ATI Radeon HD 2X00 (2400,2600,2900) series owners thread

[ricabullah]

arfster,
thanks again!

[constp]

To get the AVIVO decoder working on Vista64, look at the following link: http://www.xpmediacentre.com.au/community/vista-media-center-software/24424-getting-vmcd-display-additional-decoders.html"
BTW, the decoder setting works for live TV.

How can I check which decoder is being used by Live TV? Post #2978 states that changing the decoder for Vista MCE does not affect Live TV.

[Joakim Agren]

If you plan to use PowerDVD Ultra, use Cyberlink Bluray Advisor to check if you have what it takes to play BluRay/HD DVD disks.

Thanks for your reply!

I used it and it shows that I have everything except a Blue Ray Disc reader so I guess I am ok!

Strange though that Nero thinks I am not up to it!:confused:

Another question I have is regarding the AVIVO decoder. There is supposed to be some sort of conversion tool inlcuded in CCC that enables hardwre acceleration when converting movies. But I am unable to find such a tool in my CCC( I have followed the provided instructions in the CCC help files).

Is HD 2400 PRO not supposed to have this converter built in?

[haggis663]

How can I check which decoder is being used by Live TV? Post #2978 states that changing the decoder for Vista MCE does not affect Live TV.

Download ProcessExplorer from sysinternals, and look at the modules (DLLs) being used by media center.

[haggis663]

Thanks for your reply!
Another question I have is regarding the AVIVO decoder. There is supposed to be some sort of conversion tool inlcuded in CCC that enables hardwre acceleration when converting movies. But I am unable to find such a tool in my CCC( I have followed the provided instructions in the CCC help files).

Is HD 2400 PRO not supposed to have this converter built in?

It is only available in the CCC basic view, not the advanced or custom views.

[Joakim Agren]

It is only available in the CCC basic view, not the advanced or custom views.

Do you have the HD2400 PRO?

When in basic view I only have the set monitor preference option in the place where the AVIVO decoder is supposed to be.

[ANDYK48]

Hello,

I have been reading this thread for sometime now and it was very helpfull in tuning my HTPC.

I currently have an ATI HD2400XT card on my HTPC and I was wondering if I was going to have any real picture benefits if I replace it with an ATI HD2600XT.

Thanks a lot guys.

Keep up the good work :)

[karrih]

I currently have an ATI HD2400XT card on my HTPC and I was wondering if I was going to have any real picture benefits if I replace it with an ATI HD2600XT.


According to the article below you might have. I recommend to take it with a grain of salt, though. It would be nice to hear from someone who has upgraded.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/10/26/avivo_hd_vs_purevideo/

[leeperry]

I have a 2400Pro atm, and I'm gonna upgrade to a 2600XT ;)

I'll let u know how it goes

I read some guy did the same and he was very happy with the NR

I have to admit that the Transformers HD-DVD looks grainy like hell right now :D

[h8redv2]

Be aware while changing the default MPEG-2 decoder in Vista. Live TV will always use the default Microsoft MPEG-2 decoder. Any changes you make using VMCD (or anything else) will affect DVD, Videos and Recorded TV playback, but not live TV.

What ???

Is this true, if so I am imagining things I see when changing the decoder.

Can it be done so that live tv will use a different decoder ?

[arfster]

I have a 2400Pro atm, and I'm gonna upgrade to a 2600XT ;)

I'll let u know how it goes

I read some guy did the same and he was very happy with the NR

I have to admit that the Transformers HD-DVD looks grainy like hell right now :D

Grain is different from noise - this is why ATI switch off noise reduction for film material.

[mickwall]

Has anyone got any thoughts on my post from last week please?

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=12166844#post12166844

[ddivita]

Does anyone know if you need a special DVI-HDMI adapter so the Aduio will pass through this card? The documentation for the card is pretty poor when it comes to the adapter. The card states it uses an intelligent DVI-HDMI adapter to allow audio to pass through the DVI connection. I am not sure if I can just use a regular DVI-HDMI adapter for this. I know other versions of the 2600 use this adapter, but I am not sure where to get one. Thanks

Daniel

[ddivita]

I apologize if this is a dual post. I am not sure if my other post went through or not.

Does anyone know if you need a special adapter for this card or if I can use a standard DVI-HDMI- adapter? The card doc states that there is an intelligent interface to allow audio to pass through the DVI ports on this card, but they don’t tell you if the adapter is proprietary or not. Thanks

Daniel

[dreaddan]

ddivita: To pass audio via HDMI from the card you need a ATI dongle as its got a few bits in side to make it work.
But you can use any HDMI adaptor to convert from dvi into HDMI.

[ddivita]

ddivita: To pass audio via HDMI from the card you need a ATI dongle as its got a few bits in side to make it work.
But you can use any HDMI adaptor to convert from dvi into HDMI.

Where can I get one? Thanks

Daniel

[mickwall]

Further investiagation around ffdshow shows that no matter what i do i can't get ANY version tried to work in true multi-threaded mode (see posts #2965 and #3013).

So i tried CoreAVC and thats works great on both cores of my E4400 C2D.

Right, onto the next problem that i've found.


Stats when playing a 1080p mkv file through MediaPortal using CoreAVC.

1080p MKV File
1920x800
10675 bitrate MPEG4-AVC Video
DTS Audio

CPU Usage: Upto 70%
GPU Usage: Upto 30%



Stats when playing a 1080p mkv file through GraphEdit or MediaPlayer Classic using CoreAVC.

1080p MKV File
1920x800
10675 bitrate MPEG4-AVC Video
DTS Audio

CPU Usage: 55%
GPU Usage: 65%


What is getting activated or used on my 2600Pro through GraphEdit and MediaPlayer Classic that doesn't appear to work through MediaPortal??

For info, i am running catalyst 7.9 on XP and have all the reg tweaks installed.

Any info you can provided, no matter how small would be greatly appreciated.

[Fuz]

What ???

Is this true, if so I am imagining things I see when changing the decoder.

Can it be done so that live tv will use a different decoder ?

Changing decoders definitely does affect live TV.

Using 7.9's with the Cyberlink decoder, 1080i50 live tv has serious issues with jerkiness, changing back to the default MS decoder I could notice a difference right away.

Watching any horizontally scrolling text was almost unreadable with the Cyberlink decoder, as soon I changed decoders, the difference was like night and day. So, yes it does work.

Changing to the AVIVO decoder made even more of a difference with live tv. All tests done with in Vista MCE

PS.
To select the AVIVO decoder for use with in Vista MCE, you need to run DcCheck first and select AVIVO, then run VMCD and select AVIVO again. If you use just VMCD, you won't even get the option to use AVIVO.

[dreaddan]

ddivita: you have to get it direct from ati. there;s a link in this tread somewheer.
I think it's shop.ati.com thuogh they only ship to the us.

[dreaddan]

Has any one had problem with there card not detecting there hdtv via HDMI?

[burningbox]

What is getting activated or used on my 2600Pro through GraphEdit and MediaPlayer Classic that doesn't appear to work through MediaPortal??


Some programs will access more of the driver settings. I think it depends on the intergration of Directshow in the program.

There are a couple things you can try. Turn off de-interlacing settings in MediaPortal - let the settings be pulled from the registry. Depending on how the program is setup you can get a "conflict" of settings. I.e. The program might be auto, bob, weave vs all the settings in Cat Control.

Check the 3D settings in Cat Control. Adjust them back to basic levels and see if it made a difference in MediaPortal. I know it does in a couple of programs.

[jouyang]

I purchased the 2600xt agp with LG combo drive last week and I have been watching HD only. Today, I watched some of my movies from my media server and it looks bad. Somehow, the pink color is like having posterizaton problem. The makeup on the female's face looks like glowing pink.

The reason why I ask if this is a bad card or bad driver because this problem exists when I use Divx or PDVD 7.3. When I use the CMC that came with my ATI 650, I don't see the pink color issue.

[arfster]

The reason why I ask if this is a bad card or bad driver because this problem exists when I use Divx or PDVD 7.3.

Do you get it with HD only? (and have you tweaked anything?)

[ANDYK48]

Hello guys,

Both of these cards MSI RX2600XT-T2D512EZ and Sapphire Radeon HD 2600XT Ultimate are passive cooling.

I decided to replace my Sapphire HD2400XT with one of those, but I am a bit concerned about theire dimensions.

Is there anyone that actually owns one of these two cards so he can inform us about their dimensions ??

Thanks a lot.

[hazay19]

Hello Everyone,

Newbie here, so please go easy on me. Also, I'm no stranger on-line forum communities and I'm not looking to be spoonfed, so any links to the appropriate threads or articles and I would be happy to do the reading.

Basically, I just had a home theatre pc built for me and I had a quick question regarding the video card I picked. The most important specs are a intel core duo E6320, 4gb of patriot extreme memory (which windows only shows 3.3GB!!!), the aforementioned MSI RX2600XT-T2D512EZ (fanless video card), and an Asus p5k-e motherboard. My main questions are...

1) I do not play video games, but I bought this card in order to play/stream HD Videos well, knowing the new codecs and containers (h264 or mkv) take alot of processing power. I read my MSI manual and it says that it only supports 720p and 1080i (not 1080p!!!). Is this the case or if I set my resolution to 1920 by 1080 at 60 hertz, I will get 1080p resolution on either my computer monitor or HDTV.
2) If it is only capable of 1080I does the 2900xt or other models support it and do you have any recommendations?
3) I am new to the aftermarket video card and I see that saphire makes an hd 2600 xt that claims 1080p performance. Should I take back my MSI and get the Saphire instead.
4) This sounds stupid but when hooking up to my TV is it as simple as change my computer resolution to 1080p and playing an 1080p mkv file in coreavc/powerdvd or other software.

Thanks in advance for your help,

hazay19

[ToughRowToHoe]

Hello Everyone,

Newbie here, so please go easy on me. Also, I'm no stranger on-line forum communities and I'm not looking to be spoonfed, so any links to the appropriate threads or articles and I would be happy to do the reading.

Basically, I just had a home theatre pc built for me and I had a quick question regarding the video card I picked. The most important specs are a intel core duo E6320, 4gb of patriot extreme memory (which windows only shows 3.3GB!!!), the aforementioned MSI RX2600XT-T2D512EZ (fanless video card), and an Asus p5k-e motherboard. My main questions are...

1) I do not play video games, but I bought this card in order to play/stream HD Videos well, knowing the new codecs and containers (h264 or mkv) take alot of processing power. I read my MSI manual and it says that it only supports 720p and 1080i (not 1080p!!!). Is this the case or if I set my resolution to 1920 by 1080 at 60 hertz, I will get 1080p resolution on either my computer monitor or HDTV.
2) If it is only capable of 1080I does the 2900xt or other models support it and do you have any recommendations?
3) I am new to the aftermarket video card and I see that saphire makes an hd 2600 xt that claims 1080p performance. Should I take back my MSI and get the Saphire instead.
4) This sounds stupid but when hooking up to my TV is it as simple as change my computer resolution to 1080p and playing an 1080p mkv file in coreavc/powerdvd or other software.

