player jamms after a while. With AVC everything works properly with hw acceleration.

Last fully working driver for me is 158.22. Of course without hw acceleration.

No problem :D

If you are going for an Intel G35 based MB like then Asus P5E-V HDMI, then it is worth noting a lot of Denon Receiver owners seem to have problems passing the video. I have an onkyo 805 and haven't had any problems at all. Things like this can save you any number of headaches. :)

Check out the P35 motherboards thread for more information.I'll be testing out my HDMI laptop with Bluray drive. I am not sure about its HDMI capabilities. I have had the opportunity of testing on a Denon 4308 in a Hifi Shop a while ago, but did not have PowerDVD yet that time. I only tested the Dolby Digital and DTS samples in the Vista 'Audio' Control panel on the HDMI audio device, which worked perfectly in multichannel surround. I am planning on going back to that shop in the weekend to test out a Bluray in PowerDVD. I hope I'll get multichannel PCM output on the laptop, so I can get a HDMI receiver and hook it up. I like the HK AVR247, which has multichannel PCM processing on HDMI.

PDVD just outputs the number of channels you select, it doesn't know whether they are Analogue or Digital. The output method is handled by your operating system etc. in Vista I select HDMI in the 'Sound' control panel and the bit rate/depth and this is what Vista outputs.

You don't need to change anything for different file types or formats.

Ok...I have been looking all over for this solution. I have an Onkyo TX-SR605 connected to my PC Vista 32bit (ATI 2400HD Pro), with HDMI and use PDVDU to play High Def Disc. I have no problems now playing disc, but I only get two channel PCM over HDMI connection. My Cable box PVR is also connected HDMI and it gets Dolby Digtal just fine. I have this same graphics card on another computer and it too, only outputs two channel PCM over HDMI. What do I need to do to make this happen. Am I going to have to use my 7.1 analog onboard HD solution? Thank you in advance for any help you can give me. Is there a 5.1 digital output over HDMI solution with the ATI 2400HD Pro cards?

Ok...I have been looking all over for this solution. I have an Onkyo TX-SR605 connected to my PC Vista 32bit (ATI 2400HD Pro), with HDMI and use PDVDU to play High Def Disc. I have no problems now playing disc, but I only get two channel PCM over HDMI connection. My Cable box PVR is also connected HDMI and it gets Dolby Digtal just fine. I have this same graphics card on another computer and it too, only outputs two channel PCM over HDMI. What do I need to do to make this happen. Am I going to have to use my 7.1 analog onboard HD solution? Thank you in advance for any help you can give me. Is there a 5.1 digital output over HDMI solution with the ATI 2400HD Pro cards?

You should be able to do compressed DD/DTS 5.1 over HDMI, it's just equivalent of what you'd get if you output spd/if over coax or toslink.

Have someone with Win XP and Nvidia 8xxx graphics, get PDVD work/play properly and stable without any crashes with v. 169.21 drivers? Seems that always I try to play VC1 content HD DVD´s the player jamms after a while. With AVC everything works properly with hw acceleration.

Last fully working driver for me is 158.22. Of course without hw acceleration.

Working good with 169.09. PDVD 3319.0 8600GTS XP. I do lock the internet when I play from HDD or disk. No crashes, but some are particular (off hdd) with the start sequence and use on secondary display. So far I get no sound off Moody Blues but works on xbox with hd drive. HW accel seems to be always on. Also, I disable cookies and search for updates.

Ok...I have been looking all over for this solution. I have an Onkyo TX-SR605 connected to my PC Vista 32bit (ATI 2400HD Pro), with HDMI and use PDVDU to play High Def Disc. I have no problems now playing disc, but I only get two channel PCM over HDMI connection. My Cable box PVR is also connected HDMI and it gets Dolby Digtal just fine. I have this same graphics card on another computer and it too, only outputs two channel PCM over HDMI. What do I need to do to make this happen. Am I going to have to use my 7.1 analog onboard HD solution? Thank you in advance for any help you can give me. Is there a 5.1 digital output over HDMI solution with the ATI 2400HD Pro cards?

If you want multichannel HD sound over HDMI with your current GFX card you will need to wait for the Auzentech HDMI add-in-board and also buy a Prelude X-Fi.

You can get there now if you ditch your current hardware for an Asus P5E-V or VM but forget playing games and you will need a decent processor as you won't have much hardware Accel from the onboard GFX.

However (AFAIK) it is the only way currently to get Multichannel PCM via HDMI.

AMD/ATI's newest IGPs will be out before the end of this month. We will see if they can do the sound properly.

I'm having problems with subtitles on HD-DVDs. With the new version of PowerDVD 3516 they are still always on. I have always ripped and edited them out of the xpl file to play properly.

Now that I'm using 3516 I can't play files and have switched to ripping them to files, editing the xpl, and then making an iso with imgburn. But when I do this somehow the xpl file has the subtitle lines back in them when the iso is mounted. Is this is common problem, or something just with my setup?

How are people solving the subtitle problem with the 3516 build?
I have no such problem with 3516.

I don't create an iso, rather I have copied some of the program files from an earlier version of PowerDVD to facilitate HD-DVD playback from HDD with PowerDVD 3516.

I also modify an xpl file and in the ADV_OBJ folder I only retain two files, the modified xpl file and the dat file.

The Q and the A may be buried in this thread-- apologies for not looking harder.

Is there any difference between PowerDVD Ultra that you purchase online and the PowerDVD v7 that comes bundled with hardware (in my case a BluRay drive)?

The Q and the A may be buried in this thread-- apologies for not looking harder.

Is there any difference between PowerDVD Ultra that you purchase online and the PowerDVD v7 that comes bundled with hardware (in my case a BluRay drive)?

Yes. The version you buy online is the "retail" version, the one you get with the drive is an "OEM" version.

The OEM can have any number of features disabled, depending on what the manufacturer of your drive selected/requested from Cyberlink. However most commonly it's exactly the same with the exception that the OEM versions are only allowing 2ch output on certain tracks and outputs. (I believe it only affects analog output and HD audio tracks, but I could be wrong; however a few people have mentioned the difference in this thread so you could search for stereo or 2ch or something like that.)

Has anybody tried the new Cyberlink remote?

http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/products/main_44_ENU.html

Does it solve the janky issue of different hotkeys depending on the type of disk that PDVD is playing?

I already have an IR remote for my HTPC but it only allows key bindings at the application level and cannot distinguish what PDVD is playing. As a result, I can only set it up to enable rewind/play for HDDVD but not Blu-ray. I don't use it for DVD playback (thankfully).

If this remote unifies all the functions for PDVD using one set of keys for all media type, it might be worthwhile. Do you think Cyberlink purposely setup their hotkeys the way they did to sell this remote? :)

This does not happen with either of my ATI 2400HD Pro cards on either system. I only get PCM 2 channel.

I don't need multi-channel PCM. I am looking for just a 5.1 digital bitstream that my Onkyo (with 1.3a HDMI capability) can decode from the ATI's HDMI output. It is only doing 2 channel PCM.

I don't need multi-channel PCM. I am looking for just a 5.1 digital bitstream that my Onkyo (with 1.3a HDMI capability) can decode from the ATI's HDMI output. It is only doing 2 channel PCM.

Did you install all the right drivers? Did you set PDVD to output SPDIF?

PDVD just outputs the number of channels you select, it doesn't know whether they are Analogue or Digital. The output method is handled by your operating system etc. in Vista I select HDMI in the 'Sound' control panel and the bit rate/depth and this is what Vista outputs.

You don't need to change anything for different file types or formats.
A somewhat related question, AngelEyes...

I'm currently using my optical out to get sound but I'm going to add 3 or 4 y-cables shortly to use analog output. I don't have a subwoofer, but I do have a rear centre (not L/R just one speaker) that I don't have in the living room now but I will probably add soon enough.

I know that PDVD will output the LFE signal to the front L/R by using that LFE checkbox in the advanced properties page; however how do you get PDVD to properly process a surround back when there is only one?

I see the options for speakers don't even mention ".1" just speakers--as in 2, 4, 6 or 8 speakers. I assume 6 means 5.1, and 8 means 7.1 but does that mean PDVD has no facility for 6.1 audio? I think in Vista it does allow you to have a 6.1 system though, no?

Also going back to the missing subwoofer, why is there a box in PDVD to mix the LFE if Vista will do it for you? What I mean is if you can set up a 5.1 or 6.1 minus the .1 in Vista, so why would you need to check the box in PDVD?

I didn't see where you could set PDVDU to output SPDIF? Are you talking about in configuration? I have been in touch with AMD/ATI and Cyberlink. I sent Cyberlink a DxDiag file of my system and in return, they sent me there lastest full version of PDVDU and that did allow the Lastest Die Hard Blu-ray to play without any error code, bit it's still only 2 channel PCM recoqnized on Onkyo 605. I can get analog from my Dell with onboard HD processing, but that means a lot more cables going to the multi-channel inputs on the Onkyou. You could lose all those cables if the HDMI output would do 5.1 digital anything. The manufacturer claims it will do it.

I didn't see where you could set PDVDU to output SPDIF? Are you talking about in configuration?
Yep, go configuration, Audio, and then where the pull down box shows number of speakers, set it to S/PDIF. If you haven't got S/PDIF on there you're probably missing a driver or something's not set right in Windows.

I seriously doubt I'm going to get my question answered here. But, is there a registry setting which will make PowerDVD NOT remember the master volume level of my sound card and try to put it back at that volume level when you restart the app? I'm not sure why the heck someone would actually want that. This seemed to have changed just recently in the last couple builds. What a lame feature.

Yep, go configuration, Audio, and then where the pull down box shows number of speakers, set it to S/PDIF. If you haven't got S/PDIF on there you're probably missing a driver or something's not set right in Windows.

