ATI Radeon HD 2X00 (2400,2600,2900) series owners thread [Text View] - Page 20

Rythan

03-20-08, 01:29 PM

Hi, I've read and searched through a lot of this thread in the quest for an answer.

My basic question: Has anyone gotten 5.1 AC3 audio over the 2600XT HDMI connector in XP?

I'm running MCE 2005 on a K8N-GM2 as a HTPC. I just got an Onkyo 605 and a Palit HD 2600XT, along with the LG HD/Bluray combo drive with the hopes of reaching home theater nirvana. I'm using the OEM PowerDVD that came with the LG drive, updated to 7.3.

I've got a single HDMI cable going from the 2600XT to the Onkyo, and then an HDMI cable from the Onkyo to the TV. Watching a DVD with 5.1 sound gives me video and audio, but it's always 2ch stereo PCM. I've tried a variety of combinations of the Realtek/ATI HDMI drivers with no luck.

I've seen the previous posts describing how to get 5.1 AC3 to work in Vista, but have seen no mention of its use with XP. In all of the driver permutations I've tried, I've never seen SPDIF output show up in PowerDVDs audio configuration (unless I reenable my motherboard's onboard audio, in which case it's just talking about the onboard SPDIF, not the HDMI).

Any clues would be appreciated! I may throw Vista onto a spare computer just to see if I can make 5.1/PDVD/HDMI work in that setup. Sigh.

ExDeus

03-20-08, 05:21 PM

For those XP users that are interested, try adding these settings...

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Video\{9CE10 0A6-8864-410C-AA70-B7C846BF43BE}\0000\UMD\DXVA]
"ColorVibrance"=hex:30,00,00,00
"ContrastEnhancement"=hex:31,00,00,00
"Denoise"=hex:30,00,00,00
"Detail"=hex:31,00,00,00
"DI_METHOD"=hex:31,00,00,00
"TRDenoise"=hex:30,00,00,00
"Fleshtone"=hex:30,00,00,00
"WhiteBalanceCorrection"=hex:30,00,00,00
"TrueWhite"=hex:30,00,00,00

For Vista users, I believe that the settings would be strings and are set to "1" for on or "0" for off.

You may see a difference in movies by doing so... games I'm not sure about yet.

There are reasons some of us have spent a lot of time figuring out settings, their effects, and ways to add them for everybody (http://home.comcast.net/~exdeus/ati-hd2x00/).

Questions/notes:

1) Are these settings from an installation INF, or where are you getting ContrastEnhancement, Denoise, Detail, WhiteBalanceCorrection, TrueWhite?

2) That GUID ({####}) is specific to your machine; it won't work for anybody else.

3) ControlSet001 may be the active hardware profile on your machine, but not necessarily on others'.

4) 0000 may be the active output on your videocard, but it may not be on others'.

5) In XP, the settings work as strings; you don't have to mess with hex or dwords.

6) In XP, the UMD\DXVA subkey hasn't been used as it is on Vista. Where are you seeing that you should use it? Was it installed that way by a driver, or did you add it?

ExDeus

03-20-08, 05:57 PM

Hi, I've read and searched through a lot of this thread in the quest for an answer.

My basic question: Has anyone gotten 5.1 AC3 audio over the 2600XT HDMI connector in XP?

As discussed before (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=11857551#post11857551):

I would try installing AC3Filter (http://ac3filter.net/) to make sure you are getting AC3 and DTS properly passed thru to SPDIF. There are a ton of settings, but mainly you want make sure the SPDIF tab has the options set to use SPDIF and pass thru AC3 and DTS. On the System tab, you can also make sure AC3Filter is used for the formats you want, and preferred on your system.

Rythan

03-20-08, 06:08 PM

Thanks, I did see those earlier posts, but they don't seem to relate to PowerDVD. I'll give AC3Filter a try and play something with 5.1 sound outside of PowerDVD, just to see if even that's possible.

- Edit/Update -

Installed Vista, installed PowerDVD, installed ATI HDMI driver, voila, 5.1 DD. Still nothing in XP.

I think I'll give up on 5.1 in PDVD on XP over HDMI - instead, I'll try getting the onboard sound's SPDIF to coexist with the HDMI 2.0 stereo, and use HDMI for straight to TV, and the SPDIF for times when I want the receiver on. Nothing's ever simple.

Dee_NA

03-21-08, 08:09 AM

There are reasons some of us have spent a lot of time figuring out settings, their effects, and ways to add them for everybody (http://home.comcast.net/~exdeus/ati-hd2x00/).

Questions/notes:

1) Are these settings from an installation INF, or where are you getting ContrastEnhancement, Denoise, Detail, WhiteBalanceCorrection, TrueWhite?

2) That GUID ({####}) is specific to your machine; it won't work for anybody else.

3) ControlSet001 may be the active hardware profile on your machine, but not necessarily on others'.

4) 0000 may be the active output on your videocard, but it may not be on others'.

5) In XP, the settings work as strings; you don't have to mess with hex or dwords.

6) In XP, the UMD\DXVA subkey hasn't been used as it is on Vista. Where are you seeing that you should use it? Was it installed that way by a driver, or did you add it?

I read somewhere where Ray Adams, the programmer of ATi Tray Tools said somethin about changing the Vista Avivo to XP Avivo in the database folder of the program. It seemed to me that by adding the UMD/DXVA folder was the only way the settings could be applied. Its possible I might've created an issue by doing such.

Sorry for any trouble I might've caused since I'm tryin to learn.

SugoE

03-21-08, 12:14 PM

Not quite the response you'd like, but as far as I know video playback with 1080p@50Hz doesn't actually work with any recent Catalyst drivers (including 8.3). It works at 24, 25, 30, and 60, but just gives a black picture with the occasional flicker at 50Hz. I've always had 50Hz as an option on my 2600pro (though as I said its little use for playback) without any tweaks or sneaky fiddles (or Powerstrip).

Are you sure its not reading limited settings options from the display?
Maybe it depends in which region you are. I'm in PAL land and 1080p@50Hz
works perfectly with my Sharp 46X20E on a HD2600Pro PCIe Vista32.
It looks like the Philips does not report 50Hz in its EDID correctly.

wildchild22

03-21-08, 03:37 PM

ExDeus

03-21-08, 07:05 PM

I read somewhere where Ray Adams, the programmer of ATi Tray Tools said somethin about changing the Vista Avivo to XP Avivo in the database folder of the program. It seemed to me that by adding the UMD/DXVA folder was the only way the settings could be applied. Its possible I might've created an issue by doing such.

Sorry for any trouble I might've caused since I'm tryin to learn.
I'm not trying to be too harsh, just trying to get some information.

I'm not quite sure what you're saying about the Vista vs. XP Avivo, either.

You're saying you found the settings you posted before in the database folder for ATI Tray Tools?

ExDeus

03-21-08, 07:10 PM

FYI - I've updated "ATI HD2x00 Registry Tweaks" to "ATI HD Registry Tweaks" 0.13 to apply to all HD2000 and HD3000 series cards.

No material changes for anyone that has already used version 0.12, but I did make it clear that the settings can be applied to HD2000 or HD3000 cards, and there is now a prompt before adding HWUVD_ForceMPEG2, to make sure you only apply it for use with dual displays.

Changes:
Renamed and changed to apply to all HD2000 and HD3000 cards.
Added prompt to ensure user is aware of dual display circumstances necessitating HWUVD_ForceMPEG2.

Dee_NA

03-22-08, 06:54 AM

I'm not trying to be too harsh, just trying to get some information.

I'm not quite sure what you're saying about the Vista vs. XP Avivo, either.

You're saying you found the settings you posted before in the database folder for ATI Tray Tools?

Yeah, I think so. I went to change the Vista Avivo to XP Avivo and that is what came up. Not sure how it could work for others thats using XP though since XP and Vista both im guessin use strings.
http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/6362/xpavivorm7.jpg

memes_be

03-22-08, 07:09 AM

As discussed before (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=11857551#post11857551):

I would try installing AC3Filter (http://ac3filter.net/) to make sure you are getting AC3 and DTS properly passed thru to SPDIF. There are a ton of settings, but mainly you want make sure the SPDIF tab has the options set to use SPDIF and pass thru AC3 and DTS. On the System tab, you can also make sure AC3Filter is used for the formats you want, and preferred on your system.
I become crazy with this filters managment...Can somebody please help me with that : I have ffdshow audio decoder as prefered filter. When I read a dvd file I have 5.1 through SPDIF ok. Now I want to read a m2ts(avchd) file, I see with Graphedit that the prefered video filter is FFDShow Video decoder(not ok for HA) and FFDShow audio filter (ok for 5.1 spdif), and when I play IN GRAPHEDIT the m2ts file, it crashes and it's normal because it doesn't use the HA with FFDshow video and my processor is not strong enough to handle it, but before crashing I have for 1 second the 5.1 sound in my ampli so I see FFDshow audio is used as I want. BUT when I play the file with Powerdvd, I do have HA (perfect) and it doesn't crash BUT I have no 5.1 SPDIF, only PCM trough SPDIF...
So does anyone know why graphedit doesn't show me the correct filters prefered for Powerdvd...? I tried also with AC3 filter, Powerdvd seems not to use the prefered filters...

taeboguy

03-22-08, 09:11 AM

Hello all,

I just got a 2600 Pro not long ago. I was watching Resident Evil Blu-ray last night and twice during the movie the screen went black but the audio kept playing. When I exited PowerDVD there was an error about the driver crashing in Vista Ultimate and then it said it fixed the problem (which it did not because the screen was jacked up.) I am running the latest drivers (as far as I know). Anyone else have this problem? It is the first time I have seen the issue. I have played a couple of other BD disks with no trouble.

I did just upgrade to AnyDVD HD 6.4.xx. Maybe this is a problem?

Thanks!
P.S. the other thing I noticed was that when I play a movie with PowerDVD the video in Vista says it is switching the color scheme to BASIC. Not sure what that means.

ExDeus

03-22-08, 04:47 PM

@ arfster - Do you have any comment on these additional registry settings?

Yeah, I think so. I went to change the Vista Avivo to XP Avivo and that is what came up. Not sure how it could work for others thats using XP though since XP and Vista both im guessin use strings.
http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/6362/xpavivorm7.jpg

taeboguy

03-22-08, 05:40 PM

Dee_NA

03-23-08, 08:14 AM

@ ExDeus - I finally figured out how those settings go into the right folder on a XP instead of the UMD/DXVA, but I'm still hoping Arfster will get back to us soon on if its an improvement on the Radeon HD series or not.

chicodobrazil

03-23-08, 08:49 AM

arfster

03-23-08, 09:04 AM

@ arfster - Do you have any comment on these additional registry settings?

Hrrm, not tried it, but those look to be nothing more than on/off switches for the various settings in umd/dxva. Whatever it is they've screwed up, because di_method isn't on/off. Several of the others aren't on/off either - wouldn't be surprised if they were setting the detail key to 1, when it's a 0-100 value.

Dee_NA

03-23-08, 01:26 PM

Hrrm, not tried it, but those look to be nothing more than on/off switches for the various settings in umd/dxva. Whatever it is they've screwed up, because di_method isn't on/off. Several of the others aren't on/off either - wouldn't be surprised if they were setting the detail key to 1, when it's a 0-100 value.

@ Arfster - That's Ray Adams for ya. I took what he came up with on the ati tray tools and got it to apply in the right folder, but like you said... the settings are on/off switches instead of what they shouldve been.

millerbrad

03-23-08, 01:56 PM

Just thought I'd mention that Realtek has finally updated their ATI HDMI Audio drivers. Too bad their download speed is ridiculously slow...

Realtek ATI HDMI Audio Device R1.89 (http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=14&PFid=24&Level=4&Conn=3&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false)

Not sure what's changed, but I suspect the main update is SP1 compatability. When I installed SP1 with last year's driver still installed, audio wouldn't work in Media Center unless I reverted to the Microsoft HD Audio driver, then went back to the Realtek ATI HDMI Driver.

But, who knows.. maybe some other stuff may be fixed...

millerbrad

03-23-08, 02:07 PM

Any tricks for enabling Hardware Acceleration for fullscreen Flash video on the 2600 (i.e. Hulu or YouTube)?

All I get with HW Accel on is two triangles that fill the screen. With HW Accel off, fullscreen works OK, but there's quite a bit of tearing.

Tiernan

03-24-08, 12:44 PM

Speaking of HXVA...