Thanks in advance for your help,

hazay19

The MSI RX2600XT-T2D512EZ card supports 1080P. Do a search on this thread for mkv.

[jeboa]

Arfster, thank you for your reply and apologies for not getting back until now. Only I have encountered some problems.

After installing the 7.11 drivers PowerDVD had some problems. When playing either an original HDDVD or a HDDVD backup stored on the hard disc.

In a window, the video plays, but the picture has lots of artifacts on it, which make the whole system stutter when trying to move the mouse. If you switch to full screen, the video goes dead and the system hangs.

The same happens if I switch to EVR (from VMR9) if using KMPlayer.

I thought I may have messed something up, so I have done a complete re-install with 7.10 from ATIs site, and just PowerDVD and Klite installed.

The exact same thing is happening - do you think this could indicate a fault in the GFX card (UMD?).

Games play fine and video (including HD) plays okay (still tearing) until I switch to using EVR.

I would appreciate the help from anyone?

[hazay19]

The MSI RX2600XT-T2D512EZ card supports 1080P. Do a search on this thread for mkv.

Thanks for the reply... I put 1000x more stock in comments that I read on avs forums, but I got off the phone with tech support and they confirmed that the card is only capable of 1080i. Any quick explanation as to why you believe it can output 1080p?

Thanks again for the response

[originalsnuffy]

I must have missed the announcement of 7.11. Any general thoughts on this release?

[ToughRowToHoe]

Thanks for the reply... I put 1000x more stock in comments that I read on avs forums, but I got off the phone with tech support and they confirmed that the card is only capable of 1080i. Any quick explanation as to why you believe it can output 1080p?

Thanks again for the response

My SHARP AQUOS LC-46D62U says it is receiving 1080p from it. The TV correctly identifies the 480i from my old VCR. Why would MSI engineers produce a 2600XT with only 1080i capability anyhow? Even the Sapphire 2400 pro can output 1080p.

[RockySpieler]

Thanks for the reply... I put 1000x more stock in comments that I read on avs forums, but I got off the phone with tech support and they confirmed that the card is only capable of 1080i. Any quick explanation as to why you believe it can output 1080p?

Thanks again for the response

I have the MSI RX2600XT-512 and it can do many resolutions in excess of 1080p, but it depends on what your monitor accepts, and your connection method.

Via VGA or DVI or HDMI (with adapter / cable) it can only supports the refreshrate that your monitor accepts. For example my Toshiba HDTV via HDMI accepts 1080p (1920x1080@60/50/24) but only 1360x768@60hz via VGA, this is a limitation of my HDTV, not the 2600XT.

I suspect that support is refering to component (YUV) output being limited to 1080i max.

I am happy with mine, HD-DVD playback with 3500AMD64 single core 939.

[ToughRowToHoe]

I suspect that support is refering to component (YUV) output being limited to 1080i max.

That makes sense. I too am happy with the card.

[arfster]

Thanks for the reply... I put 1000x more stock in comments that I read on avs forums, but I got off the phone with tech support and they confirmed that the card is only capable of 1080i. Any quick explanation as to why you believe it can output 1080p?


Uh, a 2600? Any card in the last 5 years can output 1080p.

As for acceleration, 1080p is hugely easier than 1080i. Both need decoding, but the latter then needs complicated deinterlacing that strains the card something awful, then temporal denoising and so on. Progressive stuff just needs decoded and that's it.

[leeperry]

hey guys, sorry if it's been asked already.

I've applied all the entries of the .vbs script on my HD2400Pro/XP SP2 and I'm getting tearing now on my x264/wmv movies using Haali's Renderer :(

should I remove all of them, and just keep the trdenoise=0 and the "sharpen filter disable" entries ?

I've never encountered tearing before.......any clue which entry gives tearing ?!?!? :(

thanks in advance!

[HappyFunBoater]

Yeah, the 2600XT definitely supports 1080p. My Sony XBR2 clearly shows a 1080p input. Lots of low end ATI cards have supported 1080p for years. Sounds like ATI Tech Support was a little confused.

[hazay19]

Thanks for the replys and I thought the same thing!!!

Just a few quick updates/notes and any comments suggestiins would be appreciated...
1) To clarify, I talked to a tech rep at MSI about the video card and not ATI directly.
2) Below I have cut and paste the section that I was referring to about 1080i in the booklet and on the webpage. I think RockySpieler may be right now that I look at it again. The funny thing is all the secondary companies( Diamond Viper, HIS, etc.) put 1080p all over their webpages for the 2600xt cards. The only message of 1080 (either "I" or "P") on the MSI page is shown below:

DVI/HDMI Features
- Supports industry standard EIA-861B video modes including 480p, 720p and 1080i. For a full list of currently supported modes, contact your AMD CSS representative.
hxxp://global.msi.com.tw/index.php?func=proddesc&prod_no=1236&maincat_no=130&cat2_no=137

3) The TV that I want to use it on is a KDS-55A2020 (SXRD). I don't have all the money in the world for a LCD or plasma so I settled for this one. It says that it is full 1080p capable put I'm sure I may have some over/underscan issues and I'm going to have a nightmare this weekend when I try to stream 1080p mkvs to it. That's always my luck. I'm not sure if it is pixel for pixel hdtv like I have read about.
4) I currently have the video card hooked up to a dell 1907FP which has a native resolution of 1280x1024 and that happens to be the maximum setting that i can get in windows vista via the vga connection. I know, I know....I'm going tomorrow to buy a DVI cable...but will my maximum resolution increase when I have the dell monitor hooked via DVI and is 1024 the current max due to the VGA? I want to buy a 22" or 24" anyway with HDCP.
5)The Sony has a pc input that is called RGB all over the booklet, but I think that's just a VGA right. Also, since the maximum res is 1360 x 768, it's a no brianer to connect my computer via dvi or hdmi right?
6) Probably the most interesting question... I called to complain to the company that built it and he offered to swap the MSI card for a HIS Hightech H260XTQT512DDN-R Radeon HD 2600XT 512MB at no cost. Would you do it and if so, since I just installed the latest drivers off the ATI site, could I just swap the cards and boot up. Big difference seems to be fan vs. no fan.

That's enough for now, thanks again for everyone's help

[arfster]

3) The TV that I want to use it on is a KDS-55A2020 (SXRD). I don't have all the money in the world for a LCD or plasma so I settled for this one. It says that it is full 1080p capable put I'm sure I may have some over/underscan issues and I'm going to have a nightmare this weekend when I try to stream 1080p mkvs to it. That's always my luck. I'm not sure if it is pixel for pixel hdtv like I have read about.

It is. You'll get a little overscan, but that's as intended. Use DVI>HDMI, set the res to 1920*1080 60hz, disable any scaling, and it should work perfectly.

Good choice of set btw. You've got a big 1080p screen, but with vastly higher contrast than any LCD.

[hazay19]

It is. You'll get a little overscan, but that's as intended. Use DVI>HDMI, set the res to 1920*1080 60hz, disable any scaling, and it should work perfectly.

Good choice of set btw. You've got a big 1080p screen, but with vastly higher contrast than any LCD.

I followed everything except the disable any scaling... You mean on the Tv, not the video card right... I'll look for it ;)... Thanks

[arfster]

I followed everything except the disable any scaling... You mean on the Tv, not the video card right... I'll look for it ;)... Thanks

No, on the card. There's an option to counter any overscan via scaling (under monitor properties in CCC I think). Fine for usint the HDTV as a desktop, but it kills 1:1

[ExDeus]

Do you have the HD2400 PRO?

When in basic view I only have the set monitor preference option in the place where the AVIVO decoder is supposed to be.
You need to install the AVIVO package, too. See my earlier post (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=11783224#post11783224). YOu should then have the converter option in the Basic mode of CCC.

Also, I've never entirely figured it out, but the last word I saw on the AVIVO encoder/converter was that it does not actually use any hardware acceleration. It's simply a fast software encoder, which isn't surprising, given the dearth of encoding options. I'd be happy if someone showed me wrong here.

[ExDeus]

Vista 64 Ultimate

from reading arfster/HTPC comments they're running Vista 32/CCC 7.10 and they have the WMV tick although its broken.
If you open the ATI Catalyst Control Center, and select the Information Center > Graphics Software section, can you tell me exactly what the 2D Driver Path is?

There might be an issue with my program on Vista x64 because of registry differences, but I've been away from my x64 machine for testing.

Thanks.

[aravs]

guys this thread has been very invaluable and it's been a great resource but its grown so large and trying to find little answers is sometimes difficult when starting out

i'm going to be installing this card onto a msi k8neo s754 board running 2gb pc3200 ddr ram and amd athlon 3200. the board's chipset drivers are nvidia nforce250, is it a good idea to mix this with the ati video card, avivo and ccc drivers? are they gonna clash?? with agp hd playback being so problematic to begin with should i even bother trying? has anyone else here tried getting hd playback with the above video card and mobo combo or mixed nvidia chipset drivers with their ati vid cards? is this a no no? dont even try?

anyone have any reviews or experience with the diamond 2600pro? i got an open box one at a very good price at the local bb store and am hoping it can do what i need it to do but am very worried about the amount of time attempting it with this thread going on 3000(?) + posts now :P

i'm seriously itching for an excuse to upgrade to a newer mobo, vid card and cpu upgrade but finances right now dictate that if i can get this card running on an older board that i havent even fully exploited then that would be prime.but if its impossible or requires a huge input of time, then i wouldnt mind waiting for the right price and upgrading.

suggestions, opinions, experiences? please let me know!

Thanks!

[leeperry]

is it possible to enable hardware acceleration for h264 within MKV containers ?
I'm using the latest PowerDVD version, it worked fine on my 8600GT..........it doesn't work on the HD2400/2600 :(

I heard it works in .ts ?!!?!?

thanks!

[topcaser]

Hey ATI, whats up with 7.11?? We are waiting...

Arfster, you said, Gecube offers 7.11 already. Propably we will see an update soon: IMO they work on the official 7.11 - otherwise, they would release it....

[ol623]

is it possible to enable hardware acceleration for h264 within MKV containers ?
I'm using the latest PowerDVD version, it worked fine on my 8600GT..........it doesn't work on the HD2400/2600 :(

I heard it works in .ts ?!!?!?

thanks!

I also have it working on my 8500GT.

Currently I want to upgrade to either 8600GT or 2600XT. What makes you think it won't work on the 2400/2600? Have you already tried it?

And just out of curiousity why are you moving from the 8600GT to the ATI, or is this an additional card?

[leeperry]

well coz the PQ sucked *ss on the 8600GT when watching HD movies :D

I have the PowerDVD filter running, and there's no HA.........same setup on the 8600GT gave very low CPU.

it seems that it only works with .ts files on the ATI, not .mkv for sum reason ?!?!

[ol623]

If HW decoding is disabled in an MKV file, does this have any effect on the video quality I will get from the 2600xt (For example is NR/sharpenning etc disabled/not as good?), or is the only difference gonna be in my CPU usage, and quality remains the same?
(Deinterlacing aside, since all my MKV's are progressive).

