PowerDVD Ultra (HD-DVD and Blu-Ray)

[debbi2]

We can't get Pirates OC At worlds end to play. Have tried 2 dif discs from Netflix. Have HP pc and their version of PowerDVD. Is there a better thread I should be posting on?

[Peter Nagy]

We can't get Pirates OC At worlds end to play. Have tried 2 dif discs from Netflix. Have HP pc and their version of PowerDVD. Is there a better thread I should be posting on?

Please describe the problem. What does it do? Are you able to see main menu?, etc.

Also please give your computer specification like CPU and speed, video card spec like chip set (NVIDIA or ATI) and RAM, etc. What is the model number of your HP computer?

This is a stupid question: Is the disk Blu-ray and does your computer have Blu-ray drive? Also is your video card and TV HDCP compliant?

Peter

[245fredrik]

I'm sorry if this is already answered but the thread is just so huge..

What is required of a motherboard to send out a correct signal from my HTPC with a blu-ray reader to my receiver, that can decode DTS-HD Master and Dolby TrueHD using the HDMI interface?

HDMI 1.3 or the onboard soundchip? or both? I'm currently looking for an m-atx socket 775 board with onboard graphics and sound that can handle both video and sound. I understand that with the new version of PowerDVD this will be possible, just want to make sure what is required of the hardware.

Thanks in advance.

[jldet5]

I'm sorry if this is already answered but the thread is just so huge..

What is required of a motherboard to send out a correct signal from my HTPC with a blu-ray reader to my receiver, that can decode DTS-HD Master and Dolby TrueHD using the HDMI interface?

HDMI 1.3 or the onboard soundchip? or both? I'm currently looking for an m-atx socket 775 board with onboard graphics and sound that can handle both video and sound. I understand that with the new version of PowerDVD this will be possible, just want to make sure what is required of the hardware.

Thanks in advance.

I know the ATI cards will put out HDMI audio. How well I don't know but I'm just guessing that you can't do it from the mboard. How would you combine video and audio into the one cable? Wouldn't this make it a video card solution like the hd3450 or hd3850?

[Andy o]

I'm sorry if this is already answered but the thread is just so huge..

What is required of a motherboard to send out a correct signal from my HTPC with a blu-ray reader to my receiver, that can decode DTS-HD Master and Dolby TrueHD using the HDMI interface?

HDMI 1.3 or the onboard soundchip? or both? I'm currently looking for an m-atx socket 775 board with onboard graphics and sound that can handle both video and sound. I understand that with the new version of PowerDVD this will be possible, just want to make sure what is required of the hardware.

Thanks in advance.

Yeah, you'll need HDMI 1.3a with audio capabilities. Right now there aren't any mobos or sound cards that can do it, but Auzentech is supposedly coming out with an extension for the X-Prelude, and the Intel G45 chipsets (to be released sooner rather than later in the year will also have that capability directly from the mobo. There are also nVidia chipsets with this, but I don't thin they've released them yet.

But also, your player should be able to bitstream HDMI audio, and right now none do it. Maybe PowerDVD 8 will.

[Andy o]

I know the ATI cards will put out HDMI audio. How well I don't know but I'm just guessing that you can't do it from the mboard. How would you combine video and audio into the one cable? Wouldn't this make it a video card solution like the hd3450 or hd3850?

The ATI cards don't really do HDMI. They piggyback S/PDIF through the HDMI connector. I do the same with an nVidia 8600GTS (from MSI I think) and connecting the S/PDIF out of my mobo to the special S/PDIF input connector on my graphics card. It is still limited to S/PDIF, as are the ATI ones.

[jldet5]

The ATI cards don't really do HDMI. They piggyback S/PDIF through the HDMI connector. I do the same with an nVidia 8600GTS (from MSI I think) and connecting the S/PDIF out of my mobo to the special S/PDIF input connector on my graphics card. It is still limited to S/PDIF, as are the ATI ones.

Good point.

HDMI output support
Supports all display resolutions up to 1920x10801
Integrated HD audio controller with up to 2 channel 48 kHz stereo or multichannel(5.1) AC3 enabling a plug-and-play cable-less audio solution

Still don't get how there can be an mboard solution if the HDMI cable carries both video and audio. Does this mean the video card will have to be integrated into the mboard and aren't those usually not the way to go?

[Davinleeds]

The ATI cards don't really do HDMI. They piggyback S/PDIF through the HDMI connector. I do the same with an nVidia 8600GTS (from MSI I think) and connecting the S/PDIF out of my mobo to the special S/PDIF input connector on my graphics card. It is still limited to S/PDIF, as are the ATI ones.

What's the advantage to this. I have the Inferno too and don't have a mb spdif out into the Inferno but the Inferno seems to map correctly and DD and DTS work fine.

[Andy o]

What's the advantage to this. I have the Inferno too and don't have a mb spdif out into the Inferno but the Inferno seems to map correctly and DD and DTS work fine.

That was kinda my point, there is not much advantage besides using a single cable. I think ATI advertising it as audio through HDMI and not saying clearly and conspicuously that it's S/PDIF-limited is misleading. They just bury the spec there like it's not important. When the HD2000 series came out, people were wondering for months (and it seems they still do with the HD3000 series) if the ATI cards did proper HDMI audio.

In my case, it works because I sometimes lug my HTPC to work and connect it to the 52" AQUOS, but like I said, I use an MSI 8600GTS with a S/PDIF input on the card to achieve the exact same goal (even better, cause there's no messing around with ATI drivers).

In fact, with a card like the Inferno, it's better to do plain old S/PDIF, since it has DTS Connect and Dolby Digital Live, and can even output Dolby Headphone through the PCM S/PDIF out. I wanted to connect my Inferno's S/PDIF to the graphics card, but it doesn't have coax S/PDIF.

[sr1nath]

I have PowerDVD ultra on my vista home premium HTPC. I recently got LG combo drive and downloaded AnyDVD HD. I am able to play bluray discs in PowerDVD Ultra while AnyDVD HD is filtering the drive to remove AACS.

I used AnyDVD to rip the bluray (Kingdom of Heaven) to hard drive in File Mode. I see the AnyDVD creating bunch of necessary files. I would like to used PowerDVD ultra to play the ripped movie from hard disk but it is not working. In PowerDVD, when I try to choose the 'source', it will not recognize the root of the ripped movie folder. Why is that? I can still play ripped SD DVDs in PowerDVD by pointing to the folder root.

BTW, I checked the Information about PowerDVD but could not find the version. How do I see what version of PowerDVD I am running?

[jldet5]

I have PowerDVD ultra on my vista home premium HTPC. I recently got LG combo drive and downloaded AnyDVD HD. I am able to play bluray discs in PowerDVD Ultra while AnyDVD HD is filtering the drive to remove AACS.

I used AnyDVD to rip the bluray (Kingdom of Heaven) to hard drive in File Mode. I see the AnyDVD creating bunch of necessary files. I would like to used PowerDVD ultra to play the ripped movie from hard disk but it is not working. In PowerDVD, when I try to choose the 'source', it will not recognize the root of the ripped movie folder. Why is that? I can still play ripped SD DVDs in PowerDVD by pointing to the folder root.

BTW, I checked the Information about PowerDVD but could not find the version. How do I see what version of PowerDVD I am running?

When you first bring up PDVD, right click on the red screen and choose about. Left click on 'your computer name' under 'this product is licensed...'

I'm still a novice at this but I've seen where earlier versions like 3104 and 3319a are recommended.

[Andy o]

When you first bring up PDVD, right click on the red screen and choose about. Left click on 'your computer name' under 'this product is licensed...'

I'm still a novice at this but I've seen where earlier versions like 3104 and 3319a are recommended.

Yeah, 3319a is the last build with which you're able to play from folder. What most of us do now is enable AnyDVD HD, and then rip the movie to an ISO file with ImgBurn, and then mount the ISO with Daemon Tools. PowerDVD will read it as a disc then.

[tsb]

Yeah, 3319a is the last build with which you're able to play from folder. What most of us do now is enable AnyDVD HD, and then rip the movie to an ISO file with ImgBurn, and then mount the ISO with Daemon Tools. PowerDVD will read it as a disc then.

Some of us still have troubles with the isos with 3730 though. I get unsupported disk errors or purple screens with BD isos, even those created in read mode. On an old install the problem automatically fixed itself, but on my latest it didn't. I stay with 3319a now and use standalones when needed. I plan to install PDVD8 whenit gets releases and should have the best of both worlds with 3319a and v.8 together.

[qilin]

First time trying to play blu-ray, using PowerDVD 7.3 3319a. I can play the .m2ts file fine, but when trying to play the folder or .iso disc mounted with daemon tools, it's all mosaic (protected?). I would like to be able to select language and use the .iso. Did a search and can't seem to find an answer. Any help appreciated. My PC has AMD athlon X2 4800+, 4G RAM, GeForce 7600GS. I have tried removing Region code with AnyDVD with no success.

[jldet5]

First time trying to play blu-ray, using PowerDVD 7.3 3319a. I can play the .m2ts file fine, but when trying to play the folder or .iso disc mounted with daemon tools, it's all mosaic (protected?). I would like to be able to select language and use the .iso. Did a search and can't seem to find an answer. Any help appreciated. My PC has AMD athlon X2 4800+, 4G RAM, GeForce 7600GS. I have tried removing Region code with AnyDVD with no success.

Just wondering if you need anydvd hd with bluray support checked and running while you rip or need to use the anydvd ripper.

I always just run from the disc. Never understood why people take the time to rip to the hard drive but I KNOW it is a popular method.

[UFGrayMatter]

For me its simple: Better Netflix throughput. When I get my netflix in the mail, I just rip to HD the same day, and return the next day. Then I can just take my time watching it without the pressure to return it to get my next movie. With turnaround times, weekends, and US mail holidays, I find lots of days where we're sitting there wishing we had a movie, and driving to the overpriced blockbuster down the street. Using the PC as a "temp buffer" I can get 18-20 discs a month on the 3 movie plan.
you should put a big flag up for the movie studios - "COME ARREST ME"....

you should watch your comments

[RichB]

you should put a big flag up for the movie studios - "COME ARREST ME"....

you should watch your comments

I don't share, sell, or copy. Just watch at my leisure and delete. Very similar to someone that watches everything they get the same night they receive it in the mail. My punishment is that I get "throttled" as a heavy netflix user, and rarely get the new releases first.


You avoided driving. Very green :p

- Rich

[UFGrayMatter]

You avoided driving. Very green :p

- Richhaha

[MKANET]

Yes.. I was just going to say... what was your reasoning for ripping to speed up "Netflix throughput" if they've slowed you down even more than even the standard 3 rental user for receiving new releases. Anyway, I remember watching too many movies too quickly in the past from Netflix, and wondered why I wasn't able to get any more movies except for old ones that I really didnt care to rent.

I don't share, sell, or copy. Just watch at my leisure and delete. Very similar to someone that watches everything they get the same night they receive it in the mail. My punishment is that I get "throttled" as a heavy netflix user, and rarely get the new releases first.

