ATI Radeon HD 2X00 (2400,2600,2900) series owners thread [Text View] - Page 17

topcaser

01-12-08, 04:07 PM

Ctrl+alt+delete and then return to desktop and all is fine!
If you apply the reg tweak at the site below for your card the problem should be gone!

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

J.

What regtweak do you mean exactly? Because:

"DXVA_DetailEnhance"="0"
I use this already
"DXVA_NOHDDECODE"="0"
not needed anymore
"DXVA_WMV_NA"="0"
shows only check box in CCC
"SORTOverrideVidSizeCaps"="2800000"
not needed any more
"TrDenoise"="0"
"UseBT601CSC"="1"
I have this applied already
"VForceMaxResSize"="2800000"
Not needed anymrore

"ColorVibrance_DEF"="0"
"ColorVibrance_DE_MIN"="0"
"ColorVibrance_NA"="0"
"Fleshtone_DEF"="0"
"Fleshtone_DE_MIN"="0"
"Fleshtone_NA"="0"
Is set by default
"DI_METHOD"="5"
"DI_METHOD_DEF"="5"
Dont know what this is

Applying ctrl-alt delete is wo´rth to give it a try. But anyway it is annoying if you want to record live TV

DJBlu

01-12-08, 05:17 PM

Hey DJBlu, nice program you made. Too bad I can't make it work. Whatever MKV file i try, it always replies with 'Error writing to file, please check the file is not open'. It reads the current profile properly. I'm trying to use it on Windows Vista 32bit.

Run the program as Administrator m8

anthony.s

01-12-08, 05:48 PM

RockySpieler

01-12-08, 05:51 PM

Just tried the omega 7.12 based drivers (XP / 2600XT) and I was unable to choose 50hz at 1920x1080, has anyone else noticed this?

Using std ati 7.12 drivers, I can choose 50hz at 1920x1080. Also with the omegadrivers I had to use the ati catalyst control tool in order to have the scaling slider options I require for my TV (Toshiba 42X3030D - UK).

Gone back to std ati 7.12 for the moment, do the Vista 8.1 beta drivers have the scaling sliders?

RockySpieler

01-12-08, 07:39 PM

I have my 2600XT connected to a Toshiba 32wlt66 using HDMI.
I can only select 29hz or 30hz interlaced as the refresh rate. The resolution is 1360x768.
Is this correct?
CCC reports max res is 1920x1080 @60hz (downsampled)

It's a 1366x768 native resolution TV with limited HDMI resolution acceptance, there is a thread on the UK forum below:-

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=333378&highlight=32wlt66+pc&page=28

It is not an issue with 2600xt, or its drivers, but an issue with the TV itself.

For 50hz, if you are watching video, then 720p50 (1280x720 @50hz) using the HDMI input should get you a picture (with overscan). The TV can accept 1080i (HDReady requirement, but TV scales/de-interlaces to display), which is proably why ccc reports a 1920x1080 max resolution. Many owners use VGA for PC input with the 32WLT66. Unfortunately it is not an ideal TV for HTPC'ing.

Gilhooley

01-12-08, 10:26 PM

Run the program as Administrator m8

Same error here - WinXP as admin.

iso9001

01-13-08, 03:07 AM

7o9

01-13-08, 05:20 AM

Run the program as Administrator m8

i am administrator

anthony.s

01-13-08, 05:35 AM

The thing is 1360x768 @30hz allows great playback of BR/HDDVD/dvd using PowerDVD but any file based material suffers from the tearing issue. This is not limited to HD stuff either.
I recently tried 7.12 drivers but the issue remains.
Any suggestions?
I've tried the forced wait and triple buffering options as well.

twarkie

01-13-08, 08:25 AM

Try this one and let me know what the error message is.

98869
Hello there, the new program generates this error message: "Error writing to file, Input string was not in correct format."

twarkie

01-13-08, 09:12 AM

98878

This version should now work.

P.S. Are you trying to modify files on a network drive?
I'm still getting the same error message :(

...and the file is stored on a local disc.

DJBlu

01-13-08, 09:31 AM

Used a different approach on this one to see if it fixes your problem.

Hope it does.

twarkie

01-13-08, 09:38 AM

Used a different approach on this one to see if it fixes your problem.

Hope it does.
It workes!

Thank you so much. All my mkv-files now accelerates perfectly.

SugoE

01-13-08, 10:52 AM

The last image here, should there be a speciel driver for the audiochip on the
2600xt or is Microsoft High Definition Audio fine?

The Realtek ATI HDMI Audio Device drivers should help here, according to other sources.
Sorry can't provide a link, there seems to major problems with the Realtek webserver.

xxxstarmanxxx

01-13-08, 11:32 AM

Over at http://www.guru3d.com

in the downloads section.

Downloading, I'll give them a whurl tonight. :cool:

Thanks for the heads up!

I'd thought i'd give some feedback on these:

My setup:

PCIE 2600xt 256mb ddr3 (Sapphire)
Sharp aquos 42 lcd 1080p lc42dx10e
Vista 32 premium
===========================

My lcd is not 24hz compatible - as a result i have experienced judder on mass panning movement in scenes as i have the card outputting 1920x1080p60hz.

With these new beta drivers - judder has gone?!?

My display is definately not 24p compatble and i'm playing a 720p 23.98fps file?!? and there is now NO judder present during panning - I've watched this film numerous times and been dissapointed that my screen couldn't match the frame rate of most of my 'film' encoded files.

Anyone know what might be happening here?

Are these cards able to reclock the source to 60hz output?

Is vista reclocking the media to match the screen refresh?

Or has something been added to the beta driver?

I'm stumped but well happy :)

Any info appreciated

J.

Rulle

01-13-08, 11:48 AM

No one who had the same problem?

Hi there.

I have some sound problems with my Sapphire Radeon HD 2600XT. I have connected my PC to my receiver with a HDMI cable. The video part works just fine, but the sound doesn't. Regular 2,0 stereo works, but i cant get 5,1 & DTS out.

My system is:

PC:
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R
Intel Core 2 duo E6750
Corsair 2x1GB
Sappire Radeon HD2600XT
Vista Home Premium

Reveiver:
Panasonic XR-59

My settings:

http://offtopics.dk/lyd1.jpg

http://offtopics.dk/lyd2.jpg

http://offtopics.dk/lyd3.jpg

The last image here, should there be a speciel driver for the audiochip on the
2600xt or is Microsoft High Definition Audio fine?

As you can se i have set the HDMI sound output to default,. and 2,0 works fine. What do i do to get 5.1 & DTS to my receiver?

Someone told me to set PowerDVD & MCE to SPDIF Passthrough, but i havent got that option?

I Really hope someone can help :)

AirRulez

01-13-08, 12:17 PM

xxxstarmanxxx

01-13-08, 12:37 PM

Hello all,
I actually found all the information in this thread quite helpful in setting up Hardware video acceleration for my 2400XT PCIE, unfortunately even having the hardware working (after applying the suggested reg tweaks, and using the IDC Changer - great work on this!), I'm still experiencing some video shuttering on panning scenes with my 720p H264 MKV files (CPU utilization is always close to 0 during playback).
After a bit of testing I've somewhat isolated the problem, as this happens every time I use VMR9 as renderer.
Simply said, using zoomplayer with Cyberlink H264 codec (latest PDVD Ultra update), if I use VMR7 as renderer the files run smoothly, while if I move on the VMR9 rendered I got the shutters during the panning. Using a software codec will solve the issue (CoreAVC 1.6) but I can consider this a real solution...
My PC specs are as follow:
Athlon X2 4200+, 1GB RAM OCZ, ABIT A8N 32x, Sapphire Radeon HD 2400XT (Catalyst 7.12) running over Windows XP Sp2.

Any help on this matter is very appreciated since I would love to use Media Portal as HTPC frontend and it support only VMR9.

That post just got me interested in changing render modes under vista.

Here are my findings:

EVR (accelerated by the video card only) - no judder now
EVR Custom (no acceleration on card) - no judder now
VMR 7 (no acceleration on card) - JUDDER
VMR 9 (no acceleration on card) - JUDDER
===============================

I think i've just found out where the improvement has come from:

Yesterday i installed a new version of videora for encoding stuff for my Nokia N95 - the program requested that I install an updated version of .NET after which windows update did some security fixes for it.

I'm almost positive that improved EVR playback is a result of updating .net to 3.5 - I dont really have the tecnical knowledge to even pretend to know what .net does?!? lol

Here is the link for the update:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=333325FD-AE52-4E35-B531-508D977D32A6&displaylang=en

Anyone for testing???

J.

Waters_10

01-13-08, 12:43 PM

Ok, I tried 236382 searches on this and the PowerDVD ultra thread, and still can't solve my problem ... So, any help would be greatly appreciated!

My problem is that I can't get AVC and VC-1 acceleration on my fanless 2600pro. Here are my specs:

A8N-SLI, with x2 4200+
1Gb of RAM
XP PRO SP2
Directx 9.0c
LG combo drive
PowerDVD that came with the drive
Catalyst 7.12 (not omega drivers)
All tweaks found on the VB script installed
Running extended desktop on the 2600pro, main display at 1776x1000, via DVI.

DXVA checkers shows only MPEG2HD acceleration, which I can confirm it's working when I'm watching HD channels on SageTV.

DXVA checkers shows ModeH264_VLD_NoFGT and ModeVC1_CLD, with NV12, with no resolutions in front of it, and I can confirm that I get 95+ cpu utilization, when watching Lost disc 1, AVC encoded, and Batman Begins, VC1 encoded.

Dxdiag saved results, shows only ModeMPEG2_C and ModeMPEG2_D on the video acceleration portion.

Now, is there anything I need to check on CCC to enable hardware acceleration? I already checked the box on PowerDVD ultra, before the movie starts. And the option doesn't remain checked, and it's greyed out after the movie starts.

From what I searched and read on this long threads, I'm doing everything that's required, so I'm lost here ...

Help? Please?

inspector-71

01-13-08, 01:27 PM

xxxstarmanxxx

01-13-08, 01:45 PM

Is there any way to fix 1080p h264 .mkv's to use hardware accel in vista yet?

As soon as I select the cyberlink codec the majority of mine just green screen. h264 hd-dvd and blu-ray from hard drive images are fine.

vista ultimate 32
2600xt
cat 7.12 inc reg fixes
haali, ffdshow and coreavc installed

Only if you re-encode them unfortunately.

Easiest way i have found is to re-encode to mp4 using the right levels - but even on my dual core 6300 - it takes around 10 hrs 2 pass - hardly worth it if you downloaded the mkv imho - i just stick with EVR custom for 1080p mkv's as my system will just about cope with it under cpu

J.

iso9001

01-13-08, 02:35 PM

I'm sure the answer is in this post (somewhere, and I'll never understand these impossible to search through long ass endless threads, but whatever). I've tried searching a few times but can't find any info,

Does anyone know why my HDTV (1080p) won't display full screen even though I've set the CCC to 1920x1080 ? It shows in what looks to me like a 1680x1050 sized window and I can tell there is scaling going on (blurry text). If I set 1080 optimized / true 16:9 (1776x1000) then the window gets bigger, but still has black bars.

I have Aspect Ratio on the TV set to standard (no scaling). Connected the TV to the HD2900XT via HDMI.

No matter what I do I can't seem to get it to go true 1080 fullscreen.

Ideas ?

Wait, I got skipped over.

Can anyone give me some info on this ?

No matter what I do I can't seem to 1080 settings to actually output full screen on my Westinghouse 47".

Tried Reduced DVI freq, Alternate DVI mode, Centered vs Stretched timings etc.

It appears to me, that when I set the res of the TV to be 1080 it actually sets it to something smaller and it is noticably scaled (text is blurry). If I set it to 1776x1000 it appears to actually set to that res and its clear.

No matter which way I change res it never filles the screen with 1080.... What could be wrong ?

xxxstarmanxxx

01-13-08, 02:44 PM

Wait, I got skipped over.

Can anyone give me some info on this ?

No matter what I do I can't seem to 1080 settings to actually output full screen on my Westinghouse 47".

Tried Reduced DVI freq, Alternate DVI mode, Centered vs Stretched timings etc.

It appears to me, that when I set the res of the TV to be 1080 it actually sets it to something smaller and it is noticably scaled (text is blurry). If I set it to 1776x1000 it appears to actually set to that res and its clear.

No matter which way I change res it never filles the screen with 1080.... What could be wrong ?

Are you able to move the slider in CCC HDMI TV section (scaling options) after putting a tick in the check box under the picture of the monitor? (use scaling values blah blah).

If so you should be able to fill the screen on your lcd tv.

0% overscan should suit most 1080p50/60 capable screens.

J.

iso9001

01-13-08, 02:54 PM

Are you saying the are Underscanning by default ?

If I apply a standard format, then add a custom one the white box fills the entire screen, but after I click apply it goes back to box mode.

This is extremely unintuitive.

Edit: Ah hell, thanks for the tip. They are underscanning by default... wtf, thats got to be the dumbest thing I've ever seen. That and the CCC has no options for stretching the second wallpaper.

xxxstarmanxxx

01-13-08, 04:06 PM

originalsnuffy

01-13-08, 08:07 PM

The review of video cards in one of my PC magazines stated that the 2400 is only capable of 720p. Is this correct?

arfster

01-13-08, 08:58 PM

The review of video cards in one of my PC magazines stated that the 2400 is only capable of 720p. Is this correct?

Nope. They have the same decoder chip as the 2600 and 3800 series.

Waters_10

01-13-08, 10:08 PM

My problem is that I can't get AVC and VC-1 acceleration on my fanless 2600pro. Here are my specs:

A8N-SLI, with x2 4200+
1Gb of RAM
XP PRO SP2
Directx 9.0c
LG combo drive
PowerDVD that came with the drive
Catalyst 7.12 (not omega drivers)
All tweaks found on the VB script installed
Running extended desktop on the 2600pro, main display at 1776x1000, via DVI.
Ok, made some progress.

I got both AVC and VC1 working, but only on my monitor running 1024x768, through VGA. My cpu utilization got down to 10-20%! But everytime I set up my tv as the primary, via DVI, cpu utilization got up again to over 90%!

Is anyone experiencing this? Any tips?

My tv is hdcp enabled and cyberlink advisor shows that, and I'm not running Anydvd.

Thanks

Waters_10

01-13-08, 11:59 PM

Ok, made some progress.

I got both AVC and VC1 working, but only on my monitor running 1024x768, through VGA. My cpu utilization got down to 10-20%! But everytime I set up my tv as the primary, via DVI, cpu utilization got up again to over 90%!

Is anyone experiencing this? Any tips?

My tv is hdcp enabled and cyberlink advisor shows that, and I'm not running Anydvd.

Thanks

Ok. More progress.

I thought the problem was with DVI, so I used RGBHV to my Mits, but still no AVC/VC1 acceleration!

So, I decided to do a lot of testing on my monitor, with different resolutions. What I found out, is that hardware acceleration works with a lot of different resolutions (I tried at least 5 different ones), but as soon I put 1080i (both vanilla 1080i and optimized 1776x1000i), cpu goes up to 90% again!

I thought it could interlaced resolutions, but it worked with two different interlaced resolution, including 1280x720i!

All my testing were using a regular crt monitor, inputing custom resolutions with powerstrip.

So, does anyone have hardware acceleration working with a CRT 1080i display, using either vga or dvi? If so, can you share your catalyst and powerdvd versions? Thanks!

Moondust

01-14-08, 05:13 AM

Output resolution of card set to 1280x720 (720p) (should it match the native resolution of tv?)
It should if you want the best video quality when watching 1080p/i content. You can use the freeware program Powerstrip to output your native tv resolution. Also note the output frame rate of the videocard in relation to the frame rate of the source. Most HD content is 24fps. To avoid judder your tv should also support 24, 48, 72, 96 or 120Hz signals.

Moondust

01-14-08, 05:51 AM

samw97

01-14-08, 02:05 PM

I hear some people talk about standard underscanning by ATi videocards. Is this true? How much is it? Is it always the case with 2400 en 2600 cards? And what settings can show me this without CCC (I am only using the display driver because CCC makes my screen flicker)?

And when it comes to hardware acceleration...is there a fix for 1080p content as well?

This is not an answer to your question but more of a followup question...

I have underscanning with my 2600XT set to output at 720p on my Samsung 720p DLP TV. I can fix this by using the scaling function in CCC which will result in overscanning. Or I can set a custom resolution which will fix the problem. My question is if 720p is 1280x720, why do I need to set a custom resolution that is lower than 1280x720 (i.e. 1184x664) to correct the underscan problem? Does the TV and/or the video card scale the output at the custom resolution? Is it the TV or the card?

HT Slider

01-14-08, 02:26 PM

Overscanning is normal and fully spec compliant 720p and 1080i driving most displays will result in overscan. When you're using any type of STB, DVD player, HD-DVD player, BD player, etc. you simply don't notice the overscan. Part of the reason you don't notice it is all of the movie producers, TV show produces, etc. make sure to keep important video content out of the overscan stay out regions - knowing that a huge number of TV sets, etc. won't display this overscan stay out region.

