View Full Version : nvidia 8600 / 8500 series info
Is there any information on what video features the 8500GT supports, and which ones it doesn't, beyond the H264 offload? I am mainly looking for features the 8500GT can't handle, while the 8600GT can (Trying to decide which one to get for a non-gaming HTPC)
Does it support spatial temporal de-interlacing, inverse telecine, bad edit correction, etc...?
I know the 7600GS didn't support inverse telecine, and the 8500GT is supposed to be replacing the 7600GS.
Schlotkins
05-03-07, 11:04 AM
Hi guys-
With the 8600GT, can anyone think of a reason a E6600 wouldn't be fast enough for even the most challenging HD-DVD or Blu-ray disc?
Thanks,
Chris
Does it support spatial temporal de-interlacing, inverse telecine, bad edit correction, etc...?
I don't know how to verify all these, but deinterlacing of HD material looks flawless to me now, I had many issues with 7950 GT. Also, motion on both cinema and video material looks silky smooth.
Hi guys-
With the 8600GT, can anyone think of a reason a E6600 wouldn't be fast enough for even the most challenging HD-DVD or Blu-ray disc?
Thanks,
Chris
With these cards I think that even a non-overclocked E4300 would be enough for the "toughest" BD/HD DVDs
barth2k
05-03-07, 11:16 AM
Hi guys-
With the 8600GT, can anyone think of a reason a E6600 wouldn't be fast enough for even the most challenging HD-DVD or Blu-ray disc?
Thanks,
Chris
nope. the whole point of 8500/8600 is you don't NEED an E6600 for BR and HDDVD. Heck with an E6600 you'll be fine with any recent card.
But I'm waiting too see ATI's UVD, which promises to offload both VC1 and H264. ATI has also had a better track record on viideo processing than nvidia.
Schlotkins
05-03-07, 11:51 AM
nope. the whole point of 8500/8600 is you don't NEED an E6600 for BR and HDDVD. Heck with an E6600 you'll be fine with any recent card.
But I'm waiting too see ATI's UVD, which promises to offload both VC1 and H264. ATI has also had a better track record on viideo processing than nvidia.
Great - thanks.
I'm just hoping that ATI card can output 7.1 LPCM... that would be huge.
arfster
05-03-07, 11:51 AM
Is there any information on what video features the 8500GT supports, and which ones it doesn't, beyond the H264 offload? I am mainly looking for features the 8500GT can't handle, while the 8600GT can (Trying to decide which one to get for a non-gaming HTPC)
Does it support spatial temporal de-interlacing, inverse telecine, bad edit correction, etc...?
I was wondering the same thing. Only documentation I can find:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/geforce_8600_8500_tech_specs.html
Seems to suggest so, but NVidia's "feature" sheets in the past have frequently been woefully inaccurate.
Using the 8500GT, it certainly does IVTC on MPEG2 1080i, and seems to do bad edit correction as well. Spatial-temporal I don't know, because we use h264 for broadcast HD in Britain.
For h264/vc1, previously only the 8800 could do ivtc/badedit/s-t. The 8500GT appears to be doing spatial-temporal on BBC HD (20mbit 1080i50), but it's hard to compare as so many decoders are a bit wonky with MBAFF interlaced content. I can't test the other two as IVTC isn't needed on 25/50hz AVC material, and bad edit really isn't much either.
huskerpat
05-03-07, 12:06 PM
interestingly enough, the spec sheet indicates vc-1 and mpeg-2 acceleration, but the testing we've seen shows minimal benefit for vc-1. perhaps that a driver thing or a bios update.
sharangad
05-03-07, 03:00 PM
Got the Gigabyte 8600 GTS fanless card today. Installed it to my AMD 64x2 3800+ (overclock to 2.4GHz) with 64-bit version of windows vista, with 158.24 beta nvidia driver, connect to a HDCP compliant projector. Running CyberLink Advisor shows DVI output with no HDCP :-( I can't play HD-DVD movie directly from the external HD-DVD player. I can play ripped movie from hard disk fine. However, no matter I select hardware acceleration or not, the cpu usage is about the same (40 - 45%). Need to play it more to figure out how to turn on HDCP and hardware accleration.
You're the third 8600 GTS user on this forum to not have any hardware accelerated H.264 decoding in Windows Vista 32 bit with the latest PowerDVD 7.3.
[EDIT] Oops! You have the 64 bit version of Vista. PureVideo HD of the G84 variety only works on Vista 32 bit.
If you play the EVO or another file with h264 video in Windows Media Player, what do you get?
You're the third 8600 GTS user on this forum to not have any hardware accelerated H.264 decoding in Windows Vista 32 bit with the latest PowerDVD 7.3.
[EDIT] Oops! You have the 64 bit version of Vista. PureVideo HD of the G84 variety only works on Vista 32 bit.
Could you clarify why PureVideo HD of the G84 variety only works on Vista 32 bit? According to nVidia web side, 64 bit vista driver does have PureVideo HD support:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/winvista_x64_158.18.html
Looks like the latest nVidia XP beta driver supports hardware acceleration of H.264, VC-1 and MPEG-2 HD movie formats:
http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_downloads_winxp_2k_32bit_93.81.html
Will try it tonight.
Those drivers are not for the 8XXX series.
Those drivers are not for the 8XXX series.
Yes, you are right. Didn't look through the product list. Sorry for the false info.
The following quotes are from the 158.24 release notes:
Enabling*inverse*telecine*results*in*an*increase*in*dropped* frames*on*
high*bitrate*1080p*VC-1*titles.[302992]*
This is from nVidia's release notes for 158.24 beta for Vista.
How does one control inverse telecine and other settings, anyway? I suppose if i could find how to disable/enable that, it would tell me if my VC-1 decoding is being accelerated.
GeForce*8500/8400/8300:*Playing*VC-1*titles*in*full-screen*mode*results*in*green*flashes.**[302116]
That's interesting. I don't get those but I don't seem to be getting GPU-accelerated VC-1 playback, either.
Since my overclocked Pentium M 760 (2000MHz@2250MHz) plays VC-1 HD-DVD at approx 95% CPU in PowerDVD, I am going to try a Pentium M 770, which will yield 2.13@2.4GHz overclocked.
GeForce*8600:*The*system*does*not*resume*from*S1*or
*S3*sleep*states.**
[289246]
GeForce*8600/8500/8400/8300:*The*system*occasionally*hangs*with*an*
EA*error*upon*resume*from*S1*sleep*state.*[278368]
I haven't experienced any problems with sleep yet using 158. I sleep my machine extensively. Using 165 the display does not come back after waking up.
huskerpat
05-03-07, 09:09 PM
Got my gigabyte 8500gt today. I don't see how you could use the pci slot next to it. my mobo is the msi matx 6150 board.
arfster
05-03-07, 11:01 PM
How does one control inverse telecine and other settings, anyway? I suppose if i could find how to disable/enable that, it would tell me if my VC-1 decoding is being accelerated.
It's in the control panel somewhere, under the video/tv settings, rightmost tab. It's enabled by default in recent drivers, which is fairly idiotic when a) it's buggy, and b) the decoder does IVTC anyway.
popechild
05-04-07, 02:35 AM
Got my gigabyte 8500gt today. I don't see how you could use the pci slot next to it. my mobo is the msi matx 6150 board.
Any chance you'd be willing to try sticking something in there, just to see? For instance, does it touch, does it not even fit at all, etc. I had high hopes for this card replacing the onboard video for me, and if this indeed doesn't fit, I've yet to see a similar version that seems like it would fit better and still handle dhcp for a similar price...
How do I turn on/off hardware acceleration in Windows Media Player or Quick Time? I download and play a couple H.264 videos. The cpu usage is about 60%. I assume hw acceleration is off. But how do I know for sure?
huskerpat
05-04-07, 09:13 AM
Any chance you'd be willing to try sticking something in there, just to see? For instance, does it touch, does it not even fit at all, etc. I had high hopes for this card replacing the onboard video for me, and if this indeed doesn't fit, I've yet to see a similar version that seems like it would fit better and still handle dhcp for a similar price...
I tried putting my sound card in next to it. It'll fit, but they touch and it's a bit tight. I'm not real comfortable with a card up against the heatsink like that, but maybe it's no big deal.
I just tried out the Gigabyte 8500GT it is better than my 8800GTS in every respect.
I could never get H.264 hardware acceleration to play without frame drops with the 8800 and it works perfectly on the 8500. I am not a gamer so I will be selling the 8800.
CPU with VC1 and MPEG2 are both the same: <50% and <30%.
CPU with H.264 went from >80% to about 45%.
System power (watts):
8800 Idle: 170
8800 Load: 235
8500 Idle: 101
8500 Load: 135
Obviously, my system is running cooler so it makes less noise now.
This is a fantastic card!!
- Rich
Can you tell a difference in picture quality? Better, worse or pretty much the same?
I just tried out the Gigabyte 8500GT it is better than my 8800GTS in every respect.
I could never get H.264 hardware acceleration to play without frame drops with the 8800 and it works perfectly on the 8500. I am not a gamer so I will be selling the 8800.
CPU with VC1 and MPEG2 are both the same: <50% and <30%.
CPU with H.264 went from >80% to about 45%.
System power (watts):
8800 Idle: 170
8800 Load: 235
8500 Idle: 101
8500 Load: 135
Obviously, my system is running cooler so it makes less noise now.
This is a fantastic card!!
- Rich
What CPU?
What CPU?
AMD 4600+
- Rich
popechild
05-04-07, 11:26 AM
I tried putting my sound card in next to it. It'll fit, but they touch and it's a bit tight. I'm not real comfortable with a card up against the heatsink like that, but maybe it's no big deal.
Thanks for doing that.
Any thoughts from the masses about the wisdom of an install like that? It certainly doesn't sound like something that'd be a good idea, but maybe others have had similar situations and it's proven to not be a problem?
jvarisco
05-04-07, 01:51 PM
How do I turn on/off hardware acceleration in Windows Media Player or Quick Time? I download and play a couple H.264 videos. The cpu usage is about 60%. I assume hw acceleration is off. But how do I know for sure?
You don't. HW accel is only supported with Vista and HD-Purevideo compatible players (PowerDVD 7.3+patch being one right now). Media player/Quicktime/etc. will not see any benefit.
It's been mentioned in the thread multiple times.
I tried putting my sound card in next to it. It'll fit, but they touch and it's a bit tight. I'm not real comfortable with a card up against the heatsink like that, but maybe it's no big deal.
Hi there
If the vid card is in the vertical plane (ala HTPC case) and there are ventilation holes above it, then you just might get away with this. The convection cooling is still far from optimal since the only source of air is from the base between the MB connectors. BTW the Gigabyte heatsink seems designed for this since it has vertical heatsink fins, compared to the horizontal fins of the Asus 8500GT card.
