PowerDVD Ultra (HD-DVD and Blu-Ray)

[Craigger]

Does anybody know what the Cyberlink Rich Video Service (CRVS) does?

It is installed as part of PowerDVDl, but so far in my testing I don't think it does anything. I have disabled the service, but haven't noticed any differences in PDVD.

The only info I could find on it is that it is part of Cyberlink Power Director so why then would it be installed as part of PowerDVD?

Thanks,

Craig

[mattman734]

Can any try to help me out,
.
i bought Power DVD Ultra and all my movies work smoothely except F&F TD.
.
I have a
4000+
8800GTS
2 Gig Ram
Sound blaster Audigy 2
Using the Xbox360 HDDVD Drive
.
I have pure video enabled
.
and with purevideo it seems to off set enough of the computing to the GPU enough to run it smoothly but dosent seem to with F&F its always working 100% and dosent play smoothly.
.
Any tweaks you guys know of or know why this dvd is differnt?
.
Other HDDVDs that run smooth i tryed

King Kong
Fearless
Batman
Spygame
Eternal sunshine

[mlb5000]

Was an X2 3800 overclocked to 2.4ghz.

Well now that that's answered, what is the best PC BD drive available on the market right now?

Matt

[skepticon]

Does anybody know what the Cyberlink Rich Video Service (CRVS) does?

It is installed as part of PowerDVDl, but so far in my testing I don't think it does anything. I have disabled the service, but haven't noticed any differences in PDVD.

The only info I could find on it is that it is part of Cyberlink Power Director so why then would it be installed as part of PowerDVD?

Thanks,

Craig

I have no idea what use it has. I run w/ it disabled as well, with apparently no consequences other than freeing up the extra memory.

[Haze2k]

Minor point, older ones don't but the 2900xt and newer do/will.

Also, what does slipstream install/bits mean?

I have no idea about the X2900 series as when I got the response the card had not been anounce but just as a reminder this is what the ATI/AMD engineer said:-
"There is currently no hardware available (from us) that can accelerate VC-1 files. This is because the bitrate is alot lower in these types of compression and therefore can be done easily by the CPU itself. The AVIVO acceleration IS enabled for H.264 files and content as the CPU is then insufficent for accelerating the decoding and the GPU needs to get involved.

In short, this behavior is "by design" and isn't actually a problem."

If this is their attitude I dont see why they would bother including this in their new card.

[Expletive]

I have no idea about the X2900 series as when I got the response the card had not been anounce but just as a reminder this is what the ATI/AMD engineer said:-
"There is currently no hardware available (from us) that can accelerate VC-1 files. This is because the bitrate is alot lower in these types of compression and therefore can be done easily by the CPU itself. The AVIVO acceleration IS enabled for H.264 files and content as the CPU is then insufficent for accelerating the decoding and the GPU needs to get involved.

In short, this behavior is "by design" and isn't actually a problem."

If this is their attitude I dont see why they would bother including this in their new card.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2988&p=13

[barth2k]

I have no idea about the X2900 series as when I got the response the card had not been anounce but just as a reminder this is what the ATI/AMD engineer said:-
"There is currently no hardware available (from us) that can accelerate VC-1 files. This is because the bitrate is alot lower in these types of compression and therefore can be done easily by the CPU itself. The AVIVO acceleration IS enabled for H.264 files and content as the CPU is then insufficent for accelerating the decoding and the GPU needs to get involved.

In short, this behavior is "by design" and isn't actually a problem."

If this is their attitude I dont see why they would bother including this in their new card.

I agree. I was under the impression that ati's 2xxx cards will offload both VC1 and AVC.

VC1 may not be as demanding as AVC, but it's not exactly child's play either. I have a X2 3800+ @ 2.5ghz and average 50%+ on HD-DVD VC1 with DXVA enabled. With DXVA disabled, CPU occasionally hits 100% and I get dropped frames.

You think with all their recent troubles, ati would want to do something to differentiate their products from nvidia rather than take the same attitude.

[Kuyu]

sorry to ask this, but i didn't follow this thread for a few weeks (1000+ posts...). have the color problems been fixed by any updates or similar?
thanks
Klaus

[arfster]

VC1 may not be as demanding as AVC, but it's not exactly child's play either. I have a X2 3800+ @ 2.5ghz and average 50%+ on HD-DVD VC1 with DXVA enabled. With DXVA disabled, CPU occasionally hits 100% and I get dropped frames.


That's a little odd - with 50% average you should hit maybe 65 max. Have you looked with perfmon to see if any other processes are being naughty?

[mikegb]

I had purchased PowerDVD and then updated with the various patches. I still had two problems:

1.) The playback would freeze after approximately 5 minutes. I would have to press Stop and Play again and it would play to the end of the movie. This was 100% reproducible and several others have noted this failure.

2.) Every now and then, playback was choppy. I just assumed it was the BluRay drive not being fast enough or Windows doing something in the background. It may very well be. I don't know.

Based on the excellent feedback on this forum, I was able to download the latest full installer (rather than trying to patch up to the latest build). I now notice, that at least on two runs, #1 is solved for me. #2 I have not seen again but I suspect I might.

My results are not yet conclusive but it does make me believe their patch process doesn't really patch everything to the latest version. YMMV

[arfster]

My results are not yet conclusive but it does make me believe their patch process doesn't really patch everything to the latest version. YMMV

You're right - you can see the version difference if you ctrl-A, then click your registered name. With the slipstream the DVD version (aka the disc player element of PDVD) is 7.3.2380.0, with the patch it's only 2605.

[barth2k]

That's a little odd - with 50% average you should hit maybe 65 max. Have you looked with perfmon to see if any other processes are being naughty?

I meant without dxva, HD DVD VC1 will hit 100% even on my relatively new (18month old) CPU.

[arfster]

I meant without dxva, HD DVD VC1 will hit 100% even on my relatively new (18month old) CPU.

Sure - was taking that into account, I really don't think you should be hitting 100% with that average. For example, Batman Begins, software more on a C2D 1.9ghz, gives average 36% and max 46%.

Getting average 50% is right for VC1 on a 3800+, but it really shouldn't be spiking to double that.

[scottb4u]

Help! My player just defaulted to Chinese and there is no option for English! What the heck happened?

Also, the player plays blu-ray perfectly but refuses to play regular dvd saying that I am using an hdmi repeater. My screen is HDCP compliant but I am using a HDMI switching receiver. Power dvd is the ony player that has this problem...

BTW, my player is ver 7.3 Ultra

[boyroman]

I run PowerDVD Ultra on Vista Premium . I attempted to install the latest patch, but the installation crashed - there was an error "support installation file could not be found" After that the whole PowerDVD installation collapsed - when I tried to run the programme, I was asked to input my CD-key (though I was running it for over 3 months) - every attempt was refused. So I tried to unistall the programme - using uninstall function crashed, I followed "cleaning up" procedure (registry, installshield, files, folders, even specialized software), but something of PowerDVD is still there - no idea where . I was trying to reinstall the programme, I started O.K., but then message appeared " there is an old version of Power DVD needs to be uninstalled, press Yes to uninstall and continue" When I did so, the InstallShield disappeared and installation simply stopped. I tried the same installation on my other PC (Win XP) with no problems. So I am stuck - the programme seems to be uninstalled, but I am not able to reinstall it. Any idea ? Thanks.

[Thuppu]

I run PowerDVD Ultra on Vista Premium . I attempted to install the latest patch, but the installation crashed - there was an error "support installation file could not be found" After that the whole PowerDVD installation collapsed - when I tried to run the programme, I was asked to input my CD-key (though I was running it for over 3 months) - every attempt was refused. So I tried to unistall the programme - using uninstall function crashed, I followed "cleaning up" procedure (registry, installshield, files, folders, even specialized software), but something of PowerDVD is still there - no idea where . I was trying to reinstall the programme, I started O.K., but then message appeared " there is an old version of Power DVD needs to be uninstalled, press Yes to uninstall and continue" When I did so, the InstallShield disappeared and installation simply stopped. I tried the same installation on my other PC (Win XP) with no problems. So I am stuck - the programme seems to be uninstalled, but I am not able to reinstall it. Any idea ? Thanks.

You need to use some cleaning program like EasyCleaner to clean PDVD hided files and all marks from the Windows register. You can do it manually too with Windows regedit, but don't delete anything you aren't sure about.

[takisot]

With the new Powerdvd edition, I have very smooth playback on my JVC HD-1 at 1080p 23.976 fps without the need for reclock!
BTW, has anyone sucessfuly played back the DVE HD-DVD? I was hoping it would be fixed with the new edition, but I cannot see the menus as before..

[MrMartino]

takisot, that sounds very intresting! :)

Do you have your graphic card set to 47.952 Hz/71.928 Hz or plain 48.000Hz?
What graphic card do you use? Also, do you use Powerstrip to set the resolution?

So far ive only managed to get 99% smooth video in PowerDVD 7.3 (not updated) using reclock 1.6 with dvd/file refreshrate setting set to "unknown" and display set to 48.000Hz. Kindof strange cuz hd dvds and blu-rays should runt best at 23.976fps/47,952Hz as you stated. I guess it resamples the sound a few Hz..

If i set my display to 47,952Hz i get occasional stutter every 5 minutes or so :(

I havent tested the newest PDVD version yet, but i will tonight. I would love to run all my movies without reclock...

Thanks in advance,
Martin

[Alpha10]

With the new Powerdvd edition, I have very smooth playback on my JVC HD-1 at 1080p 23.976 fps without the need for reclock!
BTW, has anyone sucessfuly played back the DVE HD-DVD? I was hoping it would be fixed with the new edition, but I cannot see the menus as before..

Th enew release 2911 fixed DVE menu problems for me, running XP, are you on Vista?

[takisot]

takisot, that sounds very intresting! :)

Do you have your graphic card set to 47.952 Hz/71.928 Hz or plain 48.000Hz?
What graphic card do you use? Also, do you use Powerstrip to set the resolution?

So far ive only managed to get 99% smooth video in PowerDVD 7.3 (not updated) using reclock 1.6 with dvd/file refreshrate setting set to "unknown" and display set to 48.000Hz. Kindof strange cuz hd dvds and blu-rays should runt best at 23.976fps/47,952Hz as you stated. I guess it resamples the sound a few Hz..

