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

[topcaser]

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]

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]

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)

[RockySpieler]

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]

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]

Run the program as Administrator m8

Same error here - WinXP as admin.

[iso9001]

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 ?

[7o9]

Run the program as Administrator m8

i am administrator

[anthony.s]

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]

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]

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]

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

Hope it does.

[twarkie]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

[xxxstarmanxxx]

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]

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]

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

[xxxstarmanxxx]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

Yup - glad ya fixed it - its the kind of thing i've gotten used to with ATI drivers!

should rename the company 'Absolutely Trash Inventions' lol

J.

[originalsnuffy]

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

[arfster]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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?

[samw97]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

[SamNTamara]

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]

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've always had this issue since way back in May/June when I purchased the card. I too would be very keen to hear what the solution to this is as this issue forces me to use CoreAVC instead of the Cyberlink decoder within Vista MCE.

[SamNTamara]

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

[originalsnuffy]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

[AirRulez]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

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.

[Wo0zy]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

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.

[duckdown]

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]

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

[arfster]

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]

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]

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]

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

[rosie2515]

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!

[shurik_1]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

[chicodobrazil]

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]

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]

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]

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:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=12670195&postcount=3846
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=965156
and instructions at the head of this thread. After a week re-imaging I have never had DXVA working in any way.

If you have a *complete* recipe to make DXVA work please share.
Thanks!

[shurik_1]

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]

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]

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

Yes, I submitted my first ticket last night.

[DPlettner]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

[DPlettner]

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]

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

[highzone]

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]

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

[BigMooose]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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 diiferent driver for DD?

[DPlettner]

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]

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?

[DPlettner]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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!

[originalsnuffy]

Must be ATI adaptor. Covered multiple times here.

[djos]

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]

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]

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]

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

[rosie2515]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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