PowerDVD Ultra (HD-DVD and Blu-Ray) [Text View] - Page 25

taeboguy

02-24-08, 06:46 PM

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

chillspace

02-25-08, 01:19 AM

naddie

02-25-08, 01:52 AM

Anyone else having issues with PDVD Ultra breaking VMC's ability to play XviD files?

Andy o

02-25-08, 02:29 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.

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.

jong1

02-25-08, 04:39 AM

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.

lpg

02-25-08, 04:42 AM

Andy o

02-25-08, 05:22 AM

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.

IAM4UK

02-25-08, 09:34 AM

IAM4UK

02-25-08, 09:36 AM

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.

jong1

02-25-08, 09:51 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.

jong1

02-25-08, 09:53 AM

taeboguy

02-25-08, 11:00 AM

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

Andy o

02-25-08, 12:09 PM

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...

jojoxl

02-25-08, 01:04 PM

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

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.

sotti

02-25-08, 01:53 PM

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.

sotti

02-25-08, 02:45 PM

pjavan

02-25-08, 03:10 PM

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

IAM4UK

02-25-08, 03:47 PM

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.

Rickd

02-25-08, 05:28 PM

[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.

Mr.D

02-26-08, 07:06 AM

Mr.D

02-26-08, 07:15 AM

Mr.D

02-26-08, 07:25 AM

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!

Andy o

02-26-08, 07:40 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.

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?

IAM4UK

02-26-08, 09:11 AM

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

turls

02-26-08, 11:41 AM

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.

Mr.D

02-26-08, 01:17 PM

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:

gtgray

02-26-08, 01:36 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

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...

turls

02-26-08, 03:01 PM

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

02-26-08, 03:27 PM

@ 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

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

Al Sherwood

02-26-08, 04:54 PM

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.

IAM4UK

02-26-08, 05:25 PM

RichB

02-26-08, 05:53 PM

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".

Mr.D

02-26-08, 06:43 PM

: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.

DJ79

02-26-08, 10:12 PM

Aesculus

02-27-08, 12:16 AM

chillspace

02-27-08, 12:20 AM

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.

Mr.D

02-27-08, 03:51 AM

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

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.

JDLIVE

02-27-08, 12:39 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?

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

ctiq21

02-27-08, 04:11 PM

^^
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?

bk1987

02-27-08, 04:42 PM

^^
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?

SugoE

02-27-08, 06:08 PM

Crescent

02-27-08, 06:18 PM

SugoE

02-27-08, 06:53 PM

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

jojoxl

02-27-08, 09:51 PM

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

Sunnie

02-27-08, 10:51 PM

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)

Tinker

02-28-08, 12:22 AM

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.

Sunnie

02-28-08, 12:46 AM

Hey thanks, I'll give that a try tonight.

Andy o

02-28-08, 01:45 AM

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.

flu!d

02-28-08, 02:15 AM

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.

Andy o

02-28-08, 02:46 AM

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?

JDLIVE

02-28-08, 01:38 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?

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.

JDLIVE

02-28-08, 01:42 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.

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

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

Andy o

02-28-08, 09:01 PM

jojoxl

02-28-08, 09:54 PM

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-

Andy o

02-28-08, 10:20 PM

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).

Sunnie

02-28-08, 11:17 PM

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

Al Sherwood

02-29-08, 10:29 AM

Al Sherwood

02-29-08, 10:35 AM

) If I use Image Burn to create the ISO (AnyDVD HD is off), will this file be usable through various versions of PowerDVD?

2) Next when I play back the optical copy of a movie (in this case Beowolf), it works no problem... When I try the ISO image, I get a screen pop-up that talks about 'critcal updates' for PDVD and whether I select yes or no the process never completes and prevents playback...:mad:

PDVD at build 3730 and AnyDVD-HD at 3.1.3.0

Any suggestions?

AbMagFab

02-29-08, 10:52 AM

Al Sherwood

02-29-08, 11:37 AM

Make sure to use "Read" in ImgBurn (not Build).

I have only been able to create ISO's that work in PDVD by using AnyDVD with ImgBurn to build the ISO.

I did use "Read" but I did not use AnyDVD because my trial version won't let me upgrade to the latest release... Is it necessary to use AnyDVD, I thought this was only if you wanted to remove encryption? So is the ISO that I have without AnyDVD is not good?

BTW Oceans 13 works fine.

DC2R714

02-29-08, 11:46 AM

HT Slider,
I use the Asus P5b Deluxe with onboard Soundmax HD Audio (SPDIF) and Windows XP SP2 with all the latest patches. If I have 6 channel checked in PDVD I get DTS everytime, but when I have SPDIF checked I get it on some and others I just get stereo sound. I agree it is very strange. I am using the latest Sound drivers for the MB, and the latest 3730 patch for PDVD.

Al Sherwood

02-29-08, 11:46 AM

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-

I see, there was a version of PDVD that didn't respond well when I tried it on my dual monitor setup, as you say, no picture on the second monitor, all I remember is that it was an earlier one. Depending on the process you use to playback HDD based material, this still can be done at the current version.

I also recall that there was an interaction between Cat and PDVD with regards to displays, I would be tempted to try a different version of driver, either that or move up a little further with PDVD, 3319a plays back HDD based files.

chillspace

02-29-08, 12:13 PM

Is anyone else having trouble getting American Gangster, HD DVD, to play? It starts out exactly like Bourne Ultimate, but never finishes loading.

American Gangster HDDVD plays fine on my machine. All of my HDDVD titles play perfectly. The loading portion of the HDDVD disc is when it is trying to check for updated content on a server. Hit return on your keyboard (or if you have the mouse enabled for HDDVD in PDVDU, click the left mouse button)...this will bypass the online content checking and go straight to the main menu.

Also make sure to disable AnyDVD HD if you have it running.

Sunnie

02-29-08, 02:02 PM

American Gangster HDDVD plays fine on my machine. All of my HDDVD titles play perfectly. The loading portion of the HDDVD disc is when it is trying to check for updated content on a server. Hit return on your keyboard (or if you have the mouse enabled for HDDVD in PDVDU, click the left mouse button)...this will bypass the online content checking and go straight to the main menu.

Also make sure to disable AnyDVD HD if you have it running.

Thank you for the reply. This is the only title I have trouble with loading. I have already tried the return key and left mouse key. Bourne Ultimatum seems to load exactly the same way, but it makes it passed the loading part just fine? I have tried next, goto and menu and it just sits there stuck on loading.

JDLIVE

02-29-08, 02:03 PM

spanner101

02-29-08, 03:22 PM

Question:

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.
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.

I was wondering about this kind of thing as I've found that (at least some of) my DVDs are jekry if I run at 24Hz, but okay at 25Hz, and HD-DVD/Blu-Ray are jerky at 25Hz but ok at 24Hz. I havent actually played with it yet but I thought the Catalyst (and Nvidea) drivers let you set up different video settings (refresh, resolution, the works) for different applications...if so couldn't you just set 2 or more different applications, one for each job....you'd need to click one for Dvds, one for HD, etc, but if you know what you're playing, and you have to click something, it shouldn't be too much of a chore.

I'd imagine you could use the same application for both jobs, just make them appear to be different applications by using either a batch file/shortcut/renamed .exe copy just to make the drivers notice the difference.

Not sure if theres a way to do it if you've just got a remote and a "play" button though...

jatoghia

02-29-08, 04:24 PM

Just an update. I have now been forwarded to the actual quality assurance department to find out why PowerDVD shows VERY infrequent, but still noticeable stuttering with some titles (and always at the same points), particularly Disney Pixar's Cars on Blu-ray, mostly during pans. The most obvious occurrence is 17 minutes 20 seconds into the main movie, during an overhead pan shot showing miles and miles of freeways, and it slows down, speeds up, slows down, etc.

My machine configuration is an HP Slimline s3100n where I have upgraded the CPU to an Athlon 64 X2 5200+ (2.7GHz) and upgraded the video to an nVidia 8400GS 256MB. I still have 1GB of MM, onboard RealTek 7.1 HD audio, and Windows Vista 32-bit.

Anyway, the latest email I got was that they couldn't reproduce the issue using their test platform, a 3.2 GHz Intel Core Duo using the same video card. I asked them, don't you think there are sufficient processor and chipset differences (and memory timings) to test using an AMD platform? Ugh. I'm so disgusted with Cyberlink right now.

Latest update, after over FOUR MONTHS of dealing with Cyberlink's moronic front end support, the QA department on my advice to try testing with an AMD-based platform with an 8400GS card was able to reproduce the occasional video stutters that are driving me crazy.

I found that I was able to get smoother performance by completely disabling interlacing on such titles as HD-DVD Full Metal Jacket (a seriously grainy transfer), but Cars (presumably because it is full 1080p and the interlacing settings are ignored) still stutters. I'm just wondering, has anybody else seen issues with AMD CPUs and the 8400GS?

Cyberlink is now telling me to wait for ANOTHER update to specifically address this problem. Sheesh. If they had listened to me in the first place, they could have had this problem fixed long ago, and of course I remain skeptical, as the last time they told me to wait for an update to address slugish performance, the update fixed exactly two things for me: jack and #@%$.

Al Sherwood

02-29-08, 05:05 PM

Anybody having any luck with Beowulf from an ISO?

Lastest PDVD and AnyDVD, but I get a request to apply a critical update that never installs?

