PowerDVD Ultra (HD-DVD and Blu-Ray)

[RichB]

The use of Overlay is disturbing. I do not think overlay is *supported* in Vista.

VMR would be better especially for my GeForce card.

- Rich

[Kirby Baker]

Havent followed this overlay talk much, but is that why PDVD kicks my Vista out of Aero mode and into Basic mode?

[dennlv]

I would like to thank this thread and all that have contributed to this thread for fixing my issues.

Yesterday, I just bought the xbox360 hddvd drive and Ultra 7.1. Everything went well, until I popped in the bundle KK to see how HD looks on my setup. 2 issues on ultra 7.1;

1) I can only see 25% of the whole movie
2) Colour banding with red push
(Total crap! I would say)

Having read this thread prior to buying, I went to checked nvidia display setting and noticed that my AA and AF was not set to application control. However the colour banding was still there.

Having played around with pdvd7.0 deluxe before and also have problem with red push, I uninstall my nvidia 93.71 driver and reinstalled it again. HD KK now looks great!

After the show, I popped in KK dvd and uses the same pdvd player. I could see how soft and lack of contrast KK was. Looks like I am off to amazon to shop for more HD disks. :D

just in case anyone needs the following info;
E6600
Leadtek 7900gs with h/w acc. ticked and using purevideo v.223
2gb on intel bx2 using onboard soundcard passthru to xr55

[takisot]

I will have to respectfully disagree about my system being not calibrated correctly causing banding. This is clearly a software issue - and not hardware, in my eyes.

What display are you using? I tested with D65 calbrated Sony Pearl and BenQ 8720 without any of the issues mentioned (banding and other artifacts).
One tip though: you have to have the latest 7.2 catalysts and to manually set brightness /contrast from the catalyst control panel, in order to have Below Black and Above White information with Overlay.

[tahustvedt]

What display are you using? I tested with D65 calbrated Sony Pearl and BenQ 8720 without any of the issues mentioned (banding and other artifacts).
One tip though: you have to have the latest 7.2 catalysts and to manually set brightness /contrast from the catalyst control panel, in order to have Below Black and Above White information with Overlay.

The overlay controls with Cat 7.2? Cool! I'll try that. It didn't work with PowerDVD with previous versions. The stupid controls in powerDVd are useless.

[Alpha10]

What display are you using? I tested with D65 calbrated Sony Pearl and BenQ 8720 without any of the issues mentioned (banding and other artifacts).
One tip though: you have to have the latest 7.2 catalysts and to manually set brightness /contrast from the catalyst control panel, in order to have Below Black and Above White information with Overlay.


Interesting, any guidance on what to try with this any standard settings to do??

"manually set brightness /contrast from the catalyst control panel"

Cheers

[skepticon]

PowerDVD Ultra is using overlay?! Ugg. How does one confirm this?
HD DVD's do use the 16-235 colorspace, don't they?
And now with overlay, we're expanding them to 0-255.
This is sacreligious. I really wish there was a way to get MCE to use the necessary codecs and display HD DVD content.

[Ozy666]

Banding was pretty bad with PowerDVD Ultra and Superman Returns. I hope this issue gets resolved quickly.

Ozy

[maxleung]

You can use Reclock to check if Overlay is being used - force Reclock to load for PowerDVD (or tell Reclock to ALWAYS load for DirectSound filters - sometimes this is necessary too), and then look for the one or two Reclock icons in the taskbar. Double click on them and look at what it reports.

Another way is to attempt a screenshot, and then paste into MS Paint - if you get a pure black screen that is the same dimensions as the screen/window it is probably overlay. Bonus points if you still have PowerDVD running, and you see the full motion video INSIDE MS Paint. :)

[WilliamG]

What display are you using? I tested with D65 calbrated Sony Pearl and BenQ 8720 without any of the issues mentioned (banding and other artifacts).
One tip though: you have to have the latest 7.2 catalysts and to manually set brightness /contrast from the catalyst control panel, in order to have Below Black and Above White information with Overlay.

I'm using a Samsung LN-S4695D 46" 1080p LCD.

1080i/p with the XBOX 360 itself looks fine. 1080p via PowerDVD has some banding. It's again, NOT awful, but I can see it (compared the two directly).

I'm using an Nvidia card, so no chance of using Catalysts. :)

[WilliamG]

just in case anyone needs the following info;
E6600
Leadtek 7900gs with h/w acc. ticked and using purevideo v.223
2gb on intel bx2 using onboard soundcard passthru to xr55

I will never know, it seems, how some people can use Purevideo and not get stuttery video. I enable Purevideo and it stutters. Disabling it = smooth picture, though the banding is the same with or without Purevideo enabled.

And yes, I have the same Leadtek 7900GS. How did you install Purevideo, and how do you get to the Purevideo options? I just downloaded the Nvidia trial but don't see any indication at all of it being installed.

[skepticon]

The Purevideo mpeg2 decoder that you download and install is a seperate animal that is not involved in any of this. The purevideo acceleration that is used by PowerDVD is a combination of hardware and driver features to aid video processing. Nvidia really could have saved a lot of confusion if they didn't name both of these 2 different things "purevideo".

[WilliamG]

The Purevideo mpeg2 decoder that you download and install is a seperate animal that is not involved in any of this. The purevideo acceleration that is used by PowerDVD is a combination of hardware and driver features to aid video processing. Nvidia really could have saved a lot of confusion if they didn't name both of these 2 different things "purevideo".

So you don't need to download the separate 30-day trial Purevideo?

I'm just using the 93.71 drivers from Nvidia, and just ticked the box in the options for h/w acceleration. Then all HD movies stutter. :)

[skepticon]

No, you don't need the Purevideo decoder. That's just an mpeg2 decoder used for regular DVD's and recorded TV. PowerDVD has it's own decoders... and makes use of the purevideo hardware/driver features of the card. It doesn't make any use of the purevideo decoder.

[tahustvedt]

You can use Reclock to check if Overlay is being used - force Reclock to load for PowerDVD (or tell Reclock to ALWAYS load for DirectSound filters - sometimes this is necessary too), and then look for the one or two Reclock icons in the taskbar. Double click on them and look at what it reports.

Another way is to attempt a screenshot, and then paste into MS Paint - if you get a pure black screen that is the same dimensions as the screen/window it is probably overlay. Bonus points if you still have PowerDVD running, and you see the full motion video INSIDE MS Paint. :)

Thanks! I got ReClock to work now when I checked "Force ReClock to be loaded in place of DirectSound/Wave Renderers" and "Force ReClock to be loaded in PowerDVD". I only tried the latter before plus lots of other options but it didn't occur to me to try the other one. Now the 640 kbps DD+ soundtracks run smoothly for me, at least the one I tried, Corpse Bride. I'll try more titles.

I tried changing the overlay controls in CCC but they still have no effect on the picture in PowerDVD.

[Alpha10]

Thanks! I got ReClock to work now when I checked "Force ReClock to be loaded in place of DirectSound/Wave Renderers" and "Force ReClock to be loaded in PowerDVD". I only tried the latter before plus lots of other options but it didn't occur to me to try the other one. Now the 640 kbps DD+ soundtracks run smoothly for me, at least the one I tried, Corpse Bride. I'll try more titles.

I tried changing the overlay controls in CCC but they still have no effect on the picture in PowerDVD.


That is really interesting, I have never used reClock but if it gets rid of my stutter on 640 kbps sound then brilliant. Do you have Poseidon to try by any chance?

Cheers

[tahustvedt]

No, sorry. I have Grand Prix, Ant Bully and Corpse Bride which stuttered before but all play fine now.

[Alpha10]

No, sorry. I have Grand Prix, Ant Bully and Corpse Bride which stuttered before but all play fine now.

Oh excellent, I would be really grateful if you could try ReClock with Grand-prix

Thanks

[tahustvedt]

Grand Prix plays smoothly now. :) I also remembered Scorpion King had microscopic stuttering, less prominent than with the 640 kbps tracks and less frequent, maybe they were caused by something else in mysystem when I watched the movie, but it's smooth now. That's a 1536 kbps track. I'm very pleased with not having to use analog out any more.

Another thing I noticed now. Reclock reports the video renderer as "VMR9 (renderless)" while PwerDVD reports "Overlay".

Sorry if there are any typos in my recent posts. I'm typing in the dark in my HT.

[Alpha10]

Grand Prix plays smoothly now. :) I also remembered Scorpion King had microscopic stuttering, less prominent than with the 640 kbps tracks and less frequent, maybe they were caused by something else in mysystem when I watched the movie, but it's smooth now. That's a 1536 kbps track. I'm very pleased with not having to use analog out any more.

Another thing I noticed now. Reclock reports the video renderer as "VMR9 (renderless)" while PwerDVD reports "Overlay".

Sorry if there are any typos in my recent posts. I'm typing in the dark in my HT.


Thank you ever so much for this, I will try ReClock out tomorrow night when I have some time off....

Thanks again,

[antonio_car]

HD DVD's do use the 16-235 colorspace, don't they?


Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\CyberLink\PowerDVD\HDDVD]
"COLORSPACE_OPTION"=dword:00000003

In my system , XP SP2 Powerdvd ultra 7.1 7950GT , HDMI connected to DLP HC3000 1280x720P

3 expand level
1 Normal level

But in any cases some bandings is still there with or Without DXVA (Overlay seems in use).

Antonio

[Alpha10]

Grand Prix plays smoothly now. :) I also remembered Scorpion King had microscopic stuttering, less prominent than with the 640 kbps tracks and less frequent, maybe they were caused by something else in mysystem when I watched the movie, but it's smooth now. That's a 1536 kbps track. I'm very pleased with not having to use analog out any more.

Another thing I noticed now. Reclock reports the video renderer as "VMR9 (renderless)" while PwerDVD reports "Overlay".

Sorry if there are any typos in my recent posts. I'm typing in the dark in my HT.

Sorry to be a pain but which version of ReClock do you use/recommend, the latest I can find is a beta realease from some time ago, is this the right one?

"ReClock DirectShow Filter 1.7 beta 4"

Cheers

[WilliamG]

No, you don't need the Purevideo decoder. That's just an mpeg2 decoder used for regular DVD's and recorded TV. PowerDVD has it's own decoders... and makes use of the purevideo hardware/driver features of the card. It doesn't make any use of the purevideo decoder.

Thank you for the clarification. Can you explain the stuttering with h/w acceleration enabled then with 93.71 Nvidia drivers, either with my 7900GS HDCP and my 7600GS (with AnyDVDHD to bypass HDCP for that card)? Two different systems..