If i set my display to 47,952Hz i get occasional stutter every 5 minutes or so :(

I havent tested the newest PDVD version yet, but i will tonight. I would love to run all my movies without reclock...

Thanks in advance,

Martin


Hi there! I own the ATI 1950pro 256 and I did use the latest powerstrip 3.74 and I first chose the classic CIE 1080p24 resolution by powerstrip. Then, I checked the ultra fine granularity option of Powerstrip and manualy entered 23.976 and then tab. That's it!
Perfect motion! Not sure though if this will have the same results with a different projector..

[takisot]

Th enew release 2911 fixed DVE menu problems for me, running XP, are you on Vista?

Thats weird... I also use XP. I cleaned the registry according to the instructions but the DVE still show that infamous "play all" sign on the menu.. :confused:

[mefromfl]

i upgraded to 7.3 ultra and the software would freeze up or crash about 5 mins within watching something. Anyone having this problem?

[Alpha10]

Thats weird... I also use XP. I cleaned the registry according to the instructions but the DVE still show that infamous "play all" sign on the menu.. :confused:


That is strange, there are a couple of other guys over here on the UK centric avforums have had the 2911 sort out their DVE issues. did you source your DVE from the US or Europe?

Cheers

[mule]

After installing the 2911 i'm permanently loosing the sound settings (spdif). Often when starting a movie there is no sound and even the sound tab in the context menu of powerdvd also disappeared. Sometimes the intro is ok, but when the main movie starts the sound disappers again. In order to fix it i have to pause or even have to start and stop the movie. But after this procedure the sound settings always reset to a "2 speaker" configuration instead of "spdif". Any suggestions or anyone else having the same problem? As additional information: I'm using Vista Premium and the movies are beeing played back from a harddisk (don't know if it matters)... And yes i've also tried to clean up the registry (even manual) before installing the 2911.

TheMule!

[takisot]

That is strange, there are a couple of other guys over here on the UK centric avforums have had the 2911 sort out their DVE issues. did you source your DVE from the US or Europe?

Cheers

From the US.

[capitano]

i upgraded to 7.3 ultra and the software would freeze up or crash about 5 mins within watching something. Anyone having this problem?
with Vista?

[slothy]

i upgraded to 7.3 ultra and the software would freeze up or crash about 5 mins within watching something. Anyone having this problem?


i had the same prob, but it went away wit the latest patch.

[kevin_y]

How did some of you get such low CPU usage on PDVD 7.3? I have a core 2 duo e6400, Geforce 8800gtx with 97.92 drivers (which has Purevideo HD support), and the CPU usage I get is similar to what this reviewer got while playing HD DVDs: http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2798&p=3 . I get 80-100% without hardware acceleration (purevideo hd), and about 50-70% with it. Why is there a discrepancy compared to those of you who get 8%, 10%, 14% ????

[John Kotches]

I think the really low CPU use is coming from 8500/8600 owners and (apparently) NVidia has improved the hardware acceleration in these cards.

Cheers,

[curtisb]

I run PowerDVD Ultra on Vista Premium . I attempted to install the latest patch, but the installation crashed - there was an error "support installation file could not be found" After that the whole PowerDVD installation collapsed - when I tried to run the programme, I was asked to input my CD-key (though I was running it for over 3 months) - every attempt was refused. So I tried to unistall the programme - using uninstall function crashed, I followed "cleaning up" procedure (registry, installshield, files, folders, even specialized software), but something of PowerDVD is still there - no idea where . I was trying to reinstall the programme, I started O.K., but then message appeared " there is an old version of Power DVD needs to be uninstalled, press Yes to uninstall and continue" When I did so, the InstallShield disappeared and installation simply stopped. I tried the same installation on my other PC (Win XP) with no problems. So I am stuck - the programme seems to be uninstalled, but I am not able to reinstall it. Any idea ? Thanks.

Did you run the MS cleanup utility to ensure there were no more PowerDVD entries? http://download.microsoft.com/download/e/9/d/e9d80355-7ab4-45b8-80e8-983a48d5e1bd/msicuu2.exe

See the support reply here:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10568337&&#post10568337

[sigma957]

That is strange, there are a couple of other guys over here on the UK centric avforums have had the 2911 sort out their DVE issues. did you source your DVE from the US or Europe?

CheersDo you have AnyDVD running in the background? After installing the 2911 patch I still had some strange behavior in DVE with AnyDVD running in the background. Once I disabled it, DVE started working properly.

[Kirby Baker]

Do you have AnyDVD running in the background? After installing the 2911 patch I still had some strange behavior in DVE with AnyDVD running in the background. Once I disabled it, DVE started working properly.
Wonder if this was one of the many fixes in the new AnyDVD update from yesterday?

[sigma957]

One additional thing I've discovered about the new 2911 version. I also run SageTV on my HTPC (running XP), and was using the Cyberlink Vide Decoder filter within Sage for MPEG2 playback. After installing the upgrade, however, I no longer get a picture when playing something in Sage. It's the same with either overlay or VMR9. As an experiment, I replaced the MPEG2 filter file (CLVSD.ax) with the one from the previous patch, and then everything worked fine. Strange... they obviously changed something in this filter that made it incompatible with Sage.

[Vern Dias]

Just a heads up for those that haven't realized it yet:

The install process is obviously broken if you try to update. I found that I had to remove all traces of the existing install in order to perform the upgrade.....

Vern

[Dessie]

I am running the latest version of Powerdvd ultra on a htpc and now all of a sudden it is rebooting my computer when playing AVC titles like X-men 3 and Casino Royale. My cpu is a Intel dual core e6300 which has been overclocked to 2.8 so I have enough power and the overclock has been tested overnight with Orthos. I have also tested the memory using memtest again this was overnight with no errors so these tests rule out the cpu and memory. I have also uninstalled and reinstalled powerdvd but still no joy. Anyone got any other ideas ?

Thanks

[bowser15]

Weak power supply maybe...if the computer is using a lot of power, and the power supply can't keep up the computer will reboot.

[arfster]

Just a heads up for those that haven't realized it yet:

The install process is obviously broken if you try to update. I found that I had to remove all traces of the existing install in order to perform the upgrade.....


It's worse than that. The patch actually adds several bugs, principally breaking BD playback.

If you mail support, you can get a link to a newer full-install version, which is 28xx (can't remember exactly) rather than 2605.

[Dessie]

Weak power supply maybe...if the computer is using a lot of power, and the power supply can't keep up the computer will reboot.

Thanks for your reply. I have a Corsair 520 watt power supply which should be fine which makes me think that it is powerdvd.

[Vern Dias]

If you mail support, you can get a link to a newer full-install version, which is 28xx (can't remember exactly) rather than 2605You are quite a bit behind the release schedule. Latest version is 2911. It works fine so far. BD is fine including the latest POTC titles and DVE navigation is fixed as well. That is, once you get it to actually install...... It is available for download at the web sute.

On the reboot, most likely a bad location in a memory module. The new code is hitting the bad location, the old one didn't.

Vern

[arfster]

You are quite a bit behind the release schedule. Latest version is 2911.

Hehe, sorry to confuse. The latest 2911 patch of 15/may gets you DVD version 7.3.2605.0, where the slipstream full install gets you 7.3.2830.0 (visible in ctrl-a, click on username). Which are you seeing?

There have been plenty reports of broken Bluray with the patch - I had it, and you can see the same thing in this thread, and on the cyberlink/slysoft forums.

[RichB]

You are quite a bit behind the release schedule. Latest version is 2911. It works fine so far. BD is fine including the latest POTC titles and DVE navigation is fixed as well. That is, once you get it to actually install...... It is available for download at the web sute.

On the reboot, most likely a bad location in a memory module. The new code is hitting the bad location, the old one didn't.

Vern


I got the full install of 2911 and after a clean installation the version is:

DVD Version: 7.3.2830.0
...
UI: 2911

I can play HD DVD and Blu-Ray disks without problems. The jaggies are much improved with the 8500GT.

Menus display better in DVE HD DVD but I still cannot play this disk :mad:

- Rich

[bowser15]

Thanks for your reply. I have a Corsair 520 watt power supply which should be fine which makes me think that it is powerdvd.

Yeah, that power supply should be sufficient. The only other thing I can suggest is to unistall every version of powerdvd and clean it out of the registry, etc. Then reinstall it with the latest version (tell cyberlink you are having trouble updating and they will send you a link to download the full latest build). If this does not work, maybe a fresh install of windows?

[Alpha10]

Do you have AnyDVD running in the background? After installing the 2911 patch I still had some strange behavior in DVE with AnyDVD running in the background. Once I disabled it, DVE started working properly.

No I'm not running AnyDVD, maybe that is the difference?

[Vern Dias]

Sorry for contributing to the confusion. I have 2830.0 and I used the patch version. I suspect that the difference is that I completely removed the previous version before installing the 2911 patch. Apparently the portion of the patch install process that is supposed to remove the previous version doesn't.

Vern

[Tinker]

I have three systems that I just installed with 2830. Two where clean installs and one was updated. DVE still doesnt work pass the "PLAY ALL" menu. But at least with the 360addon it works with the X360.

[Kirby Baker]

Support replied back with the information below which is similar to what was posted earlier except that they are casually asking an end user to use regedit! Very nice.. :rolleyes:

And here is the link to download the slipstream bits. It says the password will expire on 6-4:
http://isales.gocyberlink.com/download/CS_Dept/PowerDVD/CyberLink.2911_EVR_Logo_DVD070424-01.exe
User name: PowerDVD
Password: L7uF6366

Result - With the full download, Happy Feet HD-DVD on my HDD and the 360 player works (subtitles no longer locked on and menu doesn't crash the application). Miami Vice still works fine.
No Bluray so I can't validate the problems that seem to have been introduced there.



Support response:

1. Uninstall powerDVD Ultra from the computer in following ways:

(1) Please uninstall PowerDVD (by following steps)

(a) Start --> Programs --> Cyberlink PowerDVD (uninstall it). Check the registry for any exsistings PowerDVD keys and delete them using steps (b) and (c).

(b) Start --> Run (keyin ""regedit"") --> HKEY_Current_User --> Software --> Cyberlink --> PowerDVD and/or PDVD (delete the folder)

(c) Start --> Run (keyin ""regedit"") --> HKEY_Local_Machine --> Software --> Cyberlink --> PowerDVD and/or PDVD (delete the folder).

