ATI Radeon HD 2X00 (2400,2600,2900) series owners thread [Text View] - Page 14

arfster

11-24-07, 06:54 AM

Which 2600XT would provide better HTPC performance, one with MORE memory, or FASTER memory? Looking at the array of available 2600XT's, I notice they're found with 512MB of GDDR3 memory, and also with 256MB of GDDR4 memory, but I don't see any offerings with 512MB of GDDR4. So then, which of those two options do you think would provide the best HTPC performance in Vista, 512 DDR3, or 256 DDR4? Or is it a wash?

Above the 2600pro, it doesn't really matter. All you're doing is increasing the shaderpower available, but there's already more than enough to do everything you need. Perhaps a 2600XT above a 2600pro is just needed for mpeg2 1080i scaled to 2560*1600, denoised/sharpened etc. My 2600XT 256mb DDR3 can do that, so anything more is a waste afaics.

FamilyMan

11-24-07, 07:09 AM

Still looking for a solution to Avivo "null" install. Gave up last night, this morning checked the event log and found:

0000000016: 2007-11-23 22:07:40:331 Exception <atixcode.dll>: Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {981145A7-E08E-48F3-A1C4-52C28BCAAAF9} failed due to the following error: 80040154.
Exception Called by: ATI.ACE.CLI.Aspect.TransCode.Graphics.Shared.TC_Component::C heckTrancodeComObject processID:05548 threadID:(CCCThreadNew:Wizard) domainName:(CCC.exe ) assemblyName:(CLI.Aspect.TransCode.Graphics.Shared, Version=2.0.2820.26396, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=90ba9c70f846762e)

BTW, I didn't insert the smilies they're translated based on the cut/paste from the event viewer - interesting.

leeperry

11-24-07, 07:23 AM

Which 2600XT would provide better HTPC performance, one with MORE memory, or FASTER memory?

GDDR4 doesn't make ANY sense on a 2600...the GPU is way too crippled.

and 512mb is the same.

get a 256/ddr3 and u'll be good to go ;)

FamilyMan

11-24-07, 07:57 AM

Would someone please check the folder structure "C:\ATI\SUPPORT\7-11_vista_xcode_54440\Packages" directory (or wherever you expanded to) and see if there are any subfolders there. Mine's empty thus my problem with Avivo null install.

I've d/l'ed the package twice with no luck. D/l is the proper sized based on the size listed on AMD's site.

Thanks

karrih

11-24-07, 08:08 AM

It actually affects the 2400? I'd be surprised

Hrrm, that is weird. What OS is this?

Yep I need to set TrDenoise because without it moving parts of image have sort of ghosts. I don't know about default interlacing because I normally have VA set from CCC and when it seems to be too much for some video material I use profile to change to MA.

I have XP and have chosen not to use VMR in DVBViewer.

saintsaints

11-24-07, 08:10 AM

xxxstarmanxxx

11-24-07, 08:25 AM

Hi all -

I'm currently having an annoying problem with vista 32 and my hd2600xt sapphire card (pcie).

I have the latest build of PDVD installed with the november patch.
Under MPC home cinema i can only get 720p/1080p to render using the evr custom setting.

Using the standard evr render dispalys a black screen with 720/1080 x264.
I would like to use the standard evr render as it does not hit my cpu at all for 720p encodes - using evr custom gives me a cpu load of around 15-20% on an e6300 core duo setup.

Have PDVD 'tweaked' their latest builds to prevent ppl using the HA codec outside of PDVD? - or is this a setup issue?

Thanks in advance

J.

arfster

11-24-07, 08:48 AM

Using the standard evr render dispalys a black screen with 720/1080 x264.
I would like to use the standard evr render as it does not hit my cpu at all for 720p encodes - using evr custom gives me a cpu load of around 15-20% on an e6300 core duo setup.

That's the standard x264 acceleration bug. EVR custom doesn't do acceleration so no problem.

arfster

11-24-07, 09:02 AM

I have XP and have chosen not to use VMR in DVBViewer.

At a guess, it sounds like pdvd's overlay may be stopping expansion. I use Vista so can't test, but I know that any renderer where the mixer is disabled can't do the default expansion.

airmark

11-24-07, 09:44 AM

The problem is acceleration of x264-created files only works with old-ish versions of the cyberlink codec - as in the thread posted above (and then only sometimes). The h264 codec in recent versions of PDVD Ultra will just do the 20fps bug, or blackscreen with higher res stuff.

I'm using 7.3.2605, which is the version suggested as the best by most people. If another one is better, could you please advise?

In any case, I think it's time to switch to plan B, which is converting to another format that will play with HA within powerdvd (or any other player, but something that will use HA). What would you recommend?

I hope Plan B works, so that I don't have to go to Plan C (which is upgrade the CPU). :)

arfster

11-24-07, 10:20 AM

I'm using 7.3.2605, which is the version suggested as the best by most people. If another one is better, could you please advise?

Sorry, no idea - I just use the CPU.

In any case, I think it's time to switch to plan B, which is converting to another format that will play with HA within powerdvd (or any other player, but something that will use HA). What would you recommend?

Any other h264 encoder works - I've done stuff via nero recode and it accelerates perfectly. Going to be some quality loss though, unless you have access to the original.

videobruce

11-24-07, 10:23 AM

I have the same question. My 2600XT doesn't seem to be passing e.g. DTS, or at least PowerDVD doesn't see it as being able to do so. This, of course, makes it completely worthless. I'm not sure if it's a powerdvd issue or an audio driver issue. PowerDVD doesn't show SP/DIF output or HDMI as an option, it only seems to see the ATI HDMI out device as a stereo out device. Pretty obnoxious, hopefully I'm just missing something obvious because otherwise the HDMI audio functionality is completely worthless. I guess no one uses the audio pass through here...... If you look through the Newegg customer reviews there were many entries about this.

Does M$ Net Framework have to installed on the computer to install the ATI drivers?

airmark

11-24-07, 12:20 PM

Sorry, no idea - I just use the CPU.

Any other h264 encoder works - I've done stuff via nero recode and it accelerates perfectly. Going to be some quality loss though, unless you have access to the original.

Hmm, in my case, I haven't been able to accelerate anything else except .ts files within PowerDVD. Should I try to convert mkv files to .ts?

Mastiff

11-24-07, 03:22 PM

bawb3t3a

11-24-07, 03:53 PM

Hmm, in my case, I haven't been able to accelerate anything else except .ts files within PowerDVD. Should I try to convert mkv files to .ts?

Cant his be done?
right now renaming to avi with Haali installed wroks but I get 20fps coming and going.

edit: found my answer in a tool called MKV2TS works converting to TS but frame rates aren't smooth in powerdvd.

sumster

11-24-07, 05:35 PM

try to disable "combined writing" in windows

worked for me :D

Thanks, I will try that. The number of freezes decreased when I upgrade my drivers from 7.9, but they still occur occasionally.

Thanks for the trip regarding the CCC "Notify" error. I have a CL Audigy 2 soundcard. Haven't touched the drivers lately and the notify error only came up after Catalyst 7.9. Very strange.

ssaeed

11-24-07, 05:38 PM

I didn't see Combined Write option in my Bios or the ATI CCC, im using a MSI K8N Neo Platinum board. Just drove to Fry's and picked up an Abit IP35 Pro and C2D6750 and 2Gigs RAM and a Radeon 3850. Im determined to get this system to work!

equivalent

11-24-07, 06:09 PM

Turn off combined writing in windows: Right-click on desktop, properties, then the tab sequence: settings,Advanced, Troubleshoot

Thanks v much for the tip, leeperry!

originalsnuffy

11-24-07, 06:22 PM

I thing I saw two related questions. First, can you pass DTS through Power DVD?

I generally have only passed 5.1 AC3 spdif though power dvd. But that is because I don't even try to change the audio menus for HD DVD's anymore...which is mainly what I use power DVD for. I can and have sent DTS out through other players over spdif.

Second, no to my knowledge one can only send stereo over HDMI directly. That is why I still use the spdif output. Older versions of PowerDVD seem to support spdif; newer ones seem to have problems as far as I can tell.

With regards to Power DVD crashing...if I look at PowerDVD cross ways, it crashes. That is just how this product is. In general, the less I mess with the settings the better things are.

xxxstarmanxxx

11-24-07, 07:28 PM

Cant his be done?
right now renaming to avi with Haali installed wroks but I get 20fps coming and going.

edit: found my answer in a tool called MKV2TS works converting to TS but frame rates aren't smooth in powerdvd.

Yes it can be done - Mkvewizard will demux the audio and video.
Then its just a case of remuxing to ts using elecard xmuxer pro - this does not produce an accelerated 1080p though :( but works fine for 720p :)

J.

sumster

11-24-07, 07:57 PM

j0j081

11-25-07, 02:42 AM

I bought the 2600 Pro 512MB AGP for what I thought was a good deal at Best Buy on black friday (only $99) BUT I am thinking about taking it back already. Everytime I change resolutions the driver crashes. I've tried all the avail working drivers and each does it. Besides that it's not a bad card even UT3 is playable but this is a serious bug. I am running Vista which probably doesn't help but my previous Nvidia card worked fine. DVI connection and should be ample power from a 430W Antec. Any ideas?

ssaeed

11-25-07, 02:45 AM

videobruce

11-25-07, 08:11 AM

Does M$ Net Framework have to installed on the computer to install the ATI drivers? Anyone?

xxxstarmanxxx

11-25-07, 08:11 AM

I seem to have sorted my problem out with x264 encoded mkv files - vista 32 - and mpc hc.

I rolled back to cat 7.8 with my card and have noticed the following.

ALL 720p x264 encoded files get hardware accelerated without any problems - I dont see a cpu usage on both cores of my e6300 rising above 3% using standard evr render (not custom).
HOWEVER if I then run a 1080p x264 encoded mkv file through mpc - it fails to render the video AND breaks the evr render even after a reboot - which then prevents 720p from displaying also - and requires a reinstall of the driver from scratch.

These symptoms have so far duplicated for me in cat's 7.7 - 7.11.

So I'll stick to 7.8 and run 720p encodes for the time being - upscaled via my lcd to 1080p@60hz till this thing gets fixed!

If there is anyone out there that doesn't need the card for any games use - under vista 32 you can uninstall ati cat manager - reboot - allow vista to use its own driver for your card. Under mpc hc - (with PDVD installed) - 720p accelerates fine - no need for ati driver instalation at all. That might be of help to some ppl out there using htpc setups.
I dare say xp's own drivers for the card (if its detected correctly???) would accelerate in the same way.

Thanks for the fab thread everyone - I check it every day lol!

J.

airmark

11-25-07, 02:48 PM

I finally gave up trying to make HA work and bit the bullet and bought an X2 4200+ to upgrade the 3200+ I currently have. We'll see how that goes when the CPU arrives.

sumster

11-25-07, 05:45 PM

uolsona

11-25-07, 07:47 PM

I have a Velocity Micro HTPC feeding a Onkyo 905 (HDMI Through) to a Samsung LN-T4671. The HTPC is Vista32 Ultimate with a 2600XT card.

One of the options on the 4671 allows adjustment of the HDMI black level, but in order for this option to be available for adjustment the panel needs to get a RGB signal.

Currently it seems that the HTPC is not outputting a RGB signal and I can't figure out how this is changed? Is this controled through CCC or in the color management in the Vista cotrol panel? Any specific ideas on how to correct this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

-N

ssaeed

11-25-07, 09:17 PM

uolsna,
By RGB signal they are referring to the dsub/VGA connection. Since that is an analog RGB signal you can tune the analog to digital converters to dial in your black level. With digital signals such as HDMI you can't do that hence the options are greyed out on the TV. Hope that helps.

ExDeus

11-25-07, 10:31 PM

Am I correct that these cards do NOT pass 5.1 or 7.1 audio thru the DVI/HDMI out??

I have the same question. My 2600XT doesn't seem to be passing e.g. DTS, or at least PowerDVD doesn't see it as being able to do so. This, of course, makes it completely worthless. I'm not sure if it's a powerdvd issue or an audio driver issue. PowerDVD doesn't show SP/DIF output or HDMI as an option, it only seems to see the ATI HDMI out device as a stereo out device. Pretty obnoxious, hopefully I'm just missing something obvious because otherwise the HDMI audio functionality is completely worthless.
The HD2000 cards do pass 5.1 DTS/DD; they don't pass 5.1 PCM.

In order to set the output to SPDIF, you have to stop all media in PDVD. Try opening PDVD without opening a file, then look at the audio options. Your default Windows audio should also be set to the HD Audio device.

ExDeus

11-25-07, 10:33 PM

arghh this is annoying. Did a fresh install of WinXP-32 and installed the HIS 2600XT drivers, got powerdvd running with the latest patch and hardware accel shows up when I play a VOB file from a SD-DVD but a HD-DVD ripped WMV1 file shows the box as grey and unchecked... :-( and the video stutters like crazy with PowerDVD at 100% CPU.

Is this normal? I dont have my LG drive yet so cant check if its the same for a HD-DVD or Bluray.
In the CCC > Avivo Video > All Settings, is WMV acceleration enabled?

If you don't have the setting available, run my reg tweak program, then reboot.

ExDeus

11-25-07, 10:41 PM

Use this registry hacks with official 7.11, XP32, 2600XT:

Replace GUID with yours and double click the file.

Why confuse people with yet more configurations? The settings determined by arfster and applied by my program are still correct. The script adds the settings that still need to be added, and also adds ones that apply to other driver versions. There's no harm in applying them all, and in yet unknown ways, may still help.

Unless it's found that one of the settings breaks functionality in a new driver version, there's no sense in trying to figure out which settings are the 'necessary ones' each time a new driver is released.

Install drivers, run my program, or add a reg file instead, and forget it.

ExDeus

11-25-07, 10:49 PM

I just upgraded to a Visiontek pcie 2600pro and when I play a hd-dvd movie from PD Ultra, it plays at 4x3 though when I play a dvd it plays fine widescreen on my tv. I'm using the component out to my Toshiba hdtv. I hooked up an lcd using dvi and it plays widescreen fine also. What can be the problem with the 2600 since a 8600gt I also have plays fine on the Toshiba hdtv?
Presuming you've checked the aspect ratio setting in PDVD, it's possible a copy protection scheme, i.e., Macrovision, is getting in the way. Try running AnyDVD HD.

I can't quite tell from your post exactly what's happening. Is a widescreen HD DVD letterboxed to 4x3? Squeezed to 4x3? What plays fine in widescreen when connected via DVI? The DVD or the HD DVD? What resolution are you running? Are you sure the HD DVD you have is 16x9 anamorphic?

ExDeus

11-25-07, 10:51 PM

Hmm, in my case, I haven't been able to accelerate anything else except .ts files within PowerDVD. Should I try to convert mkv files to .ts?
Yes, depending on whom you believe, it seems the problem is the combination of the x264-encoded video in an MKV container. Converting to TS is worth a try.

Here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=12229674#post12229674) are my results with H264 DXVA.

ExDeus

11-25-07, 11:02 PM

Problem: I can't get the VForceMaxResSize set on my HD2600 on Vista 32 bit, so I don't see HD all over the screen in 1080i (@24, if that matters). The script says that the third and fourth setup it finds most likely is the correct card, but I have tried the VBS script on both, and it doesn't do anything, it seems. This was with driver 7.10. I have also tried the drivers from the Visiontek page linked to earlier, but they didn't seem to work as they should (and yes, I did download the PCI-E drivers, even though the page linked to AGP driveres). Anybody got an idea what I'm going wrong?
The VForceMaxResSize setting needs to be changed to allow 1080p over the full screen, not 1080i. Are you sure you have the problem diagnosed correctly?

Have you tried running the program and installing the tweaks for each card it finds that looks correct, whether the program says it is likely the correct card or not?

My script shows a dialog box at the end with the values for each setting. Are you seeing the correct values there?

Does your desktop fill the screen? If not, you just need to use the CCC to scale the screen area.

ExDeus

11-25-07, 11:08 PM

Thanks for the trip regarding the CCC "Notify" error. I have a CL Audigy 2 soundcard. Haven't touched the drivers lately and the notify error only came up after Catalyst 7.9. Very strange.
I'm getting the Notify error on two machines, neither of which has a SoundBlaster card. One used to, a long time ago, the other never has.

ExDeus

11-25-07, 11:12 PM

I guess no one uses the audio pass through here...... If you look through the Newegg customer reviews there were many entries about this.

Does M$ Net Framework have to installed on the computer to install the ATI drivers?

Anyone?
AFAIK, no, the .NET Framework is not required for the drivers, but .Net 2.0 is required for the CCC.

ExDeus

11-25-07, 11:15 PM

is it better to pass audio through the HDMI port or via SPDIF/Toslink in terms of load on the system? My receiver can take either and currently with my new install (3750 Radeon) and Catalys 7.11 the HDMI audio shows up as a yellow question mark in the system listing.
They should be equally non/taxing to your system. SPDIF outputs the stream as-is, or the Radeon has an audio device (I believe in hardware) to convert the SPDIF stream to the proper format for HDMI.

videobruce

11-25-07, 11:26 PM

Net 2.0 is required for the CCC. Ok, I remember now. Any idea why and is CCC really necessary for HDTV use as I don't like installing NF?
BTW; thanks for the audio issue answer.

jvrobert

11-26-07, 12:49 AM

The HD2000 cards do pass 5.1 DTS/DD; they don't pass 5.1 PCM.

In order to set the output to SPDIF, you have to stop all media in PDVD. Try opening PDVD without opening a file, then look at the audio options. Your default Windows audio should also be set to the HD Audio device.

