View Full Version : PowerDVD Ultra (HD-DVD and Blu-Ray)
MikeZ06
02-24-08, 04:24 PM
I am having trouble with PowerDVD Ultra letting me adjust the brightness and contrast within the software. When I view the brightness or contrast screen on the calibration disk I then open up the configuration of powedvd and start adjusting nothing happens. has anyone else had a issue like this with powerdvd? I'm able to calibrate with dvd by using my videocard settings but not with powerdvd. From what I have read it is better to adjust picture with software instead of videocard. Can someone give me any advice or help why powerdvd is not letting me do this. Oh yea, when I had the OEM version of powerdvd i was able to adjust settings. I then updated to the full retail version and for some reason when adjusting settings nothing takes place within picture.
Please help.
taeboguy
02-24-08, 06:46 PM
Okay. I did these things you suggested. Thank you.
I am still unable to play Blu-Ray through my Denon AVR. Another wierd thing I am seeing is that live play of my HD-DVDs stutter.
Hooked into my TV I can play it. The menu issue apparently had to do with the fact that I had to hit the ENTER key on the keyboard and could not use the remote to start the movie.
I started the movie and the video is still stuttering. The audio is fine.
Very annoying. Is there some other player other than PowerDVD that will play HDMs?
I have successfully copied HD-DVDs to the hard drive and the ones I have copied play fine.
Hmm.....now regular DVDs are stuttering. Maybe this is an onboard video problem? Disks burned to the hard drive play fine.
Do you guys think I would be better off buying a dedicated GFX card that is "supported" by PowerDVD? Or will that not matter?
If I do that is it possible that the HDCP issue with my Denon would be resolved? It seems like that would not be the case but you never know.
Davinleeds
02-24-08, 07:16 PM
I just bought my first Blu-Ray disk today for my new LG dual format player. Live Free or Die Hard.
Nothing but choppy play.
What gives on this? I am using PowerDVD Ultra 7 and as far as I know it is the latest version.
Anyone keeping a list of what won't play with PowerDVD?
All hd-dvd's that I have tried have played flawlessly.
Help!!!
And since then what is different?
I asked this morning if it's OEM and have you upgraded
What have you changed?
rdrooster
02-24-08, 07:21 PM
I'm not even getting PCM. Right now all that is showing Pro Logic. Not DTS or DD. I'd be happy with PCM over HDMI, but for some reason I can't. Not sure if its a software/driver issue or PowerDVD issue. I've got it connected with HDMI and have great video but only have Pro Logic for sound.
-JD-
Correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like the output from your powerdvd is stereo instead of S/PDIF, does it ?
I have dell xps 1330. I can watch die hard 4 (I'm not quite sure what's the digital audio output is but for sure it's not pro logic) and other hd-dvd movies with dolby digital plus thru hdmi port.
Make sure that in configuration you set the Audio to S/PDIF.
AbMagFab
02-24-08, 07:37 PM
I am having trouble with PowerDVD Ultra letting me adjust the brightness and contrast within the software. When I view the brightness or contrast screen on the calibration disk I then open up the configuration of powedvd and start adjusting nothing happens. has anyone else had a issue like this with powerdvd? I'm able to calibrate with dvd by using my videocard settings but not with powerdvd. From what I have read it is better to adjust picture with software instead of videocard. Can someone give me any advice or help why powerdvd is not letting me do this. Oh yea, when I had the OEM version of powerdvd i was able to adjust settings. I then updated to the full retail version and for some reason when adjusting settings nothing takes place within picture.
Please help.
You need to downgrade your nVidia video drivers. This is a known issue, just search the thread for versions that work.
taeboguy
02-24-08, 08:04 PM
And since then what is different?
I asked this morning if it's OEM and have you upgraded
What have you changed?
I originally had the OEM from the LG player. I upgraded to the Ultra version over the internet for $99.
I have messed around with ANYDVD some (turning it on and off, etc).
I have messed around with PowerDVD setting regarding Hardward Acceration settings per a previous posters suggestion. I guess I should put those back to baseline.
That is pretty much it. I did trade out the disk today at Target but with the same results (of course because technically there is nothing wrong with the disk, but that is all Target was willing to do for the first return.)
MikeZ06
02-24-08, 08:44 PM
I found out that i needed to check a box under the ATI Avivo color settings. Checking this box allows me to use software to adjust colors.
Thanks for the help also Abmagfab.
HT Slider
02-24-08, 09:28 PM
No, it's not possible. Neither PowerDVD nor current soundcards allow for bitstream TrueHD or DTS-HD MA. I think it's supposed to be coming with the G45 chipset. I guess your highest quality bet is to let PowerDVD decode to 8-channel and then output multichannel PCM through HDMI, but that requires a capable G35 motherboard. I do think that's better than bitstream, because with bitstream you only get the movie sound, not the Windows sounds, or movie extras, more or less like with S/PDIF bitstream of DD and DTS. With S/PDIF, though there is no option to digitally transmit the uncompressed PCM mutichannel audio, so bitstream is the highest quality you can get with S/PDIF.
There are so many posts complaining about the lack of true TrueHD support, I'd like to know if there really is an audible difference between sending TrueHD directly to an amp through HDMI or one of the other currently supported audio paths. 8 channel PCM has got to be totally indistinguishable compared to TrueHD I would think, but I also wonder if either of these can be distinguished as better than even DTS when played back through a high end 5.1 audio system.
Have you sat down in front of your audio system and compared TrueHD from a hardware Blue-ray player to 8-channel PCM through HDMI?
Can anyone here say that honestly they have compared TrueHD to "good old fashioned" DTS and that TrueHD is that much better?
If the audio hardware being used for playback is what your typical audio enthusiast has at home, I can't imagine the audio quality from TrueHD being perceptibly better than even DTS.
For certain, having PowerDVD digitally convert TrueHD to PCM and then having the Realtek ALC889a digitally encode it to DTS is indistinguishable (to me) when compared an actual DTS track. Most technical experts and studio engineers always used to regard DTS as achieving "perceptual transparency" (indistinguishable from the original source, even with the highest fidelity analog hardware), so how can TrueHD be that much better? Once you are at that level of performance, isn't it the audio hardware, especially the speakers and amplifiers that really drive the audio quality - not if TrueHD or DTS is used as the digital transport mechanism.
One thing I've been trying to figure out is if DTS Connect is capable of producing DTS ES (5.1 with flags for matrixed center surround speakers or 6.1) or "just" DTS with only 5.1 channels. If it can do DTS ES, then I see even less of an argument that TrueHD is actually better.
The only thing I see TrueHD providing is the potential for virtually flawless fidelity through all 7.1 channels, instead of virtually the same fidelity through only 5.1 channels with DTS (if your audio hardware includes 7.1 channels and 7.1 speakers).
Am I missing something?
rockytt
02-24-08, 10:14 PM
Does PowerDVD work on a second display? I've got my Sony LCD RPTV connected as a second monitor on one of my systems and it works fine with everything I throw at it - until today. This is the only system in the house where I use a second monitor and was dismayed to find that I didn't get a picture when watching a BD.
The skin for the player is there, the movie is playing-I can hear it and see the progress bar across the bottom, but the picture itself is black. Please tell me that PowerDVD is not the issue and that I'm just an idiot and have some other issue :)
btw-using Radeon 2600HD(agp) Pro for my video card and have the latest (functioning) drivers installed
chillspace
02-25-08, 01:19 AM
Okay. I did these things you suggested. Thank you.
I am still unable to play Blu-Ray through my Denon AVR. Another wierd thing I am seeing is that live play of my HD-DVDs stutter.
Hooked into my TV I can play it. The menu issue apparently had to do with the fact that I had to hit the ENTER key on the keyboard and could not use the remote to start the movie.
I started the movie and the video is still stuttering. The audio is fine.
Very annoying. Is there some other player other than PowerDVD that will play HDMs?
I have successfully copied HD-DVDs to the hard drive and the ones I have copied play fine.
Hmm.....now regular DVDs are stuttering. Maybe this is an onboard video problem? Disks burned to the hard drive play fine.
I've read elsewhere in these forums that Denon AVRs had a handshaking issue when it came HDCP. Not sure if this is the problem you're running into. Some have suggested that contacting Denon and requesting a firmware upgrade could fix it. Maybe someone else can chime in.
Eric
Anyone else having issues with PDVD Ultra breaking VMC's ability to play XviD files?
There are so many posts complaining about the lack of true TrueHD support, I'd like to know if there really is an audible difference between sending TrueHD directly to an amp through HDMI or one of the other currently supported audio paths. 8 channel PCM has got to be totally indistinguishable compared to TrueHD I would think, but I also wonder if either of these can be distinguished as better than even DTS when played back through a high end 5.1 audio system.
Have you sat down in front of your audio system and compared TrueHD from a hardware Blue-ray player to 8-channel PCM through HDMI?
Can anyone here say that honestly they have compared TrueHD to "good old fashioned" DTS and that TrueHD is that much better?
If the audio hardware being used for playback is what your typical audio enthusiast has at home, I can't imagine the audio quality from TrueHD being perceptibly better than even DTS.
For certain, having PowerDVD digitally convert TrueHD to PCM and then having the Realtek ALC889a digitally encode it to DTS is indistinguishable (to me) when compared an actual DTS track. Most technical experts and studio engineers always used to regard DTS as achieving "perceptual transparency" (indistinguishable from the original source, even with the highest fidelity analog hardware), so how can TrueHD be that much better? Once you are at that level of performance, isn't it the audio hardware, especially the speakers and amplifiers that really drive the audio quality - not if TrueHD or DTS is used as the digital transport mechanism.
One thing I've been trying to figure out is if DTS Connect is capable of producing DTS ES (5.1 with flags for matrixed center surround speakers or 6.1) or "just" DTS with only 5.1 channels. If it can do DTS ES, then I see even less of an argument that TrueHD is actually better.
The only thing I see TrueHD providing is the potential for virtually flawless fidelity through all 7.1 channels, instead of virtually the same fidelity through only 5.1 channels with DTS (if your audio hardware includes 7.1 channels and 7.1 speakers).
Am I missing something?
I am totally with you. I don't think theres discernible difference in maybe 99% of cases with relatively high-bitrate compression and uncompressed/lossless. I do think there's an obvious advantage to sending 7.1 HDMI, bitstream or PCM, to the receiver, and that is to avoid PC interference noise. DTS Connect is (in most cases) re-compression, though, and I can more easily imagine that there's more difference there, albeit very subtle, than just compressed vs. uncompressed, but I don't have high-end equipment. I do wish DTS-Connect was at least DTS-ES compatible (6.1 channels), but 5.1 will do for most content as well. You can always use Dolby Pro-Logic IIx, which is effective enough in matrixing a center rear channel.
I also think that many people who tell the difference between high-bitrate compressed and uncompressed are placeboed (nothing against that, placebo is much more powerful than people make it to be). But I can only speak for myself, not other individuals (I said only "many people", but I can't speak for each individual claim). The more appreciable difference people claim, the more skeptical I am. But, it seems we're a minority, no one really cares anyway.