[tahustvedt]

Sorry to be a pain but which version of ReClock do you use/recommend, the latest I can find is a beta realease from some time ago, is this the right one?

"ReClock DirectShow Filter 1.7 beta 4"

Cheers

I'm using Version 1.6. I haven't tried any newer versions.

[Alpha10]

I'm using Version 1.6. I haven't tried any newer versions.

Thanks again.

[tahustvedt]

No problem.

[maxleung]

antonio, thanks for that registry settings! I'll have to give it a try - I believe PowerDVD 6.5 is giving me PC levels even though it is operating in VMR9 mode.

Oh - and I'm glad Reclock is working for you guys! :)

[antonio_car]

Max I hope it works.

I have to recheck Powerdvd 6.5 but I had navigation problems with european titles.
Yes I think Powerdvd 6.5 use VMR9 :

http://img95.imageshack.us/img95/4183/kingkong2kh2.jpg

[takisot]

Interesting, any guidance on what to try with this any standard settings to do??

"manually set brightness /contrast from the catalyst control panel"

Cheers

Sure, you just enter Catalyst control panel, (advanced mode) , then Video, Video Adjustments, you untick "Let the application control the video adjustments", then you adjust the brightness & contrast with a DVE or other pattern disc. In my system I set Brightness at 29 and contrast at 86.
Regarding the alleged banding I suspect it is an Nvidia problem, as with the ATIs I havent seen any.

Another easy way to see if you are using overlay or vmr9 if you have powersrip installed, is to go to "color profiles" then to play with the gamma setting: if it affects the whole image (desktop + powerdvd window) then it is VMR9. If only the desktop and not the window, it is overlay.

Finally, I do not trust what powerdvd or reclock report regarding VMR9, as reclock always reports vmr9 renderless and powerdvd overlay!

[WilliamG]

Yay!

OK, so since I was so ticked off, I "acquired" a version of PowerDVD 6.5.

SOME problems solved! No more banding, AND I can turn on Hardware Acceleration and it works! I don't seem to go above 50% CPU usage at all now during Batman Begins. A lot of the time it's at around 25%-35%! Yay!

PowerDVD 7.2 = junk.
PowerDVD 6.5 = ??

Mission Impossible 3 won't play on it properly (who knows what others?)

System:

Shuttle SN27P2
AMD X2 4200+
2GB DDR-2 800
Geforce 7600GS with AnyDVDHD to bypass HDCP.

^ ^ ^

So there you go. No HTPC option basically works right now. Hopefully the next version of PowerDVD will work.

*SIGH*

[maxleung]

antonio, it appears that registry setting has no effect for PowerDVD 6.5. It still outputs PC levels. :(

[skepticon]

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\CyberLink\PowerDVD\HDDVD]
"COLORSPACE_OPTION"=dword:00000003

In my system , XP SP2 Powerdvd ultra 7.1 7950GT , HDMI connected to DLP HC3000 1280x720P

3 expand level
1 Normal level

But in any cases some bandings is still there with or Without DXVA (Overlay seems in use).

Antonio


Excellent post Antonio. This registry trick does indeed work with PowerDVD Ultra.
How did you come across this information?

I'm curious about some of the other registry settings, particularly these:

DX_HDDVD_VideoRenderer=dword:4
NV_Overlay=dword:1
(edit...changing the value of these keys has no noticeable effect on HDDVD playback)

If PowerDVD is using overlay by default, I wonder if it's possible to force VMR9 through the registry. I also wonder if overlay is the reason that enabling hardware acceleration results in a black screen for me, and if VMR9 would allow hardware acceleration to work properly.

[skepticon]

Thank you for the clarification. Can you explain the stuttering with h/w acceleration enabled then with 93.71 Nvidia drivers, either with my 7900GS HDCP and my 7600GS (with AnyDVDHD to bypass HDCP for that card)? Two different systems..

I think its simply that hardware acceleration in PowerDVD is broken.
For me, with an 8800GTX, enabling hardware acceleration just gives me a black screen. For now, I just have it disabled.

[WilliamG]

I think its simply that hardware acceleration in PowerDVD is broken.
For me, with an 8800GTX, enabling hardware acceleration just gives me a black screen. For now, I just have it disabled.

Just seems odd that for some people it works.

What I wish for is for Cyberlink to fix PowerDVD 6.5 so that it works with current movies (MI:3 etc), and then I'd be happy since hardware acceleration works, and there's no banding in 6.5.

[<><]

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\CyberLink\PowerDVD\HDDVD]
"COLORSPACE_OPTION"=dword:00000003

In my system , XP SP2 Powerdvd ultra 7.1 7950GT , HDMI connected to DLP HC3000 1280x720P

3 expand level
1 Normal level

But in any cases some bandings is still there with or Without DXVA (Overlay seems in use).

Antonio
wow, excellent find w/ the registry entry
works fine w/ powerdvd 7.1
even after calibrating my xbr2 from the posts here something seemed off and too dark....setting it to Normal Level really opened it up and the scenes appear the way they should now!

thanks

[antonio_car]

I'm curious about some of the other registry settings, particularly these:

Sorry , experimental settings :)

I have not found how to enable VMR9.

[takisot]

Yay!

OK, so since I was so ticked off, I "acquired" a version of PowerDVD 6.5.

SOME problems solved! No more banding, AND I can turn on Hardware Acceleration and it works! I don't seem to go above 50% CPU usage at all now during Batman Begins. A lot of the time it's at around 25%-35%! Yay!

PowerDVD 7.2 = junk.
PowerDVD 6.5 = ??

Mission Impossible 3 won't play on it properly (who knows what others?)

System:

Shuttle SN27P2
AMD X2 4200+
2GB DDR-2 800
Geforce 7600GS with AnyDVDHD to bypass HDCP.

^ ^ ^

So there you go. No HTPC option basically works right now. Hopefully the next version of PowerDVD will work.

*SIGH*

I am pretty sure it has to do with Nvidia, since the 6.5 and 7.2 have identical crystal clear image in my display with an ATI X1950Pro. I am not sure though if the hardware accelaration works, since it is grayed during playback. On the other hand it doesnt bother me at all, since the Cpu usage is always at about 20-30% (Core2pro 6600) and playback is super smooth. Any other ATI users to confirm this?

[WilliamG]

I am pretty sure it has to do with Nvidia, since the 6.5 and 7.2 have identical crystal clear image in my display with an ATI X1950Pro. I am not sure though if the hardware accelaration works, since it is grayed during playback. On the other hand it doesnt bother me at all, since the Cpu usage is always at about 20-30% (Core2pro 6600) and playback is super smooth. Any other ATI users to confirm this?

Nvidia or not, Cyberlink changed the way their program is rendered between 6.5 and 7.2. I've no doubt it will get fixed in due course. Now...the waiting game! :)

[takisot]

William, as I posted earlier, with my old X800 card, the 6.5 was in VMR9 while with the new X1950pro, it is now rendered with Overlay! So, I am not sure it is a Cyberlink problem or if is related with the graphic card and/or the graphics driver. We ll see...

[pospower]

OK I give up. I have powerdvd Ultra 7.2 Disk and download link. Make me an offer.

jay@jaydunigan.com

[dennlv]

Hi WilliamG,

There are so many things to ticked and not do, we might not have done all of it as there are lots of combo in it.

Since you are also using the same card as me, can you try the following and see if it helps?

After pdvd ultra was installed, uninstall nvidia driver 93.71 reboot, reinstall 93.71, reboot again. in pdvd ultra tick use h/w acc. and do not do anything to nvidia control panel esp. tick use inverse telecine.

check if u still get the banding and stuttering and let us know.

Thank you for the clarification. Can you explain the stuttering with h/w acceleration enabled then with 93.71 Nvidia drivers, either with my 7900GS HDCP and my 7600GS (with AnyDVDHD to bypass HDCP for that card)? Two different systems..

[WilliamG]

William, as I posted earlier, with my old X800 card, the 6.5 was in VMR9 while with the new X1950pro, it is now rendered with Overlay! So, I am not sure it is a Cyberlink problem or if is related with the graphic card and/or the graphics driver. We ll see...

Very bizarre....

[WilliamG]

Hi WilliamG,

There are so many things to ticked and not do, we might not have done all of it as there are lots of combo in it.

Since you are also using the same card as me, can you try the following and see if it helps?

After pdvd ultra was installed, uninstall nvidia driver 93.71 reboot, reinstall 93.71, reboot again. in pdvd ultra tick use h/w acc. and do not do anything to nvidia control panel esp. tick use inverse telecine.

check if u still get the banding and stuttering and let us know.

I will do that today. Here's a quick question. I've never even seen any nVidia options such as inverse telecine etc. Where are those options hidden? I don't want to mess with them but if there's something there that's on or off and shouldn't be, I'd like to be able to check.

Thanks, and I'll report back about the uninstall/reinstall of drivers. :)

[slothy]

I will do that today. Here's a quick question. I've never even seen any nVidia options such as inverse telecine etc. Where are those options hidden? I don't want to mess with them but if there's something there that's on or off and shouldn't be, I'd like to be able to check.

Thanks, and I'll report back about the uninstall/reinstall of drivers. :)


in the nvidia control panel under adjust color settings i believe - will be a sharpen edges and noise sliders

[WilliamG]

in the nvidia control panel under adjust color settings i believe - will be a sharpen edges and noise sliders


Thanks! :)

[WilliamG]

Just tried the uninstall/reinstall of 93.71. No difference. Still banding with PowerDVD 7.2 Ultra, and still stutters with h/w accel enabled. :(

[<><]

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\CyberLink\PowerDVD\HDDVD]
"COLORSPACE_OPTION"=dword:00000003

In my system , XP SP2 Powerdvd ultra 7.1 7950GT , HDMI connected to DLP HC3000 1280x720P

3 expand level
1 Normal level

But in any cases some bandings is still there with or Without DXVA (Overlay seems in use).

Antonio

So what exactly does this do...i mean, i have mine set at 1 and i think it should have been set at 1 to begin with. After trying all the calibrations listed for the xbr2, it looks like it should look w/ the settings instead of getting no detail in the shadows or dark scenes....
What does the colorspace option depend on...the tv, the media, or what? MI:3 HD-DVD and the Mummy HD-DVD really opened up and got more detailed in the dark scenes, but superman now looks like crap, like a bad upconverted dvd...or maybe thats just how superman hddvd is?

but neway, just wondering why and when you should use the expanded level vs the normal.

thanks

[skepticon]

If your display is calibrated for video levels 16-235 (as it should be if your serious about watching movies), you should have this set at 1...normal.
If your display is calibrated for PC levels 0-255 (which I guess Cyberlink assumed EVERYONE who uses their software would), then leaving this at 3 will expand the video levels to PC levels. This introduces banding, and if your display is at video levels, you will get clipping.
For optimal image quality, it is best to calibrate your display for video levels, and output the video content at the levels that they were mastered at.