[daemonic]

Yes.. I was just going to say... what was your reasoning for ripping to speed up "Netflix throughput" if they've slowed you down even more than even the standard 3 rental user for receiving new releases. Anyway, I remember watching too many movies too quickly in the past from Netflix, and wondered why I wasn't able to get any more movies except for old ones that I really didnt care to rent.

Yeah, I'm actually ok with missing new releases immediately, since I know I'll get to them eventually. It just means I can give a non-mainstream movie a chance that I probably wouldn't have otherwise, or let's something come for my daughter. We can't go to theaters anymore for new movies, so what's another couple of weeks. :)

[Andy o]

I got a kind of weird question. Has anyone tried to run PowerDVD on a Mac, using BootCamp? If so, have you tried AnyDVD?

[UFGrayMatter]

I got a kind of weird question. Has anyone tried to run PowerDVD on a Mac, using BootCamp? If so, have you tried AnyDVD?
works fine using bootcamp if the chipset is compatible - not on mac minis

[XxDeadlyxX]

I have a question about DTS-HD MA.... if the movie is 7.1 (ie. New Line releases), if PowerDVD8 does decode MA, will it downmix to my 5.1 speakers but still retain the MA audio? Or will it just default to the DTS core 5.1 when PDVD is set to 6 speakers? I know no-one currently knows, but what do standalone players do?

[MKANET]

Is there a way to take screenshots of Blu-ray movies. Screen capture option for PDVD looks like its deliberately disabled. I'm using EVR under Vista.

[Andy o]

works fine using bootcamp if the chipset is compatible - not on mac minis

Thanks, what do you mean incompatible chipsets though? The Mac mini is exactly what I had in mind, but not the current ones, they are due for an update soon I believe. Mac mini + Penryn = sweet way to try out a Mac without the Mac guilt (that's what I call it). Current minis are still Core 2 duo (Merom I believe), so how do you know which chipsets are compatible with PowerDVD? (Or did you mean compatible with Windows for running Bootcamp?)

[UFGrayMatter]

Thanks, what do you mean incompatible chipsets though? The Mac mini is exactly what I had in mind, but not the current ones, they are due for an update soon I believe. Mac mini + Penryn = sweet way to try out a Mac without the Mac guilt (that's what I call it). Current minis are still Core 2 duo (Merom I believe), so how do you know which chipsets are compatible with PowerDVD? (Or did you mean compatible with Windows for running Bootcamp?)

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13267602#post13267602

[dexx]

When i'm watching a hddvd in powerdvd and i hit stop, then play, the movie starts from the beginning. Is there some setting that will make it resume play from where it last stopped?

[Andy o]

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13267602#post13267602

I see what you mean now, but if AnyDVD HD is applied, I don't think it'd be much of a problem. I see also you asked this same question which went unanswered. I don't see why it wouldn't play HD discs anyway, if the CPU is powerful enough.

[chung0816]

But my amp only support decode DTS and DD 5.1.

Is it possbile to play powerdvd and chosse the Dolby digital true HD down to DD5.1 to my amp?
My suitation is when I choose the Dolby digital true HD, my amp didn't detect any DD or DTS. Stereo only.
But I choose DTS HD Master, it can down to DTS and my amp can show DTS.

I know my config. cannot play Dolby digital true HD and DTS-HD Master. (My HTP-33 only can decode DD and DTS.)
But I just want to have DD or DTS when I playing movie.

My config:
AMD 3600+ @2.66
HD2600XT
Biostar 690g
ALC 888
Lite-on Blu-ray rom
Use optical connect to my Pioneer HTP-33

[Andy o]

But my amp only support decode DTS and DD 5.1.

Is it possbile to play powerdvd and chosse the Dolby digital true HD down to DD5.1 to my amp?
My suitation is when I choose the Dolby digital true HD, my amp didn't detect any DD or DTS. Stereo only.
But I choose DTS HD Master, it can down to DTS and my amp can show DTS.

I know my config. cannot play Dolby digital true HD and DTS-HD Master. (My HTP-33 only can decode DD and DTS.)
But I just want to have DD or DTS when I playing movie.

My config:
AMD 3600+ @2.66
HD2600XT
Biostar 690g
ALC 888
Lite-on Blu-ray rom
Use optical connect to my Pioneer HTP-33

As far as I know, TrueHD does not carry a DD 5.1 "core" as the DTS-HD streams do with DTS. So for a TrueHD track, for now you'll have to have PowerDVD do the decoding into multichannel (by selecting 6 or 8 channels in the Audio options) and then downmixing to DTS or DD by getting an audio card that does DTS Connect or Dolby Digital Live, output from PowerDVD to multichannel, and then let your audio driver output it through DDL or DTS Connect.

[chung0816]

As far as I know, TrueHD does not carry a DD 5.1 "core" as the DTS-HD streams do with DTS. So for a TrueHD track, for now you'll have to have PowerDVD do the decoding into multichannel (by selecting 6 or 8 channels in the Audio options) and then downmixing to DTS or DD by getting an audio card that does DTS Connect or Dolby Digital Live, output from PowerDVD to multichannel, and then let your audio driver output it through DDL or DTS Connect.

But my onbroad sound ALC888 seem don't have DTS connect.
But I seem the spec. of the ALC888 can option add DTS connect.
I could like to ask is it possible to add-on the DTS connect to my onbroad sound?

[debbi2]

Please describe the problem. What does it do? Are you able to see main menu?, etc.

Also please give your computer specification like CPU and speed, video card spec like chip set (NVIDIA or ATI) and RAM, etc. What is the model number of your HP computer?

This is a stupid question: Is the disk Blu-ray and does your computer have Blu-ray drive? Also is your video card and TV HDCP compliant?

Peter
Thanks for replying. I have an HP Slimline I think it is 3330. It has a BluRay player by Cyberlink but specifically for the HP. I went online and downloaded the update and it works fine now. The problem I was experiencing (with POC 3) was that it wouldn't go past the Menu. I would select "English" and it would act like it was going to continue, but I never got past a black screen. All is well now.

[jldet5]

But my onbroad sound ALC888 seem don't have DTS connect.
But I seem the spec. of the ALC888 can option add DTS connect.
I could like to ask is it possible to add-on the DTS connect to my onbroad sound?

I doubt it. I just ordered a PCI sound card from newegg which should be here in a few days that does DD live and connect. I'll let you know how it turns out.

You can also choose the spdif option in PDVD and then choose the downmix of DTS once the video is playing. Not too cool to have to make all those option choices plus it does not retain them. At least not in the version I'm running.

[Andy o]

I doubt it. I just ordered a PCI sound card from newegg which should be here in a few days that does DD live and connect. I'll let you know how it turns out.

You can also choose the spdif option in PDVD and then choose the downmix of DTS once the video is playing. Not too cool to have to make all those option choices plus it does not retain them. At least not in the version I'm running.

I was gonna suggest that too, but I think it doesn't work with TrueHD soundtracks, only with LPCM. With TrueHD, as soon as you select S/PDIF the track switches to 2-channel TrueHD.

[UFGrayMatter]

I see what you mean now, but if AnyDVD HD is applied, I don't think it'd be much of a problem. I see also you asked this same question which went unanswered. I don't see why it wouldn't play HD discs anyway, if the CPU is powerful enough.

i'm pretty sure this was answered, if not on that thread else where - PDVD will not play back HD/BD on the mini PERIOD.

[chung0816]

I doubt it. I just ordered a PCI sound card from newegg which should be here in a few days that does DD live and connect. I'll let you know how it turns out.

You can also choose the spdif option in PDVD and then choose the downmix of DTS once the video is playing. Not too cool to have to make all those option choices plus it does not retain them. At least not in the version I'm running.


Can you tell me which sound card had you bought?
I think DD True HD cannot downmix from PowerDVD.

But I had try to install the Nero ShowTime.
This player can downmix the True HD to DD, it sounds good.
I will try it more and report it later.

[Andy o]

Can you tell me which sound card had you bought?
I think DD True HD cannot downmix from PowerDVD.

But I had try to install the Nero ShowTime.
This player can downmix the True HD to DD, it sounds good.
I will try it more and report it later.

It will work fine if your card does DTS Connect. You'll just need to set PowerDVD to multichannel out and let your card's driver do its DTS magic. It doesn't work when you set S/PDIF in PowerDVD, but even if it did, PowerDVD has a bug that sounds horrible (high-pitched ring) when you let it downmix to DTS.

[chung0816]

It will work fine if your card does DTS Connect. You'll just need to set PowerDVD to multichannel out and let your card's driver do its DTS magic. It doesn't work when you set S/PDIF in PowerDVD, but even if it did, PowerDVD has a bug that sounds horrible (high-pitched ring) when you let it downmix to DTS.

Thanks your advices
But my MB doesn't have DTS connect.
I need to found other SW to downmix to DD.

If no another SW can do that, I think I need to buy a Sound card.

Hope NERO show time 4 can do it perfectly~

[Andy o]

Thanks your advices
But my MB doesn't have DTS connect.
I need to found other SW to downmix to DD.

If no another SW can do that, I think I need to buy a Sound card.

Hope NERO show time 4 can do it perfectly~

Yeah, I was just saying that because you asked the other poster what sound card he bought. I was reiterating that a sound card with DTS Connect and DDLive would work indeed. If you need to buy one, make sure it has one of those features.

[soyuppy]

I'd be interested if anyone who has done some comparison between these. I don't have any BR/HD DVD player so I can't do it myself. But I have done comparison with SD playback.

My current equipment & setup:
Core 2 Duo OC 3.0Ghz with 2GB memory
LG BR/HD DVD Drive Combo
ATI Radeon XT2600 with 256MB DDR3
PDVD playing all movie
1080P Mits DLP RPTV
Phillip 1080P upconver DVD Player

PDVD play SD movie in 1080p(DVI->HDMI) vs Phillip 1080p up-converted DVD Player(HDMI->HDMI).
* Everything at default setting. The Phillip scores better in all category. Brightness, color vibrant, image clarity and sharpness, pixel jitter.

I tried to adjust the ATI and the setting on the DLP, just still cannot get it to anything close to the Phillip. Also play with setting on PDVD, like Theater mode vs vivid mode, etc. Didn't help much.

So it get me to wonder. What about the BR HD content? It does looks good, but how is it compare to the real HD player, like Samsung, Sony, Panasonic, Pioneer, etc?

[CardNation]

I'm having an issue with my new setup when I try to play HD media.

After setting everything up I decided to hook up my xbox 360 HD DVD player to see how my HTPC handles HD content.

Everything starts off smooth, but once the actual movie starts the processor usage pegs at 100% and everything slows and skips. Ive tried 4 different HD DVDs all essentially do the same thing.

What baffles me is when I go to abc.com and stream an HD episode of Lost, all is well.

Any suggestions as to what I'm overlooking?