AbMagFab

02-29-08, 06:02 PM

I was wondering about this kind of thing as I've found that (at least some of) my DVDs are jekry if I run at 24Hz, but okay at 25Hz, and HD-DVD/Blu-Ray are jerky at 25Hz but ok at 24Hz. I havent actually played with it yet but I thought the Catalyst (and Nvidea) drivers let you set up different video settings (refresh, resolution, the works) for different applications...if so couldn't you just set 2 or more different applications, one for each job....you'd need to click one for Dvds, one for HD, etc, but if you know what you're playing, and you have to click something, it shouldn't be too much of a chore.

I'd imagine you could use the same application for both jobs, just make them appear to be different applications by using either a batch file/shortcut/renamed .exe copy just to make the drivers notice the difference.

Not sure if theres a way to do it if you've just got a remote and a "play" button though...

Except I have everything ripped to ISO's, and all I do is click the ISO and DaemonTools auto mounts it, then PDVD auto starts and plays it. It's not perfect, but at least it's pretty simple.

So there's only one application running, but I never start the app directly, I just click on an ISO (or playlist), which could be a SD DVD, HD DVD, BD, or AVI/AVCHD, or even MPEG-2 480i/p.

I guess I need PDVD to support Native? I'm not sure how an external script could detect the native resolution of the video inside PDVD, especially when it's inside an ISO?

And I don't see any judder at all when set to 1080p/60 on my Sony VW60 and 110" FHG3. The VW60 supports a lot of resolutions and refresh rates, and I've tried them all. The only one that works for all source material is 1080p/60 (even for 24p source material - so either my video card or my projector is doing something special).

Crescent

02-29-08, 06:14 PM

AbMagFab

02-29-08, 07:26 PM

You would have to see judder showing film (24 fps) on a 60 hz display. The third frame has to be added for every two which causes the camera not to pan smoothly. Of course, it could be an artifact that doesn't bother you.

I tried reclock some years back, I had it working but scrapped it. It changed the sound quality worse.

Unless my display does some sort of 3:2 pulldown to compensate (or reverse 3:2 pulldown, whatever way it would go). I am very sensitive to that kind of judder, and I'm definitely not seeing it. My display natively supports 24p for what it's worth.

aaraaf

02-29-08, 07:38 PM

Just an update. I have now been forwarded to the actual quality assurance department to find out why PowerDVD shows VERY infrequent, but still noticeable stuttering with some titles (and always at the same points), particularly Disney Pixar's Cars on Blu-ray, mostly during pans. The most obvious occurrence is 17 minutes 20 seconds into the main movie, during an overhead pan shot showing miles and miles of freeways, and it slows down, speeds up, slows down, etc.
I've noticed this problem on Meet the Robinsons. It's driving me insane. It's always exactly the same frames that drop too. If I step through they are there, but not if I play.

These are also points where the bit rate fluctuates by more than 10 mb.. (Mb? I get them confused...) One other thing, is that it happens consistently on pans or simple trucks (with no rotation of the camera) and when things all of a sudden gain a lot of motion blur.

I'm running an Intel 3Ghz Core Duo, NVidia 8500GT with 512MB DDR2(Fatility) on a ECS C19-a 1.0 with Vista Ultimate 64bit. We've got rather different hardware, and seeing the same issue. I've found that my kids and wife don't see the problem, but my friend who is also an animator sees it.

I'm wondering if the problem exists with Nero? I'm also thinking about putting in my 7600GT and hookin up over analogue to see if the problem is there. I've tried it on both 720p and 1080i and it's the same.

I just got my HTPC setup and working with Blu Ray and HD DVD using the GGC-H20L over the last week. It's a real blast, and I'm enjoying it immensely. Right now I'm just using the OEM version of Power DVD... I want to give Nero a go before deciding on a full version. $80 seems really expensive for such a simple piece of software. If it was $40 or so, I'd have bought it already and called it done.

Other than a short sequence (when Lois is on TV with all of the noise) in Justice League New Frontier that completely wigs out my playback and the lack of support for the Across the Universe menu, everything else I've thrown at it plays really well. Including King Kong and Transformers, and Twighlight Zone and The Prestige (which is encoded identically to Meet the Robinsons and has the same sort of jump in bit rate, especially during the lightning effects stuff).

AbMagFab

02-29-08, 07:40 PM

Andy o

02-29-08, 07:46 PM

Anybody having any luck with Beowulf from an ISO?

Lastest PDVD and AnyDVD, but I get a request to apply a critical update that never installs?

No seeming problem here. I can play the ISO with 3319a and 3516, but I haven't played the whole movie, just tested it, played it and skipped around with the mouse.

Beowulf is only out on HD-DVD though, right? That's what I have.

Crescent

02-29-08, 08:07 PM

AbMagFab, watch the beginning to Star Trek: Insurrection. The pan across the roof tops should be smooth. If you see the camera hesitate at all, you have judder. Otherwise you must be putting out 24 fps. There's no getting around the laws of physics.

Otherwise, is it possible you're watching a video based source? That would be 30 fps and exhibit no judder.

aaraaf

02-29-08, 08:10 PM

What refresh rate are you running your PC display at?

If I'm running at 1920 x 1080 I can only run at 30Hz. If it's at 1280 x 720 I run it at 60Hz.
The problem is identical on both of these settings...

tsb

02-29-08, 08:33 PM

Anybody having any luck with Beowulf from an ISO?

Lastest PDVD and AnyDVD, but I get a request to apply a critical update that never installs?

I get video driver halts when I try this title. If I try many times, it does play back fine sometimes. also try to disconnect from the internet before playing

rockytt

02-29-08, 09:36 PM

I also recall that there was an interaction between Cat and PDVD with regards to displays, I would be tempted to try a different version of driver, either that or move up a little further with PDVD, 3319a plays back HDD based files.

Upgraded to 3319a, and it worked - there are several other issues, but at least I got a picture.
However, I realized that I was trying a different movie this time -
(No comments on the movie choices-please :)
Hairspray played fine on Display 2
House of the Flying Daggers gave me the same problem - no picture on #2
Different encoding methods perhaps? What else could cause one film to play on a secondary display and not play another?

Edit:
HFD is MPEG2
Hairspray is VC1
This points out another issue - I've not been able to play TS files on the secondary monitor either. (DirecTV HD streams)
So, for whatever reason MPEG2 streams don't want to play on the second monitor - does this help?
Also, when I ran graphedit on Monitor 1 - it showed NVIDIA video decoders at work. When I ran it on the second monitor, the screen just blanked out...

bk1987

02-29-08, 10:42 PM

Anybody having any luck with Beowulf from an ISO?

Lastest PDVD and AnyDVD, but I get a request to apply a critical update that never installs?

is this with Anydvd running? because i get this message sometimes when i try to play an encrypted disk. DEcrypting takes care of the problem

Mascot

03-01-08, 05:40 AM

I've followed this thread with great interest. To better be able to know 100% what we're dealing with here I'd like to ask a couple of quick questions before I join along for real with my own rig...

1. AnyDVD HD removes protections from bluray discs. HDCP aswell as some of the audio protections, but not all, correct? What discs/protections are not yet cracked by slysoft? AACS? BD+? Is all other protections cracked?

2. Power DVD Ultra downsamples protected stuff. What discs/protections are being downsampled and which ones are NOT being downsampled? Does it downsample all bluray discs? Or only the ones that anydvd hd can't remove protections from like the BD+ discs?

2b. Can Powerdvd ultra deliver full hd audio 8ch/24bit/192khz from ANY bluray discs at all?

3. Is there a list somewhere of what audio protection each disc has on it?

I'm concerned with 8ch/24bit/192khz audio through my analogue outputs. I'll be using onboard ALC883 or 889a audio, Windows Vista.

4. If anydvd hd would be able to remove protections on ALL discs, would powerdvdultra (as per today) be able to deliver full 7.1 channel truehd/dtshd/pcm audio through analogue outputs?

mahm

03-01-08, 07:34 AM

jcoles

03-01-08, 08:27 AM

I'm running v. 3516 and just installed the LG combo drive on my HTPC. When I play HD or BD titles the movies runs fine for about 10-15 mins with CPU usage ~ 60-65%, then the picture freezes and locks up my computer. I then have to reboot. When I play standard def DVD's, there is no problem with CPU usage ~ 15%. I'm using an Nvidia 8600 GTS 512K card, Pentium 4 3.2 GB 533 MHz with HA engaged. Nothing else running in the background.

Any suggestions?

Running XP

Andy o

03-01-08, 08:36 AM

Hi

I have upgraded Power dvd ultra to version 3730 dated 01-31-08.

Since doing so i notice that my copy of Die Hard 4 region A does not show 'DTS-HD MA' when i click on 'show information' and since the upgrade now only shows 'DTS HD' next to 'Audio'. This is the only disc i have at the moment, anybody else not seeing 'MA'? More importantly have Cyberlink changed their decoding now?

Has anybody else had this issue?

Thanks

I don't think any versions/builds of PowerDVD decode MA. It only gets as high as DTS-HD, but even that I'm not sure if it's just extracting the DTS core. For example, with DTS-HD-MA 7.1 movies like Pan's Labyrinth, you only get 5.1 sound (and it does read DTS-HD, but I think it's just playing the DTS core). If possible, you might wanna try if you do get 7.1 audio from such movies, since the latest I've tried is 3516, it would be good info.

Rew452

03-01-08, 09:37 AM

I have a question which I have not seen any answer to:

Why can the Tosh XA2 output all advanced audio codec's audio via RCA analog outputs but PDVD can't or won't??

Can someone fill me in as to the problem, Please??

Thanks
Rew

Al Sherwood

03-01-08, 10:16 AM

No seeming problem here. I can play the ISO with 3319a and 3516, but I haven't played the whole movie, just tested it, played it and skipped around with the mouse.