I have a 2600Pro in MCE. I'm able to get correct audio and acceleration in PDVD (and WMP), but ONLY when displaying to the HDTV/single monitor setup. If I try to use a cloned setup, or extended desktop, I get audio and a black screen (or no response at all). I checked the registry to verify that the dual monitor fix is there (installed ExDeus' .12 tweak), but it appears that I'm still having the dual monitor problem. Is there something else about the registry settings and/or the CCC config that I should change to enable the dual-monitor setup?

ExDeus

03-24-08, 02:03 PM

Is there something else about the registry settings and/or the CCC config that I should change to enable the dual-monitor setup?
When you checked the registry, how did you know you were looking in the right key?

Tiernan

03-24-08, 02:53 PM

I checked in the registry (this was after applying your fix) that indicated:

"VForceUVDVC1"="1"
"VForceUVDH264"="1"

These should be the only entries like this in the registry, correct?

Now that I think about it, I didn't specifically check for "HWUVD_ForceMPEG2". Since this is specifically for MP4 playback, that shouldn't be relevant, should it?

MikeZ06

03-24-08, 07:26 PM

arfster

03-24-08, 08:05 PM

Now that I think about it, I didn't specifically check for "HWUVD_ForceMPEG2". Since this is specifically for MP4 playback, that shouldn't be relevant, should it?

Nope, not needed.

Try dloading this, and posting a screenshot pls (while 2nd screen connected):
http://bluesky23.hp.infoseek.co.jp/DXVAChecker_1510.zip

Does it change if you remove the two reg keys?

hanugro

03-24-08, 08:56 PM

Sorry all, I just got both 2400Pro and 2600Pro and both requires Microsoft HD Audio driver (seems for HDMI?). Where can I get this one as it is not in the installation disc. One of them got this installed because I use intel motherboard that also use the same driver. Also will installing the 2 sound device in 1 computer will create conflict or should I just disable one of them? Thanks for your info.

pm_john

03-24-08, 09:31 PM

Would the Sapphire Radeon HD2600 Pro 512MB DDR2 AGP VGA DVI TV Out DIRECTX10 Video Card
provide perfect blu-ray and hd-dvd playback from an old barton 2500+ abit nf7-s . Using an agp version or should I scap the idea and buy a new mother board and cpu.
I can buy the card for around 100.00 cnd but the motherboard and cpu will run me around 300.00.

Are there any disadvantages with this card as apposed to a new cpu and motherboard.

I have the exact same specs as you and took me nearly two days of trying different drivers and lots of reading to get it going. I can now able to play 80% of 720p as well as 1080p mkv files that I have tried using hardware acceleration. CPU usage is less than 10%. The other 20% that I cannot play are likely encoded beyond specs or before hardware acceleration came out.

Specs:
Abit NF7-S ver. 2 w/ latest bios (11/22/04)
AthlonXP Barton 2500+ (OC'd to 3200+)
2 gig of RAM
Sapphire 2600 Pro w/ 512 RAM, AGP
Windows xp sp2
400w ps (name brand)
24" LCD at 1920x1200

Here are the steps (from memory):
1. Install .net 3.0
2. Install directx 9.0c
3. Install Powerdvd 7.3
4. Go into bios, set AGP to 4x and AGP fast write capability enabled. (I tried to leave at 8x but CCC set it to 0x, don't know why but someone from another forum said set at 4x first, likely not compatible with nforce2 chipset?)
5. Install driver 4.32 from Sapphire’s site (8.432-071101a-057555E-ATI), then reboot system.
6. Go into device manager and downgrade the video driver, select the one from 8.42 folder (file from Sapphire’s site 8.42-070914a-053413E-ATI).
7. Reboot and go into bios and set agp to 8x.
8. Install Windows Media Classic v1.1.0.0 and configure for hardware acceleration (I don't think I am allow to add a link since I am a new user, pm me and I'll give you the link).
9. Run registry path ATI_HD_Reg_Tweaks_0.13
10. Rename 264dsse.dll to 264dsse.dll.old in C:\Program Files\CyberLink\PowerDVD\VideoFilter directory, then rename 264dsse2.dll to 264dsse.dll <- very important, I noticed if I don't do this, I get no hardware acceleration.
11. Reboot and everything should now work.

Note, I have not tested this again as I am not willing to mess up my setup, maybe on the weekend I'll try on second hard drive with another copy of Windows if there are any requests. I am also thinking step 6 may not be required but I remember I get no HA so I decided to downgrade thru device manager and it works right after.

Happy testing!!

ExDeus

03-24-08, 11:43 PM

I checked in the registry (this was after applying your fix) that indicated:

"VForceUVDVC1"="1"
"VForceUVDH264"="1"
What I'm asking is how do you know you entered them for the correct video card? Did you re-run the program to see if there were any other cards with a description matching yours? Did you check to see if the GUID in the CCC matches the GUID for the key you are looking under? It won't necessarily match, but it would be a good confirmation that you found the right place.

These should be the only entries like this in the registry, correct?
Define "like this". The only "VForce" settings would be added by the program, but if you have the right key, there should be many other settings under the same key that are added by the driver install.[/QUOTE]

James Mos

03-25-08, 11:04 AM

Tiernan

03-25-08, 11:35 AM

ExDeus - ok, last night I went through the the registry, following your instructions exactly, and verified that, per the CCC code, the relevant keys are set per your script.

Arfster - DLd the HDXA Tester, but every time I try and run it, I get an error indicating that components are missing. This PC has .NET 2.0 installed, so that does not appear to be the problem. Even re-downloaded the application from different sources. Same problem.

I noticed that, if I have the Extended desktop setup, I am able to start open a 720p MKV and play in PDVD, but if I move it to the HDTV (the Extended portion of the desktop), the PDVD display smears and/or goes black (can still hear sound). Does this seem to be multi-monitor-support-related, or perhaps HDCP-related?

HT Slider

03-25-08, 12:15 PM

I have a 2600XT card with 8.3 Catalyst driver. I am using a DVI to HDMI dongle for my projector. The problem is when I use a DVI to VGA dongle to surf the internet using my monitor all that i get is just the background image on my desktop. I see the mouse and desktop background but thats it. I have no tool tray at the bottom to access anything. I have rebooted computer and still nothing. Can someone help? I would like to use my monitor at times when I don't want to boot projector for just casual browsing.

Thanks for any help in advance.

Have you created the custom resolutions for the projector?

If not, once you have the PC using the projector, you need to right click on the background and start up the Catalyst Control Center in advanced mode. In there you'll find a tab for the projector display where you can setup the HDTV formats used and custom resolutions within those formats.

Select your preferred HDTV format, click apply format and then create a custom resolution that perfectly fills the screen. Apply this new resolution and delete the old default custom resolutions (just to make it cleaner). Do this for each HDTV format your projector supports.

Once this is done the PC will take advantage of these custom resolutions whenever standard PC resolutions or custom resolutions are in use and provide a perfectly filled screen.

If you select a standard HDTV resolution (1280x720 or 1920x1080 for example), the video card will revert to outputting spec compliant 720p, 1080i/p complete with overscan (missing perimeter). This is what you want for watching TV/movies/etc. since this gives you the best image quality and TV shows/movies are produced while complying with an overscan stayout region - specifically because TVs have overscan. Once you switch back to any PC resolution (eg. 800x600 or 1280x768), the video card will once again automatically provide overscan compensation and let you see the entire desktop.

If you search back several pages I posted more information on how this all works...

For more information on overscan read:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overscan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe_area

arfster

03-25-08, 01:10 PM

I noticed that, if I have the Extended desktop setup, I am able to start open a 720p MKV and play in PDVD, but if I move it to the HDTV (the Extended portion of the desktop), the PDVD display smears and/or goes black (can still hear sound). Does this seem to be multi-monitor-support-related, or perhaps HDCP-related?

Not unless the stuff is HDCP protected, which mkv almost certainly won't be. The standard multidisplay bug stops acceleration on all monitors, so it's not that either.

What you have is probably a variation of an old problem, where DXVA accelerated stuff doesn't like being moved from display to display while running - possibly a Windows limitation? Try opening the app, moving it to the display you want, then starting playback.

Tiernan

03-25-08, 02:36 PM

Not unless the stuff is HDCP protected, which mkv almost certainly won't be. The standard multidisplay bug stops acceleration on all monitors, so it's not that either.

What you have is probably a variation of an old problem, where DXVA accelerated stuff doesn't like being moved from display to display while running - possibly a Windows limitation? Try opening the app, moving it to the display you want, then starting playback.

I can't absolutely verify it right now, but I believe I already tried that once. What I think I found is this: I can almost always/only get playback (with DXVA) if the Primary (PC) monitor is disabled AND I'm only playing on the HDTV. I havent gone through and tested every file format in every display configuration, but that SEEMS to be the configuration in which all the elements work as they should (this doesn't include the fact that there appear to be problems with MCE crashing when attempting to display thumbnails)

Could this result from vestiges of old drivers (this machine was using Nvidia 7100 chipset drivers for video before) and/or the initial Sapphire drivers not getting completely uninstalled when updating to 8.3?

nathan118

03-25-08, 06:35 PM

I built my HTPC back in November using a Radeon HD 2600xt and running Vista MCE (I believe I'm using catalyst 7.7 drivers). I was able to setup media center to do hardware acceleration of mpeg2 files (which was a necessity for playing back recorded over the air tv shows) but I've never gotten hw acceleration to work for avc/264 content. So here are my questions:

1) Is there a way to enable hw acceleration of 264 material through vista mce? Right now I play all my 264 material (mkv and mp4) through haali, and then use coreavc to decode. I've got a dual core cpu, so software decoding has been perfectly fine for now. But now I want to decode some interlaced 264 material, and like interlaced mpeg2 material, software decoding can't hold a candle to hardware acceleration. Anyone have success enabling 264 acceleration in mce? I've read a little about using cyberlink and mediaplayer classic home, but do these methods play nicely with mce?

2) The only other problem I have is that .ts files (mine are all mpeg2) can't skip ahead or back. I can play them and pause them, but I can't skip around. Has this been fixed with newer drivers? I can skip forward and back on program streams (.mpg) that are being hardware accelerated, but not with the .ts container.

Thanks in advance!

dontbugme

03-25-08, 07:08 PM

Hi all,

is there finally Hardware acceleration for x.264 encoded video in a .mkv container using a HD 2400 card? (e.g. using PDVD Ultra decoder?)

Sorry, I am reading through all of this for 4 hours now, but now I am totally confused... :( The problem is that 1080p content in x.264/mkv files needs lots of cpu time (70-80%), whereas VC-1 or h264/mp4 encoded 1080p stuff runs smoothly at max 10%...

Hope you can help me sort this issue out.

thanks and regards,
buggerr

Bgnome

03-25-08, 11:10 PM

Have you created the custom resolutions for the projector?

sounds to me that he is using the monitor as an "extended desktop" rather than an overscan issue. if your monitor supports the same resolution as the projector, i would try using the clone display option in ccc.

HT Slider

03-26-08, 03:09 PM

sounds to me that he is using the monitor as an "extended desktop" rather than an overscan issue. if your monitor supports the same resolution as the projector, i would try using the clone display option in ccc.

Re-reading his post I think you are probably right.

It still sounds strange though. Whenever I hook up a monitor to my HTPC and use the monitor I've never seen any overscan on the monitor...

arfster

03-26-08, 03:54 PM

zippy64

03-27-08, 12:13 PM

Hi, new here, I'm running an XP Pro on Intel i915G with GMA 900 which supports DXVA, which I think includes hardware support for MPEG-2 motion compensation. I've recently purchased a Sapphire 2600XT (256 DDR3) PCIe x16 and was wondering what kind of performance increase I should see (on MPEG-2). My understanding is the RV630 chip supports both MC & iDCT. Do I need to run the Registry Tweak to get HA? I thought UVD was just for VC-1 & H.264??? Currently testing with VMR7 & PDVD7.

thanks in advance...

solon

03-27-08, 02:13 PM

Unbelievable... I just checked back in to see where the conversation is at and the thread is 160 pgs!! You guys are awesome :eek: and speaking for the community I just want to say THANK YOU for all your work on such a frustrating project. Also: Arfster, why don't you work for ATI?? They/we could really use you in there. Or start your own driver business, hm? Maybe they would be open to outsourcing their driver coding...

one_2go

03-27-08, 09:34 PM

New 8.3 hotfix:
Tried it last night, no obvious HTPC fixes, no obvious new problems either.
Arfster, I loved your modded 7.9 Bio drivers and they gave me excellent PQ. I upgraded to 8.3 and Vista SP1. Now on the native resolution 1360x768 I get a washed out picture with terrible grey levels.