(d) Search and delete folder named Cyberlink and PowerDVD, if exists. Restart your system.

2. Kindly use the welow mentioned link to download the Microsoft CleanUp utility from the website:
msicuu2.exe http://download.microsoft.com/download/e/9/d/e9d80355-7ab4-45b8-80e8-983a48d5e1bd/msicuu2.exe

Now after downloading the utility kindly check if the PowerDVD Ultra is listed in the remove list if yes then kindly remove it.
3. Delete the PowerDVD InstallShield folder from C:\Program Files\InstallShield Installation Information\{6811xxx-xxx}
4. Reboot your computer.
I've not been able to have time to do this update as described here, but noticed that the download link from http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/download/dl_patch_397_112_ENU.html is sending out a file named "CyberLink.2911_EVR_Logo_DVD070424-02.exe". My question is, have they fixed something since the initial problems with 2911 patch, and I should use this new "-02" patch instead? And still necessary to do the uninstall dance posted above before proceeding with either patch?

This whole patch mess is too damn confusing and tedious, why cant they just release a working patch?!

[arfster]

01 is the full install, 02 is the patch. I'd just follow the instructions you quoted to the letter, they seem to work OK.

[Kirby Baker]

Ok, thats what I will do. I figured they were both either patches or full installs since their sizes are close (85mb and 78mb, respectively).

[sparklan]

Hello,

My system has the following specs. I've been watching the forum for ideas and I can't for the life of me get PowerDVD to play an evo file on my HTPC. I've been playing DVD's for years with PowerDVD, for the most part flawlessly. Below is what I have running and the errors I've been getting. Basically PowerDVD just crashes when I try to play an evo file from the decrypted HDDVD or from a ripped file. I know the evo's are good because they play fine on my other box. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Specs:
Windows XP Sp2
AMD 64 3200+
1GB DDR400
EVGA 6800GT AGP DVI-HDMI
Xbox 360 HDDVD
AnyDVD HD 6.1.4.5
PowerDVD Ultra Patch 2911 (I've tried the retail and both patches)
SAMSUNG DLP HL-S6187W

I realize my machine is a little under spec, but after decrypting with AnyDVD I was hoping PowerDVD could still utilize the hardware acceleration and ignore any HDCP requirements. I've tried it with hardware accel and without. With S/PDIF and without. No dice.


EDIT: Here are the error messages I get when trying to play HDDVD.

I get this one when trying to play a file.

Faulting application powerdvd.exe, version 7.3.2723.0, faulting module hddvdnavi.dll, version 1.0.0.314, fault address 0x0002c8e0.


and this one when trying to play directly from the HDDVD drive.

Faulting application powerdvd.exe, version 7.3.2723.0, faulting module clhbmixer.ax, version 1.0.0.1325, fault address 0x00002e10.

[dthigpen]

Just wanted to report that with the latest AnyDVD and an the initial version of 7.3 (beta version I guess), All of the Matrix movies play great on HD-DVD and both Pirates of the Caribean movies play via Blu-Ray. All my testing has been without ripping, also, haven't had a chance to do it yet. AnyDVD HD has already paid for itself for me, just being able to play on a non-HDCP monitor. Have yet to run across a disc it won't play in either format with PowerDVD 7.3. I don't think I'll bother updating PowerDVD as AnyDVD negates the need for the AACS updates.

[baboyizm]

Just wanted to report that with the latest AnyDVD and an the initial version of 7.3 (beta version I guess), All of the Matrix movies play great on HD-DVD and both Pirates of the Caribean movies play via Blu-Ray. All my testing has been without ripping, also, haven't had a chance to do it yet. AnyDVD HD has already paid for itself for me, just being able to play on a non-HDCP monitor. Have yet to run across a disc it won't play in either format with PowerDVD 7.3. I don't think I'll bother updating PowerDVD as AnyDVD negates the need for the AACS updates.

What are your system specs? Im having trouble playing HD DVD's with my brand new Samsung 226BW monitor i got today. It works fin on my Samsung LNS2641 HDTV. The rest of my PC is up to date as far as specs go.

[dthigpen]

What are your system specs? Im having trouble playing HD DVD's with my brand new Samsung 226BW monitor i got today. It works fin on my Samsung LNS2641 HDTV. The rest of my PC is up to date as far as specs go.


Windows XP MCE, QX6700 Processor, 4gigs of RAM (3.25 Viewable by XP), Geforce GTS 8800 640M. It's hooked up to both a Dell 24" Widescreen monitor (It was the version just prior to the HDCP version) as my primary monitor and a 1080p Sharp Aquas LCD in the same room via a DVI to HDMI adapter, plays fine on both. Have to be in single display mode, not clone or multi-res span for it to work, of course.

[Powerage]

Hello,

My system has the following specs. I've been watching the forum for ideas and I can't for the life of me get PowerDVD to play an evo file on my HTPC. I've been playing DVD's for years with PowerDVD, for the most part flawlessly. Below is what I have running and the errors I've been getting. Basically PowerDVD just crashes when I try to play an evo file from the decrypted HDDVD or from a ripped file. I know the evo's are good because they play fine on my other box. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Specs:
Windows XP Sp2
AMD 64 3200+
1GB DDR400
EVGA 6800GT AGP DVI-HDMI
Xbox 360 HDDVD
AnyDVD HD 6.1.4.5
PowerDVD Ultra Patch 2911 (I've tried the retail and both patches)
SAMSUNG DLP HL-S6187W

I realize my machine is a little under spec, but after decrypting with AnyDVD I was hoping PowerDVD could still utilize the hardware acceleration and ignore any HDCP requirements. I've tried it with hardware accel and without. With S/PDIF and without. No dice.


EDIT: Here are the error messages I get when trying to play HDDVD.

I get this one when trying to play a file.

Faulting application powerdvd.exe, version 7.3.2723.0, faulting module hddvdnavi.dll, version 1.0.0.314, fault address 0x0002c8e0.


and this one when trying to play directly from the HDDVD drive.

Faulting application powerdvd.exe, version 7.3.2723.0, faulting module clhbmixer.ax, version 1.0.0.1325, fault address 0x00002e10.


Im almost sure that system unfortunately just wont cut it for 2.64 or VC-1/EVO format. The 6800GT AGP is the biggest road block as far as I know this card offers no acceleration for the above format.

Keep in mind this is just an opinion perhaps there is another way like more efficient playback SW in the near future.

Maybe Nvidia will release an 8 series AGP solution to cover this market.

Good Luck

[steevo123]

OK so I have the Geforce 8600 GT card - the new download of Power dvd. Both HD-DVD and Blu-ray work fine but when I use hardware acceloration - I get Jaggies! Whats the point of lower cpu utilization if I get jaggies?

Has anyone had a similar experience and if so - any solution?

Thanks much

[arfster]

Try setting video quality to best in PDVD. Also, set your 3D settings back to default (for some reason this affects things with some PCs).

[darkjedi664]

Either this new build, or new NVidia drivers fixed my 6 minute Blu-Ray crash :D I can actually watch a Blu-Ray without it crashing everytime at 6 minutes :D

[sparklan]

Im almost sure that system unfortunately just wont cut it for 2.64 or VC-1/EVO format. The 6800GT AGP is the biggest road block as far as I know this card offers no acceleration for the above format.

Keep in mind this is just an opinion perhaps there is another way like more efficient playback SW in the near future.

Maybe Nvidia will release an 8 series AGP solution to cover this market.

Good Luck

Thanks for the reply. What puzzles me, is the crash. Why not just come back and say, This hardware can't play this format. It also, does this with hardware acceleration turned off. I would expect just really slow playback with software acceleration, instead it crashes with that too.

I have a 7900GT on standby, but I was hoping I wouldn't need to rebuild. Any suggestions on mother boards out there right now for 939 with pci express and good built in S/PDIF support?

[erab610]

I have a minor problem that's been bugging me...

I'm currently running the 8500GT (driver 158.18 in Vista Ultimate) and using PowerDVD 7.3 Ultra to play Bluray and HD-DVD rips off the hard disk. I don't have a drive installed in my HTPC, I simply rip the movie to my storage server from a box in another room (so that I don't have to hear it.. ;) )

The hardware accel for H264 works beautifully.. ~50-60% without accel, ~12% with accel. No problems there.

The problem arises when I have hardware accel checked while playing VC-1. While I realize that this card won't accelerate VC-1 content, I assumed that it would just "do nothing".... instead, the movie loads up fine and I can view the menu and any extras on the disk. However, almost immediately after initiating the movie, I get a BSOD. Unchecking the accel box before I play the movie solves the issue and I can view it fine.

Is this a driver limitation, or am I missing something? It's kind of annoying to have to remember to check and uncheck the hardware accel option depending upon the type of content that I'm playing.

The rest of my specs, if it matters:

Intel C2D E4400
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 MB
2x Kingston 1GB DDR2 800
WD Caviar 160GB SATA300

[RichB]

I have a minor problem that's been bugging me...

I'm currently running the 8500GT (driver 158.18 in Vista Ultimate) and using PowerDVD 7.3 Ultra to play Bluray and HD-DVD rips off the hard disk. I don't have a drive installed in my HTPC, I simply rip the movie to my storage server from a box in another room (so that I don't have to hear it.. ;) )

The hardware accel for H264 works beautifully.. ~50-60% without accel, ~12% with accel. No problems there.

The problem arises when I have hardware accel checked while playing VC-1. While I realize that this card won't accelerate VC-1 content, I assumed that it would just "do nothing".... instead, the movie loads up fine and I can view the menu and any extras on the disk. However, almost immediately after initiating the movie, I get a BSOD. Unchecking the accel box before I play the movie solves the issue and I can view it fine.

Is this a driver limitation, or am I missing something? It's kind of annoying to have to remember to check and uncheck the hardware accel option depending upon the type of content that I'm playing.

The rest of my specs, if it matters:

Intel C2D E4400
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 MB
2x Kingston 1GB DDR2 800
WD Caviar 160GB SATA300

I am running a similar system without problems with 2911 PowerDVD and 160.03 for Vista 32. You can find them at guru3d.com.

- Rich

[Kirby Baker]

160.03 virus free? Thought I read somewhere that there was a virus in them.