I tried that - no matter what I did PowerDVD did not recognize the HDMI audio device as being a digital device capable of DD/DTS. My guess is it's PowerDVD. I am truly sick of that product, it's the worst piece of crap imaginable. Seriously, why does it continue to want me to "Upgrade", "Activate", etc... after I've already done so? And that's the least problem I've had with this ridiculous software. It's sickening.

Not that I'm bitter...

s174955

11-26-07, 02:15 AM

arghh this is annoying. Did a fresh install of WinXP-32 and installed the HIS 2600XT drivers, got powerdvd running with the latest patch and hardware accel shows up when I play a VOB file from a SD-DVD but a HD-DVD ripped WMV1 file shows the box as grey and unchecked... :-( and the video stutters like crazy with PowerDVD at 100% CPU.

Is this normal? I dont have my LG drive yet so cant check if its the same for a HD-DVD or Bluray.

HI ssaeed,
if you have this working again with HA, could you please post how you resolved it? I'm dealing with the same issue.

egon99

11-26-07, 03:21 AM

Does M$ Net Framework have to installed on the computer to install the ATI drivers?

If you want to avoid .Net Framework you can install the Ati Tray Tools (http://www.guru3d.com/article/atitraytools/189/) instead of CCC. They offer advanced options without requiring .Net.

ilaps

11-26-07, 03:32 AM

Hi everybody

I have a HD2400, and I installed 7.11 on a fresh configuration. Everything OK, except the definition problem, as mentionned in TOM's Hardware: Let's start with the 2400 PRO. This is one hell of an issue, as all of the 1920x1080 content was played back at a maximum resolution of somewhere around 1440 pixels wide. This means that if your desktop resolution is set to more than 1440 pixels wide, the 2400 PRO would display HD content in a box with a black border around it.
Has SO tested this issue with the new 7.11 ATI drivers?

xxxstarmanxxx

11-26-07, 03:39 AM

Update on my HA woes under xp32 -

With the latest cat 7.11 every 720p mkv file i have is accelerated (dvxa) using evr in mpc hc.

It seems the problem with the blank screen was not broken render issues - but an incorrect deinterlace setting in ccc. I had it overidden to vector adaptive - checked it back to 'use automatic deinterlacing' and all is fine!
======================================

Pin in info for mkv file:

Filter : CyberLink H.264/AVC Decoder (PDVD7.x) - CLSID : {F2E3D920-0F9B-4319-BE87-EB94CCEB6C09}

- Connected to:

CLSID: {0A68C3B5-9164-4A54-AFAF-995B2FF0E0D4}
Filter: M:\HD VIDEO\file HD.mkv
Pin: English (Video 1)

- Connection media type:

Video: MPEG4 Video (H264) 1280x528 (40:17) 23.98fps

AM_MEDIA_TYPE:
majortype: MEDIATYPE_Video {73646976-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}
subtype: Unknown GUID Name {31435641-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}
formattype: FORMAT_MPEG2_VIDEO {E06D80E3-DB46-11CF-B4D1-00805F6CBBEA}
bFixedSizeSamples: 1
bTemporalCompression: 0
lSampleSize: 1
cbFormat: 193

VIDEOINFOHEADER:
rcSource: (0,0)-(0,0)
rcTarget: (0,0)-(0,0)
dwBitRate: 0
dwBitErrorRate: 0
AvgTimePerFrame: 417083

VIDEOINFOHEADER2:
dwInterlaceFlags: 0x00000000
dwCopyProtectFlags: 0x00000000
dwPictAspectRatioX: 40
dwPictAspectRatioY: 17
dwControlFlags: 0x00000000
dwReserved2: 0x00000000

MPEG2VIDEOINFO:
dwStartTimeCode: 0
cbSequenceHeader: 61
dwProfile: 0x00000064
dwLevel: 0x00000033
dwFlags: 0x00000004

BITMAPINFOHEADER:
biSize: 40
biWidth: 1280
biHeight: 528
biPlanes: 1
biBitCount: 24
biCompression: AVC1
biSizeImage: 0
biXPelsPerMeter: 0
biYPelsPerMeter: 0
biClrUsed: 0
biClrImportant: 0

Pin out info for the same file under evr (dpvd):

Filter : CyberLink H.264/AVC Decoder (PDVD7.x) - CLSID : {F2E3D920-0F9B-4319-BE87-EB94CCEB6C09}

- Connected to:

CLSID: {FA10746C-9B63-4B6C-BC49-FC300EA5F256}
Filter: Enhanced Video Renderer
Pin: EVR Input0

- Connection media type:

Video: DXVA 1280x528 23.98fps

AM_MEDIA_TYPE:
majortype: MEDIATYPE_Video {73646976-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}
subtype: MEDIASUBTYPE_NV12 {3231564E-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}
formattype: FORMAT_VideoInfo2 {F72A76A0-EB0A-11D0-ACE4-0000C0CC16BA}
bFixedSizeSamples: 1
bTemporalCompression: 0
lSampleSize: 518400
cbFormat: 112

VIDEOINFOHEADER:
rcSource: (0,0)-(1280,528)
rcTarget: (0,0)-(1280,528)
dwBitRate: 0
dwBitErrorRate: 0
AvgTimePerFrame: 417083

VIDEOINFOHEADER2:
dwInterlaceFlags: 0x00000081
dwCopyProtectFlags: 0x00000001
dwPictAspectRatioX: 80
dwPictAspectRatioY: 33
dwControlFlags: 0x00000000
dwReserved2: 0x00000000

BITMAPINFOHEADER:
biSize: 40
biWidth: 1280
biHeight: 528
biPlanes: 1
biBitCount: 12
biCompression: dxva
biSizeImage: 1013760
biXPelsPerMeter: 0
biYPelsPerMeter: 0
biClrUsed: 0
biClrImportant: 0
=============

It seems on my system that the evr render fails if vector adaptive deinterlacing is activated under ccc. The only problem now is that i've got so used to using the evr custom mode - I feel the picture is much softer using the card alone under evr and not being able to select some sharpening filters. Does anyone here know if any filter can be applied in HA evr mode - or is this something i'm gonna have to incorparate in my encodes???

All the best

J.

j0j081

11-26-07, 06:00 AM

See the quote on top of this page...

Turn off combined writing in windows: Right-click on desktop, properties, then the tab sequence: settings,Advanced, Troubleshoot

Thanks v much for the tip, leeperry!

I don't seem to have that option in Vista. I went to the troubelshooting page, and it says the current driver doesn't allow changes to the advanced hardware settings. I don't think I have that option in my bios either but I'll check. Is there some other way to disable combined writing? maybe a program like RivaTuner.

ExDeus

11-26-07, 06:23 AM

Ok, I remember now. Any idea why and is CCC really necessary for HDTV use as I don't like installing NF?
BTW; thanks for the audio issue answer.
Because the CCC is a .NET 2.0 application built with "managed code", meaning it relies on certain .NET libraries (DLLs) and the .NET runtime to execute. It's similar to a Java application requiring a Java virtual machine ("Java Runtime Environment" / "JRE") to be installed on your system. The .NET runtime is another virtual machine.

ExDeus

11-26-07, 06:25 AM

Hi everybody

I have a HD2400, and I installed 7.11 on a fresh configuration. Everything OK, except the definition problem, as mentionned in TOM's Hardware:
Has SO tested this issue with the new 7.11 ATI drivers?
You've applied the VForceMaxResize tweak? See my sig. Run the program. Reboot. Retry.

airmark

11-26-07, 06:36 AM

Yes, depending on whom you believe, it seems the problem is the combination of the x264-encoded video in an MKV container. Converting to TS is worth a try.

Here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=12229674#post12229674) are my results with H264 DXVA.

Thanks - I had read this post already (unfortunately I didn't have the same success with DXVA - it didn't work in any combination).

how would you go about converting mkv to ts?

littlecharva

11-26-07, 07:40 AM

Apologies for not having read this whole thread, but I've read quite a few posts on this forum in search of answers, and I couldn't face all 111 pages!

I'm thinking about buying a HD2400 Pro card.

My system is:
Pentium 4 2.6GHz
512Mb DDR RAM
NVidia GeForce 420 (or something)

I want to be able to play 720p content. I've tried playing some 720p trailers I downloaded from Apple, and they stutter a bit. It seems that most of the content available is in MKV files and just about every post I've read complains that the 2400 won't hardware decode MKV files.

Can anybody advise me on my options?
Do I need to upgrade processor/memory before getting a new gfx card?
Is it just a case of converting MKV files and then they play fine on the 2400?

Help!

Littlecharva

Mastiff

11-26-07, 07:41 AM

The VForceMaxResSize setting needs to be changed to allow 1080p over the full screen, not 1080i. Are you sure you have the problem diagnosed correctly?

No, I'm not sure. All I know is that when I go to 1080i (my CRT projector will not handle p, the image will be soft) I have a HD image that is not fullscreen. It has black bars on both sides, and the whole image is shrinked. This is only in Vista, in XP it doesn't act up. But in XP I have to use Overlay, so the image isn't as good as with Vista's EVR.

Have you tried running the program and installing the tweaks for each card it finds that looks correct, whether the program says it is likely the correct card or not?

Yes. On two of the cards it gives me an error (something about access I think), and on the two last cards Vista allows me to run the script. But when I check the driver (I find it under the info in CCC) the VForce... value isn't there.

My script shows a dialog box at the end with the values for each setting. Are you seeing the correct values there?
Now that you said that, I ran the script again, and it seems to show the correct settings, but the wrong place in the registry (at least according to the registry address in the 2D driver key in the CCC info). Is this script for XP only? I thought it was for both. And does it work for the 7.10 drivers?

Does your desktop fill the screen? If not, you just need to use the CCC to scale the screen area.
Yes. And video from PowerDVD fills the screen as long as it's not HD.

Edit: And I get fullscreen on HD material up to 1440 width, but anything above that (like 1680x1050) I have the same problem.

jbgoulding

11-26-07, 08:34 AM

Some good news for AGP owners at last! (from the ATI website)

Symptoms:
On AGP versions of the above mentioned graphics cards the Hardware Acceleration does not get enabled. High CPU usage, stuttering HD playback or even system crash are expected behaviours, although DXVA (DirectX Video Acceleration) is enabled by the application.

Solution:
The root cause of the problem has been identified and a resolution will be available soon. The Catalyst 7.12 is the anticipated driver version to resolve this issue.

:)

s174955

11-26-07, 10:07 AM

arfster

11-26-07, 10:46 AM

Edit: And I get fullscreen on HD material up to 1440 width, but anything above that (like 1680x1050) I have the same problem.

That's the vforce issue certainly - it allows up to 1600 wide by default. It seemed fixed on my setup with 7.11 though, although you never know what configs will work and what won't :-(

Mastiff

11-26-07, 10:50 AM

OK, this one you ain't gonna believe! I actually managed to get it working...by uninstalling PowerDVD completely, removing all registry entries and stuff, and then going back to my first version of PowerDVD - 7.3.3104a. Of course that won't play newer disks right of the bat, but I'm counting on AnyDVD to fix that. First I gotta do a very thorough backup of this working setup! I'm using the latest drivers, btw. And the VBS script reports them as "Standard VGA graphics card" even though the display settings screen says (quite correctly) that it's a Generic PnP-display on ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO.

RichB

11-26-07, 11:24 AM

Mastiff

11-26-07, 11:47 AM

dastrong

11-26-07, 11:54 AM

I can even go one better!!!! I now uninstalled completely PowerDVD, installed and upgrade dto the latest version (something f). And suddenly I have full screen HD bliss in every way! Without AnyDVD or anything, and without ripping! I have no idea why, but I'm guessing that something had been garbled during the previous install. Anway, gotta go! Gonna watch a Blu-Ray movie! :D

Can I ask a quick question chaps. I have had to fall back to 3104 becuase anything else makes out the processor. However I didnt think Any DVD HD could help on the newer titles that use BD Java menus like Spider man 3. Have you guys got these disks working with the older pdvd 3104 patch?

Jan A

11-26-07, 12:50 PM

ok everything works now thanks to exdeus and arfster;-)
Got Power DVD version 7.3 (says 7.2Ultra in about?) I have a strange problem i have a Sanyo Z4 it is set as desktop stretched, , i have no picture in power DVD on the PJ, but if it is set as clone there is no problem? Main desktop is set 1680X1050 and the PJ desk 1280X720. And it dos not matter how i alter the resolution it only work in clone mode? I have no problem with MCE and mediaplayer, and it is just playing DVD. Running catalyst 7.11.
If i set the PJ as primary and stretch that on the LCD then it can play on the PJ but not on the LCD. So Power DVD will only play on primary display or a clone?

Cobra Commander

11-26-07, 01:22 PM

OMG someone seriously needs to write a guide updating on this information, even if all it is is a bullet list. Reading >100 pages is getting out of hand here.?

sigma957

11-26-07, 01:30 PM

Can I ask a quick question chaps. I have had to fall back to 3104 becuase anything else makes out the processor. However I didnt think Any DVD HD could help on the newer titles that use BD Java menus like Spider man 3. Have you guys got these disks working with the older pdvd 3104 patch?Spiderman 3 works with older versions if you rip it to the hard drive first.

airmark

11-26-07, 01:33 PM

I can even go one better!!!! I now uninstalled completely PowerDVD, installed and upgrade dto the latest version (something f). And suddenly I have full screen HD bliss in every way! Without AnyDVD or anything, and without ripping! I have no idea why, but I'm guessing that something had been garbled during the previous install. Anway, gotta go! Gonna watch a Blu-Ray movie! :D

Does this include mkv files? i.e. does the cyberlink h264 decoder with this ...f version work outside powerdvd to hardware accelerate x264 encoded mkv files?

airmark

11-26-07, 01:36 PM

booyeah22

11-26-07, 05:13 PM

xxxstarmanxxx

11-26-07, 05:24 PM

Hello,
what's the version of the cyberlink decoder that you have? If you go to program files\cyberlink\powerdvd\videofilter, there's a file called cl264dec.ax. Can you right click, select properties and see what's its version?
Thanks!

hello -
under vista i cant find any info by right clicking on the filter you suggest but the PDVDversion installed on my system is as follows:

PowerDVD.exe file verion is = 7.0.2602.0 (right click properties via exe)
when running splash screen 'help' section reports = DVD061206-02 as SR number.

No updates have been made to pdvd after the install of this version.

Hope that helps.

J.

arfster

11-26-07, 05:41 PM

Yeah, old PDVD codecs don't have the 20fps bug I think. Don't think they help with 1080p files refusing to start with acceleration though

doctorcilantro

11-26-07, 09:31 PM

Re: Audio via HDMI from the DVI.

(I think we all need to start posting which card we own, its architecture, and OS)

I had Windows XP x64 and the VisionTek AGP 2600XT and the HDMI audio driver would play over a standard DVI>HDMI cable (no adapter). The driver installs and shows up as an option in Windows and various players.

now that I have the HIS 2600XT AGP and installed Windows XP x86 (to avoid the high CPU usage bug), the driver installs but doesn't "show up" anywhere. So now I'm wondering if I have to use the adapter HIS conveniently provided. Have to dig u pthe manual, but I doubt that's the case.

2007 A.D. ......I never thought the video card market would be as jacked up as it is.

DC

one_2go

11-27-07, 12:45 AM

Doesn't Theatertek still use NVidia's ancient decoder for mpeg2? That doesn't support dxva2, so no acceleration/deinterlacing with EVR.
Sorry for the lengthy absence but I needed a break. You are so correct TT 2.6 that works very well with Vista uses the NVidia decoder and I was surprised by this. The NVidia decoder has its own deinterlace settings and I guess no VA mode. However in TT 2.6 you can also choose EVR for Media, High Def and DVD material.

I do like TT it is user friendly and does a few things that other Players don't like blanking and smooth playback of 100 Meg Parts of TSs.

Is there any way to use FFDshow instead of the NVidia or the ATI MPEG2 decoder? In VMC I have set the ATI Decoder as the default one.

doctorcilantro

11-27-07, 01:23 AM

In J. River Media Center (whose video support is starting to shine) you can use FFdshow, you can even use FFDshow on top of the mpeg decoder of your choice. Killer app.

DC

Mastiff

11-27-07, 06:38 AM

Does this include mkv files? i.e. does the cyberlink h264 decoder with this ...f version work outside powerdvd to hardware accelerate x264 encoded mkv files?

I have no idea. Don't give a f... about hw accelleration since my PC's able to eat absolutely anything on the market today without it! :D

djos

11-27-07, 07:31 AM

doctorcilantro

11-27-07, 09:27 AM

Video: I finally got the HIS AGP 2600xt installed on XP x86 with no issues. I used the driver pack on the HIS website. Not sure how well things are accelerating since I have limited content. I was playing back a Matroska MKV 1080p 2001 Space odyssey and it looked stellar...my Mobile 4000+ @ 3gHz was sitting around 70% load. I need to read up on how to test and what can and can not be accelerated first, then get some content.

AUDIO: I haven't been able to test the HDMI audio, but with the VisionTek card I needed the driver to install the device and it shows up like any audio device in windows. The HIS website mentiones the dongle int he same sentence as 5.1 output; it seems to imply you have to have the dongle.

Anyone using the HIS cards...? Do we need the dongle? I only have a DVI>HMDI cable so I can't test.

xxxstarmanxxx

11-27-07, 10:06 AM

For those using their 2600's with the HDMI dongle in Vista: do you need to install an extra driver to get HDMI Audio working?

Just installed a Gigabyte 2600pro and cant find squat in the manual and nothing has appeared in Driver manager or Audio devices.

Have you right clicked on the speaker properties in the taskbar?????

If not - rught click - open the playback devices - select digital output divice (hdmi) - then click the 'set default' button. the green check mark should move to tell you the correct divice is active.