If the card is in the horizontal position (tower case), then you'd likely end up cooking the electronics, since the heatsink is on the bottom side sandwiched between 2 circuit boards. But the Gigabyte does have an interesting extension of the heatsink (with slots no less!) beyond the end of the PCB so there is some dissipation in this position.
Regards
renethx
05-04-07, 03:11 PM
Two HDCP-compliant 8600 GT cards are available:
BFG GeForce 8600 GT OC 256MB PCIe (BFGE86256GTOCE) (http://www2.bfgtech.com/bfgr86256gtoce.aspx), Newegg.com: $169.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814143105)
PNY Verto 8600 GT 256MB PCIe VCG8600GXPB (http://www2.pny.com/8600-GT-256MB-PCIe--P2323C269.aspx), amazon.com: $149.99 (free shipping) (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000P9EX2W/)
The PNY card at amazon.com is the best deal if you want a G84 core HDCP card.
Here is the Gigabyte 8500GT that I bought:
GIGABYTE GV-NX85T256H GeForce 8500GT (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125062)
- Rich
You don't. HW accel is only supported with Vista and HD-Purevideo compatible players (PowerDVD 7.3+patch being one right now). Media player/Quicktime/etc. will not see any benefit.
It's been mentioned in the thread multiple times.
More correctly, hardware acceleration is supported with Vista and a PureVideo compatible codec. PowerDVD's H264 codec is one of these and works with acceleration in any DirectShow player (as long as a compatible renderer is used)
jetcobra
05-04-07, 06:34 PM
So, you're saying that hardware acceleration does not work with XP for the Gigabyte 8500?
Alan Winslow
05-04-07, 10:50 PM
Will the 8500GT work with a Pentium4 - 3.2 Ghz processor in an Abit AA8 Motherboard.
I am wanting to upgrade my current HTPC which currently has an NVidia 6600 and has performed flawlessly. Windows XP
Any thoughts are appreciated.
sharangad
05-05-07, 03:50 AM
So, you're saying that hardware acceleration does not work with XP for the Gigabyte 8500?
Not until June when the XP drivers get PureVideo HD (Version 2) support.
More correctly, hardware acceleration is supported with Vista and a PureVideo compatible codec. PowerDVD's H264 codec is one of these and works with acceleration in any DirectShow player (as long as a compatible renderer is used)
Does Vista Media Center use a compatible renderer? Would I get acceleration there when playing H264 clips ? (Assuming PDVD is the H264 codec of course).
Will the 8500GT work with a Pentium4 - 3.2 Ghz processor in an Abit AA8 Motherboard.
I am wanting to upgrade my current HTPC which currently has an NVidia 6600 and has performed flawlessly. Windows XP
Any thoughts are appreciated.
Does it have a working PCI Express x16 slot?
If it already works fine, do you need the upgrade?
jetcobra
05-05-07, 06:48 PM
Not until June when the XP drivers get PureVideo HD (Version 2) support.
Thanks
jimwhite
05-06-07, 08:50 AM
Video decoding aside, where do the 8500 and 8600 fit in the GPU performance tree of 7XXX cards? I guess I'm wanting to know how much of a gaming hit/gain would I experience compared to my 7600GT ??
:confused:
Video decoding aside, where do the 8500 and 8600 fit in the GPU performance tree of 7XXX cards? I guess I'm wanting to know how much of a gaming hit/gain would I experience compared to my 7600GT ??
:confused:
Not much to the 8600GTS. The noise is up from the 8800GTS, but power usage is about 100watts less at load.
For gaming, it about the same as the 7600GT. Check out this Guru3D article (http://www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/426/1/).
- Rich
I have noticed some stair-stepping when hardware acceleration is enabled in PowerDVD 7.3 and BD/HD titles.
I tried a number of settings changes in PowerDVD and I could not get them to go away. Finally, I set the Hardware Acceleration on, Quality to Auto in PowerDVD and used the NVidia control panel to set the the 3D quality to Best (from Application Controlled). That did it.
What a great card!
- Rich
John DeLuca
05-06-07, 04:39 PM
I have noticed some stair-stepping when hardware acceleration is enabled in PowerDVD 7.3 and BD/HD titles.
I tried a number of settings changes in PowerDVD and I could not get them to go away. Finally, I set the Hardware Acceleration on, Quality to Auto in PowerDVD and used the NVidia control panel to set the the 3D quality to Best (from Application Controlled). That did it.
What a great card!
- Rich
Which version of the drivers are you running Rich? I have the 158.18 from May 2nd but do not see a setting for 3D quality in the Nvidia Control Panel. Could I be looking in the wring place?
Which version of the drivers are you running Rich? I have the 158.18 from May 2nd but do not see a setting for 3D quality in the Nvidia Control Panel. Could I be looking in the wring place?
I am running the 158.24 beta drivers for Vista 32.
In the NVidia control panel, 3D quality settings with Preview.
- Rich
Got the Gigabyte 8600 GTS fanless card today. Installed it to my AMD 64x2 3800+ (overclock to 2.4GHz) with 64-bit version of windows vista, with 158.24 beta nvidia driver, connect to a HDCP compliant projector. Running CyberLink Advisor shows DVI output with no HDCP :-( I can't play HD-DVD movie directly from the external HD-DVD player. I can play ripped movie from hard disk fine. However, no matter I select hardware acceleration or not, the cpu usage is about the same (40 - 45%). Need to play it more to figure out how to turn on HDCP and hardware accleration.
I reinstalled vista, nvidia driver (158.18), and powerdvd. I can finally see 15% cpu usage decrease with HD-DVD when hw accel is enabled. And I can watch HD-DVD without anydvd. However, I feel its picture quality is not as good as when using it in xp. Since my cpu load is ok and GPU offload is not important at this moment, I switch to xp (with nvidia 158.22 driver). I upgrade from Geforce 6600. The PQ is a big improvement.
rajdude
05-07-07, 02:32 PM
Folks,
I am having an issue with this H78DC3 and a HTPC running Vista 32 bit with the new nVidia 8600 GTS card.
1. When I feed the PJ 1280 x 768 the PJ thinks that it is being fed 1024 x 768. (upon re-sync, it displays this rez) If the PJ’s selected aspect ratio is “Native” I get a 4:3 window in the middle of the screen; instead of getting a wide-screen image. The image is also not clear, text is barely readable.
2. Before I upgraded I just had the on-board Video and it was working absolutely fine at 1280 x 720 and PJ at native.
3. I am not able to select 1280 x 720 as a resolution. It is simply not available. The closest is 1280 x 768.
4. The PJ does detect 1280 x 960 correctly but the image is still not clear, text is barely readable.
Please help !
PS: there is nothing wrong with the HTPC because I tested it by connecting it to :
1. a CRT monitor
2. Another projector.
3. By the way, the HD-DVD playback is the smooooooooothest I have ever seen. And that too on 60Hz.
Please help !
No one can help you. :) I have the same problem with 8500 GT over VGA. It's an old habit for Nvidia with every new driver release to disable valid widescreen resolutions. Go to the "Report driver bugs" page on nvidia.com, report the bug, and hope they will fix it some day.
Folks,
I am having an issue with this H78DC3 and a HTPC with the new nVidia 8600 GTS card.
1. When I feed the PJ 1280 x 768 the PJ thinks that it is being fed 1024 x 768. (upon re-sync, it displays this rez) If the PJ’s selected aspect ratio is “Native” I get a 4:3 window in the middle of the screen; instead of getting a wide-screen image. The image is also not clear, text is barely readable.
2. Before I upgraded I just had the on-board Video and it was working absolutely fine at 1280 x 720 and PJ at native.
3. I am not able to select 1280 x 720 as a resolution. It is simply not available. The closest is 1280 x 768.
4. The PJ does detect 1280 x 960 correctly but the image is still not clear, text is barely readable.
Please help !
PS: there is nothing wrong with the HTPC because I tested it by connecting it to :
1. a CRT monitor
2. Another projector.
3. By the way, the HD-DVD playback is the smooooooooothest I have ever seen. And that too on 60Hz.
My PJ is 1280 x 720 native. I believe when I move my PC from LCD monitor (1280 x 1024) to PJ, my PC automatically detects the correct resolution over DVI (didn't try VGA). I didn't do anything for this. Try "List All Modes..." under Adapter tab in advance settings to see if that helps.
rajdude
05-07-07, 03:16 PM
If this is a limitation of the driver, can PowerStrip help? In all my older cards it has worked. I have not tried PS on this one yet (the HTPC is not really mine)
Also, has anyone noticed that the Optoma Projector is detecting the resolution wrongly (described above) ??
No one can help you. :) I have the same problem with 8500 GT over VGA. It's an old habit for Nvidia with every new driver release to disable valid widescreen resolutions. Go to the "Report driver bugs" page on nvidia.com, report the bug, and hope they will fix it some day.
rajdude
05-07-07, 03:17 PM
So does it really output 1280 x 720 when connected to your PJ???
Unfortunately "list all modes" does NOT have 1280 x 720 as a resolution.
My PJ is 1280 x 720 native. I believe when I move my PC from LCD monitor (1280 x 1024) to PJ, my PC automatically detects the correct resolution. I didn't do anything for this. Try "List All Modes..." under Adapter tab in advance settings to see if that helps.
So does it really output 1280 x 720 when connected to your PJ???
Unfortunately "list all modes" does NOT have 1280 x 720 as a resolution.
Yes, it does. The screen resolution under setting tab confirms that.
OK, I maybe wrongly assumed that you use Vista. Under Vista you cannot use any custom resolutions yet, so Powerstrip can't help. Things may be different with XP, though.
This is definitely a driver issue - the driver does not recognize the reported paramters by the monitor. How it works for some people and not for you is pure luck until Nvidia fixes it. Only 2 of their 8 Vista driver releases so far correctly recognize my DLP TV's resolutions when connected over VGA.
rajdude
05-07-07, 03:27 PM
Oh Sorry, I should state that I am on Vista 32 bit
so does it mean I am screwed and at nVidia's mercy :-)
Oh Sorry, I should state that I am on Vista 32 bit
so does it mean I am screwed and at nVidia's mercy :-)
I'm afraid so :)
obrother
05-07-07, 11:24 PM
I'm using an 8500gt in MT . I'm getting tearing in both xp and in vista with purevideo as the decoder. Any Mytheatre users having tearing problems?
NuggyBuggy
05-08-07, 07:08 AM
Had my eye on an 85/8600 since I had hoped to build a myth system that would also serve for development and a few Oracle instances - wanted to save all the CPU cycles I can..
Is it reasonable to expect that Linux driver support will be forthcoming, or should I assume the worst and budget for a faster CPU ?
Had my eye on an 85/8600 since I had hoped to build a myth system that would also serve for development and a few Oracle instances - wanted to save all the CPU cycles I can..
Is it reasonable to expect that Linux driver support will be forthcoming, or should I assume the worst and budget for a faster CPU ?