If people are happy, that's fine with me, but sometimes it could be detrimental for the whole community, like, for example, imagine if one of the main reasons HD-DVD (which is more consumer friendly by far) failed was because consumers thought uncompressed PCM was much better than having a high-quality DD+ or DTS-HD in the disc, like most HD-DVD. The difference will not be real by the vast majority who have normal ears and don't have super high-end equipment, but we all have to deal with the bluray problems. I don't know if this was one of the main reasons, and I'm not blaming anybody, but you can easily imagine a scenario like that.
Do you guys think I would be better off buying a dedicated GFX card that is "supported" by PowerDVD? Or will that not matter?
If I do that is it possible that the HDCP issue with my Denon would be resolved? It seems like that would not be the case but you never know.I am using the Denon 4306 currently with the an ATI 3850 (HIS IceQ 3 3850 card to be precise) and it works perfectly.
Previously I had an Nvidia 7600GT and that also worked very well although it did occasionally have problems restoring the display when returning from standby. Disabling the Nvidia Display Driver Service largely fixed this, so it was a very rare 'glitch' requiring a reboot.
I am using the updated firmware (Jan '07) for the 4306. It might we worth giving that a shot if you have not installed it already.
Beyond the equiptment capability, I would bet most people do not have a dedicated room that has been tuned. I know I do not. Even though I have mid tier setup with 3 amps and Martin Logans all around, my room is far from ideal. I do not know if I can tell that there is that much difference between a dvd DTS track and any of the lossless HD formats. They both sound pretty good.
Andy o,you mention Blu Ray problems - I have not had any problems with either format since the latest upgrade.
Beyond the equiptment capability, I would bet most people do not have a dedicated room that has been tuned. I know I do not. Even though I have mid tier setup with 3 amps and Martin Logans all around, my room is far from ideal. I do not know if I can tell that there is that much difference between a dvd DTS track and any of the lossless HD formats. They both sound pretty good.
Ha! That's way above my "mid-tier" threshold. Right now what a reasonably good speaker system would be for me (I don't plan on buying it though, my apartment is too small) is a set of Definitive Tech 7.1 speakers, maybe the ProCinema 1000 series. Anything higher would be too expensive for me, considering that I'd rather put the money on a big plasma 1080p (no LCD, or smaller than 50" for me). I also have other vices, ahem, "hobbies", to attend.
Andy o,you mention Blu Ray problems - I have not had any problems with either format since the latest upgrade.
I assume you're running PowerDVD, as per this thread, right? I am having trouble with some of the latest blurays, but I'm running 3319a and 3516. There is also trouble reported with 3730, but the thing about it is not the trouble itself or if you're running the latest updates, but the fact that there are so many updates to begin with, and the incomplete profile stuff. Add to that region coding and BD+, and blu-ray is not as friendly to the consumer as HD-DVD.
Not trying to argue again for or against any format, just stating what we have learned this whole time. I still dig some bluray functions over hd-dvd in PowerDVD, like the ability to use shortcut keys and the mouse (though that BD-J stuff messes it) and the ability to just right-click and change subs/languages, which you can't do with HD-DVD with PowerDVD. But then again, that's probably Cyberlink's fault.
Lots of talk about sound quality, and some suggestions that for using analog out to 6 or 8 channel input on a suitably equipped receiver, one must have a very high-end audio card. I'd just like to clarify that with my own experience: It is true that onboard (motherboard) analog out is not good enough for my picky standards, so I got a high-quality audio card with good DACs and shielding. But this card (ASUS Xonar) cost less than $200, so don't be deterred if you think you'd like to have such a setup.
I can tell a distinct difference between DD and DTS variants over S/PDIF and Uncompressed LPCM over analog, using this Xonar soundcard. The LPCM is far superior in audio quality.
Regarding Version 8 of PDVD Ultra: Given Cyberlink's recent "upgrades," and given their hostile attitude towards their customers, we should probably expect V8 to be less capable than, say, V7.3.3319a.
taeboguy
02-25-08, 09:42 AM
I am using the Denon 4306 currently with the an ATI 3850 (HIS IceQ 3 3850 card to be precise) and it works perfectly.
Previously I had an Nvidia 7600GT and that also worked very well although it did occasionally have problems restoring the display when returning from standby. Disabling the Nvidia Display Driver Service largely fixed this, so it was a very rare 'glitch' requiring a reboot.
I am using the updated firmware (Jan '07) for the 4306. It might we worth giving that a shot if you have not installed it already.
Where can I get the firmware to upgrade? It does not seem to be available for download.
I did it a long time ago. i can't even remember where I got it from in the end. I did have a problem with the Euro site recognising my serial number, but found another site with it.
I suggest you check out the avsforums Denon 4306 owners thread. I think that is where I started. Or you could always take to a Denon dealer. You need the firmware to get 7.1 LPCM over HDMI and it has some other enhancements/fixes so it is totally legit to ask for this to be applied. But if you bought recently you may have it already. I would check first.
Regarding Version 8 of PDVD Ultra: Given Cyberlink's recent "upgrades," and given their hostile attitude towards their customers, we should probably expect V8 to be less capable than, say, V7.3.3319a.I understand where you are coming from!
taeboguy
02-25-08, 11:00 AM
I did it a long time ago. i can't even remember where I got it from in the end. I did have a problem with the Euro site recognising my serial number, but found another site with it.
I suggest you check out the avsforums Denon 4306 owners thread. I think that is where I started. Or you could always take to a Denon dealer. You need the firmware to get 7.1 LPCM over HDMI and it has some other enhancements/fixes so it is totally legit to ask for this to be applied. But if you bought recently you may have it already. I would check first.
It is encouraging to know this might fix my 7.1 LPCM issue with the Asus P5E-VM HDMI mobo I have.
mpgxsvcd
02-25-08, 11:26 AM
There are so many posts complaining about the lack of true TrueHD support, I'd like to know if there really is an audible difference between sending TrueHD directly to an amp through HDMI or one of the other currently supported audio paths. 8 channel PCM has got to be totally indistinguishable compared to TrueHD I would think, but I also wonder if either of these can be distinguished as better than even DTS when played back through a high end 5.1 audio system.
Have you sat down in front of your audio system and compared TrueHD from a hardware Blue-ray player to 8-channel PCM through HDMI?
Can anyone here say that honestly they have compared TrueHD to "good old fashioned" DTS and that TrueHD is that much better?
If the audio hardware being used for playback is what your typical audio enthusiast has at home, I can't imagine the audio quality from TrueHD being perceptibly better than even DTS.
The only thing I see TrueHD providing is the potential for virtually flawless fidelity through all 7.1 channels, instead of virtually the same fidelity through only 5.1 channels with DTS (if your audio hardware includes 7.1 channels and 7.1 speakers).
Am I missing something?
I just compared the audio tracks for the Chris Botti Blu-Ray Disc this weekend. It has an LPCM 24 Bit 96 Khz track and a 640 Kbps Dolby Digital track. I tested the Disc with both powerDVD(downconverts to 16 Bit 48 Khz) and Nero 8(Does not downconvert). I use the 5.1 channel analog outputs of my Auzentech Prelude sound card to go into my Yamaha receiver. Then I use pre-outs to go to my Rotel amp and on to my ERA speakers. It is not a high end system but it is definitely better than the average.
First off I could not tell any difference between Nero and PowerDVD. The LPCM track sounded the same. I know I wouldn’t be able to guess which one was which in a blind test.
I thoroughly enjoyed the LPCM tracks. I listened to the sting song about 15 times and loved it each time. Then I decided to switch over to the DD track to see how much of a difference there was. The difference was gigantic!
I thought it must be the difference in levels so I got out my trusty Radio Shack SPL and made sure that I was reading the same DB levels for both the DD track and the LPCM. Everything was matched up perfectly. However, the DD track seemed lifeless! It just sounded like Botti was in another room playing instead of sounding like I was on-stage with him like the LPCM track did.
Everything was just crisper and sharper. That is not too say that the DD track was bad though. If I had never heard the LPCM track then I would have thoroughly enjoyed the DD one. However, once you hear a lossless track on a decent system you will not listen to anything less again. The only exception to that rule might be DD+. The transformers track sounds outstanding so I think it will be hard to really improve that with lossless. I will be first in-line to find out when that comes out on Blu-ray though!
markm75
02-25-08, 11:31 AM
Does powerdvd only support playback of BD content on the original disk, or will it work off a video server with backed up content?
mpgxsvcd
02-25-08, 11:40 AM
There is one other thing. People keep saying is DD/DTS as good as lossless? You really need to clarify what type of DD and DTS you are talking about.
If it is Dolby Digital at ~448 Kbps(What is on all standard DVDS) or DTS at 768 Kbps(On a lot of Standard DVDs) then the answer is that Lossless is WAY better than those.
Now if you are talking about DD at 640 Kbps or DTS at 1.5 Mbps then my testing has shown that they are closer but still no match for Lossless.
And finally if you are comparing DD+ at 1.5 Mbps or DTS-HD to lossless then I would say they are all pretty close.
There is one other thing. People keep saying is DD/DTS as good as lossless? You really need to clarify what type of DD and DTS you are talking about.
If it is Dolby Digital at ~448 Kbps(What is on all standard DVDS) or DTS at 768 Kbps(On a lot of Standard DVDs) then the answer is that Lossless is WAY better than those.
Now if you are talking about DD at 640 Kbps or DTS at 1.5 Mbps then my testing has shown that they are closer but still no match for Lossless.
And finally if you are comparing DD+ at 1.5 Mbps or DTS-HD to lossless then I would say they are all pretty close.
DTS Connect is supposed to be at 1.5 mbps, if I'm not mistaken. That's why I said "relatively high bitrate". I do think 448 kbps for 5.1 channels might be too lossy. Even 640 probably is.
Well, I can't doubt your own experience, but I would just like to say that proper testing is kind of hard to do with the equipment and sources we have available. You'd have to have the same masters processed with the same levels and such, and most important of all, it should be a statistically valid (with many subjects and/or many identical tests) double-blind test. Those are pretty hard to do. Note that I'm not saying there's no difference, I just don't think that in general people can tell it, especially without having very good equipment.
Of course, you can now make the argument that then since you hear such a difference anyway, there is a possibility that uncompressed/lossless tracks are better mastered. I won't argue with that, it is possible that levels are tweaked differently to account for better dynamic range and such, though I don't know how different types of compression affect dynamic range.
Al Sherwood
02-25-08, 12:15 PM
Anyone else having issues with PDVD Ultra breaking VMC's ability to play XviD files?
Interesting question, I thought it was PDVD, but it was when I installed the Haali media splitter to handle MKV file wrappers that mine when offline.
I finally located the setting box within FDDshow that had become 'unchecked', all I had to do was re-check the box for XviD and all was good again...
I have both SPDIF and 7.1 multichannel analog connections hooked up from my HTPC to my receiver. I normally use SPDIF output for everything, but want to have PowerDVD Ultra output to the multichannel analog outputs instead. I've tried it and Vista seems to only use whatever sound device is set as Default in the control panel (which is SPDIF). Is it possible to force PDVD to use the analog outputs? I can't seem to get it to work without changing the default output in Vista.