MKV files are easy on my CPU, I just don't want to lose any quality because HW acceleration doesn't work in MKV files.

[leeperry]

well the PowerDVD filter has become useless for me, as I like to do lanczos resize and sharpening and it's using too much CPU.......so I stick to my dualcore enabled beta of ffdshow that does the trick just fine :D

I like it better than the PowerDVD filter anyhow, it's more grainy, more realistic.

BTW, since I've installed the 2400pro and now the 2600xt, I'm getting artifacts in IE while page loading ?!

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/3707/wtfdj1.jpg

it only happens for a few seconds until the page is fully loaded, dunno what's up with that ?!

it never happened on the nvidia :eek:

[ExDeus]

i'm going to be installing this card onto a msi k8neo s754 board running 2gb pc3200 ddr ram and amd athlon 3200. the board's chipset drivers are nvidia nforce250, is it a good idea to mix this with the ati video card, avivo and ccc drivers? are they gonna clash?? with agp hd playback being so problematic to begin with should i even bother trying? has anyone else here tried getting hd playback with the above video card and mobo combo or mixed nvidia chipset drivers with their ati vid cards? is this a no no? dont even try?
I think it will work just fine. I don't have an identical setup, but it is very similar, and DXVA works well for HD DVD & Bluray from disc in PowerDVD. The Cyberlink decoder will work with DXVA in other players, but with x264 encodes that work with DXVA, the PQ is inferior to software mode (jaggies) and stutters (prob. the 20fps bug).

CPU: AMD Athlon64 3400+ 2.4GHz socket 754
MB: AOpen n250a-FR, NVIDIA nForce3 250 chipset
RAM: 2GB PC3200/DDR400
GPU: VisionTek HD2600PRO AGP 512MB, ATI Catalyst 7.11 drivers
PowerDVD: 7.3.3319f

[ExDeus]

is it possible to enable hardware acceleration for h264 within MKV containers ?
I'm using the latest PowerDVD version, it worked fine on my 8600GT..........it doesn't work on the HD2400/2600 :(

I heard it works in .ts ?!!?!?

thanks!

well coz the PQ sucked *ss on the 8600GT when watching HD movies :D

I have the PowerDVD filter running, and there's no HA.........same setup on the 8600GT gave very low CPU.

it seems that it only works with .ts files on the ATI, not .mkv for sum reason ?!?!
DXVA for H264 can work in MKV containers with the ATI cards. The problem is not with MKV, but with certain options in the x264 encoder. Therefore, it depends on the particular file you are trying to play as to whether DXVA will work.

The reason DXVA for H264 works in most TS files is because those files don't contain H264 video created with the x264 encoder, they come from captures of satellite or OTA broadcasts where a hardware encoder is used to encode the H264 stream and package it in a transport stream. MKV files are created by users, where the x264 encoder is most often used.

leeperry, are you using the exact same file with the ATI card where DXVA worked with the NVIDIA card?

[ExDeus]

If HW decoding is disabled in an MKV file, does this have any effect on the video quality I will get from the 2600xt (For example is NR/sharpenning etc disabled/not as good?), or is the only difference gonna be in my CPU usage, and quality remains the same?
(Deinterlacing aside, since all my MKV's are progressive).

MKV files are easy on my CPU, I just don't want to lose any quality because HW acceleration doesn't work in MKV files.
DXVA is not enabled/disabled in the MKV. It is enabled/disabled by the H264 decoder.

With the Cyberlink decoder used as a DS filter outside PDVD, using DXVA for H264/MKV, I see worse PQ (jaggies) and dropped frames / stutters (MKV 20fps bug). Playing an H264/TS file in PDVD with DXVA results in excellent PQ (and no MKV 20fps bug).

I only need DXVA on my Athlon64 3400+ for 1080p content. For 720p content, I get the best performance and PQ from CoreAVC (software decoder). CoreAVC is much more efficient and uses many fewer CPU cycles as compared to any other software H264 decoder. The Cyberlink and MainConcept decoders in software mode both have good PQ, but the performance can be poor (too many CPU cycles), and I prefer the PQ of CoreAVC (I haven't figured out if it's deblocking, or what feature accounts for the difference in PQ b/w the decoders).

In the end, I get better PQ out of any software decoder. I only use DXVA if it is absolutely necessary when my system can't handle the file.

[leeperry]

well OK, but the same h264/mkv files that used to be accellerated on the nvidia simply aren't on the ATI.

it was pretty handy because then my CPU was free to process the video with lanczos 4x resize + sharpen.

it isn't really possible anymore..........even though you're right, I'll give coreavc a try again ;)

I guess the problem is the powerdvd filter that doesn't put the AVIVO to good use outside of PowerDVD itself, where it used to work PERFECTLY on the nvidia :o

and anyone's got clue why I get corruption in IE ?!

thanks,

[ExDeus]

I got DXVA to work for an MKV file with H264 encoded using x264, using the Cyberlink decoder in ZoomPlayer (ZP) and MPC Home Cinema (MPC HC) on WinXP with a VisionTek HD2600PRO AGP card.

With DXVA, I saw jaggies and stuttering (prob. the MKV 20fps bug). With software decoding, I saw smooth playback and excellent PQ.

I played a file with the following encoding options:

string is ".E....H..,. .#..x264 - core 56 svn-676 - H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codec -
Copyleft 2005 - http://www.videolan.org/x264.html - options: cabac=1 ref=5 debl
ock=1:0:0 analyse=0x3:0x113 me=umh subme=7 brdo=1 mixed_ref=1 me_range=16 chroma
_me=1 trellis=1 8x8dct=1 cqm=0 deadzone=21,11 chroma_qp_offset=0 threads=6 nr=0
decimate=1 mbaff=0 bframes=3 b_pyramid=1 b_adapt=1 b_bias=0 direct=1 wpredb=1 bi
me=1 keyint=250 keyint_min=25 scenecut=40(pre) rc=2pass bitrate=6100 ratetol=1.0
rceq='blurCplx^(1-qComp)' qcomp=0.60 qpmin=10 qpmax=51 qpstep=4 cplxblur=20.0 q
blur=0.5 ip_ratio=1.40 pb_ratio=1.30."
You can see the encode uses most of the advanced encoding options: CABAC, 5 reference frames, B-frame RDO, mixed reference frames, adaptive 8x8 transforms (High Profile), 3 B-frames, B-frame pyramids, and adaptive b-frames. I was expecting one of those options to be the trigger to make DXVA fail, but apparently not.

DXVA worked with the following video renderers (I checked the input pin on the renderer, which showed "DXVA 1280x528 23.98fps"):

Overlay Mixer
VMR7 (Windowed)
VMR7 (Renderless)
VMR9 (Windowed)
VMR9 (Windowless) (ZP only)
VMR9 (Renderless), plain offscreen, 2D & 3D Surfaces
EVR (using .NET 3.0, MPC HC only)

DXVA did NOT work with the following video renderers (I checked the input pin on the renderer, which showed "RGB 1280x528 23.98fps" or "YUY2 1280x528 23.98fps"):

Haali Video Renderer
Nero Video Renderer

DXVA did NOT work with the CoreAVC or MainConcept H.264 decoders (despite "HA" set to "on" for the MainConcept decoder).

I also tried to get the ATI AVIVO decoder to work for H264, but without success. I added the "avc1" FourCC (which I saw was used on the input pin on the decoder) to the acceptable subtypes for the AVIVO decoder in MPC HC, but it wouldn't use the filter (it defaulted to the high priority DS filter).

[leeperry]

that's a lot of tests :D

well the apple HD trailers(which are h264 in mp4 containers) used to be accelerated on the nvidia using the powerdvd h264 fiter in yv2 outputing to yuy2 with haali's renderer.

they are NOT on the ATI......and I've never noticed the 20fps bug on the nvidia ;)

a friend of mine who had the same issue a while ago told me converting to .ts did the trick, then AVIVO would kick in.......Cyberlink's fault I guess ?! :mad:

another MAJORLY annoying problem is that Haali's Renderer randomly locks up when I close it on these ATI cards........never had this problem on the nvidia, and some other ppl have the same issue on doom9.

I've spoken to Haali about it, but he doesn't have time to investigate :(

but well the PQ is so much better on the ATI, that I will live with these little hickups I guess :D

[arfster]

that's a lot of tests :D

well the apple HD trailers(which are h264 in mp4 containers) used to be accelerated on the nvidia using the powerdvd h264 fiter in yv2 outputing to yuy2 with haali's renderer.


These accelerate fine on the ATI for me, as does any other h264 content not created by x264. Euro 1080i broadcast h264, apple quicktime encodes, nero recode, mainconcept encodes etc, all perfect. You just need to use Haali>cyberlink>evr in Vista and they work fine, no 20fps, dxva works perfectly to <1% cpu.

Also, the 20fps bug is well known on Nvidia 8500/8600 cards, it's mentioned frequently and I've seen it myself. Literally everybody says mkv acceleration has problems: 720p does 20fps with most files, and 1080p blackscreens.

[ExDeus]

well OK, but the same h264/mkv files that used to be accellerated on the nvidia simply aren't on the ATI.

And you have applied the H264 registry tweak?

and anyone's got clue why I get corruption in IE ?!
Sorry man, I'd only be guessing on that one. Perhaps an uninstall, driver cleaner, reinstall would help. There's a tech support answer for you.

[ExDeus]

well the apple HD trailers(which are h264 in mp4 containers) used to be accelerated on the nvidia using the powerdvd h264 fiter in yv2 outputing to yuy2 with haali's renderer.
I'm confused... "DXVA" is synonymous with "hardware acceleration". If it output to Haali's Renderer as YUY2, then that's not DXVA, and therefore not accelerated. AFAIK, and per my own experience, Haali's Renderer doesn't support DXVA, no matter the decoder or graphics card. For DXVA, you have to use the default Video Renderer / Overlay Mixer (quartz.dll), VMR7/9, or EVR.

a friend of mine who had the same issue a while ago told me converting to .ts did the trick, then AVIVO would kick in.......Cyberlink's fault I guess ?! :mad:
Converting to TS may help, because that would make the file playable in PowerDVD, where the decoder selection is different. Using the Cyberlink decoder outside PDVD on a TS file should yield the same results as using it on the same video in an MKV container... it should use DXVA regardless of the container format, depending on the encoder options. If you can produce an MKV file that won't use DXVA, that will use DXVA when converted to a TS container, then I would think it's related to the TS and MKV splitters used during playback.

[leeperry]

ok thanks for your help Deus.

Here's an apple trailer :

fantastic4silversurfer-tlrj_h1080p.mp4

it takes 2% of CPU to play it in PowerDVD, so HA does work.

in MPC or KMPlayer, it takes 60/70%

the same file with the 8600GT would take roughly 20/30%(because of lanczos resize+sharpen) using Haali's Renderer in KMPlayer.