Beowulf is only out on HD-DVD though, right? That's what I have.

Hey Andy, yes HD-DVD, I can get the optical copy to play but not the ISO.

Something has definitely changed for my system (auto Window updates?), I made no changes to video drivers, PowerDVD, AnyDVD and now I get messages about HDCP compliance on my HDCP projector, the BD/HD advisor complains of this but when run on my analog monitor all shows green!

Error screen from PowerDVD about out of date video drivers and being unable so establish a secure video link?

So much for "to fix it it aint broke", this time it did it all by itself!

Al Sherwood

03-01-08, 10:20 AM

Quote:
Originally Posted by Al Sherwood
Anybody having any luck with Beowulf from an ISO?

Lastest PDVD and AnyDVD, but I get a request to apply a critical update that never installs?

is this with Anydvd running? because i get this message sometimes when i try to play an encrypted disk. DEcrypting takes care of the problem

Actually no, I have a trial version of AnyDVD and it won't update itself for the recent movies.. :o

I thought this would only be a problem if your hardware setup was not HDCP compliant? (I thought mine was).

ellisr63

03-01-08, 11:46 AM

I purchased AnyDVD HD and all I get on Beowolf is "Loading":(

Al Sherwood

03-01-08, 12:38 PM

I purchased AnyDVD HD and all I get on Beowolf is "Loading":(

That's it? Won't play? From the original disc or an ISO?

I eventually got it to play from the optical media... Not really sure of the 1/2 dozen things I tried what actually got it to play though! :eek:

I rented the BD version of Shoot em Up last night, this one was tough to get going as well, even did a system restore to a time 2 weeks ago, finally got it going, but again not sure of what really made it work?

Same messages, non-HDCP compliant display (which it finally played on anyway?), PDVD also wanted to set a lower screen resolution for optimal playback, I replied no, still worked (maybe a few audio hic-ups through the movie).

Forgetting for a moment about ISO's, PDVD should not need AnyDVD-HD running to playback these movies... unless the HDCP handshaking is not working, so did ATI break this in some versions of their drivers?

mgl

03-01-08, 12:38 PM

Anyone noticed that there a short judder after chapterchanges. Works well with
Version 3104a, but with 3730 and 3516 the judder is here :( . Its not always noticealbe, but its there. (Ati 2600 and XP Pro)

Any hint?

Al Sherwood

03-01-08, 02:00 PM

Obviously the video drivers can affect things immensely, but what about the rest of the Catalyst suite?

What is the conscensus, do you guys just update the video driver or do you upgrade the entire suite?

And on the subject of the HDCP handshake, is this only handled by the video driver, or is some other part of the package involved? Other then the BD/HD Adviser is there another way to check that the handshake is successful?

Finally, the hardware acceleration check box in PowerDVD, is this controlled by the video driver or some other part of the suite?

jatoghia

03-01-08, 02:32 PM

I've noticed this problem on Meet the Robinsons. It's driving me insane. It's always exactly the same frames that drop too. If I step through they are there, but not if I play.

These are also points where the bit rate fluctuates by more than 10 mb.. (Mb? I get them confused...) One other thing, is that it happens consistently on pans or simple trucks (with no rotation of the camera) and when things all of a sudden gain a lot of motion blur.

I'm running an Intel 3Ghz Core Duo, NVidia 8500GT with 512MB DDR2(Fatility) on a ECS C19-a 1.0 with Vista Ultimate 64bit. We've got rather different hardware, and seeing the same issue. I've found that my kids and wife don't see the problem, but my friend who is also an animator sees it.

I'm wondering if the problem exists with Nero? I'm also thinking about putting in my 7600GT and hookin up over analogue to see if the problem is there. I've tried it on both 720p and 1080i and it's the same.

I just got my HTPC setup and working with Blu Ray and HD DVD using the GGC-H20L over the last week. It's a real blast, and I'm enjoying it immensely. Right now I'm just using the OEM version of Power DVD... I want to give Nero a go before deciding on a full version. $80 seems really expensive for such a simple piece of software. If it was $40 or so, I'd have bought it already and called it done.

Other than a short sequence (when Lois is on TV with all of the noise) in Justice League New Frontier that completely wigs out my playback and the lack of support for the Across the Universe menu, everything else I've thrown at it plays really well. Including King Kong and Transformers, and Twighlight Zone and The Prestige (which is encoded identically to Meet the Robinsons and has the same sort of jump in bit rate, especially during the lightning effects stuff).

Thanks for the info. Yes, I've noticed that it is clearly dropped frames, not judder as many people suspect. I suspected that bit rate might be somewhat responsible for the problem, only because the problem is noticeable on some titles but not on others, and I suspected based on image quality that Cars was quite high. I've also had playback problems with Planet Earth, in scenes where there is high motion complexity (such as a pan). One scene that features a fly over of mountains in the second episode is so bad that the audio itself begins stuttering, and that has nothing to do with a 3:2 pulldown. It is as if PowerDVD is having a tough time keeping up. It would be one thing if my hardware was barely scraping by, but according to Cyberlink's Blu-ray/HD-DVD adviser, I have green bullets for everything including CPU, graphics, and it's not like my CPU is taxed, as it is only running at around 33% during playback. The LG combo drive is supposed to be 6x Blu-ray, so it should be fast enough to read off the bits, and my memory utilization, while high, is not completely exhausted. I have 1GB of RAM, and I've killed as many background processes as possible. The fact that it ALWAYS occurs on the exact same frames is an indication that this is not being caused by the operating system or any background processes, since resources would become scarce and page faults would occur at different times depending on what else is going on in the system. Somewhere, there must be a problem between PowerDVD and the nVidia driver and/or hardware, as people seem to have fewer issues with ATI.

jong1

03-01-08, 03:34 PM

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.Yep. I do this flawlessly between 48/50/60Hz.

The "best" way, as others have mentioned is to use Reclock and Powerstrip. Reclock determines the resolution and framerate whenever it is loaded and then it passes this info to a special vbs script that calls Powerstrip and sets the new timings.

Unfortunately Nvidia 8xxx and 9xxx series cannot be driven by Powerstrip in this way. So you need either a 7xxx series or an ATI card. I have used the 7600GT and now use the ATI 3850.

There is no reason why Reclock should have any negative impact on sound. If your timings are spot on then it's adjustments are insignificant even for PCM audio. Ona modern PC you can turn all the quality settings to max to ensure no sampling errors. If you are passing s/pdif (DD or DTS) then Reclock cannot do anything to the sound anyway as it cannot decrypt the encoded audio. It will drop audio packets if your timings are off, but again if they are spot on, as they should be audio will be perfect.

An alternate way of doing things is to have some way of knowing the frame rate of a given file (name, folder location, of tag in a library) and then use that info to run Powerstrip or the Nvidia custom timing tool before playing the file. I use Meedio and the "Playmee" plugin could use any of the above methods to correctly set the resolution/framerate before launching whichever player you want to use. The player can also vary from one file to the next. It can also change it back to your default at the end (as can Reclock). You could write your own vbs script to do the same. The only thing it will not be able to do (which Reclock can) is deal with "whole disc rips" e.g. isos where the disc itself has two different frame rates on it. E.g. Blu-ray or HD-DVD discs with a 24fps main feature, but 60Hz interlaced video extras. Either you will end up playing all @60Hz or have awful stutter playing the extras.

taeboguy

03-01-08, 04:07 PM

Okay, I have been going mad over this video stuttering problem I am having with playing back disks on my LG combo drive.

ANY disk I play has this problem. Audio is fine but video is screwed up.

So I did a test. I uninstalled PDVD Ultra and re-installed the stripped down version of PDVD that came with my LG drive.

Low and behold, the stuttering has gone away. So, apparantly I paid $100 to "upgrade" and can't even get solid video playback.

Now, to my knowledge the biggest difference between the version is the audio codecs. Ultra is supposed to play all the HD codecs in the proper multichannel mode where as the stripped down version only plays 2 ch.

Now, I was considering purchasing a dedicated GFX card to go on my Asus P5E-VM HDMI board. Anyone care to speculate whether this will fix my stuttering problem with Ultra?

BTW, my setup is:

Asus P5E-VM HDMI MOBO (using onboard HDMI for audio and analog 8 ch audio)
2 gb DDR2-800 Ram
500gb SATA II drive with 16mg cache
Vista Ultimate
LG Combo Drive

Thanks!

aravs

03-01-08, 04:23 PM

hey there

I'm in the same boat. rented beowulf and cant get it to play using powerdvd. it keeps telling me 'download critical updates or else bluray or hddvd wont play...' something like that :P

i'm playing my copy from the optical disc (i'm not sure what this iso method everyone is mention is) using powerdvd 3.2911 which was able to play 300 flawlessly last nite. I haven't tried many other hd discs since this is a new board i'm working with. But powerdvd seems fairly stable giving me hardware acceleration with a diamond hd2600 pro and outputting spdif via coaxial from my mobo. My setup:

windows mce rollout 2(?)
powerdvd 3.2911
anydvd hd 6.123
xbox 360 usb drive
diamond hd2600pro agp
omega8.1 drivers dual vga display output enabled

i'm going to try updating powerdvd, hopefully it doesn't fugger up everything. Do i need to upgrade anydvd? Technically i shouldnt need to have this on since i'm playing from the original disc?

That's it? Won't play? From the original disc or an ISO?

I eventually got it to play from the optical media... Not really sure of the 1/2 dozen things I tried what actually got it to play though! :eek:

I rented the BD version of Shoot em Up last night, this one was tough to get going as well, even did a system restore to a time 2 weeks ago, finally got it going, but again not sure of what really made it work?