It baffles me that Cyberlink would force us to screw up the video levels, without at least giving us an option in the configuration tabs. I've been running the software for a couple of weeks, and hadn't even thought to check on this, because I just assumed that video levels would be untouched, as they are with any other respectable playback software. Now I know why I wasn't seeing as much shadow detail as I was expecting. I'm very greatful to Antonio for helping us correct Cyberlink's mistake.

As for Superman, I haven't seen the HD version yet myself, but I've read many reports that indicate that it's just a bad transfer.

[WilliamG]

If your display is calibrated for video levels 16-235 (as it should be if your serious about watching movies), you should have this set at 1...normal.
If your display is calibrated for PC levels 0-255 (which I guess Cyberlink assumed EVERYONE who uses their software would), then leaving this at 3 will expand the video levels to PC levels. This introduces banding, and if your display is at video levels, you will get clipping.
For optimal image quality, it is best to calibrate your display for video levels, and output the video content at the levels that they were mastered at.

It baffles me that Cyberlink would force us to screw up the video levels, without at least giving us an option in the configuration tabs. I've been running the software for a couple of weeks, and hadn't even thought to check on this, because I just assumed that video levels would be untouched, as they are with any other respectable playback software. Now I know why I wasn't seeing as much shadow detail as I was expecting. I'm very greatful to Antonio for helping us correct Cyberlink's mistake.

As for Superman, I haven't seen the HD version yet myself, but I've read many reports that indicate that it's just a bad transfer.


Can you explain this calibration numbering system, and how you go about editing them? Thanks!

[saintsaints]

I tried a BD mpeg4 movie with MP10 on my X2 3800+ and it's at 95 percent usage, compared to 75 percent with a HD-DVD movie using PD.

Usually, VLC and MPC take the least resources. However, it really depends on the BD title, if it's using MPEG2 or AVC.

[skepticon]

Can you explain this calibration numbering system, and how you go about editing them? Thanks!

There is a sticky thread at the top of this forum that is dedicated to this topic.

HOW-TO: Calibrating Display to Match HTPC Output (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=523614)

Matching color levels is fundamental to achieving an accurate, desireable image.

[himey]

Does anyone have any idea why version 6.5 works perfectly and 7.1 say's I don't have the right video drivers?

My system is P4 3.0 gig processor, 1 gig of ram (dual channel 400 speed), ATI 9800 pro.
Anydvd trial.

The other strange thing is that "homeade" HD-DVD's play perfectly with 7.1 version (I do get the "not the right video drivers" box but it lets me cancel and it works fine)? My store bought HD-DVD's get the box but turns off the video. You can see it starting for a split second.

What advantages do the 7.1 player have over the 6.5?

[pookguy88]

does PowerDVD play nice with MCE? That is, can I play mkv/h264 files with it in the MCE front end?

[WilliamG]

There is a sticky thread at the top of this forum that is dedicated to this topic.

HOW-TO: Calibrating Display to Match HTPC Output (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=523614)

Matching color levels is fundamental to achieving an accurate, desireable image.

Thank you. That post looks very complicated. I don't believe it's possible to get rid of the banding in PowerDVD 7.2. In 6.5, without calibration, the image is perfect. Such a shame that some movies don't work in 6.5. :(

I would love to be proven wrong, though. If someone kind enough would like to show me some screenshots of 7.2 + nvidia cards without banding, that would be very sweet.

A particular part of a movie I used to test for banding is the scene in Batman Begins where Christian Bale gets decked by Liam Neeson, and when he's lying there, there's this light toward the left of the screen that clearly bands in 7.2, and doesn't band in 6.5. I'll try to get a timestamp later, but it's the scene where Bale visits the big mansion in the mountains for the first time, and just when Neeson takes the flower from Bale.

[arfster]

Thank you. That post looks very complicated. I don't believe it's possible to get rid of the banding in PowerDVD 7.2. In 6.5, without calibration, the image is perfect. Such a shame that some movies don't work in 6.5. :(


Both are complete bugfests :-) In a few weeks Cyberlink will release a patch that should fix the more ridiculous issues, so I'd just wait for that. As it is, it isn't possible to fix banding in 7.2 for the simple reason that it forces overlay, which always does a colour expansion. Unfortunately, that expansion is done badly (there are better methods, eg ffdshow+RGB32 option), thus banding.

Barring a major hackjob on PDVD to replace the expansion method (very hard) or to allow VMR9 (probably still difficult because of HDCP issues), there's not much can be done.

[taz291819]

Does anyone have any clue as to why PD7.2 kills Overlay-use in MPC? This is in Vista 32-bit Ultimate. I can play .ts files in PD7.2 (MPEG2 and AVC), but when I try to play them in MPC, only VMR9 will work.

Overlay and VMR7 only give me a black screen (audio is fine). If I uninstall PD7.2, Overlay works in MPC. Even if I block all Cyberlink filters, Overlay still doesn't work.

Any ideas?

[WilliamG]

Both are complete bugfests :-) In a few weeks Cyberlink will release a patch that should fix the more ridiculous issues, so I'd just wait for that. As it is, it isn't possible to fix banding in 7.2 for the simple reason that it forces overlay, which always does a colour expansion. Unfortunately, that expansion is done badly (there are better methods, eg ffdshow+RGB32 option), thus banding.

Barring a major hackjob on PDVD to replace the expansion method (very hard) or to allow VMR9 (probably still difficult because of HDCP issues), there's not much can be done.

I REALLY hope these bugfixes come soon. Seems like HD-DVD is crippled on computers as it is.

[skibum5000]

Thank you. That post looks very complicated. I don't believe it's possible to get rid of the banding in PowerDVD 7.2. In 6.5, without calibration, the image is perfect. Such a shame that some movies don't work in 6.5. :(

I would love to be proven wrong, though. If someone kind enough would like to show me some screenshots of 7.2 + nvidia cards without banding, that would be very sweet.

A particular part of a movie I used to test for banding is the scene in Batman Begins where Christian Bale gets decked by Liam Neeson, and when he's lying there, there's this light toward the left of the screen that clearly bands in 7.2, and doesn't band in 6.5. I'll try to get a timestamp later, but it's the scene where Bale visits the big mansion in the mountains for the first time, and just when Neeson takes the flower from Bale.

if you mean around 10 min mark. i don't see any banding there at all.
running 8800 GTS on XP with latest nvidia drivers. powerdvd 7.1 HD DVD

what display are you using?
some LCD are prone to banding, maybe it's that (dell 2407 pre-A03 revision is notorious)?

[WilliamG]

if you mean around 10 min mark. i don't see any banding there at all.
running 8800 GTS on XP with latest nvidia drivers. powerdvd 7.1 HD DVD

what display are you using?
some LCD are prone to banding, maybe it's that (dell 2407 pre-A03 revision is notorious)?

The exact time stamp I can pause and see banding is at 9:50.

Another good one is at 11:16. The wall of the room bands severely in PowerDVD 7.1.

Yes, it's an LCD. Samsung LN-S4695D, but I have no banding in 6.5 PowerDVD, so...

Here's an under-exposed screenshot of 9:50 so you can see the banding on the left, and also on the right, though not as bad. Also note the difference in Liam Neeson's forehead. You can see the banding there, too. PowerDVD 6.5 just looks gorgeous.

I wish Cyberlink could see these pictures.


POWERDVD 7.2
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a127/wgrose/IMG_0614.jpg


POWERDVD 6.5

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a127/wgrose/IMG_0620.jpg

You can clearly see the banding doesn't exist in PowerDVD 6.5.

PowerDVD 6.5 crashes and doesn't work with many movies, though..

[WilliamG]

So that's that. I'm tired of my equipment being blamed.

I won't post anymore on the subject, as others probably have even bigger issues than me. I will just try to wait (im)patiently for an update to the program.

[JKohn]

So does anybody know how to get out of the Universal screen saver when using PowerDVD 7.1? I paused a movie for a few minutes tonight, and when I came back there was a Universal Screen save running. To my astonishment, pressing pause again, or even Play paused/played the screen saver and not the actual movie. I tried hitting escape, I tried bringing up the Title or Root menu (unsuccessfully), but I could not for the life of me get that @!)(*#$) screen saver to stop. I finally had to pull up right-click menu, and on the "Go To" submenu find the Title corresponding to the movie and guess at which chapter would get me close to where I was.

[WilliamG]

So does anybody know how to get out of the Universal screen saver when using PowerDVD 7.1? I paused a movie for a few minutes tonight, and when I came back there was a Universal Screen save running. To my astonishment, pressing pause again, or even Play paused/played the screen saver and not the actual movie. I tried hitting escape, I tried bringing up the Title or Root menu (unsuccessfully), but I could not for the life of me get that @!)(*#$) screen saver to stop. I finally had to pull up right-click menu, and on the "Go To" submenu find the Title corresponding to the movie and guess at which chapter would get me close to where I was.

It's yet another bug. I had that while watching The Mummy Returns. Left the room and came back to find the screen saver running. Couldn't get out of it. *sighs*

[deandob]

William,

Your comparison screenshots quite clearly show the red push with Ultra which I saw on my setup as well (so its unlikely to be your camera). Maybe its just me - but the off colors are an unacceptable picture distortion that negates the quality features of a HD DVD, much more than the banding, which is visible but not as distracting.

I'm hoping that the color accuracy gets fixed in the next release. I could compensate by calibrating my projector for Ultra, but then all my other sources would be screwed up (or I would need to define different calibration sources per source, ugly...).

Regards,
Dean

[takisot]

I did notice the same thing to these screenshots. Of course it is unacceptable but it just seems that the color saturation in the overlay settings of the Nvidia card is way off. If properly calibrated it should have the exact same result as the Powerdvd 6.5 which uses VMR9.
In my ATI, there is no such problems (oversaturated colors and banding).

[arfster]

The exact time stamp I can pause and see banding is at 9:50.
.......


Thanks for the examples. Yes, that's a classic colour expansion done badly.

Amusing colours though, the guy looks slightly satanic with that red face.....

[debennett2]

I bought Ultra last night and am building my second htpc sometime today for hd-dvd playback. Is it possible to just use the Ultra decoder with another player and get the same playback support (i.e. playback hd-dvd in WMP11 or whatever using the codecs from PowerDVD)? Thanks for any pointers!