Now try your file again - all being well - you'll have audio through hdmi.

As far as i know an extra driver is only required for windows xp - vista is already setup to manage hdmi - although you have to repeat this process to return audio to the desktop when your finished with your home cinema stuff - which i find a bit of a pain!

J.

ToughRowToHoe

11-27-07, 10:56 AM

Re: Audio via HDMI from the DVI.

I had Windows XP x64 and the VisionTek AGP 2600XT and the HDMI audio driver would play over a standard DVI>HDMI cable (no adapter). The driver installs and shows up as an option in Windows and various players.

The pins on the ATI specific DVI to HDMI adapter are unique. This is the only claim that I can recall reading where a regular DVI to HDMI cable (or adapter) was capable of carrying sound on one of these cards. I read quite a bit on this and other forums when first setting up my PC because I was getting no sound from my onboard system. I do not know the technical layout of the cards so I cannot say it isn't possible but at a minimum this appears to be highly unusual. If somebody wants to use the sound over HDMI option, they should plan to use the ATI adapter.

Edit: I believe this post sounds pretentious. I really just meant to point out that people shouldn't expect to be able to get sound over regular DVI to HDMI cables and adapters. ATI claims that their special adapter is required. The pin assignments are unique, and from what I've read most of us do have to use the ATI adapters to enable sound over HDMI. If doctorcilantro says he was getting sound over HDMI with a regular cable, it must be possible.

ToughRowToHoe

11-27-07, 11:18 AM

Alright. So we just went out and purchased an ATI Radeon HD 2400 graphics card mainly because it had a built-in hdmi port with sound.

I got Xorg and Xgl working using the latest drivers from ATI (7.11 released on Nov. 21,2007).

I installed Alsa 1.0.15 since I saw in the changelog it said something about adding support for audio through hdmi on the R600 cards, but it's still not recognized.

Here's lspci
Code:

05:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Unknown device 94c3
05:00.1 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc Unknown device aa10

cat /proc/asound/cards
Code:

0 [CK804 ]: NFORCE - NVidia CK804
NVidia CK804 with ALC850 at irq 17

Sound will still work if I use the motherboard's sound, but it won't come through the hdmi cable on the graphics card.

Does anyone else have this card, ATI Radeon HD 2400, and have video and sound working through it?

If not, what other card is available that actutally can play sound through hdmi?

First check the "Sounds" applet as starman suggests. If the HDMI option appears you are probably good to go. Just set it to default. If it doesn't appear and you have XP, you will probably need to install the ATI sound driver (download it from the ATI website). If you have installed the driver and the HDMI sound option isn't appearing in the applet, there is a remote chance that your motherboard is disabling it (really this only seems to be an issue for onboard sound). If so, enter BIOS and select "Enable" (if possible). It would have been set to "Automatic" which is the reason for the problem.

ToughRowToHoe

11-27-07, 11:45 AM

For those using their 2600's with the HDMI dongle in Vista: do you need to install an extra driver to get HDMI Audio working?

Just installed a Gigabyte 2600pro and cant find squat in the manual and nothing has appeared in Driver manager or Audio devices.

XP requires a seperate sound driver. There is no there is no extra driver in Vista. They use the Microsoft driver. If you don't have anything appearing in the Sounds applet, there is a remote possibility your motherboard is disabling it. Check your BIOS to see if audio devices is set to "Automatic". Set it to "Enabled" or "On" if possible.

djos

11-27-07, 04:17 PM

Babel-17

11-27-07, 06:06 PM

Not sure if this has been posted before but since I found it useful I'll put it out there.

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=243599

The meat of it: Hi, I've downloaded the latest RivaTuner but it is not possible, to control the Fanspeed.

When I click on the Low Level System Settings the, only the Tab "AGP" appears. That's all.
BTW: I also tried AtiTrayTools, same problem there. But at AtiTrayTools I get the message "Hardware not supported"

The Graphics Card is an Sapphire 2600XT (AGP).

I have the same card, and the same problem. my PCI DeviceID is.

PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9587&SUBSY_002811002&REV_00\4&FEB 96E4&0008

Add this PCI DeviceID to RivaTuner's hardware database. Open RivaTuner.cfg in any text editor, find [GPU_1002] section and replace

RV630 = 9588h-9589h

with

RV630 = 9587h-9589h

that worked, thanks a lot !!!

Maybe this hack is only needed by agp users but, anyway, I was thrilled by it.

Lots of uses for this software. It's good for overclocking and it can display all sorts of readouts. Even can tell you how hard the gpu is working.

RockySpieler

11-27-07, 07:37 PM

Thanks Guy's I do have the HDMI Audio appearing in the sound manager but the company I bought the 2600pro from sent me the D-Sub model instead of the HDMI model so atm im using the onboard analogue audio! :(

Can you get a native hdmi 2600pro in Australia?

In the Uk the 2600pro/2600xt have dual DVI ports, and you need to use the dedicated ATI DVI>HDMI dongle (rare as rocking horse poo, if not bundled) to get audio (with default sound device update + HD Audio driver install for XP).

There are some native HDMI 8500gt / 8600gt cards in the UK.

I have a passive ddr3 MSI 2600xt.

karrih

11-28-07, 10:40 AM

First 8.43 driver impressions for my HD2400.

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.

If this happens to someone who is not using HDMI audio, I found from Sapphire forum the following cure. Go to 'Device Manager' -> View -> 'Device by Connection' -> 'PCI standard PCI to PCI bridge' and 'Microsoft UAA Bus Driver for HD audio'. Disabling it helped in my case.

aravs

11-28-07, 11:26 AM

Not sure if this has been posted before but since I found it useful I'll put it out there.

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=243599

The meat of it:

Maybe this hack is only needed by agp users but, anyway, I was thrilled by it.

Lots of uses for this software. It's good for overclocking and it can display all sorts of readouts. Even can tell you how hard the gpu is working.

is this needed for all agp users of rivatuner? I've installed it on a system with a diamond hd2600proagp but i only find setting tweaks for Nvidia configurations and no mention of ati settings or fan tweaks. i'm not sure what my PCI DeviceID is, how do i find it and use it for this tweak?

Babel-17

11-28-07, 12:18 PM

is this needed for all agp users of rivatuner? I've installed it on a system with a diamond hd2600proagp but i only find setting tweaks for Nvidia configurations and no mention of ati settings or fan tweaks. i'm not sure what my PCI DeviceID is, how do i find it and use it for this tweak?

I have a pro card too, a Visiontek one. Afaik you just browse to C:\Program Files\RivaTuner v2.06 and open up RivaTuner.cfg with a text editor like Wordpad. From there you find [GPU_1002] section and replace

RV630 = 9588h-9589h

with

RV630 = 9587h-9589h

That's it, I then ran RivaTuner and had full functionality.

turtleshell

11-28-07, 12:27 PM

hi ~ i have a hd 2400 pro agp display card but i have a few problems

i dont hv HD sound output choice
also, i cant connect to my LCD TV using a DVI to HDMI convertor but i can connect it through a G690 on an other computer~
my tv model is philips 37PF9531

i hv already installed the latest driver.

wht should i do now?

ssaeed

11-28-07, 12:42 PM

turtle,

Install the HDMI audio driver from
http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_catalyst.aspx?p=xp/hdmiaudio-xp you want #2 of 2, not the microsoft driver...here is a direct link
https://a248.e.akamai.net/f/674/9206/0/www2.ati.com/gamesite/7-11_xp32_hdmiaudio_54435.exe

What do you mean by "cant connect" what happens...what is the exact problem?

turtleshell

11-28-07, 01:03 PM

thank you for the link

em...about the connection problem is that.....
i cannot extend my desktop to my LCD TV....my tv didnt get any response..
but i am sure that my tv is function well

uberman45

11-28-07, 03:22 PM

[QUOTE=ssaeed;12338782]turtle,

Install the HDMI audio driver

Vista already has drivers for HDMI audio. I have the Sapphire HD 2600 Pro with the ATI dongle and I have audio working. Are their better drivers I should be using? I just used the one that I found in control panel (sound).

ssaeed

11-28-07, 04:48 PM

dont need hdmi audio drivers for vista

doctorcilantro

11-28-07, 04:54 PM

ToughRowToHoe

11-28-07, 05:51 PM

Thanks Guy's I do have the HDMI Audio appearing in the sound manager but the company I bought the 2600pro from sent me the D-Sub model instead of the HDMI model so atm im using the onboard analogue audio! :(

Really? They sell one of these with only VGA connections? You sure you don't have a DVI port? Most have at least one DVI port which allows the DVI to HDMI adapter to work. I can't imagine a manufacturer would make one without a DVI connection to enable the DVI to HDMI sound feature. I wasn't looking for the feature, but it does increase the potential market.

ToughRowToHoe

11-28-07, 06:16 PM

I think it must have been card specific, the HDMI audio out of the VisionTek card without an adapter. I'll get a cable and try the adapter. (I didn't think you sounded pretentious; I was happy to read your input - this has been a somewhat frustrating process going from x64 with VisionTek to x86 HIS and an unstable cpu/mb issue)

I don't have the ATI HDMI sound device showing up ANYWHERE....

I installed the sound drivers for the onboard sound, the Nvidia device that's on the DFI NF3 boards, can't remember the name. Maybe I need to remove that driver. It sound backwards having to enable onboard sound in the BIOS when the ATI HDMI audio over HDMI is a sepearte driver & device. I had it all working in x64, but in that situation there was no Nvida driver for onboard sound, I needed a device specific AC97 Realtek driver. I'll yank the Nvida sound driver, and install the HDMI first.

Anyone using Avivo with J. River? I have Avivo set as the preferred decoder in Windows, but J. River won't detect it.

DC

Just to be clear, I have only read about motherboard's disabling onboard sound when the ATI cards are installed. I guess the manufacturers assumed the only time a new sound device would be installed was if somebody made an upgrade. I was conjecturing that it might occur the other direction (i.e., the motherboard disabling the ATI card as a sound device because another sound device already exists - onboard or expansion). Just seemed like a possibility.

If you have XP, there is an additional ATI sound driver (hopefully reachable via the link in ssaeed's post above) needed for the ATI DVI to HDMI sound. If you have Vista, ATI uses the native Microsoft UAA Sound driver. If the motherboard isn't the culprit and the additional driver is installed in XP, the only other suggestion I would have is to try a clean install. Uninstall. Reboot. Use a driver remover. Reboot again and reinstall. Hope you can get it working.

turtleshell

11-28-07, 07:58 PM

my 2400 pro agp card dont have a DVI > HDMI adapter
Does it mean i cant use it to connect my LCD TV?
if it does ,it really sucks

Cole5

11-28-07, 09:52 PM

doctorcilantro

11-29-07, 01:31 AM

I'm guessing since I just did a clean install of XP x86, and successfully run the HDMI audio driver check utility (in download) there is an issue because I am not using an adapter. That's all I can think of.

When I added my EMU usb 0202, my default sound device was switched, my EMU 1212M was not disabled, but no longer the default sound card.

I think what what VisionTek must have done was build in the pins to the DVI ouput whereas others have decided to use a seperate adapter. this would make sense; hardware is involved and if the pins/adpater/soundcard are not present Windows doesn't recognize a device e.g. EMU DSP stays listed in your Control Panel but the EMU Wave device won't be an output option in any player or in Sounds & Devices. I hope I'm right, it would be nice for my wife to not have to deal with warming up my amps & preamp when she can just use the TV.

DC

aravs

11-29-07, 06:06 AM

I have a pro card too, a Visiontek one. Afaik you just browse to C:\Program Files\RivaTuner v2.06 and open up RivaTuner.cfg with a text editor like Wordpad. From there you

That's it, I then ran RivaTuner and had full functionality.

hey thanks a bunch! the trick really worked. not sure how tho? just by changing one number: 9588 to 9587?? anyone know the significance?

i then followed the following guide (http://www.guru3d.com/article/article/449/) from rivatuner and added several profiles to adjust my fan speed but i'm not sure what is appropriate or safe for my card (diamond hd2600pro). after initially tweaking my card, the automatic setting dialed my fan speed down to 25%. I then followed the guide and added increments of 25% so that my fan speed is adjusted to
25% if card temp < 55C
50% if card temp > 56C and
75% if card temp > 70C

hmm. that doesnt seem too right. anyone have recommendations? I'm not too sure how hot my card gets under hd load or what is a safe temp for it to be running at. maybe i dont need three profiles?

originalsnuffy

11-29-07, 08:37 AM

Cole5--

Ignore the BS on the ATI website and go ahead and order the HDMI dongle. There is a discount code somewhere in here that eliminates the shipping fee--do a search.

All other DVI-HDMI solutions have been proven to be below sub-optimal.

videobruce

11-29-07, 08:41 AM

Instead of paying $10 or $15 for an adapter and another $10 or $15 for the cable, why not just buy a DVI to HDMI cable for the price of the HDMI cable??

gsr

11-29-07, 08:49 AM

Instead of paying $10 or $15 for an adapter and another $10 or $15 for the cable, why not just buy a DVI to HDMI cable for the price of the HDMI cable??

Because you need the ATI adapter if you want your audio signal included in the HDMI feed.

uberman45

11-29-07, 09:47 AM

I just purchased a HIS Radeon HD 2400 Pro card. It did not come with the HDMI/DVI adapter. Should this have been included? When I go to the shop ati site it says it can not be sold seperately and is only to replace lost units that were originally shipped. Additionally there is a list on the box of "what is in the box" and the adapter is not listed. Does this mean if I buy the adapter from ati that it may not work with this card? Please help.
cole5, the ATI adapter/Dongle will work. I am running Vista 32 and I have the Sapphire HD 2600 Pro with dual DVI connections and the sound works thru the HDMI cable to my Sony KDF-46E2000 TV using the ATI adapter. I paid $10.00 for it from a friend who didn't need it.:)

doctorcilantro

11-29-07, 11:13 AM

HappyFunBoater

11-29-07, 11:22 AM

arfster

11-29-07, 11:26 AM

(1) ATI makes a big deal of their hardware decode offload for MPEG, VC-1, H264, etc., but it seems that PowerDVD is the only software that currently supports the offload.

Any directshow decoder does. We're a bit limited with h264 though, since powerdvd's decoder is the only one with support for VLD acceleration (ie full offload). That's the same with Nvidia's 8500/8600 though. Mpeg2 acceleration is more establised though, and there are lots of decoders with acceleration around: nvidia, sonic, avivo, pdvd, nero etc, in any directshow app you like.

ToughRowToHoe

11-29-07, 11:35 AM

my 2400 pro agp card dont have a DVI > HDMI adapter
Does it mean i cant use it to connect my LCD TV?
if it does ,it really sucks

You can buy the adapter. Newegg had a Powercolor brand ATI DVI to HDMI adapter and ATI offers the adapter directly in the U.S. Sounds like they may be harder to find in other locales.

I'm comfortable saying that it works with all PCI-E cards. I'm not so sure about AGP. A number of people including doctorcilantro above have said their AGP cards supported it, but supposedly it isn't technically possible over the AGP bus. Keeping in mind ATI says their adapter only works with cards it is included with (which is definately incorrect), your mileage may vary.

yygoob

11-29-07, 12:17 PM

has anyone of you guys tried to connect your hdtv using a component cable on a 2600xt via component dongle.. i recently bought a power color 2600xt 512mb vcard and when i connect thru component connection the picture in the tv is blackn white... there is also no option in the catalyst with respect to component connection only s-video and composite...does 2600xt support component connection? thanks

originalsnuffy

11-29-07, 12:29 PM

The recurring dongle question make me wonder if we need a FAQ. Not that I am nearly technically proficient enough to actually add value in creating such a beast...!

ToughRowToHoe

11-29-07, 01:02 PM

It would probably help a lot of people to start a new 2X00 thread with a FAQ including Arfster's video settings and explanations and ExDeus' install utility.

It should probably include a small section dealing with the audio limitations (PCM stereo, 5.1 AC3), the needed sound driver for XP (uses included UAA driver in Vista), how to set default Sound devices, the BIOs automatically disabling audio devices issue, and the dongle with its applicability (apparently works on all PCI-E/might work on some AGP YMMV). Maybe it should include a link to the discount code as well?

Other potential suggestions? Maybe the Rivatuner hack above? I guess a link back to this thread.

Derek K.

11-29-07, 01:23 PM

I've tried to read most of this thread, and just wanted to verify my current understanding of the 2600XT:

(1) ATI makes a big deal of their hardware decode offload for MPEG, VC-1, H264, etc., but it seems that PowerDVD is the only software that currently supports the offload. All other software, including Vista MCE, uses software decode. If that's the case, and I want to primarily use Vista MCE to view videos, is there really any point in using the 2600XT? (BTW, I currently have the card in my HTPC, so I'm asking this question a little late in the buying process.)

(2) To utilize the hardware offload, does the video software need to "simply" use the Avivio codec? In other words, this Avivio codec looks like any other codec, but it transparently offloads to hardware without the video software being aware of the offload? Is there a way to force MCE to use Avivio?

Thanks. I've seen these topics discussed, but I didn't pick up any clear answers. Sorry if the answere were there; I might have just missed them.

I'm sort of in the same boat. I'd like to replace my 7300gt with a 2600xt for hd-dvd/bd playback on my older 3 ghz p4 running mce 2005. I'll be connecting the card to my rptv via the component dongle.

The biggest concern I have is does ati support overscan adjustment and screen position for component output like nvidia does? Does it work correctly? I have to be able to move the screen and adjust the overscan, otherwise stuff always gets cut off and the picture isn't centered.

Also, what do I use for decoders for sd and hd mpeg-2 playback. I currently use nvidia's decoder for this, and they work very well with mce. Does avivo work with mce? Does the nvidia decoders support mpeg-2 hw acceleration on ati cards?