Same messages, non-HDCP compliant display (which it finally played on anyway?), PDVD also wanted to set a lower screen resolution for optimal playback, I replied no, still worked (maybe a few audio hic-ups through the movie).

Forgetting for a moment about ISO's, PDVD should not need AnyDVD-HD running to playback these movies... unless the HDCP handshaking is not working, so did ATI break this in some versions of their drivers?

aravs

03-01-08, 04:30 PM

Obviously the video drivers can affect things immensely, but what about the rest of the Catalyst suite?

What is the conscensus, do you guys just update the video driver or do you upgrade the entire suite?

there's a very long running thread on the ati 2x00 card here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=872538)
I think when most people try diff catalyst suites they upgrade the entire suite but some have said you only need the actual driver and not the entire ccc; i might be wrong i can barely remember everything

And on the subject of the HDCP handshake, is this only handled by the video driver, or is some other part of the package involved? Other then the BD/HD Adviser is there another way to check that the handshake is successful?

Finally, the hardware acceleration check box in PowerDVD, is this controlled by the video driver or some other part of the suite?

i think its the video driver only but i'm not 100%. this stuff is more magic than science :P

ellisr63

03-01-08, 04:42 PM

That's it? Won't play? From the original disc or an ISO?

I eventually got it to play from the optical media... Not really sure of the 1/2 dozen things I tried what actually got it to play though! :eek:

I rented the BD version of Shoot em Up last night, this one was tough to get going as well, even did a system restore to a time 2 weeks ago, finally got it going, but again not sure of what really made it work?

Same messages, non-HDCP compliant display (which it finally played on anyway?), PDVD also wanted to set a lower screen resolution for optimal playback, I replied no, still worked (maybe a few audio hic-ups through the movie).

Forgetting for a moment about ISO's, PDVD should not need AnyDVD-HD running to playback these movies... unless the HDCP handshaking is not working, so did ATI break this in some versions of their drivers?

Both:(

Crescent

03-01-08, 05:15 PM

There is no reason why Reclock should have any negative impact on sound.

Jitter. The same reason some sound cards and some boards sound different. Bits are bits, right? Not really. Sometimes it's shielding, sometimes it's jitter.

Andy o

03-01-08, 05:24 PM

Just a couple of things I wanna say...

I used to have both an ATI 2400 pro and a 2600 pro. Both were giving me HDCP issues with my perfectly HDCP-capable monitor (NEC 2690), but everything was OK with the Sharp 1080p at work, so at first I thought it was the monitor or cables. Turns out, one Catalyst release (I think it was 7.7 or 7.8 since it worked) fixed it. It took 3 or 4 driver releases since the release of my cards to make it work with my monitor (7.5, 7.6, 7.6 hotfix, and maybe 7.7). I ordered my nVidia 8600GTS and right after that ATI released the driver that worked, but I was already fed up. You can find my posts in the ATI thread mentioned above.

The other thing is about the loading screen on PowerDVD. I have gotten this a couple of times, but it was always able to be canceled. I now have PowerDVD blocked by the firewall, and haven't gotten any loading screens, even with some of the movies people are complaining about. Just watched Beowulf without a hitch (except that I consider the movie itself a hitch).

Peter Nagy

03-01-08, 05:40 PM

I have Lite-On Blu-ray drive in my MCE 2005 HTPC. It came with Cyberlink PowerDVD 7.3 Blu-Ray edition and it works great. I can watch Blu-ray movies without issues. It does not say "Ultra" on the CD.

Anyway, how can I get Windows XP/MCE to detect Blu-ray drive every time I insert Blu-ray disk? I think Windows Vista works. Is there some kind of plugin available for Windows XP/MCE to detect Blu-ray drives? Once I get this to work, then hopefully I can get MyMovies to integrate with PowerDVD and Blu-Ray and watch Blu-ray movies from MCE.

My gear:

Windows MCE 2005
Asus P4C800 Deluxe MB
3 GHz Pentium 4 with HT
2 GB Corsair RAM
Two 250 GB SATA Western Digital HD
Two VBox DTA-150 tuner 2.1.705.0 driver
Sapphire HD 3850 (Radeon) with Sapphire's CCC driver
NVIDIA PureVideo Decoder 1.02-223
Lite-On Dual layer DVD burner drive
Lite-On Blu-Ray drive
Cyberlink PowerDVD 7.3 Blu-ray edition (not Ultra?)
Linksys WiFi-G
Microsoft Bluetooth keyboard and mouse
Logitech Harmony 880 Remote Control
Silverstone LC13 HTPC case
Antec 1000 Watts power supply
Sony KDF-60XBR950 60" LCD rear projection TV (use DVI cable)
Rabbit Ears indoor antenna (amplified).

Thanks,
Peter

mgl

03-01-08, 05:40 PM

AbMagFab

03-01-08, 05:41 PM

Yep. I do this flawlessly between 48/50/60Hz.

The "best" way, as others have mentioned is to use Reclock and Powerstrip. Reclock determines the resolution and framerate whenever it is loaded and then it passes this info to a special vbs script that calls Powerstrip and sets the new timings.

Unfortunately Nvidia 8xxx and 9xxx series cannot be driven by Powerstrip in this way. So you need either a 7xxx series or an ATI card. I have used the 7600GT and now use the ATI 3850.

There is no reason why Reclock should have any negative impact on sound. If your timings are spot on then it's adjustments are insignificant even for PCM audio. Ona modern PC you can turn all the quality settings to max to ensure no sampling errors. If you are passing s/pdif (DD or DTS) then Reclock cannot do anything to the sound anyway as it cannot decrypt the encoded audio. It will drop audio packets if your timings are off, but again if they are spot on, as they should be audio will be perfect.

An alternate way of doing things is to have some way of knowing the frame rate of a given file (name, folder location, of tag in a library) and then use that info to run Powerstrip or the Nvidia custom timing tool before playing the file. I use Meedio and the "Playmee" plugin could use any of the above methods to correctly set the resolution/framerate before launching whichever player you want to use. The player can also vary from one file to the next. It can also change it back to your default at the end (as can Reclock). You could write your own vbs script to do the same. The only thing it will not be able to do (which Reclock can) is deal with "whole disc rips" e.g. isos where the disc itself has two different frame rates on it. E.g. Blu-ray or HD-DVD discs with a 24fps main feature, but 60Hz interlaced video extras. Either you will end up playing all @60Hz or have awful stutter playing the extras.

So I've got an 8500GT and all ISO's. So it sounds like your solution won't work for me on either count.

I guess I have to wait for PDVD to implement a "Native" functionality?

(And how does reclock detect the native resolution inside an ISO when being played by PDVD? Isn't PDVD masking this from reclock?)

jong1

03-01-08, 07:08 PM

So I've got an 8500GT and all ISO's. So it sounds like your solution won't work for me on either count.

I guess I have to wait for PDVD to implement a "Native" functionality?

(And how does reclock detect the native resolution inside an ISO when being played by PDVD? Isn't PDVD masking this from reclock?)Reclock is a substitute audio renderer. It gets loaded as and when a directshow graph is loaded, not when the file is selected/mounted. Once an iso is mounted it looks to the system like the original disc. Every time a piece of video is played - main movie, extra, even menu a separate graph is loaded, Reclock is inserted in that graph and it uses the info that is used to select the filters needed to switch resolution/timings as needed.

For HD PowerDVD will use Reclock just fine, if you use the setting in Reclock to force itself into the graph. Nothing is hidden. It works great. No true for SD but then I use TheaterTek for SD (and HD .ts and .mkv) and would recommend the same to anyone else. PowerDVD is positively poor in comparison for SD.

ISOs are no problem for Reclock but your Nvidia 8xxx card is. You would need a new card or use my alternate solution of using either a tool like Playmee or a vbs script. Much more complicated I agree and it does not fix the issue with 60Hz extras on a 24fps disc. This issue is just the same if you has ripped to folders instead of iso though. Iso has nothing to do with it.

I think you may be waiting forever for PowerDVD to fix this problem 'natively'.

Jitter. The same reason some sound cards and some boards sound different. Bits are bits, right? Not really. Sometimes it's shielding, sometimes it's jitter.There is something in what you say. Windows prioritises audio playback - it plays the audio 'perfectly', whatever the refresh rate, subject to clock stability, and drops video as needed to make it fit. Reclock prioritises video, making it judder/stutter free and 'adapts' audio, if necessary by either changing it's speed (for PCM) or dropping packets (for s/pdif). So yes, it is possible for Reclock to affect the sound so you get smooth video.

But....

First, if your refresh rate is not on the button something has to give. The choice is smooth video or potentially perfect audio. Most, for movies, would choose to get the video spot on, but the choice is yours.

Second, if your refresh rates ARE spot on, as they should be, especially with the Reclock scripting we are discussing here, adjustments to audio will be genuinely tiny. I am not saying that they may not be measurable, or even audible by the perfect ear, but really very small and the minimum that is absolutely needed to get smooth video playback. But, again, the choice is yours whether to substitute some audio adaptation for smooth video.

All of this is somewhat irrelevant to this discussion though as, although I have never done it, it is according to the documentation possible to disable the audio adaptation of Reclock and use it just to improve the accuracy of the reference clock and drive the vbs scripts, if you so desire. This should, if anything reduce jitter, or at least leave it unaltered, whilst allowing auto change of refresh rates/resolution.

HT Slider

03-01-08, 11:34 PM

Ultra is supposed to play all the HD codecs in the proper multichannel mode where as the stripped down (OEM) version only plays 2 ch.