And has anyone got he xbox drive taken apart and even modded into their htpc case? Maybe even leaving the circuitry in palce but getting it in the casE?

[RichB]

I agree the video and color reproduction does not look right on 7.2 perhaps this is the overlay issue?

The sound from LPCM and DTS-HD on Blu-Ray is quite good. However, on HD DVD DD+ and DD TrueHD, they are overloading the center channel and sound thin with a bit of echo. Not good at all. Right now, I am using the motherboard analog out. The is no comparison to my HD-A1 analog outs. I am not sure if this is software or the motherboard sound.

I should get a SoundBlaster X-FI Elite Pro sound card today, so tonight I can see if a top flight sound card can help.

As it stands right now, Blu-ray sound is far superior to the HD DVD sound even on TrueHD sound tracks :confused:

- Rich

[<><]

Willaim,
do u own any other movies that u notice this banding? I wanted to compare one of my screenshots with yours and see...i don't' see any banding, but maybe its just not noticeable to me...also wanna compare/see color differences.

thanks

[lsdavinci]

Willaim,
do u own any other movies that u notice this banding? I wanted to compare one of my screenshots with yours and see...i don't' see any banding, but maybe its just not noticeable to me...also wanna compare/see color differences.

thanks

I have yet to test that scene in batman begins but I think there's definate banding issues with Constantine. If you go to the very end of the movie when Keanu is standing on the roof. The lights, if I remember had about 3-4 rings around them. Annoying but it's a short scene. Can anyone confirm?

[WilliamG]

Willaim,
do u own any other movies that u notice this banding? I wanted to compare one of my screenshots with yours and see...i don't' see any banding, but maybe its just not noticeable to me...also wanna compare/see color differences.

thanks

Yes, every movie has banding. It just depends on the scene. King Kong does, though it's not as obvious. A really easy test with King Kong is just to load the main menu. On the left, by the menus in the white are, you can see the banding really easily in 7.2, whereas it's much softer and blended in 6.5.

[<><]

eh, no KK or Constetine.
I have MI:3, Superman Returns, Mummy, Vendetta, Fearless, Sleepy Hollow, The Departed...i really havent noticed any banding..
well, in superman returns i have actually, that movie looks like crap, especially the sky, i can see blocking a LOT and the quality is really bad :(

[WilliamG]

eh, no KK or Constetine.
I have MI:3, Superman Returns, Mummy, Vendetta, Fearless, Sleepy Hollow, The Departed...i really havent noticed any banding..
well, in superman returns i have actually, that movie looks like crap, especially the sky, i can see blocking a LOT and the quality is really bad :(

MI:3, when Cruise comes back from his failed trip, there's a fair amount of banding around the light on the wall. It's the chapter after the helicopter chase scene, I believe, where he's hugging the girl in their house. :)

[maxleung]

WilliamG, I see the same banding issues with 7.1 - I have an NVIDIA 7900GT, Windows XP, tested with the 92.91 and 93.71 drivers. I have not tested with the hacked 97.92 drivers yet.

I am using PowerDVD 6.5 - it looks much better. It uses VMR9 and it still does level expansion to PC levels, but no banding.

[tahustvedt]

Overlay on nvidia cards is not the same as overlay on ATI cards I believe. I find 7.1 is much sharper than 6.5 on my setup with my ATi card and 1280x720 resolution.

I wish I had Batman now so I could check. I don't see any banding in the area of the King kong menu that you mention, WilliamG.

[RichB]

I could not get the Sony OEM 6.6 to work without stuttering. 7.2 works fine with my 8800 GTS. Not sure why though. Maybe it was the VMR versus Overlay.

- Rich

[WilliamG]

WilliamG, I see the same banding issues with 7.1 - I have an NVIDIA 7900GT, Windows XP, tested with the 92.91 and 93.71 drivers. I have not tested with the hacked 97.92 drivers yet.

I am using PowerDVD 6.5 - it looks much better. It uses VMR9 and it still does level expansion to PC levels, but no banding.

Unfortunately, a lot of movies don't work with 6.5. King Kong, MI:3 etc etc.

Keep me posted if you get any drivers to work properly, though it's clear to me, at this stage, that Cyberlink changed the way their program worked from 6.5 to 7.2 - for the worst.

[klillevo]

Has anyone gotten PureVideo HD acceleration to work for NVIDIA 7600 GT with AGP, or any other AGP based NVIDIA card?

After a failed ATI Avivo attempt I had read good things about how PureVideo HD actually works. Therefore I exchanged the ATI for a NVIDIA 7600GT in the form of a WinFast A7600 GT TDH 256MB AGP card.

Unfortunately, PureVideo HD does not work.

I am using PowerDVD Ultra 7.1 with an Xbox 360 HD DVD drive and AnyDVD HD to avoid the HDCP requirement.

First I tried VC-1 content. I heard audio for a second or two, then PowerDVD crashed.
Next up was H.264. This played stutteringly, but the PureVideo checkbox had been disabled so clearly without hardware acceleration.

I am able to get MPEG-2 DirectX VA to work for HD MPEG-2 transport streams, but HD DVD remains a failure. My system is a Northwood P4 at 3.25 GHz, and can almost play HD DVD VC-1 without assistance. It is AGP 4X and does not have SSE3. The Cyberlink HD advisor is green except for HDCP, and yellow for CPU (upgrade recommended -- yes, I know)

I have tried driver versions 93.71 and 93.81. Next I will try a Prescott P4 with SSE3.

According to PureVideo support, both H.264 and VC-1 acceleration should work with the AGP version of 7600 GT... Can anyone confirm this?

[WilliamG]

Video acceleration is broken many (the majority?) of us with the current PowerDVD. If I enable h/w acceleration in PowerDVD 7.1, I get stuttery video. I had perfectly smooth video in PowerDVD 6.5 with h/w acceleration.

This is tested with the same results with 2 cards: 7900GS HDCP 256MB Leadtek card, and also with a 7600GS non-HDCP (with AnyDVD HD) - both PCI-E cards.

[dhy8386]

On a slightly different topic, has anyone been able to playback xvid files through PDVD Ultra? I am using version 7.1. I have tried both network streamed and local xvid files unsuccessfully. When i go into the program to choose a media file to play, select a specific xvid movie, the player comes up, but the time code stays at 0:00, nothing happens, and very very slowly (as if its freezing and unfreezing), the location and title of my movie scrolls over the time code. I have to cntrl-alt-delete to quit PDVD everytime.

Any ideas?

[dennlv]

WilliamG,

From your screen shots, you seems to have the red push (I dont have the exact movie, maybe the universal logo with the sunrise from King Kong HDDVD, might be useful to me, as I see lots of banding previously). But for me it seems, after I reinstall my nvidia driver, the red push was gone and colour looks natural, similiar to my dvd if not better.

Btw did you install pdvd ultra and reinstall the driver after that and not the other way round?

I also have purevideo installed. Wonder also if checking h/w accel. will purevideo colour setting be used instead? Anyway h/w accel. gives you stuttering, doing this might not be a good idea as your movie will not be watchable.

Wonder if 8800gts or Ati will solve your problem, as some people had reported success on these.

Note: the above are from someone who just played his first full HD movie.

denn

The exact time stamp I can pause and see banding is at 9:50.

Another good one is at 11:16. The wall of the room bands severely in PowerDVD 7.1.

Yes, it's an LCD. Samsung LN-S4695D, but I have no banding in 6.5 PowerDVD, so...

Here's an under-exposed screenshot of 9:50 so you can see the banding on the left, and also on the right, though not as bad. Also note the difference in Liam Neeson's forehead. You can see the banding there, too. PowerDVD 6.5 just looks gorgeous.

I wish Cyberlink could see these pictures.


POWERDVD 7.2
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a127/wgrose/IMG_0614.jpg


POWERDVD 6.5

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a127/wgrose/IMG_0620.jpg

You can clearly see the banding doesn't exist in PowerDVD 6.5.

PowerDVD 6.5 crashes and doesn't work with many movies, though..

[DJ79]

I had to run an experiment on banding with different displays and video boards.

My HTPC uses a 7900GS board hooked up to a Panasonic plasma through DVI. For the experiment, I used an X1600 board from my desktop (which happened to be my previous HTPC), and a Samsung 19” desktop LCD screen. PowerDVD was set not to expand color space (registry entry set to 1). All connections were through DVI. The drivers were 93.71 for the 7900GS and 6.12 (or 6.11 maybe?) for the X1600.

For source material I used the Focus logo, which displays the worst case of banding I’ve seen so far. Here is what I found:

7900GS --> plasma: Horrible banding -- this is the problem we are trying to solve

X1600 --> desktop LCD: No banding at all

X1600 --> plasma: I see some banding, but it’s not too noticeable unless you are looking for it, so it’s quite possible that the plasma screen is exaggerating the problem. At this point I’m beginning to wonder what the remaining combination is going to reveal. Finally,

7900GS --> desktop LCD: Horrible banding again.


So, it appears that the problem is either the 7 series hardware, as someone has suggested earlier, or the driver, in combination with PowerDVD, of course. This was my first nVidia board ever, but I think I’ll be going back to ATI soon.

Just for reference, the same Focus logo on an SD-DVD on the 7900GS and the plasma screen using MCE and PureVideo decoder showed just a tiny bit of banding, barely noticeable. Also, playing the same clip through PowerDVD looked about the same, but I’m not sure whether overlay was used for that, or just that the DVD was mastered differently.

I hope you’ve found this long post informative.

[WilliamG]

Definitely interesting, though I blame Cyberlink more than I blame nVidia. Again, PowerDVD 6.5 works FINE, IQ-wise, whereas 7.1 is broken.

I have tried reinstalling drivers while PowerDVD is installed, to no avail.

We all just need to wait and see what happens, but currently there is no way for most of us to properly enjoy HD-DVD on a PC without severe trade-offs.

[deandob]

I agree, I have been disappointed with HD-DVD on the PC.

Hopefully with time these issues will be fixed - patched PowerDVD, more options when WinDVD and other new HD DVD software arrive, although with AACS protection now able to be bypassed we may not see as much official support for HD DVD / Blu Ray for the PC now. Even if the commercial player products (PowerDVD, WinDVD) stopped supporting HD DVD / Blu Ray, it may be possible to use tools like MPC to play HD movies, which they can do now but only video, as the sound cannot be decoded without proprietary HD Dolby/DTS decoders which are not available in the public domain.

Regards,
Dean

[rgreenpc]

Are there any other programs on the horizon to help up with Bray/HD-DVD playback... cyberlink is really letting us down.