HT Slider
02-25-08, 01:16 PM
There is one other thing. People keep saying is DD/DTS as good as lossless? You really need to clarify what type of DD and DTS you are talking about.
If it is Dolby Digital at ~448 Kbps(What is on all standard DVDS) or DTS at 768 Kbps(On a lot of Standard DVDs) then the answer is that Lossless is WAY better than those.
Now if you are talking about DD at 640 Kbps or DTS at 1.5 Mbps then my testing has shown that they are closer but still no match for Lossless.
And finally if you are comparing DD+ at 1.5 Mbps or DTS-HD to lossless then I would say they are all pretty close.
I've also compared LPCM to DTS at 1.5Mbps and DD at 640Kbps and came to a similar conclusion that you did - that DD does indeed sound very good, but very slightly lifeless compared to LPCM. What I also concluded though was that DTS at 1.5Mbps is indistinguishable to me when compared to LPCM.
How did you conclude that DTS at 1.5 Mbps is no match for lossless?
There could have been some limitations in the DDL that I was using for the comparison - so I haven't gone around posting "that DTS at 1.5 Mbsp is absolutely superior to DD at 640Mbps". The testing I did was using an ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard for DDL encoding and using my current Gigabyge GA-P35-DS4 motherboard for DTS encoding. The ASUS board is quite a bit older, so I figured there may be some improvements with newer DDL boards.
The audio source varied and included CDs using SPDIF with 2 channel vs that same 2 channels through DDL and DTS (not converted to 5.1 but left at 2 channels, with the other channels "silent" in the DD/DTS), as well as LPCM converted to analog with both the motherboard's audio hardware and a Creative Labs Audigy sound card (not exactly high end by todays standards).
In all cases the DDL and DTS was VERY superior to the motherboard's on-board or Audigy audio when analog was used; proving to me that you really do need a high end audio card if you want to go analog. The analog sounded very poor when compared, even when I turned off the room and speaker correction within the receiver when listening to the digital paths (I normally leave it on as I find the closed loop room calibration does improve the sound quality slightly).
For 2 channel PCM SPDIF, my conclusion was that the DTS was indistinguishable and the DDL sounded very good, but somewhat flat compared to the DTS and LPCM. It was close enough that after listening to it for a while it sounded flawless, but switching back and forth I concluded there was a difference between DDL and LPCM. Note that I did use my SPL meter to ensure the volume was the same. The DDL still had the lows and highs from the audio tracks, but it just didn't have the same live, "right in front of you" crisp sound to it that DTS or LPCM did.
Although these were relatively simple experiments, I concluded that to enjoy high quality 5.1 audio from an HTPC with HD movies that only contain Dolby TrueHD (potentially HD-DVD movies only have TrueHD) or WMA (WMV-HD) that either DDL or DTS Connect or a high end analog sound card was required. Analog on the motherboard or a "cheap" soundcard simply didn't cut it. I also concluded that DTS Connect sounded slightly better to me than DDL. Going digital also allowed me to take advantage of the functional digital processing that my receiver has (the 6 channel analog inputs are direct inputs without any audio processing).
Obviously a fully supported TrueHD or 8-channel LPCM solution would be better than DTS with "only" 6 channels, but since nothing today seems to be able to actually send 8-channels through HDMI and my audio hardware only supports 6-channels (and doesn't even have HDMI), DTS Connect is as close to perfection as I can get today.
One thing I still today cannot understand is why there are so many HTPC enthusiasts arguing and recommending that everyone purchase a basic motherboard or cheap soundcard with basic SPDIF out on it. Without using analog, DTS Connect or DDL there is no way to listen to muti-channel WMA, WMV-HD, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD, multi-channel mpeg-2, video games, or any other digital multi-channel source. Telling everyone to switch back and forth between SPDIF for DD5.1 and DTS sources and crappy analog for everything else just doesn't make any sense to me. The only options I see for an HTPC are high end analog sound card (and use analog all the time) or DTS Connect/DDL (or 8-channel HDMI audio of course). The basic on-board SPDIF and poor quality analog output that everyone keeps on recommending simply doesn't cut it for HTPC use in my opinion.
HT Slider
02-25-08, 01:28 PM
I have both SPDIF and 7.1 multichannel analog connections hooked up from my HTPC to my receiver. I normally use SPDIF output for everything, but want to have PowerDVD Ultra output to the multichannel analog outputs instead. I've tried it and Vista seems to only use whatever sound device is set as Default in the control panel (which is SPDIF). Is it possible to force PDVD to use the analog outputs? I can't seem to get it to work without changing the default output in Vista.
I've also tried to send audio to "non-default speakers", but none of the software I've tried seems to be able to use anything but the default "speakers".
If you have a good enough sound card that 7.1 analog is better than SPDIF, why not use analog for everything?
taeboguy
02-25-08, 01:38 PM
I did it a long time ago. i can't even remember where I got it from in the end. I did have a problem with the Euro site recognising my serial number, but found another site with it.
I suggest you check out the avsforums Denon 4306 owners thread. I think that is where I started. Or you could always take to a Denon dealer. You need the firmware to get 7.1 LPCM over HDMI and it has some other enhancements/fixes so it is totally legit to ask for this to be applied. But if you bought recently you may have it already. I would check first.
I just noticed you are in the UK. I wonder if there are updates for the UK but not the US.
I can't seem to find anything online thus far. I have a query in on the 4306 thread in the AMPS forum.
HT Slider
02-25-08, 01:47 PM
Lots of talk about sound quality, and some suggestions that for using analog out to 6 or 8 channel input on a suitably equipped receiver, one must have a very high-end audio card. I'd just like to clarify that with my own experience: It is true that onboard (motherboard) analog out is not good enough for my picky standards, so I got a high-quality audio card with good DACs and shielding. But this card (ASUS Xonar) cost less than $200, so don't be deterred if you think you'd like to have such a setup.
I can tell a distinct difference between DD and DTS variants over S/PDIF and Uncompressed LPCM over analog, using this Xonar soundcard. The LPCM is far superior in audio quality.
I find it difficult to believe that a $200 sound card produces analog audio that is "far superior" to 1.5 Mbps DTS when most audiophiles can't tell the difference between 1.5 Mbps DTS and LPCM using reference level audio equipment in double blind back to back tests.
I do believe that a $200 sound card can produce high quality analog audio and that this is an excellent option for an HTPC - enabling all of the different multi-channel audio formats out there to be played by PowerDVD. The real advantage to going with a high end analog card is the fact that it supports 8-channels of audio and this is the only way to get high quality 8-channel support today.
Edit: I suppose it is possible that the DACs, pre-amps and audio processing capabilities are better on the Xonar card than on the receiver/amplifier being used. If so, this could make the Xonar analog outputs produce considerably better sound than when the receiver/amplifier is sent DTS digitally and does all of the pre-amp work itself.
I find it difficult to believe that a $200 sound card produces analog audio that is "far superior" to 1.5 Mbps DTS when most audiophiles can't tell the difference between 1.5 Mbps DTS and LPCM using reference level audio equipment in double blind back to back tests.
I do believe that a $200 sound card can produce high quality analog audio and that this is an excellent option for an HTPC - enabling all of the different multi-channel audio formats out there to be played by PowerDVD. The real advantage to going with a high end analog card is the fact that it supports 8-channels of audio and this is the only way to get high quality 8-channel support today.
That is not accurate.
There are ADD2 cards for 965g and G33 based mobo's and intels G35 motherboard. Either of those options will provide 7.1 LPCM sound.
HT Slider
02-25-08, 02:08 PM
That is not accurate.
There are ADD2 cards for 965g and G33 based mobo's and intels G35 motherboard. Either of those options will provide 7.1 LPCM sound.
Except that in order to get it to work you have to modify the resistors on the ADD2 cards and even then it doesn't work reliably.
I spoke to several individuals a month or so ago who persistently tried to get this to work and all ultimately failed due to HDCP issues with the receiver. Some got it to work when combined with AnyDVD HD, but not with just PowerDVD Ultra by itself. On top of that there is apparently a problem with PowerDVD/OS/drivers/etc. where it currently will not output full bandwidth Dolby TrueHD/DTS-HD/LPCM through an 8-channel HDMI connection.
To the best of my knowledge, this is still the current situation and none of the advertised 7.1 LPCM through HDCP solutions are reliably working yet (with PowerDVD Ultra at least).
Based on this, a high end audio card such as the Xonar 7.1 D2 is really the only reliable, fully functional high quality 8-channel audio solution available today (but hopefully this situation will change in the very near future).
jimwhite
02-25-08, 02:19 PM
To the best of my knowledge, this is still the current situation
8ch PCM audio on the G35-HDMI motherboards is NOT a problem... it just works (under Vista)... the video side has a few issues though....
:cool:
HT Slider
02-25-08, 02:32 PM
8ch PCM audio on the G35-HDMI motherboards is NOT a problem... it just works (under Vista)... the video side has a few issues though....
:cool:
That's good to know, but can it truly offer a complete solution for audio and video that will work with PowerDVD Ultra?
Can you use the 8-channel HDMI audio on the motherboard, while using an Nvidia or ATI video card at the same time for video to get around the G35 video issues?
As far as I'm concerned if an HTPC can't play back all of the content you want it to with consistent, high quality video and consistent, high quality audio (6-channel absolutely minimum) then that particular mix of hardware isn't a solution that can be considered.
That's good to know, but can it truly offer a complete solution for audio and video that will work with PowerDVD Ultra?
Can you use the 8-channel HDMI audio on the motherboard, while using an Nvidia or ATI video card at the same time for video to get around the G35 video issues?
As far as I'm concerned if an HTPC can't play back all of the content you want it to with consistent, high quality video and consistent, high quality audio (6-channel absolutely minimum) then that particular mix of hardware isn't a solution that can be considered.
It can't run with a seperate video card. So you need a pretty chunky CPU, the G35 does offer somelevel of assist, but it's poorly optimized at this point (my understanding I don't own one). It will do the full 8 channels of audio.
I have the P5E-VM (G35) and tried to get good audio AND video with an Onkyo 805 in between. The end result was choopy video quality and subpar sound.
I've now got the 8600 GTS with the Xonar and everything is working well (besides the placement of the PCI-Express slots on this board). The 7.1 audio out of this card is noticibly better then what I got out of the HDMI
I suppose it is possible that the DACs, pre-amps and audio processing capabilities are better on the Xonar card than on the receiver/amplifier being used. If so, this could make the Xonar analog outputs produce considerably better sound than when the receiver/amplifier is sent DTS digitally and does all of the pre-amp work itself.
The receiver I use is a Harman-Kardon AV645. It is quite good. But the uncompressed audio is better than what I can get over S/PDIF. That's my experience; I cannot tell anyone else what sounds best to them.
[quote]Display Device
Click on Configuration , select the Video tab, click Advanced..., and then select the Display Device tab.
In the Preferred Display Device section, select whether you want to use your Single/primary device or Secondary device as your main movie viewing device.