Underscanning on the other hand, is what a video card needs to do in order to compensate for the fact that TVs have overscan. By default when using standard PC resolutions, the video card "guesses" at a certain amount of underscan and usually it is too much. This means you can see everything, but you end up with black borders.

What you want to do is create custom resolutions that perfectly fill the screen for 720p, 1080i, etc. The ATI driver is smart enough to make use of these custom resolutions to rescale all standard PC resolutions into one of them. The driver is also smart enough that when you ask for 720p (1280x720), 1080i (1920x1080), etc. that it does not use the custom resolution but instead outputs using spec compliant 720p, 1080i, etc. (along with whatever amount of overscan your particular HDTV has). Using a spec compliant 720p, 1080i, etc. is the best for video because you end up with a perfect pixel mapping of 1:1 between the video and your HDTV.

If you're seeing underscan at 720p or 1080i, then either your TV is in some sort of "underscan" mode or there is a driver bug turning on some sort of underscan mode.

On our HTPC, 720p and 1080i work perfectly (complete with overscan) as do all other standard PC resolutions (rescaled into the custom resolutions) and the two custom resolutions (one for each of the standard formats our HDTV natively supports - 720p and 1080i).

bauerhorscht

01-14-08, 04:42 PM

Ok. More progress.

I thought the problem was with DVI, so I used RGBHV to my Mits, but still no AVC/VC1 acceleration!

So, I decided to do a lot of testing on my monitor, with different resolutions. What I found out, is that hardware acceleration works with a lot of different resolutions (I tried at least 5 different ones), but as soon I put 1080i (both vanilla 1080i and optimized 1776x1000i), cpu goes up to 90% again!

I thought it could interlaced resolutions, but it worked with two different interlaced resolution, including 1280x720i!

All my testing were using a regular crt monitor, inputing custom resolutions with powerstrip.

So, does anyone have hardware acceleration working with a CRT 1080i display, using either vga or dvi? If so, can you share your catalyst and powerdvd versions? Thanks!

I'm suffering the same problem. Posted it some pages ago.
My setup is: Radeon 2400 Pro and 2600 Pro PCIe, Windows XP SP2, PowerDVD Ultra 3514 and Catalyst 7.12.

I guess your setup is similar?

I heard, it works with Vista, but that doesn't help me.

Waters_10

01-14-08, 04:58 PM

I'm suffering the same problem. Posted it some pages ago.
My setup is: Radeon 2400 Pro and 2600 Pro PCIe, Windows XP SP2, PowerDVD Ultra 3514 and Catalyst 7.12.

I guess your setup is similar?

I heard, it works with Vista, but that doesn't help me.
Reading your posts, yes! It seems we have exactly the same problem!

I'm very surprised that few people are running 1080i/p, under windows xp, which seems to be the core of the problem!

And did I understand you correctly? 7.10 worked for you?? I might try that ... In fact, I was going to test 7.7, since there are quite a few reports of success, mostly vista though ...

Thanks

bauerhorscht

01-14-08, 05:05 PM

And did I understand you correctly? 7.10 worked for you?? I might try that ... In fact, I was going to test 7.7, since there are quite a few reports of success, mostly vista though ...

Thanks

Yes, 7.10 works in that respect, but causes some other problems, such as posterization in SD.

crussell1492

01-14-08, 06:09 PM

does this card have a Realtek Audio processor on board? or do yuo connect the output on your existing audio proc so that you can do Audio and Video over HDMI out?
thanks

Shade00

01-14-08, 06:46 PM

I couldn't get DXVA acceleration in PowerDVD at all using the 7.12s. I also tried the 8.1 betas... had to go back to 7.7 to get my acceleration. I guess I'll be sticking with these for a while.

Waters_10

01-14-08, 07:15 PM

Yes, 7.10 works in that respect, but causes some other problems, such as posterization in SD.

Ok, it seems we're on the same page! I tried 1680x1050 and no acceleration! In line with what you're saying.

So I just reverted back to 7.10 and voila! Acceleration works! I'll evaluate this way for now, to see if I note posterization and any other problems. And hopefully 7.13 will fix this issue ...

To everybody that's running 1080i displays (or anything over 1680x1050) and windows xp, you won't get AVC/VC1 hardware acceleration with Catalyst 7.12. Well, if you do, post here and let us know how you did it! :)

I couldn't get DXVA acceleration in PowerDVD at all using the 7.12s. I also tried the 8.1 betas... had to go back to 7.7 to get my acceleration. I guess I'll be sticking with these for a while.
XP or Vista?

Shade00

01-14-08, 08:40 PM

Sorry. Forgot to add that it's Vista 32-bit, HD2600 Pro PCI express.

SamNTamara

01-14-08, 09:24 PM

I just re-built my HTPC and I'm having some issues playing MKV files which didn't exist before. When I launch the MKV it starts up scrunched into almost to a 4:3 aspect ratio (slightly wider), if I restore or minimize MCE it forces it to the correct aspect and plays fine from there. This is only happening with MKV files and it happens to all MKV files regardless of their aspect. I'm pretty certain this is a driver related issue, I tried to run the vbs script in the link in Arfster's signature but it couldn't match the GUID from the information tab. I manually added reg keys and now the minimize/restore trick doesn't solve the problem. If I set the resolution to 720p/1080i/1080p it doesn't change. the My HTPC is configured as follows:

Hardware
AMD64 X2 6000+
ATI 2600HD Pro 512MB (HDMI dongle)
4GB RAM
Panasonic TH-58Z700U

Software/OS/Codecs
Vista Ultimate w/My Movies 2.42
PowerDVD 7.3(Ultra) lastest Service Pack
Haali Media Splitter - 1.7.401.3
ATI Catalyst 07.12 (lastest build)
Spdifer 0.2a
No other software installed

I've installed FFDShow via the Vista Codec Pack and it resolved this issue, but 1080p/DTS playback wasn't as smooth and would cut in/out loose audio sync etc. I would prefer to keep the existing software config as it's the smoothest I've found so far. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

RussKingUK

01-15-08, 02:30 AM

SamNTamara

01-15-08, 06:13 AM

It turned out being an issue with Cyberlink. I downgraded to PowerDVD v7.2 and everything is fine now.

originalsnuffy

01-15-08, 07:44 AM

I agree with the observation that 7.10 is fairly stable and provides acceleration for hd dvd using power dvd. At least in my system. The trick is to check if acceleration is on while actually playing a hi def disc. Without being engaged in playback powerdvd reports no acceleration.

I found 7.12 to be unusable in my system.

One observation is that powerdvd starts off choppy but then gets smooth once the feature is about 20 seconds underway.

Waters_10

01-15-08, 08:27 AM

The trick is to check if acceleration is on while actually playing a hi def disc.
Agreed. That was the first thing I checked and it was consistent with the CPU/GPU usage I was getting. During the movie, it would be greyed out, but you could see if it was checked or not.

The DXVA checker was not showing correct data, neither was the dxdiag txt file. Those two where showing mpeg2 and wmv acceleration only, even though I was clearly getting both AVC and VC1 acceleration.

This is on a 2600pro, windows xp, cat 7.10, with or without the tweaks.

rosie2515

01-15-08, 11:14 AM

Hi, I have the HD2600 card and I use both channels with HDMI cables to 1) a 22" screen and 2) my Onkyo receiver. I can output sound to both of them but not at the same time and I can't see where I can control which channel to use. I run my WinXP PC on the 22" and want to control my music application here and have the sound output'et to the receiver. Can anybody help? Thanks!

rmo

01-15-08, 11:31 AM

Ok, it seems we're on the same page! I tried 1680x1050 and no acceleration! In line with what you're saying.

So I just reverted back to 7.10 and voila! Acceleration works! I'll evaluate this way for now, to see if I note posterization and any other problems. And hopefully 7.13 will fix this issue ...

To everybody that's running 1080i displays (or anything over 1680x1050) and windows xp, you won't get AVC/VC1 hardware acceleration with Catalyst 7.12. Well, if you do, post here and let us know how you did it! :)

XP or Vista?
I can't get acceleration with 7.12 for 1080i as well. With 7.10 it works.

I get an entry for ati2mtag in the event log with 7.12 when i try to play HD material:

"Invalid parameters ..."

This is on a Club3d 2600 Pro, windows XP, PowerDvd 3516

arfster

01-15-08, 11:42 AM

I can't get acceleration with 7.12 for 1080i as well. With 7.10 it works.

I get an entry for ati2mtag in the event log with 7.12 when i try to play HD material:

"Invalid parameters ..."

This is on a Club3d 2600 Pro, windows XP, PowerDvd 3516

You need to add dxva_nohddecode 0 for 7.12, because the silly drivers think your card is a 2400 and thus won't accelerate HD mpeg2.

chicodobrazil

01-15-08, 12:00 PM

AirRulez

01-15-08, 01:50 PM

Hello all,
I actually found all the information in this thread quite helpful in setting up Hardware video acceleration for my 2400XT PCIE, unfortunately even having the hardware working (after applying the suggested reg tweaks, and using the IDC Changer - great work on this!), I'm still experiencing some video shuttering on panning scenes with my 720p H264 MKV files (CPU utilization is always close to 0 during playback).
After a bit of testing I've somewhat isolated the problem, as this happens every time I use VMR9 as renderer.
Simply said, using zoomplayer with Cyberlink H264 codec (latest PDVD Ultra update), if I use VMR7 as renderer the files run smoothly, while if I move on the VMR9 rendered I got the shutters during the panning. Using a software codec will solve the issue (CoreAVC 1.6) but I can consider this a real solution...
My PC specs are as follow:
Athlon X2 4200+, 1GB RAM OCZ, ABIT A8N 32x, Sapphire Radeon HD 2400XT (Catalyst 7.12) running over Windows XP Sp2.

Any help on this matter is very appreciated since I would love to use Media Portal as HTPC frontend and it support only VMR9.

Sorry for quoting myself back, but I narrowed a bit my issue, and I guess it's worth telling you guys my find, with the hope that someone may have an idea on this.

It seems that the shutter problem on hardware accelerated 720p MKV files with VMR9 is happening only if the video format is not exactly 16:9 (for example a 2.35 movie @ 1280x544). Other files with 1280x720 resolution got accelerated flawlessly with VMR9.

Any thoughts on this?

Thanks for all the help

Waters_10

01-15-08, 03:39 PM

PowerDVD on my CRT monitor with acceleration -> 50% CPU
Video mode : Progressive
Display mode : DirectShow
FourCC code : NV12
Surface type : DxVA

PowerDVD on my Sony 1080p with no acceleration -> 100% CPU
Video mode : Progressive
Display mode : DirectDraw
FourCC code : YUY2
Surface type : Overlay

XP or Vista?

And what resolution you're using on your CRT monitor? I mean the display resolution.

Rulle

01-15-08, 04:05 PM

Hi there.

I have some sound problems with my Sapphire Radeon HD 2600XT. I have connected my PC to my receiver with a HDMI cable. The video part works just fine, but the sound doesn't. Regular 2,0 stereo works, but i cant get 5,1 & DTS out.

My system is:

PC:
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R
Intel Core 2 duo E6750
Corsair 2x1GB
Sappire Radeon HD2600XT
Vista Home Premium

Reveiver:
Panasonic XR-59

My settings:

http://offtopics.dk/lyd1.jpg

http://offtopics.dk/lyd2.jpg

http://offtopics.dk/lyd3.jpg

The last image here, should there be a speciel driver for the audiochip on the
2600xt or is Microsoft High Definition Audio fine?

As you can se i have set the HDMI sound output to default,. and 2,0 works fine. What do i do to get 5.1 & DTS to my receiver?

Someone told me to set PowerDVD & MCE to SPDIF Passthrough, but i havent got that option?

I Really hope someone can help :)

The Realtek ATI HDMI Audio Device drivers should help here, according to other sources.
Sorry can't provide a link, there seems to major problems with the Realtek webserver.

Tried the Realtek Vista 184 drivers, but they is installed as drivers for my onboard card. The driver set for the HDMI output is still Microsoft High Def. Audio.

If i manually try to install the realtek drivers instead of Microsoft i get af bluescreen.

Can anyone help?

chicodobrazil

01-15-08, 05:11 PM

Hi All,

Well, I have trouble getting acceleration but in 1080p, not 1080i you're talking about :confused:

I used the tetsuo55 tips with the OMEGA 7.12 drivers (thanks mate for your HUGE help) and I can finally get acceleration on my CRT monitor for both VC-1 & H264 using PowerDVD 7.3.3319a (or MPC) & AnyDVD HD 6.3.0.3 with my AGP 2600 Pro Sapphire & a 2Ghz processor.

But when I'm trying to play through PowerDVD (or MPC) on my Sony 1080p HDTV, I can't get acceleration with VC-1 & H264. Worst, no image is displayed with H264 :(

PowerDVD on my CRT monitor with acceleration -> 50% CPU
Video mode : Progressive
Display mode : DirectShow
FourCC code : NV12
Surface type : DxVA

PowerDVD on my Sony 1080p with no acceleration -> 100% CPU
Video mode : Progressive
Display mode : DirectDraw
FourCC code : YUY2
Surface type : Overlay

Is everything about the display mode or surface type is normal ?
Is there a way to force the DxVA ?
Any idea ?

If you can help me, I will appreciate ;)
Cheers

XP or Vista?

And what resolution you're using on your CRT monitor? I mean the display resolution.

Well, with my CRT monitor under Windows XP, the display resolution was 1152*854 during the tests.
So, I've done the test in 1400*1050 with my CRT monitor :eek:
It doesn't work as with my Sony :mad:

So, may we consider now as written in a previous post, that, whatever the resolution above 1050 (i or p), we can't get acceleration with the latest Catalyst 7.12 drivers ?
Is anyone (tetsuo55 for example) get the same behaviour than me with the latest driver on a 1080p HDTV screen ?

Wo0zy

01-15-08, 05:27 PM

OK (man I hate posts starting with that. Sorry).

I know this is a little off current topic but this thread is SOOO big now unless we get agreement to break things up all sorts of things are going to get lost.

Anyway. Tonight I made quite a weird discovery and was wondering if anyone else has noticed this.

I know that scaling is a big taboo but I've always wondered why the "Scaling Options" under DTV in CCC were comletely greyed out when connecting to an HDTV via HDMI (at least in my case). I assumed this was "just the way it is" and as a result always used the "add" option under "HDTV Support" to correct my overscan on 720p by creating a custom resolution (well actually I also tried Powerstrip but the results were identical).

Anyway, I won't bore everyone with details about how I found this but cutting a long story short, I've found that if you use the Windows Display properties to set a resolution (in my case 800x600) then go back into CCC, select 720p (or any other HDTV resolution) and then select "scaling options", the slider is actually selectable and DOES scale the image. This is under Vista so forgive me if XP doesn't have the same issue.

Anyway, ignoring conventinal wisdom I proceeded to play with the newly found feature. While I still need to do more testing with video sources one thing I have noticed is how much sharper the desktop image is when using scaling rather than the weird 1216x680 resolution I ended up with using other methods. While I fully expect to find "glitches" in video playback, the most obvious different in the destop was noticable in the background image. I use Vista's "img24.jpg" which has a sweeping green(ish) curve against the blue(ish) backdrop. Using a custom resolutin to correct my overscan resulted in this "curve" becoming jagged whereas using the "scaling opiton" slider resulted in a perfectly scaled sweeping curve.

So what am I trying to say? Well, I have no idea at present other than to provide a "work around" for the lack of apparent scaling suport using 7.11 under Vista and to ask people to try it and see what results they get.

Apologies if this has been mentioned before but I've been following the thread for quite a while and haven't seen it.

I look forward to comments.

Cheers,

Wo0zy

Waters_10

01-15-08, 05:45 PM

Well, with my CRT monitor, the display resolution was 1152*854 during the tests.
So, I've done the test in 1400*1050 with my CRT monitor
It doesn't work as with my Sony

So, may we consider now as written in a previous post, that, whatever the resolution above 1050 (i or p), we can't get acceleration with the latest Catalyst 7.12 drivers ?
Is anyone (tetsuo55 for example) get the same behaviour than me with the latest driver on a 1080p HDTV screen ?
You still didn't answer if it's windows xp ..... But if it is, then you're getting the same behaviour I'm getting, as well as bauerhorscht. Cat 7.10 brings back hardware acceleration, but you lose the improvements from 7.11 and 7.12, whatever they are.

I know this is a little off current topic but this thread is SOOO big now unless we get agreement to break things up all sorts of things are going to get lost.
I agree. It's very hard to search this thread, because whenever you read something that might apply to your case, you can't be really sure, since it might be an AGP or PCI-e card, or windows vista vs xp ...

samw97

01-15-08, 07:26 PM

Wo0zy

01-15-08, 08:54 PM

I'm using 7.12 and I've noticed the opposite.