I increase the resolution to 1920 x 1080 and the black levels were fine. I finally uninstalled the 8.3 and went back to your special 7.9 versions.

MikeZ06

03-27-08, 10:24 PM

Thanks to everyone for the help and sorry for the late reply but I have been out of town. Using Clone in CCC seemed to fix the issue. I use 1280 X 720 on both my projector and pc monitor so it is working so far.

Thanks again for the help!

Mike

ExDeus

03-27-08, 10:44 PM

Arfster, I loved your modded 7.9 Bio drivers and they gave me excellent PQ. I upgraded to 8.3 and Vista SP1. Now on the native resolution 1360x768 I get a washed out picture with terrible grey levels.

I increase the resolution to 1920 x 1080 and the black levels were fine. I finally uninstalled the 8.3 and went back to your special 7.9 versions.
You tried 8.3 with or without the registry tweaks?

juffi

03-28-08, 04:23 AM

New 8.3 hotfix:

http://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&questionID=33033

Build number is really up to date (61161), this will probably be pretty similar to 8.4

Tried it last night, no obvious HTPC fixes, no obvious new problems either.

So far the latest driver giving me HA with my 2600PRO and XP is 7.11 Crysis hotfix. I have changed back to 8500GT before ATI get the drivers right. Nvidia gives me a little better overall PQ. It is a little frustrating to change the cards and drivers back and forth just to see that there is still no HA.

Is this new hotfix giving HA in 2600PRO and XP SP2?

Moondust

03-28-08, 07:42 AM

So far the latest driver giving me HA with my 2600PRO and XP is 7.11 Crysis hotfix. I have changed back to 8500GT before ATI get the drivers right. Nvidia gives me a little better overall PQ. It is a little frustrating to change the cards and drivers back and forth just to see that there is still no HA.

Is this new hotfix giving HA in 2600PRO and XP SP2?
Are you sure you're using the right software and configuration?

juffi

03-28-08, 08:17 AM

Are you sure you're using the right software and configuration?

Yes. As far as I know.

With 7.11 Crysis PowerDVD activates HA and Cyberlink codecs allow HA with other Directshow players.

With 7.12, 8.1, 8.2 and 8.3 PowerDVD and Cyberlink codecs use SW only decoding.

Al Sherwood

03-28-08, 11:56 AM

Yes. As far as I know.

With 7.11 Crysis PowerDVD activates HA and Cyberlink codecs allow HA with other Directshow players.

With 7.12, 8.1, 8.2 and 8.3 PowerDVD and Cyberlink codecs use SW only decoding.

Thanks for providing a clear list of which version work with PDVD and HA, I too have a HD2600Pro and need/want to retain HA.

I can't understand the reasons behind not allowing or disabling HA on the newer driver levels?

So, do I need to apply the Crysis hot fix, and is there only one version of it?

HT Slider

03-28-08, 12:31 PM

Yes. As far as I know.

With 7.11 Crysis PowerDVD activates HA and Cyberlink codecs allow HA with other Directshow players.

With 7.12, 8.1, 8.2 and 8.3 PowerDVD and Cyberlink codecs use SW only decoding.

One thing I found confusing with this thread is all of the confusing discussions on how only certain drivers activate HA.

As far as I'm aware, HA has worked with absolutely every single driver release, at least since something like 7.4 (the first one I tried), with my system.

I'm running a fully updated Vista and a PCIe ATI HD 2600XT.

We should probably ensure we state which OS, which video card and most importantly if AGP or PCIe is the interface for the card when we talk about getting HA working.

With Vista, a PCIe interface, and a 2600 card, HA (hardware acceleration) works with all of the official ATI drivers. There are some bugs with some of the drivers that cause issues with HD playback, but none of them simply don't work.

The AGP versions of these ATI cards definitely have lots of problems with HA not working, but PCIe versions, especially 2600Pro and better, typically don't.

EDIT: BTW, we use both Media Center (Recorded TV in 720p & 1080i) and PowerDVD 7.3 Ultra (HD-DVD/Blue-ray in 1080p). All of the drivers have provided HA with both MC and PDVD. Catalyst 8.1 had trouble with some Blue-ray movies, but again these are bugs, not an overall lack of HA. I have also not needed any registry tweaks at all to get HA working. The only ones I use are TRDenoise to get rid of the "ghosts" and the UseBT... to get greyscales in-line between Media Center and Media Player (and UseBT... isn't all that critical since we use Media Player hardly at all).

sdheda

03-28-08, 12:36 PM

I am currently running a HD3650 in my HTPC and I have this nagging problem. Sometimes while viewing a movie, the video will pause and speed up quickly for a split second. This happens in mkv's and DVD's. I am using MPC-HC (and all of its internal decoders) as my player.

Any suggestions on how to fix this problem?

Also I have another problem when setting the output on MPC to EVR. When I do this it appears as though a row of pixels from the bottom of the screen show up on the top. The same goes with the right and left portions. I have resorted to using the EVR Custom as the output, which solve the problem. However, I want to use MediaPortal as my frontend, and this problem is present when selecting the EVR as the output. Has anyone else experienced this?

Edit: I wanted to add that I am running Vista Ultimate x64 SP1, and my display is a 1080p Panasonic plasma. I have not done any of the registry tweaks, but could the VForceMaxResSize = 2800000 fix my second problem?

Maier2505

03-28-08, 01:05 PM

Yes. As far as I know.

With 7.11 Crysis PowerDVD activates HA and Cyberlink codecs allow HA with other Directshow players.

With 7.12, 8.1, 8.2 and 8.3 PowerDVD and Cyberlink codecs use SW only decoding.

Hi, juffi !

That is not true...

I have 2600pro PCIe and running HW acceleration under Vista and XP SP2 with 8.1,8.2 and 8.3 using Cyberlink 7.0 deluxe with mpeg2 and H.264...

Under XP with overlay and multi monitor also under DVB Viewer.

Under Vista with EVR and single Monitor also under DVBViewer.

But I am using 720p because of my beamer format.

Best regards

maier2505

Al Sherwood

03-28-08, 01:43 PM

One thing I found confusing with this thread is all of the confusing discussions on how only certain drivers activate HA.

As far as I'm aware, HA has worked with absolutely every single driver release, at least since something like 7.4 (the first one I tried), with my system.

I'm running a fully updated Vista and a PCIe ATI HD 2600XT.

We should probably ensure we state which OS, which video card and most importantly if AGP or PCIe is the interface for the card when we talk about getting HA working.

With Vista, a PCIe interface, and a 2600 card, HA (hardware acceleration) works with all of the official ATI drivers. There are some bugs with some of the drivers that cause issues with HD playback, but none of them simply don't work.

The AGP versions of these ATI cards definitely have lots of problems with HA not working, but PCIe versions, especially 2600Pro and better, typically don't.

EDIT: BTW, we use both Media Center (Recorded TV in 720p & 1080i) and PowerDVD 7.3 Ultra (HD-DVD/Blue-ray in 1080p). All of the drivers have provided HA with both MC and PDVD. Catalyst 8.1 had trouble with some Blue-ray movies, but again these are bugs, not an overall lack of HA. I have also not needed any registry tweaks at all to get HA working. The only ones I use are TRDenoise to get rid of the "ghosts" and the UseBT... to get greyscales in-line between Media Center and Media Player (and UseBT... isn't all that critical since we use Media Player hardly at all).

This is quite interesting, I am one of those who tried a few newer versions of 7.x and found that HA in PDVD did NOT stay checked after the movies started.

I am running a fully updated Vista Home Premium based HTPC with a HD2600Pro PCIe video card. I connect to the primary monitor by way of a VGA connection, and when I run the BenQ W9000 projector it connects by way of a HDMI cable on the secondary monitor connection.

arfster

03-28-08, 01:48 PM

arfster

03-28-08, 01:51 PM

This is quite interesting, I am one of those who tried a few newer versions of 7.x and found that HA in PDVD did NOT stay checked after the movies started.

I am running a fully updated Vista Home Premium based HTPC with a HD2600Pro PCIe video card. I connect to the primary monitor by way of a VGA connection, and when I run the BenQ W9000 projector it connects by way of a HDMI cable on the secondary monitor connection.

Tried the dualmonitor regfix? With 8.1+ you'll see no acceleration unless you do that.

By the way, PDVD doesn't really do much with regards to acceleration - it just requests the drivers/card to do the necessary, and they either work or don't. In the latter case, it's almost always the drivers at fault.

If you have HA problems, try dloading DXVA Checker and posting a screenshot of what it produces. So much more info to work off :-)

Al Sherwood

03-28-08, 06:35 PM

Tried the dualmonitor regfix? With 8.1+ you'll see no acceleration unless you do that.

By the way, PDVD doesn't really do much with regards to acceleration - it just requests the drivers/card to do the necessary, and they either work or don't. In the latter case, it's almost always the drivers at fault.

If you have HA problems, try dloading DXVA Checker and posting a screenshot of what it produces. So much more info to work off :-)

No I have not tried the dualmonitor regfix, every thing has been working so far, is it part of the registry tweeks? Also with respect to HA, I knew PDVD didn't do it but rather the card, but that is why I would like it to be on. :)

As for HA problems with my HTPC, only that most of the versions of CCC that I have tried don't seem to keep it checked after PDVD starts playback. :(

So... are you saying I need the dual monitor regfix for this?

Also I would be happy to run the DXVA checker, where do I get it?

Much appreciated!

arfster

03-28-08, 08:55 PM

So... are you saying I need the dual monitor regfix for this?

Yeah, if you have two monitors it's a must for acceleration with 8.1-8.4 at least.

Also I would be happy to run the DXVA checker, where do I get it?

http://bluesky23.hp.infoseek.co.jp/index.html#DXVAChecker

You'll also need the visual c++ package, although a lot of people ave that installed already.

If you could upload a screenshots fgrom the above to imageshack or the like, it gives a much better idea of what you're talking about.

videonub

03-28-08, 11:49 PM

hi again, I am trying to switch over to vista ultimate and i can not get HA to work properly. I have been able to use xp fine but in vista i can not get HA to work with 720p mkv files. I have been trying to use MPC-HC and i only get a black screen no matter what output setting. I have tried both mpc video decoder and PDVD codec. VC-1 works with PDVD player but not MPC. I am using 8.3 catalyst with the 8.3 agp hot fix and reg fix. Strangely I can't get 8.3 catalyst from ati site to install even after i edit the inf file get the Ol' no installable components line. I had to use manufacture ccc. I would like to avoid the mess of installing and reinstalling catalysts so any help would be appreciated.

Al Sherwood

03-29-08, 03:45 AM

Originally Posted by Al Sherwood
So... are you saying I need the dual monitor regfix for this?

So is this part of the registry tweeks for ATI cards, or something separate?

Yeah, if you have two monitors it's a must for acceleration with 8.1-8.4 at least.

http://bluesky23.hp.infoseek.co.jp/index.html#DXVAChecker

You'll also need the visual c++ package, although a lot of people ave that installed already.

If you could upload a screenshots fgrom the above to imageshack or the like, it gives a much better idea of what you're talking about.

I will try to get this on and get a screen shot... Thanks

one_2go

03-29-08, 05:04 AM

You tried 8.3 with or without the registry tweaks?
Yes I tried your version 0.13 registry tweaks but it did not help. I uninstalled everything using the save mode & drivercleaner.net proggy. Then reinstalled 8.3 and just used the Use601BT registry tweak but still grey levels were horrible at the native resolution.

Ever since updating Vista to SP1 the grey levels at the native resolution of 1360 x 768 for my Sony KDT 32d3000 display are washed out. I now have to play everything with a desktop resolution of 1920x1080.

A few others from abhdtv.net also have gone back to 7.9 because of this issue.

Anyone else experiencing this after SP1 update.

vurt72

03-29-08, 08:45 AM

Anyone gotten HD2400PRO AGP to work in XP or Vista with a Nforce2 motherboard? If so, which drivers (nforce and ati) did you use?

I've tried both vista and xp now and neither work with this card for me on my Asus A7N8X-X motherboard. XP will just restart the computer after driver install (i get a black screen when i reach XP, then it restarts). Vista doesnt seem to recognize the card (its possible to install the drivers but they wont register with the OS/card; there's not ati CP, card is still listed as standard VGA and thinks its up to date if i try to change this driver to the ATI driver).

egandt

03-29-08, 12:57 PM

Ok so I have a 1080P monitor (ie 1920x1080 at 60Hz), however, while pure DVI in does do 1:1 Pixel mapping, if I use the ATI adapter, then it is not a 1:1 mapping, in fact it is not close (50 to 80 pixel border is formed around the image). Also the image display is popping, ie the edges are flashing (this normally happens when the cable is bad, or the signal is weak/messed up), however the cable is fine, and the output works if I use DVI.