I have looked at that screen many times and don't recall ever seeing that option on the drop down. Maybe it doesn't show up unless you have a SPDIF output on your sound card (which I don't have). So...where do I get this driver that will work with PDVDU and ATI 2400HD Video card and it's HDMI output? Why doesn't it load with ATI software? I thank you for any help you can give me, but I need specific answers, please.

FYI, not having spdif could make a difference, but for me it doesn't show up while the movie is playing and I have optical out. Look for it without anything playing.

Thanks, I will check it out when I get home from work tonight.

Yep you have to be not playing anything (playback stopped).

The driver I think you need is the Microsoft UAA driver... Do you have that installed?

I just googled that UAA driver and it looks like it is for up to Win XP, but not for Vista. I forgot to mention I was running Vista.

Hmm I'm not sure then... I don't have a HD2600 so I'm not all that familiar with it. Did you check the HD2400/HD2600 thread?

I didn't know there was one. I guess there is a thread for everything. Ha! Thanks.

I just googled that UAA driver and it looks like it is for up to Win XP, but not for Vista. I forgot to mention I was running Vista.

Pretty sure it's built into Vista by default.

Maybe this could be of some interest here.
I sent a information request to cyberlink a couple of days ago.

The questions was:

There are some rumours going around
stating that:
1) PowerDVD Ultra in latest versions
will not support HD based playback of
HD-DVD/Blue-Ray discs.
2) PowerDVD Ultra does not support full
HD audio quality playback sampling
rates.
[snip: section that detailed the question and resons for not agreeing to this]


The reply was:

[snip: polite stuff]
In regard to your concern, we like to inform you that this feature to play HD/BD DVD's from the harddrive has been removed from the new build of the CyberLink PowerDVD Ultra software. So, if you use the new build of the PowerDVD Ultra software then you will not be able to play HD/BD DVD's from harddrive.

This feature has been removed from the new version due to some security policies of the organization which set standards for HD/BD DVD's.

We have already escalated your case to higher department and you have to wait for sometime for updates regarding this issue.
[snip: refound stuff]
Regarding your second issue we would like to inform you that PowerDVD Ultra supports full HD audio quality playback. To get the full HD audio quality playback we would like to inform you that your sound card must support the full HD audio quality playback.
[snip: polite stuff and general info]


Just have to mention that I'm impressed by the support resons from Cyberlink. This is the second issue I have flagget and both thime have I get exellent replies!
This time not all of the reply gave the result I hoped for, but the information supplied is really great! My hat of (if I had one) to Cypberlink for that.

Working good with 169.09. PDVD 3319.0 8600GTS XP. I do lock the internet when I play from HDD or disk. No crashes, but some are particular (off hdd) with the start sequence and use on secondary display. So far I get no sound off Moody Blues but works on xbox with hd drive. HW accel seems to be always on. Also, I disable cookies and search for updates.

Ok. Funny, yesterday when I watch Happy Feet Blu-ray (VC1) everything worked fine with 169.21 driver, and the hw acceleration is on.

New info regarding new PowerDVD Ultra build and DTS-HD!

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=851

Multimedia software company CyberLink is at CES showing the latest versions of their applications, including PowerDVD 7 Ultra which was one of the first programs you could use to play back Blu-ray Discs on your PC. CyberLink was showing the latest update which allows your PC to become Profile 1.1 compliant.

Using the newly released Fox Blu-ray Disc of Sunshine, the folks at CyberLink demonstrated how the PC can now be a fully functional Profile 1.1 Blu-ray player. The update changes the interface slightly: in addition to the standard play-skip-pause (etc.) buttons they have added the red, green, blue, and yellow buttons. The PC's hard drive is used as persistent storage. The movie played the Picture-in-Picture (PiP) material perfectly. CyberLink expects to have this update available (free to owners of PowerDVD Ultra) next month.
Another point of interest to people is that they confirmed that PowerDVD Ultra does play DTS-HD soundtracks. This has been a point of confusion since the actual logo does not appear on the box or splash screen. They also confirmed that a DTS-HD Master Audio update is coming as well, but could not give a timetable. Until then, you can enjoy the HD extension of those soundtracks for higher quality sound than normal (core) DTS Digital Surround.

Other products available from CyberLink include PowerProducer 4 and Power2Go 6 which allow people to author and burn Blu-ray Discs. PowerDirector 6 can now capture and output High Definition formats. All these have been bundled together, along with PowerDVD, in DVD Suite Ultra. People with HD camcorders now have a complete solution for capturing, authoring, burning, and playing back their home movies in Blu-ray format.

Of interest was CyberLink's CyberLink Live. It allows people to stream videos, pictures, music and even retrieve documents remotely. They are even working on an update to allow people to remotely play their Blu-ray discs! Also shown was Media Server which allows streaming from a PC to any DNLA device, including the Sony PlayStation 3.
I would like to thank Manal Ma of CyberLink for showing me these great products that helps folks like us create our own Blu-ray Discs!

So DTS-HD High Resolution tracks play correctly at the moment, such as on Stargate. I'm not sure what they mean about DTS-HD Master Audio though... does that mean that PowerDVD currently extracts something higher than the 1.5MB "core" DTS? Is it even possible to extract DTS-HD from DTS-HD MA? :confused:

New info regarding new PowerDVD Ultra build and DTS-HD!

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=851



So DTS-HD High Resolution tracks play correctly at the moment, such as on Stargate. I'm not sure what they mean about DTS-HD Master Audio though... does that mean that PowerDVD currently extracts something higher than the 1.5MB "core" DTS? Is it even possible to extract DTS-HD from DTS-HD MA? :confused:

I think that with an MA track it currently extracts the core track but with an HD one you get the real deal. This is just based on what I have read about MA tracks though so it may not be the case. Still it is very good news MA will be supported shortly... as long as some brainbox hax0r works out how to maintain HDD playback :D

I seriously doubt I'm going to get my question answered here. But, is there a registry setting which will make PowerDVD NOT remember the master volume level of my sound card and try to put it back at that volume level when you restart the app? I'm not sure why the heck someone would actually want that. This seemed to have changed just recently in the last couple builds. What a lame feature.I agree with you this is totally lame. (All together now: What are these software developers smoking?) I skipped all the PDVD versions in between, but I recall this "feature" being present in PDVD XP 4.0 (ca. 2003 I think), so it's probably been a PDVD problem for a long time.

So does this explain why I am having trouble with suttering trying to play "Sunshine"??

Would also like to know if anyone else is having problems with this disc.

Thanks
Rew

Yes. The version you buy online is the "retail" version, the one you get with the drive is an "OEM" version.

The OEM can have any number of features disabled, depending on what the manufacturer of your drive selected/requested from Cyberlink. However most commonly it's exactly the same with the exception that the OEM versions are only allowing 2ch output on certain tracks and outputs. (I believe it only affects analog output and HD audio tracks, but I could be wrong; however a few people have mentioned the difference in this thread so you could search for stereo or 2ch or something like that.)


Thanks, I will do a little more searching. Is there reason to hope that i) PQ is not affected, ii) digital/SPIF ouput is not affected and iii) generally reliability and disc "play-ability" is not affected by staying with the OEM versions? FYI, the Ultra upgrade costs $79 from the OEM versions; of course, it's not clear what you get for it.

I think AnyDVD's "magic file replacement" facility can create unexpected results if one is not aware of what .xpl versions are being used at any point in time. It is possible the "magic file replacement" .xpl created when the original disc was first inserted, is being used in preference to a modified .xpl in a folder if AnyDVD is running when the ISO is created.

The most convenient method I have found is to rip an original disc directly to ISO with ImgBurn and AnyDVD running, but minimal "removals" activated in AnyDVD and no .xpl modifications made.

On playback, use AnyDVD's "magic file replacement" to edit the .xpl as required: it's effectively the same as reading the original disc but from a mounted ISO instead. Note that I'm informed if the hash of the ISO is different from the original disc, AnyDVD will probably create a different entry in the "magic file replacement" folder to the original disc. It can then be difficult determining which one relates to which "disc", unless you erase all references from the folder, allow AnyDVD to recreate them and note which one is which as they are created.

Alternatively, you should be able to use the "magic file replacement" facility with the original disc to configure subtitles as required and confirm it works with PowerDVD. When you rip to ISO with AnyDVD running, it should use the modified .xpl when compiling the ISO.

There shouldn't be a need to rip an original disc to HDD folders and then create an ISO from the folders: more efficient to rip to ISO directly from the disc.

I prefer the first method because the ISO source is then as close to the original as possible and retains all elements that can be modified, as required, down the track: if you only save a modified .xpl, there is less scope to make further changes in the future, or to re-enable subtitles as you have already "lost" information through prior modifications.

The "magic file replacement" facility can become a little confusing as to which .xpl is actually being used, but it's easy to just erase the folder, re-insert the original disc and AnyDVD will create a fresh .xpl

I'm still trying to decide which of the "removal" options are worthwhile ticking in AnyDVD HD when creating the ISO. Removing certain elements that permit the title to work with the current PowerDVD, means that the ISO can simply be mounted and played, but also means that if those removed features become useful in future, they are already gone and can only be restored with difficulty (if at all). I suspect the best move is only to remove AACS with AnyDVD HD when creating the ISO and then use AnyDVD (and magic file replacement) to remove other features and modify the .xpl as required. The ISO then becomes equivalent to the original disc, but with the advantage of being already decrypted.

Thank you for the very detailed response. It answered everything for me and I can now play my hd-dvds without the annoying subtitles.

Has anyone had any luck playing 3:10 to Yuma, either with or without AnyDVD? The previews play fine, but when I get to the menu, I can't select any of the menu items. There is a short thread about the problem in the SlySoft forum:

http://forum.slysoft.com/showthread.php?t=11974

-Dave

Maybe this could be of some interest here.
I sent a information request to cyberlink a couple of days ago.

