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

[Ralph3]

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?

[leeperry]

does anyone's system freeze when you quit powerdvd?

try to disable "combined writing" in windows

worked for me :D

[arfster]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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?

[xxxstarmanxxx]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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?

[bawb3t3a]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.


Yes, PDVD will pass DTS over SPDIF. I haven't tried with with HDMI audio out.

Regarding crashes - I was having major problems with my VT 2600 AGP until I updated the drivers to VT 8.43. Leeperry's suggestion to disable "write combining" has also worked so far...

[j0j081]

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]

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.

[videobruce]

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

[xxxstarmanxxx]

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]

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]

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?

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!

[uolsona]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

:)

The same for:
737-29811: Radeon HD 2xxx Series - Posterization while playing back MPEG-2 file with default deinterlacing mode in CCC :)

[arfster]

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]

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]

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.


I found the same thing. 3104 + AnyDVD gives me the most stable platform. Of course, I sometimes have to rip first to play. Leave it to the AACS and Studious to find the right set of features to make ripping mandatory :p

- Rich

[Mastiff]

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

[dastrong]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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}
J.

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!

[booyeah22]

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?

[xxxstarmanxxx]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

[doctorcilantro]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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! :(

[Babel-17]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

[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]

dont need hdmi audio drivers for vista

[doctorcilantro]

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

[ToughRowToHoe]

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]

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]

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]

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.

[doctorcilantro]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

[HappyFunBoater]

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.

[arfster]

(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]

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]

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]

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]

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.]

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]

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]

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.]

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]

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.]

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]

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.]

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]

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]

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.

[HappyFunBoater]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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?

[Derek K.]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

FWIW, I meant a clean install of the ATI card. While I'm not positive on this point, I believe the HDMI Audio device option should show up in the Sounds applet even if the DVI to HDMI adapter isn't in place. I think it would just be greyed out. In other words, you may still have a problem when the adapter arrives.

[MattM]

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.]

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!

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.

[Babel-17]

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]

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.]

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]

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..

[xxxstarmanxxx]

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]

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.

[crash1977]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

[crash1977]

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]

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]

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.

[xxxstarmanxxx]

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]

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]

[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]

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.

[crash1977]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

[topcaser]

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]

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]

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]

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...