The problem is that I need HDMI so that I can use the ATI on board sound to the receiver.

Any suggestions?
ERIC

Update: Fixed the borders, even though the HMDI was going to a monitor it kept setting the over scan to 10%, had to upgrade my drivers, then now it no longer over scans, but the pixel popping is still in full force. I also gave a standard DVI to HDMI cable (not from ATI), same pixel popping issues.

I've tried 2 HDMI adapters and 2 separate cables always with the same result.

Update2: If I have a PC connected via HDMI and I switch from A (which is the HTPC to B which is a DVD Player), then PC assumes that the monitor was disconnected and disables it (if I was to use DVI this does not happen), is there a way around this issue (as it is a major one, since I want to leave the HTPC running and using other inputs. Also if the Receiver is off and the HTPC is started then the HDMI output is disabled forever (until I restart the HTPC),.
Basically HDMI needs to appear as a monitor connection and not a TV connection as the ATI driver seem to suck when it assumes that the output is to a TV and not a monitor!

videonub

03-29-08, 03:06 PM

arfster

03-29-08, 03:51 PM

Hi arfster i was just wondering how you repeatedly install and reinstall catalyst software. Do you roll back with system restore or a similar idea. Or do you just do the tedious task of uninstalling with driver cleaner and such. Also do the hotfixes for agp(8.1,8.3) effect HA or just directx gaming.

Uninstall all via control panel, reboot, driver cleaner, install new. Does the trick - drivercleaner catches everything (at least for ATI, it might be useless for other stuff for all I know).

New drivers don't do anything I noticed - the "8.3 hotfix" is more than just an AGP fix though, they're effectively 8.4. Don't touch 8.1 btw, it sucks.

pm_john

03-29-08, 07:36 PM

juffi

03-30-08, 05:45 AM

Hi, juffi !

That is not true...

I have 2600pro PCIe and running HW acceleration under Vista and XP SP2 with 8.1,8.2 and 8.3 using Cyberlink 7.0 deluxe with mpeg2 and H.264...

I hope that would be the case for me, too.

I installed 8.3 and the latest hotfix. I was hoping that the dualmonitor regfix would help.

No hardware acceleration.

My card is MSI RX2600PRO - T2D256EZ/D2 PCIe.
Attached DXVAChecker screenshots.

Maier2505

03-30-08, 06:59 AM

Hi, juffi !

Sorry, I am not the DXVA checker specialist...

I am using a HIS 2600pro passive cooled PCIe Card.

XP/SP2

overlay Monitor 1 1028x764, 1080i to Beamer

Latest Cyberlink7.0Deluxe patch (was important to me, out of the box version did not run with HA!)

I started with 8.1 and had HA with every version running.

But I have my trouble getting VISTA free of stuttering...

Best regards

maier2505

ExDeus

03-30-08, 05:22 PM

I hope that would be the case for me, too.

I installed 8.3 and the latest hotfix. I was hoping that the dualmonitor regfix would help.

No hardware acceleration.

My card is MSI RX2600PRO - T2D256EZ/D2 PCIe.
Attached DXVAChecker screenshots.
H264 and VC1 don't appear to be accelerated... though I'm not running Vista, so I don't know if that looks normal.

Have you tried applying ALL the registry settings from arfster, installed by my program?

Dee_NA

03-31-08, 01:26 AM

@ arfster - Few questions since I'm running a Radeon HD 2400 Pro:

1) What is the difference in quality between DXVA_MPEG2 and when dxva_nohddecode is applied?

2) Will adding DisableDualView to the registry fix anything since im only using my monitor?

3) I'm guessin that DVPF_DeblockOn is intended for the much older cards?

arfster

03-31-08, 06:05 AM

@ arfster - Few questions since I'm running a Radeon HD 2400 Pro:

1) What is the difference in quality between DXVA_MPEG2 and when dxva_nohddecode is applied?

Shouldn't be any :-) It's just acceleration.

2) Will adding DisableDualView to the registry fix anything since im only using my monitor?

Not afaik.

3) I'm guessin that DVPF_DeblockOn is intended for the much older cards?

Looks like it - the drivers support a whole bundle of different cards, and many of the settings are really ancient (like dxva_nodhddecode!).

Dee_NA

03-31-08, 10:12 AM

Ok, cool! Thanks!

tetsuo55

03-31-08, 01:07 PM

Does anyone know if the HD3xxx UVD was improved in any way over the HD2xxx UVD?? and if so what was changed/improved

juffi

04-01-08, 06:45 AM

H264 and VC1 don't appear to be accelerated... though I'm not running Vista, so I don't know if that looks normal.

Have you tried applying ALL the registry settings from arfster, installed by my program?

I used your program version which was dated 16.10.2008 in my computer. I guess it might be v0.9. Looks like the only real differences are the dualmonitor tweaks.

Edit: I'm running XP.

arfster

04-01-08, 08:20 AM

I think the tweaks won't actually help, as your drivers are reporting no support for vc1/h264 acceleration at all, not even in SD. Unfortunately, I've no idea why that is - it's like there's some fundamental hardware clash, like the AGP folks get.

xboy360

04-01-08, 04:20 PM

Is there VC1/H264 hardware acceleration in Vista64 with the ATI drivers?

Also, is there anyway to get the video card to output YCbCr instead of full range RGB over a HDMI or DVI->HDMI cable?

audiolab1

04-01-08, 04:26 PM

Hi ExDeus,

I uninstalled the old versions of all of the ATI software and installed the latest Catalyst 8.3 package last night.
I tried to run your registry tweaks vbs and everything worked fine, including detection of my 2400Pro, until it tried to make registry changes. I got an error of "you do not have permission to make changes/ check that UAC is disabled or prompt for approval".
I'm very new to Vista and have no idea how to change regsitry write permissions. I am running Vista (32) as a single user/administrator so there should not be any restrictions from that end.
Any ideas?
Thanks!

FYI - I've updated "ATI HD2x00 Registry Tweaks" to "ATI HD Registry Tweaks" 0.13 to apply to all HD2000 and HD3000 series cards.

No material changes for anyone that has already used version 0.12, but I did make it clear that the settings can be applied to HD2000 or HD3000 cards, and there is now a prompt before adding HWUVD_ForceMPEG2, to make sure you only apply it for use with dual displays.

Changes:
Renamed and changed to apply to all HD2000 and HD3000 cards.
Added prompt to ensure user is aware of dual display circumstances necessitating HWUVD_ForceMPEG2.

ToughRowToHoe

04-01-08, 05:49 PM

Hi ExDeus,

I uninstalled the old versions of all of the ATI software and installed the latest Catalyst 8.3 package last night.
I tried to run your registry tweaks vbs and everything worked fine, including detection of my 2400Pro, until it tried to make registry changes. I got an error of "you do not have permission to make changes/ check that UAC is disabled or prompt for approval".
I'm very new to Vista and have no idea how to change regsitry write permissions. I am running Vista (32) as a single user/administrator so there should not be any restrictions from that end.
Any ideas?
Thanks!

I believe UAC can be activated in Vista even on single user machines. (If it active, you are asked to confirm changes through an extra dialog box.) Go to Control Panel, User (User Accounts?) to access the UAC check box. After unchecking the box, Vista will prompt you to restart.

ricabullah

04-01-08, 07:25 PM

Still registry tweaks?
Regards.

tvted

04-01-08, 09:52 PM

I'm hoping one of you gents can possibly provide me with some opinions/facts re the 2600PRO AGP for BD playback.

Currently I've an OC'd 2500 thinking its a 3200+ running on an ASUS A7N8XE Nforce2 board with ZP and ffdshow, driving a 720P Panasonic PJ. I use this in a Constant Height setup with ZP doing the required vertical stretch for 2.35 SD source. I'm a little frustrated with not being able to scale (stretch) BD source as I do not have a scaler and my PJ can only stretch SD source. So before I build a new HiDef HTPC or buy a scaler (a new pj is likely to come late this year) I would like to try BD HTPC playback now.

If I read some of the posts in this thread correctly, some of you have had success with HD playback with the class of CPU mentioned above coupled with a 2600 PRO which is capable of handling HA for VCI and h264. I would be running it with possibly PowerDVD and YXY (for the vertical stretch) over XP and outputting 1080i to my pj from BD source. If successful it would save the hair I've left and buy me some time before I irrationally throw money at the darn thing before the time is right. No fancy processing required other than the ability to run YXY with whatever player I choose.

Any input or suggestions would be helpful.

ted

Bgnome

04-01-08, 10:22 PM

I'm hoping one of you gents can possibly provide me with some opinions/facts re the 2600PRO AGP for BD playback.

Currently I've an OC'd 2500 thinking its a 3200+ running on an ASUS A7N8XE Nforce2 board with ZP and ffdshow, driving a 720P Panasonic PJ. I use this in a Constant Height setup with ZP doing the required vertical stretch for 2.35 SD source. I'm a little frustrated with not being able to scale (stretch) BD source as I do not have a scaler and my PJ can only stretch SD source. So before I build a new HiDef HTPC or buy a scaler (a new pj is likely to come late this year) I would like to try BD HTPC playback now.

Any input or suggestions would be helpful.

ted

I am currently running an athlon64 3200+/1 gb dual channel/Asrock 939 Dual SATAII with a Lite-on DH-401S BD-drive, HD 2400 PRO AGP, x1800 GTO PCI-E, running XP Pro, Power-DVD 7.3 3730, AnyDVD, Catalyst 8.3s + hotfix.

After fiddling with it for about a week, I can run BDs at around 30-40% CPU using dxva. I am currently outputting at a resolution of 1440x900 on my 47" rp-crt and have not had a problem. 720p trailers I have downloaded run fine without dxva, but most of the 1080p stuff I grabbed does not play very well in MPC-HC. I have not tried to reencode or anything like that nor do I know how to mess with filters and such. ISOs of BDs mounted with Daemon Tools work in PDVD for me as well.

It is a fairly weak machine by today's standards but I think it might be comparable to your situation. If you are willing to futz with seemingly endless driver installations and removals then you can probably get it working to your satisfaction.

audiolab1

04-02-08, 01:51 PM

Thank you so much, that did it!
Oh what fun, fumbling around with a new OS!

I believe UAC can be activated in Vista even on single user machines. (If it active, you are asked to confirm changes through an extra dialog box.) Go to Control Panel, User (User Accounts?) to access the UAC check box. After unchecking the box, Vista will prompt you to restart.

audiolab1

04-02-08, 02:29 PM

OK, this might be the wrong thread for this, but in keeping with other users of this series of ATI GPUs I figured it might get me some good advice.

I am running an Intel Q6600 quad-core with 3GB ram, 2 x 320GB hard drives, Windows Vista Home Premium, and an HD2400Pro.
For a number of years I was using a basic system and playing back all of my video files (mostly DiVX avi's) using GOM player.
Now that I have a new machine with a capable video card to output 1080p to my Sony 50A2020 SXRD, I'd like to start fresh with the best software and codecs for multiple video formats. Instead of installing tonnes of codec packs, I'm looking for guidance on the best front end and support for it. So far I have GOM installed and have played a little with MPC-HC and Media Center. Strangely enough, Media Center has trouble with many file types out of the box, including DiVX.
My wish list would simply be to have the ability to play back avi's (DiVX), mkv's, DVDs, HDDVDs and allow for future Blue-ray playback with the best quality. Any recommended settings for the appropriate software would also be appreciated. This machine is used only for downloads and for HTPC use, so processor usage is not much of a concern.
I have all the latest ATI drivers, software, and registry changes from this thread applied.
Now I just want to stop tweaking and start watching!
Many thanks for your suggestions!

tetsuo55

04-02-08, 04:00 PM

xboy360

04-02-08, 04:55 PM

What's YXY?

xboy360

04-02-08, 05:00 PM

What's the point of having a 2600XT or in fact any other video card that claims full hardware acceleration of MPEG-2, VC-1, H.264 codecs when the video card themselves don't include these codecs and is dependent on third party to support the card (and not support Vista64)?

FFDSHOW is great, all you need for that is a fast quad core :)

ALSO:
NVIDIA lets you choose the color space and RGB range:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13540463#post13540463

Where is this equivalent option with our ATI 2600 cards?