Ive tried to install the 8.43 drivers, but they refuse to.
I get some funky error msg, and if I use the official 7.10 drivers with the DRV and CCC folders from 8.43, CCC settings don't seem to apply properly :o

BTW, which H264 registry tweak are you talking about :confused:

I think my IE corruption problem is gone, thanks to IE7 :)

[ExDeus]

fantastic4silversurfer-tlrj_h1080p.mp4

it takes 2% of CPU to play it in PowerDVD, so HA does work.

in MPC or KMPlayer, it takes 60/70%
I will test it and see what I get.

Ive tried to install the 8.43 drivers, but they refuse to. I get some funky error msg,
I, too, get an error with the 8.43 drivers. I reported it to VisionTek, but they acted unaware, and I'm sure they just ignored it.
BTW, which H264 registry tweak are you talking about :confused:
I'm asking have you run my program or otherwise set DXVA_Only24FPS1080H264 = 0? If not, follow the link in sig for the reg tweaks, read up on it with the link to arfster's description, then run the program to install the tweaks. I don't know what the specs are on the Apple trailer, but it's a good idea anyway.

[leeperry]

yeah thanks for your great vb script ;)

I haven't found any description for DXVA_Only24FPS1080H264, it seems to be only for 2400 ? I have a 2600 ;)

there's some "official" 8.43 here :
http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33907988

they still won't install :(

I've heard about further registry entries like ContrastEnhancement, TrueWhite.....that would be related to AVIVO....ever tried them ?
they might be VISTA only...ATiTrayTools can toggle them.

[arfster]

fantastic4silversurfer-tlrj_h1080p.mp4

it takes 2% of CPU to play it in PowerDVD, so HA does work.

in MPC or KMPlayer, it takes 60/70%


It's the codecs that matter though, the player doesn't do anything (same with Nvidia).

By the way, Haali renderer doesn't support acceleration at all.

[arfster]

Here's a direct link to the new 7.11s mentioned above:

http://support.ati.com/ics/support/KBAnswer.asp?questionID=30533

Build is 8.43.1.1-071113a-055589E-ATI (ie from 3 days ago, usually ATI drivers take much longer to reach us).

No support for AGP as usual. Some settings changes for 2xxx cards though, will have a look later.

[sub]

Here's a direct link to the new 7.11s mentioned above:

http://support.ati.com/ics/support/KBAnswer.asp?questionID=30533

Build is 8.43.1.1-071113a-055589E-ATI (ie from 3 days ago, usually ATI drivers take much longer to reach us).

No support for AGP as usual. Some settings changes for 2xxx cards though, will have a look later.Sorry, I havent read all 103 pages, but can any one tell me if we're likely to see a AGP version soon? or is it possibe to somehow use these on AGP? I seem to remember something about editing inf files?

[arfster]

Sorry, I havent read all 103 pages, but can any one tell me if we're likely to see a AGP version soon? or is it possibe to somehow use these on AGP? I seem to remember something about editing inf files?

I'm not sure if ATI ever said so explicitly, but it's pretty clear they're refusing to support AGP cards via their official drivers. Apparently they expect the card manufacturers to write/mod drivers themselves (perhaps because agp cards are unique?)

[Valnar]

I'm not sure if ATI ever said so explicitly, but it's pretty clear they're refusing to support AGP cards via their official drivers. Apparently they expect the card manufacturers to write/mod drivers themselves (perhaps because agp cards are unique?)

I don't need game tweaks or general bug fixes, only video acceleration on my AGP HD2600. Once they make (or we tweak) a set of drivers that work for HA, my HTPC can sit on those drivers for a year and I wouldn't care. I think some of us are in the same boat as me.

To all you experts that release tweaks and modified drivers - kudos to you. It helps tremendously.

Robert

[mrech]

Hi All,

Newbie to this forum, but have been lurking on the forum and have read much of this thread (although not all 103 pages!). So if I missed something please point me to the right link.

I recently purchased the sapphire hd 2600 pro AGP (yes I know the AGP currently doesn't support hardware acceleration) for my system as part of upgrading XP MCE to Vista Ultimate x64 so I can use the new MCE interface and additional HD features and to offload some processing from the CPU. Basically I am running into 2 problems with the board:

1. Upon startup the GPU is for the most part pinned at 100% (looking at perfmon) even though there are no windows open except for perfmon. Frequently it will go back to 0 after 5 minutes, but having a GPU pinned at 100% with no heavy activity seems very strange. However when I do use the Vista UI, I don't notice any real perfomance hit or slowness. Also the GPU seems to run at either 0% or 100% and nothing in between for whatever tasks I am doing.

2. When trying to view Live TV or watch a TV show recorded in High Def MCE crashes. This is a known bug with 2x00 series AGP cards which has been documented here before.

My setup is
Vista Ultimate 64 bit
Mobo Asus K8NE Deluxe Socket 754 - Athlon 64 3400
3 Gigs Ram
Sapphire HD 2600 Pro 512 AGP
Hauppage HVR 1600
HDD - 1 120G Sata 1 HD (OS)
HDD - 2 500G Sata 1 HD Striped (TV, Music, Photos)
Sound Card - Audigy 2

I am using a Sony 46 KDL-XBR4 with 1080P (1920 x 1080p) - so full high def resolution

Other important info is that I can actually play back 1080p files on Widows Media Player and also in Windows Media Center - so I can do HD playback, however GPU is maxxed and cpu is around 90%.

The questions I have are:
1. Has anyone had success with a similar setup with an AGP card at full 1080 definition (either i or p) with an older processor running vista 64 bit

2. Does this sound like a defective card (GPU either at 0 or 100%), or are the symptoms more in line with simply not having hardware accelleration available to help offload CPU processing and drivers that aren't there yet, and a CPU that is a bit dated?

Thanks for any ideas or suggestions you can share!

[leeperry]

well god knows.
I was getting HA with the nvidia on Haali's R...that's a fact.

and these new drivers, do they install for anyone ?!

[arfster]

Here's a direct link to the new 7.11s mentioned above:

http://support.ati.com/ics/support/KBAnswer.asp?questionID=30533

Build is 8.43.1.1-071113a-055589E-ATI (ie from 3 days ago, usually ATI drivers take much longer to reach us).

No support for AGP as usual. Some settings changes for 2xxx cards though, will have a look later.


OK, promising so far:

1) Color vibrance and fleshtone are off by default, and they've fixed that stupid bug where if you have them set >1 and off, it behaves as if they were on. When you untick it now in CCC, the registry value actually goes to zero, regardless of where the slider is.
2) There's a new advanced quality tab, with sliders for denoise and detail, controlling denoise/detail keys in the registry. Both are off by default (detail used to be set to 50 by default for the 2600, 0 for 2400).
3) 1080i set to auto still uses bob, but VA manually selected works. This is on a 2600, VA on a 2400 is a whole different kettle of fish.
4) 2600 Bluray mpeg2 acceleration fixed (they broke it in 7.10). Anyone want to test it on the 2400?
5) They might have fixed the cyberlink mpeg2+EVR 1080i judder bug that has been around from 7.8 onwards. Don't have enough 1080i60 mpeg2 to test this properly though.
6) I also think they've fixed the PDVD window-within-a-window bug, where HDDVD/Bluray playback wouldn't fill a 1080p screen. Might still be a problem depending on what version PDVD you have though.

No fixes on expansion issues though. Still, looks like this is the first version since 7.7 I might actually install on my HTPC.

[leeperry]

does the installer work for u ?!?!

[Valnar]

arfster,
Is it best to start over with these new drivers including the removal of the registry tweaks?

Robert

[arfster]

does the installer work for u ?!?!

Yeah, no problem (Vista32, 2600XT). I uninstalled the old and ran drivercleaner beforehand.


More good news: they've made mpeg2 decoding a bit more efficient, whereas before it was really hurting the GPU. On my 2600xt a 1080i60 mpeg2 clip playing at 1600*1200 takes 20% of the GPU, and 32% with VA deinterlacing. This is with the ATI decoder - the Cyberlink seems to take 32% with both (I'm guessing it ignores CCC's deinterlace setting and VAs regardless).

Might help with 2400pro owners struggling with 1080i.

[Paul_PDX]

Patch is available from Microsoft
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/943195/en-us

[arfster]

arfster,
Is it best to start over with these new drivers including the removal of the registry tweaks?


Probably, yes. Need a bit more testing to see what new bugs they introduced of course :-)

At minimum UseBT601CSC=1 will still be needed. The 2400 with mpeg2 1080i might need a few tweaks also. I suspect/hope most of the rest are now obselete.

[Valnar]

Probably, yes. Need a bit more testing to see what new bugs they introduced of course :-)

At minimum UseBT601CSC=1 will still be needed. The 2400 with mpeg2 1080i might need a few tweaks also. I suspect/hope most of the rest are now obselete.

Since this thread is over 100 pages long now, a new post about recommended settings and how to install from scratch is probably in order. It'll help the newbies, and some of us old timers, from worrying about the first 100 pages.

Robert

[leeperry]

Yeah, no problem (Vista32, 2600XT). I uninstalled the old and ran drivercleaner beforehand.

ok cool!!!

I've tried the free version of DC 1.5 Pro, and even though the installer still crapped out.......I've been able to manually install the drivers + CCC.

can't wait to try on my HC3100 in a few to see if it's any smoother :D

[h8redv2]

Arrgh I can´t follow that link.. Guess I have to wait untill an official ati.amd.com release

[one_2go]

Patch is available from Microsoft
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/943195/en-us
I gather that this is the case with the MS MPEG2 decoder. However I thought the preferred decoder is the ATI MPEG2 decoder and then the problem does not exist, am I correct in this assumption?

[leeperry]

Arrgh I can´t follow that link.. Guess I have to wait untill an official ati.amd.com release

http://www.sapphiretech.com/en/driverfiles/384.zip XP32

[mule]

For me the stupid bug with the color vibrance slider has not been solved. Whenever unticking the box the value is set to 25 (default value)?! And yes, i also used the newest version of drivercleaner!

TheMule!

[Joakim Agren]

How high is normal GPU usage when playing back a DVD in PowerDVD 7.3 Ultra?

I get spikes around 76% on my HD 2400 PRO when playing back a standard PAL resolution DVD that was recorded with my standalone DVD recorder and it was only at 4.2Mbit/s and interlaced. Is this normal if so how in hell is it going to manage 1080P content? I also thought that it did a pretty poor job. I think the DVD looked better in VLC and also VLC used the GPU less.

I was surprised though that VLC used the GPU at all. Was not DxVA only supposed to work with PowerDVD and WMP?

[ExDeus]

Sorry, I havent read all 103 pages, but can any one tell me if we're likely to see a AGP version soon? or is it possibe to somehow use these on AGP? I seem to remember something about editing inf files?
http://home.comcast.net/~exdeus/ati-hd2x00/#AGP

[ExDeus]

Arrgh I can´t follow that link.. Guess I have to wait untill an official ati.amd.com release
You always have to open http://support.ati.com in a new window/tab to start your own session. Then click the direct link to the support article.

[sub]

http://home.comcast.net/~exdeus/ati-hd2x00/#AGPThanks!