I keep reading posts stating that the OEM version of PowerDVD Ultra can only play 2 ch audio...

Where does this information come from?

I read through the Cyberlink's web site and couldn't find anything that states that the OEM version can only handle 2-channel.

One thing for certain, I only have the OEM version and I get 5.1 channels of audio no matter what HD-DVD/Blue-ray disk I watch and no matter which audio track I select. Even Dolby TrueHD produces flawless 5.1 audio.

From what I can surmise from the various posts, the only thing that "might" be missing from the OEM version is the ability to decode Dolby Digital 5.1 and regular DTS.

In my case, my motherboard supports DTS Connect and SPDIF passthrough so PowerDVD Ultra OEM must be able to pass DTS and DD5.1 directly out the SPDIF port and it must also be able to decode TrueHD (and I would guess it can decode DTS-HD too).

jatoghia

03-02-08, 12:12 AM

I keep reading posts stating that the OEM version of PowerDVD Ultra can only play 2 ch audio...

Where does this information come from?

I read through the Cyberlink's web site and couldn't find anything that states that the OEM version can only handle 2-channel.

One thing for certain, I only have the OEM version and I get 5.1 channels of audio no matter what HD-DVD/Blue-ray disk I watch and no matter which audio track I select. Even Dolby TrueHD produces flawless 5.1 audio.

From what I can surmise from the various posts, the only thing that "might" be missing from the OEM version is the ability to decode Dolby Digital 5.1 and regular DTS.

In my case, my motherboard supports DTS Connect and SPDIF passthrough so PowerDVD Ultra OEM must be able to pass DTS and DD5.1 directly out the SPDIF port and it must also be able to decode TrueHD (and I would guess it can decode DTS-HD too).

The OEM version can PASS a 5.1 channel bitstream. It cannot, however, decode one. This also means that you cannot decode 7.1 audio with the OEM version, since SPDIF cannot pass 7.1 audio streams. I could downmix a 96/24 TrueHD 7.1 soundtrack to 5.1 Dolby Digital for use with my receiver (which doesn't decode TrueHD or DTS-MA), but I would prefer to use the 7.1 analog inputs. I'm sure you would rather have those 2 extra discrete channels on the sides as well.

HT Slider

03-02-08, 12:51 AM

The OEM version can PASS a 5.1 channel bitstream. It cannot, however, decode one. This also means that you cannot decode 7.1 audio with the OEM version, since SPDIF cannot pass 7.1 audio streams. I could downmix a 96/24 TrueHD 7.1 soundtrack to 5.1 Dolby Digital for use with my receiver (which doesn't decode TrueHD or DTS-MA), but I would prefer to use the 7.1 analog inputs. I'm sure you would rather have those 2 extra discrete channels on the sides as well.

In order for the OEM version to be able to produce multi-channel audio from a 7.1 TrueHD soundtrack, it must be able to decode it to 7.1 channels of PCM.

In my case the motherboard encodes the 7.1 channels into DTS 5.1, but I've also been told that if you use analog outputs that playing a TrueHD soundtrack does produce 7.1 analog channels of audio with the OEM version (but have not personally confirmed this).

In my case I only have 5.1 speakers so there is little value for me to maintain 7.1 and use analog outputs. Also, my motherboard's analog outputs don't sound anywhere near as good as DTS Connect (this is typical of most motherboards and mid-range sound cards). If I did want to use 7.1, I'd first need to pick up a high end sound card, an amplifier with 7.1 discrete inputs and two more quality speakers.

Based on everything I've read and experienced, it appears that the OEM version does not support any Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS decoding or encoding. On the other hand, it does appear to support decoding of non-lossy multi-channel formats (Dolby TrueHD, DTD-HD and multi-channel PCM). Ultimately if you have a motherboard or soundcard that supports DDL or DTS Connect and are willing to "suffer" with high quality 5.1 audio, the OEM version will do everything you need (of course you also need a receiver/amplifier that supports Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS, but almost any amplifier will do this).

jamieuk147

03-02-08, 03:17 AM

cool

Vern Dias

03-02-08, 06:05 AM

So I did a test. I uninstalled PDVD Ultra and re-installed the stripped down version of PDVD that came with my LG drive.

Low and behold, the stuttering has gone away. So, apparantly I paid $100 to "upgrade" and can't even get solid video playback.No, what is probably happening is that you are running different settings with the non-oem version of PowerDVD.

For example, on my system setting the audio to 8 channel output on both PDVD and the sound card while having SPDIF enabled on the sound card introduces stuttering. Setting the analog audio to 6 channel on the sound card and PDVD results in smooth playback with no frame drops or stutters.

Since the OEM by default only does 2 channel and SPDIF passthrough, try setting the full version to exactly duplicate the audio options of the OEM version.

Vern

mahm

03-02-08, 06:47 AM

I don't think any versions/builds of PowerDVD decode MA. It only gets as high as DTS-HD, but even that I'm not sure if it's just extracting the DTS core. For example, with DTS-HD-MA 7.1 movies like Pan's Labyrinth, you only get 5.1 sound (and it does read DTS-HD, but I think it's just playing the DTS core). If possible, you might wanna try if you do get 7.1 audio from such movies, since the latest I've tried is 3516, it would be good info.

Thanks for the reply. The thing is that before i updated to version 3730 the Cyberlink on screen information would actually show 'DTS HD MA' when playing a disc with the soundtrack.

Now after the upgrade all I have is 'DTS HD' being shown onscreen thru the Cyberlink 'show information' tab :confused:

So has Cyberlink removed something within the software when we upgraded? Or was that before we were shown via the on screen inforamtion what was 'on' the soundtrack/disc and now we are shown what is actually being 'taken/decoded' from the soundtrack/disc?

Not sure if this 'removal' of 'MA' will create further issues when/if we get soundcards with HDMI 1.3.

Has anybody else seen the removal of 'MA' from the on screen information since the upgrade to version 3730 of Power dvd Ultra?

Thanks

Crescent

03-02-08, 08:15 AM

There is something in what you say. Windows prioritises audio playback - it plays the audio 'perfectly', whatever the refresh rate, subject to clock stability, and drops video as needed to make it fit. Reclock prioritises video, making it judder/stutter free and 'adapts' audio, if necessary by either changing it's speed (for PCM) or dropping packets (for s/pdif). So yes, it is possible for Reclock to affect the sound so you get smooth video.

........

Second, if your refresh rates ARE spot on, as they should be, especially with the Reclock scripting we are discussing here, adjustments to audio will be genuinely tiny. I am not saying that they may not be measurable, or even audible by the perfect ear, but really very small and the minimum that is absolutely needed to get smooth video playback. But, again, the choice is yours whether to substitute some audio adaptation for smooth video.

Small changes to timing in audio will affect the sound profoundly. When I used reclock, all the audio sounded like it had a glass edge (that's the best I can explain it in English). Anyone interested in finding out more about jitter should pick up a copy of the last issue of The Absolute Sound magazine. They did a very good job explaining it. But, ultimately you are correct. The choice right now is judder or jitter. However, I would think eventually some software that is capable of 24 fps output will get the audio timings right when output to a display that can sync to that refresh rate, since the movie was made that way to begin with.

jong1

03-02-08, 10:24 AM

Unfortunately, I do not think this problem is fixable in software. It is inherent in the current PC architecture - namely that there are no less than three clocks involved in video playback - system, video and audio. They are never going to stay perfectly in sync. The only way to ensure judder free video and jitter free audio is to redesign the PC from the ground up with one reference clock.

Fortunately, I am one of the lucky ones who is deaf to the adaptations applied by Reclock! (I am talking about the 'minor' adaptations to provide judder free playback with a precise 48Hz refresh rate, not more drastic adaptation such as 24-25fps). But it would certainly be great not to have to worry about these things. I would also suggest you at least try Reclock again with s/pdif, where Reclock cannot really touch the audio, other than to drop packets if they get way out of sync. With a properly adjusted refresh rate, this should be less than one packet per movie.

soyuppy

03-02-08, 12:56 PM

Hi forum,
I have an RME DIGI9632/52 PCI board installed. I want to use this for all audio transport. This will be fed into my pre/pro. All surround decoding will be done in the pre/pro.

I'm seeing something peculiar and I'm not sure what to make of it.

Using PDVD (latest of yesterday patch update), I play both SD and blueray movie. When playing SD, I was able to get spdif Audio to the RME card. DD5.1, dd5.1 EX, DTS 5.1 and DTS5.1 ES were received and decode by the pre/pre fine.

But when playing BR movie, it would downgrade to a 2-chan stereo only. Since RME card does not have any DAC, of course I got no audio to the pre/pro.

My mobo also have an on-board spdif out via Realtek. If I set the audio device in XP Control panel to use the Realtek, instead of the RME, then PDVD retain that spdif option in the Audio panel, and I got all the audio to the pre/pro for both SD and BR fine. Of course, I want to use the RME card as it's a far better audio card.

So does PDVD BR support on board audio only? Has anyone been able to get spdif audio thru any external audio card while playing BR movie?

UFGrayMatter

03-02-08, 01:43 PM

tried searching forum for answer but could find...

Is there a way to not have the control bar visible when PDVD starts? I Launch from front end and it's annoying to see it popup for a couple seconds and then disappear.

On a side not I've seen many questions about the mouse arrow being visible on the screen during random times - has anybody got an answer for this, besides moving the mouse off screen?

jong1

03-02-08, 02:09 PM

I logged this with Cyberlink, seems especially bad with Blu-ray, where I get a brief flick of the mouse pointer on every chapter break and it remains permanently on the screen when the Blu-ray info box is on screen. They had me jump through every conceivable hoop, including saying I had to replace my 'unsupported' ATI 3850 graphics card! but the problem remains.