If you select Secondary device, click select the 4:3 aspect ratio or 16:9 aspect ratio option to specify your screen's resolution. Usually, the default will suffice. If the default does not match your output device, select an option from the Others drop-down box.
Click OK when you are finished.[\\quote]
I donot have this option is the OEM vesion or a trail version retail version on another machine any reason for that?
I want to make it play on my secondary by default as have dual display setup athe moment have to drag window to other display
Al Sherwood
02-25-08, 05:28 PM
Does PowerDVD work on a second display? I've got my Sony LCD RPTV connected as a second monitor on one of my systems and it works fine with everything I throw at it - until today. This is the only system in the house where I use a second monitor and was dismayed to find that I didn't get a picture when watching a BD.
The skin for the player is there, the movie is playing-I can hear it and see the progress bar across the bottom, but the picture itself is black. Please tell me that PowerDVD is not the issue and that I'm just an idiot and have some other issue :)
btw-using Radeon 2600HD(agp) Pro for my video card and have the latest (functioning) drivers installed
Hmmm, not sure exactly how you are connected or what you are expecting to see, but PDVD will only play on one monitor at a time. Having said that you can have a second monitor hooked to the PC that PDVD is running on.
I have a analog connected LCD monitor and a projector connected to my HTPC (HD2600Pro)and have no problem with playback of PDVD on either screen.
HT Slider
02-25-08, 05:42 PM
The receiver I use is a Harman-Kardon AV645. It is quite good. But the uncompressed audio is better than what I can get over S/PDIF. That's my experience; I cannot tell anyone else what sounds best to them.
You've definitely got the right equipment and sound card to let you do back to back comparisons between DDL, DTS Interactive and analog out.
I still find it difficult to comprehend that DTS is significantly worse than analog, especially considering I really tried to hear a difference and simply couldn't honestly convince myself that there was a difference between 2 channel PCM through SPDIF and the same 2 channels encoded into DTS and listened to that way. I was comparing two digital sources, one "bit-perfect" and one encoded into DTS so this should be quite a fair test (that takes out DAC and pre-amp variables since the same ones are always used).
How about this for something to try (for interest). Take a well mastered piece of music and use it to compare the following:
Direct PCM through SPDIF to the receiver
DTS Interactive through SPDIF to the receiver (don't turn on NEO: PC so stereo remains as stereo)
Analog in stereo from the Xonar to the receiver
If the analog sounds better than PCM, this points to the DACs and pre-amps used in the Xonar card being better (or at least sounding better) than the ones used in the Harmon-Kardon.
Reading the specs and reviews on the Xonar card, it definitely looks like an ideal card for use with PowerDVD Ultra as well as for all other HTPC audio needs.
One problem I see with an analog solution over DTS Connect is that it probably won't allow PowerDVD Ultra OEM to provide 6 channels of analog audio when a DD5.1 or DTS soundtrack is used. I suspect those of us with the OEM version would have to purchase the retail version of PowerDVD Ultra as well as this card if we wanted a complete, turn key analog audio solution - for a total of around $300. Without the full retail version, we'd be forced to constantly keep changing the settings for the audio driver and receiver between SPDIF and analog.
Edit: For interest I just dug up the specifications for the Harmon-Kardon AVR 645 and the Asus Xonar 7.1 D2 sound card. The Xonar appears to have considerably better specifications. I suppose this makes some sense since the Xonar is primarily a pre-amp without even a power supply, costing $200 and the AVR 645 is a complex audio/video receiver, complete with multiple channel high current power amplifiers, an AM/FM tuner, multiple high quality audio and video switches, multiple HDMI ports with HDCP, a display, a power supply, a case (including switches and buttons), etc. and sells for a little over $700 total.
Radiophile
02-25-08, 07:04 PM
That's ridiculous. Either they're deliberately lying or it's a case of 'one hand not knowing what the other is doing' within the company. Several others in this thread have reported that build 3730 solves the can't-play-Yuma problem. I can't believe Cyberlink doesn't know that Cyberlink themselves have already released a patch - just for retail versions. :rolleyes:
Actually, I have the retail version and 3730 does not fix the menus in 3:10 to Yuma. I live in region B.
I've bought a PS3 and its the best decision I've made in a while.Sorry 3730 is not working for you. I'm not sure what region I'm in, but my location is listed. When I wrote that text above, I had not tried 3730 myself; I had only seen several other posts saying 3730 played Yuma. Well, I can now report from personal experience, in my region, that 3730 did indeed fix the problem. The menus work and I can now play this disc.
BigWorm2005GT
02-25-08, 07:35 PM
This has probably been answered already (didn't see it), but here goes:
Is there any reason other than sheer marketeering that Cyberlink released the 3730 patch only for retail? Simply to drive people that have the OEM version to purchase the retail edition? Because it sounds like the worst business decision in the world to me. If (like me) you use the OEM edition, and this is how you're treated, why in the world would you fork over hard-earned green as a ways of saying "Thanks for the treatment!"
It seems to me that decisions like this are what drive people to software piracy. (My apologies if that is misconstrued. Simply my analysis, not a defense.)
BW
liversedge
02-25-08, 07:37 PM
Sorry 3730 is not working for you. I'm not sure what region I'm in, but my location is listed. When I wrote that text above, I had not tried 3730 myself; I had only seen several other posts saying 3730 played Yuma. Well, I can now report from personal experience, in my region, that 3730 did indeed fix the problem. The menus work and I can now play this disc.
hey, no need to be sorry :) Region B is Europe, Region A is US. Not sure if my problem is region related (I'm clutching at straws) but I'd love to hear from any European users that have got the region B 3:10 working on 3730.
DPlettner
02-25-08, 08:01 PM
That's good to know, but can it truly offer a complete solution for audio and video that will work with PowerDVD Ultra?
Can you use the 8-channel HDMI audio on the motherboard, while using an Nvidia or ATI video card at the same time for video to get around the G35 video issues?
As far as I'm concerned if an HTPC can't play back all of the content you want it to with consistent, high quality video and consistent, high quality audio (6-channel absolutely minimum) then that particular mix of hardware isn't a solution that can be considered.I am actually pretty happy with my G35. For the most part, I don't have the video issues that Jim does. IIRC, Jim's issues are with Nero Showtime and the G35. In my case, I have video issues with a few titles in Showtime (e.g., Chris Botti), but these titles play fine in PDVD.
There are HDCP issues going through an AVR, and I need to use AnyDVD, but that should be fixed soon.
My old system is a Gigabyte GS-7NNXP, which is an nForce2 system with Soundstorm DDL encoding. 6/8 Channel PCM sounds noticeably better than anything I can send over SPDIF, but I would not characterize it as a night and day difference.
Another issue with the Intel HDMI audio drivers is that they expect that the EDID info coming from the TV and AVR be accurate. Apparently many Denon receivers do not accurately report audio capabilities via EDID. For example, if a Denon AVR advertises that it only only do 2-channel 16/48 audio, then this is all the Intel drivers will offer.
It will be interesting to see if Auzentech and other vendors require accurate EDID info. If they do, there will be some unhappy Denon owners.
-Dave
HT Slider
02-25-08, 08:43 PM
I am actually pretty happy with my G35. For the most part, I don't have the video issues that Jim does. IIRC, Jim's issues are with Nero Showtime and the G35. In my case, I have video issues with a few titles in Showtime (e.g., Chris Botti), but these titles play fine in PDVD.
There are HDCP issues going through an AVR, and I need to use AnyDVD, but that should be fixed soon.
To me this would still be unacceptable. 6 years ago when I built my first HTPC some things not working here and there and constant tweaking was the norm. With my latest HTPC, it is in full use by our entire household and I want it to work 100% of the time, work very well, and for there to be no reason to need to "fiddle" with anything. It also serves media to our other 5 Media Center PCs throughout our home, including HD recorded TV.
This system has been virtually 100% rock solid at doing everything and doing everything HTPC related very well. Part of the robustness I attribute to DTS Connect automatically handling all of the non DTS/DD5.1 sources.
My old system is a Gigabyte GS-7NNXP, which is an nForce2 system with Soundstorm DDL encoding. 6/8 Channel PCM sounds noticeably better than anything I can send over SPDIF, but I would not characterize it as a night and day difference.
My old system was an nForce2 with Soundstorm also and I agree that the audio through DDL isn't quite as good as PCM. On the other hand, the DTS Connect with our current motherboard takes the audio quality up another step, making it to my ears virtually as good as PCM - at least when audio CDs are played (my test). For movies and HD TV, the audio is always extremely good too (even my studio engineering buddies are very impressed with the overall system, including the audio).
Another issue with the Intel HDMI audio drivers is that they expect that the EDID info coming from the TV and AVR be accurate. Apparently many Denon receivers do not accurately report audio capabilities via EDID. For example, if a Denon AVR advertises that it only only do 2-channel 16/48 audio, then this is all the Intel drivers will offer.
It will be interesting to see if Auzentech and other vendors require accurate EDID info. If they do, there will be some unhappy Denon owners.
-Dave
I'm sure this will all be resolved in the fairly near future, but for now it still sounds like 8-channel PCM through HDMI is still hit and miss. I've been screwed by purchasing hardware in the past that "only needs a driver update before it works properly" several times with HTPCs. These days I won't touch anything until it is fully functional and reliable and that means sticking with DTS Connect or moving to a high end 8-channel analog sound card, at least for now.
IamAthos
02-25-08, 09:29 PM
This must have been covered somewhere in the last 200 pages...
It seems difficult to fast forward or rewind while using PDVD Ultra to play HDDVD or BR. I have an iMON PAD remote (came with the Silverstone GD01-MX) which controls most functions fine. But no FF/Rev. Even the little control buttons seem grayed out.
The only way I've been able to do it is to use the mouse and right click... the contextual menu has a range of fwd and rev speed options. But this is too clumsy for the wife.
I feel like I'm missing something fairly basic, if someone could point me in the right direction, that would be great.
Thanks,
Athos
Aesculus
02-25-08, 11:25 PM
Okay. I did these things you suggested. Thank you.
I am still unable to play Blu-Ray through my Denon AVR. Another wierd thing I am seeing is that live play of my HD-DVDs stutter.
Hooked into my TV I can play it. The menu issue apparently had to do with the fact that I had to hit the ENTER key on the keyboard and could not use the remote to start the movie.
I started the movie and the video is still stuttering. The audio is fine.
Very annoying. Is there some other player other than PowerDVD that will play HDMs?
I have successfully copied HD-DVDs to the hard drive and the ones I have copied play fine.
Hmm.....now regular DVDs are stuttering. Maybe this is an onboard video problem? Disks burned to the hard drive play fine.
Have not been following this thread. You can count me in with the same problems. I have the same mobo with 2 gb ram and e6750 processor.
You can see my comments in other threads where I have complained of either choppy video/audio and a fluttering sound with PDVD and HD- DVD. I have not tried a BD for a while but I suspect I will have problems there too.
When I first built my system back at Xmass I could play all HDM just fine. I have updated drivers and once when I could not play Spidey 3, I updated PDVD too.