The questions was:


The reply was:


Just have to mention that I'm impressed by the support resons from Cyberlink. This is the second issue I have flagget and both thime have I get exellent replies!
This time not all of the reply gave the result I hoped for, but the information supplied is really great! My hat of (if I had one) to Cypberlink for that.

So does this mean that hard drive playback of an HD/BR disc will no longer work with PDVDU (latest version) even with AnyDVD installed?

New info regarding new PowerDVD Ultra build and DTS-HD!

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=851



So DTS-HD High Resolution tracks play correctly at the moment, such as on Stargate. I'm not sure what they mean about DTS-HD Master Audio though... does that mean that PowerDVD currently extracts something higher than the 1.5MB "core" DTS? Is it even possible to extract DTS-HD from DTS-HD MA? :confused:

Sort of good news, but I'd like to know the PC set up they used.

So does this mean that hard drive playback of an HD/BR disc will no longer work with PDVDU (latest version) even with AnyDVD installed?
The many last pages all are filled with the PWDVD no longer plays back from HDD unless you create an ISO file. Nothing to do with AnyDVD, that playback feature was last available in version 3319a but I thought if you read only a few pages here you would have gotten the drift.

The many last pages all are filled with the PWDVD no longer plays back from HDD unless you create an ISO file. Nothing to do with AnyDVD, that playback feature was last available in version 3319a but I thought if you read only a few pages here you would have gotten the drift.

Hey thanks for the info. I found the thread discussing this exact topic

PowerDVD users should convert HD/BR to ISO (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=965804)

Is it even possible to extract DTS-HD from DTS-HD MA? :confused:
Sorry I'm new here but just wondering... isn't DTS-HD another name for DTS-HD MA?

Ref: Wikipedia... search for Digital Theater System. Can't post a link cause I don't have 3 posts yet! :eek:

Sorry I'm new here but just wondering... isn't DTS-HD another name for DTS-HD MA?

Ref: Wikipedia... search for Digital Theater System. Can't post a link cause I don't have 3 posts yet! :eek:

Nah there are two. Although the term is thrown around, DTS-HD High Resolution is a new codec which is "virtually indistinguishable" from the master, the bitrate is not lossless but fixed, Stargate has a DTS-HD 6.1 track with a set bitrate of 3MBps.

The more common DTS-HD Master Audio is what Fox and New Line use on all their discs and has the lossless bitrate.

Thanks, I will do a little more searching. Is there reason to hope that i) PQ is not affected, ii) digital/SPIF ouput is not affected and iii) generally reliability and disc "play-ability" is not affected by staying with the OEM versions? FYI, the Ultra upgrade costs $79 from the OEM versions; of course, it's not clear what you get for it.

PQ is not affected; S/PDIF, I'm not sure. The only difference in most versions (again the drive manufacturer could have told Cyberlink to do whatever to get them a cost of whatever, for the software) is something about the multi-channel sound being restricted to 2ch. What the specifics are I'm not sure but they are contained in this thread, I know that much.

I have the same exact problem with 3:10 to Yuma. I've tried the movie from disc, HDD, and even an ISO. Both PDVDU and Arcsoft will not let you navigate the menu. I ended up using MPC to finally watch it.

I am struggling to understand PureVideo HD and how it works with PDVD ultra. I have windows XP Pro, GIGABYTE GV-NX85T256H GF8500, LG multi-player, AMD AM2 X2 4800+. I can run HD-DVD and BR disks with little problem. My CPU usage runs around 50% to 85% regardless of wether Hardware acceleration is checked or not in the OEM version of PDVD. I am guessing I do not have PureVideo HD operating somehow. I do have the latest Forceware drivers from the Nvidea site.

Any ideas?

What titles are you seeing this with? And what driver version? What PowerDVD Ultra build?
P.S. Hardware acceleration rechecks itself when you press play for BR/HD DVD material.

For me, both Bourne and Transformers work fine, but you have to quickly (I mean really quickly) cancel the web data screen. If I do that, both disks go to the menu and play fine.

Hmmm, I tried to kill the web data with the mouse and when I do the PDVD player shuts down and exits...

Is any body getting the Bourne Ultimatum HD-DVD to work on build 3516?

Hmmm, I tried to kill the web data with the mouse and when I do the PDVD player shuts down and exits...

Is any body getting the Bourne Identity HD-DVD to work on build 3516?

I am able to play Bourne Identity HD-DVD on 3516, i'm using Vista and allow web access, and I haven't altered anything.

Hmmm, I tried to kill the web data with the mouse and when I do the PDVD player shuts down and exits...

Is any body getting the Bourne Identity HD-DVD to work on build 3516?

Disable AnyDVD HD or tick "Rename XPL file" in the HD DVD tab. Web Features don't work with AnyDVD.

Has anyone figured out what the brs.exe file, which was introduced in the startup of Windows in build 3516, does? I guess it maybe has to do with the region of blu-ray, but anyone knows if there's any downside in disabling its startup? (I'll say it once again... STOP with the CRAPWARE startup entries Cyberlink! There are four now!)

Has anyone figured out what the brs.exe file, which was introduced in the startup of Windows in build 3516, does? I guess it maybe has to do with the region of blu-ray, but anyone knows if there's any downside in disabling its startup? (I'll say it once again... STOP with the CRAPWARE startup entries Cyberlink! There are four now!)

It protects the brf.dat file where the region codes are stored. If this process is active you cannot delete or edit the file.

I am able to play Bourne Identity HD-DVD on 3516, i'm using Vista and allow web access, and I haven't altered anything.

Same for me, I just watched it on Wednesday and it played fine. The only thing I did was use anydvd's magic file replacement to remove subtitles.

I have the same exact problem with 3:10 to Yuma. I've tried the movie from disc, HDD, and even an ISO. Both PDVDU and Arcsoft will not let you navigate the menu. I ended up using MPC to finally watch it.The solution posted here (http://forum.slysoft.com/showthread.php?p=80048#post80048) allows me to watch the movie using PowerDVD. However, you can only watch the movie w/o subtitles. No special features.

-Dave

Originally Posted by diablosv
I am able to play Bourne Identity HD-DVD on 3516, i'm using Vista and allow web access, and I haven't altered anything.

Same for me, I just watched it on Wednesday and it played fine. The only thing I did was use anydvd's magic file replacement to remove subtitles.

hmmmmm, not Bourne Identity, but the latest... Bourne Ultimatum?

Legitamate software player, Vista OS and original copy of the HD-DVD and it still doesn't work! This Sucks! :mad:

Disable AnyDVD HD or tick "Rename XPL file" in the HD DVD tab. Web Features don't work with AnyDVD.

Sorry I meant to ask about "Ultimatum" not Identity.., does this suggestion still hold true?

Anyone have issues playing the DD sound track on Resident evil 1 or 3? RE2 plays fine as it has 5.1 on it, but it seems as though resident evil 1 and 3 only have TrueHD. when I pick this track and play the movie it comes out PCM over the SPDIF connector. If I pick spanish or something else that plays fine as its in DD. I contacted Cyberlink and they had me download the latest build 3516 R2 or something but it didnt help. anyone else have this problem? BTW, I have other HDdvd movies (RE is bluray) and they have TrueHD and play fine in DD.

Anyone have issues playing the DD sound track on Resident evil 1 or 3? RE2 plays fine as it has 5.1 on it, but it seems as though resident evil 1 and 3 only have TrueHD. when I pick this track and play the movie it comes out PCM over the SPDIF connector. If I pick spanish or something else that plays fine as its in DD. I contacted Cyberlink and they had me download the latest build 3516 R2 or something but it didnt help. anyone else have this problem? BTW, I have other HDdvd movies (RE is bluray) and they have TrueHD and play fine in DD.

I don't have any of those movies to check, but I believe Casino Royal (BR) has TrueHD and I thought that I selected SP/DIF mixing and outputed a DTS mix...?

I don't have any of those movies to check, but I believe Casino Royal (BR) has TrueHD and I thought that I selected SP/DIF mixing and outputed a DTS mix...?

Oh ya, if I select mixing it will work, but why cant it just play it in DD (or dts)? when I enable mixing I get this tinny sound and I can tell its re-encoding it, it doesnt sound that good. I have hddvd movies with TrueHD and have never had to manually select mixing, they have always just played in DD. do some bluray disks just lack DD, forcing you to enable mixing?

Oh ya, if I select mixing it will work, but why cant it just play it in DD (or dts)? when I enable mixing I get this tinny sound and I can tell its re-encoding it, it doesnt sound that good. I have hddvd movies with TrueHD and have never had to manually select mixing, they have always just played in DD. do some bluray disks just lack DD, forcing you to enable mixing?

I think that your last sentence is correct, no DD to be output... When I first saw the list of the audio tracks available on Casino Royal I too was surprised that DD was not listed.

Maybe just another way Sony is keeping the money close to home, no royaties for Dolby...

It protects the brf.dat file where the region codes are stored. If this process is active you cannot delete or edit the file.

Wow, that's a dumb way to protect the file, but it's basically working as a trojan DRM, only without making it too difficult to stop the process.

RE3 only has HD Audio. You cannot pass that trough to your receiver over SPDIF without re-encoding.

Hello,

A qiuck question.

I would like to play blu-ray through 8800GT (dual DVI) to my old DILA projector (native resolution 1368x1024). Can I bypass the HDCP problem by going analog (i.e. using DVI to VGA adaptor on the graphic card)? Or do I have to use AnyDVD HD?
Thanks.

Ananlog will work fine, at least until disks start using the ICT.

RE3 only has HD Audio. You cannot pass that trough to your receiver over SPDIF without re-encoding.

Are all future bluray movies going to only be TrueHD? what is the solution to watching these movies if there is no DD track, always have it mix it or is this why we have to wait for a HDMI sound card? if I use a discrete analog 8 channel out sound card into my receiver analog in will this be using the TrueHD track, even though it will be downmixed to 16/48 or whatever they downgrade it to?