I'd like to get these questions answered before I buy an ati card. I'm leaning towards the passively cooled gigabyte 2600xt.

Thanks!

HappyFunBoater

11-29-07, 01:37 PM

I'm sort of in the same boat. I'd like to replace my 7300gt with a 2600xt for hd-dvd/bd playback on my older 3 ghz p4 running mce 2005. I'll be connecting the card to my rptv via the component dongle.

The biggest concern I have is does ati support overscan adjustment and screen position for component output like nvidia does? Does it work correctly? I have to be able to move the screen and adjust the overscan, otherwise stuff always gets cut off and the picture isn't centered.

Also, what do I use for decoders for sd and hd mpeg-2 playback. I currently use nvidia's decoder for this, and they work very well with mce. Does avivo work with mce? Does the nvidia decoders support mpeg-2 hw acceleration on ati cards?

I'd like to get these questions answered before I buy an ati card. I'm leaning towards the passively cooled gigabyte 2600xt.

Thanks!

I've been happy with the overscan support on the 2600. They have a simple slider bar that reduces all sides equally. I suppose this could be a problem if the picture wasn't centered, but my Sony XBR2 RPTV works great. I think there are centering controls but I haven't played with them.

BTW, I've got the passively cooled Sapphire 2600XT with a passively cooled CPU and just a single system fan. Runs nice and cool. Then again, I don't think I'm even using the GPU yet since everything is decoded in software.

Babel-17

11-29-07, 01:58 PM

The latest version of ATITool supports my HD2600 pro (agp).

As the name implies ATITool is an overclocking utility designed for ATI video cards.

Design target is to write a light-weight application for the enthusiast - so no questionable registry tweaks. Sorry.

Main Features:

- No limits overclocking.
- Finding maximum core and memory overclock by rendering into a Direct3D window and scanning the output for visual artifacts.
- Artifact scanning mode for non-ATI cards - use together with a 3rd party overclocking utility.
- Loading a predefined clock profile on Application/Windows startup.
- Hotkeys that can be used any time to load clocks from a profile.
- 3D application detection (Direct3D 8, Direct3D 9, OpenGL) to overclock your video card only when required.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/ATITool_d4109.html

www.warp2search.net provided the heads-up.

Home: http://www.techpowerup.com/atitool/

Huh, Clicking on the Settings button opened up a lot of options. It reports a different % of fan speed than RivaTuner, exactly double. They both report the same when 100% is forced.

I guess some caution is warranted here. P.S. Though its overclocking testing utility has some safety features built in I did manage to lock up my card at around 768 MHz. Upon rebooting and starting up ATITools it notified me of this. :)

So, anyway, I'd say it's "early days" for utility support so let's all use caution.

Edit: Guide link: http://www.techpowerup.com/wiki/doku.php/atitool/start

Derek K.

11-29-07, 04:15 PM

I've been happy with the overscan support on the 2600. They have a simple slider bar that reduces all sides equally. I suppose this could be a problem if the picture wasn't centered, but my Sony XBR2 RPTV works great. I think there are centering controls but I haven't played with them.

BTW, I've got the passively cooled Sapphire 2600XT with a passively cooled CPU and just a single system fan. Runs nice and cool. Then again, I don't think I'm even using the GPU yet since everything is decoded in software.

Where did you get your card? I can't find a sapphire 2600xt passively cooled card anywhere (newegg, etc).

phigment

11-29-07, 04:22 PM

Where did you get your card? I can't find a sapphire 2600xt passively cooled card anywhere (newegg, etc).

If you have the space, you could just add on the Arctic Cooling Accelero S2. I attached it to my Sapphire 2600XT and it fits and works well. It's a little tall for my HTPC case, but it's running without the side panel for now anyways.

Derek K.

11-29-07, 04:30 PM

If you have the space, you could just add on the Arctic Cooling Accelero S2. I attached it to my Sapphire 2600XT and it fits and works well. It's a little tall for my HTPC case, but it's running without the side panel for now anyways.

I'd rather not. How high does it stick above the card?

phigment

11-29-07, 04:46 PM

I'd rather not. How high does it stick above the card?

Don't have it in front of me and don't feel like looking up the specs right now, but I'd have to say about 5cm.

Derek K.

11-29-07, 05:17 PM

Don't have it in front of me and don't feel like looking up the specs right now, but I'd have to say about 5cm.

yikes! that won't fit in my chassis (silverstone lc10).

HappyFunBoater

11-29-07, 05:55 PM

Where did you get your card? I can't find a sapphire 2600xt passively cooled card anywhere (newegg, etc).

Sorry. I mispoke (mistyped). I bought the MSI from Newegg, not the Sapphire.

ToughRowToHoe

11-29-07, 06:41 PM

HappyFunBoater

11-29-07, 07:32 PM

Last time I looked Newegg didn't even have a listing for the MSI 2600 XT passive. I bought the same card. Was going to give it a review and they didn't even have a listing.

If it'll fit, the Accelero S2 looks like a good card cooling solution for a quiet PC.

This is the MSI card I bought at Newegg about 6 weeks ago:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814127298

Now it says "Deactivated Item". Hmm. They seem to have pulled the product.

Cole5

11-29-07, 09:46 PM

cole5, the ATI adapter/Dongle will work. I am running Vista 32 and I have the Sapphire HD 2600 Pro with dual DVI connections and the sound works thru the HDMI cable to my Sony KDF-46E2000 TV using the ATI adapter. I paid $10.00 for it from a friend who didn't need it.:)

Thanks for the feedback. The Dell I'm trying to upgrade does not have a stand alone sound card. Will I have any issues getting sound through the dongle with XP with integrated sound?

yygoob

11-29-07, 11:06 PM

Im sorry if my question have been ask before, but unforturnately this topic had already gone 113 pages so its really hard ot look for the answer to my question... sure hope that a FAQ topic would be made to facilitate things... can anyone just point me to where the answer is? thanks

tsb

11-29-07, 11:37 PM

Last time I looked Newegg didn't even have a listing for the MSI 2600 XT passive. I bought the same card. Was going to give it a review and they didn't even have a listing.

If it'll fit, the Accelero S2 looks like a good card cooling solution for a quiet PC.

I recently purchased the MSI RX2600XT T2D512EZ passive cooled GPU. I was looking for a 3850 or 8800 but this card was half the price, features the same video decoding as the 3850, is silent of course and has 512MB of memory. It doesn't get much better for HTPC use IMO. I'm getting flawless hardware decoding in PowerDVD on Vista64 with it. The only negative I've experienced is playback problems (choppy playback) if I try to open the catalyst control panel while the GPU is decoding. That's not really an issue since I won't normally be messing around in the panel while a movie is playing. It was very difficult to find the card, but I'm glad I did before it was too late. It's my stopgap until I go quad core and switch to pure CPU decoding. My E6750 is fine for software decoding now, but I figured for the price this will be fun to tinker with until I go pure CPU decoding and the new versions of PowerDVD seem to demand hardware decoding anyway. Hopefully Arcsoft gets their product right and I can ditch PowerDVD.

ANDYK48

11-30-07, 02:57 AM

You can find all the passive cooled 2XXX cards here:

http://www.computeruniverse.net

The site is in Germany but they ship worldwide. I ordered many times from them and they have good service.

madshi

11-30-07, 04:10 AM

Any directshow decoder does. We're a bit limited with h264 though, since powerdvd's decoder is the only one with support for VLD acceleration (ie full offload). That's the same with Nvidia's 8500/8600 though. Mpeg2 acceleration is more establised though, and there are lots of decoders with acceleration around: nvidia, sonic, avivo, pdvd, nero etc, in any directshow app you like.
It's a bit funny that you mention h264 as limited, while in reality h264 is fine (since you can use the PowerDVD decoder in any DirectShow media player). The real problem is VC-1 because the only VC-1 decoder which does *ANY* hardware acceleration with ATI cards is the PowerDVD decoder - and that one can NOT be used outside of PowerDVD. So for people who don't want to use the PowerDVD media player the real problem is not h264 but VC-1. Of course VC-1 is not as CPU consuming as h264 is. But still there are some very high bitrate VC-1 movies out there which can be too much for average HTPC hardware.

j0j081

11-30-07, 04:55 AM

well I returned my HD2600Pro 512MB AGP. bought it for a 2nd rig that was mainly going to be used for multimedia purposes but the drivers for Vista were the worst of all time. I can't believe they release cards the drivers don't work properly with yet. I run Nvidia in my main gaming rig so thought I'd try ATI but now I know all the horror stories are true. I tried every trick in the and out of the book to get it to work but it was all a waste of time. gg ATI.

Lawguy

11-30-07, 08:59 AM

Derek K.

11-30-07, 09:41 AM

This is the MSI card I bought at Newegg about 6 weeks ago:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814127298

Now it says "Deactivated Item". Hmm. They seem to have pulled the product.

ok. How tall is the heatsink on the back side of the card? Also, how much space is there from the bottom of the card to the bottom of the back heatsink?

It drives me nuts that mfgs. build cards that don't meet pci mechanical specs and don't publish the dimensions anywhere!

mickwall

11-30-07, 09:53 AM

Can the Avivo codec play h264 files (both true h264 and x264 generated?) and if so, can you expect any hardware acceleration from a PCI-e 2600Pro?

jonscrazyan

11-30-07, 10:48 AM

I leave my HTPC on all day and turn it on and off occasionally. Recently, I have noticed during playback sometimes there are lines where the picture looks almost as if it doesn't meet up. These are of course very subtle, but I have noticed them. A reboot does the trick to fix this problem, does this have to do with the ram? Also just yesterday my htpc might have overheated, I am not sure. The display looked as if someone had shook it gently and there where lines kind of going thorough the text. I haven't turned it back on yet to see if all is well. What are your thoughts on both these problems? It uses the passivly cooled MSI RX2600XT T2D512EZ. With the same usage I never noticed anything or had any problems for the first 4 months. Thanks for the insight.

arfster

11-30-07, 10:56 AM

It's a bit funny that you mention h264 as limited, while in reality h264 is fine (since you can use the PowerDVD decoder in any DirectShow media player).

Not if you don't want to pay $100 for it though, which was the point :-)

VC1 doesn't matter a great deal for acceleration for most people, since it's relatively easy to decode. MPEG2 is also, but you tend to need hardware features there for deinterlacing rather than acceleration. Since there's almost no VC1 interlaced content that's not a problem.

ToughRowToHoe

11-30-07, 11:21 AM

MattM

11-30-07, 12:27 PM

Hello all! This is quite a long thread going back months. I was hoping someone could give me a summary of what the best setting might be for my new 2400 PRO card I got. Some of the settings recommendations were a bit old and wasn't sure what was still valid for the current driver set. I just downloaded the 7.11 CCC. I have been NVidia-only in all my machines for about 8 years now so while pretty computer-savvy, completely unfamiliar with the Catalyst driver and settings.

I got the ATI card because I want to install a LG HD-DVD/Blu-Ray drive in my XP/MCE2005 machine. Since its only a P4 3.0GHz (with an Nvidia 6200 currently), and although I record/watch OTA HD just fine with my current setup, I'm led to believe I will need the offloading capability of the ATI card in order to watch the HD DVDs.

Also, I'll be hooking this up to my 50" Panasonic plasma via DVI (HDCP-compliant). I'm currently running a custom resolution in the NVidia control panel of something like 1360x768 (can't remember off the top of my head) since the 1366x768 had some sort of wierd horizontal overlap.

Anyway, I was hoping to hook this baby up this weekend, hopefully not screw up my perfectly working system now for cable and OTA HD and add HD-DVD to my HTPC. Thanks in advance!

Derek K.

11-30-07, 01:39 PM

Babel-17

11-30-07, 01:44 PM

I am coming to this party a little late and perhaps I should have done some homework.

I just bought a Visiontek HD 2600XT AGP version for use in a HTPC.

ATI drivers will not install at all (7.11's etc). The special AGP drivers on visiontek's site do install but are extremely unstable. No 3d games appear to run, there is no hardware acceleration of video, and the graphic driver randonly crashes (and only sometimes recovers, somes I have to reboot).

Is my experience typical? Am I right that there is nothing I can do to fix this right now?

]If your AGP card is not supported by the latest ATI drivers...[/B]

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

Scroll down that page to about the halfway point.

Worked for me. :)

The Omega drivers are an option if you still have crashes, etc. after doing the above with the latest ATI drivers.

http://www.omegadrivers.net/ati/win2k_xp.php

He doesn't support Vista.

Supposedly the 7.12 Cat's might have the agp fixes.

http://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&questionID=29894

Symptoms:
On AGP versions of the above mentioned graphics cards the Hardware Acceleration does not get enabled. High CPU usage, stuttering HD playback or even system crash are expected behaviours, although DXVA (DirectX Video Acceleration) is enabled by the application.

Solution:
The root cause of the problem has been identified and a resolution will be available soon. The Catalyst 7.12 is the anticipated driver version to resolve this issue.

An interesting thread: http://forum.beyond3d.com/showthread.php?t=45565

HappyFunBoater

11-30-07, 03:53 PM

ok. How tall is the heatsink on the back side of the card? Also, how much space is there from the bottom of the card to the bottom of the back heatsink?

It drives me nuts that mfgs. build cards that don't meet pci mechanical specs and don't publish the dimensions anywhere!

Sorry, but the machine is being used and I won't be able to measure until later. But I can tell you that it fits fine in an Intel DP35DP motherboard in an Antec Sonata III with all four DIMM sockets used and a huge passive HR01 Plus CPU heat sink from Thermalright. Not sure if that helps, unless you just happened to buy the same equipment. :-)

Derek K.

11-30-07, 05:22 PM

Sorry, but the machine is being used and I won't be able to measure until later. But I can tell you that it fits fine in an Intel DP35DP motherboard in an Antec Sonata III with all four DIMM sockets used and a huge passive HR01 Plus CPU heat sink from Thermalright. Not sure if that helps, unless you just happened to buy the same equipment. :-)

Thanks!

I did some extrapolation based on pics of board from newegg, and it looks like it won't work with my mobo because of the massive heatsink on the northbridge right next to the pci-e slot (intel 925xcv).

however based on similiar measurements, it looks like the gigabyte card only sticks about a 1/2" above the pcb, which would be ok in my chassis.

I think I'm going to just buy the gigabyte card and try it out. I can always send it back.

mpa324

11-30-07, 09:12 PM

xxxstarmanxxx

11-30-07, 10:12 PM

anybody own ati 2600 xt 512mb..if so from the catalyst..are u able to overclock..mine i cannot ..the gpu core is 800..and memory speed is 700..which is half than what is advertised..dont know if that is right..anyway the slider are to the max 800 gpu and 700 memory..i cannot go any higher..that is the default speed for it..

Your memory setting is correct - dont forget its dual channel so you double it to effectively 1400mhz

Forget using the overclock built into ccc - its a little flaky!

Use this = http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/Video-Tweak/ATITool.shtml

I'm guessing your xt has stock cooling and gddr3 memory judging by 800/700 defaults (same as 256mb version).

If so - you should be able to get a small increase in the gpu core (around 850) and quite a large increase in the memory (800) if there is enough room for the card to breath in your tower. If you change the fan i've read forums you can push the core over 930 but i would doubt it would be worth the extra cost involved.

All the best

J.

crash1977

11-30-07, 11:40 PM

crash1977

12-01-07, 12:05 AM

Does anyone get any HA in Powerdvd with a 2600Pro?

No matter if I am playing Blu-Ray or HD-DVD, my CPU is always about 90-100% on an AMD X2 4400+.

My old Nvidia 8500gt would be at 30-35%.

Tried the 7.11 drivers, tweaks, but can't get any HA.

I tried the Crisis hotfix drivers and CPU usage is about 20-35% now.

Anyone else have a similar experience?

sarah99

12-01-07, 10:03 AM

I've just found the very best ever drivers for my ATI 2400Pro
None at all, the Vista default drivers seem to work better than any of the ATi ever have.

xxxstarmanxxx

12-01-07, 10:16 AM

I've just found the very best ever drivers for my ATI 2400Pro
None at all, the Vista default drivers seem to work better than any of the ATi ever have.

That also seems true for my 2600xt - As i wrote somewhere earlier in the thread - if you dont need your card for games - dont bother installing CCC - under vista you dont need it (although it still wont HA 1080p h.264 under most conditions).

J.

topcaser

12-01-07, 11:11 AM

I have got problems with the newest 7.11 (XP32): When i am watching H.264 content it looks pretty good for a while, but after some minutes it looks like as Hardware Acceleration is broken. A look to the CPU meter tells me, that the CPU is around 10 %, not more as before.When i build the graph newly, the problems are gone again for another couple of minutes.

Iam using the latest DVBViewer. Didnt have this problem in lower CCC releases. Any hints? It is really annoying...

doctorcilantro

12-01-07, 01:17 PM

I owned the VisionTek AGP and couldn't run it stable on XP x64 so now I have an HIS AGP 2600xt on XP x86...seems like 1080P HA isn't working as mentioned above. I'm about to try Vista x86 but seems like it doesn't work there either...this is really a piss poor situation ...ATI is trying breathe life into AGP with yet another model soon; they better step it up.

DC

Fum

12-01-07, 03:56 PM

crash, do you have an AGP or PCI-E card?

crash1977

12-02-07, 12:15 AM

crash, do you have an AGP or PCI-E card?

PCI-E , Gigabyte 2600PRO silent.

As mentioned, the Crysis hotfix drivers now result in 30% cpu usage, whereas the official drivers seem to have broken HA and average ~90%

Fum

12-02-07, 01:30 AM

PCI-E , Gigabyte 2600PRO silent.