Now my HDM is screw up royal. Everything is choppy. I upgraded to PDVD retail 3730 and it did not help (did get rid of most of the fluttering but I have run into that during some chapter jumps).
Basically I am thinking of trying to go back to the Xmas period drivers all the way round. I do have a complaint into PDVD since Friday on this issue.
Anyone know if they really cheap download licences for PDVD Ultra on ebay ( we are talking $7.00 a pop here) are legit or not?
Seems too good to be true but these are from sellers with good feedback: its described as the "full" version : whether this means full "oem" or full "retail" is anyone's guess.
This must have been covered somewhere in the last 200 pages...
It seems difficult to fast forward or rewind while using PDVD Ultra to play HDDVD or BR. I have an iMON PAD remote (came with the Silverstone GD01-MX) which controls most functions fine. But no FF/Rev. Even the little control buttons seem grayed out.
The only way I've been able to do it is to use the mouse and right click... the contextual menu has a range of fwd and rev speed options. But this is too clumsy for the wife.
I feel like I'm missing something fairly basic, if someone could point me in the right direction, that would be great.
Thanks,
Athos
I've found the rw/ff even on hardware players to be pretty clunky : price you pay for that sort of compression with that amount of data I assume.
Anyone know if they really cheap download licences for PDVD Ultra on ebay ( we are talking $7.00 a pop here) are legit or not?
Seems too good to be true but these are from sellers with good feedback: its described as the "full" version : whether this means full "oem" or full "retail" is anyone's guess.
Just answered my own question: and the answer is : if its too good to be true it probably is.
There are alot of sellers on ebay who offer unbelievable prices on software, offering FREE shipping, the catch is they email you a serial and you download the software off the internet usually provided by the manufacterer for a trial period that the serial can be used on. The buyer thinks they got a legitimate serial and saved alot of money on it, think again!
The Truth: The sellers download illegal keygenerating programs off the internet that generate those serial numbers they sell you. They are illegal, unauthorized, and not produced by the manufacterer, that do in fact work for the product. But just because it works, doesnt make it legal. Some sellers even host illegal program executables off their own servers for you to download, usually creating a "business" website that they dress up to give the buyer the idea that they are a real legitimite business.
The people selling this on ebay make a fortune doing this, and the companies that provide great products are losing out. You are paying someone for something they obtained illegally and have no right selling it. The reason the sellers have such high feedback and appear to be a real business is because the keys work and the 100's of buyers who buy them think they are genuine codes. They could sell the serials for 1.00 and still make profit, BECAUSE THEY PAID NOTHING. But why do that when you could make so much more from an ebayer who doesnt know the truth.
The most popular programs on ebay due to lack of the manufacterer's prevention and control are; Roxio Easy Media Creator 8, Diskeeper 10, Intervideo Windvd 7, Bitdefender 9 and 10 Pro, WinRAR, Musicmatch Jukebox Plus 10, Realproducer Plus 10, Windows Washer 6.
Please be aware if you buy these products from sellers who sell you a serial, that you, and bunch of other people are putting money (to the tune of 1,000USD dollars a week) into the pockets of scam artist. Buyer Beware!
I've found the rw/ff even on hardware players to be pretty clunky : price you pay for that sort of compression with that amount of data I assume.
I have found several workarounds for this. You can change in the options what the mouse wheel does, and you can set it to either control the FF/RW speeds, or skip forward or back any number of seconds (I have it to 5 secs). This works very well with DVDs and HD-DVDs, but with blu-ray I get some hangs sometimes.
Another workaround are the keyboards shortcuts, you can use pg up/down for the same 5-second skip. Now, this works for DVD and blu-ray (with the same caveat as before - some hangs), but NOT for HD-DVD!
Then, with F and B you can control FF/RW, but with HD-DVD, instead of B, you have to press CTRL+B (or is it ALT+B?). In any case, what a stupid key mapping. If you press B with HD-DVD, you'll get a useless bookmark. One thing I disliked about HD-DVD, was the implementation of HDi, which seems to be the reason for all this, and the fact that you can't start the movie from where you left it. But if Cyberlink decided to use B for bookmarking for HD-DVD, why not use another key for RW, instead of having to press CTRL.
HT Slider
02-26-08, 08:17 AM
I've found the rw/ff even on hardware players to be pretty clunky : price you pay for that sort of compression with that amount of data I assume.
The problem isn't really the compression, PowerDVD uses a very strange and non-functional ff/rw. Even if you have massive amounts of CPU/GPU power it is totally non-functional with PowerDVD.
For comparison I really like the way Media Center works, where there is a skip and replay that can skip forwards by 30 seconds and replay by 8 seconds plus they have a FF and RW that on first press gives you something like 2x, second press 4x, third press 8x, fourth press back to 1x (or something like that). With Media Center you can also change the skip and replay so it does chapters instead, but I always prefer the 30/8 seconds skip/replay so it aligns with watching TV. The channel change buttons on the remote can be used to skip chapters so to me that is the best setup. Channel change for chapters, skip/replay for 30s/8s jumps, and FF/RW for 2x, 4x, 8x. This works extremely well.
With PowerDVD, the skip and replay always does chapters (which is OK, but not as friendly since it can't align with Media Center for common controls), but the FF/RW is just ridiculous. Instead of 2x, 4x, 8x, etc. it does something like 1.1x, 1.2x, 1.4x, 1.8x, 2x, 3x, 4x, 8x, 16x, etc. Just to get skipping at speed you can perceive as faster than regular "play" you have to keep pressing FF or RW over and over and over. What is the point in 1.1, 1.2...? Who would ever want this sort of thing? (BTW, I'm not at my system right now so the numbers above are not correct - but the concept is).
Does anyone know of any registry settings that can be used to change the skip/replay/FF/RW/channel up/channel down behaviour to make them functional with PowerDVD? I've searched through all of the user settings for PowerDVD and I couldn't find anything to make it work.
rockytt
02-26-08, 08:39 AM
Hmmm, not sure exactly how you are connected or what you are expecting to see, but PDVD will only play on one monitor at a time
One at a time would be fine :)
The only way I was able to get PowerDVD to work on my second monitor was to switch it to primary - not very efficient as I have to switch it back when I'm done watching the movie-
Possible that it's because I have an older version (so I can play back from files instead of the physical disc)? Something they fixed later, but then "broke" other things?
HTSlider, I enjoyed reading your post about my receiver and sound card. One of the reasons I like the Xonar so well is that in Vista Media Center, for 2-channel stereo music playback, it really shines (via analog). The h/k AV645 has excellent amplifiers, but the DACs are not as good as the Xonar's front-left and front-right channels. So, the combination of Xonar and h/k AV645 with analog connections between them provides an excellent HTPC experience for the music library as well as multi-channel movie soundtracks--especially the uncompressed LPCM on many blu-rays.
whitey1977
02-26-08, 11:30 AM
Sorry 3730 is not working for you. I'm not sure what region I'm in, but my location is listed. When I wrote that text above, I had not tried 3730 myself; I had only seen several other posts saying 3730 played Yuma. Well, I can now report from personal experience, in my region, that 3730 did indeed fix the problem. The menus work and I can now play this disc.
Doesn't work for me with 3730 and the UK version and I even bought the full version (I had an oem copy that came with my LG drive) because I had read that it fixed the problem. Lucky I already had powerDVD 7 so I upgraded to ultra and didn't have to pay full price.
Whitey
Just answered my own question: and the answer is : if its too good to be true it probably is.
Well, the thing is I don't think you can lump every Ebay seller in there. He does state on his Ebay page that it is legal. It very well may be. I sent an e-mail to him I'll see what the response is. But Ebay usually is pretty good about shutting down high visibility sellers if what they are selling is illegal.
Nothing is this black and white when you have OEM copies being sold of stuff that is a fraction of retail price. The problem with PowerDVD is that it is not sold at a discount anywhere else that I can find so the price is outrageous for putting on 2 or 3 PCs. To have software that is not sold at a discount without any way to get volume discounts for a home network is not realistic to me in this day and age.
If it is legitimate grey market I have no trouble with it.
Al Sherwood
02-26-08, 12:03 PM
Hmmm, not sure exactly how you are connected or what you are expecting to see, but PDVD will only play on one monitor at a time (Al Sherwood)
One at a time would be fine :)
The only way I was able to get PowerDVD to work on my second monitor was to switch it to primary - not very efficient as I have to switch it back when I'm done watching the movie-
Possible that it's because I have an older version (so I can play back from files instead of the physical disc)? Something they fixed later, but then "broke" other things?
My HTPC running a HD2600Pro has a analog monitor connected as the primary and a digital projector (HDCP/HDMI) connected as the secondary, I can fire up PDVD on the primary then move it over to the projector without any issues.
This has worked for me from the start, OEM version through to build 3730 (including the versions that play files back from the HDD).
You didn't mention the video card you are using, are you cloning the desktop or extending the desktop to the second display?
Radiophile
02-26-08, 12:21 PM
The problem with PowerDVD is that it is not sold at a discount anywhere else that I can find...It's not a big discount, but try Newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E1681565108SF&Tpk=powerdvd%2bultra
chillspace
02-26-08, 12:50 PM
Just read over at the Cyberlink forums that they might be dropping HDDVD support in most of their product line. PowerDVD and PowerDirector are still unconfirmed if those applications will follow suit. I really hope that they continue HDDVD support since it is a completed spec. They just need to be able playback all the HDDVD titles out currently and will be out shortly before the studio switchover is complete.
Here is a copy of the posting (removed author's name...if you want it go over to the Cyberlink forums):
I spoke too soon. My sources are telling me that CyberLink is now pulling HD DVD support out of the retail version of PowerProducer 5. It is probable that it will be pulled from PowerDVD 8 and PowerDirector 7 as well.
I will let you know when I find out.
Will post more as I see things pop up.
Eric
lsdavinci
02-26-08, 12:52 PM
Just read over at the Cyberlink forums that they might be dropping HDDVD support in most of their product line. PowerDVD and PowerDirector are still unconfirmed if those applications will follow suit. I really hope that they continue HDDVD support since it is a completed spec. They just need to be able playback all the HDDVD titles out currently and will be out shortly before the studio switchover is complete.
Will post more as I see things pop up.
Eric
I think (and hope) this means that there will be no further development on the format. In other words, it is what it is and that's fine with me. Just dropping it entirely makes no business sense.
It's not a big discount, but try Newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E1681565108SF&Tpk=powerdvd%2bultra
I just love the user comments down the side.
Kinda makes me reconsider the ebay guy even if it just from a keygen;)
Al Sherwood
02-26-08, 01:27 PM
Just read over at the Cyberlink forums that they might be dropping HDDVD support in most of their product line. PowerDVD and PowerDirector are still unconfirmed if those applications will follow suit. I really hope that they continue HDDVD support since it is a completed spec. They just need to be able playback all the HDDVD titles out currently and will be out shortly before the studio switchover is complete.
Here is a copy of the posting (removed author's name...if you want it go over to the Cyberlink forums):
Will post more as I see things pop up.
Eric
I guess Sony's victory won't be complete until they kill everything HD-DVD!?