System:

Display: 42" LG Plasma
OS: Vista Ultimate w/ PowerDVD Ultra
CPU: Athlon X2 Brisbane 5000+ BE (Overclocked to a stable 3.05ghz)
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-MA69GM-S2H AMD 690G chipset
Memory: Crucial Ballistix DDR2-800 2 x 1GB
HDD: SAMSUNG HD250HJ 250GB 7200 RPM SATA

[AbMagFab]

I'm having an issue with my new setup when I try to play HD media.

After setting everything up I decided to hook up my xbox 360 HD DVD player to see how my HTPC handles HD content.

Everything starts off smooth, but once the actual movie starts the processor usage pegs at 100% and everything slows and skips. Ive tried 4 different HD DVDs all essentially do the same thing.

What baffles me is when I go to abc.com and stream an HD episode of Lost, all is well.

Any suggestions as to what I'm overlooking?

System:

Display: 42" LG Plasma
OS: Vista Ultimate w/ PowerDVD Ultra
CPU: Athlon X2 Brisbane 5000+ BE (Overclocked to a stable 3.05ghz)
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-MA69GM-S2H AMD 690G chipset
Memory: Crucial Ballistix DDR2-800 2 x 1GB
HDD: SAMSUNG HD250HJ 250GB 7200 RPM SATA

#1 - HD streaming from ABC is not real HD. It's super compressed and not even close the to same bandwidth as a HDDVD/BD

#2 - Have you installed any MB utilities, like the ASUS ones (I assume GB has them too)? They tend to interfere.

#3 - Have you looked to see what is using CPU? Maybe it's not PDVD

#4 - Have you checked to see the encoding used? Sometimes these issues are specific to the encoding of the disc (e.g. VC-1).

#5 - What's the video card - is it on board? I think the 690 is woefully underpowered for HD playback, isn't it?

[lsdavinci]

I'm having an issue with my new setup when I try to play HD media.

After setting everything up I decided to hook up my xbox 360 HD DVD player to see how my HTPC handles HD content.

Everything starts off smooth, but once the actual movie starts the processor usage pegs at 100% and everything slows and skips. Ive tried 4 different HD DVDs all essentially do the same thing.

What baffles me is when I go to abc.com and stream an HD episode of Lost, all is well.

Any suggestions as to what I'm overlooking?

System:

Display: 42" LG Plasma
OS: Vista Ultimate w/ PowerDVD Ultra
CPU: Athlon X2 Brisbane 5000+ BE (Overclocked to a stable 3.05ghz)
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-MA69GM-S2H AMD 690G chipset
Memory: Crucial Ballistix DDR2-800 2 x 1GB
HDD: SAMSUNG HD250HJ 250GB 7200 RPM SATA

My initial recommendation is to bring down the CPU to it's default speed (no-overclocking). Just make note of your settings so that if this test doesn't work, you can go back to your regularly scheduled overclock.

[ctiq21]

CardNation,

Do you have a video card? Or are you using onboard video?

I have a similar setup and could only get some HD DVDs and Blurays to work correctly. The bitrate is just too high even for the overclocked 5000 on some discs. (mostly the AVC bluray)

I ended up getting the Sapphire 2600xt and everything runs great.

[daemonic]

PDVD has always had the ability to timecompress audio up to 2x fast forward speed. I do this on my laptop fine using headphones, and I can get through movies faster if I'm in a time crunch.

On the HTPC though, it doesn't seem to be able to timecompress and send audio out SPDIF. Maybe it only can send passthrough SPDIF without processing the stream? My standalone JVC DVD player will timecompress and still send a downmixed stereo stream out the optical so I was expecting the same from PDVD. I don't mind the downmix because I only do this when I have the headphones late at night anyway (the wife hates sped up voices).

I realize this may be a rare usage, but just curious if anyone knows a magic setting to get timecompressed audion out spdif, or even downmixed stereo (mine gets grayed out when spdif is used).

[Fredrik Rasmussen]

I'd be interested if anyone who has done some comparison between these. I don't have any BR/HD DVD player so I can't do it myself. But I have done comparison with SD playback.

My current equipment & setup:
Core 2 Duo OC 3.0Ghz with 2GB memory
LG BR/HD DVD Drive Combo
ATI Radeon XT2600 with 256MB DDR3
PDVD playing all movie
1080P Mits DLP RPTV
Phillip 1080P upconver DVD Player

PDVD play SD movie in 1080p(DVI->HDMI) vs Phillip 1080p up-converted DVD Player(HDMI->HDMI).
* Everything at default setting. The Phillip scores better in all category. Brightness, color vibrant, image clarity and sharpness, pixel jitter.

I tried to adjust the ATI and the setting on the DLP, just still cannot get it to anything close to the Phillip. Also play with setting on PDVD, like Theater mode vs vivid mode, etc. Didn't help much.

So it get me to wonder. What about the BR HD content? It does looks good, but how is it compare to the real HD player, like Samsung, Sony, Panasonic, Pioneer, etc?

Yes a properly configged PS3 (BTB/WTW/Component over HDMI/1080p/24) will have superior quality and image flow plus stability better than any PowerDVD version, probably forever as it looks now.. PS3 gets better and better for every patch, PowerDVD works the other way around :confused:

[qilin]

First time trying to play blu-ray, using PowerDVD 7.3 3319a. I can play the .m2ts file fine, but when trying to play the folder or .iso disc mounted with daemon tools, it's all mosaic (protected?). I would like to be able to select language and use the .iso. Did a search and can't seem to find an answer. Any help appreciated. My PC has AMD athlon X2 4800+, 4G RAM, GeForce 7600GS. I have tried removing Region code with AnyDVD with no success.

Again, anyone knows the answer?

[Jimwesternguy]

Yes a properly configged PS3 (BTB/WTW/Component over HDMI/1080p/24) will have superior quality and image flow plus stability better than any PowerDVD version, probably forever as it looks now.. PS3 gets better and better for every patch, PowerDVD works the other way around :confused:

Just curious if you have any objective data to back that assertion? Has any site like Secrets of Home Theater run any objective tests of picture quality between the two?

[Andy o]

Well, boys and girls, get ready to throw your 3319a's into the trash bin. Slysoft has finally cracked BD+!

[mpgxsvcd]

Well, boys and girls, get ready to throw your 3319a's into the trash bin. Slysoft has finally cracked BD+!

Well I still might keep 3319a around to play the files directly! Some times it is a lot quicker to just fire up the movie as opposed to going through the menus and the 7 previews!

By the way I have the PDVD version switcher program that let’s me switch back and forth between 3319a and the latest version with a single button click. That works like a charm!

[jldet5]

Well, boys and girls, get ready to throw your 3319a's into the trash bin. Slysoft has finally cracked BD+!

Yeah! I've been a happy ANYDVD owner for years. Looks like its time to upgrade to the HD version.

[jldet5]

Can you tell me which sound card had you bought?.

Auzentech. Hooking it up tonight.

[ctiq21]

I had a question about using HDMI Audio passthrough on a lot of the ATI cards with PowerDVD.

How do you set this up in PowerDVD? Using Zoomplayer I get DD and DTS passthrough just find over HDMI. but in powerDVD if I select Spdif I get no sound. If I select 6 or 8 channel I only get 2.0 PCM even on DD tracks.

Do you really need Dolby Dig Live and DTS connect to use HDMi passthrough in PowerDVD? Does Arcsoft work the same way?

[720p]

ctiq21 I couldn't get DD/DTS bitstream with PDVD7 but PDVD8, Arcsoft, TheaterTek, WinDVD, WMP, etc. have no problems with it.

[joeyg2391]

Hi, i have Vista x64 with new gigabyte 780 motherboard and the latest powerdvd ultra. I have the HDMI port connected to my Pioneer Reciever. When i try to play a blueray or hd dvd disk, i dont get the dd or dts tracks on my reciever, instead i get stereo sound. Under the audio properties in powerdvd, i only get spdif or speaker number and not HDMI. I tried both speaker number and spdif options but i get no sound. The weird thing is when i do the speaker setup in vista audio control panel and choose dd or dts i get audio and the pioneer reciever show each codec. Can you guys help me out?

Thanks

[joeyg2391]

In Windows Media Player DD and DTS 5.1 show up fine on my Pioneer Reciever

[soyuppy]

Just curious if you have any objective data to back that assertion? Has any site like Secrets of Home Theater run any objective tests of picture quality between the two?
I guess this is what I was trying to find out per my original post. I'm sure there's got to be someone out there who has both BR HTPC and BR Player that can offer some honest and objective opinion.

[jldet5]

Just got done hooking up the Auzentech for Dolby Live. WOW. Seems like a huge difference compared to old DVD 5.1 sound tracks. I will have to play with a side by side later. Currently testing this all out using the fifth element CDs.

Is it better to use 6 channel or 8 channel in PDVD when going to the DD Live or DTS connect?

From previous posts it is better to use the PCM track instead of the TRUEHD? Another WOW is this decoding of TrueHD uses 30 percent CPU over PCM.

During the FBI warnings there is an irratating buzz / whine. I doubt there is a way around it and hopefully it is just this DVD. I wonder why ANYDVD isn't killing that.

[Peter Nagy]

Is it me or do you notice movies with 1.8 aspect ratio appear to have better picture quality than movies with 2.3 aspect ratio? I have a four year old Sony XBR 60" LCD rear projection TV (16:9 or 1.8) with DVI input and HDCP compliant. It's a great TV. I really hate those black bars with 2.3 aspect ratios. I wish the studios made all movies with 1.8 aspect ratios. It defeats the purpose of having 16:9 (1.8) TVs and most DVD/Blu-ray movies are 2.3 aspect ratios. I just watched We Own the Night and the aspect ratio was 1.8 and the picture quality was awesome.

Peter

[Andy o]

Just got done hooking up the Auzentech for Dolby Live. WOW. Seems like a huge difference compared to old DVD 5.1 sound tracks. I will have to play with a side by side later. Currently testing this all out using the fifth element CDs.

Is it better to use 6 channel or 8 channel in PDVD when going to the DD Live or DTS connect?

From previous posts it is better to use the PCM track instead of the TRUEHD? Another WOW is this decoding of TrueHD uses 30 percent CPU over PCM.

During the FBI warnings there is an irratating buzz / whine. I doubt there is a way around it and hopefully it is just this DVD. I wonder why ANYDVD isn't killing that.

You know, I've been doing multichannel with PowerDVD for a long time, and when I switched to Vista I found that setting PowerDVD to 8-channel, even if I only have 6 speakers, is better. If you got a test disc with discrete pink or white noise for each channel (like the THX Optimizer on some DVDs), you'll notice that with 6-channel set (and 6-channel input and ouput in your driver) you'll hear the rear channels as more diffused (with some of the other speakers working a bit, not being discrete), not equal to the fronts, as they should be. When you set to 8-channel (and 8-channel input, 6-channel out in your driver) everything sounds good, each speaker gets its individual noise test.

[chillspace]

This was just posted in the Cyberlink Forums...sad news indeed.