Oh well. I have an AGP card, and the Crysis hotfix drivers are probably the only ones I haven't tried yet, trying to get HA working. While I'm sure the PCI-E drivers aren't things of beauty - seeing as ATI sucks at writing drivers in general - but at least SOME of them work, apparently. I guess I just have to wait and hope that the Catalyst 7.12s come out soon and fix the problem....

taywu

12-02-07, 02:18 AM

xxxstarmanxxx

12-02-07, 02:59 AM

Sorry in advance if this has been covered. I searched for half hour and couldn't find anything.

I just picked up the Saphire 2600xt for a new Vista box, connecting dvi-hdmi adapter to my Marantz SR7001 receiver to my Mitsubishi HD1000u projector. I got the latest ati drivers, etc. I'm seeing a purple-ish color for everything on the screen, almost like some RGB problem. The display device shows up as "SR7001 HDMI on Radeon HD2600XT.." I don't know if there's a simple setting I missed. Anyone seen this before? Any help is appreciated.

I have managed to repeat your symptoms some time ago when CCC was setting a default refresh on my card of 59hz??? - check your refresh rate is correct and supported by the Mitsubishi HD1000u.

If I try and force the refresh on my card to 48hz for my Sharp 42 LCD (which it wont support :( it shows it as out of range). If I then reboot the pc with the sharp already on ready to accept the signal from the card it gives me the result you are experiencing. Full screen clone of my pc monitor with a magenta hue all over it - So i guess its a refresh setting problem. If you can - try hooking up the HD1000u directly to the card and have a fiddle with the refresh rates.

I believe the Mitsu can handle modes right upto 85hz - so i'm quite suprised its found an unsupported mode - maybe the SR7001 is somehow affecting the signal.

Let us know how ya get on.

J.

taywu

12-02-07, 03:22 AM

Thanks for the suggests. It looks like the SR7001 is the culprit. A direct PC -> HD1000u looks fine. My resolution is 1280x720 @ 60Hz.

Update: Here's an interesting thing. Before Windows starts up or when I'm in the bios, the color looks fine.

Lawguy

12-02-07, 08:07 AM

[QUOTE]If your AGP card is not supported by the latest ATI drivers...

Thanks for this.

I wound up doing a clean reinstall of Vista.

Initially, I had the same problems but after Vista downloaded everything it wanted to, I am at least stable now. The crashes have all gone away.

I am just waiting for the 7.12s. The hopefully restore hardware accelleration so I can use this for its intended purpose: Bluray and HD-DVD watching. I actually was able to watch a Mpeg 4 movie with no problems. VC-1 kills it though. Just waiting now.

Ilia

12-02-07, 09:40 AM

crash1977

12-02-07, 10:45 AM

I have HD 2600 XT connected to Sony KDS-55A2000 by HDMI.
I would like to pass 480i and 576i video directly to TV without deinterlacing or scaling it at HTPC's side.
Does this card support any of these modes over HDMI?
Thanks.

I believe your TV is a RP LCD, in which case the native resolution is 720p , and everything is scaled to that res. Why would you want to pass 480i and 576i?

MattM

12-02-07, 11:09 AM

Please provide an update after your done. I'm about to do the same thing as you are doing (same cpu, adding lg drive, switching from nvidia with custom res and mce 2005), so any feedback is appreciated.

Well, I got the LG drive and ATI card installed. I just used the Diamond Driver CD that came with the card (v7.7 CCC) and everything appears to be fine. I did update the LG drive FW and the OEM PowerDVD.

I ended up running 1366x768. Turns out I didn't need a custom resolution. I simply used my Panasonic Plasma remote to adjust the picture to fill the screen (originally off by about 5 pixels horizontally)

Also, this card is much quieter than the PNY 6200LE I had installed, so that was an extra bonus!

Overall, I'm not having any issues with the card or driver other than I'm running about 35% CPU just watching HD-DVD. I run about 35% CPU while recording two OTA HD shows and one analog cable show. So theoretically, that isn't a problem, but I'm concerned that if I'm recording multiple shows while trying to watch HD-DVD, I might see some stutters (>70% CPU added). I was hoping that the CPU utilization would be even lower (<10%) while watching HD-DVD to have minimal impact. I did verify (or at least thought I did) that HW Acceleration was enabled. Where am I supposed to check this?

One small thing was that my AGP 2900PRO card required a PCI-e power connector. Fortunately, my PSU is modular and I dug out the PCI-e connector to get it working.

Overall, I'm quite pleased with the card so far!

aiyunyi

12-02-07, 11:27 AM

It's a bit funny that you mention h264 as limited, while in reality h264 is fine (since you can use the PowerDVD decoder in any DirectShow media player). The real problem is VC-1 because the only VC-1 decoder which does *ANY* hardware acceleration with ATI cards is the PowerDVD decoder - and that one can NOT be used outside of PowerDVD. So for people who don't want to use the PowerDVD media player the real problem is not h264 but VC-1. Of course VC-1 is not as CPU consuming as h264 is. But still there are some very high bitrate VC-1 movies out there which can be too much for average HTPC hardware.

It's not true, Cyberlink VC-1 Decoder has been hacked in China. If you want to use this filter outside PowerDVD, please give me your email address and I will send it to you.

Ilia

12-02-07, 11:31 AM

I believe your TV is a RP LCD, in which case the native resolution is 720p , and everything is scaled to that res. Why would you want to pass 480i and 576i?

Its native resolution is 1920x1080p. Yes, everything is scaled to that resolution, but I believe that TV can do better deinterlacing than videocard or software codecs.

aiyunyi

12-02-07, 11:38 AM

GraghEdit, BSPlayer, KMPlayer can all use the hardware acceleration.

topcaser

12-02-07, 11:43 AM

I have got a question to the deinterlacing modes: What is the difference between automatic deinterlacing and vector deinterlacing? Isnt it that automatic selects always vector adaptive?

xxxstarmanxxx

12-02-07, 12:52 PM

I have got a question to the deinterlacing modes: What is the difference between automatic deinterlacing and vector deinterlacing? Isnt it that automatic selects always vector adaptive?

Deffinately not - If I set it to auto - it will play any 720p h.264 encoded mkv i can throw at it.

If i set it to vector adaptive - I'm lucky if it will play half of my encodes without problems - symtoms are - pausing of the video output / no frames drawn / green screens to name but a few.

So auto is deffinately being selective in what its doing.

J.

xxxstarmanxxx

12-02-07, 01:24 PM

GraghEdit, BSPlayer, KMPlayer can all use the hardware acceleration.

Since you seem up with graph edit - are you able to produce anything under raw h.264 @ 1080p that accelerates???

I can get no further than this with all versions of pdvd/ccc that i've tried :(

All the best.

J.

doctorcilantro

12-02-07, 04:55 PM

Installed Vista for my AGP 2600xt (HIS) and things were okay for awhile using the HIS CD-rom drivers (cat10?) ...now with the drivers installed, I get hard lockups. I removed the ATI DDriver and ran Prime95 for awhile. I 'm using an Nforce3 with no Nvida drivers installed. And I had just gotten x264 to look good with CCCP; it was all aliased for some reason with the FFDshow embedded in CCCP.

I unclear how or why people claim the VIsta default drivers are "the best" ...how do get 1920x1080 with a Standard VGA Driver:eek:

this Sh$##$ never ends...

Since I can't install 7.11, and have to use the HIS disc, what is the most stable driver I'm able to install for VISTA x86...anything besides the Cd-rom 8.43?

DC

arfster

12-02-07, 05:25 PM

Since you seem up with graph edit - are you able to produce anything under raw h.264 @ 1080p that accelerates???

All proper h264 accelerates for me, which excludes x264 encodes of course. Bluray, hddvd, broadcast 1080i50 (BBC HD, Premiere), my own encodes via nero recode, Apple quicktime downloads etc etc.

Using a 2600XT PCI-E, any drivers, Vista32, the cyberlink decoder, and any media app that renders with EVR.

If you have a 2400, you will need to use tweaks to get any 1080i50 h264 (ie European HD) to accelerate. That combination is deliberately disabled by default.

Of course, if you have an AGP card, it seems to be completely random whether acceleration works or not. Probably the determining factor is what motherboard and chipset drivers you have.

MattM

12-02-07, 06:12 PM

Well, I got the LG drive and ATI card installed. I just used the Diamond Driver CD that came with the card (v7.7 CCC) and everything appears to be fine. I did update the LG drive FW and the OEM PowerDVD.

Overall, I'm not having any issues with the card or driver other than I'm running about 35% CPU just watching HD-DVD. I did verify (or at least thought I did) that HW Acceleration was enabled. Where am I supposed to check this?

I tried my first Blu-Ray disc tonight (Ghost Rider) and things aren't looking so good. 80-100% CPU Utilization and choppiness when 100%. Looks like HW Acceleration *isn't* working and it can just handle HD-DVD anyway, but not Blu-Ray.

I did apply the Tweaks/Registry Changes but didn't resolve the issue. The CCC on the CD that I have installed says version 2007.0815.2142.36937. The Catalyst version listed is 8.41 RC3 dated 8/20/07.

From reading this thread it sounds like the HW Acceleration is broken for AGP cards in XP, even in the current version and should be fixed in the next release. Is this accurate? Is there a later version than what I have that does correctly enable the hardware acceleration?

xxxstarmanxxx

12-02-07, 07:17 PM

All proper h264 accelerates for me, which excludes x264 encodes of course. Bluray, hddvd, broadcast 1080i50 (BBC HD, Premiere), my own encodes via nero recode, Apple quicktime downloads etc etc.

Using a 2600XT PCI-E, any drivers, Vista32, the cyberlink decoder, and any media app that renders with EVR.

If you have a 2400, you will need to use tweaks to get any 1080i50 h264 (ie European HD) to accelerate. That combination is deliberately disabled by default.

Of course, if you have an AGP card, it seems to be completely random whether acceleration works or not. Probably the determining factor is what motherboard and chipset drivers you have.

Sorry - I should have made it clear - this 1080p problem i'm having is only affecting x264 encodes. Like yourself - vc1/h264 is fine in any resolution.

Just annoying that I cant seem to get HA enabled for loads of 1080p x264 encodes I've done over recent months! - aaaarg!

Thanks for ya tips

J.

gsr

12-02-07, 08:23 PM

I tried my first Blu-Ray disc tonight (Ghost Rider) and things aren't looking so good. 80-100% CPU Utilization and choppiness when 100%. Looks like HW Acceleration *isn't* working and it can just handle HD-DVD anyway, but not Blu-Ray.

I did apply the Tweaks/Registry Changes but didn't resolve the issue. The CCC on the CD that I have installed says version 2007.0815.2142.36937. The Catalyst version listed is 8.41 RC3 dated 8/20/07.

From reading this thread it sounds like the HW Acceleration is broken for AGP cards in XP, even in the current version and should be fixed in the next release. Is this accurate? Is there a later version than what I have that does correctly enable the hardware acceleration?

You said in a previous post that you have a 2900 Pro - the 2900 cards don't have the hardware acceleration feature that the 2400, 2600, and 3000 series cards have. The 2900 is a better gaming card than the 2400 or 2600 cards, but is otherwise inferior to any of the others.

MattM

12-02-07, 08:56 PM

You said in a previous post that you have a 2900 Pro - the 2900 cards don't have the hardware acceleration feature that the 2400, 2600, and 3000 series cards have. The 2900 is a better gaming card than the 2400 or 2600 cards, but is otherwise inferior to any of the others.

My mistake. It is a HD 2600 Pro AGP 256MB. The 2900 Pro was a mistype. Sorry for any confusion.

aiyunyi

12-02-07, 10:09 PM

GraghEdit, BSPlayer, KMPlayer can all use the hardware acceleration.

Since the settings of these players are a little bit complicated and people kept asking questions, I would like to post the settings in this thread for all of them.

First, make sure the Cyberlink Demuxer is properly registered which I didn't attach in my email, it should be easily found in PowerDVD, or the attachment of this thread.

Second, DirectVobsub or other filters should not be used between the decoder and Renderer.

Third, use the proper Renderer ( VMR9 Renderless for XP, Enhanced Video Renderer for Vista)

Last, follow the settings ( BSPlayer and KMPlayer have been tested and the results turn out perfect, MPC is good in XP, but bad in Vista, Zoom Player has not been tested yet.)

aiyunyi

12-02-07, 10:13 PM

Go on, remember, Decoder should be set for each player individually.

one_2go

12-02-07, 11:15 PM

On Soapbox

I have followed this thread from early times and have finally come to the conclusion that its gems are buried among the many superfluous posts that make it difficult to move ahead with any problems of new driver releases or fine tuning the usage of these cards to what they were intended.

1. For example I start reading a post that seems of genuine interest only to find out towards the end, I am using the AGP version. N/A next post.

For all those who bought AGP cards, you have been suckered by AMD/ATI in buying yesterday's technology (AMD/ATI supports wording regarding AGP technology). They will only release 3 or 4 times a year new drivers for the AGP version. So will 7.12 fix your problems probably not. Face the facts you have been had and contributed to the AMD/ATI vacation fund.

2. Again interesting dialogue in a post only to finally realize, the poster has problems with DXHA and needs it because his processor can't decode h.264 material, it is stuttering and finally the good people that are helping post: your processor is marginal at best.

Get to grips with the fact not to rely on the GPU's HA as needed to decode clips, get a CPU with the processing power to decode these newest formats.

3. And then we have this type that does not belong here at all "Sorry - I should have made it clear - this 1080p problem i'm having is only affecting x264 encodes."

x.264 is not h.264 this type of post does not belong in the 2400/2600 owners thread it is an x.264 encoder problem and has nothing to do with AMD/ATI cards.

As already mentioned by others it is time to start a new thread that addresses the idea of taking the owners of these cards to the next level.

Off Soapbox.

ExDeus

12-03-07, 03:07 AM

ExDeus - could you describe how the AVIVO shows up in Windows? Should we see it listed as a decoder in the Microsoft Media Decoder Checkup Utility which lets you set the preferred decoder? I have an ATI Mpeg2 decoder but pretty sure this is not AVIVO.

Will it just show up as implemented in the CCC; I need to check the settings in there and the regtweaks later tonight - pretty sure I'm not getting h.264 hardware decoding.

thanks
DC
Not sure what you want to accomplish. On my computer, it shows up as "ATI MPEG Video Decoder" in software using DirectShow filters.

If you want to use the AVIVO MPEG2 decoder in Media Center, follow this post (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=11910292#post11910292).

If you want to use the AVIVO H.264 decoder, it's the same "ATI MPEG Video Decoder" filter you need to select in your DirectShow player (i.e., ZoomPlayer, MPC), but I have not had any success getting the decoder to work for H.264. See my results with DXVA here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=12229674#post12229674).

Since I can't install 7.11, and have to use the HIS disc, what is the most stable driver I'm able to install for VISTA x86...anything besides the Cd-rom 8.43?
Why can't you install ATI drivers? You've added your card to the driver package (http://home.comcast.net/~exdeus/ati-hd2x00/#AGP), and if you get the "Notify" errors, you've manually installed the driver in Device Mgr and installed the CCC separately?

ExDeus

12-03-07, 03:17 AM

From reading this thread it sounds like the HW Acceleration is broken for AGP cards in XP, even in the current version and should be fixed in the next release. Is this accurate? Is there a later version than what I have that does correctly enable the hardware acceleration?
As arfster mentioned, it probably depends more on other components in your system.

I have gotten DXVA working with files (TS, MKV), HD DVDs, and Blurays, using my VisionTek HD2600PRO AGP 512MB.

I haven't done anything beyond what we've discussed here. I am currently running the Crysis hotfix drivers, because they are actually a newer build than the official 7.11 release. My normal routine:

Uninstall old drivers using ATI Uninstall Tool. (I don't use DriverCleaner, as it hoses up my Catalyst Media Center and TV Wonder 600 installs.)
Download the new drivers + CCC package.
Run the installer and wait for the error saying the card is not supported.
Cancel the install.
Go to the install folder, and add the AGP tweaks (http://home.comcast.net/~exdeus/ati-hd2x00/#AGP).
Run the installer.
If I get the "Notify" errors, then go to Device Mgr, right-click on the video card, select Update driver, and tell it to look in the new driver folder under "C:\ATI\SUPPORT\[latest release]\Driver\Driver\XP_INF". When done installing the driver, install the CCC --- in XP, by running "C:\ATI\SUPPORT\[latest release]\Driver\CCC\setup.exe". In Vista, I'm not sure what you have to do with the Install Mgr.
Run my program (http://home.comcast.net/~exdeus/ati-hd2x00/) to install arfster's tweaks.
Reboot.

Rew452

12-03-07, 08:16 AM

Has anyone installed and used KMPlayer and PDVD? I want to try it but am uncertain about possible program interactions causing problems with one or the other.

Are they independent enough to not cause problems with each other?

Thanks
Rew

arfster

12-03-07, 08:53 AM

Sorry - I should have made it clear - this 1080p problem i'm having is only affecting x264 encodes. Like yourself - vc1/h264 is fine in any resolution.

I suspect there's not much you can do about it - apparently x264 encodes done with typical options don't strictly meet the h264 standards, and thus the cyberlink decoder gets tripped up with hardware acceleration

Derek K.

12-03-07, 09:01 AM

Well, I got the LG drive and ATI card installed. I just used the Diamond Driver CD that came with the card (v7.7 CCC) and everything appears to be fine. I did update the LG drive FW and the OEM PowerDVD.

I ended up running 1366x768. Turns out I didn't need a custom resolution. I simply used my Panasonic Plasma remote to adjust the picture to fill the screen (originally off by about 5 pixels horizontally)

Also, this card is much quieter than the PNY 6200LE I had installed, so that was an extra bonus!