Or is there an equivalent setting from within Vista?

tvted

04-02-08, 05:15 PM

i have the same system it works perfectly, BARTON Core?
but you probably cannot combine DXVA with YXY

Unfortunately that would defeat the purpose of what I'm trying to do, since I would need HA with such a wimp of a CPU. I know of others on AVS who are using YXY for aspect control but their boxes are tricked out. Ithought it was more an issue of the particular player software in use - ArcSoft plays nicely and PowerDVD has apparently been fixed, WinDVD apparently still has issues per this post (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=13449607&postcount=2). I guess this means asking a few more questions.

Care to Download (http://www.keohi.com/keohihdtv/htpc/yxy/yxy.html) and give it a try?;)

Thanks to those who offered some input. I guess I've to decide whether to wait for a 8300/G45 based board (ulitimatly I want LPCM over HDMI) or waste $100 (what it costs in Canada) since the drive at least would be reusable to check this out.

ted

xboy360

04-02-08, 05:20 PM

With Nero Showtime you can force specify an aspect ratio for the DVD to be played back. Could that be used instead of YXY ?

tvted

04-02-08, 05:27 PM

What's YXY?

Aspect Ratio control, see here (http://www.keohi.com/keohihdtv/htpc/yxy/yxy.html) if interested. It is useful in a Constant Height Front Projection (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=554901) setup. Currently its the only method I know of that allows for Vertical Stretch of 2.35 HD source in an HTPC.

ted

tvted

04-02-08, 05:29 PM

With Nero Showtime you can force specify an aspect ratio for the DVD to be played back. Could that be used instead of YXY ?It would have to work with HD source, I use ZP for SD.

ted

xboy360

04-02-08, 06:32 PM

It would have to work with HD source, I use ZP for SD.

ted

I can get MPEG2 HW acceleration in Vista64 with showtime.

xboy360

04-02-08, 06:38 PM

Aspect Ratio control, see here (http://www.keohi.com/keohihdtv/htpc/yxy/yxy.html) if interested. It is useful in a Constant Height Front Projection (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=554901) setup. Currently its the only method I know of that allows for Vertical Stretch of 2.35 HD source in an HTPC.

ted

Oohhh I see...useful when I upgrade to a projector :)

tvted

04-02-08, 07:15 PM

Oohhh I see...useful when I upgrade to a projector :)
Some pjs currently support an "Anamorphic" mode for HD. OPPO has suggested they will support Aspect Control in their upcoming BD player. Anamorphic lens add ons and setups are growing though it is still a niche. In the future I hope that software player providers will build such a mode into their players.

But I've 'jacked this thread enough with my egocentric concerns. My apologies to all.

ted

xboy360

04-02-08, 07:30 PM

Some pjs currently support an "Anamorphic" mode for HD. OPPO has suggested they will support Aspect Control in their upcoming BD player. Anamorphic lens add ons and setups are growing though it is still a niche. In the future I hope that software player providers will build such a mode into their players.

But I've 'jacked this thread enough with my egocentric concerns. My apologies to all.

ted

If you use FFDSHOW you can resize and adjust the pixel aspect ratio to whatever you like, and that will do what you want also.

tvted

04-02-08, 08:22 PM

If you use FFDSHOW you can resize and adjust the pixel aspect ratio to whatever you like, and that will do what you want also.

This is all about Blu-Ray source for me. I've no issues with SD.

I would need to build a new box to take greater advantage of ffdshow than I do (RESIZE, DENOISE) now anyway as its a CPU killer and would have my Barton core for a snack.

ted

Roussi

04-02-08, 09:45 PM

This is all about Blu-Ray source for me. I've no issues with SD.

I would need to build a new box to take greater advantage of ffdshow than I do (RESIZE, DENOISE) now anyway as its a CPU killer and would have my Barton core for a snack.

ted
I believe aspect ratio can be adjusted with MPC-HC (Pan&Zoom, number pad), including for DXVA accelarated video; not sure about any restriction, though.

tvted

04-02-08, 09:59 PM

I believe aspect ratio can be adjusted with MPC-HC (Pan&Zoom, number pad), including for DXVA accelarated video; not sure about any restriction, though.

Its been a while since I played with MPC. Any issues with VC1 and H264? I assume codecs would have to come from another source?

ted

Bgnome

04-02-08, 10:43 PM

mpc-hc has a built-in decoder capable of dxva. you can grab the recent build here:
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1118095#post1118095

Ingram

04-02-08, 10:48 PM

mpc-hc has a built-in decoder capable of dxva. you can grab the recent build here:
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1118095#post1118095

Make sure you use EVR renderer with this. I just discovered last night that all of a sudden MKV files I had that didn't run with HA enabled were suddenly. I realised it was because I had switched to EVR.

Some files work in VMR9 but all of them work with HA and EVR.

NFI why.

originalsnuffy

04-03-08, 12:16 AM

OK, I gave in. I backed everything up and reinstalled vista from the ground up. Catalyst 8.3 went in just fine. Put softpack 1 in, and am now copying back all the files. Then on to reinstalling antivirus, powerdvd, anydvd, office, nero, and itunes. No fun, but gotta do it.

locutus266

04-03-08, 06:31 PM

Hello folks,

I have been reading through threads in this forum a couple of days now, because I have problems with my HTPC and DXVA acceleration in PowerDVD as well as Media Player Classic.

I observed the following behavior:

Sometimes, when I try to use MPC with its built-in MPC Video decoder which is capable of accelerated H.264 playback through DXVA, it would crash right away. (Testing with a 720p H.264-coded mkv file) When this is the case, DXVA doesn't work under PowerDVD either: After the program starts, the DXVA checkbox is checked, but gets disabled and unchecked once HD playback begins. In other situations (Windows sessions) however, DXVA seems to work perfectly in PowerDVD and also in MPC (although with crappy tearing in the latter).

However, I think, I may have found the root of the problem or at least come near it (read on).

My system has the following specs:

AMD Athlon X2 CPU
Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H with AMD780G chipset
Radeon HD 3200
Windows XP 32-bit, everything up-to-date
Media Player Classic Homecinema 1.1.0.0
PowerDVD 7.3, Patch 3730a
ATI Catalyst 8.3
TV: Toshiba 42Z3030D connected over HDMI
"ATI Smart service" disabled
"ATI Hotkey Poller" disabled

As of now, I can't seem to track the error down completely, but I have observed the following things:

1. When I set my TV to another video channel or turn it off, boot up Windows (I am using auto-logon), then set the TV to the right HDMI source again (after Windows competely came up), fire up PowerDVD, it won't initialize DXVA correctly. I can only assume that this is a communication issue between TV and PC, maybe HDCP is involved, too. I don't experience this behavior with MPC and DXVA (strange enough).

2. MPC never crashes BEFORE I run PowerDVD in any scenario. If PowerDVD can't initialize DXVA correctly (see above), it seems to mess up DXVA capability completely for the remaining Windows session. When DXVA works under PowerDVD (Only if TV is set to PC-HDMI source during bootup), it doesn't seem to mess up DXVA.

So the conclusions are:

1. Please be sure to have your TV setup correctly BEFORE you start your PC. Judging from my observations, that might well have an effect on DXVA at least when using crappy PowerDVD, which implements all that HDCP hassle customers have to go through).

2. During testing: Never ever start PowerDVD and then test other applications concerning DXVA capabilities as PowerDVD (or potentially any other software) can mess up things, so that your tests give you incorrect results, which lead to wrong conclusions. Same goes for standby and hibernation. Always have a clean reboot, before running an application and judging it towards its capabilities.

Please also ensure, you set the BIOS option (I don't recall its name) to "HDMI/D-SUB" instead of "DVI/D-SUB". Unless, I set that to HDMI, I was unable to get sound over HDMI under Wndows XP! Might also have influence on other things, such as DXVA and HDCP. Who knows...

From my point of view, it seems that lot of things have influence on DXVA at the moment. These are still to be resolved by the manufacturers and developers. Of course ATI customer support is useless, I had contact with them on other occasions, but never was satisfied with it. As for PowerDVD... well it's commercial software, so what do you expect (?)

Actually I am not impressed with DXVA as I read about problems concerning this feature everywhere on the internet, but the thing is that I need the acceleration during the playback of Blu-ray media, because my CPU isn't that powerful. The correct function of HDCP or DXVA seems to be very fragile state at the moment. It only works in certain scenarios and that's also why so many people are complaining about it. Personally, I think in the current implementation it's completely useless and poorly conceived and judging from other posts, nVidia customers don't seem to be better of at all.

Before my current setup, I made the wrong decision to buy an ASUS P5E-HDMI with Intel G35: PowerDVD always FORCED DXVA for me, which resulted in choppy playback. Disabling it might have solved the issue, because I had a rather powerful CPU installed that would have been able to decode the material on its own, but PowerDVD wouldn't let me deactivate it.

Well, this is it for now.

- Locutus

enxian

04-03-08, 08:02 PM

hi!

i have a problem i can open 1080p files but i have slow down on hi-def videos. i play 720p but there is a tiny slow down.

my system are:
Windows Xp Media Center
Motherboard PCCHIPS M861G/ VIA K8M800
Socket 754
CPU Sempron 2800+ at 1.6ghz
512Mb Ram
Visiontek RADEON 2400PRO 256Mb AGP 8X.
Fast Writes- Disable

Catalyst 7.7

if i put more RAM like 1520Mb, the video plays better? i need to OC the processor?

any suggestion?

bxw689

04-03-08, 08:19 PM

I have a HTPC with the Sapphire Radeon HD 2400XT connected via HDMI to an Onkyo TX-SR705 receiver. I can't seem to get the HDMI audio and video to function at the same time. For some reason, I can only hear sound on the receiver from the HTPC when the HDMI cable from the receiver to the TV is disconnected. When the hdmi out from the receiver is connected to my TV, I see the video from the pc, but the sound cuts off and the receiver says no signal for audio. When I unplug the cable from the TV, the sound comes back on. Has anyone else experienced this kind of problem. When I plug the HDMI cable from the PC directly to the TV, the video and audio work fine. Any help that you can provide is appreciated. Thanks!

JimmyFace

04-03-08, 10:26 PM

Does DXVA2 work on XP for 1080p files? I can't accelerate 1080p files using MPC HC with EVR. I'm talking about a DXVA conforming 1080p file. I can accelerate it with overlay (assuming this is DXVA1) but not EVR.

A friend claims to have a non-conforming 1080p MKV file playing fine with PowerDVD HA on Vista (I assume DXVA2), but when I try that file on my machine with XP I can get HA but it is tearing a lot and unwatchable (assuming DXVA1). I was wondering if this was a DXVA2 thing.

DXVA2 + 1080p (non-conforming MKV) = HA plus perfect playback.
DXVA1 + 1080p (non-conforming MKV) = HA plus tearing and crap playback.

DXVA2 + 1080p + XP = Can't be done on XP period?
DXVA2 + 1080p + Vista = Even non-conforming MKV files work?

By conforming 1080p MKV files I mean H.264 encoded to 4.1 profile.

Can anyone speak to this?

arfster

04-03-08, 10:35 PM

Non-4.1 files never accelerate (the hardware doesn't support it), & EVR needs Vista for h264 acceleration.

JimmyFace

04-03-08, 11:20 PM

Non-4.1 files never accelerate (the hardware doesn't support it), & EVR needs Vista for h264 acceleration.

You're referring to 1080p specifically right?

Because MPC HC with the EVR option in XP appears to work fine with 720p.

I am assuming that DXVA2 and EVR are tied together.

Found this in another forum posted on March 22, 2008:
Just one other thing for people to remember - if you are using Vista you *must* use EVR if you want hardware acceleration.

EVR supports DXVA2 and PowerDVD also supports DXVA2.

DXVA was the original hardware acceleration under XP using VMR9 however while Vista supports DXVA it will not deliver hardware acceleration. If you're running Vista and use VMR9 your system will not be able to take full advantage of the hardware offloading.

tvted

04-04-08, 12:12 AM

i have the same system it works perfectly, but you probably cannot combine DXVA with YXY

I think I'm going to purchase the 2600PRO and run a few tests before I purchase a player. At the very least it will free up some CPU for ffdshow with SD DVD so all would not be to no avail. If its a no go, any drive I purchase would get stuffed in a new HTPC anyway so overall this is a means of forestalling that for a few months.

I do know that others have successfully run YXY with HA but not with these specific cards and of course their setup is not as aged and feeble as mine.

I'm assuming you are running a BARTON core on an NForce2 setup with XP_SP2 so can you tell me what type of CPU usage you get with VC1 and AVC encoded BD or HD DVD if possible?

Thanks for your input btw.
ted

nathan118

04-04-08, 01:07 AM

Tonight I bit the bullet and decided to try and get 264 acceleration working. Before I start, here's my specs.