[arfster]

Since this thread is over 100 pages long now, a new post about recommended settings and how to install from scratch is probably in order. It'll help the newbies, and some of us old timers, from worrying about the first 100 pages.


Yeah - maybe we can get it stickied and a FAQ on things like the mkv/x264 bug, expansion issues etc.

The ATI issues have changed somewhat with this latest driver though, as they've fixed so many things at once. A fair bit of testing needs to be done first before we figure out what's optimal now :-)

[leeperry]

2) There's a new advanced quality tab, with sliders for denoise and detail, controlling denoise/detail keys in the registry. Both are off by default (detail used to be set to 50 by default for the 2600, 0 for 2400).

no matter what I do, avivo EE is always checked and set to +1 :mad:

I can't disable it altogether :(

[leeperry]

hey Deus, any idea ? :D

I haven't found any description for DXVA_Only24FPS1080H264, it seems to be only for 2400 ? I have a 2600 ;)

I've heard about further registry entries like ContrastEnhancement, TrueWhite.....that would be related to AVIVO....ever tried them ?
they might be VISTA only...ATiTrayTools can toggle them.

[arfster]

Hehe, and now they come, all the inevitable ATI bugs. Weird how some get them, some don't.

Leeperry: does it just not stay when you untick, or does it refuse to untick at all? For me the slider/tickboxes work as they should. The new drivers have this addition for 2xxx cards:

[ati2mtag_R6x_SoftwareDeviceSettings]
HKR,, ATMS_NA, %REG_SZ%, 0
HKR, "UMD",ATMS_DEF, %REG_SZ%, 1
HKR, "UMD",AAAMethod_DEF, %REG_SZ%, 0
HKR, "UMD\DXVA",Denoise, %REG_SZ%, "0"
HKR, "UMD\DXVA",Denoise_DEF, %REG_SZ%, "0"
HKR, "UMD\DXVA",Denoise_DE_MIN, %REG_SZ%, "1"
HKR, "UMD\DXVA",Denoise_DE_MAX, %REG_SZ%, "100"
HKR, "UMD\DXVA",Detail, %REG_SZ%, "0"
HKR, "UMD\DXVA",Detail_DEF, %REG_SZ%, "0"
HKR, "UMD\DXVA",Detail_DE_MIN, %REG_SZ%, "1"
HKR, "UMD\DXVA",Detail_DE_MAX, %REG_SZ%, "100"


The default (zero) is what they should go in the registry when the CCC tickboxes are deselected, regardless of where the sliders are. This is what it does for me (ie set it to 45, untick, look at registry and it shows 0).

[karrih]

First 8.43 driver impressions for my HD2400. BTW, I didn't use any fancy installation cleaners, just ATI Uninstall Tool.

Like 7.10 these 8.43 drivers make my PC startup extremely slow, it might have something to do with taskbar notification icons as related apps seem to have turned into CPU hogs.

I cant seem to make any avivo settings stick, when I reopen CCC the changes are gone. Perhaps my installation is broken. At least some things respond to 'Apply' button, though. Interestingly 'Denoise' parameter can be found in both binary and string form in registry.

Posterisation would appear to be history.

HA not working without registry tweaks, at least for mpeg2 HD.

I have PC levels now for SD and HD, this has definitely changed from previous installation.

[topcaser]

Like 7.10 these 8.43 drivers make my PC startup extremely slow

This is the first thing i have noticed when i installed CCC the first time (4 months ago). Maybe it will be better, if one installs the drivers only but not CCC itself. But then iam not sure, how i can handle profile, deinterlacing and clock speed stuff.

Ok, there are some alterntives: Powertrip for profiles and clock speed with Rivatuner. But as soon Rivatuner unlocks the clock speed, the idle clock speed of 110 MHz is never adjusted.....


I cant seem to make any avivo settings stick, when I reopen CCC the changes are gone. Perhaps my installation is broken. At least some things respond to 'Apply' button, though.

sounds strange. Never had problems with that.


Posterisation would appear to be history.
...
I have PC levels now for SD and HD, this has definitely changed from previous installation.
Sounds promising for the official release. Hope they will release it soon. But Arfster has spoken from some bugs they coded newly in the drivers. I will wait some time before i install the new inofficial one, until Arfster release it :-)

[leeperry]

Leeperry: does it just not stay when you untick, or does it refuse to untick at all? For me the slider/tickboxes work as they should. The new drivers have this addition for 2xxx cards:

well yesterday I tried SEVERAL times to untick EE, but it would remain ticked at +1 no matter.

the last horizontal + vertical lines of my videos were purple or greenish :mad:

so I've unticked it like 5 or 6 times in a row, and finally it seems to be OK.

actually, I've very happy with these drivers :cool:

the PQ is stunning on my HC3100 :eek:

nothing to be compared with my 8600GT....that I've ditched with great enthusiasm :D

the only 2 remaining issues I have is that my HC3100 does very subtle judder(but this is a know issue on this pj), and Haali's Renderer that's FREAKING locking up all the time when I close it :mad:

BTW, I'm not sure about the UseBT601CSC entry, I mean what's the point ?!
it does TV>PC expanding, but only for HD ?
Haali's Renderer does that for me, for both SD and HD....and I need BT709, it's also there :D

Like 7.10 these 8.43 drivers make my PC startup extremely slow

well, uninstall it all, reboot, use DC Pro 1.5(free), reboot, install the drivers manually, install CCC, reboot and you're good to go.

I have much less resident apps running than with the full package(that refuses to install anyway).

all I got is MOM.exe(the tasktray icon), and CCC.exe(the actual app)

[arfster]

well yesterday I tried SEVERAL times to untick EE, but it would remain ticked at +1 no matter.


Urrrgh. Sorry, then I've got no idea how to fix it, sounds like the CCC app install got screwed.


BTW, I'm not sure about the UseBT601CSC entry, I mean what's the point ?!
it does TV>PC expanding, but only for HD ?
Haali's Renderer does that for me, for both SD and HD....and I need BT709, it's also there :D


At present the card does a TV>PC expansion automatically(using bt709), but doesn't do it with SD, so a single calibration for the two isn't possible. Usebt606CSC=1 doesn't change HD behaviour, but expands SD (using bt601).



Karrih: that's weird, mine's the same as normal with expansion. Has usebt601csc hung around from a previous install perhaps? Reg settings are ridiculously resilient with ATI.

[leeperry]

At present the card does a TV>PC expansion automatically(using bt709), but doesn't do it with SD, so a single calibration for the two isn't possible. Usebt606CSC=1 doesn't change HD behaviour, but expands SD (using bt601).

ok thanks for the reply.

well I resize all my SD/HD to 768p lanczos 4x then it goes through HR.

I don't suffer from double conversion or bogus colorspace, so I'll leave it as it is, I think :D

also, I prolly know the answer already.....but is there ANY way to mess with the R/G/B gammas as precisely with the ATI as it was with the nvidia ?

http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/7760/gammagw2.jpg

I happen to own a colormeter from homecinema-fr.com and this is the only thing I miss on these ATI....you can't have it all, can you :(

I'd like to make the picture darker from 70 to 100IRE :(

[airmark]

Hi all,

I've been thinking of getting a 2600XT card to upgrade my HTPC (currently Athlon 3200+ with onboard Geforce 6150 graphics). The reason for this is that some (vey few) videos will not play (or play at 15fps or something with 100% cpu utilization). I don't intend to play games, so not really considering high end cards, but 2600xt is very affordable so I was considering it.

However, someone on another thread mentioned two things that might change my mind: 1) 2400 might actually work better than 2600 in terms of hardware acceleration for certain files and 2) CPU upgrade is probably a better way to improve speed.

To clarify what I want: I want to be able to play all files. I don't care if cpu utilization is 2% or 80%, since I don't really use the PC for anything else, but I want it to handle all files/codecs etc. And, once this is accomplished, I wouldn't mind some PQ improvements (but that's a secondary goal). Now, the price difference between 2400 pro and 2600 xt is so small that even if the performance gain is minimal, I would probably go for the 2600xt. But if 2400 is better for certain files/codecs, this changes the equation.

I've read (or skimmed through) most of the 104 pages but there doesn't appear to be a universally true answer (or none apparent to my newbie eyes anyway!) so I'd really appreciate any input here. Thanks!

[arfster]

well I resize all my SD/HD to 768p lanczos 4x then it goes through HR.


Urrgh, then there's a nasty issue you should know about: the card will think your SD is HD once it's >720 lines vertical, and thus expand it using bt709 (at least that's what it did with 7.10 and earlier) and make a mess of the colours. I know for a fact it does this with ffdshow once you scale it >720 - unfortunately it's what's presented to the renderer that matters to the card.

The only way you could get around this is to reverse the expansion (brightness16, contrast86 in CCC), because it does this reversal via bt709 also and thus will return it to the original condition, with TV levels. Alternatively you could perhaps try without ffdshow, since the cards do have pretty terrific scaling now (and you've now got detail control in the drivers).

[leeperry]

yeah you're right, I read about that....

but bt601/709 are about colorspace :

http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/7717/barsmatrixqh9.th.jpg (http://img138.imageshack.us/my.php?image=barsmatrixqh9.jpg)

actually colors look fine with HR, that also takes care of TV>PC conversion....and that also looks fine ?!

I'll run some tests, though ;)

maybe this conversion is only applied with accelerated h264/vc1 in PowerDVD and/or VMR ?

edit : OK I've compared some apple HD trailers and southpark episodes in PowerDVD/KMPlayer+HR w/ and w/o 768p lanzcos resize.

so they all carry the same levels and same colorspace(spot-on in SouthPark!), and the built-in scaler of the card looks really ugly compared to lanczos 4x + luma sharpen 0.5 :D

[arfster]

maybe this conversion is only applied with accelerated h264/vc1 in PowerDVD and/or VMR ?


It's format-independant, since it happens after the decode chain. In Vista it happens pretty much all the time - the only exception is vmr9 without acceleration, and with mixer deliberately disabled.

If you're using XP, I don't know how it'll handle overlay there. Since you're in software mode also, it may not be expanding. However, if it is then anything >720 lines vertical gets expanded using BT709, and that definitely includes software-upscaled SD. If it's any help, there are some HD 601/709 pattern at http://w6rz.net/ that can be helpful. If you compare the difference between then normally and ffdshow scaled to <720 you can test various setups quite easily.

Something must be a little unusual with your setup though, there's no way the card's scaler should produce output that be called ugly (I used to be a heavy ffdshow/avisynth user, but gave up when I moved to 8500/2xxx cards - the screenshots were indistinguishable). I supposed it's possible you have a display that responds well to particularly heavy sharpening though.

[leeperry]

yeah, well......scaling is fine with MPC.