In the process of fine-tuning my HTPC setup for HDDVD and Blu-ray playback. I'm using the LG GGC-H20 drive and Powerdvd for HD playback only. I'm using the Zalman HD135 case which includes an IR remote and software to map the IR commands to keyboard keys. Note I have only had a chance to try a couple movies of each format so I might have hit some disk specific issues.

I would like to setup the remote to control both HDDVD and Blu-ray playback and be as wife-friendly as possible. I am running into the following problems:

1. Powerdvd remaps the hotkeys when HDDVD hotkeys are enabled. For example, reverse shuttle is B when HDDVD hotkeys are not enabled and Alt-B when enabled.

If I enable HDDVD hotkeys and play a Blu-ray disk, the hotkeys revert back to their non-HDDVD mapping (i.e. B for reverse shuttle). This prevents me from setting up the remote keys to behave consistently between HDDVD and Blu-ray.

However, if HDDVD hotkeys are disabled, the key mappings are consistent between HDDVD and Blu-ray. This brings up the second issue...

2. Up/down/left/right arrows will not work with HDDVD menus when HDDVD hotkeys are disabled. This means I can't navigate HDDVD menus without using a mouse (with mouse enabled for HDDVD).

Does anyone have any suggestions so that I can setup the remote to handle the playback functions consistently and be able to navigate the HDDVD menus?

Also, is there a way to access the Blu-ray main menu when the movie is playing? Hitting the ‘J’ key brings up the menu for HDDVD but not on the BD disks I have tried.

In the process of fine-tuning my HTPC setup for HDDVD and Blu-ray playback. I'm using the LG GGC-H20 drive and Powerdvd for HD playback only. I'm using the Zalman HD135 case which includes an IR remote and software to map the IR commands to keyboard keys. Note I have only had a chance to try a couple movies of each format so I might have hit some disk specific issues.

I would like to setup the remote to control both HDDVD and Blu-ray playback and be as wife-friendly as possible. I am running into the following problems:

1. Powerdvd remaps the hotkeys when HDDVD hotkeys are enabled. For example, reverse shuttle is B when HDDVD hotkeys are not enabled and Alt-B when enabled.

If I enable HDDVD hotkeys and play a Blu-ray disk, the hotkeys revert back to their non-HDDVD mapping (i.e. B for reverse shuttle). This prevents me from setting up the remote keys to behave consistently between HDDVD and Blu-ray.

However, if HDDVD hotkeys are disabled, the key mappings are consistent between HDDVD and Blu-ray. This brings up the second issue...

2. Up/down/left/right arrows will not work with HDDVD menus when HDDVD hotkeys are disabled. This means I can't navigate HDDVD menus without using a mouse (with mouse enabled for HDDVD).

Does anyone have any suggestions so that I can setup the remote to handle the playback functions consistently and be able to navigate the HDDVD menus?

Also, is there a way to access the Blu-ray main menu when the movie is playing? Hitting the ‘J’ key brings up the menu for HDDVD but not on the BD disks I have tried.

Hey - what software are you using to map IR codes to keys? I'm *very* interested (I have Vista, so hopefully it works in Vista).

In terms of your HD/BD questions, you might want to pick up an MCE remote (or just download it for your universal remote). Many of the special keys (like Menu) work in PDVD.

I'm able to get menus, pop-up menus, menu directions, play, pause, language track changes, FF/FR, skip tracks, and a couple other things working in both HD and BD. If you're still have trouble, let me know and I'll post exactly what I have everything mapped to (I use an MX-850).

Are all future bluray movies going to only be TrueHD? what is the solution to watching these movies if there is no DD track, always have it mix it or is this why we have to wait for a HDMI sound card? if I use a discrete analog 8 channel out sound card into my receiver analog in will this be using the TrueHD track, even though it will be downmixed to 16/48 or whatever they downgrade it to?

Also interested to find out about this.

Are all future bluray movies going to only be TrueHD? what is the solution to watching these movies if there is no DD track, always have it mix it or is this why we have to wait for a HDMI sound card? if I use a discrete analog 8 channel out sound card into my receiver analog in will this be using the TrueHD track, even though it will be downmixed to 16/48 or whatever they downgrade it to?

Yes, provided you select the TrueHD track as what you're playing back, of course.

Has anyone figured out what the brs.exe file, which was introduced in the startup of Windows in build 3516, does? I guess it maybe has to do with the region of blu-ray, but anyone knows if there's any downside in disabling its startup? (I'll say it once again... STOP with the CRAPWARE startup entries Cyberlink! There are four now!)

There are four??? Well three on my build I didn't know about. What are they and can they be disabled and still have PDVD run properly?

I emailed Sony on this point. The 5th Element DVD has the same issue. The only DD support is in French (no offense to our French speaking members :-)

Oh ya, if I select mixing it will work, but why cant it just play it in DD (or dts)? when I enable mixing I get this tinny sound and I can tell its re-encoding it, it doesnt sound that good. I have hddvd movies with TrueHD and have never had to manually select mixing, they have always just played in DD. do some bluray disks just lack DD, forcing you to enable mixing?
Yeah I hear what you're talking about with the tinny sound. I only have a handful of Blu-rays but it doesn't sound like that on every one... On Blood Diamond, I can mix the LPCM to DTS/1536 and it sounds fine to me; but on Cruel Intentions when I do that, I hear this annoying ringing sound attached to voices, is that what you're talking about? First I thought maybe it was just certain movies but maybe it's more widespread if you're mentioning the same thing. That's a pretty big flaw in the transcoding if that's what's causing it. And I mean for LPCM it's not even really transcoding it's just encoding. There are tons of other programs/filters that seem to encode to DD/DTS fine, why is Cyberlink so incompetent at it?

What else I find interesting is the complaints about DD output sounding "weak". I've found the exact same thing. What's interesting is even if I select mixing to change a native DD/AC3 track (at either 448 or 640) into DTS at 1536, the sound immediately becomes louder--seems to be by at least 10dB to me. It's almost as if PDVD does some forced dynamic range compression or attenuation to DD output that cannot be disabled? Is DTS usually 10dB louder than DD? Doesn't seem right to me based on my experience with DD on DVDs, from a standalone DVD player.

Cyberlink is really screwing with the audio behind the scenes it seems, and not telling anyone what they're doing. I can't wait until there are more programs for this as PDVD really seems to fall short all over the place, unfortunately :( Get a clue Cyberlink! People want their audio to sound right, not just be there!

I emailed Sony on this point. The 5th Element DVD has the same issue. The only DD support is in French (no offense to our French speaking members :-)
I doubt Sony really cares much about this though right? I mean every other Blu-ray player will throw the LPCM out the analog outputs, or even in the case of the PS3 it will trascode to DD 5.1 or whatever it does (as it has no analog outputs). The difference I think is that the standalone Blu-ray players can transcode properly (or at least I would imagine they would) not muck up the audio in any way possible like Cyberlink seems to be doing :rolleyes:

Hey - what software are you using to map IR codes to keys? I'm *very* interested (I have Vista, so hopefully it works in Vista).

I'm using the MPlay software that comes with the VFD/remote packaged with the Zalman case. It's basically the OEM version of the MPlay Blast:

http://www.vlsys.co.kr/

Soundgraph makes a product called iMon which is available in places like Fry's which I belive does pretty much the same thing.


In terms of your HD/BD questions, you might want to pick up an MCE remote (or just download it for your universal remote). Many of the special keys (like Menu) work in PDVD.

The packaged remote performs the same functions as an MCE remote (I believe). The software allows keybard keys to be mapped differently for different applications which I use to setup the hotkeys for Powerdvd.


I'm able to get menus, pop-up menus, menu directions, play, pause, language track changes, FF/FR, skip tracks, and a couple other things working in both HD and BD. If you're still have trouble, let me know and I'll post exactly what I have everything mapped to (I use an MX-850).

How did you get FR working in both? If I have it mapped to 'Alt-B' (with HDDVD hotkeys enabled), it enables FR if I'm playing an HDDVD disk. But if I'm playing a BD disk, I need to send a 'B' to get FR.

For those of us not happy with the current "solution" for playing 3:10 to Yuma, here's the response I got from Cyberlink regarding the issue:

"In response to your concern, we want to inform you that PowerDVD software is unable to play some specific Blu-ray DVDs which have been encoded by using latest technology.

Please note that "3:10 to Yuma" is one of such Blu-ray DVDs.

We have already escalated this issue to our R & D Department and they are expected to release a patch for resolving this issue very soon."

So we just have to keep checking for updates, I guess. I can't imagine it'll take long; it has to be a top priority for them.

(Here's a link to keep an eye on, listing PDVD updates: http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/download/updates_112_ENU.html )

Those having problems accessing menus can try to FF through the menu once then it should work correctly. This works on both the Arcsoft player and PDVD for me with these new titles. Not sure about Yuma; I don't have the disk.

The solution posted here (http://forum.slysoft.com/showthread.php?p=80048#post80048) allows me to watch the movie using PowerDVD. However, you can only watch the movie w/o subtitles. No special features.

-Dave

I tried this "solution" and the playback I got was a little choppy. CPU was running around 10-15% so it was using hardware acceleration.

---EDIT---

I turned off hardware acceleration and now the playback appears to be smooth. I have an ATI HD3870 video card. Hopefully Cyberlink will be a little speedier with the updates.

There are four??? Well three on my build I didn't know about. What are they and can they be disabled and still have PDVD run properly?

I'll see if I remember them from memory. I have the four of them disabled, just wiped out from my startups entries, and so far it's running fine both in Vista 32 and XP. brs.exe was just added starting from build 3516.