I'm connecting to an HDTV via HDMI. When I set 720p output, the scaling slider is enabled. My desktop is a little underscanned and the text is a bit blurry. When I set a custom resolution (1184x664) so that I get minimal to no over/underscan, the text is crisper.

So this leads me to believe that when I set a standard HDTV resolution, the driver is scaling the output to compensate for a "typical" overscan which on my TV results in a bit of underscan. When I set a custom resolution, scaling is disabled (slider is also greyed out) and therefore I need to set a lower output resolution to compensate for the overscan performed by my TV set.

I have no idea if this reasoning is correct but this is what I observed.

If your using the "Add" button in the HDTV section of CCC I believe what it's actually doing is changing the active pixels within the HDTV timing (720p, 1080p, etc) rather than scaling. If you have a button on the TV to show what signal it's receiving then even when running at your 1184x664 resolution will probably still show 1280x720 (or 720p). This is what I do.

TBH I can't see a difference in the text on my screen using this method or the scaling option. The only noticable difference is the "smoothness" of the background image. I haven't experimented with video yet but I expect the "scaling" option to be worse. If not I need to rethink everything I thought I knew :o.

I think the issue regarding whether the "scaling slider" is selectable or not has something to do with whether you're currently feeding your display its native resolution or not. I think my "discovery" just tricks CCC into enabling it regardless (similar to the trick you had to use to get the early NVIDIA "Resize my HDTV Desktop" tool to work with Vista). Like I said, more experimentation is needed.

Thanks for the feedback.

Cheers,

Wo0zy

arcticool

01-15-08, 09:22 PM

FFDshow doesn't support acceleration at all, however for upscaling modern cards can match it anyway.

To accelerate VC1, I think only nero and powerdvd support full offload acceleration (aka VLD). MPEG2 acceleration is still the old fashioned half-the-cpu-use type, so more decoders can use it.

Cool thanks. BTW, not surprisingly I'm still working on this.
Maybe you could share your setup procedure?

I went with the HD2400 after all as it was all Best Buy had in stock and I wanted to buy from them b/c no restock return policy makes this somewhat dubious card a little less risky. Anyway, sure enough I'm having no luck with the 'works for all' Omega drivers. Omegas leave a 'PCI Device' unrecognized in Device Manager (I suppose this is the HDMI sound that crashes when even I use the drivers that came with the card- 7.11) It doesn't seem to make any difference to disable it so I do. But even after copying the ati3duag.dll from \\\AGP to \Windows\System32 while in safe mode I still get no acceleration.

Then I tried with my Visiontek drivers which at least have no unrecognized devices in Device Manager, but do not hardware accelerate the x.264 mkv files (renamed mp4 otherwise unseen by PowerDVD) again even after copying the .dll.

BTW, I've applied the fix to two different files (tried 4.1 and 4.0 IDCT settings) and couldn't get hardware accel. I'm officially stumped.

Edit: Also not sure if I should be running ATI_HD2x00_Reg_Tweaks_0.11.vbs, I thought the point of the omegas was you didn't have to do this but it didn't seem to make a difference anyway...

rmo

01-16-08, 03:46 AM

You need to add dxva_nohddecode 0 for 7.12, because the silly drivers think your card is a 2400 and thus won't accelerate HD mpeg2.

This doesn't fix the problem.
I get no hardware accelaration at 1080i with dxva_nohddecode and i have still the event log entry "Invalid parameters. Enumerate GUIDs failed."

Is there anabody who has hardware acceleration at 1080i with 7.12 and Win XP? It only works with display resolution 720p.

chicodobrazil

01-16-08, 09:41 AM

You still didn't answer if it's windows xp ..... But if it is, then you're getting the same behaviour I'm getting, as well as bauerhorscht. Cat 7.10 brings back hardware acceleration, but you lose the improvements from 7.11 and 7.12, whatever they are.
Sorry, I did not mention it, I'm using Windows XP 'cause for the moment, I don't want to mix my troubles using Vista :D
Tonight, I will try the Omega drivers based on the Catalyst 7.10, adding the 2600 PRO AGP into the .inf and .ini files ;)
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=12061968#post12061968

I raised a ticket on the ati.support web site about it, by the way.

Waters_10

01-16-08, 10:11 AM

This doesn't fix the problem.
I get no hardware accelaration at 1080i with dxva_nohddecode and i have still the event log entry "Invalid parameters. Enumerate GUIDs failed."

You don't even get mpeg2 acceleration, using 7.12, xp on a 1080i display resolution? Cause I could not get AVC/VC1, but I was getting mpeg2, as verified in bd/hddvd menus and sagetv. But mine is 2600pro, so keep that in mind.

Is there anabody who has hardware acceleration at 1080i with 7.12 and Win XP? It only works with display resolution 720p.
I've asked that question before and it appears the answer is no. 7.10 works though. I have not tried 7.11 and I probably won't ...

rmo

01-16-08, 10:52 AM

You don't even get mpeg2 acceleration, using 7.12, xp on a 1080i display resolution? Cause I could not get AVC/VC1, but I was getting mpeg2, as verified in bd/hddvd menus and sagetv. But mine is 2600pro, so keep that in mind.

I've asked that question before and it appears the answer is no. 7.10 works though. I have not tried 7.11 and I probably won't ...

With 7.11 it's the same. I tried it.

chicodobrazil

01-16-08, 11:04 AM

This is part one of my hardware acceleration for media files guide.

This first part will explain:
How to get Hardware acceration (3D, Dxva 1 and 2 and HW deinterlacing) working on any ati radeon card except the Radeon 7k, 8k, 9k-9250 Series.

first install the driver, the omega drivers have been preconfigured to work on every card, they also have built in fixes for agp users, so these are the only drivers i can recommend:
http://www.omegadrivers.net/ati_winxp.php

currently these are the 7.12 drivers, ATI has bene focusing most of its attention at fixing AVIVO issues, the crysis hotfix drivers which are a few days newer have even more fixes (like better VC1 decoding) i think both the 8.1 and the 8.2 drivers will gives a lot more enhancements on the AVIVO area. Omega drivers will be updated accordingly.

After you finish installing the drivers AGP users will need to perform the following step:(PCI-E users can skip this part)

Reboot into safe mode, and then copy
C:\Program Files\Radeon Omega Drivers\v4.8.442\2KXP_INF\AGP\ati3duag.dll
TO
C:\WINDOWS\system32\

And overwrite the file, doing this fixes directX/

-------------------------

At this point the system is fully Hardware accelerated.

The next step is choosing a hardware accelerated player, the answer is pretty simple, Cyberlink has been working together with ATI ever since they invented AVIVO, so its obvious that PowerDVD will get the most out of an ATI card (DXVA is limited so some hardware support has to be manually added, not all programs have these manual addons)

If you have a CPU supporting SSE2 all you will need to do is install the latest version of powerdvd, however if you have a SSE or older computer you will have to do the following trick:

For SSE computers:

In the folder:
C:\Program Files\CyberLink\PowerDVD\VideoFilter
Rename 264dsse.dll to 264dsse.dll.old
Rename 264dsse2.dll to 264dsse.dll

For MMX computers(untested)

In the folder:
C:\Program Files\CyberLink\PowerDVD\VideoFilter
Rename 264dmmx.dll to 264dmmx.dll.old
Rename 264dsse2.dll to 264dmmx.dll

-------------------------

At this point everyone should have hardware acceleration within the PowerDVD program, no matter what your videocard, bus type or processor.

NOTE: Not all cards have the same level of hardware acceleration, please check your manual to see what you card can do.

For HD2400/2600 users all AVIVIO HD functions can be enabled using this tool: http://exdeus.home.comcast.net/~exdeus/ati-hd2x00/

The Next part of the guide will be Accelerating x264 files, in bith 720p and 1080p. That guide will also (if needed/possible) include information on how to fix existing files to prevent the black screen and 20fps bugs.
Hi tetsuo55.
First, thanks for the tips to install it.

May I ask you if you get any acceleration with a resolution above 1050 (i or p) ?
Because several people don't get any acceleration on VC-1 or H264 with such a resolution even if it works well with resolution under 1050 (i or p).

It seems that the 7.12 drivers (and 7.11), from Catalyst and for sure Omega, don't work :confused:
Waters_10 met the trouble (and others) with interlaced resolutions and I met the same with progressive resolutions
www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=12814629#post12814629

Thanks for the answer :D

ryancmor17

01-16-08, 11:10 AM

Well I have been having the most difficult time getting my VisionTek 2600Pro AGP card to run any type of 3D/Video. I cannot even watch media center recordings, complete the Vista assestment or preview 3d settings the CCC. I have tried all the setting in the BIOS, all drivers from 7.6..7.11 and attempted the hack to install the 7.12 from ATI's website.

I went back and installed an old GeForce 6200 so I can at least watch TV.

VisionTek has agreed to RMA the card, but what are the odds it is only my card not the VIA chipset/Vista/whatever? Should I RMA and wait 6 weeks or just wait for drivers and risk it? Ebay?

tetsuo55

01-16-08, 12:16 PM

Hi tetsuo55.
First, thanks for the tips to install it.

May I ask you if you get any acceleration with a resolution above 1050 (i or p) ?
Because several people don't get any acceleration on VC-1 or H264 with such a resolution even if it works well with resolution under 1050 (i or p).

It seems that the 7.12 drivers (and 7.11), from Catalyst and for sure Omega, don't work :confused:
Waters_10 met the trouble (and others) with interlaced resolutions and I met the same with progressive resolutions
www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=12814629#post12814629

Thanks for the answer :D

I have not yet tested resolutions above 720p. my screen supports a maximum of 1680x1050 though.

I think you guys are right and there is a bug in the drivers, please be so kind to open a ticket for it over at www.ati.com the more people file a report the faster a solution will be found

In other news, someone on another non-english forum told me that ATI/AMD have found the cause of the AGP issues with especially Nforce2 motherboards (but other brands are affected) it is estimated that the 8.2 drivers will contain a fix for these issues.

To everyone still having (any) problem with 7.12 please report your issues to www.ati.com, this is the only way they will get fixed, the same goes for issues with powerdvd, please report them over at www.cyberlink.com.

It seems that the 8.1, 8.2 and the 8.3 drivers will fix a lot of problems for us AGP users, and also for PCI-E users, at least in XP

originalsnuffy

01-16-08, 12:25 PM

I'd like to get a new release that works smoothly. Since putting in 7.12, I have experienced great difficulties getting the system to work smoothly. Needless to say, I backed down to older versions of the drivers.

Just last night I had to reinstall CCC with 7.10. This is under Vista with PCI-E with a 2400. Idid this late at night so still don't know if that worked.

It would be cleaner to just go "up" to a good working version.

I also hope ATI goes back to a unified package with everything included; ccc; drivers, Avivo.

duckdown

01-16-08, 03:50 PM

Hi folks.. Had a quick question.

Am looking into one of these 2600XT cards because of its supposed audio passthrough capabilities on the HDMI port, but had one quick question I can't seem to get clarification on.

Some places I had read were making it sound like it would only pass true 5.1 audio through it, for example, if you're watching a blu-ray or HD-dvd then it works great, but if you go to a video game it will give no audio at all. This obviously would be unacceptable and would prevent me from buying the card but I cannot get a straight YES or NO answer if this will indeed pass ALL audio through the port, or only selective 5.1 audio streams

Please let me know ASAP, I would love to go out and buy one today.

Thank you very much!

originalsnuffy

01-16-08, 04:00 PM

duck--

the audio pass through is a mixed bag. in theory you can have dd 5.1 or 2 channel pcm pass through. Except if you use AGP. Or look at it cross ways. Or if this spot in the week ends with day (monday through sunday included).

Roussi

01-16-08, 05:21 PM

The official Cat 8.1 drivers are up on ATI.AMD site; plus an AGP hotfix version in the Knowledge base:
737-31542: DirectX not functioning with Radeon AGP graphics cards

arfster

01-16-08, 05:53 PM

8.1 official are 0801081447-8.451-071220a1-057724C-ATI
8.1 guru3d are 0801081427-8.452-080107a-057828E-ATI (http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=1825)
8.1 hotfix are 0801161147-8.451.4-080111a-057942E-ATI.2 (http://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&questionID=31542)

Hotfix probably just a tweak of the official (three weeks later build date). The guru3d ones are a slightly different version code, so they may do some things the others don't.

fdisker

01-16-08, 06:56 PM

duckdown

01-16-08, 07:18 PM

Hi folks -- Just got a Sapphire 2600 XT , installation was (surprisingly) painless and the HDMI Audio seems to be working beautifully right out of the box...

However -- my resolution is set to 1920x1080 (and it shows as that in the settings box) but my picture is squished and there are black bars on all 4 sides of the screen

Being a new HDTV owner (and nooby) I know this is an easy fix -- I've heard terms mentioned before such as "overscan" or "1:1 pixel mapping" or "stretch" but I don't know which of these 3 symptoms is the one I'm experiencing -- or more importantly -- how to fix it :)

Any suggestions would be great, I just need to get this fixed and I can finally enjoy my HTPC through all digital connection :)

Thanks!

cganesh75

01-16-08, 08:14 PM

goto ati control center and then to the scaling options and use the slider to adjust the screen size

arfster

01-16-08, 08:48 PM

I don't feel like testing these. Will someone let us know if the expansion bug is fixed? If not, I'm sticking with 7.11.

It isn't, and chances are never will be.

By the way, both 8.1 and 8.1hotfix disallow vector-adaptive deinterlacing for HD, at least in Vista.

Also, guru3d version of 8.1 has a more up to date CCC. That's probably the most useful version so far - it also has no problem with VA.

bauerhorscht

01-16-08, 10:26 PM

Bad news for XP users who need DXVA on display resolutions above ~1,3 megapixel:

8.1 doesn't help!

So, back to 7.10.

duckdown

01-16-08, 10:31 PM

goto ati control center and then to the scaling options and use the slider to adjust the screen size

Hi, thanks, this worked.. I had severe underscan I guess its called.. I had to move the underscan slider to the furthest point

But is this the best solution? Someone in an IRC channel I'm on says that its not a good solution, but left without elaborating on why

Can someone shed some light on this?

Does it degrade the picture quality or soemthing?

Thanks

DPlettner

01-17-08, 12:01 AM

rosie2515

01-17-08, 02:34 AM

shurik_1

01-17-08, 04:56 AM

8.1 hotfix are 0801161147-8.451.4-080111a-057942E-ATI.2 (http://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&questionID=31542)

This hotfix is probably the first drivers I see that install and enable DXVA on 2600 AGP card out of the box. It did not change anything to some problems I had with a few HD-DVD titles. It does not change CPU use either. So I still not able to use DD on some MPEG-4 AVC BR disks.

chicodobrazil

01-17-08, 05:17 AM

Duckdown,

Do you have a rear projection HDTV with optical overscan?

The only way to achieve 1:1 pixel mapping is to move the scaling slider all the way to the right, which you have done. However, if you have a rear projection TV, you will still have some overscan caused by the TV.

Right under scaling options, there is a settings page called HDTV Support. On this page, you can create a custom resolution that maintains 1:1 pixel mapping while eliminating the overscan.

For a long time, CCC would not let you create a custom resolution based on 1080p, but that was fixed in 7.12. Personally, I prefer the 7.11 AGP beta drivers from VisionTek, but I found that I could use the 7.12 control panel with the older drivers, and still have access to the 1080p custom resolutions.

-Dave
Hi DPlettner,

May I ask you if you get an acceleration playing your video files in a resolution of 1080p with your rear projection HDTV and if you're using Windows XP ?

If you get an acceleration under Windows XP, it means that the 7.11 AGP beta drivers from VisionTek are including the acceleration routine from the 7.10 and other new stuff.
If your answer is YES, I would like to test them.
So, is it the 12/11/07 version on the VisionTek website ?

Thanks :rolleyes:

chicodobrazil

01-17-08, 05:23 AM

Bad news for XP users who need DXVA on display resolutions above ~1,3 megapixel:

8.1 doesn't help!

So, back to 7.10.

This hotfix is probably the first drivers I see that install and enable DXVA on 2600 AGP card out of the box. It did not change anything to some problems I had with a few HD-DVD titles. It does not change CPU use either. So I still not able to use DD on some MPEG-4 AVC BR disks.
Hi shurik_1,

May I ask you if you're running Vista ?
'Cause bauerhorscht did not get any acceleration with this version :(
And I would like to get a real status on AGP cards under Windows XP for this latest version before testing it... 'cause I don't want to waste my next couple of days crying :cool:

Thanks :)

tetsuo55

01-17-08, 06:41 AM

Hi shurik_1,

May I ask you if you're running Vista ?
'Cause bauerhorscht did not get any acceleration with this version :(
And I would like to get a real status on AGP cards under Windows XP for this latest version before testing it... 'cause I don't want to waste my next couple of days crying :cool:

Thanks :)

8.1 hotfix fixes all AGP issues, now only some HD acceleration problems remain and color corruption issues with dvd's

Did you guys submit a ticket yet for no DXVA at resolutions above 1.3MP

Moondust

01-17-08, 07:00 AM

chicodobrazil

01-17-08, 07:03 AM

8.1 hotfix fixes all AGP issues, now only some HD acceleration problems remain and color corruption issues with dvd's

Did you guys submit a ticket yet for no DXVA at resolutions above 1.3MP
I did not test it by myself for the moment... tonight I will!
Satan2k on the driverheaven forum has reported that this hotfix is better thant the official 8.1 for AGP cards.
http://www.driverheaven.net/windows-xp-2k-radeon-display-drivers/152986-ati-radeon-agp-hotfix-driver-out.html

And I guess (I hope) that bauerhorscht did not get any acceleration with the official version as he did not test the hotfix for AGP cards ;)

tetsuo55

01-17-08, 08:02 AM

Tetsuo55, do you have an update on hardware acceleration of 1080p x264 mkv's? I know 720p can be accelerated now, but I haven't found any information on 1080p. Hope you can shed some light on this. Thanks.