I don't know about the latest Intel integrated video chip, but past ones work well with Linux. NVidia is a close second followed by ATI. You can never go wrong with a fast C2D CPU. Buy a C2D E6600 in case software rendering is in your future.
Robert
muterobert
05-08-07, 10:57 AM
I was reading this thread with interest as I'm currently looking for a way out of my 7900GS based colour banding / posterization hell - which has been present when using most video playback (regardless of CODEC).
Is there anyone who has upgraded from a 7x00 series GPU to an 85/600 series here who can confirm that the posterization issues are now resolved? It was particularly bad when using applications such as PowerDVD to view HD-DVDs. An example would be extreme colour stepping on for example the HD-DVD promo video , or on Warner discs - the yellow and blue Warner Bros. logo.
Can anyone test whether this posterization is still present on the new cards, if it isn't I will upgrade immediately as it ruins my machine's use as a HTPC to feed a projector.
Many thanks in advance.
rajdude
05-08-07, 11:14 AM
Well, I have not used the 73oo so I have no reference, but I can tell you one thing for sure.....
This 8600 GTS I bought performs flawlessly! :D :D
Absolutely smooooooth image, no judder while panning even at low refresh rates of 60Hz (useful for my CRT PJ with low bandwidth)
No color imbalance issues. No atrifacts etc etc.
I am runnning it on Vista 32 bit with Core 2 Duo 6600 on a Intel D965WH motherboard.
HD-DVD player is the x-box 360 add-on drive.
Power DVD 7.3 ultra.
I use the VGA output to my CRT projector. Have not used the DVI o/p yet. I have also tested it with an Optoma H78DC3 with same results. (VGA signal again)
I have compared my HTPC's HD-DVD playback with the Toshiba A-1, it beats the Toshiba panties down ! ;)
I was reading this thread with interest as I'm currently looking for a way out of my 7900GS based colour banding / posterization hell - which has been present when using most video playback (regardless of CODEC).
Is there anyone who has upgraded from a 7x00 series GPU to an 85/600 series here who can confirm that the posterization issues are now resolved? It was particularly bad when using applications such as PowerDVD to view HD-DVDs. An example would be extreme colour stepping on for example the HD-DVD promo video , or on Warner discs - the yellow and blue Warner Bros. logo.
Can anyone test whether this posterization is still present on the new cards, if it isn't I will upgrade immediately as it ruins my machine's use as a HTPC to feed a projector.
Many thanks in advance.
Had my eye on an 85/8600 since I had hoped to build a myth system that would also serve for development and a few Oracle instances - wanted to save all the CPU cycles I can..
Is it reasonable to expect that Linux driver support will be forthcoming, or should I assume the worst and budget for a faster CPU ?
Your best bet is to just to get a motherboard with Intel integrated graphics if your CPU will be sufficent and you will not be doing 3D work. The drivers are fully open source and support Xv. Your only advantage from getting a nVidia GPU is enhanced 3D rendering and XvMC support. XvMC only accelerates MPEG2 and isn't really needed with a reasonably speedy CPU. Plus, it limits your deinterlacing options.
I do not think that nVidia will provide any additional video playback acceleration anytime soon.
popechild
05-08-07, 02:55 PM
Anybody know anything about this card, or when it might be avaiable?
PNY Verto GeForce 8500GT - VCG85512GXPB (http://www.amazon.com/PNY-GeForce-8500GT-VCG85512GXPB-Express/dp/B000P9CWTI)
Looks like it's another 8500gt (512mb) with HDCP (in addition to the Gigabyte one) and although this one isn't fanless, it also might fit better into a PCI - PCI - x16 - x1 configuration like mine without having to worry about that huge heatsync melting the PCI card.
What do you think? Better to have the Gigabyte heatsync basically touching the back of the PCI tuner card, or the PNY fan spinning?
Keeping in mind that this is a living room htpc case system.
NuggyBuggy
05-08-07, 04:51 PM
I don't know about the latest Intel integrated video chip, but past ones work well with Linux.
Your best bet is to just to get a motherboard with Intel integrated graphics if your CPU will be sufficent and you will not be doing 3D work. The drivers are fully open source and support Xv. Your only advantage from getting a nVidia GPU is enhanced 3D rendering and XvMC support. XvMC only accelerates MPEG2 and isn't really needed with a reasonably speedy CPU. Plus, it limits your deinterlacing options.
Thank you ! At the risk of going further OT (sorry), would integrated graphics be enough to display 1080p ? I thought I had read it would not be enough, which was why I was looking at the 8500/8600. If it is enough, can someone recommend a motherboard with DVI out that overclocks well ? I was looking at the Gigabyte 965G-DS3 which apparently OCs well, but only provides VGA out.
archibael
05-08-07, 06:12 PM
Intel G965 graphics can do 1080p. Hardware acceleration is limited to MPEG-2 and VC1-- and I'm not certain that the Intel Linux guys have implemented HW accel in the drivers at all, yet.
But you should be able to get 1080p out of any Core 2 Duo, and possibly out of some of the Pentium Ds as well. Blu-ray-level high-bitrate H.264 may be a struggle for E6400 and below, but the rest should be fine.
Thank you ! At the risk of going further OT (sorry), would integrated graphics be enough to display 1080p ? I thought I had read it would not be enough, which was why I was looking at the 8500/8600. If it is enough, can someone recommend a motherboard with DVI out that overclocks well ? I was looking at the Gigabyte 965G-DS3 which apparently OCs well, but only provides VGA out.
Yes, an Intel 915G/GMA 900 is sufficent to output 1080p, and that's two generations old compared to the latest GMA 3000-series GPUs.
Intel G965 graphics can do 1080p. Hardware acceleration is limited to MPEG-2 and VC1-- and I'm not certain that the Intel Linux guys have implemented HW accel in the drivers at all, yet.
there isn't any acceleration in nVidia GPUs for Linux besides Xv and XvMC. XvMC is only usable for MPEG2. (and any of the CPUs you'll consider will probably play MPEG2 anyway)
Xv is available for Intel GPUs and as well (think Windows's video renderers)
I have an nVidia 8500, Vista Media Center PC, latest Power DVD, BluRay drive. Nothing else installed on the system. Pretty simple setup. AMD dual core CPU.
While watching a BluRay video, at random points, the playback just stops. No sound. No video. It's as if I pressed Pause or something. Interestingly enough, the timer continues to increment. PowerDVD is still reading the BluRay drive, incrementing the timer, just not sending out any audio/video. Pressing Pause/Play doesn't unstick it. I have to press Stop, and then Play to get it to continue again.
It seems like a PowerDVD bug to me. It could also be a driver bug somewhere too though I have made sure I have all the latest video drivers, sound drivers, Vista updates, etc.
Has anyone here seen this before? Thanks!
rajdude
05-09-07, 08:24 AM
I'm not sure about intel's onboard video solution can do 1080p.
I have a D965WH, and it had a hard time playing SD DVDs smoothly. Surely it would play them but there would be lot of motion judder.
I think it may output 1080p but would be be usable for playing HD content? I seriously doubt that.
BTW, after I got the 8600 GTS, everything is smooooth.
rajdude
05-09-07, 08:27 AM
I think I have seen a similar problem once or twice.
Here is what happens:
I try to start playing a HD-DVD by hitting the play button on powerDVD. The HD-DVD starts playing for just a second or two and then the usual red powerDVD's default screen comes up.
I hit the play again and nothing happens.
Then I have to quit power DVD and then re-start power DVD. Then it works.
It is not frequent.
I think there are some updates out on powerDVD's site which may fix this issue.
I have an nVidia 8500, Vista Media Center PC, latest Power DVD, BluRay drive. Nothing else installed on the system. Pretty simple setup. AMD dual core CPU.
While watching a BluRay video, at random points, the playback just stops. No sound. No video. It's as if I pressed Pause or something. Interestingly enough, the timer continues to increment. PowerDVD is still reading the BluRay drive, incrementing the timer, just not sending out any audio/video. Pressing Pause/Play doesn't unstick it. I have to press Stop, and then Play to get it to continue again.
It seems like a PowerDVD bug to me. It could also be a driver bug somewhere too though I have made sure I have all the latest video drivers, sound drivers, Vista updates, etc.
Has anyone here seen this before? Thanks!
I'm not sure about intel's onboard video solution can do 1080p.
I have a D965WH, and it had a hard time playing SD DVDs smoothly. Surely it would play them but there would be lot of motion judder.
I think it may output 1080p but would be be usable for playing HD content? I seriously doubt that.
BTW, after I got the 8600 GTS, everything is smooooth.
It will output 1080p but the CPU will have to do all the work. So if you are doing h.264 you'd need an e6600 or better.
BTW... I've got the same board and it easily handles 1080i/720p mpeg2 playback with an e6300. There were some drivers that gave me jumpy playback. Once I got some decent drivers it's been smooth as silk.
msexpert
05-09-07, 10:18 AM
Has anybody installed the 8600 GTS card into Silverstone LC16 case? I know that case had problems with some of the nVidia carsd, due to size.
Ideally, I would want to go with a silent video card (no fans).
Also, if you can recommend a good ATX mobo for E6600, where after installing 8600 GTS I would still be able to use all 3 PCI slots, I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks
Powerage
05-09-07, 10:55 AM
I think I have seen a similar problem once or twice.
Here is what happens:
I try to start playing a HD-DVD by hitting the play button on powerDVD. The HD-DVD starts playing for just a second or two and then the usual red powerDVD's default screen comes up.
I hit the play again and nothing happens.
Then I have to quit power DVD and then re-start power DVD. Then it works.
It is not frequent.
I think there are some updates out on powerDVD's site which may fix this issue.
Could you list a link for the new updates?
Thanks
Has anybody installed the 8600 GTS card into Silverstone LC16 case? I know that case had problems with some of the nVidia carsd, due to size.
Ideally, I would want to go with a silent video card (no fans).
Also, if you can recommend a good ATX mobo for E6600, where after installing 8600 GTS I would still be able to use all 3 PCI slots, I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks
HI
I was looking for the same solution and I think I've found it:
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256EZ-HD
http://global.msi.com.tw/index.php?func=proddesc&prod_no=1197&maincat_no=130
+
ASUS P5B Delux or Delux/WiFi or Premium
http://www.asus.com.tw/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=307
The video card fits perfectly with it's topside heatsink. Both the videocard and the mobo are fanless which is very nice. There is only one thing you should be careful with - the height of the RAM modules (for example the Dominators from Corsair are very tall and hit the VC heatsink). ... well with a litle bending of the heatpipes of the VC one could even solve this problem ;)
I'm not sure about intel's onboard video solution can do 1080p.
I have a D965WH, and it had a hard time playing SD DVDs smoothly. Surely it would play them but there would be lot of motion judder.
I think it may output 1080p but would be be usable for playing HD content? I seriously doubt that.
It can.
popechild
05-09-07, 03:33 PM
No thoughts about that PNY 8500gt card?