- brs.exe
- pdvdserv.exe
- richvideo.exe
- language.exe

I don't know exactly which but from recent builds there's also the CLHelper.exe process running alongside PowerDVD, but it only runs when you run the program, not at startup. It must be good, though, 'cause it's a helper!

If you wanna disable them, you can do it through msconfig, or even better, you can use the autoruns.exe utility from www.sysinternals.com (will redirect to Microsoft's Sysinternals website).

I have played many HDDVD's with no problems but these two new BD titles are giving me fits.

I have played the following BD's just fine.
Pirates 3
Underdog
Ratatouille
High School 2
Invisible

Sunshine will at least play but every now and then it stutters very badly for couple of minutes and then be OK for 10 to 12 minutes.

Resident Evil 3 stutters from the beginning on.

Both disc's look very good no scratches or smudges.

When stuttering occures cpu usage jumps to nearly 90 -100%

Generally HDDVD's use about the cpu @ 15-35%
BD's about 15-20% higher 36-65%

According to PDVD Info tab it is using hardware acceleration.

Can someone fill me in on what is going on??

Is there a fix?

Thanks
Rew

PDVD 7.3.3516 Retail
Asus P4C800-E Deluxe
P4 3.2Ghz @ 3.5Ghz
1Gb Ram
WinXP
VisionTek HD2600xt AGP
Cat 7.12
LG GGC-H20L

Resident Evil 3 stutters from the beginning on.


Try playing it with hardware aceleration off.

I tried that and it made no difference.

RE3 is profile 1.1, PowerDVD has huge problems handling that. At 32:20 on my rig the whole movie freezes.

Try playing it with hardware acceleration off.

I tried it too but it would not stick.

Setting it to not to use Hardware before starting the movie would get changed back on when you play it.

Rew

Anyone have a problem with Sunshine? Completely freezes up on me at least a few times during the movie. All other movies play fine.

Hi,
I picked up the first 2 Bourne HD-DVD's in France a couple of weeks ago. All my other HD-DVD's work well but these two disks, when playing the actual movie, seem to have the colour shifted so half the screen is black and white and a bit of colour is shown on top...very strange....does not happen with any of the other french hd-dvds I picked up. These played fine in an HD-A2 but just not in pdvd...help!

Thanks.
LIP

Hey - what software are you using to map IR codes to keys? I'm *very* interested (I have Vista, so hopefully it works in Vista).

In terms of your HD/BD questions, you might want to pick up an MCE remote (or just download it for your universal remote). Many of the special keys (like Menu) work in PDVD.

I'm able to get menus, pop-up menus, menu directions, play, pause, language track changes, FF/FR, skip tracks, and a couple other things working in both HD and BD. If you're still have trouble, let me know and I'll post exactly what I have everything mapped to (I use an MX-850).

I would appreciate it if you can tell me how you mapped everything...I'm using a harmony with an ir receiver and "HIP" to convert keyboard shortcuts...not everything is working well...

Regards,

LIP

RE3 is profile 1.1, PowerDVD has huge problems handling that. At 32:20 on my rig the whole movie freezes.

The version of PowerDVD which is Profile 1.1 certified has not been released yet. As is usual for Cyberlink, the load of incompetent bastards.

Legitamate software player, Vista OS and original copy of the HD-DVD and it still doesn't work! This Sucks! :mad:

Well, then all logic tells you is try other "options", if those don't work! :D

That's why we're here b1tching and moaning about this!

Seriously, though, it's only gonna get worse now that the more controlling format is gaining a lot of terrain really fast.

Just be patient. Once 1.1/2.0 is pretty much final and the norm these things will be a thing of the past.

Resident Evil 3 stutters from the beginning on.

Both disc's look very good no scratches or smudges.

When stuttering occures cpu usage jumps to nearly 90 -100%

Generally HDDVD's use about the cpu @ 15-35%
BD's about 15-20% higher 36-65%

According to PDVD Info tab it is using hardware acceleration.

Can someone fill me in on what is going on??

Is there a fix?

Thanks
Rew
I'd like to know as well... I'm not even sure if I'm getting hardware acceleration with my X1950pro. I'm not sure if it's just that RE3 is that complex and I never had any real h/w decode assist or what. RE3 does not stutter for me but despite it telling me that DXVA/accleration are working and in use, RE3 often takes up 90-100% of both my cores of a lightly OC'd E6600 @ 3.2Ghz. That's a heck of a lot of processing power, particularly with DXVA in use (if it's actually doing anything I'm not sure). If it's taking that much of a C2D at that speed, it's no wonder your P4 can't play it back. Is this a bug in PDVD or related to it's lack of 1.1 profile? I really hope so because I would hate to think there are movies that require that much power to decode and more...

Problem with RE3 isn't stuttering for me but it has crashed my entire machine a few times; after turning off DTS mixing (which sounds like crap anyway) I've been able to play it better. Interestingly TrueHD continues to read 2.0 playing back that track, which I thought was odd. Also I'm not sure if it's the movie or the CPU stuggling to decode the h.264 but I notice a lot of kind of "flickering lighting" in the movie. Is that meant to be there or is it just because of the resources in use decoding this.

Is it possible that DXVA is in use but there is actually no acceleration at all? I think that's what's happening here, perhaps just for 1.1 movies in PDVD?

It seems BD's are still a work in progress and they have introduced new standards of 1.1 and 2.0 which PDVD have yet to update us there customers with a version to play these.

Although I read they were showing off Sunshine at the CES show playing flawlessly.

Funny they leave us in the dark!

Everyone needs to file a problem ticket and maybe they will get around to post an update that give their customers the same!!

Rew

I would appreciate it if you can tell me how you mapped everything...I'm using a harmony with an ir receiver and "HIP" to convert keyboard shortcuts...not everything is working well...

Regards,

Lyall

I figured out a workaround that solves the problem I had with the hotkeys so that my remote works for both HDDVD/Blu-ray. My IR receiver software allows IR codes to be mapped to multple key sequences so:

1. I enabled HDDVD hotkeys.
2. Mapped reverse shuttle to send both 'B' and 'ALT-B'.
3. Mapped the DVD menu key to send both 'J' and 'CTRL-P'.
4. Mapped the Play key to send both 'ENTER' and 'ALT-ENTER'

Now all of the key controls work for both HDDVD and Blu-ray disks. Don't know if there's a better solution but this seems to work for me.

After seeing "A Layman's Guide to Shrinking HDDVD Size on Hard Drive" on SlySoft forum using EVOdemux I tried to apply the method for playback with PowerDVD via modified XPL.

The link to the Slysoft thread is below.

http://forum.slysoft.com/showthread.php?t=11241

After demuxing and rebuilding the video and main audio track with EVOdemux the initial results were encouraging with PowerDVD able to play back the shrunken EVO via the XPL file.

Unfortunately playback problems did emerge with further testing. I found that when playing back the shrunken EVO's the playback time was reduced. For example when I demuxed and rebuild the first EVO from Transformers, rebuilding the H.264 video track only resulted in an EVO that had a playback length of 1h:00m:24s on PowerDVD. Rebuilt with two tracks (video and 6ch audio) the playback length was about 1h:04m. Rebuilt with all tracks the playback time was 1h:11m:49s which is the same as the original EVO.

Has anyone else tried the above and got the same results ?

I can only guess as to a cause. Perhaps in the corresponding MAP file there is a reference that relates the playback time of the EVO to it's size.

I tried it too but it would not stick.

Setting it to not to use Hardware before starting the movie would get changed back on when you play it.

Rew

Version 7.3.3516 doesn't have that problem.

It seems BD's are still a work in progress and they have introduced new standards of 1.1 and 2.0 which PDVD have yet to update us there customers with a version to play these.

Although I read they were showing off Sunshine at the CES show playing flawlessly.

Funny they leave us in the dark!

Everyone needs to file a problem ticket and maybe they will get around to post an update that give their customers the same!!

Rew

They were using a version of PDVD at the CES that wouldn't be released to the public until "next month".

Bah...I think Arcsoft's software is getting released on the 15th and I believe it is capable of profile 1.2, but I'd like to see a demo first.

Version 7.3.3516 doesn't have that problem.

Seems to do that for me?

Hi,
I picked up the first 2 Bourne HD-DVD's in France a couple of weeks ago. All my other HD-DVD's work well but these two disks, when playing the actual movie, seem to have the colour shifted so half the screen is black and white and a bit of colour is shown on top...very strange....does not happen with any of the other french hd-dvds I picked up. These played fine in an HD-A2 but just not in pdvd...help!

Thanks.
LIP

I can answer my own question now....just upgraded to the latest nvidia drivers (after uninstalling the old ones) and the problem is now gone...funny that the problem was not existing with any other movies...regardless, hopefully this helps someone!

LIP

Another question... Just wondering, is it possible to get the S/PDIF Mixing option of AC3 to show up? Seems I can only set DTS as the mixing option, which gives that annoying ringing noise on some tracks, as talked about earlier. I wondered if DD encoding would be any better but I can't enable it on mine as it's greyed out. Any tricks that you have to do to enable that?

Mine is like that as well. I think it may be disabled in the OEM version... Or do you have the retail version?

BW

I used AnyDVD 6.3.0.3 to rip my HD-DVDs to my drive. When I try to play FEATURE_1.EVO (from the TS folder) in PowerDVD Ultra, I get this dialogue box:
http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa49/preacherzson/PowerDVDULtraInternalError.png

What must I do to be able to "drop and drag" play the .EVO files from my hard drives?

Video card is 8800GTS 640MB; HDCP compliant.
Display is Samsung LN-T4066F, HDCP compliant.
Connection is DVI-HMDI Converter/HDMI cable
HD Reader is LG H20L Combo drive

Let me guess: This version of PwrDVD prohibits playback from HDD?...I musta blacked out around post #5109... Okay, where do I find a walkthrough with screen shots for doing the IMGBurn ISO part of the rip/burn/mount work around? because it didn't work when I did it, and since it works for lots of other people, that means I'm screwing something up. Can anyone help a brother out?