[RichB]

160.03 virus free? Thought I read somewhere that there was a virus in them.

I had not heard that. I know that guru3d scans them.

- Rich

[arfster]

The problem arises when I have hardware accel checked while playing VC-1. While I realize that this card won't accelerate VC-1 content, I assumed that it would just "do nothing".... instead, the movie loads up fine and I can view the menu and any extras on the disk. However, almost immediately after initiating the movie, I get a BSOD. Unchecking the accel box before I play the movie solves the issue and I can view it fine.


Assuming your hardware is all OK (power supply? gpu temp?), it has to be the drivers. Might be worth doing a root and branch driver uninstall - uninstall, reboot to safe mode, drivercleaner, registry search, delete nvidia files etc, then reboot and reinstall. For ref, I use 158.24 without any problems (158.43 has some oddities with live DVB so I went back).

[Kirby Baker]

I had not heard that. I know that guru3d scans them.

- Rich
I read it on guru3d's forums actually but it was a very long thread and I gave up late last night after a few pages. maybe it is just a file in the package that resembles a virus. And maybe I was just dreaming too!

[erab610]

So this is an issue, right? You are supposed to just check the hardware accel box and then "forgot it", letting the drivers decide if the accel should happen or not.. right?

Assuming your hardware is all OK (power supply? gpu temp?), it has to be the drivers. Might be worth doing a root and branch driver uninstall - uninstall, reboot to safe mode, drivercleaner, registry search, delete nvidia files etc, then reboot and reinstall. For ref, I use 158.24 without any problems (158.43 has some oddities with live DVB so I went back).

The PSU is 380W.. that should be more than enough for my rig, no?

As for GPU, it is passively cooled (I've seen it anywhere between 53 and 62 degrees celsius), but I can play 2+ hours worth of H264 content (accel on or off) without any frameloss or stutter. I'd like to think that heat isn't the issue when it comes to not being able to play a single second of VC-1 with hardware accel checked... but I've been wrong before.

I am running a similar system without problems with 2911 PowerDVD and 160.03 for Vista 32. You can find them at guru3d.com.

Thanks.. I assume you mean the ForceWare drivers found on that site?

[arfster]

So this is an issue, right? You are supposed to just check the hardware accel box and then "forgot it", letting the drivers decide if the accel should happen or not.. right?



Yeah, it should just work. If it doesn't want to accelerate, it should drop back to software mode and play on. If there's a filter connect error, it should just fail to play. A BSOD always means something more fundamental is screwed - on the software side, it can only be the drivers (unless you've had a virus recently that's screwed with some major part of the OS?).

On the hardware side, it might be worth trying the card in another machine to test if all is OK with it.

It's interesting that it's VC1 though, and not the (much more demanding) h264. Nvidia of late have been having some stability problems with hardware acceleration of that, only affecting some machines, but still. I've never heard of it BSODing though, usually it just does the green-garbled weirdness thing, or simply crashes the app. Possibly there's some odd interaction issue between the drivers and your motherboard, since certainly the 8500+VC1 works fine with hardware acceleration for most people afaik.

Your PSU should be plenty - I've got a 330W running a C2D overclocked to 3ghz, with 3 hard drives, DVB card and bucketloads of USB junk, and never had a problem.

[erab610]

Interesting..

On the BSOD, my drivers are always mentioned as the culprit (nvidia-something-something.sys), so I'm going to assume the problem lies there.

It just seemed to me like the card was being forced to do something that it couldn't do, accelerate VC-1. There were no problems whatsoever with H264.

At least I assume it was VC-1.. The issue in question was happening during attempted playback of the Children of Men HD-DVD (with and without AnyDVD running).

[slimm]

Try setting video quality to best in PDVD. Also, set your 3D settings back to default (for some reason this affects things with some PCs).

I'm also getting jaggies when I enable hardware acceleration. I haven't been able to find the video quality setting in PowerDVD. Exactly where is it?

[arfster]

I'm also getting jaggies when I enable hardware acceleration. I haven't been able to find the video quality setting in PowerDVD. Exactly where is it?

It only appears when playing a video. Goto config,video tab,advanced,video qual tab. Personally I can't see any difference, but a couple of posters have said they get jaggies on anything but best (maybe the auto=best for me?)

[Uegis]

I just tried playing matrix reloaded on powerdvd and now no disc works. I haven't udpated yet. Is it a forced update from the disc? This sucks. It was working perfectly and now NO discs plays, even older ones.

[DrBoogie]

Just wanted to report that with the latest AnyDVD and an the initial version of 7.3 (beta version I guess), All of the Matrix movies play great on HD-DVD and both Pirates of the Caribean movies play via Blu-Ray. All my testing has been without ripping How do you use AnyDVD without ripping? You can play movies within AnyDVD? Thanks

[Kirby Baker]

How do you use AnyDVD without ripping? You can play movies within AnyDVD? Thanks
AnyDVD HD strips out the AACS protection. Then you dont have to have a HDCP protected display chain to view the movies. (and my terminology might be wrong!;))

[dthigpen]

How do you use AnyDVD without ripping? You can play movies within AnyDVD? Thanks


AnyDVD runs in the background and just strips the AACS in real time, no need to rip the hard drive, PowerDVD just sees the disc as it would any other, sans AACS.

[dthigpen]

I just tried playing matrix reloaded on powerdvd and now no disc works. I haven't udpated yet. Is it a forced update from the disc? This sucks. It was working perfectly and now NO discs plays, even older ones.

Using the newest version of AnyDVD HD, all discs in the Ultimate Matrix Collection play fine with PowerDVD 7.3 Build 2911. Using an Xbox 360 drive.

[DrBoogie]

AnyDVD runs in the background and just strips the AACS in real time, no need to rip the hard drive, PowerDVD just sees the disc as it would any other, sans AACS. Just what I needed :)
Does it add significant CPU usage comparing to PowerDVD alone? And I can get rid off menues/trailers etc on the fly too? Wow!

[ymarker]

Anyone using EVR/VMR in Vista with the latest powerdvd

[Uegis]

Using the newest version of AnyDVD HD, all discs in the Ultimate Matrix Collection play fine with PowerDVD 7.3 Build 2911. Using an Xbox 360 drive.

Is AnyDVD HD require if you are using a VGA cable instead of a HDCP out like DVI or HDMI?

[Kirby Baker]

Is AnyDVD HD require if you are using a VGA cable instead of a HDCP out like DVI or HDMI?
No. VGA is analog.

[dthigpen]

Just what I needed :)
Does it add significant CPU usage comparing to PowerDVD alone? And I can get rid off menues/trailers etc on the fly too? Wow!

I can't see any slowdown or extra CPU usage due to it. And yes, it can strip all that extra junk on the fly for both regular DVDs and HD DVDs / Blu-Ray discs.

[arfster]

Anyone using EVR/VMR in Vista with the latest powerdvd

You don't have a choice, it selects for you. EVR for filemode, and either EVR or some custom-written renderer for discs.

[Powerage]

Thanks for the reply. What puzzles me, is the crash. Why not just come back and say, This hardware can't play this format. It also, does this with hardware acceleration turned off. I would expect just really slow playback with software acceleration, instead it crashes with that too.

I have a 7900GT on standby, but I was hoping I wouldn't need to rebuild. Any suggestions on mother boards out there right now for 939 with pci express and good built in S/PDIF support?


Your Welcome & here's some Good News for you.

If you're wondering who is still keeping AGP alive then the answer certainly isn't Nvidia but it might just be AMD as the recently-announced low-end and mainstream line-up, the Radeon HD 2400 and 2600 series respectively will be made available in AGP form by a few companies like Sapphire and HIS. The PCIe versions haven't been released yet but the AGP versions, using the RIALTo bridge chip will come earlier than expected, with announcements being made at Computex in Taiwan and retail availability set for July. The clocks of the AGP Radeon HD 2400Pro will hover around 525 MHz for the GPU and 800 MHz for the memory while the Radeon HD 2600Pro will come at 600 MHz/1000 MHz. The highest-end AGP card will be the Radeon HD 2600XT which, although not clocked at PCIe level, it will still stand tall amongst other AGP cards with 800 MHz for the GPU and 1400 MHz for the GDDR3 memory. One surprising fact is that the XT won't need a 4-pin MOLEX connector for the additional power but a 6-pin 'pump' just like the graphics noobie known as PCIe.

The prices of the AGP parts are likely to be similar to those of their PCIe counterparts. Now, where is that Nforce 2 board?

http://www.tcmagazine.com/comments.php?shownews=14974

[skibum5000]

anyone able to get version .2911 working with vista and NOT killing media center?

if i manually delete old stuff i can get it installed without killing my startmenu now but it still kills media center (at the least).

i don't know what they are doing to kill media center or delete start menu items, but in both cases it is ridiculous.

they would likely never have even needed .2911 if not for this DRM crap.

[JohnHWman]

Hello,

Just a short question : Does PDVD 7.3 able to play EITHER BRD or HD-DVD discs if BOTH BRD (LG GBW-H10N) and HD-DVD readers (Toshiba SD-H802A) are mounted within the same HTPC ? How can you tell PDVD to choose the right player ?

Thx in advance

John

[Dessie]

Hi John
I have both of those drives in my HTPC with Powerdvd Ultra and it works fine. I have set Powerdvd to start on disc insert so when I place a Blu ray disc in the LG drive Powerdvd starts playing the disc and the same happens when I place a Hd dvd in the Toshiba drive.

[ymarker]

You don't have a choice, it selects for you. EVR for filemode, and either EVR or some custom-written renderer for discs.

That custom mode isn't some type of overlay, right? In XP I get overlay and I have 64bit vista and can't install this :(

[arfster]

That custom mode isn't some type of overlay, right?

Can't be - overlay is incompatible with acceleration on the 8500/8600.

[Kirby Baker]

Is there a technical reason why PDVD must switch Vista into Basic mode? Its rather annoying to say the least. I guess on my HTPC its not a big deal, but I hate it on my desktop PC.

[arfster]

Is there a technical reason why PDVD must switch Vista into Basic mode? Its rather annoying to say the least.

Technical: none at all. Grovelling to movie studios' DRM paranoia: extremely likely.

[Kirby Baker]

Technical: none at all. Grovelling to movie studios' DRM paranoia: extremely likely.
Is there something about Aero mode that makes it easier to copy or something?