[taz291819]

I agree, I have been disappointed with HD-DVD on the PC.

Hopefully with time these issues will be fixed - patched PowerDVD, more options when WinDVD and other new HD DVD software arrive, although with AACS protection now able to be bypassed we may not see as much official support for HD DVD / Blu Ray for the PC now. Even if the commercial player products (PowerDVD, WinDVD) stopped supporting HD DVD / Blu Ray, it may be possible to use tools like MPC to play HD movies, which they can do now but only video, as the sound cannot be decoded without proprietary HD Dolby/DTS decoders which are not available in the public domain.

Regards,
Dean

Actually, with AACS being decrypted, software sales should rise. There were/are a lot of people out there with capable PCs, but lack HDCP support in either their video card or display.

[Richard Berg]

^ Not to mention that there are a lot of people with borderline-capable PCs that have enough juice to handle 1080p only when decryption is done beforehand.

------

General question: do the latest versions of PowerDVD or WinDVD integrate into the MCE 10' interface yet, or are they still separate apps?

[karos]

Are there any other programs on the horizon to help up with Bray/HD-DVD playback... cyberlink is really letting us down.

directDVD from orion studios is an interesting app. it allows certain plugins for manipulation of sound as well.

[skepticon]

The mpeg2 decoders (which aren't that good), can be used by MCE.
But for HD DVD playback, you still need to launch the app seperately.
I would LOVE to be able to play HD DVDs from within Media Center...but I don't expect that's going to happen for XP.

[himey]

Has anyone gotten the NIN-Beside You In Time HD-DVD working on their PC? I am using PowerDVD 6.5 and anyhddvd. All my other discs work perfectly. Please let me know.Eric

ps. It goes into file mode when I try to play it and it doesn't work correctly...

[takisot]

I had to run an experiment on banding with different displays and video boards.

My HTPC uses a 7900GS board hooked up to a Panasonic plasma through DVI. For the experiment, I used an X1600 board from my desktop (which happened to be my previous HTPC), and a Samsung 19” desktop LCD screen. PowerDVD was set not to expand color space (registry entry set to 1). All connections were through DVI. The drivers were 93.71 for the 7900GS and 6.12 (or 6.11 maybe?) for the X1600.

For source material I used the Focus logo, which displays the worst case of banding I’ve seen so far. Here is what I found:

7900GS --> plasma: Horrible banding -- this is the problem we are trying to solve

X1600 --> desktop LCD: No banding at all

X1600 --> plasma: I see some banding, but it’s not too noticeable unless you are looking for it, so it’s quite possible that the plasma screen is exaggerating the problem. At this point I’m beginning to wonder what the remaining combination is going to reveal. Finally,

7900GS --> desktop LCD: Horrible banding again.


So, it appears that the problem is either the 7 series hardware, as someone has suggested earlier, or the driver, in combination with PowerDVD, of course. This was my first nVidia board ever, but I think I’ll be going back to ATI soon.

Just for reference, the same Focus logo on an SD-DVD on the 7900GS and the plasma screen using MCE and PureVideo decoder showed just a tiny bit of banding, barely noticeable. Also, playing the same clip through PowerDVD looked about the same, but I’m not sure whether overlay was used for that, or just that the DVD was mastered differently.

I hope you’ve found this long post informative.

Amen brother!
Thanks for the confirmation.

[takisot]

Definitely interesting, though I blame Cyberlink more than I blame nVidia. Again, PowerDVD 6.5 works FINE, IQ-wise, whereas 7.1 is broken.

I have tried reinstalling drivers while PowerDVD is installed, to no avail.

We all just need to wait and see what happens, but currently there is no way for most of us to properly enjoy HD-DVD on a PC without severe trade-offs.

William, how could you blame Cyberlink for a problem present only with Nvidia cards/drivers?

In any way, with ATI X1950Pro AND this Powedvd ultra version AND Anydvd HD AND reclock, I enjoy a wonderful smooth HD-DVD picture which exceeds by far the clarity of the desktop Toshiba HD-E1 I had in my hands for 2 weeks for a review! I really don't see any severe trade-offs, I am sorry..

[FerPhobos]

William, how could you blame Cyberlink for a problem present only with Nvidia cards/drivers?

In any way, with ATI X1950Pro AND this Powedvd ultra version AND Anydvd HD AND reclock, I enjoy a wonderful smooth HD-DVD picture which exceeds by far the clarity of the desktop Toshiba HD-E1 I had in my hands for 2 weeks for a review! I really don't see any severe trade-offs, I am sorry..

Hi takisoft,

Do you know if the ATI X1950Pro is supported by Powerstrip? Do you use Powerstrip to adjust the resolution and the video refresh in order to get the smooth playback? Are you using instead the ATI Center? Which catalyst version?

Thank you very much :)

[peteness]

Hi.

I'm using a Nvidia 7950 (V 93.71 drivers) with Power DVD 7.1/7.2. I have a XBOX 360 drive *and* a Sony BD drive. I use a Intel 6600 processor (stock speed), ASUS p5b-deluxe motherboard, Windows XP MCE 2005 and I play movies on a Sharp XV-Z20000 (1080p) at 100".

I have found some interesting items in my struggles.

The most interesting item I want to bring up here is the red "tint" seen on movies. I see this on both Blu-ray movies and HD DVD movies, but I've found the "fix" in Blu-ray movies.

When playing Blu-ray movies, the red tint can immediately be solved by opening up the NVidia control panel, going to the "Video" section and then going to the RBG gamma tab. Enabling and disabling the RGB gamma checkmark makes a marked shift in color - away from red, and a lot closer to correct. Rebooting makes everything red again. Just enabling RGB gamma doesn't make things stick through a reboot - as soon as the "switch" is changed, the red goes away, but rebooting puts it back again. This lends some credibility to the fact that this might be an NVidia problem.

OK, so now let's look at HD DVD movies. I have a XBOX 360, so being able to play HD DVD movies on the computer was less important to me than Blu-ray movies (where I don't have any ability to play BD movies except for the computer). Once I got Blu-ray red problem "solved", though, I moved over to HD DVD movies, thinking this "solution" might be good for HD-DVD as well.

Unfortunately, when this solution is applied, HD DVD movies will no longer play at all. The checkmark can be done at any time - immediately on boot or while a HD DVD movie is playing, and from that point on, playing HD DVD movies doesn't work any more. Blu-ray movies work fine, though. After this change is applied, the problem can be called "stuttering", but with it taking 10 seconds to show a frame, and then the frame is immediately blanked - it's basically non-functional.

Does anyone else see similar issues? Obviously, if you don't have a Blu-ray drive, you won't be able to see that this switch fixes the "red" issue, but you may be able to play movies after flipping this switch on your HD DVD movies.

- Pete

[Vern Dias]

My fix was to return the 7950 and install an 8800. Problem solved, not to mention a far higher quality image with the image quality in PDVD set to "Best" or "Auto" when using the 8800 compared to the 7950.

Vern

[pete4]

How did you get MPC to play HD-DVD? I think it should work with BR due to them using mpeg most of the time, but I had no luck to get video working with HD-DVD. On the other hand I have no problem playing sound from HD_DVD, it seems to me that somehow I have right codec installed and MPC can decode it without any problem directly from EVO files, without any demuxing etc. Not sure if it is multi channel since I only use my TV speakers but it sounds pretty good as far as I can tell. To be honest I rather have video than sound, it seems to me it would be easier to get some type of sound, especially that there is more than one stream and different codecs could be used (AC3, DTS), so there is always a chance something should work at least sometimes, but video is like a wall, VC1 or nothing.

I agree, I have been disappointed with HD-DVD on the PC.

Hopefully with time these issues will be fixed - patched PowerDVD, more options when WinDVD and other new HD DVD software arrive, although with AACS protection now able to be bypassed we may not see as much official support for HD DVD / Blu Ray for the PC now. Even if the commercial player products (PowerDVD, WinDVD) stopped supporting HD DVD / Blu Ray, it may be possible to use tools like MPC to play HD movies, which they can do now but only video, as the sound cannot be decoded without proprietary HD Dolby/DTS decoders which are not available in the public domain.

Regards,
Dean

[takisot]

Hi takisoft,

Do you know if the ATI X1950Pro is supported by Powerstrip? Do you use Powerstrip to adjust the resolution and the video refresh in order to get the smooth playback? Are you using instead the ATI Center? Which catalyst version?

Thank you very much :)

Hi there!
Yes, it is supported by powerstrip and I use it in order to have the exact BenQ timings, but it works fine with the standard timings as well.
My Catalyst version is 7.2.

[antonio_car]

Does anyone else see similar issues? Obviously, if you don't have a Blu-ray drive, you won't be able to see that this switch fixes the "red" issue, but you may be able to play movies after flipping this switch on your HD DVD movies.

Disinstall the drivers , Driver Cleaner , install the drivers .
Switch immediately to old control panel in order to avoid the new control panel VIRUS.
No more problems with colors , Overlay and VMR9.

For HDDVD bandings you have to switch to ATI :)

Cheers
Antonio

[Alpha10]

Disinstall the drivers , Driver Cleaner , install the drivers .
Switch immediately to old control panel in order to avoid the new control panel VIRUS.
No more problems with colors , Overlay and VMR9.

For HDDVD bandings you have to switch to ATI :)

Cheers
Antonio


Could you explain about the control panel virus??

Cheers

[antonio_car]

Could you explain about the control panel virus??

It is very simple to explain , if I use it and save some settings I have random problems.
You can see in this thread the red push in Overlay.
VMR9 levels are not correct , if I use DVE pal for example + print screen and I verify the RGB levels they are not correct 15 16 17 instead of 16 16 16 for example.
So I don't use it.

Cheers

[hdtv00]

Ok now tell us how to switch to the old version of the control panel then.

[antonio_car]

I can't guarantee anything :)


http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/1354/panel2wt6.jpg
http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/2470/panel1br7.jpg

[WilliamG]

William, how could you blame Cyberlink for a problem present only with Nvidia cards/drivers?

In any way, with ATI X1950Pro AND this Powedvd ultra version AND Anydvd HD AND reclock, I enjoy a wonderful smooth HD-DVD picture which exceeds by far the clarity of the desktop Toshiba HD-E1 I had in my hands for 2 weeks for a review! I really don't see any severe trade-offs, I am sorry..

I blame Cyberlink, because 6.5 puts out a perfect picture, and 7.1 does not. Therefore, to my eyes, Cyberlink changed from VMR to overlay between the two versions, despite the fact that current nvidia drivers were out long before Cyberlink released 7.1. You think they could have tested their program better, non?