I have an issue which I brought up in the HD Audio thread, but I figured I would ask here too since I'm using PowerDVD Ultra.

When I watch HD-DVD's, it doesn't seem as if there is any "switching" from the DD+ audio track to the TrueHD. Now I'm not trying to debate whether or not it's actually outputting TrueHD, that's another topic and I know the issues with that. But what I'm saying is that, when I play Blu-Ray's, I get that 1 or 2 second switch over transition between DD+ and TrueHD/LPCM where it loads the new stream. But on HD-DVD's, when I select TrueHD in the menu, it seems as if nothing changes and the other stream isn't even loaded. There is no 1 or 2 second switch between streams, nothing. the only possible way to think something is happening is the kbps in the information screen goes from 640 to around 1300. But the volume does not change, or anything else. Where as on Blu-Ray's, I can definitely tell another stream has been loaded, whether that information screen is up or not.

I'm using PDVD 3319, HT Omega Striker 7.1 card with multi-channel analog outs.

I used AnyDVD 6.3.0.3 to rip my HD-DVDs to my drive. When I try to play FEATURE_1.EVO (from the TS folder) in PowerDVD Ultra, I get this dialogue box:
http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa49/preacherzson/PowerDVDULtraInternalError.png

What must I do to be able to "drop and drag" play the .EVO files from my hard drives?

Video card is 8800GTS 640MB; HDCP compliant.
Display is Samsung LN-T4066F, HDCP compliant.
Connection is DVI-HMDI Converter/HDMI cable
HD Reader is LG H20L Combo drive

what version of pw dvd are you using? you do know that the play from the hard drive was removed from power dvd as of version 3319f if you do have that version or latter you need to convert your files to iso and mount them with daemon tools, or use an older version of pw dvd thats supports hard drive play back

Use AnyDVD HD to create a backup first. Then convert it to an ISO file, then mount it. Now play it back as a DVD drive letter and it will work.


Um...yeah....
What do I need to do to create the ISO from the Feature_1.EVO file? When I tried to create an ISO with IMGBurn, I got a message about the size of the file being too big.

Um...yeah....
What do I need to do to create the ISO from the Feature_1.EVO file? When I tried to create an ISO with IMGBurn, I got a message about the size of the file being too big.

use UDF instead of iso in build mode

When playing and .evo file in PowerDVD, it will use your system's installed filters to play and not it's own. I think it may play *some* .evo files using Vista Codecs but not all. However, Media Player Classic might be able to play the rest. It all depends on what video and audio formats are contained within the EVO file. When in disk mode, power DVD will play them using its native filter chain. When playing in file mode it will use your system's DirectShow setup.

Back before buidl 3319a, you could play the folder like a disk but since the upgrades they've disabled that now.

I used AnyDVD 6.3.0.3 to rip my HD-DVDs to my drive. When I try to play FEATURE_1.EVO (from the TS folder) in PowerDVD Ultra, I get this dialogue box:

What must I do to be able to "drop and drag" play the .EVO files from my hard drives?

Video card is 8800GTS 640MB; HDCP compliant.
Display is Samsung LN-T4066F, HDCP compliant.
Connection is DVI-HMDI Converter/HDMI cable
HD Reader is LG H20L Combo drive

Seems to do that for me?

Nvidia card? If it's ATI make sure you use 7.12.

BTW, what I've done to solve the filter/compatbility and PowerDVD's refusal to play files off of the hard drive is convert everything to AVI files. Works like a charm :)

It's a bit of a process but it can be done :up:

Nvidia card? If it's ATI make sure you use 7.12.

Nope, using an X1950pro and 7.12 drivers... HA is still automatic for me on 3516.

Also I don't know if I'm really getting any h.264 acceleration out of this card, despite what ATi claims and DVXA quoted as being "in use" by PDVD.

For VC-1 HA is disabled and greyed out and DVXA is shown as not in use.

However for AVC/h.264 it shows on/DXVA in use, but on the movie Cruel Intentions my CPU cores are both averaging about 50% (E6600 @ 3.2 Ghz). In RE3, as mentioned, it seems to be 80-100% average, on both cores (but again this may just be because of RE3's 1.1 Profile, but I'm not sure).

I have the following setup:

WinXP sp2
ATI 2600XT with Catalyst 7.12
LG BR HD DVD drive
Power DVD ultra v7.3.3516
Audio Card: RME digi 96/8Pad.

The info from PDVD show as
Hardware Information:
Multispeaker Audio Device: DIGI96/8 PAD Out (7+8)(1) (not in use)
SPDIF Output Device: DIGI96/8 PAD Out (7+8)(1) (not in use)


Right now only 2 channel is out put on the RME card. I tried setting the audio option in PDVD to use s/pdif. But while playing back the BR movie, Pirate of C, when i went back to the audio option, it shows up as 2 chan and the s/pdif option is no longer there?

has anyone successfully set up PDVD audio in similar env? outboard audio card? my win xp audio hardware has the DIGI card selected as well.

use UDF instead of iso in build mode

When playing and .evo file in PowerDVD, it will use your system's installed filters to play and not it's own. I think it may play *some* .evo files using Vista Codecs but not all. However, Media Player Classic might be able to play the rest. It all depends on what video and audio formats are contained within the EVO file. When in disk mode, power DVD will play them using its native filter chain. When playing in file mode it will use your system's DirectShow setup.

Back before buidl 3319a, you could play the folder like a disk but since the upgrades they've disabled that now.

Thanks y'all. I'll give that a roll.

I havent played around with PowerDVD since the summer, early summer even, and I wonder if Powerdvd is worth the time now? I changed to Zoomplayer and software decoding instead but since a month back some problems have occured there. Now I have to re-install Zoomplayer and I wonder if its worth the time to re-install and update Powerdvd Ultra as well?

Let me guess: This version of PwrDVD prohibits playback from HDD?...I musta blacked out around post #5109... Okay, where do I find a walkthrough with screen shots for doing the IMGBurn ISO part of the rip/burn/mount work around? because it didn't work when I did it, and since it works for lots of other people, that means I'm screwing something up. Can anyone help a brother out?
Firstly the version number. To get this left moust click on Cyberlink on the top left hand corner of the window. On the popup that appears left mouse click in the window under "This product is licenced to". The version number will then appear under "DVD version". If memory serves me correct 3319e was the first to disable HDD playback of HD-DVD.

If all is well there try and play the movie (THE_KINGDOM_NA) via PowerDVD's file browser.

Product licensed to page shows
PowerDVD Version 7.3(Ultra)
SR Number: DVD071102-03

I'm just going to presume that's a version with HDD playback locked out. But I never would have figured that out without y'all's direction.

Thanks to y'all's tips I was able to get successfully burn an ISO of my ripped files, mount it using the Daemon tools route, and cue it up in my current version of PwrDVD. It feels good to succeed at 3 a.m.

Now, I'm off to try get MPC to work so I can destroy my image quality by stretching it to full screen...:D

Thanks DrSmithHDTV, nesNYC, and bk1987

Product licensed to page shows
PowerDVD Version 7.3(Ultra)
SR Number: DVD071102-03

I'm just going to presume that's a version with HDD playback locked out. But I never would have figured that out without y'all's direction.

Thanks to y'all's tips I was able to get successfully burn an ISO of my ripped files, mount it using the Daemon tools route, and cue it up in my current version of PwrDVD. It feels good to succeed at 3 a.m.

Now, I'm off to try get MPC to work so I can destroy my image quality by stretching it to full screen...:D

Thanks DrSmithHDTV, nesNYC, and bk1987

glad i could help, i have been using image burn in build mode to convert files to iso, but the new disks i just use image burn in read mode to rip the movie straight from the disk with or with out anydvd running but if anydvd hd is not running the iso will still have the copy protection

Nope, using an X1950pro and 7.12 drivers... HA is still automatic for me on 3516.
Also I don't know if I'm really getting any h.264 acceleration out of this card, despite what ATi claims and DVXA quoted as being "in use" by PDVD.

For VC-1 HA is disabled and greyed out and DVXA is shown as not in use.

However for AVC/h.264 it shows on/DXVA in use, but on the movie Cruel Intentions my CPU cores are both averaging about 50% (E6600 @ 3.2 Ghz). In RE3, as mentioned, it seems to be 80-100% average, on both cores (but again this may just be because of RE3's 1.1 Profile, but I'm not sure).

So I have been staying at Cat 7.0 so the hardware acceleration would be available, I know it wasn't working at 7.11, is this now fiexed so that HA stays checked at version 7.12?

Thanks!

Are there any fixes necessary or noted at this level to warrant the change to it from 7.07?

hello,

i've searched for answers and read some of this topic's post, tried some things, but i still have a problem with hd-dvd playing and need some help.

in fact i was previously using powerdvd v7.3.3516 on windows xp with a 8600gt and 169.21 forceware drivers. I was able to get rid of the "double expansion/black crush problem" by modifying the colorspace_option entry in the registry.

but i'm currently replacing windows XP by vista and the double expansion problem appears to be here, but i was not able to solve it :(

- i've tried modifying the colorspace_option entry in registry but it does nothing
- i've tried the oldest forceware driver i had for vista (163.75) but the double expansion is still here, i'm going to download older and try it.

does anybody have a similar setup and has solved this problem ?

thanks.

So I have been staying at Cat 7.0 so the hardware acceleration would be available, I know it wasn't working at 7.11, is this now fiexed so that HA stays checked at version 7.12?

Thanks!

Are there any fixes necessary or noted at this level to warrant the change to it from 7.07?

I don't really know if it's working or not though, lol. Yes you can check/uncheck the box in PDVD but it really doesn't do anything because PDVD checks/unchecks it automatically, on it's own, with the featured greyed out, once you begin to play any disc.