Overall, I'm not having any issues with the card or driver other than I'm running about 35% CPU just watching HD-DVD. I run about 35% CPU while recording two OTA HD shows and one analog cable show. So theoretically, that isn't a problem, but I'm concerned that if I'm recording multiple shows while trying to watch HD-DVD, I might see some stutters (>70% CPU added). I was hoping that the CPU utilization would be even lower (<10%) while watching HD-DVD to have minimal impact. I did verify (or at least thought I did) that HW Acceleration was enabled. Where am I supposed to check this?

One small thing was that my AGP 2900PRO card required a PCI-e power connector. Fortunately, my PSU is modular and I dug out the PCI-e connector to get it working.

Overall, I'm quite pleased with the card so far!

Great news!

I'm guessing that if ha wasn't enabled, the cpu utilization would be much higher, like closer to 100%.

Have you tried any blu-ray discs?

aiyunyi

12-03-07, 09:18 AM

Since the settings of these players are a little bit complicated and people kept asking questions, I would like to post the settings in this thread for all of them.

First, make sure the Cyberlink Demuxer is properly registered which I didn't attach in my email, it should be easily found in PowerDVD, or the attachment of this thread.

Second, DirectVobsub or other filters should not be used between the decoder and Renderer.

Third, use the proper Renderer ( VMR9 Renderless for XP, Enhanced Video Renderer for Vista)

Last, follow the settings ( BSPlayer and KMPlayer have been tested and the results turn out perfect, MPC is good in XP, but bad in Vista, Zoom Player has not been tested yet.)

About the Demuxer:

Due to the unique MediaSubtype of Cyberlink VC-1 Decoder registered in the system (maybe Cyberlink use this trick to inhibit other players from using this Decoder), the choice of demuxer is quite limited. We have informed the author of haali media splitter, hoping to get supported in the new splitter, but till now, the only demuxer can go with this decoder other than cyberlink demuxer is the hacked sonic hd demuxer. And What another problem is, the hacked sonic hd demuxer which can connect to the Cyberlink VC-1 Decoder can no longer been connected to sonic video decoder for VC-1 Decoding (mpeg2 works fine!)

If anyone needs the hacked sonic hd demuxer, again please give me your email!

Lawguy

12-03-07, 11:12 AM

I tried my first Blu-Ray disc tonight (Ghost Rider) and things aren't looking so good. 80-100% CPU Utilization and choppiness when 100%. Looks like HW Acceleration *isn't* working and it can just handle HD-DVD anyway, but not Blu-Ray.

HD-DVD and Bluray use the same codecs so either should tax the CPU the same amount. I have found that movies that are MPEG4 encoded run fine but VC1 encoded movies are choppy.

newone88

12-03-07, 12:10 PM

Hi, I own ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT and I have my PC hooked to a vizio 1080 47 LCD TV via VGA. When I play some DVDs (dark sceens and fast movement) I see some motion blur or ghosting. You can see the prevous image for a split second or 2.
When I play these DVDs using my DVD player on the same LCD TV, I don't notice this issue at all.
The refresh rate is 60. Anyhting I should look at to try to fix this?
Thanks

just.interactive

12-03-07, 01:15 PM

Hi Experts,

does anybody know how to get HDCP to work with the
GeCube HD2400PRO, 256MB DDR2, V-Fins ( GC-VHD24PL2-D3 ) ?
The card is passivly cooled and has a native HDMI port on board (so no DVI->HDMI adapter is needed), which makes it a great card for HTPC.
Problem is, i cant get HDCP to work.
I tried the Blu-ray movie Casino Royale on a SHARP XL2E TV and Viewsonic vx2435wm monitor. On both the PDVD stops after 2 seconds saying HDCP could not be established.
A HD2400PRO sapphire card works fine.
Does anybody know the Gecube. Is there somethning i need to switch on? I thouhgt HDCP is build into the ATI RV610 chip.

And BTW:
since some people were asking here, just got the LG combo drive GGC H20N/L yesterday. Great drive, really quiet, Blu-ray movies look great with PDVD 7.3 and the Sapphire HD2400PRO. No tweaks, GPU load is at 15% and CPU at 40% when watching the Casion royale blu-ray (MPG4-AVC)

Olaf

MattM

12-03-07, 02:10 PM

HD-DVD and Bluray use the same codecs so either should tax the CPU the same amount. I have found that movies that are MPEG4 encoded run fine but VC1 encoded movies are choppy.

I did some checking and Shooter HD-DVD, Transformers HD-DVD and Ghost Rider Blu-Ray are all encoded with MPEG-4/AVC. These are the discs I was using for testing.

So its interesting that they use the same codecs, however, there is still a large variance in CPU usage between the two discs. Shooter HD-DVD and Transformers HD-DVD average about 35% CPU bouncing between 20% and 50%. Ghost Rider BR bounces between 80% and pegged at 100%.

Is anyone else seeing anything like this where Blu-Ray discs tax the CPU much harder than HD-DVD using the same drive/software/etc.?

Lawguy

12-03-07, 02:26 PM

I did some checking and Shooter HD-DVD, Transformers HD-DVD and Ghost Rider Blu-Ray are all encoded with MPEG-4/AVC. These are the discs I was using for testing.

So its interesting that they use the same codecs, however, there is still a large variance in CPU usage between the two discs. Shooter HD-DVD and Transformers HD-DVD average about 35% CPU bouncing between 20% and 50%. Ghost Rider BR bounces between 80% and pegged at 100%.

Is anyone else seeing anything like this where Blu-Ray discs tax the CPU much harder than HD-DVD using the same drive/software/etc.?

I think that some bluray disks might have an additional layer of encryption (2 kinds on bluray, only one on HD-dvd). I wonder if that has anything to do with what you are experiencing?

Wo0zy

12-03-07, 03:21 PM

I apologise in advance if this has already been asked.

Has anyone ever opened up one of the official ATi DVI>HDMI converters to see what's going on in there?

I had assumed that any fully pinned adapter would be able to pass both Video and Audio but this doesn't appear to be the case (please *PLEASE* correct me if I'm wrong).

The reason I ask is that I'm looking for a quiet 2600 solution and I can't find one in the UK that includes the official adapter. I can get passively cooled Gigabyte and MSI cards but both state that the adapter is an "optional extra" and nobody in the UK seems to sell them separately.

Many thanks and sorry again for interrupting far more interesting discussions.

Wo0zy.

ToughRowToHoe

12-03-07, 03:42 PM

ToughRowToHoe

12-03-07, 03:47 PM

I did some checking and Shooter HD-DVD, Transformers HD-DVD and Ghost Rider Blu-Ray are all encoded with MPEG-4/AVC. These are the discs I was using for testing.

So its interesting that they use the same codecs, however, there is still a large variance in CPU usage between the two discs. Shooter HD-DVD and Transformers HD-DVD average about 35% CPU bouncing between 20% and 50%. Ghost Rider BR bounces between 80% and pegged at 100%.

Is anyone else seeing anything like this where Blu-Ray discs tax the CPU much harder than HD-DVD using the same drive/software/etc.?

Can't Blu-Ray offer much higher bitrates? I can't recall the numbers but I'm pretty sure Blu-Ray disks can hold much more data (double?).

Fum

12-03-07, 04:07 PM

aravs

12-03-07, 04:16 PM

A small update I just got from ATI with regards to the hardware acceleration issue on AGP cards:

"Typically, we have Catalyst 7.x driver releases every 4-8 weeks, therefore, we expect to see Catalyst 7.12 in mid/late December with the included fix for the HD DVD hardware acceleration issue."

At least they're not shying away from awknoledging that there's an issue or a fix on the way, which is mildly encouraging. I had a follow-up question and I'll post if I get any more information on this problem.

how hopeful is everyone that 7.12 will actually fix all the agp users woes? or will they then say look to 7.13. this is a lot of reading to take in, trying get an agp hd2600 card up and running between this thread and the powerdvd thread. enough to the point that i've taken a break from trying and am just reading everyone elses experience and it just seems to get more complicated. Still the fact that ati has acknowledged the problem is promising i hope.

madshi

12-03-07, 04:34 PM

or will they then say look to 7.13.
You mean the driver which will be released in the month Tricember 2007?

taywu

12-03-07, 05:59 PM

Sorry in advance if this has been covered. I searched for half hour and couldn't find anything.

I just picked up the Saphire 2600xt for a new Vista box, connecting dvi-hdmi adapter to my Marantz SR7001 receiver to my Mitsubishi HD1000u projector. I got the latest ati drivers, etc. I'm seeing a purple-ish color for everything on the screen, almost like some RGB problem. The display device shows up as "SR7001 HDMI on Radeon HD2600XT.." I don't know if there's a simple setting I missed. Anyone seen this before? Any help is appreciated.

In case anyone is interested, I found this post from the Marantz forum.

The pink tint is caused by the need for a different output type. Most HT equipment puts out Y/PR/PB componant video format. The 7001/8001 wants the RGB format to properly display a correct picture. The PS3 can change output format in the "settings" menu. Try it and see! Change the output settings and you will see pink from one setting and none from RGB. It is obviously some HDMI issue that can be corrected, but is not being addressed.

This makes sense because I had to do the same thing on my Comcast 3416 DVR and it fixed the problem.

Does anyone know if there's a way to set the output format for the HD2600XT so that it outputs RGB instead of Y/PR/PB?

MattM

12-03-07, 06:10 PM

I think that some bluray disks might have an additional layer of encryption (2 kinds on bluray, only one on HD-dvd). I wonder if that has anything to do with what you are experiencing?

Possibly. However, I just went and purchased Die Hard 4 on Blu-Ray to test it out. I get similar results to my HD-DVD discs, CPU around 35%. Possibly, there is something unique on the Ghost Rider disc driving CPU up. Ah well, good to know that I can at least play some Blu-Ray discs! Now I have a reason to keep this card and the LG combo drive! :-)

@ Derek K.:
Yes. Good news indeed on HD-DVD and some Blu-Ray! As I said before, Ghost Rider was unwatchable, using 80-100% CPU, but Die Hard was comparable to the HD-DVDs in terms of CPU. Let me know how your install goes!

@ ExDeus:
It could be the combination of my Diamond 2600 Pro and my Asus P4P800E-Deluxe motherboard that I'm not getting HW Acceleration. I did add the AGP cards to the install and installed 7.11 and then applied the registry tweaks, but unfortunatley getting the same results. Glad to hear it works in some cases. Hopefully, it will work for my hw config in future releases!

Thanks again for all the help in this thread! Much appreciated!

Wo0zy

12-03-07, 06:35 PM

Yes, the ATI adapter has different pin assignments than a standard DVI-to HDMI adapter. A few pages up somebody linked a company in Germany that suposedly ships them internationally.

Snuffy is right, there really should be a FAQ page.

Thank you. FAQ would be good. :(

shurik_1

12-03-07, 06:51 PM

Possibly. However, I just went and purchased Die Hard 4 on Blu-Ray to test it out. I get similar results to my HD-DVD discs, CPU around 35%. Possibly, there is something unique on the Ghost Rider disc driving CPU up. Ah well, good to know that I can at least play some Blu-Ray discs! Now I have a reason to keep this card and the LG combo drive! :-)

FAQ would be really good. A few pages ago I mentioned that switching to uncompressed audion may help on those particular titles. Please report how it goes on your side.

one_2go

12-03-07, 10:35 PM

The reason I ask is that I'm looking for a quiet 2600 solution and I can't find one in the UK that includes the official adapter. I can get passively cooled Gigabyte and MSI cards but both state that the adapter is an "optional extra" and nobody in the UK seems to sell them separately.
Same situation here, I finally got the XpertVision 2600Pro which has an HDMI connector on board. However the fan was quiet for only a few months. Now I am looking for a solution to take off the fan and put on a passive cooler and there are a few, only problem I'll loose the PCI connector in my Shuttle.

doctorcilantro

12-03-07, 11:51 PM

Ballis

12-04-07, 04:08 AM

doctorcilantro

12-04-07, 08:01 AM

Newone - you using an AGP card? Is that a Gallevia; I have the GV42LF and 2600xt. I'm just getting things going here, I can check back with you.

DC

Radiophile

12-04-07, 08:02 AM

Has anyone ever opened up one of the official ATi DVI>HDMI converters to see what's going on in there? I had assumed that any fully pinned adapter would be able to pass both Video and Audio but this doesn't appear to be the caseDVI doesn't have audio. That is, the signal doesn't exist on a DVI connector pin. So no adapter, no matter how it's wired, will be able to pass audio to or from DVI, since DVI doesn't do audio in the first place.

Edit: I am wrong. The standard DVI pinout, in use for years, does not have a pin for audio. But it seems that ATI has added audio to an available DVI pin so they can bring it to the HDMI connector via a correctly wired DVI-to-HDMI adapter. You learn something new every day!

doctorcilantro

12-04-07, 08:09 AM

Modified DVI outputs, as found on these cards (or with the us of an adapter, can output audio....I've done it personally on a VisionTek card w/o adapter, and discussed it a few times here in specific threads if you want more info on my experience. I haven't been able to get it working on the HIS card yet, but the included an adpater in the box whereas VisionTek did not.

DC

originalsnuffy

12-04-07, 08:52 AM

I am not quite sure where Radiophile is going with his comment, but at least on Vista PCI-E systems, using the ATI dongle, the HDMI will carry audio. There are limits to what is carried, but there is audio.

Wo0zy

12-04-07, 09:43 AM

Also doesn't matter where in the "chain" the dongle is.

Just out of interest I connected a standard DVI>HDMI (single-link) cable to my 2600 then connected the ATi dongle to the other end and then connected a standard DVI>HDMI converter which I then connected to my TV.

I still got video and audio :)

So this must mean that the required pins are available on single-link DVI cables and that the ATi adapter is Bidirectional.

I intend to get my multi-meter out when I get a few minutes spare and see if I can work out the pinouts.

Cheers,

Wo0zy

uberman45

12-04-07, 09:53 AM

DVI doesn't have audio. That is, the signal doesn't exist on a DVI connector pin. So no adapter, no matter how it's wired, will be able to pass audio to or from DVI, since DVI doesn't do audio in the first place.

Well my Sapphire 2600 Pro has dual DVI outputs and I'm using the ATI adapter and getting sound through my DVI to HDMI cable connected to my Sony KDF-46E2000. So it looks like they modified the pins on theses cards.;)

MarCus0

12-04-07, 10:15 AM

There is some thing. I have Sapphire ATI Radeon HD2600XT 512MB DDR3/128bit TV/DVI PCI-E and Sony KDS55-A2000. TV is connected with DVI-HDMI cable - no audio. TV has additional analog sound input with is have to work with HDMI if in digital stream is no audio, but is not working. That signify that is some audio is send by card over DVI-HDMI cable.
Last conclusion and my discovering. When I uninstall video driver from system analog audio start to work in TV.
Any body know how to switch off audio that coming from graphic card? I want to transfer audio by separate analog cable from sound card to TV.
I’m looking for solution but without luck. I tray remove all XP register valve containing “HD Audio” bat nothing.
Regards

xxxstarmanxxx

12-04-07, 10:45 AM

Fum

12-04-07, 01:15 PM

I need to read the post on deciphering encoding options to find out exactly what I have here, but I have DXVA working here with a 1080P MKV on an Nforce3 with HIS 2600xt AGP using the Cyberlink x264 decoder in J. River Media Center. 10-15% cpu on some serious visuals in Elephant's Dream, if I turn off DXVA in Cyberlink filter options...I can't even watch it!

Windows XP sp3 & Mobile 4000+ @ 3000mHz.

DC

Interesting.

To expand on some of the info I got through ATI's customer service, it seems that some of the older AGP configurations do not have recent updates available for the Northbridge chipset drivers, "which are required to integrate properly with the latest Catalyst 7.8+ drivers." And it seems that some newer AGP systems have been "able to accommodate these Catalyst 7.8+ drivers." So it might just be that NF3 motherboards and others manufactured around and beyond the same time are properly configured to work fully with ATI's latest drivers, the ones that enable hardware acceleration. I have a NF2 motherboard, and I've heard cases where folks with an NF2 MB have upgraded to a later model MB and have eliminated their HA problems. So - to summerize - I think I've narrowed the issue down to folks with older chipset motherboards, in the NF2 time range. It might be that other VIA chipsets released around this time had the same problem, but were fixed through driver updates - I'm not sure. But that's what I've got so far. And if no one is going to release updates for their allegedly out-of-date MB chipsets, then we have to hope and trust that ATI really has found a way to work around this issue with their 7.12 drivers.

doctorcilantro

12-04-07, 02:11 PM

I used to own an NF2, and almost ditched this NF3 a number of times.

I am using the 7.10, forgot to state that. I will probably just wait until 7.12 since things seem pretty good.

I'd like to test the Apple HD trailers because so far I have only been able to test the x264 material, much of it doesn't seem to work.

There is a great tool that was mentioned here, AVInaptic, that gives you quick access to encoding info so I will explore the material I have & report back.

I hope things work out for the NF2. As I've said here, Vista x86 caused lockups on my system, so it looks like I'll be sticking the with tried and true NF3 & XP x86 for awhile.

DC

doctorcilantro

12-04-07, 02:17 PM

Radiophile was just stating what is common knowledge. This audio over DVI is new and unique to the card manufacturers; I had never heard of it before either.

Strange, using XP x86 I just don't have an audio device whereas with the VisionTek card I did. I still think it's because the dongle isn't connected, and I made an extensive postulation earlier in this thread i.e. drivers can be installe d but devices need to be physically present to be recognized on the system and selected in various players/OS.

ExDeus has made a few postings which clued me into my success; he obviously knows a whole lot more about MKV encoding than I. I have made them before but it was a while ago. I'll post the encoding options on x264 that does & does not work for me later tonight.