Lamont3030
05-09-07, 06:32 PM
I looked at and was excited by that MSI passive card but then I saw the heat sink on the back side is huge. I think it would run into the northbridge heat sink on most of the micro-atx boards I've been looking at.
I don't know what motherboards you are talking about but as my personal experience shows the heatsink is high enough to not touch (even there are around 5mm more) the NB heatsink of the ASUS mobo
Sorry for my ignorance on these topics, but I am new to the HTPC scene and wanting to build a system.
I was wondering if this card will help with playing 720p/1080p mkv files. My Vista Ultimate setup plays back 720p files fine but 1080p files just stutters like crazy. I am currently using ffdshow as codec. Do I need additionally software for the hardware acceleration with this card? Or can I playback the 1080p MKV files Vista Media Center? I don't want to spend additional money on playback software if I don't have to. Thanks for any help.
arfster
05-10-07, 07:59 AM
I was wondering if this card will help with playing 720p/1080p mkv files. My Vista Ultimate setup plays back 720p files fine but 1080p files just stutters like crazy. I am currently using ffdshow as codec. Do I need additionally software for the hardware acceleration with this card? Or can I playback the 1080p MKV files Vista Media Center? I don't want to spend additional money on playback software if I don't have to. Thanks for any help.
At present, 8500/8600 h264 hardware acceleration outside the PDVD app only works if you have all of these:
1) Vista
2) very recent drivers (158.xx or higher?)
3) a compatible decoder - only one I know is PDVD 7.3.
4) a video playback app that uses the Enhanced Video Renderer: WMP11, Theatertek 2.5, recent MPC betas. Probably most video playback apps will add this soon enough, it does have some nice benefits.
FFDshow will likely never work with hardware acceleration. CoreAVC.... maybe. WInDVD beta can accelerate h264 discs, so its codecs may work also. Next's month's drivers will open things up to XP, and presumably lift the EVR restriction also.
ajkev24
05-10-07, 09:39 AM
thinking about xfx 8500gt vid card for htpc hook up to sony bravia 40' klv2500 using hd dvd add-on...will it work?(smoothly or at all)
am2 x2 3600
gigabyte 690v chipset
2 gig xms2
500 w ps
anydvd software,windvd 8 or powerdvd 7.3
any suggestions appreciated...ty
popechild
05-10-07, 10:51 AM
thinking about xfx 8500gt vid card for htpc hook up to sony bravia 40' klv2500 using hd dvd add-on...will it work?(smoothly or at all)
am2 x2 3600
gigabyte 690v chipset
2 gig xms2
500 w ps
anydvd software,windvd 8 or powerdvd 7.3
any suggestions appreciated...ty
you'll need to hope anydvd keeps working for all future hd-dvd releases, since that card isn't hdcp compatible...
rajdude
05-10-07, 11:30 AM
I bought the one which is recommended in the sticky here (but it is the 8600 GTS) .
It has that HDCP and I'd highly recommend getting something with HDCP.
For $99 you can get a passively cooled 8500 at newegg. Just look at the sticky again.
CoolHost
05-10-07, 11:38 AM
I connected my new HTPC setup to my 73" Mit (WD-73732) tv last night. I am using the DVI input on the tv, with DVI set to digital on the tv. The problem is that the bottom, top, left, and right most of the HTPC display is not displayed on the tv. For example, I can not see the start bar at the bottom of the page nor can I see the top bar at the top of the full page window. And the left and right edges are cut off.
My setup
EVGA 680i w/ E6700, 2GB
EVGA 8600GTS gpu - current driver available from the evga website
Vista Ultimate 32bit
PowerDVD Ultra 7.3
I set the display resolution on the 8600GTS to ...x1080 using the Nvidia Control Panel. The tv displays it is in 1080p mode when I hit the info button. I watched a few 1080p sample files and the picture looks great. Just can not close PowerDVD or any other full screen windows or turn off the computer using the start button since I can not see it.
Any ideas?
Thanks
grittree
05-10-07, 02:06 PM
Coolhost, Nvidia will get overscan correction in their drivers someday, hopefully before we get a man on Mars.
CoolHost
05-10-07, 02:21 PM
nooooooo.... You mean I am stuck with this. Are there any work arounds?
thx
nooooooo.... You mean I am stuck with this. Are there any work arounds?
thx
yes, run the next res down, its like 1772x something.
jimwhite
05-10-07, 02:47 PM
I heard that the latest beta drivers fixed overscan...
:confused:
CoolHost
05-10-07, 03:04 PM
I'll give the beta drivers a try this evening.
It's not the latest "official" beta drivers from Nvidia.com, it's some leaked drivers that were mentioned here in another topic - 160.xx - that have the overscan correction. I tried them last night and they really have it, but they are the buggiest drivers I've seen - for the first time I wasn't able to get 1:1 pixel mapping through DVI even using my native resolution. I got 1:1 only for a split second before entering the Overscan adjustment screen. Looks like somebody went and hacked through the code just to enable the overscan functionality, while screwing up everything else.
CoolHost
05-10-07, 03:35 PM
Another question regarding the overscan issue. Does the ATI x1950 card have this problem?
Kirby Baker
05-10-07, 04:01 PM
yes, run the next res down, its like 1772x something.
Problem for me on this. I just replaced an 8800gts with an 8600gts last night, upgraded to 158.18 (i think thats the number, the official release version) and set my resolution to 1920x1080i. Tried to back down to the 1772 resolution for the 8% underscanning, and the size didnt change at all. I am using component output. Also tried the latest beta on nzone, and same thing.
Anyone know how I might fix this? Or is it a bug?
k good news :D
goto guru3d.com - download the 160.xx drivers they have listed - with eh 8600 in vista im able to use resize dekstop util in the drivers again.
Kirby Baker
05-10-07, 07:56 PM
Well I will give them a shot, but I am still disturbed that my desktop resolution didnt change at all going from the 1920x1080 down to the one right below that resolution. On previous drivers on my 8800gts it did just fine.
rajdude
05-11-07, 08:11 AM
You are lucky dude!
I dont have a 1920 x 1080 resolution in my 8600GTS!
And how do you get the "i" ???
I see no switch to go to interlaced. All older nVidia drivers had extensive controls. This one has very little!
Problem for me on this. I just replaced an 8800gts with an 8600gts last night, upgraded to 158.18 (i think thats the number, the official release version) and set my resolution to 1920x1080i. Tried to back down to the 1772 resolution for the 8% underscanning, and the size didnt change at all. I am using component output. Also tried the latest beta on nzone, and same thing.
Anyone know how I might fix this? Or is it a bug?
Kirby Baker
05-11-07, 08:20 AM
Well to be honest, I dont know if an "i" shows on the screen or not. Running 1920x1080i @ 30hz over component on an older RPTV doesnt really lend itself to reading text. I would assume its a function of my connection method, as opposed to going over DVI/HDMI?
I didnt have a chance last night to try the 160.0x drivers from guru3d. Maybe this weekend I can give it a go. What I really need to do is get VNC workong on my Vista HTPC so that I can connect in without blacking out the main display like RDC does. Then I will be able to mess with display adjustments and actually read what is displayed on the screens via my laptop screen.
rajdude
05-11-07, 08:43 AM
What I really need to do is get VNC workong on my Vista HTPC so that I can connect in without blacking out the main display like RDC does. Then I will be able to mess with display adjustments and actually read what is displayed on the screens via my laptop screen.
Not sure about Vista, but XP has something similar.... called remote assistance
look it up, we use it at work sometimes. Does the exact same thing as VNC
I'm hoping Vista has the same too....inbuilt
Kirby Baker
05-11-07, 08:47 AM
Not sure about Vista, but XP has something similar.... called remote assistance
look it up, we use it at work sometimes. Does the exact same thing as VNC
I'm hoping Vista has the same too....inbuilt
Yeah, thats Remote Desktop Connection :) RDC. VNC allows you a bit more flexibility in some things, you can even shutdown/reboot the remote system, which I have never seen that option in RDC. Maybe I just missed it. Plus with Vista at least, when I RDC into my HTPC (coming from an XP laptop) I can not gain direct access to the video card resolution settings and attributes. With VNC you can.
rajdude
05-11-07, 08:55 AM
Nope!
RDC is slightly different (although they do use the same protocol).
Look into XP's system properties >>> remote tab.
There are two different checkboxes.
here is the "about" blurb:
About Remote Assistance
Sometimes the best way to fix a problem is to have someone show you how. Remote Assistance is a convenient way for a friend in another location to connect to your computer from another computer running a compatible operating system, such as Microsoft Windows XP, and walk you through your solution.
After your friend is connected, he or she will be able to view your computer screen and chat online with you in real time about what you both see. With your permission, your friend can even use his or her mouse and keyboard to work with you on your computer.
Notes
Both you and your assistant must be using either Windows Messenger or a MAPI-compliant e-mail account such as Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express.
You and your assistant need to be connected to the Internet while using Remote Assistance.
If Windows Firewall is turned on, Remote Assistance will temporarily open firewall ports.
If you are working on a corporate or local area network, firewalls might stop you from using Remote Assistance. In this case, check with your network administrator before using Remote Assistance.
Note that the procedure to connect to remote assistance is different than RDP. It goes via messenger. I do understand that VNC may be more straightforward (does to this quirk)
And, to shut down/reboot a system via RDP, right click on the taskbar and click on task manager. There is a shutdown tab there . That has multiple options!
Yeah, thats Remote Desktop Connection :) RDC. VNC allows you a bit more flexibility in some things, you can even shutdown/reboot the remote system, which I have never seen that option in RDC. Maybe I just missed it. Plus with Vista at least, when I RDC into my HTPC (coming from an XP laptop) I can not gain direct access to the video card resolution settings and attributes. With VNC you can.
ericeash
05-11-07, 08:56 AM
haven't read the whole thread, but just a heads up. here is a really good link to a passive 8600gts. http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10005112 picking one or two up today
rajdude
05-11-07, 08:58 AM
is there any advantage of using a 8600 over 8500, which you can get (passive) for 90 bucks?
The sticky says both work fine.
haven't read the whole thread, but just a heads up. here is a really good link to a passive 8600gts. http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10005112 picking one or two up today
CoolHost
05-11-07, 10:12 AM
Tried the 160.03 beta drivers last night. Only spent a short time but looks good so far. Was able to get 1920x1080 on the entire display, with a one inch border of black. The beta drivers have a screen stretch feature. Used this to fill the full 73 inch screen. Only had time to play a few 1080p files. I'll run a few more his weekend and compare the stretch vs non-stretch quality.
barth2k
05-11-07, 10:44 AM
is there any advantage of using a 8600 over 8500, which you can get (passive) for 90 bucks?
The sticky says both work fine.
in terms of video processing capabilities, they're the same. the difference is the 8500 cards generally lack HDCP and dual DVI connections to keep cost low.
babgvant
05-11-07, 02:41 PM
in terms of video processing capabilities, they're the same. the difference is the 8500 cards generally lack HDCP and dual DVI connections to keep cost low.