1080p wil only work if it was encoded with 4 or less ref frames, and 90% of "scene releases" are made with ref frames wel above 4

Waters_10

01-17-08, 08:39 AM

Bad news for XP users who need DXVA on display resolutions above ~1,3 megapixel:

8.1 doesn't help!

So, back to 7.10.
I didn't have to test this yesterday. I only read about this too late in the evening.

Thanks for testing and posting results, even though they suck! ;)

arcticool

01-17-08, 09:24 AM

shurik_1

01-17-08, 09:47 AM

Hi shurik_1,

May I ask you if you're running Vista ?
'Cause bauerhorscht did not get any acceleration with this version :(
And I would like to get a real status on AGP cards under Windows XP for this latest version before testing it... 'cause I don't want to waste my next couple of days crying :cool:

Thanks :)

I do run XP 32bit @ screen resolution 1280x800
Nforce2 chipset
PDVD 3319a

chicodobrazil

01-17-08, 09:59 AM

I do run XP 32bit @ screen resolution 1280x800
Nforce2 chipset
PDVD 3319a
Thanks.
Did you try a resolution above 1050, something like 1400*1050 for example ?
'Cause we were stuck with such a resolution above 1050 with drivers 7.11 or 7.12.
I will try the AGP hotfix based on the 8.1 tonight with a 1080p resolution.

bauerhorscht

01-17-08, 10:29 AM

Did you guys submit a ticket yet for no DXVA at resolutions above 1.3MP

Yes, I submitted my first ticket last night.

DPlettner

01-17-08, 11:33 AM

8.1 hotfix fixes all AGP issues, now only some HD acceleration problems remain and color corruption issues with dvd's

Did you guys submit a ticket yet for no DXVA at resolutions above 1.3MPI agree with your observations 100%.

To get some of the advantages of the 8.1 hotfix while having everything work with my VisionTek 2600pro AGP card in Windows XP, I am using the VisionTek 7.11 beta drivers (XP_8.43_AGP.exe), but I am using ati3duag.dll from the 8.1 hotfix (which needs to be replaced in Safe Mode). Furthermore, I am using the standard 8.1 release versions of the Catalyst Control Center and the Avivo package.

Everything is accelerated in PDVD, and I have 1080p custom resolutions in CCC. I am pretty happy right now, but I would still like to see ATI roll up everything into a single working release.

-Dave

kielowatt

01-17-08, 12:37 PM

Hello DPlettner,
would you check your dxva with DXVAChecker and post a screenshot, please?
I've tried so many configurations but i still have no dxva at h.264 mode.
Thanx!

crussell1492

01-17-08, 12:41 PM

Hi, I have been following this thread since I ordered this device, have not installed it yet. Frankly most of the detail in this thread is way over my head.
here's what I hope to do with this device.
Install in a Vista MC PC. use HDMI out to carry a 1080i video and DD Audio to 2 Onkyo 605 AVRs and then to a 1080i TV and a 1080p PJ.
Is this the right device for me?
thanks

DPlettner

01-17-08, 02:36 PM

Hello DPlettner,
would you check your dxva with DXVAChecker and post a screenshot, please?
I've tried so many configurations but i still have no dxva at h.264 mode.
Thanx!I just downloaded DXVA Checker 1.5.0.1, which was posted on 1/15. I attached the screen shots below.

Even though there is no resolution shown on the ModeH264 line, it does work in PowerDVD. I just watched a few minutes of the Simpson's movie, and playback was smooth at about 50% CPU usage on my old Athlon XP 3200+ motherboard.

-Dave

Roussi

01-17-08, 02:50 PM

I just downloaded DXVA Checker 1.5.0.1, which was posted on 1/15. I attached the screen shots below.

Even though there is no resolution shown on the ModeH264 line, it does work in PowerDVD. I just watched a few minutes of the Simpson's movie, and playback was smooth at about 50% CPU usage on my old Athlon XP 3200+ motherboard.

-Dave

Dave,
Is this with or without a SSE/SSE2 dll swap?

Thanks,
Roussi

shurik_1

01-17-08, 04:39 PM

Thanks.
Did you try a resolution above 1050, something like 1400*1050 for example ?
'Cause we were stuck with such a resolution above 1050 with drivers 7.11 or 7.12.
I will try the AGP hotfix based on the 8.1 tonight with a 1080p resolution.

I've just tried 1920x1080 and it does not work. Sorry if I created some wrong expectations.

chicodobrazil

01-17-08, 04:55 PM

I agree with your observations 100%.

To get some of the advantages of the 8.1 hotfix while having everything work with my VisionTek 2600pro AGP card in Windows XP, I am using the VisionTek 7.11 beta drivers (XP_8.43_AGP.exe), but I am using ati3duag.dll from the 8.1 hotfix (which needs to be replaced in Safe Mode). Furthermore, I am using the standard 8.1 release versions of the Catalyst Control Center and the Avivo package.

Everything is accelerated in PDVD, and I have 1080p custom resolutions in CCC. I am pretty happy right now, but I would still like to see ATI roll up everything into a single working release.

-Dave
Hi Dave,

May I ask you if the VisionTek 7.11 beta drivers you're talking about are the 12/11/07 version on the VisionTek website ?
'Cause I did not find any XP_8.43_AGP.exe file into the extracted folder, only "DriverVer=11/01/2007, 8.432.0.0000" into the CX_55880.inf file. And there is no archive folder on the web site, or maybe you can tell me where to download your version.

Thanks :)

By the way, I can confirm no acceleration with the AGP hotfix based on the 8.1 with resolution above 1050.

jerome8283

01-17-08, 06:26 PM

Why are there so many flavors of the ATI Radeon 2600 XT card. I see,

VisionTEK Radeon HD 2600 XT 512 MB
Lenovo 512MB ATI Radeon HD 2600.
ATI RADEON HD 2600 XT
AMD Radeon HD 2600 XT Graphics Card
MSI Radeon HD 2600 XT Graphics Card
Diamond Multimedia Diamond Viper ATI Radeon HD

Which one do I buy? :(

DPlettner

01-17-08, 06:32 PM

Dave,
Is this with or without a SSE/SSE2 dll swap?

Thanks,
RoussiI am not aware of the SSE/SSE2 dll swap, so I am pretty sure that it is without.

-Dave

DPlettner

01-17-08, 06:48 PM

Hi Dave,

May I ask you if the VisionTek 7.11 beta drivers you're talking about are the 12/11/07 version on the VisionTek website ?
'Cause I did not find any XP_8.43_AGP.exe file into the extracted folder, only "DriverVer=11/01/2007, 8.432.0.0000" into the CX_55880.inf file. And there is no archive folder on the web site, or maybe you can tell me where to download your version.

Thanks :)

By the way, I can confirm no acceleration with the AGP hotfix based on the 8.1 with resolution above 1050.It appears that VisionTek removed the drivers from their website. However, you can still find the download page for the 8.43 drivers here, (http://visiontek.com/teksupport/drivers/8.43_XP_driver.html) but the link is dead.

Note that on this page, most of the other drivers are version 8.41, and the page has a note stating:

This driver is in between Catalyst 7.8 and Catalyst 7.9.
The note was not updated for several revisions, so it does not apply to the 8.43 drivers. I am fairly certain that the 8.43's are 7.11 betas, as stated here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=11976657#post11976657) by Arfster. I remember being disappointed when 7.11's came out, because HA was broken for me.

-Dave

duckdown

01-17-08, 07:20 PM

Hello all

Am having some trouble.. I just bought a 2600XT ATI video card for my HTPC (HDMI out) and I have it hooked up to my 46" Sony Bravia W3000 TV.

I have severe underscan on all 4 sides , (large black bars on all 4 sides) and cannot figure out how to fix it.

I have tried fiddling with all the SCREEN options, I have my display set to "FULL PIXEL" but it is still all screwed up.

The only solution I have found to fix it is to go into the video card control panel (CCC) and slide the OVERSCAN slider to the extreme right side of the slider, but doing this makes the text very hard to read and I know this is not the right way to correct it.

Can somebody PLEASE help me here, I am tearing my hair out trying to fix this but the bloody screen will not match up properly.

No matter what options I try I have these huge black bars on all 4 sides of the screen

I am to the point where I am getting fed up with this and might return the TV if I cannot make this work

Please advise.

Thank you.

Current "Screen" settings on my TV are:

Wide Mode: Full
Auto Wide: Off
4:3 Default: Off
Display Area: Full Pixel

Help!!

DPlettner

01-17-08, 07:43 PM

The only solution I have found to fix it is to go into the video card control panel (CCC) and slide the OVERSCAN slider to the extreme right side of the slider, but doing this makes the text very hard to read and I know this is not the right way to correct it.That is the right setting for me. Moving the slider all the way to the right gives me 1:1 pixel mapping. The text should look better, not worse. If moving the slider all the way to the right eliminates the underscan on an LCD or plasma TV, I think the TV is fine.

-Dave

sumster

01-18-08, 01:38 AM

DPlettner

01-18-08, 01:50 AM

Just to verify previous observations:

Visiontek 2600 AGP 512mb

DXVA for HDDVD working -- Visiontek 8.43 drivers

DXVA NOT WORKING -- Visiontek 7.11, 8.1 hotfix drivers, and 8.1 guru 3D drivers.

I guess I will stick with 8.43 until they can fix DXVA in the official releases. On a positive note, the 8.1 drivers installed on the 2600 AGP without any INF mods or the "notify" box error.That all sounds right to me.

In my case, I use the 8.43 drivers, and I need ati3duag.dll from either 7.7, 7.8, or 8.1 hotfix. To get custom 1080p-based resolutions, I need CCC from either 7.12 or 8.1.

I know this varies from person to person, and some people can run almost any driver set on an AGP card without issues. And in other cases, what worked for me did not work for others.

I have ordered the parts to assemble an Intel G35-based system, so I probably won't be tweaking the drivers for my 2600pro AGP much longer.

-Dave

inspector-71

01-18-08, 02:31 AM

instead of using the scaling option, try the hdtv support tab in the catalyst control centre and set a custom resolution

highzone

01-18-08, 03:27 AM

Can anyone tell me where I can download the VisionTek 7.11 AGP Beta driver now that it is no longer available on the VisionTek website? Thanks.

Moondust

01-18-08, 03:48 AM

Is underscan caused by the videcard or the tv? I am confused.

BigMooose

01-18-08, 05:42 AM

I've been following this thread with interest for the last month or so after buying a Sapphire 2600XT AGP card for my GBPVR box (which has a celeron D 2.5Ghz, 512Mb RAM, running XP 32bit SP2, connected to a 42inch 1080p via DVI/HDMI) - thanks for all the advice given here as without this forum I'd have thrown the card out long ago! :)

Using the official 7.12 driver (with reg tweaks and ini hacking discussed here), I am getting good performance out of the card. I assume I must be getting HD accel in 1080p as the BBC HD channel would play smoothly with CPU at about 60-70% (using Overlay manager in GBPVR - no hope with VMR9). However the news tickers on SD channels were jerky and I wasn't happy . Reading this thread I changed to 720p and the SD news tickers are now completely smooth (as good as the sky box) and the BBC HD channel looks even better (using Overlay Manger, still doesn't work with VMR9 - except oddly when the OSD is displayed, the channel seems smooth for those seconds).

Given the performance I'm getting out of the 7.12 drivers, I'm not sure if it's worth changing to the 8.1 - but I'll probably give it a go over the weekend and see if things get better or worse.

One thing I cant get to work is the HDMI sound. The web site I bought the card from claimed it did sound when using the DVI/HDMI but I have no evidence that the card does as there's no unknown device listed in XP and I installed the ATI 2900 sound driver which made no difference. Anyone know if these cards do sound and if so how??

anthony.s

01-18-08, 07:04 AM

One thing I cant get to work is the HDMI sound. The web site I bought the card from claimed it did sound when using the DVI/HDMI but I have no evidence that the card does as there's no unknown device listed in XP and I installed the ATI 2900 sound driver which made no difference. Anyone know if these cards do sound and if so how??

Are there no other sound output devices in the Mixer settings?
You have to select which output device you wish to use and for me the HDMI audio was not the default.

BigMooose

01-18-08, 07:13 AM

Are there no other sound output devices in the Mixer settings?

Annoyingly no. There's just the on board Realtek AC97 device listed in the mixer settings and the same audio device in the device manager. Which leads me to believe the card isn't capable of sound after all....

anthony.s

01-18-08, 07:18 AM

BTW. 8.1 drivers are now up on the ATI site for Vista/XP

http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_catalyst.aspx

Have you tried these as they are meant to resolve certain AGP issues.

mtallent

01-18-08, 11:39 AM

Duckdown,

Do you have a rear projection HDTV with optical overscan?

The only way to achieve 1:1 pixel mapping is to move the scaling slider all the way to the right, which you have done. However, if you have a rear projection TV, you will still have some overscan caused by the TV.

Right under scaling options, there is a settings page called HDTV Support. On this page, you can create a custom resolution that maintains 1:1 pixel mapping while eliminating the overscan.

For a long time, CCC would not let you create a custom resolution based on 1080p, but that was fixed in 7.12. Personally, I prefer the 7.11 AGP beta drivers from VisionTek, but I found that I could use the 7.12 control panel with the older drivers, and still have access to the 1080p custom resolutions.

-Dave

If you create a "custom" resolution and try to play a 1080i or P movie then you WILL NOT have 1:1 pixel mapping. The ONLY way to have 1:1 pixel mapping when playing a 1920X1080 video file is to have the video card set to output 1920X1080 and have the HDTV set to NOT do any resizing. If you are using a rear projection HDTV then this will result in some overscan on the display. This overscan is designed into the HDTV and cannot be eliminated by resizing the computer display and still have 1:1 pixel mapping. That is why I use a computer monitor for the desktop and a have the HDTV connected as a secondary display so that I will have 1:1 pixel mapping when playing HD-DVD movies on my X-Box add on drive. Picture quality is great on the HDTV.

If your only interest in using the HDTV display is to show the desktop and to play computer games, then the custom resolution might be OK.

Mike T

genro

01-18-08, 11:45 AM

Quick question. I am interested in getting a 2600xt video card. I want to be able to output 1080p simultaneously via Component and DVI(or HDMI, though I won't be using the HDMI for sound) to two different sources. Is this possible (particularly at 1080p)? Thanks in advance

DPlettner

01-18-08, 01:45 PM

If you create a "custom" resolution and try to play a 1080i or P movie then you WILL NOT have 1:1 pixel mapping. The ONLY way to have 1:1 pixel mapping when playing a 1920X1080 video file is to have the video card set to output 1920X1080 and have the HDTV set to NOT do any resizing. If you are using a rear projection HDTV then this will result in some overscan on the display. This overscan is designed into the HDTV and cannot be eliminated by resizing the computer display and still have 1:1 pixel mapping. That is why I use a computer monitor for the desktop and a have the HDTV connected as a secondary display so that I will have 1:1 pixel mapping when playing HD-DVD movies on my X-Box add on drive. Picture quality is great on the HDTV.

If your only interest in using the HDTV display is to show the desktop and to play computer games, then the custom resolution might be OK.

Mike TI agree completely.

I have a custom resolution of 1872x1040 that gives me 1:1 pixel mapping with no overscan, and the image comes very close to the edge of the screen, so I have almost no underscan.

As you point out, if I play a 1080p Blu-ray or HD DVD movie at my custom resolution, the 2600pro will have to downrez the image, and I will lose 1:1 pixel mapping for the content I am viewing.

I deal with this by using the free program MultiRes. (http://www.entechtaiwan.com/util/multires.shtm) With MultiRes, I launch PowerDVD and TheaterTek with a batch file. For example:

"C:\Program Files\MultiRes\MultiRes.exe" /1920,1080,-1
"C:\Program Files\CyberLink\PowerDVD\PowerDVD.exe"
"C:\Program Files\MultiRes\MultiRes.exe" /restore

The batch file switches to 1920x1080 when I launch PowerDVD, and restores my custom resolution of 1872x1040 when I exit PowerDVD. This gives me the best of both worlds, since I can view my desktop with 1:1 pixel mapping and no overscan, and I can watch Blu-ray and HD DVD discs with 1:1 pixel mapping.