That is, if I'm playing back MPEG-2 or AVC/h.264, the box will be checked and greyed out, and DXVA stated as in-use. Playing VC-1, the box will be unchecked, greyed out and DXVA stated as not in-use.

Loking at my CPU use for MPEG-2 it's very low but then I would imagine it would be low with the CPU decoding anyway due to the fact that MPEG-2 is not that CPU intensive in this day and age.

But again, look at my h.264 CPU usage values--do those look like they are accelerated? Even throwing aside the RE3 results because of 1.1, it still seems high on Cruel Intentions, no? I have to try some more Blu-rays that are AVC I guess...

hello,

i've searched for answers and read some of this topic's post, tried some things, but i still have a problem with hd-dvd playing and need some help.

in fact i was previously using powerdvd v7.3.3516 on windows xp with a 8600gt and 169.21 forceware drivers. I was able to get rid of the "double expansion/black crush problem" by modifying the colorspace_option entry in the registry.

but i'm currently replacing windows XP by vista and the double expansion problem appears to be here, but i was not able to solve it :(

- i've tried modifying the colorspace_option entry in registry but it does nothing
- i've tried the oldest forceware driver i had for vista (163.75) but the double expansion is still here, i'm going to download older and try it.

does anybody have a similar setup and has solved this problem ?

thanks.

I'd like to know this as well, I couldn't do anything but adjust through nvidia's control panel for brightness/contrast/hue/saturation to something close. Problem is I gotta enable and disable this when I use other apps like media player classic to get rid of the enhancements.

Product licensed to page shows
PowerDVD Version 7.3(Ultra)
SR Number: DVD071102-03

The SR number is not the version number. With mine the version number is listed on the third line in the windowed box as DVD Version:7.3.3516.0. This version has disabled HDD playback of HD-DVD/Blu Ray however I have copied some program files from an earlier version to overcome this.

Incidently the SR number on mine is DVD071102-01 but I don't know what this actually represents.

I figured out a workaround that solves the problem I had with the hotkeys so that my remote works for both HDDVD/Blu-ray. My IR receiver software allows IR codes to be mapped to multple key sequences so:

1. I enabled HDDVD hotkeys.
2. Mapped reverse shuttle to send both 'B' and 'ALT-B'.
3. Mapped the DVD menu key to send both 'J' and 'CTRL-P'.
4. Mapped the Play key to send both 'ENTER' and 'ALT-ENTER'

Now all of the key controls work for both HDDVD and Blu-ray disks. Don't know if there's a better solution but this seems to work for me.

This sounded good initially, so I implemented it in the program behind my remote control. Unfortunately, it doesn't work out (I'm running the latest build - 3516):

1) When playing a HD DVD movie, 'B' seems to add a bookmark, so sending 'B' and 'ALT-B' adds a bookmark then goes into reverse play mode.

2) 'J' seems sufficient to get to the DVD menu and 'ENTER' seems to be play in all cases.

The people at Cyberlink must have been on drugs when they came up with these keyboard mappings - the same key should be used for a given function regardless of what type of disk is in the drive. :mad: What on earth were they thinking?????

The people at Cyberlink must have been on drugs when they came up with these keyboard mappings - the same key should be used for a given function regardless of what type of disk is in the drive. :mad: What on earth were they thinking?????
I agree. In fact I think they're on drugs all the time, throughout product development, LOL.

I still haven't figured out why my MS Bluetooth mouse causes PDVD (in three different builds) to randomly skip forward chapters :rolleyes: I seriously don't get how no one else has this problem--I've narrowed it down to exactly the mouse. Whenever I'm moving it around it will just jump forward a chapter randomly. If I leave the mouse and/or take out the batteries, it never happens. I've even switched the mouse scroll options to different things and nothing--it purely happens on motion. I'm not sure if it's something to do with the BT frequency/commands or what, but definitely moving my mouse will cause random chapter skips :confused:

Really if this weren't one of the only programs for Blu-ray/HD-DVD, I doubt anyone would be using it--it's really that bad. At first you think it's okay but once you've used it for a little while you begin to realise it's terrible software :(

This sounded good initially, so I implemented it in the program behind my remote control. Unfortunately, it doesn't work out (I'm running the latest build - 3516):

1) When playing a HD DVD movie, 'B' seems to add a bookmark, so sending 'B' and 'ALT-B' adds a bookmark then goes into reverse play mode.

2) 'J' seems sufficient to get to the DVD menu and 'ENTER' seems to be play in all cases.

The people at Cyberlink must have been on drugs when they came up with these keyboard mappings - the same key should be used for a given function regardless of what type of disk is in the drive. :mad: What on earth were they thinking?????

Totally agree. Completely whacked.

On 1) Did you try having your software send ALT-B first, then B? Seems to work ok on mine. But its probably software/timing dependent.

2) I couldn't get Blu-ray menus to come up with 'J' while the movie is playing and 'ENTER' didn't work on HDDVD disks (for example, from Pause I couldn't get out of Pause unless I pressed Pause or ALT-ENTER).

hello,

i've searched for answers and read some of this topic's post, tried some things, but i still have a problem with hd-dvd playing and need some help.

in fact i was previously using powerdvd v7.3.3516 on windows xp with a 8600gt and 169.21 forceware drivers. I was able to get rid of the "double expansion/black crush problem" by modifying the colorspace_option entry in the registry.

but i'm currently replacing windows XP by vista and the double expansion problem appears to be here, but i was not able to solve it :(

- i've tried modifying the colorspace_option entry in registry but it does nothing
- i've tried the oldest forceware driver i had for vista (163.75) but the double expansion is still here, i'm going to download older and try it.

does anybody have a similar setup and has solved this problem ?

thanks.

What is the "double expansion problem"? I have had trouble with this, but it's a bit different. I have a 8600GTS, and right now with 169.25 (final) in Vista 32. With 163 drivers there was no expansion with HD discs (bluray and HD-DVD), the same as with any other content (other HD/SD content and DVD). But I god a green line with HD discs about 1 pixel tall at the bottom of the picture in full-screen. It wasn't much of a problem, but it got a little annoying.

The 169 drivers got rid of the green line, and it started to give me expansion (not double though) for HD discs, but it didn't expand the other content. So now I have the "Use nVidia control panel" setting in the driver checked, so I can tweak the auto expansion done with HD discs, and then in PowerDVD I disable HW acceleration so I can tweak other content with PowerDVD's software color options. When I play HD discs, it automatically goes to HW accel on, so everything is OK, but the workaround is far from ideal.

I don't use Media Center, though, and I do have trouble with this. MC does its own auto expansion, and when you tweak the driver for good contrast, MC seems to expand on top of that. I haven't tested it very thoroughly though.

Totally agree. Completely whacked.

On 1) Did you try having your software send ALT-B first, then B? Seems to work ok on mine. But its probably software/timing dependent.

I'll double check and give that a try - once it's in reverse play mode for a HD DVD, perhaps the B command for adding a bookmark will be ignored.

2) I couldn't get Blu-ray menus to come up with 'J' while the movie is playing and 'ENTER' didn't work on HDDVD disks (for example, from Pause I couldn't get out of Pause unless I pressed Pause or ALT-ENTER).

I'll play around with it some more - there doesn't appear to be any harm done by sending both commands in these 2 cases.

<rant>
These things are User Interface 101. I've been writing software for 15+ years - if I came up with keyboard mappings like these (especially for something like a media player where people are going to want to use a remote control) I would expect to get fired and blackballed in the development community.

This stuff is REALLY simple:

Enter = Play, regardless of what type of disk is in the drive
Spacebar = Pause, regardless of what type of disk is in the drive
R = Reverse play, regardless of what type of disk is in the drive
F = Forward play, regardless of what type of disk is in the drive
B = Add bookmark, regardless of what type of disk is in the drive

I think I see a pattern here ;).

I don't care one bit which key they use for each function - I will program my Crestron system to send the appropriate key, but they need to be consistent.

I'm going to put in a request to Cyberlink tech support, but suspect that the response will be something like:

"In response to your concern, we want to inform you that PowerDVD software uses different keyboard commands for the functions depending on which type of media is playing. Thank you for using PowerDVD."
</rant>

Here's the support request that I just sent:
I have been trying to program my remote to control PowerDVD by sending keyboard commands for the various functions. Unfortunately, I have found that some of the commands are different depending on which type of media is playing. For example for DVD's the B key shuttles reverse at incremental speeds, but when playing HD DVD's (with HD DVD hotkeys enabled), the B key adds a bookmark while ALT-B is the shuttle reverse command.

If I disable the HD DVD Hotkeys, I have found that I am unable to use the arrow keys to navigate HD DVD menus.

It would be truly appreciated by me and many other users (see very active PowerDVD Ultra discussion at http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=12831797&posted=1) if the key used to perform a given function were the same regardless of which type of media is playing. Without this, it's nearly impossible to program a remote control to work with PowerDVD Ultra.

I've been a software engineer for 15+ years and it really surprises me to find such an inconsistent user interface in 2008 - even 15 years ago this sort of thing would have been a concern.

I'll be shocked if this accomplishes anything, but at least I tried...

What is the "double expansion problem"? I have had trouble with this, but it's a bit different. I have a 8600GTS, and right now with 169.25 (final) in Vista 32. With 163 drivers there was no expansion with HD discs (bluray and HD-DVD), the same as with any other content (other HD/SD content and DVD). But I god a green line with HD discs about 1 pixel tall at the bottom of the picture in full-screen. It wasn't much of a problem, but it got a little annoying.

The 169 drivers got rid of the green line, and it started to give me expansion (not double though) for HD discs, but it didn't expand the other content. So now I have the "Use nVidia control panel" setting in the driver checked, so I can tweak the auto expansion done with HD discs, and then in PowerDVD I disable HW acceleration so I can tweak other content with PowerDVD's software color options. When I play HD discs, it automatically goes to HW accel on, so everything is OK, but the workaround is far from ideal.