The biggest difference for video playback is memory bandwidth (ram speed/type).
arfster
05-11-07, 03:01 PM
The biggest difference for video playback is memory bandwidth (ram speed/type).
I doubt that'll make much improvement on the 0.9% CPU I get playing back 35mbit AVC files with a 8500.
I just got a 8500GT for testing and I can not get 1080i to work correctly. Using beta and the official ref Nvidia drivers. The desktop is fine and playing SD DVD is also. The problem is when I try to play HD DVD using PDVD ULTRA, the picture blinks in and out. At 720p the problem does not occure. No probm with the 7600GT at 1080i that the 8500GT replaced in this system. At least the 8500GT was cheap.
arfster
05-11-07, 04:12 PM
I just got a 8500GT for testing and I can not get 1080i to work correctly.
You need to use an app with VMR9 as the renderer - at present PDVD's mpeg2 codec doesn't support dxva2, so doesn't accelerate anything with the 8500 in PDVD itself (which appears to use EVR).
Try Media Player Classic, since it's free.
The biggest difference for video playback is memory bandwidth (ram speed/type).
This is the first time I hear that memory bandwidth has any influence on video playback. Not that it may not be true, but I've never seen or witnessed a proof of that, or even the very idea brought up. And certainly don't think that 8600 can do anything that the 8500 can't as far as video is concerned.
You need to use an app with VMR9 as the renderer - at present PDVD's mpeg2 codec doesn't support dxva2, so doesn't accelerate anything with the 8500 in PDVD itself (which appears to use EVR).
Try Media Player Classic, since it's free.
It doesnt work with SD DVD at 1080i either, using VMR9 with zoomplayer. FFDShow and Nvidia Purevideo decoder. Also the XFX 8500GT card is not HDCP. But using PDVD it plays HD DVD fine at 720p and with Zoom+FFDshow+Nvidia with SD DVD at 720p. Just doent do 1080i for vid playback.
arfster
05-11-07, 07:08 PM
It doesnt work with SD DVD at 1080i either, using VMR9 with zoomplayer. FFDShow and Nvidia Purevideo decoder.
Have you tried with Cyberlink decoder in ZP? Nvidia's decoder is basically obselete, they've given up develoing it so no surprise when it doesn't work with newer cards.
Garrett Adams
05-11-07, 07:10 PM
in terms of video processing capabilities, they're the same. the difference is the 8500 cards generally lack HDCP and dual DVI connections to keep cost low.
The 8500GT 512MB coming on my new HP is HDCP, and has TV-Out, DVI-I, and HDMI.
Have you tried with Cyberlink decoder in ZP? Nvidia's decoder is basically obselete, they've given up develoing it so no surprise when it doesn't work with newer cards.
Funny that it works in 720 but not 1080. Returning the card and getting a 8600GTS with HDCP. You get what you pay for I guess... :rolleyes:
nc88keyz
05-11-07, 08:03 PM
tinker, i picked up the gigabyte 8600GTS for 192.xx at clubit. The silentpipe III. Its a litle higher these days though. Supply and demand. I will be putting the htpc togehter this weekend. Time issues.
tinker, i picked up the gigabyte 8600GTS for 192.xx at clubit. The silentpipe III. Its a litle higher these days though. Supply and demand. I will be putting the htpc togehter this weekend. Time issues.
Thanks for info but being from Canada, most US onlines shops dont really service up north that well, if at all. But thanks anyway. :)
Thanks for info but being from Canada, most US onlines shops dont really service up north that well, if at all. But thanks anyway. :)
I dn't know why you guys continue to bang your heads over the most difficult and almost impossible problem - to get an HTPC to output flawless interlaced resolution. Even if you set the desktop to be 1080i, AFAIK no player can pass exactly the 1080i material without down -p and so on scaling and interlacing, effectively killing a huge amount of the resolution.
Favelle
05-12-07, 04:15 AM
Thanks for info but being from Canada, most US onlines shops dont really service up north that well, if at all. But thanks anyway
???? Who needs the US shops. I got my PASSIVE 8600GTS for $220 Cdn and I live in BC:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=845569
Powerage
05-12-07, 08:57 AM
I dn't know why you guys continue to bang your heads over the most difficult and almost impossible problem - to get an HTPC to output flawless interlaced resolution. Even if you set the desktop to be 1080i, AFAIK no player can pass exactly the 1080i material without down -p and so on scaling and interlacing, effectively killing a huge amount of the resolution.
What is your solution?
Thanks for info but being from Canada, most US onlines shops dont really service up north that well, if at all. But thanks anyway
???? Who needs the US shops. I got my PASSIVE 8600GTS for $220 Cdn and I live in BC:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=845569
I get my stuff local or from NCIX.
Silent vid cards are great on paper, but after using a few I found them not the ideal for "my" HTPC builds. Yes they are silent but you really need good air flow to make them effective. In most HTPC cases, the air flow is limited due to case design/size and the desire to keep intake/exhaust fans quite has limited what a passive cooled vid card can do in my builds. Every one I used in the past always heated the inside of the HTPC up and needed more air flow from various fans and the noise was just trade off between the case fans and the passive vs active vid cards. Yes they work but usaully the passive versions cost more then the active ones. Its just comes down to a trade off, a little noise from the vid card or a little noise from the case fans. Just IMO :)
arfster
05-12-07, 10:16 AM
I get my stuff local or from NCIX.
Silent vid cards are great on paper, but after using a few I found them not the ideal for "my" HTPC builds. Yes they are silent but you really need good air flow to make them effective. ...
You're quite right - it's really common problem (and not just in HTPC cases). The way I got around it was buying a 120mm fan and rubber mounting it on top of the (previously fanless) heatsink. You can then downspeed said fan to 700/800rpm or so, at which point it's basically silent. It's still kicking out far more air then the typical useless 60mm GPU fan running at hurricane-noise speeds, so cooling is no problem either.
An even smarter way would be a case where a 120mm gpu fan blew air over the heatsink and exhausted it directly out the back, and also acted as the case's main fan exhaust. Something for the custom builder I think :-)
Anyway, I don't know why gpu makers haven't started using larger fans - for HTPC noise purposes you'll never get a 60mm to work properly, or even a 80mm. A good 92mm might work though - 120mm is ideal, but isn't the easiest to shoehorn into tight spaces.
Has anybody get hands on Club 3D 8500GT Silent (http://www.club3d.nl/index.php/products/graphics/item/264) graphic card? Should be hdcp compatible.
Favelle
05-12-07, 01:26 PM
These guys are HDCP and passive:
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=23789&vpn=GV-NX85T256H&manufacture=Gigabyte
bobby1234
05-12-07, 01:34 PM
Has anybody get hands on Club 3D 8500GT Silent (http://www.club3d.nl/index.php/products/graphics/item/264) graphic card? Should be hdcp compatible.
Yes I'm also interested in this. Same price where I live as the Gigabyte 8500 GT but the added bonus of 512 instead of 256 memory.
Only thing is that there's no hdcp confirmation from what I can see on the Club3D website or specs pdf? But I've seen it listed as hdcp compatible in many shops.
If someone gets this card I would like to know for sure about the hdcp support.
What is your solution?
720p
These guys are HDCP and passive:
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=23789&vpn=GV-NX85T256H&manufacture=Gigabyte
Yes. I have one, they can be found cheaper than that. Pricegrabber is your friend.
Before that I had an 8800GTS. Without Hardware acceleration, it performs the same as the 8800. With hardware acceleration it is about 70% less CPU on HD mpeg4.
Also, uses 70 to 100watts less power in my HTPC.
- Rich
Well I returned the XFX 8500GT and got an ASUS 8600GTS. 1080i now works with no issues. Well I guess you get what you pay for in this case. If this card works out in the next couple of days, the 8600GTS will replace the MSI 7600GT Diamond Plus (since I can't seem to get anymore of them in Canada) for my HTPC builds. Not as clean with the DVI-HDMI route compared to the straight HDMI of the MSI card but its plus's are DX10, dual linked DVI's and maybe future HD GPU accelleration in XP. Bonus its also slightly cheaper then what I was paying for the MSI Diamond Plus card a few months back :) and a lot cheaper then the 8800GTS 320mb cards that I have been using for pure HTPCs (over kill).
Favelle
05-12-07, 06:28 PM
Yes. I have one, they can be found cheaper than that. Pricegrabber is your friend.
That is also in Canadian funds. Shave off about 20-25% if you are paying in US doll hairs.
Joseph Clark
05-12-07, 06:53 PM
The nVidia drivers page lists Win XP as supported for the 8500/8600 cards, but earlier in the thread someone mentions that the HD support only works in Vista. I'm thinking of upgrading one of my computer systems, but I want to be able to run XP, not Vista, because of lack of support for a device I'm using (R5000 modded Dish 211). Can anyone clarify?
lobosrul
05-12-07, 07:04 PM
The nVidia drivers page lists Win XP as supported for the 8500/8600 cards, but earlier in the thread someone mentions that the HD support only works in Vista. I'm thinking of upgrading one of my computer systems, but I want to be able to run XP, not Vista, because of lack of support for a device I'm using (R5000 modded Dish 211). Can anyone clarify?
I think an XP driver update is expected for the new HD support. However, I see on Guru3d.com a beta driver (160.03) for XP!
http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=1633
Joseph Clark
05-12-07, 07:43 PM
I think an XP driver update is expected for the new HD support. However, I see on Guru3d.com a beta driver (160.03) for XP!
http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=1633
Great! Has anyone tried this beta driver yet? An 8600 would serve my needs perfectly, since I am not a gamer at all and an 8800 would be overkill.
heartsurgeon
05-12-07, 08:47 PM
just to amplify Arfster's comments..
I have the Gigabyte 8600GTS which is fanless. Yes, it works well, the GPU temperatures are quite reasonable. However, the heatsink puts out a massive amount of heat. The heat sink faces away from the CPU, and away from the exhaust fans in the case (rackmount). In order to get the heat out of the case, I'm going to waterjet a blowhole above the area where the vid card and the expansion cards go, and mount a Nexus 120 mm fan controlled with a zalman fanmate (hopefully will be inaudible). While I'm at it, I'm going to mod a hard drive enclosure that has 3 heinously loud fans, and the top of my rack enclosure to vent out heat from the receiver the same way.
one question.. what causes tearing?
i was watching Office Space with theatertek/Win XP..got some tearing when there was rapid headmovement in a vertical manner (at 1080P)
Powerage
05-12-07, 09:34 PM
I think an XP driver update is expected for the new HD support. However, I see on Guru3d.com a beta driver (160.03) for XP!
http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=1633
Thanks for the link.