[Paul Bigelow]

It was my understanding that switching to Vista Basic freed up some resources, but I guess I'll try it and see.

[steevo123]

Still getting jaggies. Turned on "best performance" in powerdvd and am still getting jaggies when I use hardware acceloration with an 8600 card.

Thinkin bout returning this card since I only wanted it for its hardware acceloration capabilities.

[kempf]

Hi!

I have the new patch installed but eventhough i activate hardware acceleration
it is not activated when I start the movie mi3 hd-dvd. (Watching dvd it is activated.)
And it stutters very much(hd), is there a way I can force hardware acceleration?


My system

xp sp 2
p4 3,4@ 3.75 ghz
ati x1650 nevest ati driver
1 gb memory
asus p4p800 deluxe

Thanks in advance!
Kempf

[Kirby Baker]

It was my understanding that switching to Vista Basic freed up some resources, but I guess I'll try it and see.
Try what? Are some of you able to get BD or HD DVD content (disc or ripped) to playback without the jump back to Basic mode? I've tried an assortment of movies ripped with anydvd or the actual disc, and it always jumped to Basic.

Another question regarding this, if I were to setup dual monitors on my PC, and forced the PDVD to monitor 2 in full screen, and left monitor 1 as my desktop, will both switch to Basic, or will my desktop continue to run in Aero mode?

[Paul Bigelow]

No, I cannot get Vista to not change to Aero Basic when beginning play of PDVD. What I just tried was comparing CPU utilization in two differnt modes. Tried using the full-blown Vista Aero Mode and letting the PDVD/Vista system switch to Aero Basic , that is, "best appearing" versus "best performance", which, I think, is simple Windows XP-style with no enahncements. When comparing the CPU usage between the two modes over some time there might be be a trend of a few percent reduction in overall CPU utilization. So, slight or no change.

I do use nVidia dual view. One screen is running in 1920x080 @ 72Hz and the other running at 800x600 @ 60Hz. I don't note any changes on the second screen.

[arfster]

Is there something about Aero mode that makes it easier to copy or something?

Possible: let's face it, if you can software manipulate a live video stream onto a 3d tilt, what's to stop you just saving it onto disk? Also, directshow itself is so modular, how could they stop you sending the output to some fake capture-renderer? Or having a dump-to-disk module somewhere in the filter chain?

[Rathbone]

PowerDVD 7.3 does not show the english subtitles on Pacte des Loups (French). Has anyone a solution for this?

[archibael]

Possible: let's face it, if you can software manipulate a live video stream onto a 3d tilt, what's to stop you just saving it onto disk?

I don't claim to know for sure, but I thought the entire point of the "Vista Premium Ready" debacle was to ensure that the display hardware did all this stuff when running Aero, rather than having software "manipulate" it.


Also, directshow itself is so modular, how could they stop you sending the output to some fake capture-renderer? Or having a dump-to-disk module somewhere in the filter chain?

True enough; but wouldn't this happen outside of Aero, too?

[arfster]

True enough; but wouldn't this happen outside of Aero, too?

Not if you're bypassing directshow entirely, which is what I suspect is happening in disc mode. It would definitely force it to basic mode at least.

[Kirby Baker]

And thats what PDVD was(is) doing right, bypassing Dshow completely. Maybe I should just rip all my movies and convert to MKV and be done with it. That would get me better integration into MCE as well.

[Uegis]

Quick question. When I watch a movie with PDVD, there are black borders to the left and right of the picture maybe 4-5 pixels wide. Is there a way to get rid of it so the picture fits the whole screen without having to distort the image by stretching?

[bingobill]

Not if you're bypassing directshow entirely, which is what I suspect is happening in disc mode. It would definitely force it to basic mode at least.

This is the information from PowerDVD playing Batman Begins(VC-1) from disk which puts my Vista32 into basic mode. This using an 8600GTS. HD DVD and Blu-ray both look stunning on 55" Sony since changing to Vist32, far superior to XP.

Player Information:
Player Region Code: Not Specified
Current Drive: H:

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

Audio Attributes:
Audio Coding mode: DDPlus
Sampling Rate: 48kHz
Number of Audio channels: 5.1
Bitrate: 640 Kbps

Hardware Information:
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU 6600 @ running at 2403 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)

[arfster]

This is the information from PowerDVD playing Batman Begins(VC-1) from disk which puts my Vista32 into basic mode.....

Yeah, I'd seen that before. Still, I can't detect any directshow filter chains running on the machine, which doesn't make much sense.

[skibum5000]

anyone able to get version .2911 working with vista and NOT killing media center?

if i manually delete old stuff i can get it installed without killing my startmenu now but it still kills media center (at the least).

i don't know what they are doing to kill media center or delete start menu items, but in both cases it is ridiculous.

they would likely never have even needed .2911 if not for this DRM crap.

i got it working but it was not at all easy to get it to both do so while neither deleting much of start menus or ruining media center and other multimedia software.

[marciton]

Someone has already to play HD-DVD with a pentium M processor ?
PowerDVD say M755 it's enough , I've a M580 and it's don't work
I've an ATI x1600 Pro HDMI & a nvidia 7300 CS ...

[lsdavinci]

Anyone having issues playing Pirates? POTC? It stays at the "LOADING..." screen and doesn't to anything else. Any ideas?

[egandt]

I have an LG GGW-H10N (dual format drive), I can play both blu-ray and HD-DVD's without issue (as long as AnyDVD-HD is loaded). The problem is that the screen breaks about 30% of the way down (this is the refresh line I'm assuming, but I've never seen it so bad), Normally I use reclock and VMR renderless to eliminate or at least almost eliminate this issue, but I can not find any way to do so in PowerDVD as a result while I can playback HD-DVD's and Blu-ray they are not watchable.

Any ideas how to resolve this issue?
ERIC

[Ozy666]

Make sure v-sync is enabled in your drivers and player...

Ozy

[Paul Bigelow]

Anyone having issues playing Pirates? POTC? It stays at the "LOADING..." screen and doesn't to anything else. Any ideas?

No issues. With either "Pirates". I use PDVD Ultra 7.3, Intel E6600 processor and nVidia 8600GTS, 4GB RAM. I can navigate and skip chapters (they use the same trailers on both movies - dag nab it!). Anyway, what is your CPU utilization? Some people have problems with PDVD and DVE HD-DVD as well. No probems here with that title also so hard to say.

Check CPU, RAM usage. Otherwise -- maybe Cyberlink knows something. They do answer e-mails fairly quickly so I was impressed with their service.

[Arcanum]

Anyone having issues playing Pirates? POTC? It stays at the "LOADING..." screen and doesn't to anything else. Any ideas?

I have the same problem unless I right click and select "first play". If I do that it will start the movie.

The problem I am having, however, is that both Pirates movies play back with 88-94% CPU utilization on an AMD X2 4600 with 2 gigs of ram and an ATI X1950XTX. The rest of my blu-rays play back at about 35% CPU usage. Is there a reason why Pirates is so CPU intensive?

[skibum5000]

I have the same problem unless I right click and select "first play". If I do that it will start the movie.

The problem I am having, however, is that both Pirates movies play back with 88-94% CPU utilization on an AMD X2 4600 with 2 gigs of ram and an ATI X1950XTX. The rest of my blu-rays play back at about 35% CPU usage. Is there a reason why Pirates is so CPU intensive?

probbaly because it is a massive bitrate title in both audio and video and video is AVC on top. i was getting some stutters when using vista. now i think it is gone. i removed the tick for the option for full-screen read it clearly. either that or simply a reboot got it working smoothly again during the intense bits.

i'm using AMD X2 4400+ with 1.5 gigs and nvidia 8800 GTS.

[skibum5000]

I have the same problem unless I right click and select "first play". If I do that it will start the movie.

The problem I am having, however, is that both Pirates movies play back with 88-94% CPU utilization on an AMD X2 4600 with 2 gigs of ram and an ATI X1950XTX. The rest of my blu-rays play back at about 35% CPU usage. Is there a reason why Pirates is so CPU intensive?

i managed (after much damage and grief) to get .2911 properly installed and with that it plays fine without having to do that. however, had i know the "first play" trick i might have waited a bit longer to get .2911 going.

[lsdavinci]

I have the same problem unless I right click and select "first play". If I do that it will start the movie.

The problem I am having, however, is that both Pirates movies play back with 88-94% CPU utilization on an AMD X2 4600 with 2 gigs of ram and an ATI X1950XTX. The rest of my blu-rays play back at about 35% CPU usage. Is there a reason why Pirates is so CPU intensive?

Is there actually an option called "first play"? or do you mean just right-click and click "Play"? and as per the CPU working harder, it sounds normal on a title like this. After all, it is on a 50GB disc and I'm sure the bitrate is quite high.

[Arcanum]

Is there actually an option called "first play"? or do you mean just right-click and click "Play"? and as per the CPU working harder, it sounds normal on a title like this. After all, it is on a 50GB disc and I'm sure the bitrate is quite high.

First play is an option under the menu dropdown if you right click while the movie is in. You get both top menu and first play as choices with version 2911.

It's playing fine for me, but I get the occassional stutter when the CPU load maxes. Thanks for the info guys, I guess it is because of the amped up bit rates for audio and video.

[kmj0577]

While trying to upgrade from 2605 to 2911, I get:
"Error 1334 The file '_2E94ADDF5484B3397177746581C4D6A' cannot be installed because the file cannot be found in cabinet file 'Data1.cab'. This could indicate a network error, an error reading from the CD-ROM, or a problem with this package."

I've redownloaded it several times and each time I get the same error.

Also, each time I try to play a title it pops up that "There are new PowerDVD components online. Would you like to update now?". If I hit yes, it reports a few seconds later that "Update progress finished", however it won't go on to play the movie. If I hit play, it goes into the update dialog again. If I hit no on it, it still won't go and play the movie.

Any one have any idea how I can either get it to upgrade or disable these messages?

Edit: This seems to be only on a newer title ("Letters from Iwo Jima", in this case).

I put in Pirates and Pirates 2 and I get the loading screen issue that other people have gotten, but I don't seem to have a "first play" option.

Edit2: Hmm, although Letters From Iwo Jima didn't work, Flags of our Fathers did.

[MidnightWatcher]

What OS are you using?

[kmj0577]

What OS are you using?
XP Professional 32-bit.