Dual-Core Allendale
Vista 32-bit
Radeon 2600xt Pci-E

On my HTPC I use media center as my front end. Back in November when I put the thing together, I got mpeg acceleration by installing the avivo pack, and using deccheck and vmcd.exe to set the primary decoder to the ati decoder. This was great! All my interlaced HD recordings were deinterlaced beautifully, and I was a happy man.

With mpeg acceleration taken care of, I've been using CoreAVC for my 264 material, and until now that's been perfectly fine. No bluray or hddvd drive, so mainly 720p or 1080p material, which the dual core processor can handle fine. But last month I bought a new videocamera (canon hv20) and I had a new problem. The native output of the camera is interlaced, and to avoid crappy deinterlacing in the editing program, I had two choices: either render 1080i mpeg2, or 1080i AVC. I found that interlaced AVC material was beautiful on the PS3. It could deinterlace the AVC encoded videos perfectly.

Moving to the HTPC though, CoreAVC couldn't hold a candle to the hardware deinterlacing of the PS3. It could play them, but the deinterlacing abilities in software are always terrible. I finally bit the bullet to try and get 264 acceleration working on the HTPC so I could watch the home movies on it. After spending hours reading this thread, I tried it tonight, and it was 100x easier than I thought. Here's what I did.

1) Uninstalled catalyst completely using control panel/uninstall.
2) Uninstalled CoreAVC (no other 264 decoders installed).
3) Reboot
4) Installed Catalyst 8.3 and Avivo Package 8.3
5) Installed PowerDVD Ultra 7.3.3723
6) In the options of PowerDVD, I checked use hardware acceleration.
7) Using Haali as my splitter, I opened one of my 1080i mp4 files.

TADA! GPU utilization is at around 25%, cpu at around 15-20%, and it is deinterlaced PERFECTLY. I never realized that installing PowerDVD would install the decoder needed for 264 material, and that media player (and media center) would make use of it. No registry entries required.

Maybe all this seemed like a no-brainer to some people, but I'm just happy to have mpeg2 and 264 material accelerated. Interlaced material is no longer a problem!

tetsuo55

04-04-08, 05:19 AM

I think I'm going to purchase the 2600PRO and run a few tests before I purchase a player. At the very least it will free up some CPU for ffdshow with SD DVD so all would not be to no avail. If its a no go, any drive I purchase would get stuffed in a new HTPC anyway so overall this is a means of forestalling that for a few months.

I do know that others have successfully run YXY with HA but not with these specific cards and of course their setup is not as aged and feeble as mine.

I'm assuming you are running a BARTON core on an NForce2 setup with XP_SP2 so can you tell me what type of CPU usage you get with VC1 and AVC encoded BD or HD DVD if possible?

Thanks for your input btw.
ted

AthlonXP 2600+ Barton @ 2ghz
a7n8x deluxe(nforce2)
Club3d HD2400pro AGP

No hardware acceleration:
1080p content:
100%CPU on all h264, VC1 streams, heavy sturrering.
100%CPU on mpeg2 HD, almost watchable (some frames drop)

720p content:
80-100%CPU, all HD content watchable (using CoreAVC 1.5)

DXVA enabled(Powerdvd/MPC-HC):
1080p content: 10-30% CPU
730p content : 5-25% CPU

PowerDVD uses 2x as much cpu as MPC-HC, these numbers are with regular audio tracks, HD audio tracks take up a lot more CPU, but you should be able to enable the most demanding mix of audio and video and stay under 80% cpu

arfster

04-04-08, 07:04 AM

You're referring to 1080p specifically right?

Because MPC HC with the EVR option in XP appears to work fine with 720p.

Yup - that's cos most 720p files are 4.1 compliant. They need to have a stupendously large number of ref frames not to be, but 1080p only needs 4 or 5 to break the limits (which most do, or at least did until recently when people started bothering about dxva compliance)

I am assuming that DXVA2 and EVR are tied together.

Yup. You can squeeze it into XP, and some people have hacked things to get acceleration there too (no idea how), but apparently h264 doesn't work. Not sure there's much point to all this, tbh.

DXVA was the original hardware acceleration under XP using VMR9 however while Vista supports DXVA it will not deliver hardware acceleration. If you're running Vista and use VMR9 your system will not be able to take full advantage of the hardware offloading.

That's only true in Vista for h264 - with mpeg2 and VC1 you can use Vista+VMR9+acceleration. This only mattered much in the early months of Vista when a lot of apps didn't support EVR yet (notably DVBviewer), but now pretty much everything does - I think Nero is the only important exception. If you've got the choice, in Vista there's not much point in using VMR9 at all.

Basically Vista is natively dxva2, so when it gets dxva1 acceleration calls it translates them in realtime, so vmr9+acceleration can work. However, for some reason it can't do this for h264, so for that dxva2 (and thus EVR) are compulsory if you want acceleration.

JimmyFace

04-04-08, 09:14 AM

Very helpful Arfster, thank you.

tvted

04-04-08, 10:48 AM

AthlonXP 2600+ Barton @ 2ghz
a7n8x deluxe(nforce2)
Club3d HD2400pro AGP

DXVA enabled(Powerdvd/MPC-HC):
1080p content: 10-30% CPU
730p content : 5-25% CPU

PowerDVD uses 2x as much cpu as MPC-HC, these numbers are with regular audio tracks, HD audio tracks take up a lot more CPU, but you should be able to enable the most demanding mix of audio and video and stay under 80% cpu

Magical. That is what I'm currently getting for SD DVD decode with a 6600GT and ffdshow. on a 2500 running at 2.1 Ghz

I will now show this to my wife and blame you for my upcoming expenditure. ;)

Are you using the 2400 over HDMI for audio or SPDIF out from the NForce? I haven't an HDMI AVR as of yet and was planning to remain as is for now. I'm assuming PowerDVD or MPC-HC allows for selection of any registered audio device.

Thanks, ever so much.
ted

tetsuo55

04-04-08, 11:09 AM

Magical. That is what I'm currently getting for SD DVD decode with a 6600GT and ffdshow. on a 2500 running at 2.1 Ghz

I will now show this to my wife and blame you for my upcoming expenditure. ;)

Are you using the 2400 over HDMI for audio or SPDIF out from the NForce? I haven't an HDMI AVR as of yet and was planning to remain as is for now. I'm assuming PowerDVD or MPC-HC allows for selection of any registered audio device.

Thanks, ever so much.
ted

I have an X-Fi directly connected to my speakers, so i use analoge out in PowerDVD and AC3filter decode for MPC-HC

Daddymem

04-04-08, 01:49 PM

I've scoured the internet for help, I know this isn't HTC related, but I was hoping someone here can help. I haven't found any conversations about this card and the same problem. Here goes:

My company recently upgraded our computers to lenovo thinkcentres with ATi Radeon HD 2400 Pro 512 mb graphic cards. All of us are experiencing horrible display of text on them. I'll explain my setup but monitor brands and sizes vary throughout the company. We are an engineering firm so CAD is important (and looks fine) but we also write a lot so text has to look good too. Any text with mutliple vertical lines (such as the ill) show orange blobs behind them, faint but visible. All text is just a little blurry. We have tried new drivers, various settings on the monitors, Clear Type settings, calibration programs, but nothing seems to work. Graphics seem fine for images and video. Haven't really run it through the works since this is a work environment. ACAD and Sketchup look fine, it is just text. Some webpages end up with very blocky text that will sharpen and get blocky again as you move the window around the desktop.

My setup:
Sceptre X20G-Naga3 (on the digital port)
1680x1050, 60 Hz

Dell 1907FP (on the analog port)
1280x1024, 60Hz

Diamond ATi HD2400 PRO 512MB PCIE Mfg# DIA-2400PRO512PESB

Microsoft Windows XP Pro SP2
E6550@ 2.33 GHz
3.00 GB RAM

Drivers for the monitors are installed and the most current.

I did not spec this machine out, it is just plopped on my desk. I cannot use this every day without getting a splitting headache, same goes with my colleagues. We are ready to take back our old computers. Any advise or help will be greatly appreciated and may save the IT guys neck :P

Puwaha

04-04-08, 01:49 PM

1) Uninstalled catalyst completely using control panel/uninstall.
2) Uninstalled CoreAVC (no other 264 decoders installed).
3) Reboot
4) Installed Catalyst 8.3 and Avivo Package 8.3
5) Installed PowerDVD Ultra 7.3.3723
6) In the options of PowerDVD, I checked use hardware acceleration.
7) Using Haali as my splitter, I opened one of my 1080i mp4 files.

TADA! GPU utilization is at around 25%, cpu at around 15-20%, and it is deinterlaced PERFECTLY. I never realized that installing PowerDVD would install the decoder needed for 264 material, and that media player (and media center) would make use of it. No registry entries required.

Maybe all this seemed like a no-brainer to some people, but I'm just happy to have mpeg2 and 264 material accelerated. Interlaced material is no longer a problem!

Hmmm.... what about standard DVD content? If I use the AVIVO decoder with my 2400Pro, Vista Media Center complains that there is a decoder error when I try to play a DVD.

As it stands now, I have to switch to the MS-decoder for DVDs and back to the AVIVO decoder if I want to watch broadcast HD MPEG2 content. The MS-Decoder gives me green-screens on HD MPEG2 content.

Obviously, this is not very wife friendly. Anyone have any suggestions? I tried one of the PowerDVD builds, but none of the decoders seemed to give full acceleration in HD MPEG2 content.

Even my old Radeon 8500LE was better at MPEG2 decoding... what's the deal with this broken 2400Pro?

Puwaha

04-04-08, 01:54 PM

Just one other thing for people to remember - if you are using Vista you *must* use EVR if you want hardware acceleration.

EVR supports DXVA2 and PowerDVD also supports DXVA2.

DXVA was the original hardware acceleration under XP using VMR9 however while Vista supports DXVA it will not deliver hardware acceleration. If you're running Vista and use VMR9 your system will not be able to take full advantage of the hardware offloading.

Ok... I've seen this stated several times. How would I know if I am using DXVA2/EVR versus DXVA/VMR9?

How could I test this?

arfster

04-04-08, 03:05 PM

Ok... I've seen this stated several times. How would I know if I am using DXVA2/EVR versus DXVA/VMR9?

How could I test this?

The player decides - for instance WMP always uses EVR in Vista, as does PDVD in file mode (although for Bluray/HDDVD it's using some other unknown, possibly a custom built renderer for security). Some of them will let you change it, like MPC or Theatertek.

Puwaha

04-04-08, 03:30 PM

The player decides - for instance WMP always uses EVR in Vista, as does PDVD in file mode (although for Bluray/HDDVD it's using some other unknown, possibly a custom built renderer for security). Some of them will let you change it, like MPC or Theatertek.

In the case of Vista Media Center... what decides? Is it the decoder, the driver, a combination of the two?

For instance... if I use the MS-decoder with my 2400pro and any driver other than the 7.7 catalysts... I'll get a green-screen in HD MPEG2 within Media Center. But in WMP, it will play fine. But I can't use the 7.7 catalysts because that same HD MPEG2 video will stutter within VMC, but play fine in WMP!

Doesn't VMC use WMP?

If not... how do I verify that VMC is using EVR?

tvted

04-04-08, 04:27 PM

I've just purchased the Sapphire 2600PRO AGP version. Unfortunately I didn't realise the AGP version does not support what HDMI facilitates. Its not a grand woof in this application, which is a vainglorious attempt to bring an older Athlon box up to snuff for BD playback with DXVA and aspect control via YXY for my Constant Height HT. HDMI isn't going to buy me anything that DVI and SPDIF won't in this case.

So before I begin the next stage of this hapless saga, can anyone advise with respect to any issues encountered with the latest CATALYST drivers? The Sapphire site indicates Catalyst 8.3 HOTFIX for AGP cards. I've been unable to find anything on the ATI site that states other than PCI-E, So I guess its safe to assume there are differences in the drivers for each slot type, and the only source I should trust is Sapphire?

If any of you know of issues with the aforementioned drivers kindlly hold my hand (figuratively of course ;))

ted

enxian

04-04-08, 06:39 PM

anyone can tell me if my system runs 1080p or 720p?

or what i need?

in 1080p i see like slow images with audio playing fine.
in 720p i see a frame drops but i can see it.

Bgnome

04-04-08, 06:41 PM

nathan118

04-04-08, 06:59 PM

Hmmm.... what about standard DVD content? If I use the AVIVO decoder with my 2400Pro, Vista Media Center complains that there is a decoder error when I try to play a DVD.