Can anyone confirm if this helps with VC1 / CPU Consumption & Stability under XP SP2?
arfster
05-12-07, 09:51 PM
one question.. what causes tearing?
i was watching Office Space with theatertek/Win XP..got some tearing when there was rapid headmovement in a vertical manner (at 1080P)
Go into the TT settings and turn on fullscreen mode, that'll get rid of it. Tearing is really common with all NVidia cards unfortunately, and this is pretty much the only solution.
Yes I'm also interested in this. Same price where I live as the Gigabyte 8500 GT but the added bonus of 512 instead of 256 memory.
Only thing is that there's no hdcp confirmation from what I can see on the Club3D website or specs pdf? But I've seen it listed as hdcp compatible in many shops.
If someone gets this card I would like to know for sure about the hdcp support.
Crap! There was hdcp listed in the specs when I put the link. Seems that Gigabyte is the only hdcp compatible 8500GT card. Seems that I have to cancel my order on Club 3D and put a Gigabyte on order.
Signal64
05-13-07, 08:42 AM
Can anyone confirm if this helps with VC1 / CPU Consumption & Stability under XP SP2?
I can't comment on VC1 with these drivers, but overall I do seem to be getting worse performance with them on a XP SP2 box (w/ 8600GT). It's acting like it isn't doing anything.
Using the Windows KMPlayer (not related to the KDE Linux flavor) and switching between it's internal H264 and Cyberlinks saw no difference in CPU usage. DXVA is checked and verified KMPlayer's internal was off.
Prior I was getting about 30-35% on an AMD2 3800, but now getting 45-67% with spikes up to 100% with the same source. I tried various overlay modes as well.
It's the same (albeit much lower CPU usage) with DVD content in PowerDVD.
Either with Hardware Enabled or not, the CPU usage is the same.
And yea, I could be doing something wrong here and will reload with the "old" drivers to verify.
arfster
05-13-07, 08:47 AM
I can't comment on VC1 with these drivers, but overall I do seem to be getting worse performance with them on a XP SP2 box (w/ 8600GT). It's acting like it isn't doing anything.
You need to wait for the new XP drivers next month unfortunately - the current ones only hardware accelerate on Vista.
Can anybody who has the Gigabyte 8500GT (http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/VGA/Products_Overview.aspx?ClassValue=VGA&ProductID=2516&ProductName=GV-NX85T256H) tell the physical length of the card. Does my htpc case have room for it..? Is it shorter than a 7950GT? Thanks.
I think it's a bit shorter than the leadtek 7950gt I replaced.
rsandor
05-13-07, 02:48 PM
Just installed the Gigabyte 8500GT fanless in a small HTPC case, so far so good. It replaced an EVGA 7600GT and it is a delight to lose the noise of the GPU cooling fan.
Only issue I(I think) is the airflow over the heatsink. Using Ntune utility, monitored the CPU at 31C but the GPU is running 65C when watching HD DVD content.
Would like to find out other's GPU temps are similar and should I worry about finding additional airflow.
CrispyFish
05-13-07, 02:50 PM
the GPU is running 65C when watching HD DVD content.
Perfectly acceptable.
arfster
05-13-07, 02:52 PM
Perfectly acceptable.
I'd hope so - one of mine is the same and it actually has a fan....
I think it's a bit shorter than the leadtek 7950gt I replaced.
Ok, thanks! Should be perfect.
Joseph Clark
05-13-07, 05:10 PM
Just installed the Gigabyte 8500GT fanless in a small HTPC case, so far so good. It replaced an EVGA 7600GT and it is a delight to lose the noise of the GPU cooling fan.
Only issue I(I think) is the airflow over the heatsink. Using Ntune utility, monitored the CPU at 31C but the GPU is running 65C when watching HD DVD content.
Would like to find out other's GPU temps are similar and should I worry about finding additional airflow.
Are you running Vista or XP? What kind of CPU do you have and do you have any CPU utilization numbers during HD DVD playback? I plan on upgrading one of my systems, but I want to stick with XP. Trying to figure out the best mobo, CPU, video card combo.
Thanks.
Signal64
05-13-07, 05:43 PM
You need to wait for the new XP drivers next month unfortunately - the current ones only hardware accelerate on Vista.
It got lost in my reply, but I was looking at the recent May Beta driver to see what it offers.
rsandor
05-13-07, 06:09 PM
Are you running Vista or XP? What kind of CPU do you have and do you have any CPU utilization numbers during HD DVD playback? I plan on upgrading one of my systems, but I want to stick with XP. Trying to figure out the best mobo, CPU, video card combo.
Thanks.
Thanks Arfster and Crispy for the feedback on temps. I won't worry now and I'll just leave the case as is. Very nice to have a quiet system- this one is in the master br so silence is a big factor.
Joseph- I am running XP MCE, so no acceleration for HD DVD. Using AMD Athlon XP dual core 4600 (legacy 939 socket stuff) on an Asus 6150 type MB (don't use the onboard graphics). Looking at CPU utilization it was somewhere around 50-75%. System is about a year old so probably would do things a lot differently now.
Don't know if it is placebo effect, but pictue appears to be much cleaner and pans are smoother using the 8500GT.
-Bob
Favelle
05-13-07, 07:18 PM
Don't know if it is placebo effect, but pictue appears to be much cleaner and pans are smoother using the 8500GT.
Is this for SD-DVD or HD? Apparently, the 8500/8600 series upscale extremely well!
rsandor
05-13-07, 10:22 PM
Don't know if it is placebo effect, but pictue appears to be much cleaner and pans are smoother using the 8500GT.
Is this for SD-DVD or HD? Apparently, the 8500/8600 series upscale extremely well!
I have primarily been watching HD, so my observations are probably limited. However, even the standard XP desktop looks clener. I am using it via VGA output (over DVI connector) into a 1920x1080 Sceptre display. I'll have to look closer at SD DVD (but once you get spoiled by HD.....)
-Bob
rajdude
05-14-07, 10:51 AM
Exactly how are you getting the 8600 to output an interlaced 1080? :confused:
I see no checkbox on the Vista Drivers for interlaced and I'ld love to find out.
My PJ cant take 1080p , the max it goes it 1080i so that is important to me.
Well I returned the XFX 8500GT and got an ASUS 8600GTS. 1080i now works with no issues. Well I guess you get what you pay for in this case. If this card works out in the next couple of days, the 8600GTS will replace the MSI 7600GT Diamond Plus (since I can't seem to get anymore of them in Canada) for my HTPC builds. Not as clean with the DVI-HDMI route compared to the straight HDMI of the MSI card but its plus's are DX10, dual linked DVI's and maybe future HD GPU accelleration in XP. Bonus its also slightly cheaper then what I was paying for the MSI Diamond Plus card a few months back :) and a lot cheaper then the 8800GTS 320mb cards that I have been using for pure HTPCs (over kill).
mightydarwin
05-14-07, 11:30 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Signal64
I can't comment on VC1 with these drivers, but overall I do seem to be getting worse performance with them on a XP SP2 box (w/ 8600GT). It's acting like it isn't doing anything.
You need to wait for the new XP drivers next month unfortunately - the current ones only hardware accelerate on Vista.
The GPU in the 8500/8600 cards ONLY accelerates H.264. This has been covered by Anandtech.com (http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2977&p=1), hardspell.com and a summary of the hardspell article (Chinese website) can be found here http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10357876&&#post10357876.
VC1 content is only partly accelerated in nvidia 8x00/7x00 gpus. So it isn't surprising that under XP it doesn't seem to be any better.
mightydarwin
05-14-07, 11:38 AM
I keep reading about people being concerned about HDCP compliancy on their 8x00 video cards. STOP!!!!
Get AnyDVD-HD http://www.slysoft.com/en/anydvdhd.html and then get the 8x00 card that fits your system needs best.
This driver negates the need for HDCP compliance. Plus with this you can, among other things, control the speed of your drive thus reducing drive noise.
madpoet
05-14-07, 11:38 AM
It negates it for now. Doesn't mean it will always work, especially if the keys get changed.
CrispyFish
05-14-07, 12:11 PM
It negates it for now. Doesn't mean it will always work, especially if the keys get changed.
I think you underestimate the frequency with which AnyDVD gets updated... those people are seriously on top of the ball... :cool:
I think you underestimate the frequency with which AnyDVD gets updated... those people are seriously on top of the ball... :cool:
When companies circumvent these types of controls the companies almost always end up on the loosing end of the stick. They'll probably get sued out of existence like Napster and whatever company that was that sold the DVD decryption software.
I'm not knocking the software, just understand that it will more than likely have a short life.
Kirby Baker
05-14-07, 01:44 PM
Its been doing it for years and years, AnyDVD isnt going anywhere soon AFAIK.
stanger89
05-14-07, 02:43 PM
When companies circumvent these types of controls the companies almost always end up on the loosing end of the stick.
Unless they're in Antigua
:cool:
rajdude
05-14-07, 03:38 PM
Folks,
I am not a big proponent of illegal ripping but the makers of anydvd have been around for soooooooo long that I dont think they are going anywhere. Plus, they do update this product very frequently.
If I recall correctly when CD copying and ripping just started they were the best! And probably still are!
Now we all know when CD came into existence, right ?
Exactly how are you getting the 8600 to output an interlaced 1080? :confused:
I see no checkbox on the Vista Drivers for interlaced and I'ld love to find out.
My PJ cant take 1080p , the max it goes it 1080i so that is important to me.
I am using XP. With the Nvidia driver, it id'd my Sony as a 1080i display. I just used the NVidia control panel and task selector. Choose the "Video and televison" tab then the "change signal or HD format" and selected DVI connection and 1080i rez, :)
EDIT: and then do overscan correction if required.
I have an evga 8600gt, athlon 64 3500+ (939), 1 GB PC3200 RAM, Vista Ultimate 32-bit, PowerDVD Ultra 7.3 with latest patch, latest official nvidia drivers (158.18). In PowerDVD, hardware acceleration is enabled and it even says next to it "(nVidia PureVideo)". I am outputting via component to my rptv. When trying to play h264 1080p files, I am hitting 100% CPU utilization. It makes no difference whether hardware acceleration is checked or not. Playing a VC-1 file is also 100%. Am I doing something wrong here? I thought based on the graphs, a Sempron 2800 was able to play these h264 files without hitting 100%.
arfster
05-15-07, 11:10 AM
I have an evga 8600gt, athlon 64 3500+ (939), 1 GB PC3200 RAM, Vista Ultimate 32-bit, PowerDVD Ultra 7.3 with latest patch, latest official nvidia drivers (158.18). In PowerDVD, hardware acceleration is enabled and it even says next to it "(nVidia PureVideo)". I am outputting via component to my rptv. When trying to play h264 1080p files, I am hitting 100% CPU utilization. It makes no difference whether hardware acceleration is checked or not. Playing a VC-1 file is also 100%. Am I doing something wrong here? I thought based on the graphs, a Sempron 2800 was able to play these h264 files without hitting 100%.