I already had a little freeware tool called "nircmd" on my PC that can move the mouse pointer. I use Playmee's pre-launch command option to run a script with the following before launching PowerDVD:

Set objShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
objShell.Run "c:\Progra~1\nircmd\nircmd.exe setcursor 1920 0",0

UFGrayMatter

03-02-08, 02:37 PM

jcoles

03-02-08, 04:06 PM

sxotty

03-02-08, 04:54 PM

yamahaSHO

03-02-08, 05:20 PM

MikeZ06

03-02-08, 06:06 PM

I just purchased the retail version and activated it. But for some reason down in the bottom right of player the scrolling words say powerdvd deluxe version. Is this the correct version?

Please help

jong1

03-02-08, 06:07 PM

Yep. It does say that. Confusing I know but don't worry about it.

genro

03-02-08, 06:08 PM

I just purchased the retail version and activated it. But for some reason down in the bottom right of player the scrolling words say powerdvd deluxe version. Is this the correct version?

Please help

Yes, Ultra activated still says "Deluxe"

andersa

03-02-08, 06:41 PM

Hi, let me try this again-

I'm running v. 3516b and just installed the LG combo drive on my HTPC. When I play HD or BD titles the movies runs fine for about 10-15 mins with CPU usage ~ 60-65%, then the picture freezes and locks up my computer. I then have to reboot. It happened once at 79% and again at 60%. It's never the same scene twice. When I play standard def DVD's, there is no problem with CPU usage ~ 15%. I'm using an Nvidia 8600 GTS 512K card, Windows XP, Pentium 4 3.2 GB 533 MHz with HA engaged. Nothing else running in the background.My audio and video drivers have the latest releases.

There are a lot of bright people on this forum who know much more about this stuff.. I just want to be able to play HD material. Suggestions?

Computer lock-ups are complicated to diagnose. The problem can lie with a bad or under powered power supply, bad memory, a bad graphic card or a bad motherboard. Try to isolate the problem by running e.g. memtest86 to check the memory, prime95 to stress test the computer and 3dmark06 or a graphic's intensive game to test the graphic card. sisoft sandra has a bunch of stress tests too that can be useful to isolate problems such as yours, but it takes time and it helps to be able to have spare components lying around to isolate the problem. Good luck!
/Anders

MikeZ06

03-02-08, 07:21 PM

Thanks Jong and Genroe!

woofda

03-02-08, 08:04 PM

bk1987

03-02-08, 08:10 PM

skibum5000

03-02-08, 09:41 PM

Small changes to timing in audio will affect the sound profoundly. When I used reclock, all the audio sounded like it had a glass edge (that's the best I can explain it in English). Anyone interested in finding out more about jitter should pick up a copy of the last issue of The Absolute Sound magazine. They did a very good job explaining it. But, ultimately you are correct. The choice right now is judder or jitter. However, I would think eventually some software that is capable of 24 fps output will get the audio timings right when output to a display that can sync to that refresh rate, since the movie was made that way to begin with.

why the need for reclock?
I go to nvidia control panel (8800 GTS, vista) and pick 24Hz 1920x1080p mode.
Am I missing something?
Does that not make PDVD output at 24fps? :confused:

skibum5000

03-02-08, 09:52 PM

Latest update, after over FOUR MONTHS of dealing with Cyberlink's moronic front end support, the QA department on my advice to try testing with an AMD-based platform with an 8400GS card was able to reproduce the occasional video stutters that are driving me crazy.

I found that I was able to get smoother performance by completely disabling interlacing on such titles as HD-DVD Full Metal Jacket (a seriously grainy transfer), but Cars (presumably because it is full 1080p and the interlacing settings are ignored) still stutters. I'm just wondering, has anybody else seen issues with AMD CPUs and the 8400GS?

Cyberlink is now telling me to wait for ANOTHER update to specifically address this problem. Sheesh. If they had listened to me in the first place, they could have had this problem fixed long ago, and of course I remain skeptical, as the last time they told me to wait for an update to address slugish performance, the update fixed exactly two things for me: jack and #@%$.

i get dropped frames galore on high bitrate AVC titles, for sure if they also use compressed lossless audio, especially DTS-MA unless I run AnyDVD HD in the background, for whatever reason that brings all the dropped frames back! weird. AMD CPU, 8800 GTS

BD+ discs don't allow AnyDVDHD though.... :(

Crescent

03-02-08, 10:03 PM

why the need for reclock?
I go to nvidia control panel (8800 GTS, vista) and pick 24Hz 1920x1080p mode.
Am I missing something?
Does that not make PDVD output at 24fps? :confused:

Uncertain. I was just responding to the people who are using Reclock. Perhaps one of them could respond. I would imagine the desktop would flicker quite a bit at 24 hz. Although the display probably triples or quadruples it, I imagine.

AVSAR

03-02-08, 10:48 PM

Thank you for the reply. This is the only title I have trouble with loading. I have already tried the return key and left mouse key. Bourne Ultimatum seems to load exactly the same way, but it makes it passed the loading part just fine? I have tried next, goto and menu and it just sits there stuck on loading.

This issue probably was answered but I had the exact same issue until I set the AnyDvdHd settings to rename the first play xpl (or something like that). Then, I made another ISO and all was fine.

skibum5000

03-03-08, 03:14 AM

Uncertain. I was just responding to the people who are using Reclock. Perhaps one of them could respond. I would imagine the desktop would flicker quite a bit at 24 hz. Although the display probably triples or quadruples it, I imagine.

doesn't reclock switch the display to 24Hz to get the 24fps output itself?

Andy o

03-03-08, 04:07 AM

I am having trouble. I have searched the thread, but it is so long it is hard to find anything.

I have
opteron 2GHz CPU
ATI AIW X1900 (newest 8.2 driver)
XBOX360 drive

Tried playing KingKong and had 100% CPU utilization, ATI box for AVIVO is unchecked when playing, but checked previously. Playback is obviously stuttering.

I tried burning the HD DVD to HDD and using an image file in case the USB was hampering the transfer. That did not seem to work though.
Any suggestions on how to fix this? Thanks

Do I need to do something in CCC?

As someone else suggested earlier, the X1900 does not support hardware acceleration, that's why PowerDVD unchecks it even though you check it when the movie is stopped. HW acceleration began with the HD2400 and 2600 series. Not even the HD2900 has it. I have a X1900GT and it doesn't have it, but I have an E6600 OC'd to 3.3 GHz, which handled HD-DVD pretty effortlessly when I tested.

I have another computer that I use as an HTPC now with an nVidia 8600 GTS and a less powerful processor now, you might wanna get a cheap HD-capable video card, that might be your cheapest option, though you might lose some 3D power if you go with the cheapest. Maybe something like the HD 3600 series would serve you well, or a 8600 GT or GTS if you like nVidia.

jong1

03-03-08, 04:31 AM

why the need for reclock?
I go to nvidia control panel (8800 GTS, vista) and pick 24Hz 1920x1080p mode.
Am I missing something?
Does that not make PDVD output at 24fps? :confused:Two reasons.

1. As discussed earlier, PCs have trouble with smooth playback of video because of the three different clocks in use. Reclock "fixes" this by synchronising the system and video clock and by adapting the audio if/as needed to fit, if you are not too sensitive to the audio adaptation that is.

2. Reclock has a useful add-on capability to automatically change refresh rates/resolution to suit the source material. This is especially useful if you live in Europe where DVDs and local TV are 25fps or 50Hz (interlaced), Blu-ray/HD-DVD movies are 24fps and US TV is sometimes 24fps and sometimes 60Hz (interlaced).

However, even in the US the same Blu-ray disc will often have a 24fps movie on it and some 60Hz interlaced video extras. This is not a problem if you choose to view everything @60Hz and put up with 3:2 pulldown judder, but if you want to watch the movie @24fps (or a multiple of 24fps) you have to change refresh rates (manually?) to watch the extras smoothly. And, to make things worse, some extras, e.g. deleted scenes, may be @24fps and some, e.g interviews, may be @60Hz. Also, it is often not clear what format US TV is in. Typically "drama" (Lost, Desperate Housewives etc.) is filmed, movie-style, @24fps, but sitcoms, talk shows etc. are recorded in 60Hz (interlaced). It may take some trial and error to work out which to use unless, again, you are happy to watch all @60Hz.

Reclock switches the refresh rate for you in all the above cases, even when different extras on a Blu-ray disc have different formats.

Larry J

03-03-08, 01:24 PM

Can some one check and see if they are having issues with HD-DVD version of DVE, the menus are there but there is no content showing?? Just want to make sure it's powerDVD and not my setup.

This is with the latest patch, before they worked fine.

Thanks

I'm having the same problem with the lastest version of PowerDVD, but it worked with older versions. I cannot play the files either because its the lastest version. So, I assume its broke again. PowerDVD does pop up ever so often when I first try playing DVE, saying a critical update is needed,but there is no update. I think they could have made that disc a little easier to play, considering the first versions of Powerdvd wouldn't play it, and Arcsoft won't either.

sigma957

03-03-08, 01:57 PM

"Blu Ray disks can be played back on an HTPC as long as you have a compliant drive, an HDCP-capable video card, and an HDCP display."