Dear All,

The format war is over...it's official. HD DVD will not be supported in PowerDVD 8 Ultra. HD DVD users will have to stick with PowerDVD 7.3 Ultra.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news to those that were hoping.

Dave

Looks like those of us that went format neutral are stuck. Personally, I think this is a very dumb move but Cyberlink has never had a great track record when it came to customer satisfaction or support.

[XxDeadlyxX]

And they'll still charge $100 US for the thing :rolleyes:

I just hope that dual installing PDVD8 and PDVD7 can be done easily without any hassle, I don't want to resort to hacks just so I can watch HD-DVD.

[Andy o]

Well I still might keep 3319a around to play the files directly! Some times it is a lot quicker to just fire up the movie as opposed to going through the menus and the 7 previews!

By the way I have the PDVD version switcher program that let’s me switch back and forth between 3319a and the latest version with a single button click. That works like a charm!

God, don't get me started about the previews. Lionsgate's discs are ridiculous with the menu button being disabled. Disney is only a bit less annoying because the let you use the menu button, but none of them will let you just jump to the movie or where you left it. I think only non-java discs will let you do that.

Warner seems to handle the situation excellenly though, on the other hand, just like with their HD-DVDs. No trailers, not even the stupid video menus (in fact no menus at all!). I despise those video menus. Many of them have spoilers. Not everyone has bought the disc after watching the movie in theaters. Bourne Supremacy's HD-DVD is the worst example of that.

By the way. I'm also keeping 3319a, just in case, but 3730 is a big improvement in playback. I don't get hangs anymore when jumping around the movie, and of course compatibility with newer 1.1 titles.

[blingo]

And they'll still charge $100 US for the thing :rolleyes:

I just hope that dual installing PDVD8 and PDVD7 can be done easily without any hassle, I don't want to resort to hacks just so I can watch HD-DVD.

For dropping hd-dvd support am gonna download powerDVD 8 from newsgroup i aint paying £60-£70.

[tsb]

For dropping hd-dvd support am gonna download powerDVD 8 from newsgroup i aint paying £60-£70.

amen
what a ridiculous thing to do

[gsr]

This was just posted in the Cyberlink Forums...sad news indeed.

Looks like those of us that went format neutral are stuck. Personally, I think this is a very dumb move but Cyberlink has never had a great track record when it came to customer satisfaction or support.
For those of us who simply buy / rent the movies that we want to see, some movies simply aren't available on Bluray. Some of those movies are just a little bit popular, such as the Bourne series. Until ALL major releases are available on Bluray, I don't see any excuse for them dropping HD DVD support.

[gsr]

For dropping hd-dvd support am gonna download powerDVD 8 from newsgroup i aint paying £60-£70.
Rather than taking the 2 wrongs (might) make a right approach, how about support another company? At this point Arcsoft seems to be supporting HD DVD. The Arcsoft software still has some issues, but I'm not sure how it could be much worse overall than PDVD.

[Andy o]

I don't know if this is such a big deal, though. If they allow PowerDVD 8 and 7.3 to coexist peacefully, then it's not much of a problem. Price-wise, you'll pay the same however it goes, and HD-DVD as a format is not gonna make any improvements. 7.3 is perfectly capable of getting you all of HD-DVD's features I believe. I haven't had any major problems with HD-DVD, and whatever I did have, it was fixed later on (like Pan's Labyrinth audio). By the time we arrived at 3730, I don't think there were any bugs with HD-DVD. The only thing I can think of that may be a problem is 7.1 DTS-HD MA audio tracks, but really how many HD-DVDs have that? (Only I can think of off the top of my head is Pan's Labyrinth).

[tsb]

Rather than taking the 2 wrongs (might) make a right approach, how about support another company? At this point Arcsoft seems to be supporting HD DVD. The Arcsoft software still has some issues, but I'm not sure how it could be much worse overall than PDVD.

I gladly would if Arcsoft's player worked on x64. WinDVD doesn't have a trial worth testing as well. These companies are basically forcing us into piracy.

[jimwhite]

These companies are basically forcing us into piracy.
:confused: now THAT is absurd....

:cool:

[AbMagFab]

So is PDVD 8 released yet?

And is ArcSoft's player stable at all? Everything posted here says it's still a disaster, as far as I can tell?

[tsb]

I don't know if this is such a big deal, though. If they allow PowerDVD 8 and 7.3 to coexist peacefully, then it's not much of a problem. Price-wise, you'll pay the same however it goes, and HD-DVD as a format is not gonna make any improvements. 7.3 is perfectly capable of getting you all of HD-DVD's features I believe. I haven't had any major problems with HD-DVD, and whatever I did have, it was fixed later on (like Pan's Labyrinth audio). By the time we arrived at 3730, I don't think there were any bugs with HD-DVD. The only thing I can think of that may be a problem is 7.1 DTS-HD MA audio tracks, but really how many HD-DVDs have that? (Only I can think of off the top of my head is Pan's Labyrinth).

loads of disks still have problems if I remember correctly

[cybrsage]

I posted asking if they are going to make things easy on us to use both the new and old version at the same time...but I doubt it.

Oh well, time to use a different program. I have too many HD DVDs to just toss them aside.

[gsr]

:confused: now THAT is absurd....

:cool:
Agreed. There ARE options - switch back to 32 bit Windows, get a standalone player, etc. But piracy definitely isn't the answer as it just makes the problem even worse in the long run. Besides, if the software sucks, why would you want to get an illegal copy of it anyway?

[cybrsage]

Besides, if the software sucks, why would you want to get an illegal copy of it anyway?

A wise statement.

[soulkeeper]

I couldn't find any release notes....

http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/download/updates_112_ENU.html

[ttol]

I couldn't find any release notes....

http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/download/updates_112_ENU.html

List of Updates:

* Supports Blu-ray Disc Profile 1.1.
* Improves BD-J compatibility to enhance interactivity with some BD-ROMs.

[chillspace]

I gladly would if Arcsoft's player worked on x64. WinDVD doesn't have a trial worth testing as well. These companies are basically forcing us into piracy.

Well, I took the plunge and purchased WinDVD 9 Plus Blu-ray to test out the HD playback features. Unfortunately, I ran into deinterlacing issues with HDDVD playback which were exactly the same as with PDVDU. The difference was that with PDVDU there is a bit more finite control over deinterlacing and I was able to fix it with a few changes in the configuration. WinDVD wasn't as flexible...suffice it to say, I'm calling to get a refund. I probably won't look into other software until I do a hardware upgrade or I purchase a movie which doesn't playback properly.

Eric

[tsb]

why would HD DVD need deinterlacing?

are you on Vista x64?
does it play from HDD? files? folders? mounted isos?

thanks

[JDLIVE]

Is it me or do you notice movies with 1.8 aspect ratio appear to have better picture quality than movies with 2.3 aspect ratio? I have a four year old Sony XBR 60" LCD rear projection TV (16:9 or 1.8) with DVI input and HDCP compliant. It's a great TV. I really hate those black bars with 2.3 aspect ratios. I wish the studios made all movies with 1.8 aspect ratios. It defeats the purpose of having 16:9 (1.8) TVs and most DVD/Blu-ray movies are 2.3 aspect ratios. I just watched We Own the Night and the aspect ratio was 1.8 and the picture quality was awesome.

Peter

Those of us with projectors and 2.35:1 constant height setups would strongly disagree. Fortunately I think most directors and studios also diagree. The visual impact of cinemascope is something I'd hate to see go away just to "get rid of the black bars".

[Peter Nagy]

Those of us with projectors and 2.35:1 constant height setups would strongly disagree. Fortunately I think most directors and studios also diagree. The visual impact of cinemascope is something I'd hate to see go away just to "get rid of the black bars".

That may be true for projectors but there are way more 16:9 TVs than projectors in the consumer market. I would think majority of TV watchers would prefer 1.8 over 2.35.

Peter

[gsr]

That may be true for projectors but there are way more 16:9 TVs than projectors in the consumer market. I would think majority of TV watchers would prefer 1.8 over 2.35.
Well, to take your argument to an extreme, there are WAAAAAY more 4:3 TVs than 16:9 TVs in peoples' homes right now, so I guess everything should really be 4:3...

I prefer original aspect ratio - I really don't care if there are black bars or not. In most cases, people I've talked to actually prefer original aspect ratio once they understand WHY the black bars are there. The wider aspect ratios give movies a grander scale, something that can't be duplicated in a 1.78 aspect ratio. If you don't like the black bars, use a stretch mode - that's what those modes are there for.

[Peter Nagy]

Well, to take your argument to an extreme, there are WAAAAAY more 4:3 TVs than 16:9 TVs in peoples' homes right now, so I guess everything should really be 4:3...

I prefer original aspect ratio - I really don't care if there are black bars or not. In most cases, people I've talked to actually prefer original aspect ratio once they understand WHY the black bars are there. The wider aspect ratios give movies a grander scale, something that can't be duplicated in a 1.78 aspect ratio. If you don't like the black bars, use a stretch mode - that's what those modes are there for.

OK.

What about my original question? Do you notice picture quality difference between 1.8 and 2.35 aspect ratios on 16:9 TVs? Lately, I noticed that picture quality appears to be better from 1.8 aspect ratio movies than 2.35 aspect ratio movies on my 16:9 TV. That's from about six Blu-ray movies I have seen so far. I believe two of them were 1.8 aspect ratios and they looked quite a bit better than 2.35 aspect ratio movies.

Peter

[Andy o]

loads of disks still have problems if I remember correctly

Hmm, I don't know, I haven't had any problems that I can remember with 3319a and many U.S. HD-DVDs, except for that Pan's Labyrinth one, which was fixed by 3516, and 3730 now has played everything I've thrown at it including blu-ray pretty much perfectly. I have AnyDVD HD though, and I guess I am also a bit lucky with my system then.

[gsr]

OK.

What about my original question? Do you notice picture quality difference between 1.8 and 2.35 aspect ratios on 16:9 TVs? Lately, I noticed that picture quality appears to be better from 1.8 aspect ratio movies than 2.35 aspect ratio movies on my 16:9 TV. That's from about six Blu-ray movies I have seen so far. I believe two of them were 1.8 aspect ratios and they looked quite a bit better than 2.35 aspect ratio movies.
Quite frankly, I don't worry about picture quality to that degree. I get the best equipment I can afford, calibrate it, and then watch the movies and TV shows that I want to watch based on their content. I watch the movie for the movie itself, not for the nth degree of picture quality.

It's also a somewhat meaningless test to use different movies to compare the picture quality of different aspect ratios because too many other factors are involved. I don't remember what your basis was for making the statement in the first place, but the quality difference you perceive may simply be from the movie using more of the screen and being effectively bigger. Sort of how a bigger screen gives more impact than a smaller screen with the same source material.

[JKohn]

OK.