I guess it has to do with the "KMP Video Transform Filter" of KMPlayer ?!

anyway, I'm very happy with this setup, blacks are more solid than with the 8600GT and the image is much sharper.....and I might have found how to fix HR locks up :D

I heard those ATI cards have a built-in feature(prolly called ContrastEnhancement) that will pre-process the incoming signal to achieve the best contrast possible for each frame ?

anyhow, I've got the HQV BD disc so I will run some tests in PowerDVD anytime soon.

now I'd like to increase the gamma curve from 70 to 100 IRE because my favorite gamma preset on the HC3100 tends to crush my whites a bit :(
...I guess that isn't possible :(

[karrih]

Posterisation would appear to be history.

I have PC levels now for SD and HD, this has definitely changed from previous installation.

I haven't made level tweaks previously, so I doubt those are the reason for PC levels.

I guess its reinstall time for me, and this time I'll clean up registry manually to be sure.

[dreaddan]

Hi, according to HIS there bords do not support dvi-hdmi cables.
Only the ATI dongle :eek:

Does any one use a dvi-hdmi cable on a sapphire,asus,powercolor or guCube card?

[topcaser]

Write a ticket for that posterization. Everybody, who has this should do that. So they fix it much faster.

[leeperry]

Does any one use a dvi-hdmi cable on a sapphire,asus,powercolor or guCube card?

I have a 8ft monster ultra800 hdmi/dvi cable that works perfectly on sapphire 2400/2600 ;)

[karrih]

Write a ticket for that posterization. Everybody, who has this should do that. So they fix it much faster.

Sorry about that, it was some kind of error state. Now I have found better registry tweaks. Will test them more before I post them.

[dreaddan]

I have a 8ft monster ultra800 hdmi/dvi cable that works perfectly on sapphire 2400/2600 ;)

Thanks, sapphire it is then :)
It's typical I picked the HIS over the sapphire origanaly cuz it was discounted.:rolleyes:

[originalsnuffy]

There is a link (that I don't think works anymore) to "official" 8.43 (i.e. 7.11) drivers from ATI. I think they were aimed at some gamer issues.

Anyway, I can not recommend this version for the 2400 under Vista. I had horizontal banding lines on 4:3 material. I went back to the unofficial 7.11 drivers from Visiontek, and everything went back to "normal". As normal as my system is (still get unplanned crashes under Vista).

It seems strange to me that Vista crashes way more than XP ever did for me (I know Arfster has a different experience). The error message from the recovery always points to the ATI drivers (though usually it is running Cyberlink PowerDVD when it goes down).

I am hoping that Vista update 1 makes the whole system more "stable".

[arfster]

Hrrrm, weird.

One thing that might be different with my system is that the install I use for testing drivers is a totally clean one, ghosted back to a fresh install image before I test stuff. Given that ATI drivers typically don't uninstall properly (you can find files and registry remnants all over the place), this is perhaps the reason.

[karrih]

I have been using following registry tweaks for unofficial 8.43 with my Sapphire HD2400Pro, XP, Athlon64 3200, PDVD Ultra 3319f, DVBViewer 3.9.0.0 setup and end result is pretty good for SD. 1080i material at 720p 50Hz appears rather juddery though. Using 60Hz is better. Hopefully official drivers behave better, as 7.9 was smooth for 50Hz.

In CCC I have chosen VA deinterlacing, not enabled edge enhancing, denoise or pulldown detection. In DVBViewer I have selected 'unchanged' instead of renderers.

If someone wants to import the file below with regedit the GUID string must be replaced with correct one and reboot is necessary after import.


Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Video\{G UID}\0000]
"DXVA_NOHDDECODE"="0"
"TrDenoise"="0"
"VForce24FPS1080H264"="0"
"VForce24FPS1080VC1"="0"
"VForce24FPS1080MPEG2"="0"

[leeperry]

goddamn!!! they call it beta for a reason :D

I've had the videocard crash twice in 1 hour.

first time at the opening of a h264 apple trailer in PowerDVD, white stripes > bye bye :o

and now during a h264 movie in KMPlayer(with ffdshow) and Haali's Renderer.

white dots > crash.

I've got the "VPU recover" enabled and the card isn't overclocked, it worked perfectly yesterday.........no idea wth is goin' on here :(

I hope the card isn't faulty...

[Luar Azul]

Hi all,

I've been thinking of getting a 2600XT card to upgrade my HTPC (currently Athlon 3200+ with onboard Geforce 6150 graphics). The reason for this is that some (vey few) videos will not play (or play at 15fps or something with 100% cpu utilization). I don't intend to play games, so not really considering high end cards, but 2600xt is very affordable so I was considering it.

However, someone on another thread mentioned two things that might change my mind: 1) 2400 might actually work better than 2600 in terms of hardware acceleration for certain files and 2) CPU upgrade is probably a better way to improve speed.

To clarify what I want: I want to be able to play all files. I don't care if cpu utilization is 2% or 80%, since I don't really use the PC for anything else, but I want it to handle all files/codecs etc. And, once this is accomplished, I wouldn't mind some PQ improvements (but that's a secondary goal). Now, the price difference between 2400 pro and 2600 xt is so small that even if the performance gain is minimal, I would probably go for the 2600xt. But if 2400 is better for certain files/codecs, this changes the equation.

I've read (or skimmed through) most of the 104 pages but there doesn't appear to be a universally true answer (or none apparent to my newbie eyes anyway!) so I'd really appreciate any input here. Thanks!

Hi!! I was in the same situation that you are now and I decided to buy a 2400pro in July. Although the drivers have for the first time significantly improved in this 7.11 version, the fact is, no combination of software (decoders, OS, etc) allows you to play, for instance, mkv or certain ts files with acceleration (for instance many VC-1 streams don't decode properly), with PowerDVD being the only software/decoder that can make use of the Radeon 2x00 capabilities. So, except in the few cases where Power DVD decoder actually works (which are few) you will be stuck with software decoding.

Perhaps drivers will improve in the future AND other decoders will be able to use the high power of these cards. But it's a risk, and it can take months or years. I, for one, am still considering buying a new CPU. The problem is, we need either an Intel core 2 duo E6550 or an Athlon 6000+ to be sure that it will play ALL the files. To me that means an entirely new system (I have socket 939 :( ).

Hope that helps!

[leeperry]

I went back to the unofficial 7.11 drivers from Visiontek, and everything went back to "normal". As normal as my system is (still get unplanned crashes under Vista).

what kind of crashes ?
white dots/stripes ?!?!

which drivers ?
http://www.visiontek.com/teksupport/drivers/DOWNLOAD/8.43/XP_8.43_AGP.exe

I've got a PCI-E card :D

[leeperry]

hummmmmmmmmm official 7.10 make Haali's Renderer lock up when closing it, and official 8.43(installed manually) crash with white dots/stripes randomly.

I've tried to copy the BIN folder from 7.10 into 8.43, so the installer works fine.........but CCC refuses to launch :mad:

I guess I'll try to install the gecube 8.43 manually :rolleyes:

[snnoopypw]

hey guys,

I've got 2600XT (the passive one from Gigabyte) installed in my HTPC on MCE 2005.
I can't get full screen. it just won't work, when I'm in full screen, all I see is a black, when I return to "windowed" mode (either for PowerDVD or Media Center), everything seems fine.
Any fix on this?

[leeperry]

hey, is the "Ati HotKey Poller" service actually useful ?

I wonder if it's not what made my system unstable ?!

if I have it disabled, the "speedstep" of the card works fine, and I can still use hotkeys in CCC.....so what gives ?!

[krasoft]

CoreAVC H.264 Video Codec - Version 1.6.0.0 released
- Add: Rewrite of the DirectShow wrapper for better compability
- Add: Option to override other h.264/AVC decoders (Merit change)
- Add: Rewrite of the configuration dialog to be cleaner
- Add: RGB656 and RGB555 Output format support
- Fix: Resizing problems with MediaPortal's TS Reader filter
- Fix: Small others fixes

[satandole666]

Not to be a pure noob, but I don't have time to read the 104 pages of thread and it'll be hard to search for this.

I plan on getting one of the cards this thread is about (2400/2600 pro or xt, not sure yet). I'm building an HTPC to output to a 1080p Westy. Whats the difference between the 2400/2600 series in this application? I know about the gaming differences but I don't know if it will make a difference in day to day use in an HTPC.

Thanks.

[Valnar]

Not to be a pure noob, but I don't have time to read the 104 pages of thread and it'll be hard to search for this.

I plan on getting one of the cards this thread is about (2400/2600 pro or xt, not sure yet). I'm building an HTPC to output to a 1080p Westy. Whats the difference between the 2400/2600 series in this application? I know about the gaming differences but I don't know if it will make a difference in day to day use in an HTPC.

Thanks.

Buy a 2600 Pro. If you need PCI-E instead of AGP, you even have some passive options.

Robert

[one_2go]

Here is the successful formula for HTPC usage. Buy the best processor available Q6850 or E6850, then the card doesn't matter that much. I have an E6850 with a XpertVision 260Pro and I don't have to dick around with Hardware Acceleration or worry about not having the horse power to play clips.

No matter what card you have there will always be the situation where you need the raw power of the CPU for excellent playback. The 2600Pro with Arfsters excellent tweaked 7.9 and ExDeus script for setting the registry will give you peace of mind that you spend money wisely to get the optimum PQ.

[satandole666]

Already sitting on an E6600 @ 3.6ghz. I'm converting my gaming machine into an HTPC. I've seen the passive cooled 2600s...looks like I'll go for one of those.

Thanks.

[snnoopypw]

Here is the successful formula for HTPC usage. Buy the best processor available Q6850 or E6850, then the card doesn't matter that much. I have an E6850 with a XpertVision 260Pro and I don't have to dick around with Hardware Acceleration or worry about not having the horse power to play clips.

No matter what card you have there will always be the situation where you need the raw power of the CPU for excellent playback. The 2600Pro with Arfsters excellent tweaked 7.9 and ExDeus script for setting the registry will give you peace of mind that you spend money wisely to get the optimum PQ.
OMG...so wrong.
first of all, how are you going to effectivly cool such a processor? I doubt that It'll be passive (it could be with additional case fans, but then say goodbye to silence).
Second of all: waste of money.

It's way better to buy a decent graphics card like 2600XT which is proven in HD decoding (both H.264 and VC-1). It really minimizes the CPU load (to a few percent), and it costs a little more that $100.
With a card like that you can go for a cheaper Core 2 Duo or Pentium Dual-Core/AthlonXP, whatever.

[s174955]

OMG...so wrong.
first of all, how are you going to effectivly cool such a processor? I doubt that It'll be passive (it could be with additional case fans, but then say goodbye to silence).
Second of all: waste of money.

It's way better to buy a decent graphics card like 2600XT which is proven in HD decoding (both H.264 and VC-1). It really minimizes the CPU load (to a few percent), and it costs a little more that $100.
With a card like that you can go for a cheaper Core 2 Duo or Pentium Dual-Core/AthlonXP, whatever.

I soo disagree...
The fact this is a 100+ :eek: page thread tells enough about the problems with HA graphic cards.
My advice for anyone going to create a new HTPC is to buy an e8400 in Jan (fast and low powerusage), so you can do with onboard graphics.
Or to buy a media player like a Dvico Tvix.