My question is if a HTPC can play blue ray and output it a format that I can put it into a runco projector that can resolve 1080I or 720p? the only inputs that I have are component.If you set your video card to output 720p or 1080i component, you should be able to watch blu ray discs without any problems. In fact, when using component outputs, you don't need an HDCP compliant video card or display. Those requirements only apply to HDMI.

pjavan

03-03-08, 02:00 PM

Hi, let me try this again-

I'm running v. 3516b and just installed the LG combo drive on my HTPC. When I play HD or BD titles the movies runs fine for about 10-15 mins with CPU usage ~ 60-65%, then the picture freezes and locks up my computer. I then have to reboot. It happened once at 79% and again at 60%. It's never the same scene twice. When I play standard def DVD's, there is no problem with CPU usage ~ 15%. I'm using an Nvidia 8600 GTS 512K card, Windows XP, Pentium 4 3.2 GB 533 MHz with HA engaged. Nothing else running in the background.My audio and video drivers have the latest releases.

There are a lot of bright people on this forum who know much more about this stuff.. I just want to be able to play HD material. Suggestions?

jcoles: i had a similiar problem with my 8600 gts 512 ram and it was caused because my sound card had to fit directly in front of it causing it to overheat. CPU is one indication, but you should also check temperature of the graphic card to see if it is getting too hot. I would get a temperature sensor to check this. You could have poor cooling in the case...

cybrsage

03-03-08, 02:17 PM

If you set your video card to output 720p or 1080i component, you should be able to watch blu ray discs without any problems. In fact, when using component outputs, you don't need an HDCP compliant video card or display. Those requirements only apply to HDMI.

Depends on your media player. MCE2005 will not even play standard DVDs at 1080 over component.

lsdavinci

03-03-08, 02:39 PM

I'm having the same problem with the lastest version of PowerDVD, but it worked with older versions. I cannot play the files either because its the lastest version. So, I assume its broke again. PowerDVD does pop up ever so often when I first try playing DVE, saying a critical update is needed,but there is no update. I think they could have made that disc a little easier to play, considering the first versions of Powerdvd wouldn't play it, and Arcsoft won't either.

This is true. Somehow the latest version breaks DVE menuing system. I reverted back to 3319a. Now I can't watch Knocked Up and Elizabeth: The Golden Age. And from what I understand, whatever is broken from the current version going forward is not going to be fixed at all. :(:mad:

jcoles

03-03-08, 03:45 PM

pjavan,

It doesn't lock up playing standard DVD's. Could it still be an overheating problem?

pjavan

03-03-08, 04:07 PM

pjavan,

It doesn't lock up playing standard DVD's. Could it still be an overheating problem?

The nice thing about the 8600 is that it does much of the processing for you, so the cpu doens't have to do the work. I'm a bit surprised your processor is at 60% range for HD content. Mine was at ~30% but with an intel E8400.

I am assuming that the reason its not locking on standard DVD's is because its not having the same difficutly producing the image, keeping it at cooler temperatures.

Al Sherwood

03-03-08, 05:22 PM

I have been reading all of the posts about LPCM, MA and multi channel encode audio tracks.

So the encoded multi channel is clear, we have had that for years on movies, but this 7.1 channel LPCM and Dolby True HD or Master Audio...

I was playing back the BD movie 'War', it advertises Dolby EX and LPCM 7.1 audio as some of the choices, of course when I choose the Dolby option my AVR shows DDPLIIx and shows 7.1 sound output.

When I choose LPCM 7.1 the AVR shows DDPLIIx too... On the receiver I see the LPCM is arrviving at 96kHz. It would appear that the receiver is deriving the DDPLIIx sound from the LPCM stream?

Davinleeds

03-03-08, 06:21 PM

pjavan,

It doesn't lock up playing standard DVD's. Could it still be an overheating problem?

I have a 8600gts w AMD 64/2 5200 and HDDVD is normally at 60% and BD less than 40% and if the sofware (PDVD or TMT) is behaving, the movie plays fine. RAM is important and I don't know if a P4 will do. Have you checked Cyber Advisor?
http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/support/bdhd_support/diagnosis.jsp

firedawg24

03-03-08, 06:33 PM

A while back I posted a problem about the bottom half of my screen being stretched out when playing a Blu-Ray I was directed to a few post about updating the drivers which I did and it worked great.

Fast forward a few weeks and when I tried to play an HD-DVD, Eastern Promises, I got the same problem again. I checked and I have the latest drivers. Does any one have any other clues to what this might be? It is rather annoying.

Peter Nagy

03-03-08, 06:39 PM

I have a 8600gts w AMD 64/2 5200 and HDDVD is normally at 60% and BD less than 40% and if the sofware (PDVD or TMT) is behaving, the movie plays fine. RAM is important and I don't know if a P4 will do. Have you checked Cyber Advisor?
http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/support/bdhd_support/diagnosis.jsp

I have 3 GHz P4 and Blu-ray (The Terminator movie) plays great with PowerDVD. I have not yet tried other Blu-ray movies. I am waiting for next movie to be delivered by Netflix. Cyber Advisor gave me red flag about P4. Cyberlink web site suggested minimum 3.2 GHz P4.

My gear:

Windows MCE 2005
Asus P4C800 Deluxe MB
3 GHz Pentium 4 with HT, FSB 800 MHz
2 GB Corsair RAM
Two 250 GB SATA Western Digital HD
Two VBox DTA-150 tuner 2.1.705.0 driver
Sapphire HD 3850 (Radeon) with Sapphire's CCC driver
NVIDIA PureVideo Decoder 1.02-223
Lite-On Dual layer DVD burner drive
Lite-On Blu-Ray drive
Cyberlink PowerDVD 7.3 Blu-ray edition (bundled with Blu-ray drive)
Linksys WiFi-G
Microsoft Bluetooth keyboard and mouse
Logitech Harmony 880 Remote Control
Silverstone LC13 HTPC case
Antec 1000 Watts power supply
Sony KDF-60XBR950 60" LCD rear projection TV (use DVI cable)
Rabbit Ears indoor antenna (amplified).

Peter

Allin4greeN

03-03-08, 07:13 PM

I'm having the same problem with the lastest version of PowerDVD, but it worked with older versions. I cannot play the files either because its the lastest version. So, I assume its broke again. PowerDVD does pop up ever so often when I first try playing DVE, saying a critical update is needed,but there is no update. I think they could have made that disc a little easier to play, considering the first versions of Powerdvd wouldn't play it, and Arcsoft won't either.I noticed this recently, too. I was able to play individual patterns by right clicking and selecting a chapter but, the chapter options don't correspond with those provided in the DVE booklet. All I wanted to find were the audio tests, and I had no luck after randomly selecting a bunch of different chapters.

DVE didn't run for me on 3516 either, at first. After the fourth or fifth time that I tried it, for some reason it ran with no problems. I was hoping for a similar bizarre experience with 3730 but, I'm not holding my breath.

Davinleeds

03-03-08, 07:21 PM

Thanks Peter, jcoles will be able to compare and help him with his system.

jcoles

03-03-08, 07:22 PM

Davinleeds

03-03-08, 07:55 PM

It seems a P4 works fine - as above -. All I can advise you to look into is RAM, what's your Nvidia driver - latest? HD players seem touchy with audio drivers. Make sure your audio settings match that in PDVD. Did you have hardware accel on? If it's overheating, try with cover off? The advisor might point to something other the P4 which cyber suggests as a minimum. Peter mentions HT (hyper threading?) are you? Could be power supply. Is your LG connect sata power or adapter molex? Lots of possibilities.

PS: How does it play in small screen?

PSS: Did you install the software for the LG drive?

SATA connection problem?http://club.cdfreaks.com/f142/lg-ggc-h20l-problems-love-god-please-help-236156
http://club.cdfreaks.com/f142/blu-ray-hddvd-lg-ggc-h20l-combo-drive-issues-235895/

And there's some mention of sata on the AVS thread where you first asked.

Peter Nagy

03-03-08, 08:10 PM

I just remember. When I was watching Terminator movie, twice it would go to continous slowdown or stuttering. It gets resolved by hitting the rewind button and then hit the playback button and it fixes itself.

Yes, HT means Hyperthreading and it's enabled via BIOS setup screen.

I updated my gear setup to mention the FSB is 800 MHz.

Peter

taeboguy

03-03-08, 08:52 PM

Well, apparently I had some type of corrupt installation that occurred having the OEM PowerDVD installation and then adding the Ultra version. I uninstalled and reinstalled PowerDVD Ultra and BAM! No more jitter/stuttering on playback.

Not really sure what happened but it seems to be fixed now.

Thanks to all for the assistance in trying to fix this problem. :D

MikeZ06

03-03-08, 10:02 PM

Just built a HTPC with a 2600 XT graphics card. For the price this card CANNOT be beat! Handles anything that I throw at it. My cpu during HD playback is only at around 10%. The 2600 handles all the encoding of hd. If anyone is building a pc for strictly movies, it seems the ATI cards are a no brainer.

aaraaf

03-03-08, 10:51 PM

Thanks for the info. Yes, I've noticed that it is clearly dropped frames, not judder as many people suspect. I suspected that bit rate might be somewhat responsible for the problem, only because the problem is noticeable on some titles but not on others, and I suspected based on image quality that Cars was quite high. I've also had playback problems with Planet Earth, in scenes where there is high motion complexity (such as a pan). One scene that features a fly over of mountains in the second episode is so bad that the audio itself begins stuttering, and that has nothing to do with a 3:2 pulldown. It is as if PowerDVD is having a tough time keeping up. It would be one thing if my hardware was barely scraping by, but according to Cyberlink's Blu-ray/HD-DVD adviser, I have green bullets for everything including CPU, graphics, and it's not like my CPU is taxed, as it is only running at around 33% during playback. The LG combo drive is supposed to be 6x Blu-ray, so it should be fast enough to read off the bits, and my memory utilization, while high, is not completely exhausted. I have 1GB of RAM, and I've killed as many background processes as possible. The fact that it ALWAYS occurs on the exact same frames is an indication that this is not being caused by the operating system or any background processes, since resources would become scarce and page faults would occur at different times depending on what else is going on in the system. Somewhere, there must be a problem between PowerDVD and the nVidia driver and/or hardware, as people seem to have fewer issues with ATI.