As it stands now, I have to switch to the MS-decoder for DVDs and back to the AVIVO decoder if I want to watch broadcast HD MPEG2 content. The MS-Decoder gives me green-screens on HD MPEG2 content.

Sounds like you have other problems if the ms-decoder is giving you a green screen. The ms-decoder worked for me before, it was just terrible at deinterlacing. I don't play dvds, so I don't know if they work.

tvted

04-04-08, 07:19 PM

installing 8.3 catalyst after a driver cleaning and then the 8.3 hotfix is a good place to start.
http://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&questionID=33033

with my visiontek 2400pro agp i do get the "pci device" for the hdmi audio so show up under device manager and can install the microsoft uua driver. however, i don't have any equipment that takes hdmi audio nor do i have the dongle so i haven't really messed with that.

Thanks for the link. Why the need for 8.3 intially? I'm making the assumption that the drivers on the Sapphire site *are* the patched 8.3? Luckily I keep my HTPC as a minimum install so a fresh XP though a pain is not daunting.

I'm in the same situation re an HDMI AVR as you, and my PS3 occupies my PJ HDMI. The PC will be DVI to VGA should she work. My hope is it does and I will be able to put off a complete build until the HDMI LPCM dust settles - G45 or NVidia 8300 on uATX and I've a new AVR to take advantage.

ted

nathan118

04-04-08, 07:50 PM

So my big 264 acceleration post has been tested, and it's not all roses. In a previous post I was able to get the cyberlink 264 decoder to work.

The 1080i 264 content that accelerated great was made with Vegas Video using Bluray presets, so it was probably a very compliant video. Unfortunately trying to play a bunch of 264 mkvs wasn't as successful. Out of about 10 videos, only half worked. I believe this is what people have mentioned about the cyberlink decoder not playing nicely with out of compliance videos.

So for now I'm back to my previous setup. If I could somehow only use the cyberlink decoder for interlaced 264 videos, and then use coreavc for everything else I'd be golden, but I don't think that will happen. My home movies are all mp4 containers, and my 720p theatre movies are mkv, so I don't know if I could do anything with that.

I was however able to fix my .ts files not being able to fast forward or rewind (skip forward and back). In graphedit I was using the nerosplitter on .ts files apparently, so I reinstalled haali and made sure mpeg-ts was checked. Using haali the video starts with a black screen, but if I pause and then hit play (or skip back after it starts) then the video appears and I have full skip forward and back control. Is there a better splitter for .ts files than matroska I should try so the video appears immediately?

I guess now I have everything working like I want except for 1080i AVC/264 material. I suppose I won't complain about that.

arfster

04-04-08, 10:08 PM

Unfortunately trying to play a bunch of 264 mkvs wasn't as successful. Out of about 10 videos, only half worked. I believe this is what people have mentioned about the cyberlink decoder not playing nicely with out of compliance videos.

That's the hardware unfortunately, not the decoder. The only area where the decoder is deficient is wrt compliant stuff that hasn't been flagged with a level, so the decoder assumes 5.1 and refuses acceleration.

sdheda

04-05-08, 12:55 AM

cwchiang

04-05-08, 12:58 PM

I have an LCD projector hooked up to the VGA (monitor on DVI) of my Gigabyte 2400pro, and the resolution keeps reverting to 1280x1024. Is there a known problem with dual displays? (I also can't get the overlay controls working in Ffdshow, but that may not be related.) I'm running the 8.3 Catalyst drivers and XP Pro.

warlockuk

04-05-08, 02:56 PM

videonub

04-05-08, 04:40 PM

Hey guys i have some 720p x264 mkv files that i am playing with MPC-HC and since I am running vista i have to use EVR mode. When using EVR(vista / .net3) I am unable to change the aspect ratio and what i really like doing is playing these videos with the zoom to wide screen setting, under pan&scan. Changing these settings does nothing to the video. I can't use EVR custom because this causes the screen to go black, which I assume is normal. I am hoping there is something I can change within MPC-HC because i like the internal video decoder, but I would be willing to use a different player if need be.

Thanks

Puwaha

04-05-08, 06:49 PM

Sounds like you have other problems if the ms-decoder is giving you a green screen. The ms-decoder worked for me before, it was just terrible at deinterlacing. I don't play dvds, so I don't know if they work.

I've even tried the Cyberlink decoder, but it green screens on me as well. The only decoder that doesn't green-screen is the AVIVO one on my machine. Apparently it's a known issue by ATI:

http://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&questionID=27622

But obviously, they aren't interested in fixing is since its been an outstanding issue since June of 2007.

I was hoping that someone here had experienced the same problem and came up with a solution of a certain driver/decoder combination that would work for them.

Puwaha

04-06-08, 12:16 AM

I have finally found something that works for me. If anyone else is having the green-screen problem with the MS-Decoder, check this Microsoft Hotfix:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/943195/en-us

The Cyberlink decoder still goes green on HD MPEG2 video, so I guess this really only applies to the MS-Decoder.

JimmyFace

04-06-08, 12:28 AM

There was someone posting a few dozen pages back who said they had an ATI HD2400 Pro and when it was HD-accellerating he just got a black screen. Anyone find a workaround for that?

I have a 3.2GHz P4 running on an socket 478 mobo with an ATI HD-2400 AGP, Catalyst 8.3, the latest reg. tweaks (1.13?) Cyberlink PowerDVD (or whichever one it was that does HDXA) and MPC-HD... it seems if I use the PowerDVD plugin I can watch 720p MKVs but no hardware acceleration and if I use the plugin for MPC-HD as detailed a few pages back I get hardware acceleration but a black screen and the transport bar doesn't show the video as actually playing...

So... yeah. Any of this seem familiar? I've read pretty much every page on this thread over the last few months and can't find any configuration that works for me. Might have to try putting Vista Basic or something on the PC, I dunno...

There are a handful of 720p MKV files that will do this for me. Even after I change their IDC to 4.1 and it's this exact behavior. But you would be pretty unlucky to have this replicated for multiple MKV files. That's what the PowerDVD decoder does when it can't accelerate it.

If it's just the one file you might want to find a file that you know is DXVA compliant.

I've also read that if there are any other filters like FFDShow or others in there you may need to specifically block them as they affect the ability of the decoder to accelerate.

Siptang

04-06-08, 04:02 AM

I have noticed that there are alot of ati hd radeon2600pro users here and hopefully you guys can help me.

My problem is this.

I have 3 gigs of ram, lg bd and hd dvd rom drive, c2d 6700, msi 2600pro and so andso computer. I have it hooked up to my 1080p toshiba via dvi-hdmi adapter and hdmi cable from there to tv. I'm trying to watch my hd dvd or blu ray but with no success and it's frustrating the crap out of me.

I'm using, power dvd 7.3 ultra to play the movies and I have downloaded the adviser from the site and it tells me that video connection is digital without hdcp, now why is this? Specs clearly states that this is hdcp compatible and is hdtv ready...
Also I'm using the latest catalyst drivers as well as 800w psu so I thihnk those I'm covered.

Any input will be greatly appreciated.

Siptang

warlockuk

04-06-08, 05:36 AM

There are a handful of 720p MKV files that will do this for me. Even after I change their IDC to 4.1 and it's this exact behavior. But you would be pretty unlucky to have this replicated for multiple MKV files. That's what the PowerDVD decoder does when it can't accelerate it.

If it's just the one file you might want to find a file that you know is DXVA compliant.

I've also read that if there are any other filters like FFDShow or others in there you may need to specifically block them as they affect the ability of the decoder to accelerate.
Hmm... I deactivated VobSub as that was breaking it and forcing it back into software... what I might do is remove FFDShow and every filter I don't want doing anything entirely and go from there...

...aaand that did it. I uninstalled FFDShow (which was part of some codec pack) and now all my 720P vids work in MPC-HC with 10-20% CPU usage.

Cheers!

Maier2505

04-06-08, 01:35 PM

dmhutten

04-06-08, 03:36 PM

Need some help with this one. Frustrating to say the Least.
I had my HTPC up and running great for a few month's. Few weeks ago my Hard Drive started going out, making noise's every few second's. Re-installed windows xp on a new drive and transfered data to the new Seagate 500gb Sata drive. Now, during Playback of a recorded TV show, I see the picture for a second then get a Blank Screen and have to Reboot. Same thing happens if I watch Live TV, sometimes right away, and other times when I change channels. (not dependant of OTA HD or standard cable). Called Diamond about the video card, reloaded drivers and same issue. Sent the card back to diamond MM and I got it back saying "card works fine". Re-installed and same issue of blank screen during playback of video or live TV. I'm able to see windows boot up and all is fine with video card untill I do a playback or Live TV. While the video card was shipped out I deceided to go to a ATX mother board configuration/case to increase cooling. ("Thinking the micro atx was too warm causing the hard drive to go. Case had poor ventalation). Installed the 2600xt on a new atx gigabit mother board, installed windows xp, latest drivers from ATI and then same issue again of blank screen during playback or live TV. Now I'm back to my microatx case/board running the motherboards onboard Video. Works fine but can't get 1920x1080 res. Any idea's out their or anyone seen this before?

HTPC Spec's.
MB: asus p5k-vm
Intel Core 2 Duo
Antex NeoPower 550W PSU
2 GB ddr2
ATI Radeon hd2600xt
Seagate barracude 500gb sata
2 Capture Cards (Haugppauge HVR-1600)
Beyond TV
Sony LCD TV (1920x1080P)

Siptang

04-06-08, 04:12 PM

Do you use the original ATI DVI to HDMI connector ?

This could be a reason...

Another Idea...

As far as I know omly one of the grafic cards outputs is HDMI compatible, try the other one .

And use a single output configuration.

Best regards

maier2505

Yes, I am using ATI's original adapter because it supports the hdmi sound.
Why was there issues with these adapters?

I tried both slots with no success @ this time and I'm stuck... will go to bestbuy later to get a dvi to hdmi cord to see if that will work.

Thanks for the reply dude.

millerbrad

04-06-08, 05:54 PM

Yes, I am using ATI's original adapter because it supports the hdmi sound.
Why was there issues with these adapters?

I tried both slots with no success @ this time and I'm stuck... will go to bestbuy later to get a dvi to hdmi cord to see if that will work.

Thanks for the reply dude.

FYI... You have very little chance (likely no chance at all) of passing sound over anything but ATI's DVI-to-HDMI adapter.

Siptang

04-06-08, 08:59 PM

that's fine, as long as I get the pics working as well as cpu rate down.
It gets really laggy when playing at full screen. (just reg avis)

Siptang

04-06-08, 09:00 PM

that's fine, as long as I get the pics working as well as cpu rate down.
It gets really laggy when playing at full screen. (just reg avis)

Dee_NA

04-06-08, 09:27 PM

@ Arfster - Any word on the Catalyst 8.4 yet?

STEye

04-06-08, 09:44 PM

Setup
------
MoBo: Dell 400SC
Processor: P4 2.8GHz
Prcessor utilisation (if you wish): 100%
Graphic Card: AGP _Visiontek Radeon HD2600PRO
Screen and signaltype (i.e. HDMI, VGA): DVI
Operative system: Win XP Pro
Catalyst driver: 8.471
CCC:
Working Player1: PowerDVD 7.3.3305
Working Player2: PowerDVD 7.3.3319a
Codecs:

First off, I must start off by saying I have read through this thread, and tried to search!! I am a complete n00b to BD HD movies! The drivers and CCC versions are the current ones downloaded from the Visiontek site. When playing my BD backups, MPEG-2 files play fine, and PowerDVD shows that it is using Hardware Acceleration (with about 20% CPU utilization), but when I try playing MPEG-4 AVC files, PowerDVD won't use Hardware Acceleration (It's grayed out in the config), and the CPU spikes up to 100%, and the video is choppy. I have tried registry fixes, and such, and cannot get it to work properly. Can someone please point me in the right direction??

TIA...

Siptang

04-06-08, 11:29 PM

Bgnome

04-06-08, 11:42 PM

Ok, update...
I went to bestbuy today and purchased a separate dvi to hdmi cable and attached it to my card and it still doesn't work...

Video Connection Type : Digital (without HDCP)
Right now I have tried different adapters, different cables and different softwares.
Really frustrated over here and will appreciate any input towards this matter.

sounds to me like a driver issue. make sure that you are using drivercleaner or something similar that clears out the old drivers when installing new ones. i would try different combinations of all the drivers i could get my hands on. it took me over a week to get the results i was looking for..

i ended up going with a clean install of xp pro sp2 with catalyst 8.3 + hotfix

daMaster

04-07-08, 12:04 AM

warlockuk

04-07-08, 08:45 AM

Hey, STEye - have you tried using Media Player Classic - Home Cinema edition? (MPC-HD). That might work for you if PowerDVD is having gyp with files.

juffi

04-07-08, 01:10 PM

Any idea why I get colors wrong in PowerDVD Ultra when playing HDDVD. Attached an example from opening of Happy Feet.