By the way, anywhone who knows how to get VC1 / wmv files accelerated within PowerDVD on a AGP 2600pro. Posted this question some time ago, and I've seen others who also haven't got this working :(. AVC / H264 is working with HA on Vista 32, but not VC1 / WMV in PowerDVD 7.3 (any version). A solution is very welcome!

[Jan A]

Keep up the good work buys:cool:
Which mpeg2 decoder is best for MCE XP with 2600PRO card?
I have tried the nvidia with the 7.10 version but had horible pasteurisations in the reds. I just reinstalled MCE and found the 7.11 drivers (thanks for the link Arfster).
I am looking for a download of the ATI decoder but the only one i can find demands a CD with the ATI DVD software? Anyone have a link?

[ExDeus]

Here is the successful formula for HTPC usage. Buy the best processor available Q6850 or E6850, then the card doesn't matter that much. I have an E6850 with a XpertVision 260Pro and I don't have to dick around with Hardware Acceleration or worry about not having the horse power to play clips.

No matter what card you have there will always be the situation where you need the raw power of the CPU for excellent playback. The 2600Pro with Arfsters excellent tweaked 7.9 and ExDeus script for setting the registry will give you peace of mind that you spend money wisely to get the optimum PQ.
I'd agree that a fast dual-core CPU ensures you can watch the most processing-intensive 1080p AVC content with a software decoder, but I think most people's HTPCs, like mine, are the left-over, old-machine-when-I-upgraded variety.

I disagree overall, because maxing out the CPU processing power isn't a good value. Your statement is correct, that your approach is successful for HTPCs, it just isn't practical.

I have an Athlon64 3400+. I can't watch 1080p AVC or VC-1 with a software decoder, but I can watch 720p content. With a $100 upgrade for the GPU, I can now watch 1080p HD DVDs and Blurays with DXVA. I can watch some 1080p AVC files (MKV or TS) with DXVA, but some video encoded with x264 won't accelerate, and MKVs have the 20fps bug. So basically, I can't watch 1080p MKVs. Everything else is covered, and if I really wanted to see something, I could remux an MKV to TS.

All in all, $100 for a GPU, combined with just about any CPU, is a pretty good upgrade to watch most 1080p content, and get absolutely outstanding PQ, including hardware vector adaptive deinterlacing for 1080i HDTV.

[ExDeus]

By the way, anywhone who knows how to get VC1 / wmv files accelerated within PowerDVD on a AGP 2600pro. Posted this question some time ago, and I've seen others who also haven't got this working, like DuesEx :(. AVC / H264 is working with HA on Vista 32, but not VC1 / WMV in PowerDVD 7.3 (any version). A solution is very welcome!
Is that mangled misspelling referring to me?

The only VC-1 content I use is HD DVD or Bluray, in which case DXVA is working fine for me. I've never tried to get DXVA working with a VC-1 or WMV file from my HDD. The decoder selection in PowerDVD is different in File Mode vs. Disc Mode, so there may be issues with VC-1 in File Mode, I don't know.

[ExDeus]

Keep up the good work buys:cool:
Which mpeg2 decoder is best for MCE XP with 2600PRO card?
I have tried the nvidia with the 7.10 version but had horible pasteurisations in the reds. I just reinstalled MCE and found the 7.11 drivers (thanks for the link Arfster).
I am looking for a download of the ATI decoder but the only one i can find demands a CD with the ATI DVD software? Anyone have a link?
There are two ATI decoder packages. The one that requires a driver CD to install is the ATI DVD Decoder, which is licensed for use with copy-protected DVDs.

The MPEG2 decoder you want for MCE is part of the AVIVO decoder package, which also includes an H264 decoder. A new 7.11 version will be released soon, but I'm unaware of any issues with 7.10 on XP/MCE. See this post (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=11783224#post11783224) for info on finding the download at AMD's site. Search the thread for "avivo" to find info on selecting the decoder for use with MCE.

[equivalent]

All in all, $100 for a GPU, combined with just about any CPU, is a pretty good upgrade to watch most 1080p content, and get absolutely outstanding PQ, including hardware vector adaptive deinterlacing for 1080i HDTV. Aye, and a large part of that's been realised by the work of your good self and Arfster. It is appreciated.

The decoder selection in PowerDVD is different in File Mode vs. Disc Mode, so there may be issues with VC-1 in File Mode, I don't know. Yes, I seem to remember blu-ray VC-1's were the only ones which didn't play properly if I played the .m2ts main title (including via mymovies). As you say, probably a decoder issue.

[one_2go]

OMG...so wrong.
first of all, how are you going to effectivly cool such a processor? I doubt that It'll be passive (it could be with additional case fans, but then say goodbye to silence).
Second of all: waste of money.

It's way better to buy a decent graphics card like 2600XT which is proven in HD decoding (both H.264 and VC-1). It really minimizes the CPU load (to a few percent), and it costs a little more that $100.
With a card like that you can go for a cheaper Core 2 Duo or Pentium Dual-Core/AthlonXP, whatever.
It is obvious that you have not been running this type of setup. 1st of all the E6850 has a lower heat dissipation then its predecessors. In my shuttle PC the temperature of the cores is between 29 & 36 Celsius and that is with their silent fan.

Graphics cards suck because of their drivers, this thread tells you a lot about the interaction between the application and the hardware GFX vendor. There is none. PDVD to this day is still the only one that has implemented HA in their app and everyone is trying to use their drivers, tells a story doesn't it.

Then you come across the x.264 encoded clips that do not adhere to the h.264 specs and your HA acceleration is out of the window. Just read the complains from individuals about CPUs maxing out on certain clips. And I have yet to start on deinterlacing, VC1 & AVC encodes.

The most powerful CPU mortals can buy goes into my HTPC so I can select between software and hardware implementations.

[arfster]

And I have yet to start on deinterlacing,


While I largely agree with the rest of your post, here is where a CPU-only setup falls down. There is still no decent software offering for deinterlacing, and to a lesser degree adaptive denoising (the two are linked with the latest cards).

[one_2go]

I disagree overall, because maxing out the CPU processing power isn't a good value. Your statement is correct, that your approach is successful for HTPCs, it just isn't practical.
Oh it is very practical, I am too expensive I can't afford myself to spend the time finding the best bang for the buck. It is cheaper for me to plunk down the doe and spend the rest of the time watching what this puppy produces :D

We have yet to touch on the idea of having playback of HD DVD/Blu-ray outside of PWDVD. You need horse power for that and the way this whole playback from HDD is going it may come sooner then later. If PWDVD ever decided to disable their drivers being used by other apps we are again in the business of the CPU providing the essentials. Added to that again outside of PWDVD doing IVTC we are back to raw processing power.

You probably read Sarah99's thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=892527) on playback not using PWDVD just their h.264 decoder minimum requirement C2D. But again that depends on the good will of CL to let this h.264 driver being used outside the PWDVD app.

I appreciate your and Arfster's hard work by getting the top range processor I am just taking 1 variable out of the equation and never have to second guess myself, should have put down the extra 50 bucks for the CPU.

[one_2go]

While I largely agree with the rest of your post, here is where a CPU-only setup falls down. There is still no decent software offering for deinterlacing, and to a lesser degree adaptive denoising (the two are linked with the latest cards).
100% agreed that is why I have a 2600Pro in my shuttle, purely for the VA deinterlacing and if need to the DXVA function plus the scaling and overscan compensation.

Want to thank you again for your untiring work here. I am running at present your 7.9 tweaked drivers plus the ExDeus script 0.11 for the registry settings. I noticed some of your comments on the 7.11 drivers and you sounded promising regarding them. Any word if you have run yet across any show stoppers?

[arfster]

I noticed some of your comments on the 7.11 drivers and you sounded promising regarding them. Any word if you have run yet across any show stoppers?

Sorry, haven't had a look at it since, not enough time. Also, while they worked pretty well for me, and they seem to have fixed a fair few bugs in them, a lot of others found pretty nasty issues :-( If you can use them OK they seem to be easily the best yet though.

It's pretty much always like this with ATI it seems: there is no panacea driver, what works for one system will be useless on another. This might be down to poor driver uninstall routines, incompatibilites with motherboards, different card BIOSes, codec crud, etc etc. No way to tell :-(

[s174955]

Is that mangled misspelling referring to me?

The only VC-1 content I use is HD DVD or Bluray, in which case DXVA is working fine for me. I've never tried to get DXVA working with a VC-1 or WMV file from my HDD. The decoder selection in PowerDVD is different in File Mode vs. Disc Mode, so there may be issues with VC-1 in File Mode, I don't know.

Yes, I meant you. Sorry about that :o, I was confused with some game.
I've been following this thread some weeks, and read all of it, but it seems my memories are mixing things up a bit.

It seems that indeed the VC-1 from disc works well. I can't check that here, as I don't have a HD-DVD or Blue-ray drive. The problems I have are with VC-1 WMV files.

Heres a list of others with related issues:
RichardBerg (no HA for WMV):
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=11068020#post11068020
Mickwall (cpu usage quite high):
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=12166844#post12166844
12153859
Sugatam (can't get wmv files working with HA):
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=12045773#post12045773
Gaizka (problem with wmv):
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=12038476#post12038476
kk_nadella (problem with wvc-1):
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=11962292#post11962292

Arfster says wmv files don't work with HA in Vista:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=12153859#post
I believe him, but Windows XP is also fine for me.
If VC-1 in WMV files is possible with HA in any kind of windows version, I'd be very glad to know how.

[mickwall]

Then you come across the x.264 encoded clips that do not adhere to the h.264 specs and your HA acceleration is out of the window.

What is the problem here? Is it how x264 creates the encodes? or the options the people doing them choose? Or is the problem on our 2x00 cards??

Is there any chance that this will be addressed anytime soon?

If anyone has any links to further information that would be good. :)

Finally, is there anyway of telling the difference between a file that adheres and one that doesn't?? Anything in any of the tools out there??

[lilcasino]

I have a ATI 2600 xt using windows xp. It is hooked up to my tv via hdmi cable with the ati dongle. Picture is perfect but no sound. I have doubled checked that on sound properties that it is using ATI HD out but still no sound. Does anyone know any other settings that need to be changed? I have the latest ATI drivers.

[egon99]

Hello everybody,

I was wondering, has anyone managed to get hardware accelaration for H264 under Windows XP using 2600 Pro AGP? From posts here I see that it works under Vista but I haven't been able to utilize it in XP.

If you have please post your setup here and which version of drivers. :)

[dreaddan]

egon99: I managed to get my 2600 agp working ok in XP
I'm using the 8.43 drivers from either the visiontek or gucube i cant remmber which.
Do a search for my agp only thread for more info.

[egon99]

Dreaddan thanks for your reply.
I have tried both of Visiontek and Gecube latest drivers but still no H264 acceleration.
Also anything newer than Catalyst 7.8 breaks Direct3D and I have to replace ati3duag.dll with an older version to get 3D working.

[dreaddan]

egon, I only tested hl2 with a earlyer version.
What H264 are you trying with? and how are you trying to play the file(s)?