I just watched Pirates 3 - At World's End with absolutely no issue, and then Ratatouille. Ratatouille doesn't drop frames like Meet the Robinsons (which is rather consistent throughout) but does on occasion. Similiar again to Meet the Robinsons, some shot changes result in frames from later in the shot showing up first, in a sort of blink, before proceeding normally.

It wouldn't surprise me to find out that the encodes are slightly out of the norm... Disney did that with the original DVD encodes of some of their movies... pushing just past what most of the 1st and 2nd gen players would display. Forced me to change out my player way back then.

They look incredible, and I've got a really good feeling that it's just software related. But it does make me curious since Pirates 3 (while live action) is from the same studio, and probably encoded by the same people and processes.

Anyone here seeing these same things on Power DVD and other drives? Is it different with an upgrade to Ultra or Nero?

The other interesting thing is that I can record HDTV through my Hauppage while watching a movie... It doesn't effect the playback in any way whatsoever. The problems and weirdnesses in the playback are always identical, and are always frame for frame.

Sunnie

03-03-08, 11:16 PM

This issue probably was answered but I had the exact same issue until I set the AnyDvdHd settings to rename the first play xpl (or something like that). Then, I made another ISO and all was fine.

Thank you,but I finally figured this out on my own also.

Sunnie

03-04-08, 12:15 AM

American Gangster HDDVD plays fine on my machine. All of my HDDVD titles play perfectly. The loading portion of the HDDVD disc is when it is trying to check for updated content on a server. Hit return on your keyboard (or if you have the mouse enabled for HDDVD in PDVDU, click the left mouse button)...this will bypass the online content checking and go straight to the main menu.

Also make sure to disable AnyDVD HD if you have it running.

Hitting return or left mouse button didn't work for me on this movie, but...

I actually got American Gangsters to play only by using AnyDVDHD and changing the settings in ANYDVDHD ( example, check box, skip to main title,through experimenting. Now it plays Menus and movie flawlessly. This particular setup has a Westy HD Monitor (720P) that is not seen as HDCP compliant (even though it is) buy this computer. My other HTPC 47" Westy (1080P) is seen as HDCP compliant, but I still had to use AnyDVDHD with same setting to get American Gangster to play. As long as it plays, I will use what ever means necessary.

Peter Nagy

03-04-08, 01:14 AM

Jim Gilliland

03-04-08, 08:19 AM

vpopovic

03-04-08, 08:55 AM

Guys,

I did some searching around, but could not find the answer to my question, so help will be appreciated.

I have Nvidia 8800 Ultra and since I upgraded to version CyberLinkPowerDVD_Ultra_3516PF2.exe (file name, don't have my HTPC handy to check version, file version says 4.0.100.1190), I can't turn off hardware acceleration. I am using the same drivers 169.39 as I did before.

I did some random changes to PowerDVD registry that sounded like could help (entered 0's where it sounded like DXVA or PureVideo), but I just get grayed out HW acc box checked, and info clearly says DXVA is on. Most of my changes were restored to original settings after I open and play BR in PDVD. I looked in Nvidia driver registry as well, but there is nothing that sounds like DXVA or PureVideo settings string. I did find a fix for ATI cards in the thread, but not for Nvidia.

Any idea how to turn this off? Otherwise PDVD works quite well for me, considering all the horror stories in the thread. PQ is very good, almost at par/or at par with PS3.

cybrsage

03-04-08, 10:38 AM

I have an OEM PowerDVD 7.3 Blu-ray edition that came with Lite-On Blu-ray drive. It works great in my HTPC.

Is there a difference between this version and the Ultra version? Will I be able to get free updates with OEM? Should I buy an Ultra?

Thanks,
Peter

OEM is limited to 2 channel sound. Ultra is full sound.

Yes, you get updates with the OEM, but long after the Ultra gets them.

Al Sherwood

03-04-08, 11:48 AM

OEM is limited to 2 channel sound. Ultra is full sound.

Yes, you get updates with the OEM, but long after the Ultra gets them.

My HD/BD OEM version that came with my LG drive said that it was 2 channel but passed multi channel sound without any modifications through the SP/DIF connection...

mpgxsvcd

03-04-08, 02:49 PM

PowerDVD8 announced today!

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13291732#post13291732

http://download.cyberlink.com/ftpdload/PDVD8_BetaTest/PowerDVD8_BetaTest080222.exe

genro

03-04-08, 02:54 PM

PowerDVD8 announced today!

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13291732#post13291732

http://download.cyberlink.com/ftpdload/PDVD8_BetaTest/PowerDVD8_BetaTest080222.exe

I wonder what the major additions will be from the current version. Any install this yet?

lsdavinci

03-04-08, 03:51 PM

I wonder what the major additions will be from the current version. Any install this yet?

Probably new features but same problems. Does anyone know what the upgrade cost will be? And has anyone played with it yet?

jojoxl

03-04-08, 03:56 PM

PowerDVD8 announced today!

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13291732#post13291732

http://download.cyberlink.com/ftpdload/PDVD8_BetaTest/PowerDVD8_BetaTest080222.exe

New features let users remix movies, rate movies, writing reviews, and collect movie info and trivia

Ooo boy! [/sarcasm]

kevin_y

03-04-08, 09:26 PM

I installed the 3730 update and now Digital Video Essential HD DVD doesn't work. Anyone has the same problem?

HT Slider

03-04-08, 09:52 PM

OEM is limited to 2 channel sound. Ultra is full sound.

Yes, you get updates with the OEM, but long after the Ultra gets them.

As I've said before (many times), I get full 5.1 audio no matter what audio track I select and I'm running the OEM version.

I'm using SPDIF and my motherboard has DTS Connect. It uses passthrough with DD5.1 and DTS and when playing a TrueHD or other multi-channel track, the motherboard kicks in and uses DTS Connect. The 5.1 channels do always work properly (sounds that should be behind me are behind me, etc.)

gsr

03-04-08, 09:55 PM

As I've said before (many times), I get full 5.1 audio no matter what audio track I select and I'm running the OEM version.

I'm using SPDIF and my motherboard has DTS Connect. It uses passthrough with DD5.1 and DTS and when playing a TrueHD or other multi-channel track, the motherboard kicks in and uses DTS Connect. The 5.1 channels do always work properly (sounds that should be behind me are behind me, etc.)

And as has also been said many times, the 2 channel restriction in the OEM version applies to ANALOG output.

HT Slider

03-04-08, 10:15 PM

And as has also been said many times, the 2 channel restriction in the OEM version applies to ANALOG output.

Where has it been said the OEM version 2-channel restriction only applies to analog output?

I don't understand how this is really possible either. In order for my system to produce multi-channel audio when playing a Dolby TrueHD track, doesn't PowerDVD need to be able to decode the TrueHD into multi-channel PCM.

The multi-channel PCM is then passed to the audio driver and because I have DTS Connect the motherboard turns the multi-channel PCM into DTS. If I was using analog audio outputs, wouldn't this produce multi-channel analog audio with the OEM version? PCM is after-all what is used to produce analog audio.

I know I for one am not clear on the audio restrictions with the OEM version. From what I've been able to surmise, it seems to me that what the OEM version is missing is specifically the basic Dolby Digital and basic DTS codecs and that is it. If that is true, then it is only DD5.1 and DTS that can't produce multi-channel analog audio with the OEM version. Everything else would be able to provide multi-channel analog audio.

The OEM version must (in my understanding at least) include the decoders for at least multi-channel TrueHD and DTS-HD - otherwise we wouldn't be able to hear multi-channel audio with our OEM versions and it definitely works.

RichB

03-04-08, 10:59 PM

New features let users remix movies, rate movies, writing reviews, and collect movie info and trivia

Ooo boy! [/sarcasm]

Perhaps, the information flows in the other direction. ;)

- Rich

tsb

03-04-08, 11:33 PM

anyone try the test yet?

still play from iso?

I'll try it out tonight probably

drealit

03-05-08, 01:10 AM

I have the latest version of PowerDVD (patched up) and seem to be having some trouble with playback of standard dvds. After about 5-10min. of dvd-play the image will lock up (counter will continue) and the software will become unresponsive (you can't even manually shut it down through task manager). I can't figure out why this is happening since MPC runs fine as does VLC when I play back dvd's (ffdshow and spdifer are used).

I am very concerned about this because I have an LG GGW-H20L (bluray/hd internal drive) arriving within the next few days. Right now the only software capable of HD playback is Powerdvd and TotalMedia Theatre. I have Powerdvd and don't really want to dish out another $100 for the TotalMedia software when the drive arrives...

Does anyone have any idea what can be causing this???

My hardware:
E6300 @ 3.1ghz
4x1GB Corsair 6400 memory @ 886mhz
Abit IP35-E Motherboard
XFX 8800GT 512mb Video Card @ 680, 1700, 995mhz
Windows XP 32bit

I have the latest video drivers... and am about to reinstall directx and update my motherboard drivers if there are any updates available.

I've been pulling my hair out all day trying to figure out what is causing the seize up... since I'll obviously need PowerDVD for my HD playback.