-Dave

DPlettner

01-18-08, 02:42 PM

Can anyone tell me where I can download the VisionTek 7.11 AGP Beta driver now that it is no longer available on the VisionTek website? Thanks.I could not find them anywhere, so I uploaded them to RapidShare. The file name is XP_8.43_AGP.exe. Since these came from VisionTek, you do not need to modify the ini files if you are installing these drivers for VisionTek AGP cards.

This is a full release. If you want to install a different version of CCC and/or Avivo, do a custom install and only install the drivers.

Also, as I mentioned above, I need to replace ati3duag.dll with the version from either 7.7, 7.8, or 8.1 hotfix (in Safe Mode). Otherwise, PowerDVD will not work for me.

http://rapidshare.com/files/84833975/XP_8.43_AGP.exe.html

-Dave

kapone

01-18-08, 03:34 PM

Hmm...interesting observation with the latest 7.12 drivers and the onboard x1250 on the 690g motherboards. I had been following the "color level expansion" issue for some time now, and it seems 7.12 drivers seem to fix it for the x1250..well sort of. I have to make sure I set my TV for 0-255 (in my case that means turning "pure digital" off). This is from DVI to DVI from the 690G to a Pioneer Elite CRT HD set.

Once the TV is set for that, SD and HD BOTH seem to be correct. I guess 7.12 expands SD as well by default? (No using UseBT601CSC?)

banquoHD

01-18-08, 05:23 PM

Does anyone have DXVA working on an HD2400, XP, AGP?

So many posts of different configs but not one I've seen verifying this combination working- always Vista instead of XP or PCIE instead of AGP...
If you've got this combo working please save me another week of work and let me know:

1. Driver version (and did you install manufacturer drivers first or no)
2. Software player (version, patches, etc.)
3. Plugins or other utilities installed (ffdshow, haali splitter, core avc, etc)
3. Any special config you did to get it working.
4. Simply what order did you install what versions of what. I'll buy anything I will try anything I need to at this point to save another week of pulling my hair out.

None of the guides provided so far work for my config (2400/XP/AGP) or there is some key piece of information always missing.

So far I've tried:
If you have a *complete* recipe to make DXVA work please share.
Thanks!

I have managed to get DXVA working (at least partially) for my Sapphire 2400Pro AGP in Win XP Pro SP2 by doing the following:

1. Removed all previous Ati software and drivers using the Ati Software removal utility and then rebooted.
2. Regcleaner for any leftovers and rebooted.
3. Installed the driver from 7.12 with Ati3duag.dll from 7.7 (Tried 8.1 hotfix but it didn't work for me so back to 7.7 for now!).
4. Installed CCC from 7.12.
5. Installed Avivo codecs from latest AGP driver package from Sapphire.
6. Rebooted.
7. Applied Reg Tweaks 0.11.vbs.
8. Rebooted.

Running PowerDVD Ultra 7.3.3319, DXVA is enabled for BD and HD-DVD, MPEG2, MPEG2-TS. It isn't enabled for H.264-TS, but if I remux .ts to .m2ts, it is enabled again!?!

No acceleration for mp4/x.264/wmv as yet. :(

Running an Athlon XP2500+ on an Asus A7V333 with 1GB Ram and AGP x4, getting around 30-50% CPU on 1080p with DTS so quite happy for now. :)

Couldn't have got this far without all the good posters here, many thanks to you all! :D

Hope my first post helps you arcticool.

mj-bos

01-18-08, 06:10 PM

After playing around for a month with this (and doing clean installs of both XP and Vista), I've discovered that with my MSI HD 2600 Pro:

1. XP - both hdmi ports output same audio. Has to be the same (Dolby D, DTS, etc.) on both ports.

2. Vista - only one port can output audio - if both devices are plugged in, neigher gets audio. If one or the other is plugged in, audio works on that device.

I also had a spate of problems with Vista with crashes when Dolby D was triggered, so I gave up and went back to XP.

Hope that helps anyone else in a similar situation...
mj

crussell1492

01-18-08, 07:29 PM

DPlettner

01-18-08, 07:50 PM

I am using Vista and have 2 devices plugged in, one using a DVI-HDMI cable, no sound on that, one using the DVI-HDMI adapter, I am getting sound on that one.

I am not getting Dolby Digital However, just PCM. Do I need a different driver for DD?That's normal. The ATI HDMI audio output provides functionality similar to an S/PDIF output, so you can get DTS and DD passthrough, or 2-channel PCM.

Within the retail version of PowerDVD, you can have PowerDVD re-encode the more advanced audio codecs to DD or DTS, with the downsampling that has been discussed in the PowerDVD thread. If you want to re-encode outside of PowerDVD, you can run a software solution, such as AC3Filer. I think FFDShow can re-encode too, but I have never tried it for audio re-encoding.

The Intel G35 motherboards can send 8-channel PCM over HDMI, and Auzentech (http://www.auzentech.com/site/company/press.php) is very close to having a solution.

-Dave

crussell1492

01-18-08, 08:29 PM

DPlettner

01-18-08, 09:02 PM

I have to confess, ATI HDMI audio does not work on my PC, so I was responding based on what I have read.

What application are you using to play back the HDTV program? In that application, have you selected S/PDIF output, or something else. Also, in the Sounds and Audio Devices applet of the Control panel, under the Audio tab, what do you have selected for the audio device.

Perhaps someone that is actually using ATI HDMI audio with the same application can help. AFAIK, you should be able to get the same DD passthrough using ATI HDMI audio that you get when you use S/PDIF.

-Dave

crussell1492

01-18-08, 09:23 PM

I am using Windows Media Center.
I just found a Realtek ATI HDMI Audio driver on the realtek site, will install that and will also check the settings in the app.
My old realtek driver a setting to control PCM vs DD, that's what I am looking for in this new setup.
I was pleasantly surprised that I did at least get audio on the firrt try.
Not happy to read hear that with Vista I will not get audio out of both DVI connections, but that Vista for you...

djos

01-18-08, 09:23 PM

I am confused, sorry.
When I connect my AVR to the S/PDIF output on the computer and play back a TV HD TV show, the AVR displays Dolby Digital.
Now I connect the AVR to the the HDMI output of the ATI device, play back the same show and the AVR reports, PCM.
is that what I should expect?

You need to go into the properties of the HDMI Audio adapter (in playback devices) and select DD & DTS as supported formats.

crussell1492

01-18-08, 09:24 PM

I did check the DTS and DD boxes in the control panel and rebooted to no avail.
Perhaps this new driver will enable it.
thanks

djos

01-18-08, 09:28 PM

I did check the DTS and DD boxes in the control panel and rebooted to no avail.
Perhaps this new driver will enable it.
thanks

Might be worth installing AC3Filter* as well - disable your actual SPDIF in playback devices and in AC3 filter set to SPDIF, use AC3Filter for DD & DTS and passthru AC3 & DTS and see if that helps.

also leave the input and output drop down boxes set to "As is" not "3/2.1" speakers etc.

*I recommend the Vista Codec pack which includes this from the Aussie media center forums (http://www.xpmediacentre.com.au/community/index.php).

crussell1492

01-18-08, 09:45 PM

Hi All-
THanks for the tips.
It appears that all I need to do was to install the Realtek ATI HDMI audio driver from realtek site.

crussell1492

01-18-08, 09:48 PM

originalsnuffy

01-18-08, 09:51 PM

Must be ATI adaptor. Covered multiple times here.

djos

01-18-08, 10:33 PM

OK, heres a good one:
I can only get video over my DVI->HDMI Cable.
I can get Audio & Video using the DVI->HDMI Adapter that came with the 2600.
Does that make sense to anyone?
Can I go to Frye's and pick up any DVI->HDMI adapter or does it have to be an ATI adapter?
than ks!

The Ati DVI-D to HDMI adapter is proprietary thats why you need it to get Audio (the DVI-D standard does not support audio).

crussell1492

01-18-08, 11:45 PM

Yes, I am sorry about that, it was reported here, this thread is pretty deep, maybe I should start a newbie version of this thread, you guys are covering a lot more here than "how do I plug it in" :)
got it working...thx

at the risk this was covered..I ordered an adapter from Diamond Mutlimeia Monday, still has not even shipped, is this adapter available at Fryes?

mj-bos

01-19-08, 01:16 AM

When using XP MCE, I could not get Dolby D or DTS to my Onkyo 605 to work until I installed and properly configured AC3Filter (checked SPDIF).

Once I had that set correctly, all was well... BUT, I now have to watch anything that has Dolby encoding through the receiver - the connection to the TV is OK (audio + video, hdmi) until there's a Dolby soundtrack, then it buzzes and clicks and I have to route through the 605.

What puzzles me is that I have a TiVo HD connected via HDMI to the TV and component + optical to the stereo. In that scenario, I can watch an HD show recorded with Dolby Digital on the TV (in stereo sound) OR via the 605 with full DD5.1 working.

At least I've got it all boiled down to a manageable (read: acceptable to other members of the household!) number of minor workarounds that can be handled with "one click" on a Harmony 880.

Cheers,
mj

mj-bos

01-19-08, 01:21 AM

I tried DVI-HDMI cables and generic DVI to HDMI - no go - only the ATI adapter worked.

rosie2515

01-19-08, 07:23 AM

1. XP - both hdmi ports output same audio. Has to be the same (Dolby D, DTS, etc.) on both ports.

How do you acomplish that!? I can only get sound out of the channel with the primary monitor!?

You say it has to be the same. Where do you control that?

rosie2515

01-19-08, 07:30 AM

You need to go into the properties of the HDMI Audio adapter (in playback devices) and select DD & DTS as supported formats.

I have a HD 2600 XT card from Sapphire. I can't seem to find those properties. Please help...

BigMooose

01-19-08, 08:58 AM

I have a HD 2600 XT card from Sapphire. I can't seem to find those properties. Please help...

I also have an HD2600XT from Sapphire and I cant find any way to make the audio work - there's not even a hint of an unknown device to suggest the card is even capable. Although I dont have the ATI HDMI dongal (my card came with a VGA dongal but not a DVI->HDMI one) but I have an expensive DVI-HDMI cable that is audio capable. I know there have been mixed reports here saying such cables do/dont work or that you need the ATI dongal first but I have no idea where to get one. Or conclude the card simply cant do audio! Mine's the AGP version if that matters.

cganesh75

01-19-08, 09:40 AM

I also have an HD2600XT from Sapphire and I cant find any way to make the audio work - there's not even a hint of an unknown device to suggest the card is even capable. Although I dont have the ATI HDMI dongal (my card came with a VGA dongal but not a DVI->HDMI one) but I have an expensive DVI-HDMI cable that is audio capable. I know there have been mixed reports here saying such cables do/dont work or that you need the ATI dongal first but I have no idea where to get one. Or conclude the card simply cant do audio! Mine's the AGP version if that matters.

generic dvi-hdmi wont work for these cards. you need ati dongle and then any hdmi cable will work. i have tried it. but the onboard video from 690G board will work with generic dvi-hdmi cable and i can get audiio. for discrete gfx cards you need the ati dongle.

phusg

01-19-08, 12:12 PM

This is part one of my hardware acceleration for media files guide.

...

If you have a CPU supporting SSE2 all you will need to do is install the latest version of powerdvd, however if you have a SSE or older computer you will have to do the following trick:

For SSE computers:

In the folder:
C:\Program Files\CyberLink\PowerDVD\VideoFilter
Rename 264dsse.dll to 264dsse.dll.old
Rename 264dsse2.dll to 264dsse.dll

...

The Next part of the guide will be Accelerating x264 files, in bith 720p and 1080p. That guide will also (if needed/possible) include information on how to fix existing files to prevent the black screen and 20fps bugs.

A BIG THANKS to tetsuo for this guide! The above quote is what got my aging nForce1 Athlon XP computer to accelerate 1080 HD video without stutters for the first time! Without the .dll trick it wouldn't play smoothly. Looking forward to part 2 :)

BigMooose

01-19-08, 12:33 PM

for discrete gfx cards you need the ati dongle.

Thanks for the reply - anyone know where I can get one that'll ship to the UK/Ireland?

The card is in my PVR box so I dont use it for gaming. I've been playing with the 8.1 official and AGP hotfix drivers and have found (at 720p resolution):

using 7.12 I get hw acel for SD channels and the BBC HD channel using Overlay Manager (VMR9 isn't watchable with the HD channel).
using 8.1 hotfix the HD channel reports a memory error using Overlay Manager and is as bad as 7.12 with VMR9.
using 8.1 official release the HD channel is perfect under VMR9 but gives a memory error under overlay manager.

No idea if that helps anyone! :)

millerbrad

01-19-08, 02:40 PM

FYI.. In Vista, you CAN get sound to output over both ports if you have two of ATI's DVI-to-HDMI adapters. The catch is, you have to use the 7.7 drivers. 7.8 and newer only output sound through one port, no matter what.

rprice99

01-19-08, 05:39 PM

Hi All, I'm in the process of setting up an entire Home Theater system and one of the sources will be an HTPC. I am primarily planning on using the computer as a source for gaming and also music listening via the home theater. Everything is being routed through a receiver (Yamaha RX-V661) before going to the TV.

Here is my question, when using the Radeon HD series DVI-HDMI dongle to pass through the video and sound, exactly what are the sound capabilities?

For example....

- Will the HDMI cable pass sound through when I am playing Winamp or Zune software?

- Will the HDMI cable pass 5.1 sound from Video Games?

My concern is that for gaming I'd have to use onboard sound or a Creative card of some sort...

Does anyone have experience with this?

anthony.s

01-20-08, 04:11 AM

I don't get any sound with Crysis through HDMI. It is the demo version though and this maybe resolved in the retail release as I'm pretty sure sound is working for HL2 EP2.

Just checked HL2EP2 and sound is working via HDMI.
I'm using Vista HP and a HIS 2600XT PCI-E with an ATI DVI-HDMI adaptor.

Lawguy

01-20-08, 08:41 AM

I am sorry for asking something that can probably be answered if I read this entire thread, but I am getting a bit lost doing that.

I have my primary PC working just fine with a 2600xt and hd-dvd/bluray but that is a PCI-e PC.

I have another PC that is an AGP system. It also has a 2600xt. I spent the better part of yesterday trying to get hardware acceleration of bluray/hd-dvd on both Vista and XP.

I failed.

In the process, I used many combinations of drivers and tried the .dll powerdvd sse trick. (The CPU on that PC is a barton 2500+).

Am I wasting my time?

tstolze

01-20-08, 11:05 AM

I have another PC that is an AGP system. It also has a 2600xt. I spent the better part of yesterday trying to get hardware acceleration of bluray/hd-dvd on both Vista and XP.

I failed.

In the process, I used many combinations of drivers and tried the .dll powerdvd sse trick. (The CPU on that PC is a barton 2500+).

Am I wasting my time?

I tried many drivers also, my card is a 2600 pro from Sapphire. The only ones that will give me hardware acceleration are the ones listed on Sapphire's site, the description lists "AGP only". I even tried ATI's latest yesterday and my CPU usage jumped 50-60% on hd-dvd/bluray playback.

pvkleeff

01-20-08, 11:09 AM

Hi,

I have a problem with my htpc. I have a ATI 2600 Pro which is connected to my CRT TV via the tv-out (S-Video). I've made a custom 1024x576 resolution which is looking great on the tv. However, when I wake up my pc from sleep modus I get a display with washed out colors which looks horrible. Only after a reboot I get the good colors back.

I haven't found a solution for this problem. Anyone here ever encountered this problem (and hopefully has a fix) ?

asavinen

01-20-08, 12:07 PM

98810

Hey you go guys.

Fix your 720p or lower resolution files with this program. Just navigate to your HD/SD files and select the new IDC then click change.

Will work on MKV's and AVI's, no need to demux/remux.

Enjoy.

Hi DJBlu

All my 720p .mkv's are Main@5,1 or High@5,1. I try to change IDC to 4.1 or 4.0 but all I get is error: "Error writing to file, please check the file is not open"

Any ideas what is wrong?

Files are not in use and they are not read-only. It makes no difference if I copy my files to local disk or if I try to change IDC directly from my external USB HD.

Thanks in advance!

P.S. HD2600 AGP up and running with HW acceleration thanks to this forum!

DJBlu

01-20-08, 04:07 PM

Hi DJBlu

All my 720p .mkv's are Main@5,1 or High@5,1. I try to change IDC to 4.1 or 4.0 but all I get is error: "Error writing to file, please check the file is not open"

Any ideas what is wrong?

Files are not in use and they are not read-only. It makes no difference if I copy my files to local disk or if I try to change IDC directly from my external USB HD.

Thanks in advance!

P.S. HD2600 AGP up and running with HW acceleration thanks to this forum!