Yeah, a few people have this. In PDVD while playing h264, goto config/info - is dxva on?
Also, try this setup in graphedit: filesource (some h264 evo) > haali splitter > cyberlink decoder (acceleration on in properties) > Enhanced Video Renderer.
Reason I suggest this is I suspect PDVD mis-picks renderers at times. For the 8600 to hardware accelerate, it needs to be using EVR (at least with current drivers).
aaronwt
05-15-07, 11:16 AM
tinker, i picked up the gigabyte 8600GTS for 192.xx at clubit. The silentpipe III. Its a litle higher these days though. Supply and demand. I will be putting the htpc togehter this weekend. Time issues.
I installed this card a couple of weeks ago. It is excellent and runs very cool in my system. Definitely and improvement over the 7600 card i had with Silent Pipe2.
Yeah, a few people have this. In PDVD while playing h264, goto config/info - is dxva on?
Also, try this setup in graphedit: filesource (some h264 evo) > haali splitter > cyberlink decoder (acceleration on in properties) > Enhanced Video Renderer.
Reason I suggest this is I suspect PDVD mis-picks renderers at times. For the 8600 to hardware accelerate, it needs to be using EVR (at least with current drivers).
Ok, did some testing. In PDVD, while playing h264, dxva is not on (it is on when not playing).
I tried playing it in Windows Media Player and the CPU utiliz. was in the 10% range, so apparently WMP is able to use hardware accel?
I tried the graphedit just like you suggested and when it I test it in graphedit, I am getting very low cpu util. like in WMP, around 10%. Now how do I get PowerDVD to use the graph?
arfster
05-15-07, 01:23 PM
Now how do I get PowerDVD to use the graph?
It should be doing it automatically - it is on mine. The fact it works with other EVR apps and graphedit shows that your hardware and drivers are working fine at least.
Try installing the latest PDVD patch maybe?
mightydarwin
05-15-07, 05:52 PM
Yes, Slysoft has been around a while. I have used their stuff for years and never had a problem; they update constantly. And unless Antigua and Barbuda stops them there is little a US company/group can do about their software. The parties that try to prevent copying will try to build a better safe but it will only result in the evolution of better safecrackers. In my eyes stuff like HDCP is like shutting down the freeways to prevent cross-border smuggling/trafficking (or only allowing BMWs on them).
As soon as I get my 8500 card (if it isn't already HDCP ready) I will get AnyDVD-HD. Then I can play HD-DVDs on my HLS4676S. I have AnyDVD and have used it for years. I got it originally to play DVDs from Asia or Europe (all legal ones if you were wondering ;)) on my computer.
silluri
05-16-07, 12:48 PM
Everyone using PDVD, go download the latest patch, which apparently enables hardware accel. for 8500/8600 cards. I can confirm that it does, with the hardware accel box checked, the IQ of hddvd is excellent, whereas before,there was aliasing and I was reduced to using pure software mode to get the proper image quality.
I still cannot install the latest patch. I tried uninstalling. Installing 7.1, 2506 patch, etc.
I get the 1334 error.
- Rich
popechild
05-16-07, 01:49 PM
Has anyone had trouble getting the nvidia control panel to open?
I just installed the Gigabyte 8500gt and then installed the 158.22 drivers (using xp mce). No matter where I try to launch the control panel from, nothing ever opens.
Joseph Clark
05-16-07, 02:40 PM
Everyone using PDVD, go download the latest patch, which apparently enables hardware accel. for 8500/8600 cards. I can confirm that it does, with the hardware accel box checked, the IQ of hddvd is excellent, whereas before,there was aliasing and I was reduced to using pure software mode to get the proper image quality.
Still waiting for the XP drivers for hardware acceleration on my 7950. It's still grayed out in PowerDVD.
sharangad
05-16-07, 04:29 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Signal64
VC1 content is only partly accelerated in nvidia 8x00/7x00 gpus. So it isn't surprising that under XP it doesn't seem to be any better.
Actually it's worse than that. VC-1 isn't accelerated at all under Windows XP on the G84 at the moment (There're no VC-1 capability bits reported by DXDiag, only MPEG2 modes A, B, C and D ).
Someone was saying that there's no MPEG-2 acceleration in Vista. That's blatantly not true. I've tested it and certain types of MPEG clips (both SD and HD) are accelerated by PowerDVD Ultra under Vista 32 bit ( The capability bits reported under Vista are MPEG2 modes A and C, which is worse than under XP).
sharangad
05-16-07, 04:32 PM
Still waiting for the XP drivers for hardware acceleration on my 7950. It's still grayed out in PowerDVD.
I don't know about the 7950 about Purevideo HD has been enabled for the GF 7 series for a long time now.
kaisersose
05-16-07, 05:02 PM
anybody who has the gigabyte 8500gt have a dell e520 by any chance. Im looking at getting this card but am not 100% sure if it will fit ok. Its hard to find any good pictures of it, but the heatsink seems to come out a bit at the end which might a bit too much for this pc. Currently have just ati x1300 in it. The asus passive 8500gt seems like the only risk free option but then theres no hdcp if its ever needed.
arfster
05-16-07, 05:48 PM
Someone was saying that there's no MPEG-2 acceleration in Vista. That's blatantly not true. I've tested it and certain types of MPEG clips (both SD and HD) are accelerated by PowerDVD Ultra under Vista 32 bit ( The capability bits reported under Vista are MPEG2 modes A and C, which is worse than under XP).
It's not that it doesn't accelerate MPEG2 as such - it's just that all current decoders can't do DXVA2 (excepting the crappy MS one), and as a consequence there's no acceleration when the playback is using EVR. You can demonstrate this in graphedit quite easily. Also by running WMP11, which uses EVR by default. It's a shame not to be able to use EVR generally, because it has many improvements over VMR9 (particularly related to tearing).
On top of that, PDVD has some oddities with renderer choice. In HDDVD/BD mode, it appears to choose EVR or VMR9 as appropriate to ensure acceleration (either that or it's using custom hooks for _everything_). DVD mode uses VMR9, so you're OK. However, file mode is EVR, so you get....
Video Accelerator: DirectX VA (not in use)
haubrija
05-16-07, 06:07 PM
It's not that it doesn't accelerate MPEG2 as such - it's just that all current decoders can't do DXVA2 (excepting the crappy MS one), and as a consequence there's no acceleration when the playback is using EVR. You can demonstrate this in graphedit quite easily. Also by running WMP11, which uses EVR by default. It's a shame not to be able to use EVR generally, because it has many improvements over VMR9 (particularly related to tearing).
On top of that, PDVD has some oddities with renderer choice. In HDDVD/BD mode, it appears to choose EVR or VMR9 as appropriate to ensure acceleration (either that or it's using custom hooks for _everything_). DVD mode uses VMR9, so you're OK. However, file mode is EVR, so you get....
Video Accelerator: DirectX VA (not in use)
I'm so confused by this and acceleration in Vista in general. I thought that the PowerDvd codecs were EVR compatible.... so in Vista Media Center you could use those for HD playback and get acceleration? Am I mistaken?
Joseph Clark
05-16-07, 06:46 PM
I don't know about the 7950 about Purevideo HD has been enabled for the GF 7 series for a long time now.
In PDVD the option for hardware acceleration is grayed out and has been through the different driver versions I've tried. Am I missing something?
arfster
05-16-07, 07:59 PM
I'm so confused by this and acceleration in Vista in general. I thought that the PowerDvd codecs were EVR compatible.... so in Vista Media Center you could use those for HD playback and get acceleration? Am I mistaken?
No joy, I'm afraid. You can clearly see this in graphedit if you try play anything MPEG2 with the Cyberlink codec. Connect to EVR and you get crude weaved deinterlacing and high CPU use, then try VMR9 and you get spatial-temporal deinterlacing with double the framerate and half the CPU use. Cyberlink can fix this fairly easily I guess - there doesn't seem to be any technical reason stopping them, and it makes PDVD an awful media player for 1080i MPEG2 recordings.
The h264 codec is definitely EVR compatible though, and _not_ VMR9 :-) The VC1 codec won't connect to anything else, so there's no way to tell. The MS VC1 codec is EVR compatible though (as is their MPEG2).
sharangad
05-17-07, 02:23 AM
The h264 codec is definitely EVR compatible though, and _not_ VMR9 :-) The VC1 codec won't connect to anything else, so there's no way to tell. The MS VC1 codec is EVR compatible though (as is their MPEG2).
Are Quicktime H.264 clips accelerated by PowerDVD? Previous versions were by PDVD but with the 8600 GTS, Vista 32 bit I don't get any acceleration. Using Graphedit (or WMP) and the Haali splitter the machine locks up and doesn't playback Quicktime clips. Without Haali WMP and graphedit can't playback Quicktime HD (well they can't even with it, but without it it picks Microsoft's MPEG audio decoder.) PDVD can play it back but without any hardware acceleration.
Is there a particular version of Haali which is needed?
WMV HD (MS codec) clips playback fine with VMR with hardware acceleration ( as tested by GraphEdit).
arfster
05-17-07, 09:16 AM
Are Quicktime H.264 clips accelerated by PowerDVD?
Yes - 2% CPU on a 1.9ghz C2D. Makes sense, since it seems media file mode is EVR.
NVidia's hardware decoding side of things seems to be truly excellent - once the video actually gets to the card it handles pretty much anything. The main problems are in software, with wobbly drivers and the necessity for h264 acceleration to be rendererd via EVR.
Using Graphedit (or WMP) and the Haali splitter the machine locks up and doesn't playback Quicktime clips. Without Haali WMP and graphedit can't playback Quicktime HD (well they can't even with it, but without it it picks Microsoft's MPEG audio decoder.)
The latest Haali works for me, feeding into the Cyberlink decoders (for audio there are 3, use the one labelled "Cyberlink Audio Decoder"). You need to use EVR for acceleration as usual.
bdizzle
05-17-07, 09:56 AM
Reading everyone's problems with getting the proper resolution on their sets makes me wonder why yall just dont go out and buy the 299 xbox 360 (or better yet a used one for cheap) and use that as an extender for mce. i remembe trying to get 1:1 on my set and getting so fedup w/ it that i was ready to just go get a dvr from my cable co. now if you're not using mce, or you're using a blu-ray drive then i can understand, but for everything else, the 360 is the best out. no worrying about wierd resolutions, no driver problems, constantly updated by ms. ive been using it for over a year and without it i woulda given up on an htpc for a while
Reading everyone's problems with getting the proper resolution on their sets makes me wonder why yall just dont go out and buy the 299 xbox 360 (or better yet a used one for cheap) and use that as an extender for mce. i remembe trying to get 1:1 on my set and getting so fedup w/ it that i was ready to just go get a dvr from my cable co. now if you're not using mce, or you're using a blu-ray drive then i can understand, but for everything else, the 360 is the best out. no worrying about wierd resolutions, no driver problems, constantly updated by ms. ive been using it for over a year and without it i woulda given up on an htpc for a while
simple... I don't want to see a game console in my home theater rack! I don't game at all, matter of fact I freakin' hate video games. I would rather spend $1000 to get a standalone BD player than a PS3. Who cares if it is $400 cheaper. It's still a game console first and foremost.
simple... I don't want to see a game console in my home theater rack! I don't game at all, matter of fact I freakin' hate video games. I would rather spend $1000 to get a standalone BD player than a PS3. Who cares if it is $400 cheaper. It's still a game console first and foremost.