[MidnightWatcher]

XP Professional 32-bit.
Do a complete uninstall of PowerDVD Ultra, and remove any entries of PowerDVD and Cyberlink from your registry (backup first).

[kmj0577]

Do a complete uninstall of PowerDVD Ultra, and remove any entries of PowerDVD and Cyberlink from your registry (backup first).
And that should let me install 2605 and then upgrade to 2911? Unless there's somewhere on their site to download the full 2911?

[MidnightWatcher]

And that should let me install 2605 and then upgrade to 2911? Unless there's somewhere on their site to download the full 2911?
It should. But this post (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10568337&&#post10568337) has a link to the full UI 2911 that you can download. It is also a newer 2830 build.

[skibum5000]

And that should let me install 2605 and then upgrade to 2911? Unless there's somewhere on their site to download the full 2911?

be wary about letting powerdvd uninstall itself though, these later versions have a tendency to eat large parts fo your start menu and cause other issues. i had to manually delete the directories myself and registry entries and then use the MS program to delete more, etc. see my posts. hopefully you will have an easier time. i would make a drive mirror before hand just in case not.

[dthigpen]

It should. But this post (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10568337&&#post10568337) has a link to the full UI 2911 that you can download. It is also a newer 2830 build.

I used that build with a fresh install. Everything plays back great (including Matrix trilogy on the HD DVD Side and both POTC on the blu-ray side) and it doesn't eat your start menu.

[Nimo]

I used that build with a fresh install. Everything plays back great (including Matrix trilogy on the HD DVD Side and both POTC on the blu-ray side) and it doesn't eat your start menu.

Agreed this seems to be a good patch I just ran it over my 2605n build kept my start menu open to see if anything went missing it's all there. Even when I did the early patch it installed with no issues except for the start menu bug.

My 7600GT seems to be holding it's own at 18/38 cpu usage will hit mid to high 40's but always averages in the 30's. Using my 520GS 21" @1920x1080P 72Hz I get really good playback using ReClock especially the opening scene of the Last Samurai when the cam pans over the hill to the Emperor ver very smooth playback. 2605n also played this scene with pretty good results.

Right now I don't have any flt panels and just decided to use my Sony for the time being. Waiting for the 120 Hz Sammys this summer, I took back my Sharp 46 at Costco due to poor QC on Sharps part panels are just terrible....

@curtisb thanks for kindly linking and pass wording very kind of you. :)

[Gunnar]

Will the latest version still use overlay when playing HD-DVD?

Gunnar

[arfster]

Will the latest version still use overlay when playing HD-DVD?


In Vista, no. Having said that, I don't think it ever did - whatever colour problems there were have other causes.


In XP: dunno. Anyone got a suggestion how to find out?

[ymarker]

In Vista, no. Having said that, I don't think it ever did - whatever colour problems there were have other causes.


In XP: dunno. Anyone got a suggestion how to find out?


For disc's it's still overlay. Do an alt print screen and see if you can capture a snapshot. Another way - if you hold the window and move it around a 3d triangle/surface won't have any lag.

[Vriess]

When I try to play Clerks II I get the menu but no options show up and I can't play the movie. Trying to play the feature .evo files directly just gets me a black screen.

[wildfire99]

I'm trying to get yxy 1.6 to work with PowerDVD 7.3 but it doesn't seem to do anything but move the window around (it never resizes the window, despite what yxy claims). There doesn't seem to be any documentation for yxy either. What am I doing wrong?

I want to get the image stretched for a CIH setup.

[Vern Dias]

Did you disable PowerDVD's lock aspect ratio option? (You must have video playing to see this option)

YXY works just fine for many of us, so it has to be an issue on your setup......

Under cetain conditions, NVidia can have issues when running VMR9 on certain cards when the image height exceeds the desktop height.

Vern

[Rathbone]

I used that build with a fresh install. Everything plays back great (including Matrix trilogy on the HD DVD Side and both POTC on the blu-ray side) and it doesn't eat your start menu.

Agreed. I installed this with a new MSI NX8600GT-OC and Vista Home Premium. With and without HW Acc. I get smooth playback without any issues!

[ymarker]

(New?) Patch release date 5/28/07 on cyberlink's website:

http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/download/dl_patch_397_112_ENU.html

The filename looks suspiciously similar to the old 5/15 release (2911 EVR). May just be a patch of a patch :)

[arfster]

The filename looks suspiciously similar to the old 5/15 release (2911 EVR). May just be a patch of a patch :)

If ever a patch needed a patch, it was certainly that one :-).

[Don_S]

(New?) Patch release date 5/28/07 on cyberlink's website:

http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/download/dl_patch_397_112_ENU.html

The filename looks suspiciously similar to the old 5/15 release (2911 EVR). May just be a patch of a patch :)
The filename does look similar to the 05/15 one except the last digit and file size are different (-02 instead of -01 and ~75MB Vs. ~85MB)

[slothy]

prob fixed the install problems they had with it earlier

[arfster]

The filename does look similar to the 05/15 one except the last digit and file size are different (-02 instead of -01 and ~75MB Vs. ~85MB)

01 means slipstream install, 02 means update. Was the same with the original release.

[darkjedi664]

I know I posted this in a seperate thread, but no one responded. Has anyone gotten Chicken Little (Blu-Ray) to play on PDVD and Vista? It starts, then will freeze my entire system after a minute of play. I thought it was the disc at first, but I got another disc from NetFlix, and the same issue. I've had no other issues with any other Blu-Ray titles, and I am updated to the latest version. Just thought it was weird with only THIS title.

[MidnightWatcher]

(New?) Patch release date 5/28/07 on cyberlink's website:

http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/download/dl_patch_397_112_ENU.html

The filename looks suspiciously similar to the old 5/15 release (2911 EVR). May just be a patch of a patch :)
This version now installs perfectly on Vista x64. Build is now 7.3.2911.0, UI 2911.

[hdtv00]

Yep yet I still can't get DVE menu's to function...

[ymarker]

This version now installs perfectly on Vista x64. Build is now 7.3.2911.0, UI 2911.

Glad it installs on Vista x64 now. Does your scheme change to vista basic upon running this new pdvd's disc mode hd-dvd?

[MidnightWatcher]

Glad it installs on Vista x64 now. Does your scheme change to vista basic upon running this new pdvd's disc mode hd-dvd?
Yes, but I don't really notice it.

[ymarker]

Yes, but I don't really notice it.

The thing is it's using overlay not EVR/VMR/Custom as it switches to basic theme. I haven't tried file mode yet. AFAIK, Vista 32 bit is NOT switching with this patch to basic. Can someone confirm?

[Kirby Baker]

The thing is it's using overlay not EVR/VMR/Custom as it switches to basic theme. I haven't tried file mode yet. AFAIK, Vista 32 bit is NOT switching with this patch to basic. Can someone confirm?
Vista 32 switches to basic

[lsdavinci]

It should. But this post (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10568337&&#post10568337) has a link to the full UI 2911 that you can download. It is also a newer 2830 build.

BTW, just wanted to mention that YOU ROCK with this post! Followed the link and the instructions and I got POTC to work over the weekend. It was perfect because I tend to find out I have problems on a Friday or Saturday and can't get anything resolved until mid-next week. It's Tuesday and my cyberlink ticket still has no answer. But that doesn't matter now does it.... :D

Thanks!

Any many Thanks to curtisb as well!!!!

[tristartristan]

I have replace my 7600GT card with 8600GT Gigabyte passively cooled. I'm in Vista 64. When attempting to play the KK disc from the Xbox HD-DVD player, Power DVD 7.3 still would not play but this time presented error code 0103.

I install the last release path from Cyberlink but i still can't play KK disk.

Any idea??? :(


Of course, the 8600GT card is a HDCP compliant!!!

[R10KYJ]

I Dont think it is HDCP compliant.

Check out the specs on the Gigabyte website.

8600GT - http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/VGA/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=2515

to the 8500GT, which is HDCP compliant - http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/VGA/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=2516

and the 8600GTS, which is HDCP compliant - http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/VGA/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=2512

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

Ricky

[tristartristan]

Thanks Ricky

I think i would upgrade to 8600 GTS...but i wonder if the 8600GT is not HDCP compliant why i can play HD-DVD ripped in my HDD?

[ballenjr]

Thanks Ricky

I think i would upgrade to 8600 GTS...but i wonder if the 8600GT is not HDCP compliant why i can play HD-DVD ripped in my HDD?

Because by their nature, ripped HD DVD's/ Blu Ray have the copy protection stripped from them.

[tristartristan]

Because by their nature, ripped HD DVD's/ Blu Ray have the copy protection stripped from them.

Not exactly, AACS is removed but not HDCP .

[IanD]

PowerDVD 7.3 (2911 slipstreamed), 8500GT, VGA, XP, Nvidia 160.3, C2D 2.4GHz-->100% CPU playing King Kong with Video Qual=Best (fantastic PQ), 50% CPU with Video Qual=Normal (jaggies and dull PQ).

Graphedit with Haali splitter and Microsoft WMP11 codecs-->60% CPU playing King Kong Feature_1.evo with no jaggies and great PQ (just a little less contrast and saturation than PowerDVD 7.3).

The graphedit approach gives better results with similar CPU usage and I bet I could get it looking even better if I had colour control, but it's no good as an HD-DVD player.

My guess is that PowerDVD 7.3 is downscaling and then upscaling (poorly) in Normal mode for some obscure reason: how else can jaggies be explained from 1080p source on 1920x1080p72 desktop?

I get the same results after many rounds of different PowerDVD (6.5 and various 7.3 builds) and Nvidia driver versions, so it's not a first installation hiccup kind of issue: it's endemic to PowerDVD (at least with my setup).

Very frustrating not to have control over what PowerDVD is doing in the decoding.

I think Graphedit playback was also a little smoother, so possibly also a potential 24fps->30fps versus 24fps->24fps issue between PowerDVD and WMV9 codec.

[takisot]

Ian, I use Normal mode and I do not see any jaggies anywhere on my Jvc HD-1.
The 7.3 does not downscale or upscale in normal mode, at least with my ATI X1950 pro.
In fact on my setup, there are no visible differences between normal & best, that is why I leave it to normal (default). The image is crisp, 3D without any artifacts.It passes the MI3 staircase test with flying colors.
I guess you have to blame something in your videocard and /or drivers...