Just my opinion, and yes, I'm bitter about the whole thing. :p

[takisot]

Again, it is apparent that the problem lies with the overlay function of the Nvidia cards/ drivers and not with Cyberlink program. After all, if it was the fault of the program, it should have affected ATI's as well... (IMO always...)

[maxleung]

But how come PowerDVD 7.x cannot use VMR9 then? I'd say it is PowerDVD's problem - especially since I can play HD-DVDs after demuxing the video and audio and using Microsoft's and FFDShow's VC-1 decoders! And guess what - perfect video! ;)

[Ozy666]

But how come PowerDVD 7.x cannot use VMR9 then? I'd say it is PowerDVD's problem - especially since I can play HD-DVDs after demuxing the video and audio and using Microsoft's and FFDShow's VC-1 decoders! And guess what - perfect video! ;)

Could you elaborate a bit on that last point?

Ozy

[tahustvedt]

Well. VMR9 is noticeably softer than Overlay with ATI cards, and I like the sharp picture I'm getting now. I'm running a 1280x720 so the situation might be different if the picture is not downscaled. Many factors might influence why something looks best. I wish Cyberlink would let us select which to use in the player. I would be annoyed if they suddenly locked it to VMR9, just like nvidia owners are annoyed that it's rendering in overlay.

I use TheaterTek and VMR9 for DVD playback because overlay adds EE with the upscaled picture.

[skibum5000]

I think its simply that hardware acceleration in PowerDVD is broken.
For me, with an 8800GTX, enabling hardware acceleration just gives me a black screen. For now, I just have it disabled.

it works for mew with 8800 GTS.
well, KK does sometimes start out blank and one other movie did once. both can be gotten going, but with KK it can be a pain. other that, no blank screen problems, no banding, no stuttering.

[skibum5000]

first, i thought batman begins was HD DVD only at this point (did they release the blu-ray?).which brings me to second point. i thought version 7.2 was for blu-ray not HD DVD? don'tyou mean you are watching with 6.5 and 7.1?
third,i noticed that 7.1 HD DVD and 7.2 blu-ray seemed to default to different color spaces, either default can look wrong depending what your display expects, they also seemed to use a different renderer.

anyway, i have only run batman begins hd dvd under 7.1 and on an nvidia 8800 GTS mine looks smooth like your 6.5 version (it also looked smooth on 7800 GT) on that scene.

i don't know what to say.

otoh, i absolutely can not get powerdvd ultra to work on vista. i see everyone and their brother at least getting it to run. mine instantly crashes no matter if i fresh install vista again or not. and my fusion hdtv stutters like mad under vista MC and also make the HD drive poll constantly,during tuning using using fusion software it instantly crashes. i also can't make vista MCE use the correct color spacefor my computer LCD and it looks washed out and horrible.



The exact time stamp I can pause and see banding is at 9:50.

Another good one is at 11:16. The wall of the room bands severely in PowerDVD 7.1.

Yes, it's an LCD. Samsung LN-S4695D, but I have no banding in 6.5 PowerDVD, so...

Here's an under-exposed screenshot of 9:50 so you can see the banding on the left, and also on the right, though not as bad. Also note the difference in Liam Neeson's forehead. You can see the banding there, too. PowerDVD 6.5 just looks gorgeous.

I wish Cyberlink could see these pictures.


POWERDVD 7.2
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a127/wgrose/IMG_0614.jpg


POWERDVD 6.5

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a127/wgrose/IMG_0620.jpg

You can clearly see the banding doesn't exist in PowerDVD 6.5.

PowerDVD 6.5 crashes and doesn't work with many movies, though..

[skibum5000]

So does anybody know how to get out of the Universal screen saver when using PowerDVD 7.1? I paused a movie for a few minutes tonight, and when I came back there was a Universal Screen save running. To my astonishment, pressing pause again, or even Play paused/played the screen saver and not the actual movie. I tried hitting escape, I tried bringing up the Title or Root menu (unsuccessfully), but I could not for the life of me get that @!)(*#$) screen saver to stop. I finally had to pull up right-click menu, and on the "Go To" submenu find the Title corresponding to the movie and guess at which chapter would get me close to where I was.

yeah a pain in the ass bug.

[skibum5000]

I did notice the same thing to these screenshots. Of course it is unacceptable but it just seems that the color saturation in the overlay settings of the Nvidia card is way off. If properly calibrated it should have the exact same result as the Powerdvd 6.5 which uses VMR9.
In my ATI, there is no such problems (oversaturated colors and banding).

i thought he said he purposely underexposed the photo?

if not, then his problem is simply the color space, gamma mess. it is easy to get the control panel to forget to handle the gamma properly and make it look like a dark underexposed mess like that. re-install nvidia drivers and touch nothing. try chaning the cyberlink colorspace registry setting. if that doesn'twork then do go into nvidia panel to adjust the expansion, if need be, you may need to tick and untick gamma and stuff a few times, sometimes it gets confused.it'svery weird and touchy. with one of my boot partions i originall had to set certain registry bits for nvida and do color panel stuff, then later they had a different effect and i had toundo. anyway, crossing fingers i do have zero banding and proper PC levels for my monitor now and no banding with either7.1or 7.2 and running 8800 GTS.

[skibum5000]

WilliamG, I see the same banding issues with 7.1 - I have an NVIDIA 7900GT, Windows XP, tested with the 92.91 and 93.71 drivers. I have not tested with the hacked 97.92 drivers yet.

I am using PowerDVD 6.5 - it looks much better. It uses VMR9 and it still does level expansion to PC levels, but no banding.

sometimes is startsusing wrong color space,if you mess around you can make both versions of renering and 7.1 and 7.2 come out ok.

[skepticon]

it works for mew with 8800 GTS.
well, KK does sometimes start out blank and one other movie did once. both can be gotten going, but with KK it can be a pain. other that, no blank screen problems, no banding, no stuttering.

Hmm...KK has been my reference for all testing. Next HD DVD I get from Netflix, I'll try hardware acceleration again.

[takisot]

But how come PowerDVD 7.x cannot use VMR9 then? I'd say it is PowerDVD's problem - especially since I can play HD-DVDs after demuxing the video and audio and using Microsoft's and FFDShow's VC-1 decoders! And guess what - perfect video! ;)

Max, as I mentioned earlier, the wierd thing is that with the 6.5 version, I do have VMR9 in an older ATI X800 card but NOT in my brand-new ATI X1950 pro with the latest catalysts ! I also tried it with older catalyst versions, without any difference..
With the Ultra edition, in both ATI cards the overlay is always used.
In any case, even with overlay, the image is outlstanding with no banding or BB/AW clipping.

[sanne]

Anyword from cyberlink about upcoming patches and bug fixes?

[R@lf]

Hi,

hope somebody can help me (it´s hard for me to read all the threads and posts to find the location for the searched information in english language :confused: ):

Is it possible to install PowerDVD Ultra in a way, so that I can use it for both, BD and HD-DVD, in one computer-session - means: without booting another partition or something like this ?

Or am I always forced to decide BD / HD-DVD at the installation?

Hope, this is the right thread for the question (sitting here with an english dictionary :eek: )

[dstoe]

Is it possible to install PowerDVD Ultra in a way, so that I can use it for both, BD and HD-DVD, in one computer-session - means: without booting another partition or something like this ?

Yes, you can install both parallel. Follow this guide (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=952686)

[R@lf]

Thank you very much :) ... any idea, why Cyberlink does not have this feature in their software?

[Alpha10]

Thank you very much :) ... any idea, why Cyberlink does not have this feature in their software?

It is supposed to be part of the 7.3 build we are all waiting for, scheduled to be this week!!!!

Cheers

[RichB]

It is supposed to be part of the 7.3 build we are all waiting for, scheduled to be this week!!!!

Cheers


Awesome!!!!

I will have to figure out how to completely undo the dual install though.

- Rich

[Alpha10]

Awesome!!!!

I will have to figure out how to completely undo the dual install though.

- Rich


Yeah, all I need now is a cheap Blu-ray player :rolleyes:

[RichB]

Yeah, all I need now is a cheap Blu-ray player :rolleyes:

I think a BD-ROM drive would be better.

You already have cheap ones but they are expensive :rolleyes:

- Rich

[Alpha10]

I think a BD-ROM drive would be better.

You already have cheap ones but they are expensive :rolleyes:

- Rich

Yep either a MS BD-ROM or I'm going to have to hope my Lotto numbers come up

I really do wonder how long it will be before the blu-ray drive prices are reasonable?

Cheers

[RichB]

Yep either a MS BD-ROM or I'm going to have to hope my Lotto numbers come up

I really do wonder how long it will be before the blu-ray drive prices are reasonable?

Cheers

Who knows. There was nothing at CES. You would expect that if Sony is offering a $600 player later this year you should be able to buy a drive for it before then.

- Rich

[jh87]

hi, I have 7.1 ultra. Interestingly, I am able to run both hddvd and BD at the same time without follow the guide at Doom9.
When I open the program, it has the bluray icon in the left lower corner, I can use it to play the bluray movie file without problem. In addition, when I choose the HD DVD movie in the Xbox 360 addon drive as the source, it automatically swith to hddvd. Anyone else able to do that? Cause I don't understand why the trouble to go through to complicated guide.

[skibum5000]

Yep either a MS BD-ROM or I'm going to have to hope my Lotto numbers come up

I really do wonder how long it will be before the blu-ray drive prices are reasonable?

Cheers

after scouring ebay for weeks i managed to find one for 'only' $350 (less really since it included disks). it is tough to find them under $400 and even under $450 might take a week or two.

[darkjedi664]

hi, I have 7.1 ultra. Interestingly, I am able to run both hddvd and BD at the same time without follow the guide at Doom9.
When I open the program, it has the bluray icon in the left lower corner, I can use it to play the bluray movie file without problem. In addition, when I choose the HD DVD movie in the Xbox 360 addon drive as the source, it automatically swith to hddvd. Anyone else able to do that? Cause I don't understand why the trouble to go through to complicated guide.
Definitely doesn't work for me, unless you have a new build.

[Alpha10]

hi, I have 7.1 ultra. Interestingly, I am able to run both hddvd and BD at the same time without follow the guide at Doom9.
When I open the program, it has the bluray icon in the left lower corner, I can use it to play the bluray movie file without problem. In addition, when I choose the HD DVD movie in the Xbox 360 addon drive as the source, it automatically swith to hddvd. Anyone else able to do that? Cause I don't understand why the trouble to go through to complicated guide.