What about my original question? Do you notice picture quality difference between 1.8 and 2.35 aspect ratios on 16:9 TVs? Lately, I noticed that picture quality appears to be better from 1.8 aspect ratio movies than 2.35 aspect ratio movies on my 16:9 TV. That's from about six Blu-ray movies I have seen so far. I believe two of them were 1.8 aspect ratios and they looked quite a bit better than 2.35 aspect ratio movies.

Peter
For movies shot on super-35 and matted to 2.35 (which seems to be how many if not most 2.35 movies are), there is indeed less resolution in the finished product compared to a 1.85 movies.

Movies shot with anamorphic lenses do not throw away resolution due to cropping. But it seems Hollywood is mostly using matted super-35 because it makes post-production easier and it also make sit possible to use "open-matte" transfers for 4:3 formats.

[Andy o]

Quite frankly, I don't worry about picture quality to that degree. I get the best equipment I can afford, calibrate it, and then watch the movies and TV shows that I want to watch based on their content. I watch the movie for the movie itself, not for the nth degree of picture quality.

It's also a somewhat meaningless test to use different movies to compare the picture quality of different aspect ratios because too many other factors are involved. I don't remember what your basis was for making the statement in the first place, but the quality difference you perceive may simply be from the movie using more of the screen and being effectively bigger. Sort of how a bigger screen gives more impact than a smaller screen with the same source material.

Yep, I agree that might be part of it, but 1.85:1 movies do have more resolution (of course provided everything else is equal and the master's resolution is up to it). It simply has more lines to resolve the picture. For any given object that occupies the same percentage of the height of the frame, the object will have more lines/pixels defining it.

If the director or cinematographer wants to fit an object or subject just about so it can be seen in its entirety onscreen, then the taller frame will have more resolution on that object. That's the way usually movies are framed, the objects onscreen will tend to be bigger on taller aspect ratios, since the purpose behind 2.35:1 movies is to fit more to the sides, rather than 1:85 movies to fit more vertically.

But as far as pixel quality goes, they should have the same capabilities, and you just have to compare two perfect transfers like Ratatouille (2.35:1) and Corpse Bride (1.85:1), you'll be hard-pressed to see any differences in pixel-level quality.

[Peter Nagy]

Thanks for the clarification. I know six Blu-ray movies I have seen so far is not enough for comparision.

Peter

[Emissary]

List of Updates:

* Supports Blu-ray Disc Profile 1.1.
* Improves BD-J compatibility to enhance interactivity with some BD-ROMs.

It looks like it's probalby a waste of an update. I can confirm that it doesn't fix the Across the Universe problem, and from what I've read in the Slysoft forum, it doesn't do anything for the other known disc incompatibilities either.

[JDLIVE]

That may be true for projectors but there are way more 16:9 TVs than projectors in the consumer market. I would think majority of TV watchers would prefer 1.8 over 2.35.

Peter

One reason studios went to cinemascope is to differentiate movies from "TV", and it appears that is continuing as it seems to me more and more movies I rent are 2.35:1 AR. It'll be a sad day if directors start catering to the lowest common denominator.

As for the difference in quality, my guess is that's a perceived difference due to the fact that the 1.85 movie is taller, and we're more sensitive to differences in height than width. Plus those films will probably be brighter by using more pixels. I don't see a difference in other qualities such as sharpness, color, contrast, etc.

[Vern Dias]

Yep, I agree that might be part of it, but 1.85:1 movies do have more resolution (of course provided everything else is equal and the master's resolution is up to it). It simply has more lines to resolve the picture. For any given object that occupies the same percentage of the height of the frame, the object will have more lines/pixels defining it.Yes, however the 1.85:1 frame on the original film is roughly 65% of the height of the anamorphic 2.40:1 frame. (.446" vs .690"). Since vertical resolution is the most significant component perceived by the human eye, the 2,40:1 transfer starts off with considerably more vertical resolution in the source. Note that this applies ONLY to 35mm anamorphic photography and NOT to Super35.

Vern

[Andy o]

Yes, however the 1.85:1 frame on the original film is roughly 65% of the height of the anamorphic 2.40:1 frame. (.446" vs .690"). Since vertical resolution is the most significant component perceived by the human eye, the 2,40:1 transfer starts off with considerably more vertical resolution in the source. Note that this applies ONLY to 35mm anamorphic photography and NOT to Super35.

Vern

Yeah, but I was talking exclusively about 1.85:1 and 2.35:1 movies in 1080p, as in high-def discs. I probably should have been clearer about that, now that I look back. I assumed the masters were of high enough resolution that it wouldn't matter, and everything else the same. I am not much well-versed in film formats, but I do understand what you're saying though.

[drsmithdtv]

Has anyone used the HQV HD-benchmark test patterns with PowerDVD or Arcsoft TMT?

With the film resolution loss test I am finding that PowerDVD is applying motion adaptive deinterlacing the 1080i60 source instead of restoring it to 1080p24. This is both with inverse telecine enabled and disabled in the Nivdia control panel. A few weeks ago I was able to get the first version of Arcsoft TMT (105) to display this test pattern correctly in XP.

PowerDVD version: 3730a
GPU: Nvidia 8600GTS.
OS: Vista.

[Fredrik Rasmussen]

Just curious if you have any objective data to back that assertion? Has any site like Secrets of Home Theater run any objective tests of picture quality between the two?

It's simple, just compare the two for yourself. You don't need to read any "tests" just watch the obvious difference in quality with your own high-tech measurement tools; - Your Eyes!

A correctly configured PS3 (BTB/WTW/Component over HDMI/1080p/24) has everything working for it, a HTPC with PowerDVD, everything against it for producing top image quality and flow...

[aaraaf]

I prefer original aspect ratio

This is exactly how I feel...

Kind of funny thinking about how upset Terry Giliam was over the Tideland transfer being done at 1.77:1 instead of its original 1.85:1... (1.77 is really close to 16:9)

I am curious, does anyone know if 2.35 movies can be done in an anomorphic fashion, to maintain the complete vertical resolution of the HD transfer?

[Peter Nagy]

The point I was trying to make is that Blu-ray (as well as HD-DVD) players output the highest resolution possible meaning the pictures are obviously sharper than DVD players. Sometimes I get upset when studios make crappy contents that sometimes picture quality of Blu-ray movies are no better than DVD and it defeats the purpose of owning expensive Blu-ray players (or HTPC with PowerDVD).

I like movies with good stories, but I also like sharp pictures.

Peter

[JDLIVE]

I am curious, does anyone know if 2.35 movies can be done in an anomorphic fashion, to maintain the complete vertical resolution of the HD transfer?

Possible, but not part of the BD spec.

[Al Sherwood]

Originally Posted by aaraaf
I am curious, does anyone know if 2.35 movies can be done in an anomorphic fashion, to maintain the complete vertical resolution of the HD transfer?

Possible, but not part of the BD spec.

When I found this out about both HD-DVD and BD I couldn't believe it, offer the best consumer mediums to date and not include anamorphic compression! :confused:

But is there hope? We are talking about Blu-Ray, it is not like they haven't changed the spec before!!! :eek:

[avsform1]

Ok... afte struggling for weeks to get my Digital Cable Tuner to work with my HTPC, I went out and bought a blu ray drive. The drive plays well with PowerDvd in stand-alone mode, but Vista doesn't recognize I have software thats capable of playing Blu-Ray. When "Play DVD" is selected, the pop-up "CANNOT PLAY DISC. nO PROGRAM IS INSTALLED TO PLAY BLU-RAY WINDOWS MEDIA CENTER".

Any ideas?

[cybrsage]

Ok... afte struggling for weeks to get my Digital Cable Tuner to work with my HTPC, I went out and bought a blu ray drive. The drive plays well with PowerDvd in stand-alone mode, but Vista doesn't recognize I have software thats capable of playing Blu-Ray. When "Play DVD" is selected, the pop-up "CANNOT PLAY DISC. nO PROGRAM IS INSTALLED TO PLAY BLU-RAY WINDOWS MEDIA CENTER".

Any ideas?

Windows Media Center will not autolaunch a HD player. I found this in a thread somewhere, but cannot explain how it works for I have no idea. I have not yet used it either:

Taken from ThegreenButton: This works for BluRay too.

here are the instructions for hddvd, extracted from a web site, cant find the original url
after the initial disappointment wore off I did some searching and found an Article by Peter Dampier on the Media Center Sandbox blog. This article was meant for companies like Cyberlink to show them how to register HD DVD (and blue ray) disks with Vista Media Center. I was still disappointed that there was no way to play back HD DVD movies directly in the Media Center shell but at least this blog posting showed how I could at least register HD DVD with Vista Media Center.

To accomplish this create an XML file with the code below in it.

<application title="PowerDVD" id="{00807177-139D-4796-9730-8F114D23C253}" companyname="Cyberlink" companylogourl="http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/ps/cllogo.gif" description="HD DVD App">

<entrypoint id="{00807177-139D-4796-9730-8F114D23C253}" RUN="C:\Program Files\CyberLink\PowerDVD\PowerDVD.exe" title="PowerDVD Ultra" description="HD DVD Player">

<category category="AutoPlay\HD DVD"/>

</entrypoint>

</application>

If you installed PowerDVD to another location edit the path to match your system. Next from a command prompt (if you have user account control enabled make sure it's an elevated command prompt) and run C:\Windows\ehome\RegisterMCEApp.exe /allusers <xml file>, replace <xml file> with the path and name to the xml file you created earlier.

Now when you insert a HD DVD disk with Vista Media Center in full screen mode, it will minimize and launch PowerDVD Ultra and begin playback of the disk.

Now, say you have a disk already inserted and you don't want to get up to re-insert it. Create a file named PowerDVD.mcl with the code below in it.

<application
Title = "PowerDVD Ultra"
Run = "C:\Program Files\CyberLink\PowerDVD\PowerDVD.exe"
BGColor = "RGB(63,24,172)"
Name = "PowerDVD Ultra"
CompanyName = "Cyberlink"
StartImage = "C:\Program Files\CyberLink\PowerDVD\AVSettings\StartImage.png "
ThumbnailImage = "C:\Program Files\CyberLink\PowerDVD\AVSettings\Thumbnail.png"

>
<capabilitiesRequired
directX="True"
audio="False"
video="False"
intensiveRendering="True"
console="False"
/>
</application>

Again if you installed to a different location edit the file to point to your install. Move the file to C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Media Center Programs. If Media Center was running close it and re-open it and now in the more programs sections is a link to fire up PowerDVD Ultra.

[vddobrev]

Windows Media Center will not autolaunch a HD player. I found this in a thread somewhere...