ATI say that 7.11 should be out this week.

dan

[egon99]

I have tried various files like the Apple movie trailers. I use MPC with the PowerDVD codec and the cpu usage is higher than CoreAVC. Also the DXVAChecker tool confirms that there is no H264 acceleration. (To use it under XP you must install EVR or download dxva2.dll and add it to system32.)

A quick way to see if you have Direct3D working is to run dxdiag.exe (Start->Run->dxdiag.exe) and do the Direct3D tests.

I am curious to see the official 7.11 although I am not optimistic since ATI doesn't seem to properly support AGP cards and leaves it to manufacturers.

[arfster]

I have tried various files like the Apple movie trailers. I use MPC with the PowerDVD codec and the cpu usage is higher than CoreAVC.

Did you select EVR in MPC's options? (only home cinema MPC version has that).

[dreaddan]

A quick way to see if you have Direct3D working is to run dxdiag.exe (Start->Run->dxdiag.exe) and do the Direct3D tests.


Just ran it - it says all sucessfull.

Not sure if this info is usefull to you in finding out which ver I'm running
Driver Packaging Version 8.43-071011a-054361E-ATI
Catalyst® Version 07.10
Provider ATI Technologies Inc.
2D Driver Version 6.14.10.6734
2D Driver File Path System/CurrentControlSet/Control/Video/{C9E7C47E-A713-4F4D-9C5C-E9C0A375E2F3}/0000
Direct3D Version 6.14.10.0540
OpenGL Version 6.14.10.7055
Catalyst® Control Center Version 2007.1011.2137.36853
AIW/VIVO WDM Driver Version 6.14.10.6238
AIW/VIVO WDM SP Driver Version 6.14.10.6238

[ToughRowToHoe]

I have a ATI 2600 xt using windows xp. It is hooked up to my tv via hdmi cable with the ati dongle. Picture is perfect but no sound. I have doubled checked that on sound properties that it is using ATI HD out but still no sound. Does anyone know any other settings that need to be changed? I have the latest ATI drivers.

I assume you have downloaded the ATI sound driver for XP? It is a separate driver required when installing in XP. (ATI uses the default Vista sound driver.) I assume you have or you wouldn't see the option in the sounds dialog. It is one of the more obvious potential solutions.

Alternatively, a number of people have had their motherboard's turn off their onboard sound when the ATI card is installed. Perhaps you've experienced this in the other direction? Check your bios to see if the option to enable system audio device (under whatever name) is set to "automatic". If so, try to select "on" or whatever (hopefully its an option).

[egon99]

Did you select EVR in MPC's options? (only home cinema MPC version has that).

Yes, when I select EVR (Vista/ .Net3) then the effects are similar to VRM9 which I normally use. If I select EVR Custom Pres. I get stuck frames while audio plays normally. In both cases the Pin Info of the renderer reports the video as YUY2, so no DVXA.


Driver Packaging Version 8.43-071011a-054361E-ATI
Catalyst® Version 07.10
Provider ATI Technologies Inc.
2D Driver Version 6.14.10.6734
2D Driver File Path System/CurrentControlSet/Control/Video/{C9E7C47E-A713-4F4D-9C5C-E9C0A375E2F3}/0000
Direct3D Version 6.14.10.0540
OpenGL Version 6.14.10.7055
Catalyst® Control Center Version 2007.1011.2137.36853
AIW/VIVO WDM Driver Version 6.14.10.6238
AIW/VIVO WDM SP Driver Version 6.14.10.6238


We have the exact same version of drivers except that in Direct3D I have 6.14.10.0510 because I have replaced ati3duag.dll with a previous version. However H264 didn't work even before the replacement. Also I don't have WDM Drivers installed since my card is not VIVO. I have the Sapphire 2600Pro 512MB AGP card which one do you have?

[Derek K.]

Could someone with gigabyte's passively cooled 2600xt please measure how hight the heatsink sticks up above the card?

I searched this thread but didn't see a measurement. I'd like to use one in my silverstone lc-10 case but I only have about 3/4" of clearance.

Thanks!

[arfster]

Yes, when I select EVR (Vista/ .Net3) then the effects are similar to VRM9 which I normally use. If I select EVR Custom Pres. I get stuck frames while audio plays normally. In both cases the Pin Info of the renderer reports the video as YUY2, so no DVXA.


Sorry, just read back and realised you use XP. There's no point using EVR outside Vista, because you can't get acceleration without Vista's DXVA2 architecture.

Can anyone else get XP h264 acceleration outside PDVD? Of course, it may just be the AGP factor....

[snnoopypw]

Could someone with gigabyte's passively cooled 2600xt please measure how hight the heatsink sticks up above the card?

I searched this thread but didn't see a measurement. I'd like to use one in my silverstone lc-10 case but I only have about 3/4" of clearance.

Thanks!
it fits perfectly in LC17. hope that helped.
The case is closed and set up so I really can't open it just to measure the height.

[arfster]

Weird update to the ATI crisis hotfix drivers (aka 7.11 in all but official name): My 2600xt was seemingly detected as a 2400pro. This explains why colorvibrance and fleshtone are set to 0 at least.

Can't for the life of me figure out why it did this, as the device ID of a 2600XT is correct in the install files.


Edit: tweaked them so they actually work, and now it noticed I actually have a 2600xt. As expected, color/flesh now default to 25. Denoise/detail still 0 default though.

They've fixed the h264 deinterlacing selection bug though - before when set to auto it would always bob, now it VAs (probably will bob on a 2400).

Odd issue with mpeg2 1080i: it seems to use no more gpu with VA than bob. I think they've maybe broken it, but don't have enough 1080i files to test with. However, they've fixed the judder bug with evr+cyberlink+1080i mpeg2, that's been around since cat7.8.

[xxxstarmanxxx]

Sorry, just read back and realised you use XP. There's no point using EVR outside Vista, because you can't get acceleration without Vista's DXVA2 architecture.

Can anyone else get XP h264 acceleration outside PDVD? Of course, it may just be the AGP factor....


Using a pcie sapphire 2600 xt i can confirm that HA is working in MPC Home cinema providing DPVD's avc/h.264 decoder is loaded as an external filter and 'forced' to prefer.

At the mo HA is fine for 720p content in x264 when encoded strictly to the white book - but I am finding most 1080p content in x264 to still be cpu intensive - allthough on my e6300 dualcore its steady at around 60% usage on both cores.

Using the same x264 test stream in Nero showtime however shows very little usage on 1 core (arouns 10%) - and heavy usage on the second (60-80%)...........so i'm still not sure which decoder to use through MPC.....

Cheers for all your work on this m8!

J.

[arfster]

Hello, hello: I just spotted ModeMPEG2_VLD. That wasn't there before. Looks like the result of the new PDVD build, the mpeg2 codec supports it now. The card still doesn't though.

[mickwall]

At the mo HA is fine for 720p content in x264 when encoded strictly to the white book - but I am finding most 1080p content in x264 to still be cpu intensive - allthough on my e6300 dualcore its steady at around 60% usage on both cores.


How is it possible to tell if a x264 file complies to the "white book"? is there a utility you can use on the files? or is it a case of play it and see what happens to your cpu/gpu usage? :mad:

[Derek K.]

it fits perfectly in LC17. hope that helped.
The case is closed and set up so I really can't open it just to measure the height.

Thanks!

The lc17 it about 3/8" taller than the lc10. Do you remember how much clearance yo have?

[Yuffie]

Hello all,

I hope you guys can help me with my situation.. I must admit before hand that I have no read all 100 pages and came up with nothing searching.. but this forum seems to be the right direction.

Yesterday I bought and installed my new Visiontek ATI Radeon HD 2600XT... AGP 8x powered 512mb.. As most of you know there is alot of problems with the AGP support for this card.. mainly the drivers that are provided by Visiontek do not support hardware acceleration with D3D and the drivers on the ATI website are not compatible with the card (states that card is not found).

Is there any drivers out there or any method to have this card working on a AGP system??

I have set up everything on my BIOS.. but havnt updated it yet..

Here are my specs..

Windows XP Pro
Asus Nvidia nforce2 mobo
AMD Athlon XP 3200 over clocked
1gb ram
Visiontek ATI Radeon HD 2600XT AGP 512mb


Things I have done -

Made sure to set the correct settings on the BIOS
Reinstalled Catalyst that was included on CD and updated drivers from the VisionTek website.
*ATI's drivers from www.ati.com do not work*
Reinstalled DirectX 9

[xxxstarmanxxx]

How is it possible to tell if a x264 file complies to the "white book"? is there a utility you can use on the files? or is it a case of play it and see what happens to your cpu/gpu usage? :mad:

I use this Mediainfo - Search google - as I cant post link (dumb)

It shows info on the h.264 stream so you get an idea what the encoder of the file was up to. Especially good if you need to find out whats going on with a 'scene' release.

J.

[Rew452]

Has anyone heard when ATI will release Cat 7.11????

They seem over due.

Rew

[Yuffie]

seems like ATi doesnt give a crap about their AGP version of the card.. I wanted a good card for playing Mythos but I dont think this is the card for me... it doesnt even support direct 3d right now...



unless someone has a fix? :(

[mickwall]

I use this Mediainfo - Search google - as I cant post link (dumb)

It shows info on the h.264 stream so you get an idea what the encoder of the file was up to. Especially good if you need to find out whats going on with a 'scene' release.

J.

Yeah, i use that, but what am i specifically looking for? Or are we saying that anything created with the following doesn't follow the standard?

Writing application : mkvmerge v2.0.2 ('You're My Flame') built on Feb 21 2007 23:40:55
Writing library : libebml v0.7.7 + libmatroska v0.8.1
Video #0
Codec : MPEG-4 AVC
Codec/Info : MPEG4 ISO advanced profile

[ANDYK48]

Hello guys,

Just wondering if there will be any significant picture improvement by replacing an ATI HD2600XT with the new ATI HD3850......

[egon99]

seems like ATi doesnt give a crap about their AGP version of the card.. I wanted a good card for playing Mythos but I dont think this is the card for me... it doesnt even support direct 3d right now...

Use the fix described here:
http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33904903

I have the latest Gecube drivers installed and I have to use ati3duag.dll V6.14.10.0510 from Catalyst 7.7 for Direct3D to work.

[Yuffie]

Use the fix described here:


I have the latest Gecube drivers installed and I have to use ati3duag.dll V6.14.10.0510 from Catalyst 7.7 for Direct3D to work.

can I have a link to the latest gecube drivers? thanks

[ssaeed]

guys,
I just purchased the HIS HD 2600XT Fan 512MB GDDR3 AGP card. Does anyone else have this brand and are drivers an issue with it as well? I plan on using this in my HTPC for bluray/hddvd decode as well as an occasional game such as FEAR or COD4.

Thanks

[egon99]

can I have a link to the latest gecube drivers? thanks

http://www.gecube.com/software-driver.php

direct link:
http://gecube.ehosting.com.tw/download/ATI843_XP.zip

[doctorcilantro]

I just instal