The only issue I have is Pause & Resume aren't very smooth. for example, when I pause, the video pauses instantly but I get a horizontal refresh line the rolls from top of screen to bottom. not a big deal, but I can't achieve a quick pause resume manuever to capture a frame etc. Video resumes but takes a second and skips some frames doing so...I can live with this for now.

DC

Siriusfilms

12-04-07, 02:28 PM

I've searched this thread (which must be the most active thread I know), but can't find where to solve my problem.

I upgraded my 2400Pro which ran on XP and Vista Ult. with HORRIBLE results. I would get everything other users were discussing yesterday in this thread. Since I've upgraded to the 2400XT, I can actually watch an entire Blu-ray movie. Flags of Our Fathers has been sitting with me from Netflix for MONTHS while I spent a few hard to find hours every third weekend to tweak this issue.

Now my problem is that I can't get Hardware Acceleration to work, or at least so it seems. Now when playing BR, my Intel E4400 (Core-2Duo 2.0GHz 800MHz Bus) is at 75-90% and occassionaly spikes to 100% which stutters the playback. Clear signs HA is NOT working. The issue is that I can't select the HA Checkbox in CyberDVD 7.3 (or whatever I have) to enable/force HA.

So what's the trick? I did try several weeks ago some registry tweak posted in this thread. Is there an update to this issue? Did November's ATI Driver release fix the problem or must we wait another couple weeks for December's?

ol623

12-04-07, 03:19 PM

I was wondering, how is the scaling (specifically upscaling of SDTV) in the 2600xt compared to a card from the x1900 series?

Is the scaling a hardware feature specific to the 2XXX series, or would the algorithm be pretty much the same for both series, and the main difference between them only being the UVD offload of decoding in the 2XXX series?

bryanb

12-04-07, 04:51 PM

one_2go

12-04-07, 08:48 PM

Usually seeking or FF or REW are dependent on the splitter. Open your files in GraphEdit and check what filters are used. Then you get a better idea what works best.

doctorcilantro

12-05-07, 12:19 AM

Here's one that works with my setup:

[ About file ]

Name: HD-1080p.mkv
Date: 3/12/2007 20:37:26
Size: 733,844,424 bytes (699.849 MB)

[ Generic infos ]

Play duration: 00:10:32 (632.128 s)
Container type: matroska
Creation time: 26/09/2007 08:37:19 UTC
Number of streams: 3
Type of stream nr. 1: video (V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC)
Type of stream nr. 2: audio (A_AC3) {Stereo}
Type of stream nr. 3: audio (A_AC3) {5.1}
Audio streams: 2
Muxing Application: libebml v0.7.7 + libmatroska v0.8.1
Writing Application: mkvmerge v2.1.0 ('Another Place To Fall') built on Aug 19 2007 13:40:07

[ Relevant data ]

Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Width: multiple of 32
Height: multiple of 8

[ Video track ]

Codec ID: V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Frame aspect ratio: 16:9 = 1.777777
Pixel aspect ratio: 1:1 = 1
Display aspect ratio: 16:9 = 1.777777
Framerate: 25 fps

[ Audio track nr. 1 ]

Codec ID: A_AC3
Channels (container): 2
Sample rate: 48000 Hz
Mode: stereo

[ Audio track nr. 2 ]

Codec ID: A_AC3
Channels (container): 6
Sample rate: 48000 Hz
Mode: 3 front, 2 rear, 1 LFE

[ About H.264 encoding ]

User data: x264
User data: core 56 svn-680
User data: H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codec
User data: Copyleft 2005
User data: http://www.videolan.org/x264.html
User data: cabac=1
User data: ref=4
User data: deblock=1:1:1
User data: analyse=0x3:0x113
User data: me=umh
User data: subme=6
User data: brdo=0
User data: mixed_ref=1
User data: me_range=12
User data: chroma_me=1
User data: trellis=1
User data: 8x8dct=1
User data: cqm=0
User data: deadzone=21,11
User data: chroma_qp_offset=0
User data: threads=1
User data: nr=0
User data: decimate=1
User data: mbaff=0
User data: bframes=0
User data: keyint=250
User data: keyint_min=25
User data: scenecut=40
User data: rc=2pass
User data: bitrate=8062
User data: ratetol=1.0
User data: rceq='blurCplx^(1-qComp)'
User data: qcomp=0.60
User data: qpmin=10
User data: qpmax=51
User data: qpstep=4
User data: cplxblur=20.0
User data: qblur=0.5
User data: ip_ratio=1.40
SPS id: 0
Profile: High@L5.1
Num ref frames: 4
Chroma format idc: YUV 4:2:0
PPS id: 0 (SPS: 0)
Entropy coding type: CABAC
Weighted prediction: No
Weighted bipred idc: No
8x8dct: Yes

[ Profile compliancy ]

Profile to check: MTK PAL 6000
Resolution: 1920 x 1080 > 720 x 576
Framerate: Ok
Warning: If you need a more complete report, then click on "DRF analysis"

This report was created by AVInaptic (18-11-2007) on 4 dic 2007, h 08:21:29

doctorcilantro

12-05-07, 12:23 AM

And one of my backups that doesn't:

[ About file ]

Name:BluRay.1080p.x264.AC3.mkv
Date: 26/11/2007 06:13:01
Size: 8,398,503,412 bytes (8009.437 MB)

[ Generic infos ]

Play duration: 02:22:47 (8566.752 s)
Container type: matroska
Creation time: 12/11/2007 13:43:34 UTC
Number of streams: 6
Type of stream nr. 1: video (V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC)
Type of stream nr. 2: audio (A_AC3)
Type of stream nr. 3: audio (A_AC3)
Type of stream nr. 4: subtitle (S_TEXT/UTF8)
Type of stream nr. 5: subtitle (S_TEXT/UTF8)
Type of stream nr. 6: subtitle (S_TEXT/UTF8)
Audio streams: 2
Muxing Application: libebml v0.7.7 + libmatroska v0.8.1
Writing Application: mkvmerge v2.1.0 ('Another Place To Fall') built on Aug 19 2007 13:40:07

[ Relevant data ]

Resolution: 1920 x 864
Width: multiple of 32
Height: multiple of 32

[ Video track ]

Codec ID: V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Resolution: 1920 x 864
Frame aspect ratio: 20:9 = 2.222222
Pixel aspect ratio: 1:1 = 1
Display aspect ratio: 20:9 = 2.222222
Framerate: 25 fps

[ Audio track nr. 1 ]

Codec ID: A_AC3
Channels (container): 6
Sample rate: 48000 Hz
Mode: 3 front, 2 rear, 1 LFE

[ Audio track nr. 2 ]

Codec ID: A_AC3
Channels (container): 6
Sample rate: 48000 Hz
Mode: 3 front, 2 rear, 1 LFE

[ About H.264 encoding ]

User data: x264
User data: core 56 svn-676M
User data: H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codec
User data: Copyleft 2005
User data: http://www.videolan.org/x264.html
User data: cabac=1
User data: ref=5
User data: deblock=1:-3:-3
User data: analyse=0x3:0x113
User data: me=umh
User data: subme=7
User data: brdo=1
User data: mixed_ref=1
User data: me_range=16
User data: chroma_me=1
User data: trellis=1
User data: 8x8dct=1
User data: cqm=2
User data: deadzone=21,11
User data: chroma_qp_offset=0
User data: threads=6
User data: nr=0
User data: decimate=1
User data: mbaff=0
User data: bframes=3
User data: b_pyramid=1
User data: b_adapt=1
User data: b_bias=0
User data: direct=3
User data: wpredb=1
User data: bime=1
User data: keyint=250
User data: keyint_min=25
User data: scenecut=40(pre)
User data: rc=crf
User data: crf=18.0
User data: rceq='blurCplx^(1-qComp)'
User data: qcomp=0.60
User data: qpmin=10
User data: qpmax=51
User data: qpstep=4
User data: ip_ratio=1.40
User data: pb_ratio=1.30
User data: aq=1:0.3:15.0
SPS id: 0
Profile: High@L5.1
Num ref frames: 8
Chroma format idc: YUV 4:2:0
PPS id: 0 (SPS: 0)
Entropy coding type: CABAC
Weighted prediction: No
Weighted bipred idc: B slices - implicit weighted prediction
8x8dct: Yes
Custom intra4X4 luma:
6 7 10 16
7 7 11 17
10 11 12 20
12 13 20 16
Custom intra4X4 chromau:
16 16 16 16
16 16 16 16
16 16 16 16
16 16 16 16
Custom inter4X4 luma:
10 13 28 41
13 14 32 84
28 32 41 111
41 46 111 16
Custom inter4X4 chromau:
16 16 16 16
16 16 16 16
16 16 16 16
16 16 16 16
Custom intra8X8 luma:
9 9 10 10 11 16 21 29
9 9 10 10 11 16 21 29
10 10 10 10 11 16 22 31
10 10 10 11 11 17 23 33
11 11 11 11 11 19 25 36
12 12 13 13 14 20 27 40
15 15 16 16 21 27 31 45
20 20 21 22 36 40 45 16
Custom inter8X8 luma:
12 13 15 18 20 70 163 255
13 13 16 18 20 72 170 255
15 16 17 19 21 81 190 255
18 18 19 21 23 96 228 255
20 20 21 23 25 120 255 255
33 34 36 39 45 32 255 255
64 66 71 80 164 255 255 255
151 155 169 192 255 255 255 10

[ Profile compliancy ]

Profile to check: MTK PAL 6000
Resolution: 1920 x 864 > 720 x 576
Framerate: Ok
Warning: If you need a more complete report, then click on "DRF analysis"

This report was created by AVInaptic (18-11-2007) on 4 dic 2007, h 08:22:24

Sulik

12-05-07, 04:17 AM

In the second stream, num_ref_frames=8 is not compliant for HD/BD at 1080p resolution, since it goes beyond level 4.1 restrictions (maximum is num_ref_frames=4 for 1920x1080)

xxxstarmanxxx

12-05-07, 04:19 AM

arfster

12-05-07, 08:41 AM

Nice job on pinning this down guys - I always figured it was something noncompliant about x264. However, this really shouldn't be tripping up the decoder/card, as they support h264, not just Bluray/HDDVD h264.

Anyone who wants to complain to cyberlink about the x264 acceleration issue, be sure to mention the reference frames >4 issue. Makes it far more likely their support staff will pass it on (because they won't understand it, and secondly because concrete info like that has more credibility).

doctorcilantro

12-05-07, 09:03 AM

I emailed tech support; it was painless:

http://www.cyberlink.com/english/cs/support/form/index.jsp

DC

Valnar

12-05-07, 09:30 AM

@doctorcilantro - thanks for this info:

I just checked again - with the num_ref_frames=4 it works!

@sulik - thanks for this info! - 1080p x264 with b-frames now working in mkv container! 10-12% load on dual core e6300!

Now i'm happy!
J.

Excellent! Now can somebody hit up Doom9.org, videohelp.com and the x264 guys to change their default templates?

Robert

doctorcilantro

12-05-07, 09:37 AM

Not it! :)

ToughRowToHoe

12-05-07, 01:41 PM

Can't Blu-Ray offer much higher bitrates? I can't recall the numbers but I'm pretty sure Blu-Ray disks can hold much more data (double?).

Following up on this earlier post, I do think it is likely that additional information is reasonably responsible for the observed difference on CPU/GPU stress mentioned earlier:

"...HD DVD has a storage capacity of 15 GB for single-layer and 30 GB for dual-layer discs (and 51 GB for single sided triple-layer discs); and, Blu-ray's capacity is 25 GB for single-layer and 50 GB for dual-layer..."
http://amplioaudio.blogspot.com/2007/10/how-much-storage-space-will-i-need-for.html

The compression schemes are the same, but the space available isn't.

ToughRowToHoe

12-05-07, 02:03 PM

DVI doesn't have audio. That is, the signal doesn't exist on a DVI connector pin. So no adapter, no matter how it's wired, will be able to pass audio to or from DVI, since DVI doesn't do audio in the first place.

You are right that standard DVI doesn't carry audio. You are wrong about no adapter being able to pass audio to or from DVI. ATI rewired their DVI outputs on their HD 2000 cards so that they could support HDMI through it. You need to use their special DVI to HDMI adapter to get the sound option to work:

"In order to enable HDMI support on the Radeon™ HD 2000 series board through the DVI connector, AMD has designed a unique DVI-HDMI adapter..."
http://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894

I should add that the same Faq linked to above states that the adapter has to be included in order for the sound option to work. This has been proven false.

tonyrob

12-05-07, 04:43 PM

bryanb

12-05-07, 07:29 PM

Hello,

I'm having an issue using both the Radeon 2600xt and 3850 in Vista Media Center. My problem is when seeking around in recorded TV shows, the picture on the screen is completely behind where I am in the seek bar. It is practically unusable for this reason.

I've also noticed that video playback takes a couple seconds to start after skipping (forward or back).

Are these common problems? Any way to correct them? I had an 8600GTS that didn't have either of these problems.

Edit: Forgot to mention I'm using Catalyst 7.11.

Thanks,
Bryan

Usually seeking or FF or REW are dependent on the splitter. Open your files in GraphEdit and check what filters are used. Then you get a better idea what works best.

I tried opening one of the files in GSpot, but it failed to render the video. Presumably this is because it's from CableCard, so it's encrypted.

Does seek work properly for others in Vista Media Center? Or XP Media Center for that matter?

maxleung

12-05-07, 08:23 PM

gspot will not work on .ts and .mkv files, unless you use the Render option.

bryanb

12-05-07, 09:31 PM

gspot will not work on .ts and .mkv files, unless you use the Render option.

Will it work with ms-dvr? That's what Vista Media Center uses.

doctorcilantro

12-05-07, 11:40 PM

Here's a lower bitrate x264 that has to have DXVA disabled in Cyberlink x264 filter options in order to play without stutter (15% cpu goes up to 25% with DXVA off):

[ About file ]

Name: x264.mp4
Date: 4/12/2007 13:36:01
Size: 734,606,638 bytes (700.575 MB)

[ Generic infos ]

Play duration: 02:20:01 (8401.28 s)
Container type: MP4/MOV
Major brand: ISO Base Media version 1
Creation time: 15/12/2006 17:38:43 UTC
Modification time: 15/12/2006 17:38:43 UTC
Number of streams: 2
Type of stream nr. 1: video (avc1) {GPAC ISO Video Handler}
Type of stream nr. 2: audio (AAC Low complexity) {GPAC ISO Audio Handler}
Audio streams: 1

[ Relevant data ]

Resolution: 640 x 272
Width: multiple of 32
Height: multiple of 16

[ Video track ]

Codec: avc1
Resolution: 640 x 272
Frame aspect ratio: 40:17 = 2.352941 (~2.35:1)
Pixel aspect ratio: 1:1 = 1
Display aspect ratio: 40:17 = 2.352941 (~2.35:1)
Framerate: 23.976023 fps
Number of frames: 201427
Bitrate: 566.973606 kbps

[ Audio track ]

Codec: AAC Low complexity
Bitrate: 129.500943 kbps
Channels: 6
Sample rate: 24000 Hz

[ About H.264 encoding ]

User data: x264
User data: core 54 svn-611M
User data: H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codec
User data: Copyleft 2005
User data: http://www.videolan.org/x264.html
User data: cabac=1
User data: ref=5
User data: deblock=1:-2:-1
User data: analyse=0x3:0x133
User data: me=umh
User data: subme=6
User data: brdo=1
User data: mixed_ref=1
User data: me_range=16
User data: chroma_me=1
User data: trellis=1
User data: 8x8dct=1
User data: cqm=0
User data: deadzone=21,11
User data: chroma_qp_offset=0
User data: threads=3
User data: nr=0
User data: decimate=1
User data: mbaff=0
User data: bframes=3
User data: b_pyramid=1
User data: b_adapt=1
User data: b_bias=0
User data: direct=3
User data: wpredb=1
User data: bime=1
User data: keyint=240
User data: keyint_min=24
User data: scenecut=40(pre)
User data: rc=2pass
User data: bitrate=567
User data: ratetol=1.0
User data: rceq='blurCplx^(1-qComp)'
User data: qcomp=0.60
User data: qpmin=10
User data: qpmax=51
User data: qpstep=4
User data: cplxblur=20.0
User data: qblur=0.5
User data: ip_ratio=1.40
User data: pb_ratio=1.30
SPS id: 0
Profile: High@L5.1
Num ref frames: 8
Chroma format idc: YUV 4:2:0
PPS id: 0 (SPS: 0)
Entropy coding type: CABAC
Weighted prediction: No
Weighted bipred idc: B slices - implicit weighted prediction
8x8dct: Yes

[ Profile compliancy ]

Profile to check: MTK PAL 6000
Resolution: Ok
Framerate: 23.976023 <> 25
Warning: If you need a more complete report, then click on "DRF analysis"

This report was created by AVInaptic (18-11-2007) on 5 dic 2007, h 11:14:29

Sulik

12-06-07, 12:11 AM

Again, num_ref_frame (8) is too high for High Profile @ Level 4.1 (HW acceleration most likely does not support level higher than the limits imposed by HD-DVD/Bluray specs)

[Edit] Correction: this stream is not HD, so num_ref_frames is not the problem (might be the infamous 20fps bug with the mkv demux<->cl264dec interaction).

bryanb

12-06-07, 12:12 AM

Usually seeking or FF or REW are dependent on the splitter. Open your files in GraphEdit and check what filters are used. Then you get a better idea what works best.