Use this file instead

IDC Changer (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=98882)

iceman99

01-20-08, 05:44 PM

I am running Windows Vista, the graphics card listed in the title, and connecting it with the ATI boxed HDMI-DVI converter. I've been playing around with FFDShow and AC3 Filter for the past 5 hours and have not had any success in trying to send only Ac3 5.1 audio to my reciever. I have the realtek drivers installed as well. Anyone have some detailed instructions or tips on how to do this?

arcticool

01-20-08, 07:34 PM

I have managed to get DXVA working (at least partially) for my Sapphire 2400Pro AGP in Win XP Pro SP2 by doing the following:

1. Removed all previous Ati software and drivers using the Ati Software removal utility and then rebooted.
2. Regcleaner for any leftovers and rebooted.
3. Installed the driver from 7.12 with Ati3duag.dll from 7.7 (Tried 8.1 hotfix but it didn't work for me so back to 7.7 for now!).
4. Installed CCC from 7.12.
5. Installed Avivo codecs from latest AGP driver package from Sapphire.
6. Rebooted.
7. Applied Reg Tweaks 0.11.vbs.
8. Rebooted.

Running PowerDVD Ultra 7.3.3319, DXVA is enabled for BD and HD-DVD, MPEG2, MPEG2-TS. It isn't enabled for H.264-TS, but if I remux .ts to .m2ts, it is enabled again!?!

No acceleration for mp4/x.264/wmv as yet. :(

Running an Athlon XP2500+ on an Asus A7V333 with 1GB Ram and AGP x4, getting around 30-50% CPU on 1080p with DTS so quite happy for now. :)

Couldn't have got this far without all the good posters here, many thanks to you all! :D

Hope my first post helps you arcticool.

Are you sure you installed the Avivo in step 5? Since it is not an option without also re-installing the manufacturer's drivers, I would think you would have installed your manufacturer's drivers over your 7.12s? BTW, I returned the 2400. I just didn't have quite the tolerance for pain. So disappointed in how far ATI has fallen with respect to Quality. The deal breaker for me was no AVC or VC1 acceleration.
But thanks for the response. It is certainly valuable to have people share their experiences :)

crussell1492

01-20-08, 08:27 PM

Hi, I am using a 2600 XT in a Vista HTPC.

I have it connected to 2 rooms over HDMI, each with its own Onkyo 605 receiver, connected to a Panny 1080i Plasma in one room, and a Sanyo Z2000 1080p PJ in the other room.

To get around the fact that I could not get sound out of both DVI outputs on the device (Vista limitation), I ended up using an HDMI splitter to send the HDMI signal out of one DVI output (and the ATI DVI-HDMI adapter) to the AVRs in each room.

I use the same type of splitter to split the HDMI signal from my DISH DVR (1080i) to send its to both rooms.

To get the signal to the theater with the Projector room, I use a HDMI over CAT 5 device.

This all works perfectly for my DISH DVR and works almost perfectly for my HTPC with the 2600 XT (I get 1080i video and DD audio in both rooms).

the one problem is on the Projector I notice some of what I can only call "sparkels". Seems like some pixels are randomly firing bright white or yellow.

I do not see this effect on the Plasma that is direct connected (HDMI)

It would be easy to blame it on the HDMI over CAT5 device except for the fact that my DISH DVR uses the same setup and looks perfect, also sending 1080i video and DD audio)

Its possible this "sparkle" effect is happening on both displays but is only noticable on the Projector as its 120" as opposed the the plasma which is 42"

I have messed with all the settings in the CCC and on the PJ to no avail.

I know this is a weird one, but any ideas what may be causing this "sparkling" effect?

crussell1492

01-20-08, 10:40 PM

James Mos

01-20-08, 11:52 PM

crussell1492

01-21-08, 01:07 AM

thanks, that does point to the HDMI/CAT5 setup being the problem, but again, I dont see tjat issue with my DVRI would assume is likely pushing more data than the DVR...I will try cranking down the refresh rate...it was a pretty inexpensive HDMI/CAT5 device, may need to upgrade that...thanks again

Web63

01-21-08, 06:26 AM

I’m not sure if I’ve posted this question in the right forum but here goes;

I have an ATI 3850 graphics card connected to my Toshiba 42” 1080 screen and was wondering whether I should set up the brightness, contrast etc for media centre using the controls on the TV or in the ATI Avivo panel ? Is there a general rule of thumb for this, or is it down to personal preference? Also, is it better to have “black stretch” on or off?

Thanks in advance :)

Royster

01-21-08, 08:38 AM

I have a Sapphire HD2400 Pro AGP on XP Pro SP2.

I have the 8.1 HotFix drivers from ATI and after applying the registry tweaks at the beginning of this thread I noticed that a new tab called Advanced color appears under AVIVO video with sliders for color vibrance and fleshtone correction. This also fills in the gap left under Basic Color for All Settings. There is a gap left under Basic Quality for something like Advanced Quality?? Be nice if the missing stuff if noise reduction and detail enhancement sliders. Anybody know something?

Robyf

01-21-08, 10:22 AM

If you create a "custom" resolution and try to play a 1080i or P movie then you WILL NOT have 1:1 pixel mapping. The ONLY way to have 1:1 pixel mapping when playing a 1920X1080 video file is to have the video card set to output 1920X1080 and have the HDTV set to NOT do any resizing. If you are using a rear projection HDTV then this will result in some overscan on the display. This overscan is designed into the HDTV and cannot be eliminated by resizing the computer display and still have 1:1 pixel mapping. That is why I use a computer monitor for the desktop and a have the HDTV connected as a secondary display so that I will have 1:1 pixel mapping when playing HD-DVD movies on my X-Box add on drive. Picture quality is great on the HDTV.

If your only interest in using the HDTV display is to show the desktop and to play computer games, then the custom resolution might be OK.

Mike T

I have a Samsung LCD TV and I want to use it with a 720p resolution. The problem is that if I set 720p 50hz (pal) I have a lot of overscan that is I don't see the full desktop but instead only part of it (the overscan is about the height of the windows toolbar, but I get 1:1 pixel mapping). I can make a custom resolution to solve the problem and in this case I can perfectly solve the underscan problem but I don't get 1:1 pixel mapping.

On the other hand If I accept to lose parte of the desktop I lose part of the movie I'm watching (vertical and horizontal).

Which is in your opinion the right way to go?

Thanks

Roby

PS: sorry for bad english...

genro

01-21-08, 10:33 AM

ryancmor17

01-21-08, 10:58 AM

I have another PC that is an AGP system. It also has a 2600xt. I spent the better part of yesterday trying to get hardware acceleration of bluray/hd-dvd on both Vista and XP.

I failed.

In the process, I used many combinations of drivers and tried the .dll powerdvd sse trick. (The CPU on that PC is a barton 2500+).

Am I wasting my time?

I beleive that depends on your resolution and MB, I have read that for resolutions over 1.3mp the hotfix on ATI's website does not work. I have not confirmed this, but plan to re-attempt the install this weekend on my media center. A post at the ati game forums (quoted from ATI KB) shows that the AGP versions are not compatable with NF3 mother boards at all.

brew99

01-21-08, 12:22 PM

Lawguy

01-21-08, 01:54 PM

I beleive that depends on your resolution and MB, I have read that for resolutions over 1.3mp the hotfix on ATI's website does not work. I have not confirmed this, but plan to re-attempt the install this weekend on my media center. A post at the ati game forums (quoted from ATI KB) shows that the AGP versions are not compatable with NF3 mother boards at all.

I could not get any driver to accelerate any bluray or HD-dvd material at any resolution on my Nforce2-based PC.

Has anyone gotten a 2600xt/Nforce2 combination to work at all? If so, how?

Robyf

01-21-08, 03:57 PM

Sorry for asking... but reading the whole thread didn't help me to have the definitive answer.

I have an HD 2400 XT PCI-Express card. Which driver version do I have to use to get hw accelleration of all kind of content (SD Mpeg2 and HD x264 and VC1)?

Thanks
Roby

ToughRowToHoe

01-22-08, 12:25 AM

leonardus

01-22-08, 05:14 AM

Hi,
it is possible to make HA work for wmv files? I have a Sapphire 2600Pro AGP version.

Thanks in advance.

alfonxs

01-22-08, 08:29 AM

Does anyone get picture interruptions with catalyst 8.1 and EVR in DVBViewer Pro 3.9.2 like displayed in the attachment?

Vista, 2600 XT AGP, Sapphire AGP Driver from 01/20/08

Web63

01-22-08, 09:09 AM

Web, I think the recommendation is to calibrate the display.

Thanks ToughRowToHoe. I thought that might be best.

Rew452

01-22-08, 02:42 PM

Over the long weekend I finally partitioned my XP system disk into 2 and loaded Vista 32 Ultimate. I did this to test PDVD and Arcsoft player mostly but also to get into Vista.
Anyway when I attempt to run the HD2600 tweeks vbs I get messages saying something about \UMD\DXVA but it does not find the HD2600 as it does in XP.

Can someone be so kind to explain how to run these tweeks in Vista??

Please!

Thanks
Rew

ub4b

01-22-08, 02:58 PM

alarchy

01-22-08, 03:34 PM

I've seen some people having problems with this, but can't seem to find an answer...

I have an MSI 2400XT with Catalyst 8.1 drivers and the AVIVO package installed. For some reason, PowerDVD won't accelerate HD-DVD or Blu-ray (it unchecks the HA flag in PowerDVD's settings and shows only 20% GPU usage while my CPU goes up to 35% ish) but WILL accelerate Standard Definition (From 2% to 30% GPU usage). It's not too much of a problem, as I have a Phenom 9600 and it only gets hit for about 35% CPU use...but I'd rather hardware accelerate it.

Using the drivers that came with my Video card (also Catalyst 8.1, but an earlier revision somehow) it WILL hardware accelerate everything perfectly...except there are noticable decoder errors (scene changes will result in partial past image artifacts, similar to a low strength over the air signal). Besides that, HD-DVD VC1 will outright crash the driver anyway (Blu-Ray h264 is fine) and is basically unusable unless I get lucky.

The latest ATI Catalysts on the website work fine, but is there any way I can offload to the GPU with them? Or force it to try out the stability?

Thanks!

highzone

01-22-08, 04:04 PM

I could not find them anywhere, so I uploaded them to RapidShare. The file name is XP_8.43_AGP.exe. Since these came from VisionTek, you do not need to modify the ini files if you are installing these drivers for VisionTek AGP cards.

This is a full release. If you want to install a different version of CCC and/or Avivo, do a custom install and only install the drivers.

Also, as I mentioned above, I need to replace ati3duag.dll with the version from either 7.7, 7.8, or 8.1 hotfix (in Safe Mode). Otherwise, PowerDVD will not work for me.

http://rapidshare.com/files/84833975/XP_8.43_AGP.exe.html

-Dave

Thanks for uploading this, Dave.

iceman99

01-22-08, 09:36 PM

Did you have any luck with this? I'm having the same problem with sound with the full version of Crysis with a Radeon 2900.

sumster

01-23-08, 03:21 AM

Lawguy

01-23-08, 08:57 AM

cganesh75

01-23-08, 09:04 AM

nvm

SpHeRe31459

01-23-08, 02:11 PM

I found this interesting while reading the white paper (http://ati.amd.com/products/pdf/ATI_Radeon_HD_3450_Video_Guide.pdf) on the new Radeon 3450's video capabilities, they basically admit the Radeon 2400 series was too underpowered for it's own good...

Processing of HD video requires large amounts of memory bandwidth. The initial
implementation of UVD on the ATI RadeonTM HD 2000 series had restrictions
dependant on the available memory bandwidth on a given board. The net result was,
at launch, the lowest bandwidth ATI RadeonTM HD 2400 PRO solutions targeted
playback of all HD content at 720p pixel resolutions. If the desktop resolution was
set any higher than 720p, then HD video decoding would fall-back to software in
order to save GPU bandwidth.

The ATI RadeonTM HD 3000 series of graphics processors features improvements to
the UVD engine that both reduce CPU utilization under HD decode and also improve
memory bandwidth utilization in order to maintain hardware HD decoding at higher
resolutions. The net result is that even the DDR2 equipped ATI Radeon™ HD 3450
will facilitate hardware decoding of 1080p and 1080i VC-1 and H.264/AVC encoded
content at 1920x1200 / 1080p desktop resolutions.

originalsnuffy

01-23-08, 02:59 PM

That last post supports a recent article in one of the PC magazines. I can't remember if it was PC World or whatever...but the article said that the 2400 was limited to 720p. I had previously posted here to see if that was true...and the response was basically not true.

Now it seems the answer is...if you want hardware acceleration it is true.

Oh well!

Lawguy

01-23-08, 03:23 PM

SpHeRe31459

01-23-08, 05:01 PM

If you read it it says its not true anymore. It was true at launch.

yes but it still basically says it's broken for 1080i and/or MPEG2 material.

Subsequent Catalyst™ software updates have improved the situation such that VC-1 and H.264 content encoded in 1080p will play back using UVD at desktop resolutions as high as 1920x1200 (higher than 1080p), however 1080i VC-1 and H.264/AVC as well as HD MPEG-2 content still fall-back to fully software based decoding.

SugoE

01-23-08, 05:09 PM

For my HD2400PRO, Blu-ray 'DH4' h.264@1080p does not use ATI Avivo HW acceleration in PDVD OEM.

Has anyone got HW acceleration working with Vista32*HD2400PRO*GGC-H20L*PDVD7.3 ?

Here's my setup:
CPU: Intel C2D 6300 @ 1.86GHz
Chipset: G965
Motherboard: Intel DG965OT
Memory 2 x 512MB of 667MHz DDR2
Operating System: Windows Vista® 32-bit Premium
Graphics Cards: PowerColor Radeon HD 2400 PRO PCIe
Playback Software: Cyberlink PowerDVD Ultra V7.3 OEM
Optical Drive: LG GGC-H20L Super Multi Blue Blue-ray Disc & HD DVD-ROM
Display Device: SHARP 46X20E LCD
GPU Drivers: ATI Catalyst 7.11

ToughRowToHoe

01-23-08, 06:37 PM

When using the ATI DVI to HDMI converter with audio support, can you use the room correction features of Vista Ultimate (libdsp) ? Imagine sending a room corrected 24/96 multi-channel lossles audiostream from BD or HD-DVD (eg Dolby TrueHD) per HDMI to your processor.

Is this already possible with PowerDVD 7.3 + Vista ultimate ?

The 2X00 cards (and I believe the new 3000 series cards) only support DD 5.1 and two channel PCM. On top of that PowerDVD apparently downsamples everything: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=892863&page=15

You can send room corrected audio over HDMI with the Auzentech card on the above thread. There are decoders that'll handle uncompressed HD audio. I haven't been able to get my hands on one.:o

millerbrad

01-23-08, 06:53 PM

The 2X00 cards (and I believe the new 3000 series cards) only support DD 5.1 and two channel PCM.

...and DTS 5.1. :)

DPlettner

01-23-08, 10:22 PM

Has anyone tried the new 8.45 Visiontek drivers for AGP?

http://www.visiontek.com/teksupport/drivers/8.45n_XP_driver.html

I hope it fixes the 1.3 MP DXVA issue - I had to go back to 8.43 to get Powerdvd HDDVD acceleration. Standard catalyst 7.11, 7.12, and 8.1 hotfix did not work for AGP. I will post my results tomorrow.I gave these drivers a try tonight. For me, they work the same as the 8.1 hotfix drivers. It appears that 8.45 has the 1.3 MP bug. I get no image in PowerDVD at 1080p, but it works fine at 720p.

It's back to 8.43 for me, with ati3duag.dll from the 8.1 hotfix drivers and CCC from the 8.1 drivers.

-Dave

Robyf

01-24-08, 06:49 AM

For my HD2400PRO, Blu-ray 'DH4' h.264@1080p does not use ATI Avivo HW acceleration in PDVD OEM.

Has anyone got HW acceleration working with Vista32*HD2400PRO*GGC-H20L*PDVD7.3 ?

I use a 1360x768 resolution as I get 1:1 pixel mapping on my lcd TV with it... does it mean that my hd2400 will never use HD acceleration because resolution is more then 720p?

I have to try with an x264 mkv...

Roby

Moondust

01-24-08, 07:01 AM

My 2600pro is working at 1024x576 resolution now, since it's the native resolution of my projector. BUT, when setting the videocards output on 1280x720 (720p) the result looks terrible, almost unwatchable with lots of green en pink. Outputting at 1920x1080 is even worse. My projector is able to handle 720p and 1080p according to specs. Back when I had a normal dvd-player outputting 1080p was no problem at all. So I guess my 2600pro is unable to send out a strong signal. My 10m DVI cable isn't a budget cable. Are more people experiencing this? Are there ways to somehow amplify the DVI output signal? I don't think it's the cable itself since it worked with a normal dvd-player.

Moondust

01-24-08, 07:05 AM

I use a 1360x768 resolution as I get 1:1 pixel mapping on my lcd TV with it... does it mean that my hd2400 will never use HD acceleration because resolution is more then 720p?