I don't use Media Center, though, and I do have trouble with this. MC does its own auto expansion, and when you tweak the driver for good contrast, MC seems to expand on top of that. I haven't tested it very thoroughly though.

fyi a post in the below referenced thread indicates that the Vista Service Pack Release Candiate has a fix for the black level problem with later Nvidia drivers.

http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/thread/234688.aspx

I don't really know if it's working or not though, lol. Yes you can check/uncheck the box in PDVD but it really doesn't do anything because PDVD checks/unchecks it automatically, on it's own, with the featured greyed out, once you begin to play any disc.

That is, if I'm playing back MPEG-2 or AVC/h.264, the box will be checked and greyed out, and DXVA stated as in-use. Playing VC-1, the box will be unchecked, greyed out and DXVA stated as not in-use.

Loking at my CPU use for MPEG-2 it's very low but then I would imagine it would be low with the CPU decoding anyway due to the fact that MPEG-2 is not that CPU intensive in this day and age.

But again, look at my h.264 CPU usage values--do those look like they are accelerated? Even throwing aside the RE3 results because of 1.1, it still seems high on Cruel Intentions, no? I have to try some more Blu-rays that are AVC I guess...

Hmmmm, I don't really know if it's working or not though, lol. Yes you can check/uncheck the box in PDVD but it really doesn't do anything because PDVD checks/unchecks it automatically, on it's own, with the featured greyed out, once you begin to play any disc.


This is just it, on Cat 7.07 the box remains checked... maybe not fixed then?

fyi a post in the below referenced thread indicates that the Vista Service Pack Release Candiate has a fix for the black level problem with later Nvidia drivers.



reverting to a driver old enough (i've tried 162.50) has solved my problem as they don't seem to have the "bug".

i will try the sp1 later :)

I have been ripping BD movies, stores in HDD and playback using PowerDVD without any problem. As the growing HD DVD, I just got one of the LG BD/HD DVD combine player. After installed the new LG player, I am still able to play BD movies from my PowerDVD using exactly the same method, rip Video DVD to hard drive from AnyDVD icon and play back from HDD using PowerDVD.

But when I played my first HD DVD using the same way I ripped to BD movies, it crashed the PowerDVD when I tried to play the HD DVD from the HDD. What did I do wrong? The way I ripping HD DVD to HDD? PowerDVD HD DVD setting? How can I able to play both BD and HD DVD from my HDD using PowerDVD?

Please help. Many thanks in advance.

PowerDVD 3319a
AnyDVD version 6.3.0.3
ATI HD 2600Pro latest driver 8.1

After seeing "A Layman's Guide to Shrinking HDDVD Size on Hard Drive" on SlySoft forum using EVOdemux I tried to apply the method for playback with PowerDVD via modified XPL.

The link to the Slysoft thread is below.

http://forum.slysoft.com/showthread.php?t=11241

After demuxing and rebuilding the video and main audio track with EVOdemux the initial results were encouraging with PowerDVD able to play back the shrunken EVO via the XPL file.

Unfortunately playback problems did emerge with further testing. I found that when playing back the shrunken EVO's the playback time was reduced. For example when I demuxed and rebuild the first EVO from Transformers, rebuilding the H.264 video track only resulted in an EVO that had a playback length of 1h:00m:24s on PowerDVD. Rebuilt with two tracks (video and 6ch audio) the playback length was about 1h:04m. Rebuilt with all tracks the playback time was 1h:11m:49s which is the same as the original EVO.

Has anyone else tried the above and got the same results ?

I can only guess as to a cause. Perhaps in the corresponding MAP file there is a reference that relates the playback time of the EVO to it's size.
With playback of shrunken EVO's via a trial version of TotalMedia Theatre I have have not experienced the above problem.

I therefore conclude that in relation to the above, PowerDVD is at fault.

The SR number is not the version number. With mine the version number is listed on the third line in the windowed box as DVD Version:7.3.3516.0. This version has disabled HDD playback of HD-DVD/Blu Ray however I have copied some program files from an earlier version to overcome this.

Incidently the SR number on mine is DVD071102-01 but I don't know what this actually represents.

it seems to me my 3319a can't play HD DVD only BD. Can you please let me know how you can copied some program files from an earlier version to overcome this?

Many thanks advance!

it seems to me my 3319a can't play HD DVD only BD. Can you please let me know how you can copied some program files from an earlier version to overcome this?

Many thanks advance!
If memory serves me correct 3319a should be fine as 3319e was the first to have HD-DVD/Blu-Ray playback disabled from HDD.

In the case of version 3516, the files that need to be copied from an earlier version are,

Navfilter\CLBDROMNav.ax
Navfilter\HDDVDNav.ax
PowerDVD.exe
*.imp (10 files)

fyi a post in the below referenced thread indicates that the Vista Service Pack Release Candiate has a fix for the black level problem with later Nvidia drivers.

http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/thread/234688.aspx

reverting to a driver old enough (i've tried 162.50) has solved my problem as they don't seem to have the "bug".

i will try the sp1 later :)

Thanks for the tips. I'll most likely update to SP1 when the final is out and running well. Betas of SP's are a little scary.

If memory serves me correct 3319a should be fine as 3319e was the first to have HD-DVD/Blu-Ray playback disabled from HDD.

In the case of version 3516, the files that need to be copied from an earlier version are,

Navfilter\CLBDROMNav.ax
Navfilter\HDDVDNav.ax
PowerDVD.exe
*.imp (10 files)

drsmithdtv,

Thanks for the tips. Can you let me know how do I extract your above mentioned files in the latest 3516 build without actually installed 3516? I have 3319a in my HTPC now and I hope by adding/replacing you mentioned files from 3516 build, I will be able to play HD DVD since as soon as I try to play HD DVD now, PDVD will disappear or crash right away. But on the other hand, BD playback from HDD are fine.

Thanks for your help in advance.

need to do it the other way around, so just copy the files you need from 3319a now before you uninstall and install 3516 then replace the files

drsmithdtv,

Thanks for the tips. Can you let me know how do I extract your above mentioned files in the latest 3516 build without actually installed 3516? I have 3319a in my HTPC now and I hope by adding/replacing you mentioned files from 3516 build, I will be able to play HD DVD since as soon as I try to play HD DVD now, PDVD will disappear or crash right away. But on the other hand, BD playback from HDD are fine.

Thanks for your help in advance.

fyi a related post

How to play ANYDVD ripped HD's from hard drive on PDVD V3516
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=12689373&postcount=21

reverting to a driver old enough (i've tried 162.50) has solved my problem as they don't seem to have the "bug".
...

Right. Also as per the referenced thread the latest version without the bug is 160.04

fyi a related post

How to play ANYDVD ripped HD's from hard drive on PDVD V3516
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=12689373&postcount=21

Ar got it now. So with this, I can play HD DVD and BD movies stores in HDD using 3516? Now, when I point the BD folder and hit play it will start play BD movie in 5 secs or so. Am I doing the same thing for HD DVD folder in my HDD?

Thanks in advance.

Right. Also as per the referenced thread the latest version without the bug is 160.04

i have read it on the thread, but i found the 162.50 and tried it before the 160.04 and it worked :)

What is different with AC/DC disk? Blu
I can play:
Corpse Bride
Bond
Elvis Jailhouse
FF4/SS
5th Element
Full M Jacket
Total Recall
Patriot
Stargate

This is my 2nd copy of AC/DC - It just won't start. ISO won't play.
It just hangs.
XP/2 amd 64/x2 4600 Inferno 8600GTS OEM Ultra 3319.0
Lite-On BD O DH401S - Saving LG Combo for Rack install HTPC
Any ideas, Thanks

fyi a related post

How to play ANYDVD ripped HD's from hard drive on PDVD V3516
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=12689373&postcount=21

Just tried to install 3516, the one posted it in the PowerDVD download page now. But it returned an error as I don't have a retail version and abort the installation now. hmm go back to square one, how can I play HD DVD and BD from my HDD with my 3319a PDVD?

Please help. Many thanks in advance!

Just tried to install 3516, the one posted it in the PowerDVD download page now. But it returned an error as I don't have a retail version and abort the installation now. hmm go back to square one, how can I play HD DVD and BD from my HDD with my 3319a PDVD?

Please help. Many thanks in advance!

Requested the non-retail 3516 build from Cyberlink, installed and before I copied the 3319a files, I tired to play some files from my HDD and noticed the "OK" button was grey out. Then I copy all mentioned files from 3319a build to the new fresh installed 3516 build but when I choose either HD DVD or BD folder to play, PDVD will disappear right in front of me within seconds... What did I do wrong? Please help!

Thanks

Working good with 169.09. PDVD 3319.0 8600GTS XP. I do lock the internet when I play from HDD or disk. No crashes, but some are particular (off hdd) with the start sequence and use on secondary display. So far I get no sound off Moody Blues but works on xbox with hd drive. HW accel seems to be always on. Also, I disable cookies and search for updates.

Davinleeds, I have the same problem with Moody Blues, I don't get sound from any of the available audio streams on this disk, although the interviews play fine. I have the same setup as you but use Vista.

Has anyone else been able to play the new Moody Blues concert HDDVD on PDVD?

Davinleeds, I have the same problem with Moody Blues, I don't get sound from any of the available audio streams on this disk, although the interviews play fine. I have the same setup as you but use Vista.

Has anyone else been able to play the new Moody Blues concert HDDVD on PDVD?

DD Plus 2.0 Just got it going. Thanks. Got me trying it again. It was difficult to make it stick in menu.

Stopping, pausing, or fast forward messes up the sound. Once I started I had to watch and listen to it again.