I can offer an improved version of this, where the icon Blu-ray will appear in the TV menu:

1. Download attached blu-ray logo
2. Save the following text as file blu-ray-app.xml - use notepad. Modify imageUrl <path>.
<application title="PowerDVD Ultra"
id="{00807177-139D-4796-9730-8F114D23C253}"
companyname="CyberLink"
description="Blu-ray Application">
<entrypoint id="{00807177-139D-4796-9730-8F114D23C253}"
RUN="C:\Program Files (x86)\CyberLink\PowerDVD\PowerDVD.exe"
title="blu-ray disc"
description="Blu-ray Disc Player"
imageUrl="<path>\blu-ray.png">
<category category="Services\TV"/>
<category category="AutoPlay\HD DVD"/>
<category category="AutoPlay\Blu-ray"/>
</entrypoint>
</application>

3. Register Blu-ray and HD-DVD application with VMC. Start -> Run: cmd. At the command prompt, type (modify <path>):
C:\Windows\ehome\RegisterMCEApp.exe /allusers <path>\blu-ray-app.xml

To unregister (if needed), run:
C:\Windows\ehome\RegisterMCEApp.exe /u /allusers <path>\blu-ray-app.xml

4. Start VMC, and you should have Blu-ray icon in the TV menu

[nm88]

When I found this out about both HD-DVD and BD I couldn't believe it, offer the best consumer mediums to date and not include anamorphic compression! :confused:It's designed for 16:9 displays, just like anamorphic DVDs, so in that sense it does include the feature.

I doubt you'll ever see variable aspect ratio control on BD media; anamorphic DVDs did not have it either.

[Andy o]

I am curious, does anyone know if 2.35 movies can be done in an anomorphic fashion, to maintain the complete vertical resolution of the HD transfer?

Well, you'd need a wider (ideally I guess about 2,538 pixel-wide for 1:1 of the vertical resolution) monitor to take advantage of it, but I think it would be a neat idea too. But it may or may not be implemented in BD specs, who knows, but even then it would only be applicable pretty much to computer screens.

[tsb]

No need for anamorphic IMO. When you have bigger black bars you only lose viewing area not pixel density. The solution is a bigger display of course. ;)

[Jack_Carver]

Anyone have any idea what I'm missing.

I can't get I am Legend to play, or 30 Days of Night, or Vacancy. Only thing they have in common is they are Sony releases.

I get to the menu to "Play Movie" and can't get it to go and actually play.

I can't click on the menu, and get no response from the right-click popup "play" option either.

I have latest "Java" and version 3730 of full PDVD Ultra.

update: I tried updating to version 3730a and it totally messed up. Wouldn't remove old version and wont install new version. Man this continues to be a real bummer of a program.

Anyone want an LG GGC-H20L and full version of PDVD Ultra.... never used and dropped only once? :rolleyes:

[Aesculus]

Anyone have any idea what I'm missing.

I can't get I am Legend to play, or 30 Days of Night, or Vacancy. Only thing they have in common is they are Sony releases.

I get to the menu to "Play Movie" and can't get it to go and actually play.

I can't click on the menu, and get no response from the right-click popup "play" option either.

I have latest "Java" and version 3730 of full PDVD Ultra.

update: I tried updating to version 3730a and it totally messed up. Wouldn't remove old version and wont install new version. Man this continues to be a real bummer of a program.

Anyone want an LG GGC-H20L and full version of PDVD Ultra.... never used and dropped only once? :rolleyes:

If your cursor is on the play hit Enter. Use your arrow keys to move about the menu. I am assuming you are using a keyboard?

[Peter Nagy]

Anyone have any idea what I'm missing.

I can't get I am Legend to play, or 30 Days of Night, or Vacancy. Only thing they have in common is they are Sony releases.

I get to the menu to "Play Movie" and can't get it to go and actually play.

I can't click on the menu, and get no response from the right-click popup "play" option either.

I have latest "Java" and version 3730 of full PDVD Ultra.

update: I tried updating to version 3730a and it totally messed up. Wouldn't remove old version and wont install new version. Man this continues to be a real bummer of a program.

Anyone want an LG GGC-H20L and full version of PDVD Ultra.... never used and dropped only once? :rolleyes:

I had the same problem uninstalling previous version to install later version. What I did was I did the System Restore (I don't remember why) to the point before I originally installed PDVD and that was a mistake because I was not able to install the newer version because it kept say that it cannot uninstall the previous version. So I did a clean install of Windows MCE 2005, installed the latest 3730a and all is well. PDVD has a crappy install/uninstall utility. Did you run System Restore recently?

I watched "I am Legend" last night and it played flawlessly.

Peter

[rizorith]

I have PDVD 7.3 3319a and am having major problems getting anything other than stereo sound. I am running s/pdif coax from my built in motherboard soundcard to a receiver.

Before you ask, these are not HD audio tracks. This even happens with regular DVDs although utlimately I should be able to play most BD discs in 5.1. I've gotten 5.1 sound to play using kmplayer on x.264 files but not on PDVD.

I keep thinking it must be a setup option I'm missing but I see very few audio options. Does anyone have any ideas on what settings I need to look at or how to diagnose this problem?

Also, are there any special settings to make in PDVD? Setting up kmplayer was quite an ordeal with codecs and such. Are there any additional codecs or settings to use in pdvd or do I just need to get my audio straightened out and hit play?

[mike29]

Hi I have just build my HTPC but it will not play blue ray movie.

My set up :

GIGABYTE GA-MA78GM-S2H 780G RT
AMD Athlon X2 BE-2400 Brisbane 2.3GHz 2 x 512KB L2
HD 500G|WD 7K 16M SATA2 WD5000AAKS
2 GB ram
Case Antec fusion
Samsung 245BW connected dvi to dvi
BD-rom drive Sony BDU-x10s
Win xp pro sp2

Blue ray disc that I have tried:

Sample blue ray disc (included with bd-rom) play ok
bought Mr. and Mrs. Smith play to main menu
rented Babel play ok
rented Pirates of the Caribbean play to main menu

I have tried Power dvd ultra (latest upd.), win dvd 9 , total media theatre.
I have tried different bd drive (Lite-on)
I have tried this on another 2 pc both with amd 3800+ but one with ati hd2400 and one with nvidia 8500.

Could someone help me, I am totally confused. Am I doing something wrong?
Thank you

[aaraaf]

The point I was trying to make is that Blu-ray (as well as HD-DVD) players output the highest resolution possible meaning the pictures are obviously sharper than DVD players. Sometimes I get upset when studios make crappy contents that sometimes picture quality of Blu-ray movies are no better than DVD and it defeats the purpose of owning expensive Blu-ray players (or HTPC with PowerDVD).

I like movies with good stories, but I also like sharp pictures.

Peter

I'm with you! I've been lucky that the Blu Rays I've picked up have mostly been phenomenal transfers... but Stargate looks really, really dull on all of the internal scenes. It almost looks like an early version of a digital film noise filter.

If it had been my first HD experience, I would have been upset.

EDIT: Watching the movie again this weekend, MOST of the movie is a really good transfer. Just some of the early internal stuff and some of the dark areas. The desert scenes and camp scences are actually really nicely transfered, as well as the internal stuff on the spaceship.

As such, King Kong was my first HD film, and it's still what I go to when tweaking... there is sooooooo much detail and the disc runs really well.

[Jack_Carver]

Thanks a million guys, that did it.... hover over PLAY with the mouse, and hit enter. I should have stickied that in my BRAIN, it is now.

On the I am Legend, when I installed new version, the default had "interlacing" on and that caused the weird 1 frame every 5 secs behavior. By setting it to NO INTERLACING in the setup menu video advanced section, all was well. Again, I should have checked that, makes me feel stooopid that I need to keep holding this program's hand all the time. :rolleyes:

[Peter Nagy]

Thanks a million guys, that did it.... hover over PLAY with the mouse, and hit enter. I should have stickied that in my BRAIN, it is now.

On the I am Legend, when I installed new version, the default had "interlacing" on and that caused the weird 1 frame every 5 secs behavior. By setting it to NO INTERLACING in the setup menu video advanced section, all was well. Again, I should have checked that, makes me feel stooopid that I need to keep holding this program's hand all the time. :rolleyes:

Why didn't the mouse click button work? I would have never thought of what you did by hitting the Enter button. Do you have remote control? It's much easier to use.

Also, how did you install the latest version when you said it wouldn't remove the old version and install the new version? I ended up reinstalling Windows!

Peter

[ctiq21]

Has anyone had any problems seeing menus in I Am Legend? I go to the top menu and it just goes to the special features area. I get no chapter select or audio options popup menu.

Shouldn't the top menu get you to this area?

[chillspace]

There was another post over at the Cyberlink forums regarding PowerDVD Ultra 8. PDVD 8 will co-exist with earlier versions of the software as it gets installed in a separate directory. This way both can be used. It has been doubly confirmed that HDDVD is not supported at all in version 8. Here is what I find quite assinine...it was also stated that both version will be supported. For how long the older version will be supported is the question.

[Peter Nagy]

Has anyone had any problems seeing menus in I Am Legend? I go to the top menu and it just goes to the special features area. I get no chapter select or audio options popup menu.

Shouldn't the top menu get you to this area?

I have been seeing something like that in other movies. I think the studio assumes you have remote control and use the chapter or audio buttons on the remote control. I have Harmony remote control and I mapped the audio, sub-titles and eject buttons.

Peter

[Jack_Carver]

Pete, I did what Aesculus said and it worked. i never would have thought of it myself.... on the mouse/hit enter thing.

I used system restore to go back to the future. I am using an XP pro install on a spare IDE drive, that is solely for the purpose of doing this until I get all the bugs worked out.

I am Legend acted up agai though, I will try installing the video drivers again.

So I use a system restore point for before PDVD at all, and can go back to it if needed.

Im using AnyDVD HD trial at the moment, Ive got 10 days left, and Ill be buying it before the time is up. So Im 3730a PDVD and 6.4.00 AnyDVDHD.

I have two monitors... 24" and 42" and HDCP makes me disconnect the 24 if I want to play a movie, AnyDVDHD removes this constraint, so I wont wear out my connectors. Im not into ripping, etc but maybe someday.

For now I just want to be able to play my movies/rentals without a hassle.

[Peter Nagy]

Pete, I did what Aesculus said and it worked. i never would have thought of it myself.... on the mouse/hit enter thing.

I used system restore to go back to the future. I am using an XP pro install on a spare IDE drive, that is solely for the purpose of doing this until I get all the bugs worked out.

I am Legend acted up agai though, I will try installing the video drivers again.

So I use a system restore point for before PDVD at all, and can go back to it if needed.

Im using AnyDVD HD trial at the moment, Ive got 10 days left, and Ill be buying it before the time is up. So Im 3730a PDVD and 6.4.00 AnyDVDHD.

I have two monitors... 24" and 42" and HDCP makes me disconnect the 24 if I want to play a movie, AnyDVDHD removes this constraint, so I wont wear out my connectors. Im not into ripping, etc but maybe someday.

For now I just want to be able to play my movies/rentals without a hassle.

Make sure there are no fingerprints on disk otherwise it can cause stuttering. It happened on a rental 3:10 to Yuma and some scenes were stuttering. I cleaned the disk and it solved the stuttering problem.

I did use System Restore back to before PDVD (it was OEM at the time) and it would not let me install the retail 3730a, so I re-installed Windows and all is well. Never had any issues since then. I am using AGP graphics card.