I have to try with an x264 mkv...
x264 mkv 1080p cannot be hardware accelerated.....yet. So testing that won't prove anything. From what I read in this thread the limitations you are talking about were true when the 2400 was just released. However, in Catalyst drivers that followed the problem was corrected. Only certain MPEG streams will not be hardware accelerated above 720p, the rest is fixed.

JavierS

01-24-08, 07:21 AM

Seems pretty stable. They've done nothing about hd levels expansion, and you still need use usebt601csc=1, but pretty much everything else works.

For 2600 users: just unzip the file, find the lh.inf and delete all reference to 2400. It'll then install properly.

No denoise/detail sliders btw - it seems this is a future feature, maybe accidentally exposes in Crysis.

Hi Arfster,

I tried to install these yesterday and got the "inf not found error", my card is an 2600XT PCIe, exactly which entries do I have to delete? colud you upload a modded .inf that works?

Cheers

arfster

01-24-08, 07:55 AM

Javier: you have the same card as me, so probably you'll also find that the guru3d beta 8.1 is a better choice. It installs without any tweaking, and also doesn't break VA deinterlacing like the official ones do.

If not, all I did was delete the 2400 lines in the inf - it then seems to fall back to the 2600.

JavierS

01-24-08, 08:06 AM

Peekstra

01-24-08, 09:13 AM

Moondust

01-24-08, 09:20 AM

I had exactly the same problem with a Sapphire 2400pro card and a 5m (high quality) HDMI cable.
Did you find a solution?

I could buy another videocard but I am not aware of any way to know the output power unless I try it. And another card could just as easily show te same problem. A shorter DVI-cable is no option for me, those 10 meters are needed to reach my projector. I think I just need 1. a card that has sufficient output power, or 2. some kind of amplifier (expensive video processor?). I suppose I need to stick to 1024x576 for the time being.

arfster

01-24-08, 09:21 AM

Arf, thats precisely what I was trying to do but I couldn't. I tried using the offcial 8.1 CAT .inf modding references to files/directories but it didn't work.
Do you mean lines that start with "ATI Radeon HD 2400....."?

Yeah - if that's not working your card probably isn't mentioned at all in the inf. Try the guru3d? Newer build than the officials, and less buggy.

JavierS

01-24-08, 09:30 AM

Yeah - if that's not working your card probably isn't mentioned at all in the inf. Try the guru3d? Newer build than the officials, and less buggy.

Its Guru3d's thats giving me trouble, official CATs install OK and are the ones I currently have.

I tried HQV's disc and on Jaggies1 and Jaggies2 (using PDVD 7.3) my results are just OK. As you mentioned that VA wasn't working on ATI's 8.1 I wanted to check whether it was possible to get a full 5 points in jaggies2 and a perfect bar in the green zone in jaggies1 (<10º).
BTW, does the sharpness setting only have 1 or 0 or is there another registry entry where it can be set to different values?

Lawguy

01-24-08, 09:37 AM

Eureka!

I finally got hardware acceleration working with the latest Visiontek AGP drivers on Windows XP with my Barton 2500+ and Visiontek 2600XT.

I am going to try a Vista install with the latest Visiontek drivers and see if that also works.

If only this had worked in December I could have saved myself a lot of money that I spent in building a new system.

AVtom59

01-24-08, 01:07 PM

Hi !
I've bought an ATI AGP HD2400 pro and no way to have hardware acceleration on h264/mkv files or other files.
I'm on XP SP2 and have never installed the ati drivers. Instead i use the omega's one (ver 4.8.442).
I have MPC 6.4.9.1, Haali media splitter and Cyberlink H264/AVC decoder 7.3 build 3319a.

Is there something wrong in my setup ?
could i find a H264 video wich is not included in a mkv to test (basic) HW acceleration ?
Thanks for your answer

ToughRowToHoe

01-24-08, 04:12 PM

...and DTS 5.1. :)

Thanks, I will have to update the FAQ then.

chicodobrazil

01-25-08, 03:30 AM

Royster

01-25-08, 06:41 AM

I've got a Sapphire Radeon HD 2400 Pro AGP. Can anyone tell me what GPU temp CCC reports when sat at the XP background in idle please? I'm getting over 70c :eek:

Lawguy

01-25-08, 06:47 AM

May I ask you what you've done ? Another mix between files :cool:

No. I just installed the latest Visiontek AGP drivers in Windows XP.

When playing 1080p movie trailers from Apple in Quicktime, I max out my CPU at 100% and get a slideshow. In Power DVD with hardware acceleration enabled, I get around 15% with the same file. Clearly it is working!

RichB

01-25-08, 09:02 AM

So has anyone compared the 2000 and the 3000 series for image quality?

Is it time to start a new thread?

- Rich

Gaizka

01-25-08, 09:26 AM

No. I just installed the latest Visiontek AGP drivers in Windows XP.

When playing 1080p movie trailers from Apple in Quicktime, I max out my CPU at 100% and get a slideshow. In Power DVD with hardware acceleration enabled, I get around 15% with the same file. Clearly it is working!

You have barton 2500+ CPU isn't it? Do you made dll swap on PowerDVD?

I need one Apple Quicktime reference trailer file for testing... can you post internet link of one trailer that works HA for you?

Thank you

suprnaut

01-25-08, 09:45 AM

CPU: Pentium 4 @ 2.8Ghz
RAM: 2GB DDR PC3200
MB: Abit VT7
GFX: HIS Radeon HD 2600 XT AGP 512MB
Software: Windows XP pro w/ SP 2, directX 9.0C, .net 3.0, Windows Media Player v11, PowerDVD Ultra 7.3, Media Player Classic

I have read this thread with great interest because I am having trouble enabling Hardware Acceleration with my HIS Radeon HD 2600 XT AGP card, but finally I now have something, something to share with others.

I have followed and tried two of the guides posted here in this forum:
-SORRY, UNABLE TO POST URL BECAUSE OF LACKING 3 POSTS and
-SORRY, UNABLE TO POST URL BECAUSE OF LACKING 3 POSTS,

but none of those guides would let me activate and/or use Hardware Acceleration in PowerDVD 7.3 ULTRA. I am able to select "Enable hardware acceleration (ATI Avivo)" - but as soon as i try to play a HD movie, the box gets grayed out and my CPU spikes. Under my information tab I see that "Video Accelerator: DirectX VA (not in use)" so something is definitely not right - the same problem as others have posted in this thread.

So I installed the latest version of Media Player Classic and enabled these External Filters:
CyberLink H.264/AVC Decoder (PDVD7.x) with "Set merit:" and the value 00900400
CyberLink Video/SP Decoder (PDVD7) and "Prefer".

Then I downloaded a 720 x264 movie file and used the "IDC Changer" on the file (changing from 5.1 to 4.1). It plays flawlessly in Media Player Classic, with a CPU utiliziation around 0-4%.

So Hardware Acceleration is definitely working! But this is quite a temporary solution because almost all my media files are 1080p and with my current settings in MPC those types won't even display picture, just sound.

I am sorry that I do not have an exact step-by-step of my procedure to accomplish this, but I'll have to experiment some more to get hardware acceleration on other files..

DJBlu

01-25-08, 09:45 AM

I've got a Sapphire Radeon HD 2400 Pro AGP. Can anyone tell me what GPU temp CCC reports when sat at the XP background in idle please? I'm getting over 70c :eek:

I get readings over 100deg c but the card isn't at that. I don't know what the problem is.

DJBlu

01-25-08, 09:50 AM

Lawguy

01-25-08, 11:01 AM

You have barton 2500+ CPU isn't it? Do you made dll swap on PowerDVD?

I need one Apple Quicktime reference trailer file for testing... can you post internet link of one trailer that works HA for you?

Thank you

You can download trailers off the Apple website. Here's how:

http://www.hd-trailers.net/

I did do the .dll swap but I don't know if was necessary because I did the swap before installing these drivers, which were the first one to have worked for me.

Royster

01-25-08, 11:24 AM

I get readings over 100deg c but the card isn't at that. I don't know what the problem is.

Ouch :eek: I took the side off my case to see if it made any difference - nope. Next I checked the fan was actually turning - it was. The tiny heatsink was definitely hot to touch but not 70+c. I pulled the card out and popped the heatsink off for a look. Plenty of silver looking heatsink compound but I cleaned it off with carbon tet and applied some of my own Arctic Silver2. After reassembly I have yet to have the card read higher than 47c. Looks like the compound applied by Sapphire was not doing its job.

Gaizka

01-25-08, 02:13 PM

Hello i finally did it!!

System config:
AMD Athlon XP 1900+
Radeon 2400 pro AGP 256MB
XP SP2
Visontek 8.2 XP drivers for 2400 pro agp
Powerdvd 7.3.3516.0 ultra
264dsse.dll 264dsee2.dll swap

Tested full HA on Apple trailers .mov format both at 720p and 1080p source encoding.

If desktop resolution above 1280x720 <-> 1280x1024 black screen on powerdvd.

CPU utilization on Fantastic 4 1080p trailer was 10-20% at 1.700mhz and GPU utilization is over 15-18% at 525mhz.

The problem now is that if i setup desktop at 1920x1080, real full hd, i can't view the trailer cos balck screen appears.. This is non video source resolution dependant there is desktop resolution above 1280 horizontal lines problem.

If no dll swap i can view trailers at 720p and 1080p but with no HA and 100% cpu utilization.

The main question now is: non-sse2 CPU or 2400Pro limitation?

Regards:)

Lawguy

01-25-08, 02:40 PM

Gaizka,

Congratulations!

Did you apply the registry tweaks?

I think they might be useful with a 2400, but I am not sure.

I have a 2600xt, which is not as bandwidth limited.

Gaizka

01-25-08, 05:15 PM

Gaizka,

Congratulations!

Did you apply the registry tweaks?

I think they might be useful with a 2400, but I am not sure.

I have a 2600xt, which is not as bandwidth limited.

yes i apply "ATI_HD2x00_Reg_Tweaks_0.11.vbs" with all registry entries

Can you playback 1080p mov trailers on 1080p desktop 1920x1080@60hz?

If yes there is 2400 pro limitation because your Barton CPU is non-sse2 like Athlon XP

I can full HA accelerate at 1080p desktop mpeg files but h264 i can't

Regards

chicodobrazil

01-25-08, 06:11 PM

yes i apply "ATI_HD2x00_Reg_Tweaks_0.11.vbs" with all registry entries

Can you playback 1080p mov trailers on 1080p desktop 1920x1080@60hz?

If yes there is 2400 pro limitation because your Barton CPU is non-sse2 like Athlon XP

I can full HA accelerate at 1080p desktop mpeg files but h264 i can't

Regards
I've just tried those latest driver from VisionTek on 1080p with my desktop set as 1920x1080@60hz and my Sapphire 2600 Pro AGP: no acceleration on VC-1 and H264 files with either PowerDVD or MPC :(
So, I guess Lawguy did not try a resolution above 1050 :confused:

Lawguy

01-26-08, 08:18 AM

Lawguy[/B] did not try a resolution above 1050 :confused:

You're right. I didn't.

I have another PC hooked up to my 1080p projector.

The TV that this PC is hooked up to is 720p.

Maybe I'll switch it later and seek what happens.

asavinen

01-26-08, 09:07 AM

So I installed the latest version of Media Player Classic and enabled these External Filters:
CyberLink H.264/AVC Decoder (PDVD7.x) with "Set merit:" and the value 00900400
CyberLink Video/SP Decoder (PDVD7) and "Prefer".

Then I downloaded a 720 x264 movie file and used the "IDC Changer" on the file (changing from 5.1 to 4.1). It plays flawlessly in Media Player Classic, with a CPU utiliziation around 0-4%.

I have HW acceleration working on PowerDVD (720p/1080p trailers). I tried to add CyberLink's decoders to MPC but all I got was black screen. I used the setting quoted above. Can someone explain how to do this properly and what that "Set Merit:" means?

Second question is about resolution limit on AGP cards... I installed the latest drivers (8-1 hotfix from ATI) and after that CCC from the official 8-1 driver pack. Everything is fine on my monitor (1280x1024) but PowerDVD stays black on my full-hd TV (second monitor). Is this caused by ati3duag.dll or what? :confused: I didn't replaced that in safe mode, because HW acc was working on my monitor. I added registry tweaks but PDVD is still black.

Everything was working with 7-7 drivers with registry tweaks.

I have Athlon XP 2600+, WinXP, HD2600 PRO AGP.

-Antti

bauerhorscht

01-26-08, 09:27 AM

Everything is fine on my monitor (1280x1024) but PowerDVD stays black on my full-hd TV (second monitor). Is this caused by ati3duag.dll or what?

Catalyst 7.12 and 8.1 unforntunately don't support DXVA on high resolutions. 1280x1024 is the highest resolution I had it work with.

BTW, my AMD customer ticket was a waste. After they got that I had DXVA work under some circumstances, they asked me to contact the driver feedback team. I did that some days ago, but they won't give answers :(

So my hope comes to rely on the new HD3450.

arcticool

01-26-08, 12:43 PM

Return the card.

After two weeks of work I conclude that the AGP version of the HD2400 is simply broken. And while I have loved ATI's for HTPC cards in the past, esp back around 2003 or so when the All In Wonder had no serious rivals, I hate to say I'm officially an Nvidia guy now. ATI since the 9700 Pro got the idea that they can compete in gaming as well as multimedia and they have lost their core focus and their core competency.

What I loved about ATI in the past: their drivers simply worked for HTPCs.

What I love about Nvidia now: their drivers simply work for HTPCs and their deinterlacing (the most important factor in video quality) is better to boot.

My 2c: life is too short to be bothered with daily .dll nightmares. You can build an extremely fast new machine for cheaper than ever before. You can get a C2D processor with motherboard and ram for $225 bucks. An Nvidia passive cooled 8500 for $50 bucks. You could trade in your overpriced, not supported, not fully functional AGP card for a new motherboard *and* PCIE video card. Pick up a C2D for $100, use the rest of the parts you've got lying around and you've got a new machine, capable of HD and having CPU power it will do much more than an old machine with duct taped together DXVA.

I am disappointed in ATI for not supporting the market that could most use full HD acceleration: older AGP based PCs, though I am not surprised. The money simply isn't in it. But it does bother me to see ATI fall so far in the area where they once excelled.

ToughRowToHoe

01-26-08, 01:02 PM

SugoE

01-26-08, 01:20 PM

For my HD2400PRO, Blu-ray 'DH4' h.264@1080p does not use ATI Avivo HW acceleration in PDVD OEM.
Has anyone got HW acceleration working with Vista32*HD2400PRO*GGC-H20L*PDVD7.3 ?

To answer the question myself, i got ATI Avivo working in PowerDVD. :)
This combination works for me (at least for my "DIEHARD4" Bluray Disc):
-ATI CCC 7.10 without registry tweaks
-PowerDVD 7.3 came with LG SuperBlu Combo Drive) + the requested update when starting Bluray.

There seems to be different updates stocked at Cyberlink:
The one i downloaded at 5th.Jan. works OK, the one from yesterday only
outputs a half size image in full screen mode.

Gaizka

01-26-08, 01:54 PM

Return the card.

After two weeks of work I conclude that the AGP version of the HD2400 is simply broken. And while I have loved ATI's for HTPC cards in the past, esp back around 2003 or so when the All In Wonder had no serious rivals, I hate to say I'm officially an Nvidia guy now. ATI since the 9700 Pro got the idea that they can compete in gaming as well as multimedia and they have lost their core focus and their core competency.

What I loved about ATI in the past: their drivers simply worked for HTPCs.

What I love about Nvidia now: their drivers simply work for HTPCs and their deinterlacing (the most important factor in video quality) is better to boot.

Arcticool i have my 2400pro AGP 4 month ago and yesterday was the first time i finally HA h264 content. This is my first ATI card and surely the last but now i can playback at 1280x720@60hz h264 videos on my modest Athlon XP 1900+. This was hard work but not the end because i can't set FULL HD 1920x1080 resolution with HA enabled. I have not my FULL HD Philips 52 inch LCD TV yet and i will try to solve the problem. HDMI sound is not a problem for me becuase i will connect HTPC to my Denon Power Amp.

I understand your critical post ;)

lfcQ8

01-26-08, 02:18 PM

hi guys can i use 2 hdmi dongles on the same card to hookeup my vid card to 2 hdmi screens with audio?
thank

tencom

01-26-08, 03:00 PM

One must know by now that ATI Radeon does not officially support the AGP version of the HD-2X00 series video cards. It is there partners that are on their own by bridging the PCI-EXPRESS version and coverting it to AGP. I would put the blame for those who are experiencing diffuculties with the AGP version of the HD-2X00 video cards on the backs of the partners, rather then ATI who probably never intended these cards to do AGP service. The partners should have never released the AGP version without testing before releasing.

nawz

01-26-08, 03:14 PM

Hello,

I have recently bought a PowerColor HD 2400 Pro AGP. I followed the instructions to allow the recent Catalyst 8.1 install for my graphics. Once i had edited the files and such and begun the installation i got a warning from Windows about the software not being correct or some sort? Anyway it installed, and eventually i wanted to try out a game. I clicked the game and i got a D3D9 error. I uninstalled DirectX, reverted to DX8 and then upgraded to DX9.0c. I clicked 'run' and typed in "dxdiag" to see if there was any more problems and there:
"The file ati2dvag.dll is not digitally signed, which means that it has not been tested by Microsoft's Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL). You may be able to get a WHQL logo'd driver from the hardware manufacturer."
Is there anyway to fix this? Also when i click "TEST Direct3D" i get a bunch of errors.