GRRRRRRRR! :mad:
Just read over at the Cyberlink forums that they might be dropping HDDVD support in most of their product line. PowerDVD and PowerDirector are still unconfirmed if those applications will follow suit. I really hope that they continue HDDVD support since it is a completed spec. They just need to be able playback all the HDDVD titles out currently and will be out shortly before the studio switchover is complete.
Here is a copy of the posting (removed author's name...if you want it go over to the Cyberlink forums):
Will post more as I see things pop up.
Eric
It all sounds to me like they are looking to minimize their royal payments. All the LG dual format drives will need ongoing support so the OEM versions should continue to support HD DVD.
chillspace
02-26-08, 01:48 PM
It all sounds to me like they are looking to minimize their royal payments. All the LG dual format drives will need ongoing support so the OEM versions should continue to support HD DVD.
I can understand dropping it from a hardware standpoint but their target is on the PC side of things where HTPCs are prevalent. With low-cost dual format drives from LG and shipping the OEM version with those units to attract users to their product it makes no sense for them to drop it. Like I posted before, I hope the keep the playback portion intact. I could care less if they drop the HDDVD authoring side of things.
Eric
Al Sherwood
02-26-08, 02:12 PM
I can understand dropping it from a hardware standpoint but their target is on the PC side of things where HTPCs are prevalent. With low-cost dual format drives from LG and shipping the OEM version with those units to attract users to their product it makes no sense for them to drop it. Like I posted before, I hope the keep the playback portion intact. I could care less if they drop the HDDVD authoring side of things.
Eric
I agree completely, as long as it plays HD-DVD...
It's not a big discount, but try Newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E1681565108SF&Tpk=powerdvd%2bultra
Not sure how I missed that one, thanks. The guy on ebay is saying he needs a birthdate and a couple other minor pieces of info if I purchase and then he will give the keys. Probably just going to sit this one out until I upgrade my HTPC and see where things are.
spanner101
02-26-08, 03:23 PM
Not sure how I missed that one, thanks. The guy on ebay is saying he needs a birthdate and a couple other minor pieces of info if I purchase and then he will give the keys. Probably just going to sit this one out until I upgrade my HTPC and see where things are.
Birthdate? Other minor pieces of info?
You after a licence or another credit card you don't know about?
Maybe I'm paranoid, but its starting to sound a bit shifty....
@ SugoE,
Was your issue playing BD Profile 1.1 discs? If so, did that patch help?
BW
My problem is a green display with CCC 7.10 and no hardware acceleration with CCC > 7.10.
(HD2600Pro PCIe, PDVD OEM 3516)
btw: how to check which profile a disc has, it's not mentioned on the cover ?
XxDeadlyxX
02-26-08, 03:53 PM
They had better damn still have HD-DVD support in new PDVD versions... there is NO reason to remove it aside from a greedy marketing decision (ie. selling a product that now only plays one HDM format for the same $99 price).
I for one actually want to keep playing my HD-DVDs, and I will resort to dual installs if I have to (if that is the case I hope PDVD8 and PDVD7 can both be installed without resorting to hacked methods).
Who knows how long titles like Elephant Man from Studio Canal will make it on Blu-ray? It could be years. For many titles which came out on both formats like MI3 and other earlier Paramount titles (and early Warner titles), the HD-DVD version was superior so I kept it.
Davinleeds
02-26-08, 04:20 PM
Part of their email update: As CyberLink product owners, you probably had no qualms because of our dual HD formats playback, editing and backup support. Keep in mind that CyberLink will continue with HD DVD support for all CyberLink software, but the adoption of Blu-ray will sure to be even faster!
Also got a link for OEM 3730 but not using it for now
Al Sherwood
02-26-08, 04:38 PM
Part of their email update: As CyberLink product owners, you probably had no qualms because of our dual HD formats playback, editing and backup support. Keep in mind that CyberLink will continue with HD DVD support for all CyberLink software, but the adoption of Blu-ray will sure to be even faster!
Also got a link for OEM 3730 but not using it for now
OEM 3730?
Davinleeds
02-26-08, 04:50 PM
It's a patch 73.1 mb. Sure it doesn't have the audio upgrade. Staying with 3319 for now.
http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/download/dl_patch_561_112_ENU.html
A patch up to 3730 is what's expected for OEM.
lsdavinci
02-26-08, 04:52 PM
It's a patch 73.1 mb. Sure it doesn't have the audio upgrade. Staying with 3319 for now.
http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/download/dl_patch_561_112_ENU.html
A patch up to 3730 is what's expected for OEM.
Which Audio upgrade is this? the resampling issue?
Al Sherwood
02-26-08, 04:54 PM
It's a patch 73.1 mb. Sure it doesn't have the audio upgrade. Staying with 3319 for now.
http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/download/dl_patch_561_112_ENU.html
A patch up to 3730 is what's expected for OEM.
That may be the one I installed as I am at build 3730 now... What audio ugrade?
Davinleeds
02-26-08, 05:04 PM
Previous posts report retail upgrade or directly bought Ultra 3730 has upgraded audio specs from previous version. Not sure if its been absolutely confirmed.
AbMagFab
02-26-08, 05:06 PM
Previous posts report retail upgrade or directly bought Ultra 3730 has upgraded audio specs from previous version. Not sure if its been absolutely confirmed.
What do you mean?
The TrueHD issue (being only 2.0) is still an issue. Is there some other "upgraded audio specs" you are referring to?
HT Slider
02-26-08, 05:07 PM
I can't imagine them removing support for HD-DVD.
If they were to do this I too will be extremely annoyed.
Since the LG GCC-H20L drive advertises support for HD-DVD, including software I can't see how Cyberlink could remove support, even if they wanted to. If they do, they will essentially be putting LG into a false advertising position.
The idea that we could always run multiple versions isn't an option either since by default PowerDVD automatically updates itself and most users will be running the latest version.
I could see them considering removing HD-DVD support from future versions of PowerDVD Ultra, but at the same time I suspect this will significantly hurt sales. Most consumers who own a combination drive likely also own at least a few HD-DVDs and we'll be looking to maintain this capability with our HTPCs.
Davinleeds
02-26-08, 05:21 PM
What do you mean?
The TrueHD issue (being only 2.0) is still an issue. Is there some other "upgraded audio specs" you are referring to?
Maybe we're referring to the same thing:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=987595&highlight=PDVD+3730+audio
Didn't mean to step on a hornets nest.
Regarding the "end of HD-DVD support" in PDVDU: I'm confident this simply means they would not focus updates on improvements in HD-DVD playback, rather than actually disabling HD-DVD playback within their program. This actually makes some sense, as the HD-DVD spec will not advance, and if all HD-DVDs play in PDVDU by now, then no updates are really needed for that.
Regarding the "end of HD-DVD support" in PDVDU: I'm confident this simply means they would not focus updates on improvements in HD-DVD playback, rather than actually disabling HD-DVD playback within their program. This actually makes some sense, as the HD-DVD spec will not advance, and if all HD-DVDs play in PDVDU by now, then no updates are really needed for that.
Actually, it makes sense for it to mean removing the support for playback of HD DVDs. Less support costs. This is not a company that is *in tune* with their customer base. :rolleyes:
- Rich
ES_Revenge
02-26-08, 06:19 PM
I just love the user comments down the side.
Kinda makes me reconsider the ebay guy even if it just from a keygen;)
:confused: If you know the eBay "version" is simply done by a keygen, why reconsider eBay when you can just dl a keygen for the program anywhere on the internet? You have to know where to look, but it's not that hard. Anyway I won't make any more of this discussion since it's probably bordering the forum rules.
Though I probably couldn't care less about people pirating software but when they pirate it and resell it to make a profit? Are these people retarded? LOL. When they get caught, it's gonna be huge fines and probably also jail time for these guys--pretty stupid characters. I didn't even know that kind of thing went on, on eBay. I'm sure eBay must shut them down a lot, cancelling auctions and terminating accounts, because all it takes is one person to report to eBay "hey I got an illegal version of this software".
:confused: If you know the eBay "version" is simply done by a keygen, why reconsider eBay when you can just dl a keygen for the program anywhere on the internet? You have to know where to look, but it's not that hard. Anyway I won't make any more of this discussion since it's probably bordering the forum rules.
Though I probably couldn't care less about people pirating software but when they pirate it and resell it to make a profit? Are these people retarded? LOL. When they get caught, it's gonna be huge fines and probably also jail time for these guys--pretty stupid characters. I didn't even know that kind of thing went on, on eBay. I'm sure eBay must shut them down a lot, cancelling auctions and terminating accounts, because all it takes is one person to report to eBay "hey I got an illegal version of this software".
Well at least three of the guys I've found were in malaysia : one was in australia ( kinda close to malaysia suspisciously enough). I doubt the authorities care much about this sort of thing and historically ebay have been less than rigorous when it comes to enforcing these sort of issues.
I'm not particularly interested in spending ages tweaking an HTPC only to install some hookey piece of software on it. Like I said the ebay listings seem too good to be true. Why do you think I asked rather than just part with 6bucks and see what I got.
rockytt
02-26-08, 07:01 PM
You didn't mention the video card you are using, are you cloning the desktop or extending the desktop to the second display?
ATI 2600HD - extending it. Works for everything else, just not PowerDVD. I'll have to check which build it is-
Al Sherwood
02-26-08, 07:17 PM
ATI 2600HD - extending it. Works for everything else, just not PowerDVD. I'll have to check which build it is-
That is what I do, extend the desktop to the projector, slide PowerDVD over and play the movie. IIRC, I did have a problem when I tried a certain version of Catalyst driver, I will check which version I am currently at, I know it is not the latest but rather one which allowed me to enable and use Avivo hardware acceleration.
What to display devices are you connecting to and how? (HDMI, DVI, VGA)
Jim Gilliland
02-26-08, 07:35 PM
Well at least three of the guys I've found were in malaysia : one was in australia ( kinda close to malaysia suspisciously enough).
The distance from Perth to Kuala Lumpur is about the same as the distance from, say, London to Baghdad. That's kinda close, right? :rolleyes: (And that's just the close part of Australia - Sydney and Melbourne are MUCH farther.)
Crescent
02-26-08, 07:52 PM
I haven't read through all 200 pages of this thread, but from what I have read it seems that Blu-ray via PowerDVD Ultra is somewhat unreliable in general and particularly for 24 fps playback. Is this true?
Also, is a dual core processor really adequate as a minimum?
If the cards are doing hardware acceleration, why isn't a P4 2.53 Ghz enough processing power? Is the PCI bus inadequate? I'm speaking of a legacy single core here.
kevin_y
02-26-08, 08:37 PM
Anyone has trouble playing "Lady in the Water" Blu-ray? My drive (Pioneer BDC-2202) can't read the disc at all, and I've tried two copies (both rented from Netflix). I have the latest of everything and all my other discs play fine.
P.S. To find something in this long thread, go to thread tools and download the thread then search for any text with a text editor.
Not sure if this was addressed before:
The Fifth Element BD has two English audio streams: LPCM and TrueHD. For people still with SPDIF that means just 2.0 stereo in PowerDVD. However, the TrueHD has an embedded DD stream that the PS3 can access properly. So,
- Is Cyberlink aware of this?