Could you possibly find out what your build date is?

Cheers

[Xylon]

hi, I have 7.1 ultra. Interestingly, I am able to run both hddvd and BD at the same time without follow the guide at Doom9.
When I open the program, it has the bluray icon in the left lower corner, I can use it to play the bluray movie file without problem. In addition, when I choose the HD DVD movie in the Xbox 360 addon drive as the source, it automatically swith to hddvd. Anyone else able to do that? Cause I don't understand why the trouble to go through to complicated guide.

What BD drive your using? Sony or Lite-On?

[jh87]

What BD drive your using? Sony or Lite-On?
No BD drive connected to my PC. I do have a PS3 if you know what I mean. So I guess it may not work for anyone. But I can confirm the 7.1 can install the BD part without the drive. Basically, I first installed the 7.1 with the xbox 360 addon connected, and selected the hddvd option. Then I disconnect the hddvd drive and run the 7.1 BD setup. This time I used the setup.exe in the BD folder. After the setup complete, the program showed the BD icon. I connected the xbox360 addon back, and 7.1 automatically switch to hddvd if I choose the xbox drive as the source.
For those do have a BD drive, maybe you can try the above steps but only connect your BD after installation complete. I can not find the build day of my 7.1. It does have a SR number: DVD061206-05.

[joepic]

LG Electronics has cut the retail price of its GBW-H10N Blu-ray Disc Super Multi DVD writer by 33% to US$605 for the Taiwan Market, according to this DigiTimes report. This drive currently features the quickest Blu-ray writing speed of 4x for single layer BD-R media. This price production is LG’s aim to clear out its inventory of the drives and increase its market share in preparation for new Blu-ray disc writers hitting the market during the first half of this year.

So far, none of the other Blu-ray writer manufacturers have announced any price cuts yet for their Blu-ray drives. When it comes to 18x DVD writers, OEM quotations have fallen to around US$25 as a result of strong competition.

It is nice to finally see a significant cut in Blu-ray writer pricing, especially for this 4x drive, as hopefully this will start competition with the other manufacturers to push their prices down also. However, the pricing has a long way to come down yet before they become affordable to most consumers and the media is still far more expensive per gigabyte than double layer recordable DVDs. At present, they would make a good alternative to DAT drives and entry level DLT drives for servers, especially when it comes to recovering files.

Super Multi Blue Blu-ray Disc Rewriter
http://www.lge.com/products/model/detail/gbw-h10n.jhtml

LG GBW-H10N Blu Ray Burner Review
http://www.burnworld.com/blu-ray/burners/lg-gbwh10n.htm

LG GBW-H10N
http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Reviews/Specific.aspx?ArticleId=19673

[JKohn]

Personally, I want somebody to come out with a BD ROM drive, I don't need a writer in my HTPC. I paid $199 for the 360 HD-DVD drive and that included a movie. If there were a similar option on the BD side I'd be dual format right now.

[skepticon]

ditto...
Although I'd still feel like a tool for spending $400 on drives to play both formats.
A better solution would be for all these Blue Ray only titles to get released on HD DVD as well. The industry really is pushing the limits of how much bull$hit I'm willing to deal with to be entertained.

[RichB]

Personally, I want somebody to come out with a BD ROM drive, I don't need a writer in my HTPC. I paid $199 for the 360 HD-DVD drive and that included a movie. If there were a similar option on the BD side I'd be dual format right now.

Yes!
I cannot figure out why there isn't one. Some guesses:

1) Used them up on PS3's
2) Want you to just buy the PS3
3) The CE side hates the PC

I think it is all of the above ;)

- Rich

[<><]

WilliamG,
finally picked up Batman Begins HD-DVD :)

i went to the scene you posted and i see no banding at all nor is my color as red/dark as yours. using 7.1 w/ 8800gts.

Even with your screenshot of 6.5 you are really loosing a lot of shadow detail and your image is overall very dark. I had the same problem and i changed the colorpsace of powerdvd to normal, you might want to give that a try.

I'll post a screenshot of mine at the same spot as yours when i get home.

[S1DIMMER]

Has anyone found a fix for the subtitles being on by defualt in Power DVD??
I only have King Kong and Batman Begins so far and on both I have to turn off subtitles after starting the movie. Anyway to fix this for good? Thanks.

[RichB]

WilliamG,
finally picked up Batman Begins HD-DVD :)

i went to the scene you posted and i see no banding at all nor is my color as red/dark as yours. using 7.1 w/ 8800gts.

Even with your screenshot of 6.5 you are really loosing a lot of shadow detail and your image is overall very dark. I had the same problem and i changed the colorpsace of powerdvd to normal, you might want to give that a try.

I'll post a screenshot of mine at the same spot as yours when i get home.

I have a dual install. For HD DVD (7.1), the colorspace is wrong I think. I have to turn the brightness up to +10. For BD (7.2), I can leave it at close to 0.

Perhaps this will all get fixed in 7.3.

- Rich

[taz291819]

I have a dual install. For HD DVD (7.1), the colorspace is wrong I think. I have to turn the brightness up to +10. For BD (7.2), I can leave it at close to 0.

Perhaps this will all get fixed in 7.3.

- Rich

I notice that any color correction I make in 7.1, affects 7.2. I have to go back and change the brightness with whatever version I'm currently using.

And I agree, I hope it gets fixed with 7.3.

Also, sometimes I get no video, just audio, when playing HD-DVDs or AVC .ts files. Rebooting the machine fixes the problem. BDs always play back perfectly. It's gotta be a bug (along with killing Overlay-use in MPC, that I mentioned before).

[maxleung]

I can't remember if I mentioned this before - but it appears PowerDVD 6.5 does levels expansion - 16-235 is expanded to the 0-255 levels range. I have not found a way to turn this off - the COLORSPACE registry hack didn't work for me.

Oh well. I'm working on a solution to HD-DVD playback without using PowerDVD at all - but it is very ugly - demux the video and audio, recombine them in an MKV, then create a graph for use in Zoomplayer or TheaterTek. But this requires massive amounts of hard drive space - 3x the space taken by the movie, and probably a couple of hours of work to demux and remux. Audio playback is still an issue - there are no free decoders and PowerDVD doesn't supply a DirectShow filter that works with the new formats.

[Kuyu]

hi, sorry to bother you, maybe it's been said before, but i can't get an anamorphic output (for anamorphic lens) with pdvd ultra. any ideas? thanks!

[archibael]

I think some people are using YXY to accomplish this. Have you tried that?

[Kuyu]

no not really. if there is no way pdvd can do it by itself i'll try that one! thanks!

[WilliamG]

WilliamG,
finally picked up Batman Begins HD-DVD :)

i went to the scene you posted and i see no banding at all nor is my color as red/dark as yours. using 7.1 w/ 8800gts.

Even with your screenshot of 6.5 you are really loosing a lot of shadow detail and your image is overall very dark. I had the same problem and i changed the colorpsace of powerdvd to normal, you might want to give that a try.

I'll post a screenshot of mine at the same spot as yours when i get home.

I haven't even calibrated the image yet for 7.1, that's why. There's absolutely no point given the banding I experience.

What driver are you using with your 8800? I'm using 93.71 with my 7600 or 7900. Also curious if you can go to the information and tell me if the 8800 is using VMR or overlay?

That information will help! Thanks!

[dthigpen]

I picked up an internal Blu-Ray drive today so I decided to email Cyberlink to see about support for both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD in one program. They responded by sending me 7.3 which supports both and works great.

[Davinleeds]

So, dump .1 and .2 for .3? Dthigpen, experience with previous editions?

[dthigpen]

So, dump .1 and .2 for .3? Dthigpen, experience with previous editions?

7.1 worked just fine when I had a HD-DVD drive only. 7.3 works just great with both my existing HD-DVD drive and my new Blu-Ray drive. Have played both using the newest version of AnyDVDHD to circumvent the need for HDCP. 7.3 also has the Purevideo HD Icon on the startup screen (using a Geforce 8800 GTS 640M under Vista Ultimate) and when playing back regular DVDs, HD-DVDs, and Blu-Ray discs, Hardware Acceleration remains checked when I go into configuration.

I would recommend anyone using multi-install workarounds to just contact tech support via the member sections on the web site so you can get the upgrade and operate correctly until they release it to the public.

[<><]

I haven't even calibrated the image yet for 7.1, that's why. There's absolutely no point given the banding I experience.

What driver are you using with your 8800? I'm using 93.71 with my 7600 or 7900. Also curious if you can go to the information and tell me if the 8800 is using VMR or overlay?

That information will help! Thanks!
Display Information:
Display Mode: DirectDraw
FourCC Code: YUY2
Surface Type: Overlay

Driver: 97.92

and i guess the redness in your picture is b/c of the camera...since i had the same result when i took a picture, the picture comes out overly red, i cant seem to take a good picture, but here are 2:

http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/7677/bb003xc1.jpg

http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/1672/bb012pq1.jpg

[WilliamG]

Thank you for the reply! I may have to try 97.92 to see if that works better...

Currently on 93.71.

[WilliamG]

Do you have h/w accel enabled?

Also, would you mind getting me a screenshot of 11:16, as well. That shot has SEVERE banding, so I'm interested to see that on your setup.

Thanks so much.

[<><]

Do you have h/w accel enabled?

Also, would you mind getting me a screenshot of 11:16, as well. That shot has SEVERE banding, so I'm interested to see that on your setup.

Thanks so much.
No, H/W accel is off.
god, pictures come out really bad and very red :P
but here is 11:16

http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/1503/bb005lr3.jpg

[S1DIMMER]

Anyone know how to always have subtitles off during HD-DVD playback??

I'm using PowerDVD 7.1 and while I know how to turn off the subtitles once the movie is playing, I'd like to have them off by default.

[WilliamG]

Thanks for the screenshot. Yep, you have a clean-ish ceiling there. I'd have to reinstall 6.5 to compare, but you'd know if you had banding by the shimmering in the ceiling/wall to the right.

I tried 97.92 and had the same problems. Not sure what the deal is. :(

All I know is it ticks me off!

Thank you for taking those screenshots, though. I'll have to wait it out, I guess.

[WilliamG]

Anyone know how to always have subtitles off during HD-DVD playback??

I'm using PowerDVD 7.1 and while I know how to turn off the subtitles once the movie is playing, I'd like to have them off by default.

E-mail Cyberlink and tell them they suck and to fix it. Other than that, there is no way to fix this bug.

[peteness]

Thanks for the screenshot. Yep, you have a clean-ish ceiling there. I'd have to reinstall 6.5 to compare, but you'd know if you had banding by the shimmering in the ceiling/wall to the right.