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 AGP 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 Ultra 3730a
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

[cybrsage]

Interesting news from Bit-tech.net:

There's also an Ultra version available at a later date with full bitrate HD audio support, DTS 5.1 (why is this Ultra only?) and it's also the only version with HD DVD support.

These will replace the current DVD 7(.3) Ultra which retails for the same price as the Dexlue, although if you want HD DVD support you’ll be limited to using this older version or the all encompassing and expensive PowerDVD 8 Ultra, because the Deluxe model is Blu-ray only.
http://www.bit-tech.net/bits/2008/03/24/cyberlink_powerdvd_8_and_media_show_4/1

We will have to wait and see now, we are getting conflicting information.

[Aesculus]

Thanks a million guys, that did it.... hover over PLAY with the mouse, and hit enter. I should have stickied that in my BRAIN, it is now.


Actually I don't think you needed to move the mouse over the Play button and in fact this probably did nothing. Play was already in context (you need to use the arrow keys to move to another position). The Enter worked because your context was already on Play.

[cybrsage]

I can offer an improved version of this, where the icon Blu-ray will appear in the TV menu:

1. Download attached blu-ray logo
2. Save the following text as file blu-ray-app.xml - use notepad. Modify imageUrl <path>.
<application title="PowerDVD Ultra"
id="{00807177-139D-4796-9730-8F114D23C253}"
companyname="CyberLink"
description="Blu-ray Application">
<entrypoint id="{00807177-139D-4796-9730-8F114D23C253}"
RUN="C:\Program Files (x86)\CyberLink\PowerDVD\PowerDVD.exe"
title="blu-ray disc"
description="Blu-ray Disc Player"
imageUrl="<path>\blu-ray.png">
<category category="Services\TV"/>
<category category="AutoPlay\HD DVD"/>
<category category="AutoPlay\Blu-ray"/>
</entrypoint>
</application>

3. Register Blu-ray and HD-DVD application with VMC. Start -> Run: cmd. At the command prompt, type (modify <path>):
C:\Windows\ehome\RegisterMCEApp.exe /allusers <path>\blu-ray-app.xml

To unregister (if needed), run:
C:\Windows\ehome\RegisterMCEApp.exe /u /allusers <path>\blu-ray-app.xml

4. Start VMC, and you should have Blu-ray icon in the TV menu

I love you man! In a very platonic sort of way... :D

[Aesculus]

Make sure there are no fingerprints on disk otherwise it can cause stuttering. It happened on a rental 3:10 to Yuma and some scenes were stuttering. I cleaned the disk and it solved the stuttering problem.



I was stutter free with 3730 until I tried the movie The Guardian. Its stutters all the way through big time.

[Peter Nagy]

I was stutter free with 3730 until I tried the movie The Guardian. Its stutters all the way through big time.

Did the movie come with True HD sound? If so, it can cause the CPU usage spike to 100%. Try select other audio option.

Peter

[vddobrev]

I love you man! In a very platonic sort of way... :D

Great, glad I could help ;)

[Aesculus]

Did the movie come with True HD sound? If so, it can cause the CPU usage spike to 100%. Try select other audio option.

Peter

I am using the DD 5.1 track. It runs about 70-80% with a few spikes to high 80's. Its stutters all the way through consistantly.

[chillspace]

Interesting news from Bit-tech.net:


http://www.bit-tech.net/bits/2008/03/24/cyberlink_powerdvd_8_and_media_show_4/1

We will have to wait and see now, we are getting conflicting information.

Extremely interesting article. Well, we'll have to wait and see. If it's true, I find it a bit backwards that they wouldn't include HDDVD support from the get go. I'll keep my fingers crossed that HDDVD support will be actually part of the Ultra package down the road. Personally, taking it out is more of a cash grab to get people to upgrade in the near term and then get people to double dip to get HDDVD support back into the product.

[cybrsage]

I am curious, is there anything wrong with the current version which would mean I have to upgrade to the newer version?

I am about to take the plunge, buy the rest of the components, and go HD...

[blingo]

The lossless audio support that we first covered a while back has been put back to the release of 8.5 at around the August-September time frame. Again, Cyberlink was keen to stress that this will be a free update if you already own PowerDVD 8.

Would this also affect analog out? Or just HDMI?

I thought PowerDVD 8 would give us full DTS-HD Master Audio.

[Jack_Carver]

Does seem to be a strange decision, no HDDVD support. I'd like to see a poll of HTPC users here to assertain the breakdown of HDDVD vs Bluray in current systems, as well as % library makeup.

Seems to me that HDDVD was the big bite among HTPC users.... aka: PowerDVD's principle customers... since the cost of HDDVD drives was affordable, and Bluray drives had been very expensive. So I'd assume at the moment more users have more HDDVD titles than Bluray, and this move by Cyberlink would abandon the bulk of customers who've been buying and using PowerDVD 7 ultra.

Since the code is all done, why WOULDN'T you just include it in the product? It makes no business sense. Sure you can avoid some support costs, but since when have they been particularly "support" oriented anyway, hell they charge $$ for it, it is a profit center, why would you care?

Just makes no sense. Might as well drop SD DVD support too, afterall, Bluray is the only use for this now anyway, right Cyberlink?

[Peter Nagy]

I am using the DD 5.1 track. It runs about 70-80% with a few spikes to high 80's. Its stutters all the way through consistantly.

During lunch I rented The Guardian. So far I have been watching for 30 minutes and it has been playing flawlessly. Maybe your video card driver may needs to be updated. I like the movie so far. Thanks for suggesting. :cool:

The only movie that stuttered the whole time is Resident Evil:Extinction. This movie is probably the most problematic Blu-ray movie. Many people have posted complaints. I don't think the studio made it correctly. It has True HD audio and CPU spiked to 100% almost all the time. It also has other audio options but they are foreign language and it still stutters.

Peter

[XxDeadlyxX]

Would this also affect analog out? Or just HDMI?

I thought PowerDVD 8 would give us full DTS-HD Master Audio.

Sigh, this is sucking already :( I thought I'd be able to watch I Robot, Independance Day etc with full MA sometime soon, looks as though I will just be watching em in normal DTS. Lame....

[Andy o]

Interesting news from Bit-tech.net:


http://www.bit-tech.net/bits/2008/03/24/cyberlink_powerdvd_8_and_media_show_4/1

We will have to wait and see now, we are getting conflicting information.

That article gets so many things wrong or contradicts itself too many times. It doesn't seem that the person who wrote it has "used it for years" as he/she says. Wondering about why the Deluxe is not better than the Ultra? Telling us about this "new feature" of dual-subtitles? The article even contradicts its own chart with features. The Deluxe seems to be just like the current Deluxe version, no HD discs support at all (no bluray). The HD version is the Ultra as per the chart, and as it has always been. It seems the Ultra is the one that will support bluray, and if HD-DVD support is coming, it's gonna be on the Ultra as well. Deluxe probably won't support HD at all. I don't trust that article at all.

[sweagle]

Sigh, this is sucking already :( I thought I'd be able to watch I Robot, Independance Day etc with full MA sometime soon, looks as though I will just be watching em in normal DTS. Lame....
....your soooo right, this is indeed bad news.
Maybe I`m wrong here, but I thought it was possible to get DTS-MA on the line-outputs from the new soundcards ?
Well, I do hope this MA is going to happend before I will need a hearing aid:-(

[JKohn]

Reading that article, I see nothing at all of interest in PDVD-8, looks like a bunch of bloatware crap to try to justify upgrading when what they should really be doing is focusing on getting the core functionality right. MoovieLive? MovieRemix? L-A-M-E.

[MKANET]

I completely agree, actually seeing it makes me want to go the opposite direction and hope for a small BD player.

Reading that article, I see nothing at all of interest in PDVD-8, looks like a bunch of bloatware crap to try to justify upgrading when what they should really be doing is focusing on getting the core functionality right. MoovieLive? MovieRemix? L-A-M-E.

[AbMagFab]

I completely agree, actually seeing it makes me want to go the opposite direction and hope for a small BD player.

I really wish SlySoft would just make a BD player already. It would solve a lot of problems at once.

[Andy o]

I keep reading that Slysoft used to make a media player, which one was it?

[Andy o]

Reading that article, I see nothing at all of interest in PDVD-8, looks like a bunch of bloatware crap to try to justify upgrading when what they should really be doing is focusing on getting the core functionality right. MoovieLive? MovieRemix? L-A-M-E.

Right now, with the latest PowerDVD 3730 build, and starting since 3516 (previously there were 3), we're getting FOUR unnecessary processes/crapware/bloatware running at startup, plus one process running piggybacking PowerDVD.exe (CLHelper.exe). I shudder to think what more bloat they could trojan-horse into our PCs.

[Davinleeds]

From my experience PDVD and ArcSoft both call home when starting a disk.

[myurkus]

No matter what I set on PowerDVD, nothing changes! I can change "Enable hardware Acceleration (NVIDIA PureVideo), Video enhancement modes, Any single De-interlacing method ({6CB69578-7617-4637-91E5-1C02DB810285}, etc etc etc, smart, or none) but once I start a HD-DVD or or BluRay, it goes back to its original settings.

Here is what it displays (Notice I picked an 1080i HD-DVD source in order to show a source one that should enable a DeInterlacer....my Plasma has a resident 1920x1080 resolution.) The only difference from a 1080p source is "NV12" instead of "NV24" (which is better?)

"Dsplay Information:
Video Mode: Interlaced
Display Mode: DirectShow
FourCC Code: NV24
Surface Type: Hardware Video Accelerator (DxVA)

Hardware Information:
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ running at 2401 MHz
3DNow! Technology: Not Detected
Enhanced 3DNow! Technology: Not Detected
3DNow! Professional Technology: Not Detected
IA MMX Technology: In Use
IA Streaming SIMD Extensions: In Use
IA SSE 2: In Use
Video Accelerator: DirectX VA (in use)
Multispeaker Audio Device: Realtek Digital Output (Realtek (not in use)
SPDIF Output Device: Realtek Digital Output (Realtek (in use)
"

I should note that I played around with the DirectX SDK (but uninstalled it because of the lack of Graphedit anymore.) I even uninstalled my display drivers, ran RegClean in safe mode, then installed the 169.25 WHQL version. In addition, I uninstalled the old "PureVideo" (not HD) driver.

I also played around with the NVidia control panel ("Use NVidia Control Panel Settings" and Inverse Telicine) with no affect.

Oh, and DECCHeck.exe also has no affect..

Finally, DXVA Checker is showing the exact same set of guids for each FourCC code! (YUV2 all the way down to S342.)

I swear I was able to change this before? Is there something I can do to "clean" my system so I can try other acceleration/de-interlacing methods?

Oh I'm running Vista 32 SP1 and a legit Powerdvd 7.3 3730 build.