- Have they acknowledged it as a known issue?
- Any resolution in sight?
(I don't consider the downmix to DD/DTS in the audio tab to be a satisfactory solution.)
Thanks
Aesculus
02-27-08, 12:16 AM
Not sure if this was addressed before:
The Fifth Element BD has two English audio streams: LPCM and TrueHD. For people still with SPDIF that means just 2.0 stereo in PowerDVD. However, the TrueHD has an embedded DD stream that the PS3 can access properly. So,
- Is Cyberlink aware of this?
- Have they acknowledged it as a known issue?
- Any resolution in sight?
(I don't consider the downmix to DD/DTS in the audio tab to be a satisfactory solution.)
Thanks
If you have DD Live or DTS you can do on the fly 5.1 translation. Go into the Audio tab once the disk is in the player.
chillspace
02-27-08, 12:20 AM
Not sure if this was addressed before:
The Fifth Element BD has two English audio streams: LPCM and TrueHD. For people still with SPDIF that means just 2.0 stereo in PowerDVD. However, the TrueHD has an embedded DD stream that the PS3 can access properly. So,
- Is Cyberlink aware of this?
- Have they acknowledged it as a known issue?
- Any resolution in sight?
(I don't consider the downmix to DD/DTS in the audio tab to be a satisfactory solution.)
Thanks
Or use the analogue outs from your PC to your multi-channel inputs of your AVR. PDVDU will output LPCM and it'll sound just fine.
HT Slider
02-27-08, 12:31 AM
Or use the analogue outs from your PC to your multi-channel inputs of your AVR. PDVDU will output LPCM and it'll sound just fine.
That totally depends on the quality of the analog outputs on your soundcard or amp. Compared to DTS Connect, the analog output on cheaper soundcards and/or typical motherboards is a big step down in audio quality.
MartinK
02-27-08, 12:43 AM
Isn't TrueHD lossesless as well? Wikipedia says a typical downmix might be Stereo (which is what I get as well)
Al Sherwood
02-27-08, 01:24 AM
I haven't read through all 200 pages of this thread, but from what I have read it seems that Blu-ray via PowerDVD Ultra is somewhat unreliable in general and particularly for 24 fps playback. Is this true?
Also, is a dual core processor really adequate as a minimum?
If the cards are doing hardware acceleration, why isn't a P4 2.53 Ghz enough processing power Is the PCI bus inadequate? I'm speaking of a legacy single core here.?
I have no problems with 24fps playback with PowerDVD.
HT Slider
02-27-08, 02:23 AM
Not sure if this was addressed before:
The Fifth Element BD has two English audio streams: LPCM and TrueHD. For people still with SPDIF that means just 2.0 stereo in PowerDVD. However, the TrueHD has an embedded DD stream that the PS3 can access properly. So,
- Is Cyberlink aware of this?
- Have they acknowledged it as a known issue?
- Any resolution in sight?
(I don't consider the downmix to DD/DTS in the audio tab to be a satisfactory solution.)
Thanks
Actually TrueHD does not include an embedded DD stream. If the PS3 is able to output DD5.1 from a TrueHD source, it is in fact extracting the 6-channel audio and encoding it into DD5.1 (Dolby Digital Live functionality). My understanding that re-encoding to DD5.1 is a feature that all hardware HD-DVD and Blue-ray players include today (possibly this is a part of the TrueHD specification, but I haven't confirmed this).
Edit: According to the Dolby Laboratories web site at http://www.dolby.com/consumer/technology/trueHD/AVRs/trueHD_avrs_1.html, the ability to re-encode TrueHD into DD5.1 is optional for high definition disk players (bottom of page 2).
The "downmix to DD/DTS" apparently doesn't work in PowerDVD Ultra Retail due to bugs and it is not supported at all with the OEM version.
There are only 4 methods for an HTPC running PowerDVD to provide 5.1+ channels of audio from a TrueHD or multi-channel PCM audio track:
1. The ultimate solution is 8-channel HDMI audio. Currently there are very few motherboards/soundcards that support this and there are still issues with all known (to me) HTPC solutions that try to do this.
2. The next best is to use a high end 8-channel analog audio card such as the Asus Xonar. Some of the higher end sound cards have exceptional pre-amp capabilities, often better than even relatively high end audio amplifiers.
3. The next best is to use a motherboard or sound card that supports DTS Connect or Dolby Digital Live. One advantage to this is the simplicity in a single connection between the HTPC and ampliier. The main downside to this option is it only supports a maximum of 6-channels of audio. The sound quality remains very good, especially with DTS Connect (IMO) and the DTS or DD5.1 is sent to the amplifier through SPDIF. Some will argue that the audio quality is not as good as 2 and this can be true, but the difference is typically difficult to perceive if you have a good amplifier. Selecting a motherboard with DTS Connect or Dolby Digital Live when building an HTPC can be considerably less expensive than going with option 2.
4. If you have a standard motherboard or lower end sound card, the only way to get more than stereo is to use the analog outputs instead of SPDIF. Unfortunately this solution typically leaves a lot to be desired as far as audio quality is concerned.
If you are looking for high quality audio, methods 1 through 3 all work well, but may require a hardware upgrade.
The distance from Perth to Kuala Lumpur is about the same as the distance from, say, London to Baghdad. That's kinda close, right? :rolleyes: (And that's just the close part of Australia - Sydney and Melbourne are MUCH farther.)
My point is that its easy enough for someone in malaysia (given that this seems to be the place most of the scams originate) to have a contact base in Australia. Sure its a big area that part of the planet (there are only a few countries) but Malaysia and Australia are closely connected transport hubs.
Like I said these guys are obviously pulling a scam if they can sell PDVD Ultra for 6bucks. If you want to fork over the details knock yourself out.
jimwhite
02-27-08, 08:15 AM
hmmmm.... my Fifth Element Bluray has 3 english tracks.... including DD 5.1 ..... :confused:
--Sclaws
02-27-08, 10:49 AM
I have the same issue with Fifth Element using onboard spdif from an Asus P5E-VM mobo where I can only access 2-channel english. Are there any recommendations for soundcards that are ideal for HTPC use with PDVD (I've seen some referenced but they're in old threads..looking for current recommendations)? :)
HT Slider
02-27-08, 12:18 PM
I have the same issue with Fifth Element using onboard spdif from an Asus P5E-VM mobo where I can only access 2-channel english. Are there any recommendations for soundcards that are ideal for HTPC use with PDVD (I've seen some referenced but they're in old threads..looking for current recommendations)? :)
There is a lot of good information in this thread:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=12249029#post12249029
Keep in mind you need either fairly high quality analog outputs (good DACs and op-amps), or DTS Connect or Dolby Digital Live.
I haven't read through all 200 pages of this thread, but from what I have read it seems that Blu-ray via PowerDVD Ultra is somewhat unreliable in general and particularly for 24 fps playback. Is this true?
No problems here sending 1080/24PsF to my Sony HS10. They did break Reclock in one version, but that was fixed quite a while ago.
cybrsage
02-27-08, 04:05 PM
An FYI on HD support in PowerDVD:
As CyberLink product owners, you probably had no qualms because of our dual HD formats playback, editing and backup support. Keep in mind that CyberLink will continue with HD DVD support for all CyberLink software, but the adoption of Blu-ray will sure to be even faster!
http://www.cyberlink.com/english/newsletter/2008/NL0802.jsp
^^
Excellent. It would make no sense for them to stop supporting it. Since it is a complete spec and there won't be many more discs, it shouldn't be hard for them.
AbMagFab
02-27-08, 04:25 PM
No problems here sending 1080/24PsF to my Sony HS10. They did break Reclock in one version, but that was fixed quite a while ago.
So do you have your desktop resolution set to 1080/24p, or is there some way to get PDVD to automatically play video at 24p?
I have my desktop set to 1080/60p, and can't get PDVD to play anything except at 60p. Am I missing something?
^^
Excellent. It would make no sense for them to stop supporting it. Since it is a complete spec and there won't be many more discs, it shouldn't be hard for them.
Since when has Cyberlink done anything that makes sense :rolleyes:
lsdavinci
02-27-08, 04:43 PM
So do you have your desktop resolution set to 1080/24p, or is there some way to get PDVD to automatically play video at 24p?
I have my desktop set to 1080/60p, and can't get PDVD to play anything except at 60p. Am I missing something?
+1
A good question. I have my "desktop" set to 1920x1080 24hz using the nvidia 8600gt. I've been assuming that it's the same as 24p. Am I wrong? Is there another setting I should be looking at?
PowerDVD Update for LG-ODD: This update is for LG-ODD customers who purchased an HL-DT-ST drive models GGW-H20L or GGC-H20L. This downloadable update will upgrade version 3516a of CyberLink PowerDVD to 3516b.
Installed the update, and now get a message that my BD (DIEHARD4) is an unsupported format :confused:
Crescent
02-27-08, 06:18 PM
Thanks Al. Thanks JDLIVE.
What are your setups?
Also, why is reclock required? If the software is 24fps capable, then the audio should be in sync, right? I tried reclock a couple of years back and noticed it lacking in sound quality.
PowerDVD Update for LG-ODD: This update is for LG-ODD customers who purchased an HL-DT-ST drive models GGW-H20L or GGC-H20L. This downloadable update will upgrade version 3516a of CyberLink PowerDVD to 3516b.
Installed the update, and now get a message that my BD (DIEHARD4) is an unsupported format :confused:
Sorry my fault, you need to have 3516a installed before upgrading to 3516b.
For me now hardware acceleration with BD discs works with this setup:
Vista32+HD2600ProPCIe+CCC8.2+PowerDVD3516b+ATI_HD2x00_Reg_Tw eaks_0.12.vbs
The distance from Perth to Kuala Lumpur is about the same as the distance from, say, London to Baghdad. That's kinda close, right? :rolleyes: (And that's just the close part of Australia - Sydney and Melbourne are MUCH farther.)
Yeah, but wasn't Australia used as a penal colony for the Brits? Makes sense that some of their descendants are still there running E-bay scams.. :D
Regarding the "end of HD-DVD support" in PDVDU: I'm confident this simply means they would not focus updates on improvements in HD-DVD playback, rather than actually disabling HD-DVD playback within their program. This actually makes some sense, as the HD-DVD spec will not advance, and if all HD-DVDs play in PDVDU by now, then no updates are really needed for that.
PDVDU won't load American Gangster HD DVD. I have already contacted Cyberlink and they had me download their lastest full version of PDVDU and it made no difference. The disc just sticks and says it is loading and never does. I have contacted Cyber to let them know (as they requested). My BH200 loads this disc just fine.
rockytt
02-27-08, 11:33 PM
What to display devices are you connecting to and how? (HDMI, DVI, VGA)
vga -> monitor 1
dvd/hdmi -> monitor 2 (sony lcd rptv)
PDVDU won't load American Gangster HD DVD. I have already contacted Cyberlink and they had me download their lastest full version of PDVDU and it made no difference. The disc just sticks and says it is loading and never does. I have contacted Cyber to let them know (as they requested). My BH200 loads this disc just fine.
while its loading (before it finishes) hit return on the keyboard to cancel. That norm gets pass the web enable stuff download.