[RichB]

A friend of mine has PowerDVD 7.3 2911, XP Pro, and an X-FI Elite Pro sound card.

If he runs with the X-FI card he cannot even play a DVD even off the hard drive without constant pausing.

He has tried moving the card. If he runs with the Asus motherboard sound it works perfectly.

Is there anything that he can try to resolve this?

Thanks,

Rich

[Schlotkins]

How is the stability of this program these days? Has there been any progress on that front? From the sounds of it, no... :)

Chris

[sparklan]

Well, I had to ditch the 6800gt. I picked up an MSI Neo4 Mobo, AMD 3800x2 and put my 7900GT in. Watched King Kong and Serenity. Both played fairly well only using about 40-50% usage on both cores. Playback is not very smooth though. I still get little shakes every now and then which I'm guessing is due to the video frame rate not syncing with the TV's. Picture looks excellent and it is watchable but the jittering every now and then is pretty annoying.

I tried using reclock witch did improve it slightly but it screws up my TVedia install if I leave it on. So, I don't know that it's a good solution for me considering this is not just a HDDVD HTPC for me. Any other solutions on improving the smoothness of playback that has been working for you guys?

[MidnightWatcher]

How is the stability of this program these days? Has there been any progress on that front? From the sounds of it, no... :)

Chris
Much better with the latest build now.

[archibael]

Not exactly, AACS is removed but not HDCP .

Not exactly. :D

HDCP protects the digital video output (over DVI or HDMI), and only gets activated if the software (PowerDVD) asks for it. Since PowerDVD only asks for it when AACS requires it, by stripping out AACS you are effectively deactivating HDCP. That's why AnyDVD HD allows people without HDCP cards to play HD DVD/Blu-ray.

[scottb4u]

Not, not exactly....

PowerDVD does NOT play regular old DVD if you use a HDMI switching receiver.

There is apparently a bug in PDVD, but it allows blu-ray just fine...

[archibael]

Well, regular DVD is not protected by AACS. So removing/ripping with AnyDVD HD doesn't make a difference to the HDCP-status.

There are independent rules for DVDs over HDMI which are unrelated to the HD DVD/Blu-ray AACS rules, which is why there's a discrepancy.

[scottb4u]

I am running ANYDVD HD. It is the same version as the regular dvd. Shouldn't it work for both?

[Cap.T]

I have a question regarding the french Terminator 2 HD-DVD and PowerDVD. I have read here that with a "normal" HD-DVD-Player you can move the forced subtitles of the theatrical version to where they don't bug as much. Is it possible to do that with PowerDVD somehow too? Thanks!

[archibael]

I am running ANYDVD HD. It is the same version as the regular dvd. Shouldn't it work for both?

I don't think anyone aside from SlySoft and Cyberlink understands fully the operation of AnyDVD HD or even PowerDVD Ultra. However, it's no secret that AnyDVD HD removes AACS protection from disks; since AACS is what activates the HDCP-requirement on HD DVDs/Blu-ray, this is effective in allowing non-HDCP equipment to play disks.

The PowerDVD engine for HD DVD and Blu-ray is evidently different from their DVD engine and therefore has different restrictions. I would assume that SlySoft has been unsuccessful in removing all of the HDCP hooks in PowerDVD's DVD engine, or they haven't tried.

[talon95]

Not, not exactly....

PowerDVD does NOT play regular old DVD if you use a HDMI switching receiver.

There is apparently a bug in PDVD, but it allows blu-ray just fine...

Yea, that's gotta be a PDVD bug. A DVD should play on a HDMI connection without using AnyDVD at all.

[arfster]

Yea, that's gotta be a PDVD bug.

Surely not? Everybody knows Cyberlink thoroughly works out all possible errors from the patches before alpha-testing them on the on the public ... errm I mean releasing them.

[archibael]

Yea, that's gotta be a PDVD bug. A DVD should play on a HDMI connection without using AnyDVD at all.

I think it does. I suspect he's referring to a situation where the HDMI cable is plugged into a receiver instead of directly to the TV. The HDMI circuitry designates this as a "repeater" (the receiver is "repeating" the signal to another device-- the TV), and for some reason PowerDVD seems to trigger an HDCP-violation related to this while in DVD mode.

[mlb5000]

So I just hooked my Xbox 360 HD-DVD Addon up to my HTPC to test out its HD movie capabilities...but I can't get PowerDVD to work. When I start up it pops up a window that says "A critical component of the player requiires periodic updates. New movies could fail to play if the critical component is not updated promptly. Would you like to updatee now?"

I cliick yes it it appears to do nothing...when I click play to play my HD-DVD the screen is black and there is no sound. When I close PowerDVD, it crashes the application and brings up the Vista error dialog. The same thing happens if I click stop. Anyone else have this problem or know how to solve it?

edit: Cyberlink advisor tells me I'm not using an HDCP complient video card, but I'm using the new NVIDIA 7050PV through HDMI with HDCP right on the board...

[MidnightWatcher]

So I just hooked my Xbox 360 HD-DVD Addon up to my HTPC to test out its HD movie capabilities...but I can't get PowerDVD to work. When I start up it pops up a window that says "A critical component of the player requiires periodic updates. New movies could fail to play if the critical component is not updated promptly. Would you like to updatee now?"
I'm surprised you got this message if you've purchased it recently. If your build is prior to 2605 you'll need to get this update:

http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/patch/enu/update_center.jsp?Source=Home

And then install this update:

http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/download/patches_112_ENU.html

[mlb5000]

I'm surprised you got this message if you've purchased it recently. If your build is prior to 2605 you'll need to get this update:

http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/patch/enu/update_center.jsp?Source=Home

And then install this update:

http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/download/patches_112_ENU.html

Thanks, that fixed the dialog issue, but it says that it fails to initialize HDCP, even though my board clearly has it...

edit: eh..whatever, I just uprgaded to AnyDVDHD, so no more problems :). I disabled hardware acceleration in PowerDVD. It jitters a little bit but I think it should be managable. If all else fails I can just put it back on my 360. My only concern is Blu-Ray. If I stick a blu-ray drive in here, is it more intensive than HD-DVD?

CPU usage at full-screen HDDVD hovers between 65 and 80% at any given time....

[mlb5000]

The only movie I tested my system with was Superman Returns which has VC-1 compression. Should I test my system using some Hi-Def H.264 samples as well? if so, where can I find some?

[MidnightWatcher]

Thanks, that fixed the dialog issue, but it says that it fails to initialize HDCP, even though my board clearly has it...

edit: eh..whatever, I just uprgaded to AnyDVDHD, so no more problems :). I disabled hardware acceleration in PowerDVD. It jitters a little bit but I think it should be managable. If all else fails I can just put it back on my 360. My only concern is Blu-Ray. If I stick a blu-ray drive in here, is it more intensive than HD-DVD?

CPU usage at full-screen HDDVD hovers between 65 and 80% at any given time....
Make sure that you only have your primary display enabled. Disable the secondary display in the ATI or nVidia control panel. A Blu-ray drive will be the same. As for the films themselves, VC-1 and MPEG2 encoded titles require less horsepower than AVC encoded titles.

[sparklan]

It turns out PowerDVD runs King Kong perfectly with hardware acceleration turned off. No jitters what so ever. Only problem is it's sitting around 80-90% usage. If I enable hardware acceleration, usage goes down to 40-50% but the jitters are there. They seem to get better the longer the movie plays but it never goes away. If I forward a track or pause, it starts all over again. Very jittery then smooths out a little. Obviously using software acceleration is not going to cut it in the long run. I'm at a loss here why these jitters won't go away with hardware acceleration. Here are my specs...

EVGA 7950GT PCI-E
AMD 3800x2
1GB DDR400
Windows XP Pro SP2
AnyDVD HD

[mlb5000]

Make sure that you only have your primary display enabled. Disable the secondary display in the ATI or nVidia control panel. A Blu-ray drive will be the same. As for the films themselves, VC-1 and MPEG2 encoded titles require less horsepower than AVC encoded titles.

Thanks. What titles are encoded using AVC, is it going to be used predominantly in the future, etc, etc. I just need to know whether I can stick with my setup or if I will eventually need to buy a dedicated graphics card and move away from my integrated graphics:

Biostar TF7050-M2 (NVIDIA 7050PV Graphics/630a chipset)
AMD X2 5600+ @ 2.8Ghz
2GB PC-6400 Memory
Xbox 360 HD-DVD Player
Cyberlink PowerDVD 7.3 (w/ hardware acceleration disabled)
AnyDVD HD

[MidnightWatcher]

Thanks. What titles are encoded using AVC, is it going to be used predominantly in the future, etc, etc. I just need to know whether I can stick with my setup or if I will eventually need to buy a dedicated graphics card and move away from my integrated graphics:

Biostar TF7050-M2 (NVIDIA 7050PV Graphics/630a chipset)
AMD X2 5600+ @ 2.8Ghz
2GB PC-6400 Memory
Xbox 360 HD-DVD Player
Cyberlink PowerDVD 7.3 (w/ hardware acceleration disabled)
AnyDVD HD
Blu-ray titles will use all three codecs. HD DVD will use mostly VC-1 with a title here and there encoded using AVC.

Your system looks quite good. The only thing I would recommend would be an nVidia 8500 or 8600, or an ATI X2400 or X2600 once they become available. With hardware acceleration enabled in PowerDVD Ultra these cards will bring down your CPU usage considerably, especially for AVC (aka H.264).

You can see how well an nVidia 8600 card does here: http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2977&p=5

Here you can see how well the ATI X2400 and X2600 may do:

http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/9906/xmen3xw1.png

http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/4589/serenityiq0.png

Link (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10628154&&#post10628154)

[MidnightWatcher]

It turns out PowerDVD runs King Kong perfectly with hardware acceleration turned off. No jitters what so ever. Only problem is it's sitting around 80-90% usage. If I enable hardware acceleration, usage goes down to 40-50% but the jitters are there. They seem to get better the longer the movie plays but it never goes away. If I forward a track or pause, it starts all over again. Very jittery then smooths out a little. Obviously using software acceleration is not going to cut it in the long run. I'm at a loss here why these jitters won't go away with hardware acceleration. Here are my specs...