I suppose it is not the end of the world. I am obviously enabling the Purevideo HD processor as my CPU is at 4% or show during playback. But part of the reason I bought a computer system is to be able to manipulate the thing (and when I was able to do so, I saw advantages with some of the different filters/codecs.)

Thanks as always guys!

[Andy o]

From my experience PDVD and ArcSoft both call home when starting a disk.

PowerDVD used to show ads in the config window, that's why since a long time ago, I always block it in the firewall.

[klif-e]

Hardware: ASUS P5E-VM-HDMI, Intel E8400, 2Gb DDR2, Pioneer BDC-S02, Xbox 360 HD-DVD Addon
Software: Windows Vista Ultimate 32bit, AnyDVD HD 6.4.0.0, PowerDVD Ultra 7.3 build 3730a, Media Player Classic, CoreAVC Pro 1.6.5, CCCP Codec Pack.
Drivers: Intel X3500 15.7.3

I'm having a weird problem with PowerDVD Ultra when playing back HD-DVD's on my HTPC.

When I load up a HD-DVD in PowerDVD I get the menu systems fine (few exceptions when the disc requires an internet connection and just stalls, fix is to block PowerDVD in Windows firewall) and I can also play the main movie fine.

However the problem occurs when I try and playback any of the extras contained on the disk. PowerDVD goes black (also switches to full screen if PowerDVD is windowed) and then dies and Windows Vista reports the video card drivers has stopped responding and has been restarted.

It doesn't seem to matter what HD-DVD I put in as soon as I try and play any extra content on the drive.

It has occured on the previous version of PowerDVD as well.

I've tried it with and without AnyDVD HD, just in case any of its tricky was causing issues.

I haven't tried it with the 15.8 Intel drivers as they produce a very jerky playback experience on my setup.

If I try the same thing with a Blu-Ray title it plays the extras seemingly fine, mind you I only have 3 Blu-Ray's at present and 19 HD-DVD's.

Anyone else experiencing this?

Anything I should try?

Anything at all, kinda pissing me off as I want to watch some of the extras ;(

[rg_himself]

Hi all,

I recently received my copy of Independence Day on blu-ray and my PC won't play it! I have an ATI HD 2400, Vista, PowerDVD Ultra with the latest updates, and a HLDS Blu-ray, HD DVD ROM / Super Multi-DVD+/-RW Hybrid Drive.

I have about 30 blu-ray and HDDVD titles and they all play just fine in PowerDVD, but ID4 won't! I've read that it's a BD+ title, and I think it may be the only movie I have in that format. Unless The Simpson movie is BD+, because that movie plays fine.

I opened a support ticket with Cyberlink last night and there has been no reply yet.

When I play this disc, a screen with a blue/light-blue gradient appears, then nothing else happens. I wonder if the player is choking on the disc's BD-J. I've ripped the disc to my HDD with AnyDVD and mounted it as an ISO to a virtual drive. Exact same thing happens when attempting to play the mounted copy!

Can anyone help?

Thanks...

[Andy o]

Hi all,

I recently received my copy of Independence Day on blu-ray and my PC won't play it! I have an ATI HD 2400, Vista, PowerDVD Ultra with the latest updates, and a HLDS Blu-ray, HD DVD ROM / Super Multi-DVD+/-RW Hybrid Drive.

I have about 30 blu-ray and HDDVD titles and they all play just fine in PowerDVD, but ID4 won't! I've read that it's a BD+ title, and I think it may be the only movie I have in that format. Unless The Simpson movie is BD+, because that movie plays fine.

I opened a support ticket with Cyberlink last night and there has been no reply yet.

When I play this disc, a screen with a blue/light-blue gradient appears, then nothing else happens. I wonder if the player is choking on the disc's BD-J. I've ripped the disc to my HDD with AnyDVD and mounted it as an ISO to a virtual drive. Exact same thing happens when attempting to play the mounted copy!

Can anyone help?

Thanks...

Simpsons does have BD+, but it's an older title. ID4 came out just last week, didn't it? This could get interesting. Are you using the latest AnyDVD with proper BD+ removal (6.4.0.0 or 6.4.0.1 beta)?

[rg_himself]

Simpsons does have BD+, but it's an older title. ID4 came out just last week, didn't it? This could get interesting. Are you using the latest AnyDVD with proper BD+ removal (6.4.0.0 or 6.4.0.1 beta)?

Thanks for the reply, Andy. Yeah, ID4 just came out. I received it via Amazon pre-order.

I'm sure I have the latest version of AnyDVD as well. I downloaded it yesterday specifically to see if I could run ID4 as a mounted ISO. I checked all the protection removal boxes before running the rip.

Here's what AnyDVD reports:
-------------------------------------
Summary for drive F: (AnyDVD 6.4.0.0)
HL-DT-ST BDDVDRW GGC-H20N 1.01 E 00081007197AU85946
Drive (Hardware) Region: 1

Media is a Blu-Ray disc.
Total size: 24438784 sectors (47732 MBytes)
Video Blu-Ray label: ID4_US_V2
Media is AACS protected!
Media is BD+ protected!
Removed AACS copy protection!
Removed BD+ copy protection!
BD+ Firmware warning removed!
-------------------------------------

I found these other two posts from the same user reporting the exact same issue, and his posts seem to indicate that it's a problem with PDVD:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13367388#post13367388
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13367921#post13367921

I tried to rollback to the version that's on my disc as he did, but the version that's on my disc wouldn't accept the ID4 disc at all without running a software update, which brings me back to square 1. Also, still no reply from Cyberlink support.

I've seen other posts from people claiming that their ID4 discs took up to 15 minutes to load to the first menu on their standalone blu-ray consoles. I'm gonna let PDVD sit there for a while and see if the disc menu appears after a few minutes. Might as well give that a try as I wait for a response from support.

Any thoughts from wiser forum members will be appreciated...

-R

[Newfi]

I have had a tech support ticket with cyberlink for months now. For audio I had a S/PDIF connection from the PC to a processor that only supports DD 5.1. When I play a Blu-ray that does not have a DD 5.1 track PDVD Ultra does not re-encode the audio to DD 5.1 instead it outputs it as 2 channel PCM. I was told that the latest version 3730a would fix this. It did not. In fact it made things much worse. Now when I play a Blu-ray disc without a DD 5.1 audio track I get no audio at all. And when I exit PDVD Ultra I get no windows sounds until I reboot the PC. Cyberlink support is absoultly the worse that I have ever seen.
Nero Showtime with the Blu-ray upgrade does convert the sound to DD 5.1 but some titles cause Nero to hang. Spiderman 3 use to hang Nero but they fixed that one with the latest release. But now Rush Hour 3 hangs.

[Andy o]

Thanks for the reply, Andy. Yeah, ID4 just came out. I received it via Amazon pre-order.

I'm sure I have the latest version of AnyDVD as well. I downloaded it yesterday specifically to see if I could run ID4 as a mounted ISO. I checked all the protection removal boxes before running the rip.

Here's what AnyDVD reports:
-------------------------------------
Summary for drive F: (AnyDVD 6.4.0.0)
HL-DT-ST BDDVDRW GGC-H20N 1.01 E 00081007197AU85946
Drive (Hardware) Region: 1

Media is a Blu-Ray disc.
Total size: 24438784 sectors (47732 MBytes)
Video Blu-Ray label: ID4_US_V2
Media is AACS protected!
Media is BD+ protected!
Removed AACS copy protection!
Removed BD+ copy protection!
BD+ Firmware warning removed!
-------------------------------------

I found these other two posts from the same user reporting the exact same issue, and his posts seem to indicate that it's a problem with PDVD:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13367388#post13367388
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13367921#post13367921

I tried to rollback to the version that's on my disc as he did, but the version that's on my disc wouldn't accept the ID4 disc at all without running a software update, which brings me back to square 1. Also, still no reply from Cyberlink support.

I've seen other posts from people claiming that their ID4 discs took up to 15 minutes to load to the first menu on their standalone blu-ray consoles. I'm gonna let PDVD sit there for a while and see if the disc menu appears after a few minutes. Might as well give that a try as I wait for a response from support.

Any thoughts from wiser forum members will be appreciated...

-R

I forgot to ask which PowerDVD build you have. Right-click on the PowerDVD window, then about... and then click on your name below "This product is licensed to:" You'll see the build number on "DVD Version".

Also, this seems like another super bloated 1.1 profile disc. If it is, for proper playback you should have at least build 3730.

[rg_himself]

I forgot to ask which PowerDVD build you have. Right-click on the PowerDVD window, then about... and then click on your name below "This product is licensed to:" You'll see the build number on "DVD Version".

Also, this seems like another super bloated 1.1 profile disc. If it is, for proper playback you should have at least build 3730.

Thanks again for the feedback, Andy.

My version is 7.3.3516a.0

Note that I'm running an OEM version of DVD Suite Ultra that came with my PC. From what I understand, the auto-updates for PDVD are the same as the retail version.

[Andy o]

Thanks again for the feedback, Andy.

My version is 7.3.3516a.0

Note that I'm running an OEM version of DVD Suite Ultra that came with my PC. From what I understand, the auto-updates for PDVD are the same as the retail version.

That might explain it. The updates are not the same. Profile 1.1 support started with 7.3.3730 (a.k.a. "3730"). The OEM version right now just doesn't support 1.1 well, or at all with some discs, as you have seen.

By the way, I have read that you could get 3730 from support if you complain enough, so you might wanna try that. I haven't verified it myself though.

[Peter Nagy]

My Lite-On Blu-Ray drive came with OEM PowerDVD 7.3 (I never checked the exact version). It worked at first for earlier Blu-Ray movies. But it had serious issues with newer Blu-Ray movies and I didn't want to want for an OEM update, so I bought and downloaded the retail 3730a and it solved the problem.

I can watch just about any Blu-Ray movies except Resident Evil:Extinction. This movies stutters continously even with AnyDVD-HD and I think the studio built the movie incorrectly. Many people complained about this movie.

Peter

[Robert Clark]

Add me to those who are having difficulties with Power DVD. Just added an LG combo drive and an HD3450 card to a Dell 530s, but like others in this thread, ID4 does not play, I cannot select play on 3:10 to Yuma, and I cannot get multichannel sound out of HDMI, only two channel audio.

[Peter Nagy]

Add me to those who are having difficulties with Power DVD. Just added an LG combo drive and an HD3450 card to a Dell 530s, but like others in this thread, ID4 does not play, I cannot select play on 3:10 to Yuma, and I cannot get multichannel sound out of HDMI, only two channel audio.

3:10 to Yuma plays perfectly with my HTPC, Lite-On Blu-Ray drive and Power DVD Ultra 3730a. What version Power DVD do you have? It seems anything earlier than 3730 will have problems with newer Blu-Ray movies.

Peter

[Robert Clark]

3:10 to Yuma plays perfectly with my HTPC, Lite-On Blu-Ray drive and Power DVD Ultra 3730a. What version Power DVD do you have? It seems anything earlier than 3730 will have problems with newer Blu-Ray movies.

Peter

3516a (the u