Hey thanks, I'll give that a try tonight.
I've had an epiphany and decided I won't wait anymore, and go the analog route. Anyone has any opinions on the Xonar D2 vs. D2X (PCI-X 1X version) vs. X-Prelude vs. HT Claro? The Xonar seems to have the same chipset as the HT Claro, X-Meridian and Sondigo Inferno. I have the Inferno, but the noise is noticeable in some situations (most notably through headphones) and the Vista driver support is a bit bad (though the X-Meridian drivers work well it seems). Anyone has tried high-sensitivity earphones or headphones (like the Shure E500/SE530, or the less sensitive SE420 or lesser series, or any of those armature earphones) with the Asus or others?
Dolby Headphone is a great deal for me, but since I have the external Xonar U1 I can use that for headphone use, and PowerDVD also has that feature (though I don't think it will work in 7.1 channel mode as it seems to work with the Xonar). The Prelude will let me try different things, but what I'm interested in is in the analog features, anyone has any concrete info on these cards against each other, besides independent reviews? One obvious advantage of the Prelude is that I will be able to get HDMI sound, though how that would combine with the HDMI video is unclear to me right now.
Thanks for any info.
Yeah, but wasn't Australia used as a penal colony for the Brits? Makes sense that some of their descendants are still there running E-bay scams..
Yeah, that's funny....
[Not]
Yeah, i'm from Oz.
Uh, oh.
Never mind about the Auzen X-Prelude. It seems they got rid of both Dolby Headphone and Pro-Logic IIx. I am getting one of these exclusively for the 7.1. I don't know who was the genius who decided to take the Dolby features away, in favor of the at most questionable CMSS-3D processing. I mean there is content encoded specifically for DPLII! CMSS-3D won't do anything good with that content. Oh well, I guess I'll just stay with the Inferno, or update to the Asus if possible, but the Asus doesn't give me much else in features besides possibly a bit better analog. Any issues with the Asus D2 vs. D2X?
Al Sherwood
02-28-08, 12:27 PM
vga -> monitor 1
dvd/hdmi -> monitor 2 (sony lcd rptv)
Should be fine, what build is PowerDVD and what Catalyst driver are you running?
So do you have your desktop resolution set to 1080/24p, or is there some way to get PDVD to automatically play video at 24p?
I have my desktop set to 1080/60p, and can't get PDVD to play anything except at 60p. Am I missing something?
Yes, I have 2 custom timings defined, one for 24PsF, one for 60Hz. When watching movies, I use the 24PsF, for video the 60Hz.
PowerDVD is just going to use the desktop resolution that you have set up.
Thanks Al. Thanks JDLIVE.
What are your setups?
Also, why is reclock required? If the software is 24fps capable, then the audio should be in sync, right? I tried reclock a couple of years back and noticed it lacking in sound quality.
You might not need it, reclock's purpose in life is to compensate for slight variances in timing of the video card's clock, which generally is not the most accurate around.
I'm running WinXPSP2 and an nVidia 8800GTS/320 to a Sony HS10 projector (soon to be replaced by a VPL-VW40).
DC2R714
02-28-08, 04:12 PM
I did my own audio testing last night because I was tired of the PDVD dts-mixing ringing audio in BluRay. Here is what I found. I am using an Asus P5b Deluxe (DTS Connect capable), and SPDIF.
1. Enabled DTS connect
-Enabled SPDIF in PDVD
-Played 5th Element BluRay and DTS came through fine
-Played Spiderman 3 BluRay and there was no DTS
-Enabled 6 channel audio in PDVD
-Both BluRay's played dts just fine
Why would some BluRay movies play dts fine with SPDIF enabled in PDVD and some will only show dts when you choose 6 channel audio? Audio seems really screwed up in PDVD. Don't even try to play an HDDVD with SPDIF enabled in PDVD and DTS Connect enabled (It is all jacked up).
yamahaSHO
02-28-08, 04:38 PM
Have you gone into the setup menu for the movie you're in to select the audio you want passed thru? On some of my movies, it'll default to DTS-HD or DD True HD and I have to select regular DD/DTS.
HT Slider
02-28-08, 05:16 PM
I did my own audio testing last night because I was tired of the PDVD dts-mixing ringing audio in BluRay. Here is what I found. I am using an Asus P5b Deluxe (DTS Connect capable), and SPDIF.
1. Enabled DTS connect
-Enabled SPDIF in PDVD
-Played 5th Element BluRay and DTS came through fine
-Played Spiderman 3 BluRay and there was no DTS
-Enabled 6 channel audio in PDVD
-Both BluRay's played dts just fine
Why would some BluRay movies play dts fine with SPDIF enabled in PDVD and some will only show dts when you choose 6 channel audio? Audio seems really screwed up in PDVD. Don't even try to play an HDDVD with SPDIF enabled in PDVD and DTS Connect enabled (It is all jacked up).
I can't explain why your system is doing that, but on mine I have SPDIF enabled in PowerDVD Ultra and that is it (for PowerDVD). In the OS I have Vista configured to use SPDIF and to use DTS Connect as well as telling the driver that the amplifier natively supports DTS and DD5.1 (so it will pass through those).
Everything plays sound perfectly in PowerDVD. If the track I select is Dolby Digital or DTS, is is passed directly out the SPDIF port and if I select TrueHD or any other multi-channel track, the motherboard's DTS Connect encodes the audio into DTS and passes that out the SPDIF port.
No matter what I select in PowerDVD, the audio always works and always sounds great (with TrueHD sounding possibly a tiny bit better than if I select a DTS or DD5.1 sound track).
Are you running Vista or XP? Which soundcard/motherboard?
mikeaymar
02-28-08, 06:42 PM
HT Slider
I have a Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R motherboard. I can't figure out if it supports DTS Connect or DD Live, but I would really like to configure it to do exactly what you describe below. I am already using SPDIF for DD and DTS, but can't figure out where/how to enable the DTS Connect/DD Live feature. Can you provide any suggestions on how I can do this?
Thanks
Mike
I can't explain why your system is doing that, but on mine I have SPDIF enabled in PowerDVD Ultra and that is it (for PowerDVD). In the OS I have Vista configured to use SPDIF and to use DTS Connect as well as telling the driver that the amplifier natively supports DTS and DD5.1 (so it will pass through those).
Everything plays sound perfectly in PowerDVD. If the track I select is Dolby Digital or DTS, is is passed directly out the SPDIF port and if I select TrueHD or any other multi-channel track, the motherboard's DTS Connect encodes the audio into DTS and passes that out the SPDIF port.
No matter what I select in PowerDVD, the audio always works and always sounds great (with TrueHD sounding possibly a tiny bit better than if I select a DTS or DD5.1 sound track).
Are you running Vista or XP? Which soundcard/motherboard?
HT Slider
02-28-08, 08:31 PM
HT Slider
I have a Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R motherboard. I can't figure out if it supports DTS Connect or DD Live, but I would really like to configure it to do exactly what you describe below. I am already using SPDIF for DD and DTS, but can't figure out where/how to enable the DTS Connect/DD Live feature. Can you provide any suggestions on how I can do this?
Thanks
Mike
Unfortunately I think you went one step too low on the motherboard. The next step up is the GA-P35-DS4 and it supports DTS Connect. The GA-P35-DS3R supports most of what the DS4 does (RAID, etc.), but it does not have DTS Connect nor DDL.
In order to get DTS Connect or DDL you'll need to add a sound card that supports this or upgrade the motherboard (or you could try to find a software solution but I don't know if one exists that actually works).
For easy, great DDL and DTS Connect, look no further than the Sondigo Callisto. It's a USB dongle with only one optical out (which doubles as headphone/speaker sterero analog). It's great, one of the best gadgets I've bought recently.
For easy, great DDL and DTS Connect, look no further than the Sondigo Callisto. It's a USB dongle with only one optical out (which doubles as headphone/speaker sterero analog). It's great, one of the best gadgets I've bought recently.
Kinda scary that the latest drivers for Vista are still beta AND nearly a year old. Price is pretty good though.
rockytt
02-28-08, 10:02 PM
Should be fine, what build is PowerDVD and what Catalyst driver are you running?
2911c and Cat 8.432
1) Have been afraid to mess with PDVD because I need to make sure that I can play ripped discs.
2) My 2600HD is AGP and I'm told that this is the latest set that's supported for agp-
Kinda scary that the latest drivers for Vista are still beta AND nearly a year old. Price is pretty good though.
I use it both in XP and Vista without problems. I don't know why their drivers are still in beta, but they work OK. There was just an update recently. Sometimes, though, you can hear pops whenever DTS Connect or DDL engages, but not when using a constant stream of sound, like watching a movie. So it's no problem for me at all, but it bothers some. Although this seems to be a limitation of USB power requirements, so it should be present also with other DTS Connect and DDL USB sound cards.
Again, no problem for me, but it does seem to depend on your receiver, since the DTS or DD stream due to USB standards aren't active all the time, just when a sound is produced. That on and off switching is what prompts the pops (which by the way are made by the receiver, not the PC as far as I can tell).
while its loading (before it finishes) hit return on the keyboard to cancel. That norm gets pass the web enable stuff download.
Tried it and it didn't do anything when hit return on keyboard. I also tried other posted settings related to: 1. Turn off HW acceleration
2. Go into advanced video settings
3. Change smart deinterlacing to always deinterlace
4. In the drop down, choose 'Pixel Adaptive'
5. click 'Okay'
6. Turn on HW acceleration
Is anyone else having trouble getting American Gangster, HD DVD, to play? It starts out exactly like Bourne Ultimate, but never finishes loading.
AbMagFab
02-29-08, 10:26 AM
Question:
My HTPC is currently set to 1920x1080x60hz. This is fine, and I don't get any tearing on 24fps BD/HDDVD or on 30fps 1080i material.
However - I'd really like it if my PC could dynamically switch to the native frequency of the source material, at a minimum for 24fps stuff. Ideally it would even switch the resolution to match the source material (720p, 480i/p, etc.), and let my projector do all the upconversion. My video card supports all these resolutions and frequencies.
I use PDVD for all my video viewing.
Is there anyone doing this currently (switching between frequencies/resolutions based on source material when played back)?
I basically want a "Native" on my HTPC, just like I have on my Tivo, instead of running "fixed" like I am now.
Al Sherwood
02-29-08, 10:29 AM
Question:
My HTPC is currently set to 1920x1080x60hz. This is fine, and I don't get any tearing on 24fps BD/HDDVD or on 30fps 1080i material.
However - I'd really like it if my PC could dynamically switch to the native frequency of the source material, at a minimum for 24fps stuff. Ideally it would even switch the resolution to match the source material (720p, 480i/p, etc.), and let my projector do all the upconversion. My video card supports all these resolutions and frequencies.
I use PDVD for all my video viewing.
Is there anyone doing this currently (switching between frequencies/resolutions based on source material when played back)?
I basica