I opened the dvr-ms file in GraphEdit. The output was:

DVR Out - 2 -> Decrypt/Tag -> Microsoft MPEG-1/DD Audio Decoder ->Default DirectSound Device
DVR Out - 3 -> Decrypt/Tag 0001->Microsoft MPEG-2 Video Decoder->Video Renderer

Doesn't look like there is anywhere I can make a change. So to me it seems like an issue with the video card.

Radiophile

12-06-07, 08:15 AM

You are right that standard DVI doesn't carry audio. You are wrong about no adapter being able to pass audio to or from DVI.Yeah, I see that now. I was unaware that ATI had monkeyed with the standard DVI pinout to add audio. I guess they're doing that to avoid paying HDMI licensing fees (which would be required if the cards had HDMI connectors). My bad. I'll edit my original post.

ToughRowToHoe

12-06-07, 10:03 AM

Yeah, I see that now. I was unaware that ATI had monkeyed with the standard DVI pinout to add audio. I guess they're doing that to avoid paying HDMI licensing fees (which would be required if the cards had HDMI connectors). My bad. I'll edit my original post.

No worries. The HDMI lincensing fees may be the reason for the disclaimer on the ATI FAQ that only cards shipped with the adapter can carry sound (i.e., support HDMI). Perhaps the card manufacturers have to pay the licensing fee to include the adapter with their cards. It would be crazy to reengineer the cards so that they cannot work with the adapter, so even if the card manufacturers don't plan to pay the fee on some of their cards (i.e., include the adapter) the cards are still all wired to support the conversion.

Babel-17

12-06-07, 12:05 PM

MediaInfo is a decent tool for getting basic info on various video and audio files, including MKV's.

What is MediaInfo?
MediaInfo supplies technical and tag information about a video or audio file.
This is free software (free of charge and free to access source code: GPL or LGPL licence)

What information can I get from MediaInfo?

* General: title, author, director, album, track number, date, duration...
* Video: codec, aspect, fps, bitrate...
* Audio: codec, sample rate, channels, language, bitrate...
* Text: language of subtitle
* Chapters: number of chapters, list of chapters

DivX, XviD, H263, H.263, H264, x264, ASP, AVC, iTunes, MPEG-1, MPEG1, MPEG-2, MPEG2, MPEG-4, MPEG4, MP4, M4A, M4V, QuickTime, RealVideo, RealAudio, RA, RM, MSMPEG4v1, MSMPEG4v2, MSMPEG4v3, VOB, DVD, WMA, VMW, ASF, 3GP, 3GPP, 3GP2
What format (container) does MediaInfo support?

* Video: MKV, OGM, AVI, DivX, WMV, QuickTime, Real, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DVD (VOB)...
(Codecs: DivX, XviD, MSMPEG4, ASP, H.264, AVC...)
* Audio: OGG, MP3, WAV, RA, AC3, DTS, AAC, M4A, AU, AIFF...
* Subtitles: SRT, SSA, ASS, SAMI...

multiplexer, demuxer, mixer, muxer, video decoder, audio decoder, PAL, NTSC
What can I do with it?

* Read many video and audio file formats
* Different methods of viewing information (text, sheet, tree, HTML...)
* You can customise these views
* Exporting information as text, CSV, HTML...
* Graphical Interface, or Command Line, or DLL
* Integration with MS-Windows shell (drag 'n' drop, and Context menu)
* Internationalisation: any language display on any version of your Operating System
* Localisation capability (but volunteers needed)

http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net/en

I use it in "Tree" mode though text mode is nice for copying and pasting information. I have the shell extension enabled for right clicking on files so as to get information.

bryanb

12-06-07, 01:32 PM

Hello,

I'm having an issue using both the Radeon 2600xt and 3850 in Vista Media Center. My problem is when seeking around in recorded TV shows, the picture on the screen is completely behind where I am in the seek bar. It is practically unusable for this reason.

I've also noticed that video playback takes a couple seconds to start after skipping (forward or back).

Are these common problems? Any way to correct them? I had an 8600GTS that didn't have either of these problems.

Edit: Forgot to mention I'm using Catalyst 7.11.

Thanks,
Bryan

In case my point isn't clear, here's an example. While playing back a basketball game, if I fast forwarding at the fastest seek speed, the score and game clock are far behind where the seek bar is. For example, if I fast forward to 1 hour into the game, when I press play the score will jump by like 40 points.

Would appreciate if someone else can confirm if they are experiencing this as well. I'm using digital cable with CableCard, but any feedback would help.

Thanks,
Bryan

ToughRowToHoe

12-06-07, 02:35 PM

In case my point isn't clear, here's an example. While playing back a basketball game, if I fast forwarding at the fastest seek speed, the score and game clock are far behind where the seek bar is. For example, if I fast forward to 1 hour into the game, when I press play the score will jump by like 40 points.

Would appreciate if someone else can confirm if they are experiencing this as well. I'm using digital cable with CableCard, but any feedback would help.

Thanks,
Bryan

Sounds to me like video isn't being fed to the card during the seek/fast forward processes (i.e, somewhere else in the chain).

For what it is worth, I believe your graph starts after the splitter:

DVR Out - 2 -> Decrypt/Tag -> Microsoft MPEG-1/DD Audio Decoder ->Default DirectSound Device
DVR Out - 3 -> Decrypt/Tag 0001->Microsoft MPEG-2 Video Decoder->Video Renderer

The odds are low that I'm adding much on this but I was just suggesting that you might get more info from an MCE forum.

G M

12-06-07, 03:23 PM

I am currently using a Mediagate MG-350 for movies and music and discovered only after I bought it that it doesn't play everything I want it to as far as video goes. I was thinking of putting a video card in my main computer running Vista and using the MCE to watch movies and such on a TV in another room by feeding the TV with component and digital audio cables. Will a Sapphire 2400 work for all the current formats of video out there right now or should I get the 2600? Also does it matter if I should get the XT or PRO version?

one_2go

12-06-07, 03:29 PM

I opened the dvr-ms file in GraphEdit. The output was:

DVR Out - 2 -> Decrypt/Tag -> Microsoft MPEG-1/DD Audio Decoder ->Default DirectSound Device
DVR Out - 3 -> Decrypt/Tag 0001->Microsoft MPEG-2 Video Decoder->Video Renderer

Doesn't look like there is anywhere I can make a change. So to me it seems like an issue with the video card.
You can use graph edit to create the splitter, video decoder, audio decoder of your choice. Google for Graph Edit guide or how to use it.

For example you can replace the filters for your video & audio playback with others by clicking on add filter and select Direct Show filters and it will list all the ones you have. You can even start with the file input and select your splitter. This is the tool of choice to get down to playback problems.

Once you found your desired filter chain that plays it back to your likung you can save it as a Filter Graph and it will play it back in like MPC.

doctorcilantro

12-06-07, 03:59 PM

I receievd my HDMI in the mail and hooked up the 2600xt with the ATI adapter....I still don't have a device anywhere on my system.

Trying to install the driver results in the messgae "the update you are trying to install is older than your system, you don't need this etc."

Seems like the install of CCC and assorted ATI apps haven't helped XP recognize my device. I'l uninstall everything and try the hack to get the 7.11s in on this machine.

DC

bryanb

12-06-07, 04:23 PM

Sounds to me like video isn't being fed to the card during the seek/fast forward processes (i.e, somewhere else in the chain).

For what it is worth, I believe your graph starts after the splitter:

The odds are low that I'm adding much on this but I was just suggesting that you might get more info from an MCE forum.

Thanks for the advice. I am also trying the MCE forums.

The reason for posting in this thread is that I wasn't having this issue with an 8600GTS, so it appears that the ATi card is the problem.

bryanb

12-06-07, 04:24 PM

You can use graph edit to create the splitter, video decoder, audio decoder of your choice. Google for Graph Edit guide or how to use it.

For example you can replace the filters for your video & audio playback with others by clicking on add filter and select Direct Show filters and it will list all the ones you have. You can even start with the file input and select your splitter. This is the tool of choice to get down to playback problems.

Once you found your desired filter chain that plays it back to your likung you can save it as a Filter Graph and it will play it back in like MPC.

I will try this with some unprotected content, but I'm not sure if it's the same case. For CableCard recordings, GraphEdit will not render the video.

ToughRowToHoe

12-06-07, 06:11 PM

The reason for posting in this thread is that I wasn't having this issue with an 8600GTS, so it appears that the ATi card is the problem.

I know. It just sounds like it is coincidence.

I will try this with some unprotected content, but I'm not sure if it's the same case. For CableCard recordings, GraphEdit will not render the video.

I really don't know beans about GraphEdit, but it looks to me like the cablecard is splitting the files.

Hope you can get it fixed.

ToughRowToHoe

12-06-07, 06:24 PM

Siriusfilms

12-06-07, 09:49 PM

So I'm reading some confusing info in this forum, so these questions are to clarify.

Am I not to expect HW Acceleration for Blu-ray playback?
Are there some BR discs that will HWA, and some that won't?

I read some post here that mentioned that the 2400 series WON'T accelerate Blu-ray. Is that true? Do I need to upgrade to a 2600 for this function?

If it's possible to Accelerate Blu-ray on a 2400XT, then why is the option grey'd out in PowerDVD on Blu-ray playback? I applied the registry tweaks hoping that would fix the problem, but no change there.

I would really like to enable HWA if possible since my E4400 CPU is at 75-90% during playback and pops to 100% stuttering video if any other process runs a thread through the CPU.

profcolli

12-06-07, 10:16 PM

I would really like to enable HWA if possible since my E4400 CPU is at 75-90% during playback and pops to 100% stuttering video if any other process runs a thread through the CPU.Instead of running your E4400 at stock 2.0GHz you could easily overclock it up to 2.7-3.0GHz which will help with your CPU usage being so high and stuttering.
What Motherboard do you have?

arfster

12-06-07, 10:40 PM

[B]Am I not to expect HW Acceleration for Blu-ray playback?

Only on mpeg2 discs. I had no problem accelerating vc1 and h264 bluray with my 2400.

one_2go

12-06-07, 10:44 PM

I will try this with some unprotected content, but I'm not sure if it's the same case. For CableCard recordings, GraphEdit will not render the video.
In your original post you mentioned seeking problems not rendering video difficulties.
I'm having an issue using both the Radeon 2600xt and 3850 in Vista Media Center. My problem is when seeking around in recorded TV shows, the picture on the screen is completely behind where I am in the seek bar. It is practically unusable for this reason.
I take this as the content is being decoded and rendered, if that is the case Graph Edit will render it. So what is it seeking or rendering?

doctorcilantro

12-07-07, 12:46 AM

I finally figured that the PCI device missing a driver was on the same device as my display card.

I am using XP Media Center Edition w/ SP3 so I already have the hotfix, and the ATI HDMI driver won't install.

I tried to edit the .ini in the xp folder:

%HdAudioFunctionDriver.ATIAA08.DeviceDesc% = HdAudModel, HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_1002&DEV_AA08

AA09 was the closest listed to mine; still didn't work.

I'm going to yank the hotfix and re-install it.

dc

doctorcilantro

12-07-07, 12:55 AM

Interesting, can someone try to dig up XP x86 copies of these files for me:

needing the UAA High Definition Audio class driver for my Windows installation I downloaded KB888111 and integrated it with hfslip (v. 1.4.1., Win XP Prof. SP2). According to the registry the patch was correctly slipstreamed, but I didn't have sound after installation and instead found an unknown device in the device manager. When trying to install the corresponding driver for it, I found at least the files "hdaudbus.inf" and "hdaudbus.sys" not being present in the system. They are part of the KB888111 update and reside in the 'commonfiles' sub directory but were apparently not installed. After manually extracting these files and using them for the driver installation, everything went fine and I had sound.
Is it possible to update hfslip so it recognizes this patch and puts the all the necessary files into the appropriate folders of the Windows installation (namely "inf", "system32" and "system32\drivers")? Or is it really necessary to use the HFEXPERT feature for this? Thanks!"

http://www.msfn.org/board/KB888111-t95250.html

DC

doctorcilantro

12-07-07, 01:17 AM

I extracted the 888111 hotfix with Universal Extractor and copied all the files into System32. My install with SP3was missing these files.

Got everything installed and now I'm seeing the same bug I saw with the VisionTek card (except my video driver doesn't crash):

the UAC Microsoft Driver (System Devices "View Hidden Devices) cause cpu usage of 40%. It doesn't show up in processes but as soon as you disable it, cpu hits 0%. Guessing this hurts AGP users most likely and not the PCI-E folks...

sucks....I want this mode as a convenience for my wife, and myself I guess...I have a lot of tube gear that I don't always want to turn on, like late at night when I'm tired of M$ bs....

one tough row to hoe....thanks for the inspiration...

DC

mickwall

12-07-07, 02:23 AM

@doctorcilantro - thanks for this info:

I just checked again - with the num_ref_frames=4 it works!

@sulik - thanks for this info! - 1080p x264 with b-frames now working in mkv container! 10-12% load on dual core e6300!

Now i'm happy!
J.

Nice job on pinning this down guys - I always figured it was something noncompliant about x264. However, this really shouldn't be tripping up the decoder/card, as they support h264, not just Bluray/HDDVD h264.

Anyone who wants to complain to cyberlink about the x264 acceleration issue, be sure to mention the reference frames >4 issue. Makes it far more likely their support staff will pass it on (because they won't understand it, and secondly because concrete info like that has more credibility).

Can i just clarify please. Are we saying that if we get the people who encode the files to change their settings we will be able to run x264 created files through the powerdvd codec with hardware acceleration?

Also, are we able to change the setting on existing x264 encode files? or would the files need re-encoding? If we can, how please?

Sulik

12-07-07, 02:54 AM

bryanb

12-07-07, 04:23 AM

In your original post you mentioned seeking problems not rendering video difficulties.

I take this as the content is being decoded and rendered, if that is the case Graph Edit will render it. So what is it seeking or rendering?

The problem is with seeking. Others had suggested using GraphEdit to help figure out the issue. I was saying that can't be done since GraphEdit cannot render the files. I believe this is true of most encrypted video, such as WMV with DRM and ms-dvr recorded off CableCard.

DJBlu

12-07-07, 05:26 AM

You probably will need re-encoding if the files are 1080p/i with num_ref_frames>4
It's also likely to be a HW restriction - the DXVA profiles are specifically designed with HD-DVD/Blueray in mind, so it's likely that the HW acceleration strictly enforces H.264 profile & level limits.

I have just re-encoded one of my 1080p x264's 10 hours but worth it. It now has 4 reference frames and no adaptive b frames(this causes 14-20 fps) and all is working with 2-8% cpu on athlon 3800+.

Shame the SPS info cannot be modified in the stream.

Have re-encoded a 720p with the same profile and there is no fps slow down either.

Both are in mkv containers.

furfoot

12-07-07, 06:41 AM

The Cyberlink h264 decoder version 1.99.0.1405 (PDVD 7.2) doesn't have the 20fps bug in it.

xxxstarmanxxx

12-07-07, 08:29 PM

Can i just clarify please. Are we saying that if we get the people who encode the files to change their settings we will be able to run x264 created files through the powerdvd codec with hardware acceleration?

Also, are we able to change the setting on existing x264 encode files? or would the files need re-encoding? If we can, how please?

Yup - but i dont think the 'scene' is remotely interested in providing us with compliant h.264 files for hd2x00 cards......Most I have contact with use 'other' hardware to play back their files.........IMHO.

There is no way to alter the encoded video - you will have to reencode it with super or something equivalent.

Maybe that will change with ati cards winning back the market share in the gaming realm.

If you're looking at scene releases - stick to 720p or encode your own for now .

J.

doctorcilantro

12-07-07, 10:14 PM

FURFOOT - Just curious, are you saying that 7.3 does have the 20fps bug. I'm not familiar what x264 version is in 7.3 so I'm not sure if you have upgraded or downgraded...

DC

[Europe]Boogiem

12-07-07, 11:25 PM

Hi all

I just bought a Saphire Radeon HD2600XT (AGP) for my old tinkertoy (Asus A7m266 MoBo with XP2000+ processor and nifty 384 Mb of RAM :D and an old 40Gb Maxtor disk running XP SP2 and streaming movies from the other PC on a DraftN WiFi-lan).

I thought I would start playing and transform it into o HTPC (probably a slow one, but want to see how it turns out with HD accel before i start to build a "real" HTPC).

Before buying the card I was running an old GF Ti4600 which worked...partly when running 1280*720 to my sony HS-50 PJ via RGB-HV (D-sub), allthough the processor peaked at 95-100 most of the time will playing movies (of course) and sound started to stutter after some minutes of watching 720p mkv files, but the picture was there and rolling on quite smooth...but sound out of synch and stuttering is no fun. At least i Managed to get DD5.1 to the SPDIF in the end via the convenient AC3-filter

I got my hopes up when I read some articles at Toms Hardware and other sites that the HD2600XT got full points for XP also for the AGP card and also unloaded the processor A LOT and at the same time got inverse telecine, motion adaptive deinterlacing and all the yummy stuff. I mean you have to bang up some bux to get all the options I read about in an external scaler/deinterlacer and it seems like the options are (allmost) endless with a HTPC.

I will be (am) using Media Portal as a viewer (at least if I get it to work with HD decode) and have been running CCCP FFDShow until now, but I guess I have to change some things to apply Hardware accel of the 2600XT cause it is still at 100% when running MPEG, MKV-files and so on on media portal, zoom player or MPC.

After sitting here for 4 hours (5 in the morning now) reading about tweaks for Vista, PCIE-cards and so on I thought I would ask for some quick tips what to change just o get started.

I also read some things about AGP-cards not working with HW-HdAccel but I sure hope that is not true :-/

I guess just about anyone writing in this thread knows more than me about container, codes, demuxers and whatnot @:-/

Hope you can give me hint :-)

Regards
Boogieman