I tried 97.92 and had the same problems. Not sure what the deal is. :(

All I know is it ticks me off!

Thank you for taking those screenshots, though. I'll have to wait it out, I guess.

I have a 7950 NVidia card and I've been fighting banding, color and driver problems, and stuttering when hardware acceleration is turned on. I ordered an ATI HDCP XT 1650 because people with ATI seem to be having good luck (Newegg, $135).

I uninstalled the NVidia drivers, swapped cards, and installed the latest ATI drivers (drivers only - no Catalyst). Boom, problems fixed. Smooth playback, no color banding (huge difference), no red tint - it just worked. Also, with hardware acceleration on, my 6600 Intel is usually running about 20-25% load on the few movies I checked CPU load on (pretty unbelievable, really). I'm using PowerDVD 7.3.

I'm kinda pissed because this is a 45 day old NVidia card, but ... problem solved, so I guess I'm happy.

I spent *many* hours on this problem, tweaking, twisting, reinstalling drivers, etc. I assume that NVidia will correct the problem sometime, but if you don't want to wait, or you don't want to fight this any more, try picking up an ATI card.

- Pete

[capitano]

So with 7.3 we cannot disable hw/acc.?

[FrancescoP]

Does PowerDVD Ultra convert TrueHD to Dolby Digital 5.1 on SPDIF when playing HD DVD? Or do you need an hardware encoder for DD on the sound card to do this?

[Alpha10]

I picked up an internal Blu-Ray drive today so I decided to email Cyberlink to see about support for both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD in one program. They responded by sending me 7.3 which supports both and works great.



7.3 doesn't appear to be released yet??

[dthigpen]

7.3 doesn't appear to be released yet??

As I clearly stated in my posted, I contacted Cyberlink technical support and they sent me version 7.3.

[Alpha10]

As I clearly stated in my posted, I contacted Cyberlink technical support and they sent me version 7.3.

Yeah, well done, not really the point, I spoke to them yesterday and they told me the final release for 7.3 could still be more than a week away, it is not available on their site yet!

[brightsons]

As I clearly stated in my posted, I contacted Cyberlink technical support and they sent me version 7.3.

Any other major changes you've noticed so far???

[dthigpen]

Any other major changes you've noticed so far???

Hardware accelration for all HD formats under Vista, as well as the PureVideoHD Icon now showing on the startup screen.

[maxleung]

dthigpen, can you verify if 7.3 uses VMR9 now? If you use Reclock it can let you know.

[WilliamG]

I have a 7950 NVidia card and I've been fighting banding, color and driver problems, and stuttering when hardware acceleration is turned on. I ordered an ATI HDCP XT 1650 because people with ATI seem to be having good luck (Newegg, $135).

I uninstalled the NVidia drivers, swapped cards, and installed the latest ATI drivers (drivers only - no Catalyst). Boom, problems fixed. Smooth playback, no color banding (huge difference), no red tint - it just worked. Also, with hardware acceleration on, my 6600 Intel is usually running about 20-25% load on the few movies I checked CPU load on (pretty unbelievable, really). I'm using PowerDVD 7.3.

I'm kinda pissed because this is a 45 day old NVidia card, but ... problem solved, so I guess I'm happy.

I spent *many* hours on this problem, tweaking, twisting, reinstalling drivers, etc. I assume that NVidia will correct the problem sometime, but if you don't want to wait, or you don't want to fight this any more, try picking up an ATI card.

- Pete

Your 7950 experience is also my experience. Are you comparing 7.3 with the 7950 to 7.3 with the XT 1650? Or does 7.3 just fix all the problems?

[dthigpen]

dthigpen, can you verify if 7.3 uses VMR9 now? If you use Reclock it can let you know.

I'll try it out when I get home.

[takisot]

Max, the reclock report is innacurate. It reports VMR9 renderless when it is in fact overlay (do the check with powerstrip gamma or try to make a screencap & then paste into paint=black picture=overlay).
BTW I also use 7.3 and it finally can open both hd-dvd and BR at the same time!

[dthigpen]

Max, the reclock report is innacurate. It reports VMR9 renderless when it is in fact overlay (do the check with powerstrip gamma or try to make a screencap & then paste into paint=black picture=overlay).
BTW I also use 7.3 and it finally can open both hd-dvd and BR at the same time!

Well there's your answer. (I'm loving 7.3, by the way)

[peteness]

Your 7950 experience is also my experience. Are you comparing 7.3 with the 7950 to 7.3 with the XT 1650? Or does 7.3 just fix all the problems?

7.3 fixed none of the banding or color problems. It allows BD and HD DVD on the same instance, but that's the only change that I really noticed that affected me (a few other incidentals, but nothing picture quality related). I had 7.3 installed for about a week with the 7950 trying to get it working right (I had it *almost* working well enough to watch movies on without getting distracted by color issues, but not quite well enough).

When I installed the ATI card, that's the only change I made and the picture quality improvement was significant. Don't expect 7.3 to solve your problems. Complain to NVidia, or buy an ATI card. (I suspect that the 8800 NVidia might solve the problem too, but I couldn't stomach buying another $300+ NVidia card with its own set of driver issues, especially when $135 gets a supported ATI card).

- Pete

[darkjedi664]

You guys are hooking your PCs up to your TV, well I don't have an HDTV, just my Dell 24" LCD, and the colors look fine to me.

[maxleung]

Strange - Reclock properly reported VMR9 for PowerDVD 6.5 - I even did the screenshot and MS Paint overlay color test. I would say that PowerDVD 7.x is screwed up and is reporting very strange things to the renderer - that could explain why there are so many problems.

darkjedi - colors (aside from banding) would look okay because most LCD monitors only work with PC levels - assuming your PowerDVD is set to PC levels colorspace (aka value of 3 in the COLORSPACES registry setting).

[slothy]

the people with 7.3, any chance they included a integrated solution for playing hd/br inside of mce ?

[Kuyu]

arghh, just played around with yxy, can't get the vertical stretch working. anyone here who did it? thanks!!!

[Vern Dias]

Play a disc, right click, Aspect Ratio, and select the stretch to fit screen option in PDVD. It works just fine after you do that.

Vern

[Kuyu]

kinda weird. when i use pdvd on my desktop (using 1280x960) and i select stretch to fit screen, i get the vertical strech, no probelm. bloody pdvd, what do i need an anamorphic strech on a 4:3 crt screen!!!!!!!!!!!!!
when using it with my pj (native 1,78:1) it won't do anything when selecting stretch to fit... xyx just keeps shifting the window around
tell you what, as soon as zp supports hddvd, pdvd goes down... at least on my machine.

[WilliamG]

7.3 fixed none of the banding or color problems. It allows BD and HD DVD on the same instance, but that's the only change that I really noticed that affected me (a few other incidentals, but nothing picture quality related). I had 7.3 installed for about a week with the 7950 trying to get it working right (I had it *almost* working well enough to watch movies on without getting distracted by color issues, but not quite well enough).

When I installed the ATI card, that's the only change I made and the picture quality improvement was significant. Don't expect 7.3 to solve your problems. Complain to NVidia, or buy an ATI card. (I suspect that the 8800 NVidia might solve the problem too, but I couldn't stomach buying another $300+ NVidia card with its own set of driver issues, especially when $135 gets a supported ATI card).

- Pete

Thank you for this information. What an annoyance. I can't believe Cyberlink won't admit this is a problem with THEIR software. I sincerely believe it IS Cyberlink's problem. Nvidia's drivers have been around a lot longer than Cyberlink's HD-compatible DVD/Blu-ray software. And Cyberlink DID change something from 6.5 to 7.x, since 6.5 looks PERFECT.

Just...gah!

[taz291819]

Thank you for this information. What an annoyance. I can't believe Cyberlink won't admit this is a problem with THEIR software. I sincerely believe it IS Cyberlink's problem. Nvidia's drivers have been around a lot longer than Cyberlink's HD-compatible DVD/Blu-ray software. And Cyberlink DID change something from 6.5 to 7.x, since 6.5 looks PERFECT.

Just...gah!

If it works with an ATI card, then I'd suspect the nvidia drivers.

[John Nelson]

Play a disc, right click, Aspect Ratio, and select the stretch to fit screen option in PDVD. It works just fine after you do that.

Vern
Also you CAN NOT be in full screen mode.

[peteness]

Thank you for this information. What an annoyance. I can't believe Cyberlink won't admit this is a problem with THEIR software. I sincerely believe it IS Cyberlink's problem. Nvidia's drivers have been around a lot longer than Cyberlink's HD-compatible DVD/Blu-ray software. And Cyberlink DID change something from 6.5 to 7.x, since 6.5 looks PERFECT.

Just...gah!

I blame the NVidia Overlay system on this problem. Maybe Cyberlink is incorrectly forcing the use of Overlay, but NVidia's bugged overlay system is the thing that's banding. Who knows, really, who's responsible. I think the responsibility is somewhat shared. This is relatively bleeding edge stuff.

I was just messing around a bit more. I got the Nine Inch Nails HD DVD in the mail today and AnyDVD doesn't remove the content protection on that title, so I had to play it protected.

It turns out there's a problem with the ATI implementation too - I can't get it to recognize my video stream as HDCP compliant, and looking through the posts here, it seems like I'm not the only one - it's pretty prevalent. As long as you take off the AACS stuff with AnyDVD, the ATI card works perfectly, but if you need to play a title where PowerDVD requires a HDCP protected path, there's still a potential problem there (honestly, this happened to me with the NVidia drivers occasionally too, so I'm not sure where the problem really lies with ATI alone, but there are quite a few posts on problems with ATI cards with HDCP). I gave the ATI card a full thumbs-up yesterday, but it looks like I was a bit premature on that. Take that into consideration on your future plans. I'll post back here if / when I find a solution (I'm hoping Cyberlink support can help with this...).

- Pete

[pookguy88]

Does Purevideo HD (x264) decoding work in Vista?

[skepticon]

I was really hoping we'd get VMR9 rendering with 7.3. I'm pretty aggrevated with this software. This overlay crap has got to go.
I'd love to get some indication that TheaterTek is going to get involved with HD playback.

[dthigpen]

Does Purevideo HD (x264) decoding work in Vista?

I can say that with the 100.65 Drivers and PowerDVD Ultra 7.3, yes it is.

[WilliamG]

I blame the NVidia Overlay system on this problem. Maybe Cyberlink is incorrectly forcing the use of Overlay, but NVidia's bugged overlay system is the thing that's banding. Who knows, really, who's responsible. I