If there isn't a fix do i have to revert back to an older version of Catalyst Control Center? If so, which version and a link would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

arfster

01-26-08, 03:18 PM

Hello,

I have recently bought a PowerColor HD 2400 Pro AGP. I followed the instructions to allow the recent Catalyst 8.1 install for my graphics. Once i had edited the files ......

This causes windows to give warnings about the driver, cause it no longer matches the checksum (or whatever other way they use to verify the driver).

nawz

01-26-08, 03:22 PM

But it seems this warning doesn't allow me to play 3D Games. I'd like to know if there is a possible fix.

Cheers

arfster

01-26-08, 04:06 PM

But it seems this warning doesn't allow me to play 3D Games. I'd like to know if there is a possible fix.

Nah, they're not related - your problem is a fairly standard ATI directx+AGP one.

millerbrad

01-26-08, 04:32 PM

hi guys can i use 2 hdmi dongles on the same card to hookeup my vid card to 2 hdmi screens with audio?
thank

Only if you use the 7.7 or earlier drivers. One of the HDMI connections will automatically revert to DVI Mode (no audio) on 7.8 and newer drivers.

And it has to be the ATI-branded dongle.

MikeSM

01-26-08, 05:39 PM

Has anyone seen if they could get bitperfect digital output over the builtin HDMI audio device in the these series of cards? Obviously this would have to be under XP since Vista doesn't support bitperfect.

gsr

01-26-08, 06:26 PM

Return the card.

What I loved about ATI in the past: their drivers simply worked for HTPCs.

What I love about Nvidia now: their drivers simply work for HTPCs and their deinterlacing (the most important factor in video quality) is better to boot.

I hear you, but nVidia isn't perfect either. They've had custom resolutions broken (not sure if it's broken on all of their cards or just certain series) for many months now, which is a dealbreaker for me even considering switching at this point.

Lawguy

01-26-08, 07:12 PM

Hardware acceleration works on my 2600xt and Barton 2500+ on Vista 32 with the Visiontek drivers and the .dll swap in Powere DVD!

I think I'll be sticking with that combo for now.

seyhello

01-26-08, 07:22 PM

Hardware acceleration works on my 2600xt and Barton 2500+ on Vista 32 with the Visiontek drivers and the .dll swap in Powere DVD!

I think I'll be sticking with that combo for now.

hi,

what .dll swap do you mean? There is needed some .dll swap in PowerDVD for playing HA movies? I Have 2600PRO AGP, Barton 2600+, WinXP and Omega Drivers installed and PowerDVD says "DirectX VA (not in use)" even if I have checked the "Enable HA (ATI Avivo)".

thanks, sh.

Lawguy

01-26-08, 07:28 PM

hi,

what .dll swap do you mean? There is needed some .dll swap in PowerDVD for playing HA movies? I Have 2600PRO AGP, Barton 2600+, WinXP and Omega Drivers installed and PowerDVD says "DirectX VA (not in use)" even if I have checked the "Enable HA (ATI Avivo)".

thanks, sh.

Thats the one. It won't work without it.

seyhello

01-26-08, 07:29 PM

:-) which files i must swap?

thx, sh

Lawguy

01-26-08, 07:43 PM

Rename 264dsse.dll to 264sse.dll.old.
Then rename 264dsse2.dll to 264dsse.dll.

That should do it.

topcaser

01-26-08, 11:31 PM

sandrol

01-27-08, 06:17 AM

seyhello

01-27-08, 07:08 AM

I have 2400 pro powercolor so:
you can use drivers from CD or 8.1 hotfix drivers which are not listed on download page but somewhere under support on ati site.
Or use visiontek latest 8.45 drivers which are better 'cause you also get hardware acceleration on resolutions smaller 1280*1024 (as already posted - you must do dll swap in powerdvd).

8.1 and visiontek drivers do not need modifying inf & ini files for installation

I did the dll swap and then I have the black screen:(. I have SAPPHIRE 2600 PRO AGP and Omega Drivers installed. So I will try the Visiontek 8.45 now... But the second small problem is, I have the 1600x1200 as native resolution...

topcaser: jungle isn´t flashing on my machine :-)

sh

sandrol

01-27-08, 08:58 AM

I did the dll swap and then I have the black screen:(. I have SAPPHIRE 2600 PRO AGP and Omega Drivers installed. So I will try the Visiontek 8.45 now... But the second small problem is, I have the 1600x1200 as native resolution...

topcaser: jungle isn´t flashing on my machine :-)

sh

my native res is 1680*1050 and I also have blank screen on that resolution - if you want hardware acceleration change to 1280*1024 or similar 1280*960 etc...

seyhello

01-27-08, 10:27 AM

my native res is 1680*1050 and I also have blank screen on that resolution - if you want hardware acceleration change to 1280*1024 or similar 1280*960 etc...

i already changed the resolution before and screen was still black :(

RockySpieler

01-27-08, 02:23 PM

Can you have a look to this video (http://www.zshare.net/download/6908835e0d2a59/)(4Mb, scene from the jungle live soap with Dirk Bach). The jungle in the background is flashing - can you post if you also see this? Maybe any Nvidia user can give it a try and post what he sees.

Thanx.

I can see "flashing" in both MPC and MPC HomeCinema (EVR), I have reclock active even though refreshrate is 50hz.

It looks like de-interlacing issues, the background doesn't really flash, it seems to osciallate back and forth horizontally. Tested with 2600xt cat8.1 (with tweaks), XP Home SP2, my videocard set to vector adaptive and pulldown detection, plus tested with fleshtones and color vibrance on and off.

Could it be a swaying polled light source for the outside broadcast??

Owen

01-27-08, 07:23 PM

Sorry, but when it works, ATI still makes the best card for an HTPC. It is better even down to the scaler. "When it works" being a HUGE issue of course.

As the owner of a 2600XT PCIE and 8800GTS cards I can’t agree.
While I have not had problems getting hardware acceleration working for h.264 or Mpeg2 content on the 2600, the video levels bug, inadequate Gamma controls (not working at all for overlay) and total failure to pass a 1080i vertical resolution test with Mpeg2 content (and it looks like other 1080 formats as well) make the 2600 unsuitable for my use.
I have tested the 2600 in both XP and Vista and the same problems exist on both platforms.
At the moment I have two HTPC’s running side by side, the 2600 running on Vista (it did not run well on XP) and the 8800 on XP, The 8800 definitely provides superior image quality for both 1080i and 1080p content.

I am surprised that I have not seen the resolution loss issue mentioned before, although I have not been following this thread for a while so I could have missed it.
Anyway at first it was not obvious to me either, but I always found the 2600 image soft on my Sony 70” 1080p SXRD.
To settle the issue I played a 1080 resolution test pattern in Mpeg2 format and found vertical resolution was seriously degraded to around 540 lines. I don’t have a test pattern in h.264 or VC1, but 1080p content form BluRay and HDDVD does look soft compared to the 8800, so it would appear the same issue may apply.

I suspect that the problem may be related to the noise reduction that is on by default in ATI drivers. I have not found out how to disable the noise reduction, I can’t be bothered as the 8800 noise reduction works and does not reduce resolution.
Even if the resolution problem is fixable, the other issues remain and are significant to me, so until ATI get their act together I will stay with the 8800GTS.
If I needed to buy a new card today it would be an 8800GT, not an ATI 2xxx.

arfster

01-27-08, 07:44 PM

As the owner of a 2600XT PCIE and 8800GTS cards I can’t agree.
While I have not had problems getting hardware acceleration working for h.264 or Mpeg2 content on the 2600, the video levels bug, inadequate Gamma controls (not working at all for overlay) and total failure to pass a 1080i vertical resolution test with Mpeg2 content ....

That's probably a driver bug - which are you using? My 2600xt setup passes any and all resolution tests out there, but there are plenty drivers it wouldn't with.

Levels bug is silly, but not really relevant now as you can completely bypass it without any quality loss.

Gamma controls I give you - doesn't affect me at all though.

Denoise can be switched off with Trdenoise=0 in the registry, although with later versions imo it's not worth doing. Note that various reviews have found ATI denoise is the better of the two (although again you have the near-random effect of different driver bugs at any point in time).

foraye

01-27-08, 08:27 PM

I had my card lock up on me in expanded desktop MODE while playing a movie.

I run a new HTPC home brew, with a HD2400 XT and Vista Ultimate. Display 1 is a viewsonic Airpanel 150, display 2 is my Infocus 4805 projector.

Q1: Can I make display 1 go to screen saver while display 2 is playing a movie?
Q2: how can i force the card to greater than 854 X 480 (for PJ so I can see full menus)? The catalyst display shows all my option at this resolution. The card auto detects the Projector and default to it.
Q3: How can I set custom resolutions?

please advise...

Gaizka

01-28-08, 03:24 AM

While I have not had problems getting hardware acceleration working for h.264 or Mpeg2 content on the 2600

Owen, can you HA h264 movies at FULL HD 1920x1080 desktop resolution?.
Many users with AGP version of the card can't. We can HA 1080p movies but at maximum 1280x1024 desktop.
Please confirm that and describe your system configuration

Regards

just.interactive

01-28-08, 04:44 AM

To answer the question myself, i got ATI Avivo working in PowerDVD. :)
This combination works for me (at least for my "DIEHARD4" Bluray Disc):
-ATI CCC 7.10 without registry tweaks
-PowerDVD 7.3 came with LG SuperBlu Combo Drive) + the requested update when starting Bluray.

SugoE: yeah, that combination works for me too, the problem is that Blu-ray playback does not work anymore after the computer went to S3 and resumed. The screen stays green (under Vista32)

That is a know issue and fixed in driver 8.1 as noted in the release notes, BUT 8.1 is so crappy that it garbels the windows taks bar, lets eploxerer hang, does not work with MP ... and so on..
this is a true Bangalore piece of work !

I wonder when will they ever get a driver out that works as expected?

Olaf

spaulhus

01-28-08, 11:36 AM

Hmm, thanks for the tip. Not sure if I checked that first time around or not. Would seem strange that it would get disabled automatically, but I guess stranger things have happened. thx... -Rob

Holy crappolla!!! It worked! Thanks a ton, eh!!! I'll tell you how I missed it the first time thru... the default setting in the BIOS for the on-board audio is "AUTO", and I figured "good enough". Obviously when the BIOS detects the HDMI device it then decides to disable the on-board sound. I changed it to "ENABLED" and order is restored.

You guys rock. Thanks to all for the tips... especially that last one. :-)

My BIOS doesn't offer the "Enable/Disable On-board Audio" option? Any other ways to disable the 2400 Pro's audio so I can use my on-board RealTek again?

foraye

01-28-08, 12:57 PM

Lawguy

01-28-08, 02:14 PM

Not wanting to wait around for a reply, I updated my Visiontek drivers to version 8.1 "Full Package".

After installing I played 3:10 to Yuma a .mkv movie using Zoom Player (720p-1080p not sure) and my CPU was being taxed up to 70%. I have an E4500 with 4GB mem. (3.5 recognized) and VistaUlt.

Does this mean HA is not running?
Is There a min. resolution for HA to kick in?
What is the white flicker at the top and somtimes center of the screen?

Thanks

I don't think that the Radeon will accelerate any .mkv files at all! Someone correct me if I am wrong.

I think that the UVD in the Radeon will only accelerate MPEG-2, MPEG-4 (meaning H.264/AVC -- NOT the DIVX, XVID variety of MPEG-4) and VC-1.

I think that some people have claimed to have .wmv files accelerated, but I think that this function is broken/no longer suppported.

The MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and VC-1 are the only codec that you need to play either bluray or HD-dvd. The other codecs are probably not supported because they are not mainstream any longer or used mostly in the illicit trade of copyrighted materials.

arfster

01-28-08, 02:27 PM

I don't think that the Radeon will accelerate any .mkv files at all! Someone correct me if I am wrong.

It's x264 created stuff, not mkv containers themselves (although 99% of mkv contains x264....).

The UVD has no problem with most almost all 720p files, once you've patched them with IDC Changer. 1080p ones generally don't work, because most of them break 4.1 standards.

BigMooose

01-28-08, 05:30 PM

can you HA h264 movies at FULL HD 1920x1080 desktop resolution?.
Many users with AGP version of the card can't. We can HA 1080p movies but at maximum 1280x1024 desktop.

I can confirm that I definately get HA h264 full HD - 1080p trailers in 1920x1080 resolution - on my Sapphire HD2600XT AGP. CPU (2.5Ghz Celeron) hovers between 5% and 15% playing back with 720p trailers at 720p resolution or 1080p trailers at 1080p resolution. Dont get any HA on wmv files though. I'm using the visiontek latest 8.45 drivers with the normal 8.1 CCC.

nbarsley

01-28-08, 07:00 PM

KeyMix

01-28-08, 09:39 PM

Folks,

New to the HTPC arena ( not to Home Theater). I have a some questions that I hope you Guru's can help with. First some background on my setup:

Windows XP MCE 2005
INTEL P4 3.2 GHz
4Gb RAM of memory
VISIONTEK HD 2600PRO AGP 512MB card.
LG GGC-H20L BlueRay/ HD DVD Combo Player

I have my 20" LCD Standard Monitor connected to one DVI output. I have the other DVI output (using the DVI to HDMI adapter) connected to one of the HDMI inputs of my HDMI 1.3 A/V receiver. My HDMI receiver's HDMI 1.3 out is connected to my Sony VPL-HS51A projector. I successfully setup the extended desktop for the Sony VPL-HS51A projector for max resolution @ 1920X1080, default HDTV resolution options - 1080i@30hz ( See Question #2)

1. With that said, when I select the input for the Media Center PC input, the Catalyst software doesn't seem to automatically switch to the "extended desktop" properly. It seems to default to a "cloned" display. If I keep my A/V receiver on the HDMI input for my VPL-HS51A projector. Turn the computer off and back on...It doesn't go back to the "extended desktop". However, if I boot up my computer and let's same I am watching my Comcast HD DVR, then switch to the computer HDMI input on the receiver it's back to cloned mode. I have to manually force the video to "extended" desktop. Is there a way to fix this.. This is wreaking havoc on my macro's for my home theater remote and media center launch..

2. My second question may be a bit more involved to resolve. It appears when I launch both Media Center and POWERDVD ULTRA 7.3 there's some overlapping of the screen on my projector. The top and bottom parts of MCE is cutoff as well as POWERDVD...It's not by much...but enough to not be able to click on the top windows and bottom channel controls. I know it's NOT my projector screen or my projector as ALL my HD other content is FULLY calibrated and aligned properly ( Went through that pain when I installed it:)). I tried to see how to adjust the size of the display, but I didn't want to loose my FULL HD Res of 1920X1080. How do I address this w/ out sacrificing the top resolution. NOTE: I know I can lower the resolution and see all the screen, but that defeats the point of HD DVD!!!

Sorry for the long Post.. Hope someone can help..:o

THANKS,

KEYMIX

Owen

01-29-08, 01:23 AM

That's probably a driver bug - which are you using? My 2600xt setup passes any and all resolution tests out there, but there are plenty drivers it wouldn't with.

I have no doubt it’s a driver bug, but it’s a bug that has bent there for the 4 months I have owned the 2600 on XP, and after going to a clean install of Vista on a second PC about a month ago the same bug remained, so its more then an aberration affecting certain driver versions. The 1080i 60 Mpeg2 resolution test fails on all the setups I have used.
PowerDVD decoders used in the PowerDVD player and in Zoom Player.
Tried all the deinterlacing options in PowerDVD and in drivers but none passed.
ATI image is clean but always soft compared to 8800GTS.

Levels bug is silly, but not really relevant now as you can completely bypass it without any quality loss.

I can live with levels expansion but I need SD and HD to be the same. How can I achieve that?

Gamma controls I give you - doesn't affect me at all though.

Advanced Gamma control is not optional for me. Most displays cant be calibrated properly without it.

Denoise can be switched off with Trdenoise=0 in the registry, although with later versions imo it's not worth doing. Note that various reviews have found ATI denoise is the better of the two (although again you have the near-random effect of different driver bugs at any point in time).

Is the “Trdenoise” string in the registry by default or does it need to be created?
I don’t want to disable noise reduction but control over it would be good. I was hoping it might cure the resolution bug, but if not it’s a lost cause anyway until the resolution bug bug gets fixed.

As for reviews, I pay little attention to them. In my experience they are rarely accurate, I only believe what I can see myself. :D