EVGA 7950GT PCI-E
AMD 3800x2
1GB DDR400
Windows XP Pro SP2
AnyDVD HD
Not sure what could be the issue, but make sure that you don't have AA forced on, or anything else in the 3D settings.

[Uegis]

My system is struggling to play back Pirates Curse of the Black Pearl. I have a X2 5600+, MSI K9AGM2 with onboard Radeon x1250. CPU usage is up to 95-100% at all times with major slowdown. Anyone else get playback with a 5600+ in PDVD 7.3?

[skibum5000]

My system is struggling to play back Pirates Curse of the Black Pearl. I have a X2 5600+, MSI K9AGM2 with onboard Radeon x1250. CPU usage is up to 95-100% at all times with major slowdown. Anyone else get playback with a 5600+ in PDVD 7.3?

it seemed like removing the check from the option on video to shift the subtitles down on fullscreen helped (unless it was just rebooting). but when i first played it it was getting a bit of slowdown even right at the disney castle intro on X2 4200+ with 8800 GTS, but now it seems to make it.

[Xylon]

Your videocard is tooo slow. Upgrade to at least a X1950 Pro.

[IanD]

Ian, I use Normal mode and I do not see any jaggies anywhere on my Jvc HD-1.
The 7.3 does not downscale or upscale in normal mode, at least with my ATI X1950 pro.
In fact on my setup, there are no visible differences between normal & best, that is why I leave it to normal (default). The image is crisp, 3D without any artifacts.It passes the MI3 staircase test with flying colors.
I guess you have to blame something in your videocard and /or drivers...
Jaggies are most noticeable on the black art-deco font on yellow background in the opening credits of King Kong in Normal mode (looks like some form of point resize scaling artifact): in Best mode it's all smooth (but CPU rises to 100%).

Curiously, an ATI X300 doesn't have a jaggies problem with PowerDVD 6.5 and has lower CPU usage.

I don't see how it can be a videocard or driver issue, since I get no jaggies if using WMV9 codec on the same source material.

It seems to be a PowerDVD issue specifically with the 8500GT and VGA and XP.

[mlb5000]

Blu-ray titles will use all three codecs. HD DVD will use mostly VC-1 with a title here and there encoded using AVC.

Your system looks quite good. The only thing I would recommend would be an nVidia 8500 or 8600, or an ATI X2400 or X2600 once they become available. With hardware acceleration enabled in PowerDVD Ultra these cards will bring down your CPU usage considerably, especially for AVC (aka H.264).

You can see how well an nVidia 8600 card does here: http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2977&p=5

Here you can see how well the ATI X2400 and X2600 may do:

http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/9906/xmen3xw1.png

http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/4589/serenityiq0.png

Link (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10628154&&#post10628154)

That's some good info, thanks for the help. What's the difference between the 8600 and 8800-series chips? It looks like the 8600 is a lot better for what I'll be using it for. Also, what is the best BD-Drive on the market right now? I was going to get the Philips from Newegg with a free Blu-Ray movie, but I slacked and now it's sold out :(.

edit: Also, I've read the articles in your signature about Blu-Ray and its lack of standard. By being a PC user, we won't have to worry about the future of BD-Java since that is all in the software used for playback, correct? So even if they forsake the early stand-alone adopter, the HTPC adopters should be fine assuming Cyberlink makes the needed changes to PowerDVD?

[MidnightWatcher]

That's some good info, thanks for the help. What's the difference between the 8600 and 8800-series chips? It looks like the 8600 is a lot better for what I'll be using it for. Also, what is the best BD-Drive on the market right now? I was going to get the Philips from Newegg with a free Blu-Ray movie, but I slacked and now it's sold out :(.

edit: Also, I've read the articles in your signature about Blu-Ray and its lack of standard. By being a PC user, we won't have to worry about the future of BD-Java since that is all in the software used for playback, correct? So even if they forsake the early stand-alone adopter, the HTPC adopters should be fine assuming Cyberlink makes the needed changes to PowerDVD?
From what I understand the 8800 is geared more towards the gaming market. The 8600 is geared more towards the HTPC market. As for what is the best BD drive, I do not know since I only support HD DVD and not Blu-ray. Others may know what is a good one to buy. They're just all relatively expensive right now.

As for the unfinalized Blu-ray specifications, I would assume that you are correct in saying that PowerDVD Ultra would need to be updated to support any future BD-Java 1.1 spec, but I can't say for certain.

[Jim HTPC]

I use the Lite-On blu ray drive. It's worked flawlessly so far. It's also SATA to avoid cluttered IDE cables inside the case.

[Uegis]

Your videocard is tooo slow. Upgrade to at least a X1950 Pro.

BTW, how do I enable AVIVO in PowerDVD? When I try to go to configuration while the movie is playing, the hardware acceleartion AVIVO box is greyed out. Do I need to change something in Catalyst to enable it? Thanks for any help.

I figured I would need to get a new graphics card soon, I guess with AVC it is pushing the system to it's limits. But is 95-100% on a 5600+ normal? I am going to get a new vid card but was waiting for the new batch of ATI before I upgrade from my onboard. I guess that will solve my CPU usage problem too, with hardware acceleration.

[MidnightWatcher]

BTW, how do I enable AVIVO in PowerDVD? When I try to go to configuration while the movie is playing, the hardware acceleartion AVIVO box is greyed out. Do I need to change something in Catalyst to enable it? Thanks for any help.

I figured I would need to get a new graphics card soon, I guess with AVC it is pushing the system to it's limits. But is 95-100% on a 5600+ normal? I am going to get a new vid card but was waiting for the new batch of ATI before I upgrade from my onboard. I guess that will solve my CPU usage problem too, with hardware acceleration.
It isn't supported yet, either in PowerDVD Ultra or the ATI drivers, and I'm not sure if it will be. Your best bet is to get either an nVidia 8500 or 8600 card, or wait for an ATI X2600 in a couple of weeks.

[mlb5000]

It isn't supported yet, either in PowerDVD Ultra or the ATI drivers, and I'm not sure if it will be. Your best bet is to get either an nVidia 8500 or 8600 card, or wait for an ATI X2600 in a couple of weeks.

Do they have a release date for the X2600? I would just get the 2900 now but it's a bit expensive and may be overkill.

[Uegis]

Thanks for the pointers. I do plan on getting a 2400 or 2600 in a few weeks. Just looking for a quick fix right now. The 2900 is way too expensive for me, and like someone said already, overkill. I don't game at all and the PC is used exclusively for watching media.

Guess I need to wait a bit longer before I can enjoy stutter free Blu-Ray playback. Spent all this money on a Blu-Ray drive and can't use it without spending another 100-200 bucks.

[Dessie]

Just been watching Apocalypto blu ray and my cpu is reaching 100% at times. I have a E6300 overclocked to 2.8 with the latest version of Powerdvd running in software mode. I have the quailty set to normal in powerdvd. I would have thought that I would have enough cpu with the overclock to not reach 100%. I understand that the AVC MPEG-4 is going to be tough on the cpu in software mode but I did not expect it to be this tough and especially as I do not hit the same usage while playing X-Men 3. Any thoughts?

[wildfire99]

Just been watching Apocalypto blu ray and my cpu is reaching 100% at times... Any thoughts?
Sacrifice a $150 video card on the computer altar to appease the hardware acceleration gods?

[darkjedi664]

Well you don't mention what video card you have. But here's the gist. Just because it's AVC doesn't mean that it'll either cause high or low CPU. There's a MAJOR factor in the CPU usage with AVC (and hell, all the codecs); it's BITRATE! With Apocalypto getting close to 40mbps in certain frames, that's going to KILL your CPU. Even on Pirates, my Opteron 165 @ 2.6Ghz, and 8800GTX can get close to 75% CPU usage. It's ALL about bitrate. The reason your CPU didn't get taxed with X-Men 3 (besides it being a crappy movie), is because the bitrate isn't anywhere near Apocalypto, nor Pirates. If you don't want high CPU usage with h264, get the 8600GT/S.

[Dessie]

The video card I have is a XFX 7950GT running on XP pro. Now correct me if I am wrong but I thought when running Powerdvd in software mode all the work is done by the cpu and because I am running XP I cannot do hardware acceleration because the drivers are not yet available. How would 8500/8600 card help me if I cannot get hardware acceleration with XP?

Thanks

[bowser15]

Well you don't mention what video card you have. But here's the gist. Just because it's AVC doesn't mean that it'll either cause high or low CPU. There's a MAJOR factor in the CPU usage with AVC (and hell, all the codecs); it's BITRATE! With Apocalypto getting close to 40mbps in certain frames, that's going to KILL your CPU. Even on Pirates, my Opteron 165 @ 2.6Ghz, and 8800GTX can get close to 75% CPU usage. It's ALL about bitrate. The reason your CPU didn't get taxed with X-Men 3 (besides it being a crappy movie), is because the bitrate isn't anywhere near Apocalypto, nor Pirates. If you don't want high CPU usage with h264, get the 8600GT/S.

Actually, X-men 3 does hit those bitrates. Your best bet would be to get a video card capable of helping decode the video.

[arfster]

I find AVC HDDVDs with max 25mbit bitrate use more CPU than the Pirates Bluray, which hits 45mbit at one point (and yes, that is possible for short peaks with the buffer). Heavier compression of detailed sources is more demanding on the hardware than light compression.

See the hardspell article, Bluray Casino Royale is 65.5% with a 8800, Babel HDDVD is 53.6%.

[heartsurgeon]

"How would 8500/8600 card help me if I cannot get hardware acceleration with XP?"

2 options..
wait until the XP purevideo HD drivers come out (purportedly sometime in June...maybe...perhaps...)

get the 8500 and Vista (works here and now).

your CPU will never be able to handle all HD content, and your current video card will not benefit from Purevideo HD when it becomes available for XP

hence my sig
"you haven't wasted your money, you just haven't spent enough yet"

Ah!! the joys of HTPC...reminds me of owning a sailboat...

[bshaf]

I feel like im the only one that doesn't have smooth video playback when im watching TV in Vista Media Center. What is everyone doing that i am not? I have stuttering, and i will get the blue screen of death if i watch long enough. I have the lastest drivers for my video card installed (158.18) and the lastest build of PowerDVD (2911). I have installed PowerDVD correctly (ie removing registry entries) I have set my video card to performance and have enabled my hard drive fo