Glad to see I am not the only console hater here :)
Hi,
Can anyone tell me which softwares and codecs I should install when using the 8500gt under vista 32 bit?
Does it matter if I'll be using the media center or not? (I'm not planing on using it at the moment).
thanks :)
Powerage
05-17-07, 11:33 AM
simple... I don't want to see a game console in my home theater rack! I don't game at all, matter of fact I freakin' hate video games. I would rather spend $1000 to get a standalone BD player than a PS3. Who cares if it is $400 cheaper. It's still a game console first and foremost.
I dont think I'm quite in the console hater camp. Having said that IMO from a design & color stand point the 360 is a bit of an Eye Sore.
bdizzle
05-17-07, 12:26 PM
simple... I don't want to see a game console in my home theater rack! I don't game at all, matter of fact I freakin' hate video games. I would rather spend $1000 to get a standalone BD player than a PS3. Who cares if it is $400 cheaper. It's still a game console first and foremost.
i can understand that. i use my 360 more for htpc stuff than gaming right now, but it's still the best solution imo (or any v2 extender for that matter). it may be a game console, but that doesn't mean the other functions are better than the rest of the competition. but to each his own.
even if the 360 cost $600 and all i used it for was htpc, it'd be worth it. i just don't want the headache. i mean look at all the posts of people trying to get a decent picture on theyre tv from theyre comp. after working for 8 hours, going to school for 3-4 hours after that, the last thing i wanna do is fix my "tv" when all i want to do is watch the game
rajdude
05-17-07, 12:45 PM
IMHO all you need is power DVD 7.3
Hi,
Can anyone tell me which softwares and codecs I should install when using the 8500gt under vista 32 bit?
Does it matter if I'll be using the media center or not? (I'm not planing on using it at the moment).
thanks :)
I don't need to install certain codecs in order to take advantage of the 8500gt hardware acceleration?
I don't need to install certain codecs in order to take advantage of the 8500gt hardware acceleration?
My advice is to never install any codecs at all, just fully bundled player applications, like PowerDVD 7.3. And yes, that's all you need under Vista for now.
bdizzle
05-17-07, 01:50 PM
installing divx codecs can affect performance?
Logic_BomB
05-17-07, 04:34 PM
After reading the entire thread, I think I got a little bug-eyed because I'm sure it's been answered, I just can't find it:
Is the 8500/8600 GT worth getting for someone who plans to use MCE 2005 right away? I know DirectX 10 will never be supported for anything other than vista and there will be full hardware acceleration come june but for right now, could I buy this, install it, and playback regular DVD's and such perfectly before the update?
Guess I'm asking if I can do everything I normally would be able to do right now (except of course for the hardware acceleration that's coming in june that really only helps with BR and HDDVD stuff)????
Will PDVD play mkv files?
Will PDVD play mkv files?
I think so, but anyway you are not restricted to playing within powerDVD itself. Once PDVD is installed you can play MKV/H264 in any EVR supported player (Like Windows Media Player or Media Center) and it will use the PDVD codecs and give you full offload to the GPU.
arfster
05-18-07, 11:14 AM
It's not that it doesn't accelerate MPEG2 as such - it's just that all current decoders can't do DXVA2 (excepting the crappy MS one), and as a consequence there's no acceleration when the playback is using EVR.
Latest patch fixed all this, Vista PDVD now accelerates MPEG2 in both VMR9 and EVR apps (ie PDVD itself, plus Vista MCE and WMP11)
can you be a little more specific on this?
what's the version number of this patch?
I have an evga 8600gt 256mb ram with an athlon 64 3500+, 1 GB PC3200 ram. I am using guru3d's 160.3 drivers, but in vista, my vista experience graphics and gaming graphics scores are both 1.0, yet it still is running aero. Does anyone know why my scores are so low? They are not the drivers because I did a clean install and with the official nvidia 158 drivers, the score was the same.
I have been unable to get 1080p out from my nVidia 8500 to my Sony 52XBR3, running Windows Vista. Any and all nVidia driver versions make no difference.
Here is what I have found interesting that I thought some here might have some feedback on. First off, this is the Gigabyte 8500 card purchased through NewEgg. I had my older nVidia 6800 based card so I decided to try that one instead. With the 6800, 1080p was detected right away and it works great.
So why does the 6800 display at 1080p but not the 8500? I know my 8500 can because if I use DVI to HDMI, it allows me to configure 1080p. It's just the analog VGA out that never gives me the option of 1080p.
Here is the key. With the 6800, Windows Device Manager shows my monitor as a "PnP Monitor." With the 8500, Windows shows it as a "non-PnP Monitor."
There seems to be some sort of enumeration conflict between this 8500 card and the Sony tv. Has anyone else experienced this? I tried to force it to a PnP Monitor driver but that didn't have any effect. Thoughts on how to get this to work out the VGA connector? Thanks.
arfster
05-18-07, 03:16 PM
can you be a little more specific on this?
what's the version number of this patch?
If you email support, they'll send you a full install version of 7.3.2830.0 that works perfectly. This appears to be slightly ahead of the 2911 patch on the website, which only updates you to 7.3.2605.0 and breaks BD playback :rolleyes:
sharangad
05-18-07, 03:21 PM
can you be a little more specific on this?
what's the version number of this patch?
http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/download/dl_patch_397_112_ENU.html
"Update list:
* Support nVidia GeForce 8500/8600 series hardware decoding
* Support ATI X2000 series hardware decoding"
arfster
05-18-07, 03:40 PM
http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/download/dl_patch_397_112_ENU.html
That's the one that breaks BD I mentioned above :-( See the slysoft or cyberlink forums for others saying the same thing.
Unbelievable they still have such a severely broken patch up. Not only does it break BD, but it takes regedit and cleaning hidden files to get it to install in the first place (because PDVD's own uninstaller is so useless it forgets to delete lots of files).
nalawod
05-19-07, 12:28 PM
Hi all - my first post so please forgive me if I screw up!
I'm close to purchasing an HP Pavilion Media Center m8010y and as one of the component upgrades, I thought I should choose to buy the "512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8500GT, TV-out, DVI-I, HDMI ". What I'd like to know in advance, and can't seem to find anything anywhere stating this clearly if it can do component video out?
Clearly HDMI would be best and I can do this direct to my Toshiba hidef TV - but I'd prefer to use my a/v receiver which can only switch component video. At this point, I really don't want to fork over the money for a new a/v receiver as I had enough trouble convincing my wife to buy this HTPC. So, simply stated, can I somehow do component video and if yes, what additional stuff (cables, converters, etc.) would I need to buy to make it work?
sharangad
05-19-07, 01:34 PM
That's the one that breaks BD I mentioned above :-( See the slysoft or cyberlink forums for others saying the same thing.
Unbelievable they still have such a severely broken patch up. Not only does it break BD, but it takes regedit and cleaning hidden files to get it to install in the first place (because PDVD's own uninstaller is so useless it forgets to delete lots of files).
Woohoo! With the slipstreamed install of the latest patch I have full acceleration for VC-1 and H.264 under Vista.
Joseph Clark
05-19-07, 01:47 PM
Woohoo! With the slipstreamed install of the latest patch I have full acceleration for VC-1 and H.264 under Vista.
I thought the 8500/8600 didn't accelerate VC1 at all.
arfster
05-19-07, 02:38 PM
I thought the 8500/8600 didn't accelerate VC1 at all.
Sure it does - it's roughly the same for VC1/MPEG2 as the 7600/7800/7900/8800. On a C2D 2ghz, both are 20-25%.
sharangad
05-19-07, 02:41 PM
I thought the 8500/8600 didn't accelerate VC1 at all.
Not fully for VC-1. All nVidia GF 6/7/8 series have the same VC1 acceleration (provided the GPU has functional Purevideo silicion as all GPUs based on NV40 6800 Ultra/GT have a broken PVP). GF 6/7 and the 8800 series also have partial H.264 support.
VC-1 acceleration on AGP GF 6/7 cards is a bit iffy, but H.264 works though it doesn't ofload as much as the PCI-E versions.
Joseph Clark
05-19-07, 07:17 PM
Good to know. Thanks. I'm going to be upgrading an older system with a new CPU/mobo/video card and I'm looking at the 8500/8600, as well as keeping an eye on reports about the new AMD/ATI X2000 series, which is supposed to have full H.264/VC1 acceleration. Has anyone here had a chance to see both types of cards yet?
sharangad
05-20-07, 04:06 AM
Good to know. Thanks. I'm going to be upgrading an older system with a new CPU/mobo/video card and I'm looking at the 8500/8600, as well as keeping an eye on reports about the new AMD/ATI X2000 series, which is supposed to have full H.264/VC1 acceleration. Has anyone here had a chance to see both types of cards yet?
The Ati X2900 series is already out though no one's reviewed the video decoding performance yet.
the HTPC friendly X2600 (goes up to 1080p) and X2400 (this only decodes stuff up to 720p) cards will become available sometime in June.
mightydarwin
05-20-07, 02:00 PM
the HTPC friendly X2600 (goes up to 1080p) and X2400 (this only decodes stuff up to 720p) cards will become available sometime in June.
where did you read that the 2400 only handles 720p content? I found nothing on ATI/AMD's site specifying that http://ati.amd.com/products/hdseries.html
I read on one website some speculation that because of the 2400 having a 64-bit memory controller that might mean only 720p decoding but nothing I've read specifies why it would only handle 720p if that is even true.
Any idea?
I don't believe that is true. There was an article on anandtech talking about the new 2000 series ATI's and they linked to an article that mentioned a 720p restriction... but I believe they were talking about the x1000 series.
Joseph Clark
05-20-07, 02:22 PM
I'll have to make sure of that. Does anyone know if the 2000 series drivers will support Windows XP out of the box? I have no interest in gaming - just HD playback. But, I'm not interested in moving to Vista until a lot more drivers are available. Hopefully, the XP drivers from nVidia for the 8500/8600 will be available when I get around to building my box sometime within the next couple of months. I'll be building it around a higher clocked Core 2 Duo, so VC1 playback shouldn't be a problem with either of the nVidia cards.
Garrett Adams
05-20-07, 05:14 PM
... I thought I should choose to buy the "512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8500GT, TV-out, DVI-I, HDMI ". What I'd like to know in advance, and can't seem to find anything anywhere stating this clearly if it can do component video out?<