Graphics card: Sapphire HD3470 256M GDDR3
XP Sp2, CCC 8.3, tweaks installed.
PowerDVD Ultra version 3730a.

torput

04-07-08, 02:09 PM

I have tearing with all material and have no clue what's causing it. I'm using latest drivers on WinXP and have HD2400 Pro. CPU is low end Amd x2.

I have two displays, one is 768*540@50 Hz (interlaced), the other one 960*540@50 Hz (progressive). Both displays have vsync enabled, and I watch only PAL material. I use MediaPortal for media playback.

Picture on the first (CRT) display seems to be fine. However, if I ask MP to use second display, there is always tearing in about center of the display when the screen is panning. It doesn't seem to drop any frames though.

I have tried several MPEG2 decoders, I have tried EVR and VMR9, I have tried reclock, I have changed the second display to "primary" in Windows setting, I have disabled CRT display. Nothing has helped. Any ideas what to try next appreciated!

ToughRowToHoe

04-07-08, 03:24 PM

I've read arfster's post concerning registry tweaks and even applied the VB script to set registry values. I have a 2600 Pro running in Vista with Cyberlink MPEG2 decoder with hardware acceleration enabled. With some 720p and 1080i MPEG2 broadcasts, I get choppy video and dropped out audio. I keep reading about an ATI Avivo decoder, but it doesn't show up as a DirectShow filter after installing CCC 8.3. Is it a separate download somewhere? Is the Avivo decoder better than the Cyberlink one when it comes to hardware acceleration?

Also, my video card is a passive Gigabyte 2600 Pro and it hits temps as high as 75 degrees celsius! Is that too hot?

The Avivo decoder is a seperate download.

I think others have mentioned their cards getting that hot. I have the MSI passive card. It never really gets above 60. Try making sure you have good cross flow through your case. It should be fairly onobstructed going from the front bottom to the back top. Tie your cords back to the sides. Make sure your don't have fans blowing in opposite directions. If that doesn't work or isn't an issue in the first place, you can always try better thermal compound.

Wiggies666

04-07-08, 04:28 PM

Wrestling with my Asus 2600PRO AGP in XP for some time already, HD-DVD playback is choppy.
Downloading the latest drivers only make things worse, artifacts all over the place and HD mkv files completely go wrong on decoding, green and scrambled image regularly.
Only the (very old) ASUS drivers which were delivered with the card, seem to work (besides HD-DVD playback that is), acceleration on mkv's is also perfect then.
I'm allmost starting to think something is wrong with the hardware or the design of it.
Anybody a clue?

nathan118

04-07-08, 07:29 PM

I've read arfster's post concerning registry tweaks and even applied the VB script to set registry values. I have a 2600 Pro running in Vista with Cyberlink MPEG2 decoder with hardware acceleration enabled. With some 720p and 1080i MPEG2 broadcasts, I get choppy video and dropped out audio. I keep reading about an ATI Avivo decoder, but it doesn't show up as a DirectShow filter after installing CCC 8.3. Is it a separate download somewhere? Is the Avivo decoder better than the Cyberlink one when it comes to hardware acceleration?

Also, my video card is a passive Gigabyte 2600 Pro and it hits temps as high as 75 degrees celsius! Is that too hot?

I use the AVIVO decoder for my mpeg2 decoder. Yes, it's a separate download (on the same page as the catalyst drivers at the bottom). All you probably need to do is install the avivo package and make sure the ati decoder is preferred.

My 2600xt is passively cooled and it idles at about 50c, so yeah, 75 is a little hot. If you can get hardwaer acceleration working, stress that video card and see what the temps max at.

STEye

04-07-08, 07:51 PM

Hey, STEye - have you tried using Media Player Classic - Home Cinema edition? (MPC-HD). That might work for you if PowerDVD is having gyp with files.

I have tried Media Player Classic, but I don't know if it's the home cinema edition. It came with a codec pack. Do you have a link where I can D/L it?

Even though PowerDVD says the video is MPEG-4 AVC, is it possible it's not h.264, but x.264? I have been reading many threads where it says that PowerDVD cannot use hardware acceleration with x.264. Can anyone vouch for that? All my Mpeg-2 backups utilize HA with no problems..

I used AnyDVD to decrypt, would this cause the movie to be x.264?

Siptang

04-08-08, 01:36 AM

sounds to me like a driver issue. make sure that you are using drivercleaner or something similar that clears out the old drivers when installing new ones. i would try different combinations of all the drivers i could get my hands on. it took me over a week to get the results i was looking for..

i ended up going with a clean install of xp pro sp2 with catalyst 8.3 + hotfix

driver cleaner?
what program can you recommend?
I downloaded the latest driver from ati does that include the hotfix?

7o9

04-08-08, 06:07 AM

I have tried Media Player Classic, but I don't know if it's the home cinema edition. It came with a codec pack. Do you have a link where I can D/L it?

Even though PowerDVD says the video is MPEG-4 AVC, is it possible it's not h.264, but x.264? I have been reading many threads where it says that PowerDVD cannot use hardware acceleration with x.264. Can anyone vouch for that? All my Mpeg-2 backups utilize HA with no problems..

I used AnyDVD to decrypt, would this cause the movie to be x.264?

x264 is a codec for h.264. powerdvd doesn't like anything that's not L4.1, and some files have other settings pdvd chokes on.

MPC-HD: http://tibrium.neuf.fr/

warlockuk

04-08-08, 07:45 AM

Yeah, what 7o9 said - that place. I think I installed something else too, can't remember - it's a couple of dozen pages back.

Wish I'd read that page a month back though it would have saved me a ton of messing about - I'd already worked out to remove DirectVobSub - didn't think to remove FFDShow too (which in the end solved all my problems)

:)

daMaster

04-08-08, 12:38 PM

I use the AVIVO decoder for my mpeg2 decoder. Yes, it's a separate download (on the same page as the catalyst drivers at the bottom). All you probably need to do is install the avivo package and make sure the ati decoder is preferred.

My 2600xt is passively cooled and it idles at about 50c, so yeah, 75 is a little hot. If you can get hardwaer acceleration working, stress that video card and see what the temps max at.
Thanks, I actually never realized that I needed the "Avivo Package" to get the Avivo decoder - strange why ATI doesn't just include it with the Catalyst install. I'll try installing the package tonight and testing out the Avivo decoder vs. the Cyberlink one.

I have hardware acceleration enabled and working. I see my GPU usage go as high as 35-40% on 720p/1080i MPEG2 content, which is the expected usage on a 2600Pro. That's when my GPU temps hit 75 degrees. My idle temp is also around 50 degrees. Can you check your temp when you're doing hardware acceleration and report back?

I may take apart the video card to remove the cooler and replace the thermal paste (btw, it's a Gigabyte 2600Pro).

sdheda

04-08-08, 12:43 PM

tvted

04-08-08, 12:48 PM

I've just installed an 2600HD_PRO AGP in an Nforce2 Mbd in a attempt to enable BD playback for a few months before I replace the unit, likely in the Fall. The software install was somewhat annoying in that the CCC package installer aborted. I was able to get the drivers installed to the latest 8.3 HotFix by using the install for the individual package components. Hardware Acceleration works well enough with MPC_HC and the demo of POWERDVD_8 that I may go ahead and purchase a LG GGC-H20L Combo drive and give Hi Def optical a go.

For now there seems to be no major issues though I've a question re BtB and WtW and level expansion. I've (loosely) done my due diligence in this thread but haven't found clear answers other than the AGP version might be flakey.

I use ZP 5.02 + ffdshow (Levels not selected) as my main player and my PJ was calibrated for that. I'm upgrading from an NVidea 6600GT which passed BtB and WtW without difficulty. Now that I've moved to the 2600 PRO, ZP levels have been expanded and 16 is now 0 and 235 is now 255 - this checked with COLORCOP + DVE, and BtB, WtW are no longer passed. The odd thing is that POWERDVD 8 deno passes BtB and WtW and codes are not remapped. CCC is set for the App determining Vid levels. This seems wonky, so before I toy with my registry per the tweaks, any thoughts here, as these seem to be conflicting behaviours? Help from the more clear-headed would be appreciated. The display is driven by VGA for both cards which could account for black level differences but not app differences so it seems odd.

Other than the separate display calibration necessary (since I would prefer to continue with ZP for SD DVD) I've no major issue with not passing all codes for Studio source, as I can calibrate for either, though I would prefer to have them. I've checked this on older ATI harware and the behaviour is the same. Is this an issue with the ATI hardware or driver related?

EDIT:
It turns out that the level change I'm experiencing in ZP is a result of ffdshow being in the chain (downer). Funny that, since I only use RESIZE with Lancoz and LEVELS are not activated at all. Exploration of that issue is of course, not for this thread.

So as it stands the 2600HD_Pro AGP with a vanilla CCC 8.3 HotFix driver install - i.e. *no* Registry tweaks appears initially to work as expected on an ASUS A7N8X Deluxe (NForce2) MBoard w/ XP_SP2. i.e. there is HA with PowerDVD Ultra (Demo) and MPC_HC for h.264 which should be the toughest of the bunch. I will likely try the Reg tweaks to see if that solves the issue with ffdshow/ZP and will purchase a BD Rom to give that a try (no risk there as I will just drop that into the machine I ultimately build).

ted

daMaster

04-08-08, 12:52 PM

I just installed Vista Ultimate x86 SP1, and I am having a problem with EVR output. I am trying to setup MediaPortal as my frontend, but when I select EVR as the output type it appears as though a row of pixels from the bottom of the screen show up on the top. The same goes with the right and left portions.

If I use MPC and set its output to EVR it also does the same thing. However if I set it to EVR Custom, it does not. The problem is that MediaPortal does not offer this option as the output type.

Does anyone know why this is happening, and if there is a solution to this?
I'm also using EVR in MediaPortal with a 2600Pro. I'm still on Vista pre-SP1, but I replaced my evr.dll with the evr.dll from SP1. I don't have the issue you're referring to.

A few questions:
1) What video card and Catalyst drivers are you using?
2) Which decoder are you using in MediaPortal? Cyberlink? CoreAVC? Dscaler? Etc?
3) Do you have the Aero Windows Vista theme enabled? Easy way to check is to hit the Window key + Tab and see if you get a nifty 3D window switching effect (vs the boring Alt+Tab option). If nothing happens when you press Window key + Tab, then the Aero theme is disabled. If it's enabled, then try turning it off to see if it resolves your problem.

Maier2505

04-08-08, 01:31 PM

Anyone know how to get to the EVR Renderer Properties editor.

Edit: The one mentioned in this thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=992082&highlight=evr)

Google for evrprop.dll and register it under windows/system32...

When I did that, I now have the possibility under DVBviewer to go rightclick->Ansicht->Filters-> EVR Renderer and get that property page...

Best regards

maier2505

just.interactive

04-08-08, 02:18 PM

Hi arfster (and other ATI experts),

I am having a big issue with my HD2400pro.

Blu-ray h.264 play back is not accelerated at all and sometimes studders, if your reg-tweaks are not in place.The CPU (Core2Duo E4500) is maxed out at 100% and the GPU is at about 20%.

If I do the reg-tweaks, the CPU is about 40%, the GPU 50% and the Blu-ray plays perfect.

However if I play h.264 TV with 1080i now, I see the GPU maxes out and the HDTV studders (the CPU goes down to 10%).

Without reg tweaks is "barely" works..

In other words I need the reg tweaks for BD playback and need to turn them off when playing HDTV...
Your reg tweaks are definitely still needed for 2400pro and BD playback and not outdated ;)

All this is with CCC 8.3, Vista 32bit HP, PDVD 7 Ultra.

BTW: both (HDTV and BD) worked fine under CCC 7.10 but there they had the stupid green-screen bug (when resume from S3 and start playback of BD). So I couldnt stay with that version. All new realeses since 7.10 are not capable of playing BD without the reg tweaks.

BTW2: The HDTV movie also plays fine with ffdshow, but MediaPortal TsReader can not use ffdshow as codec anymore under Vista :mad:

So there is no way out :(
Could I somehow use a "half" way setting of the tweaks to better distrubte the load on CPU and GPU for both HDTV and BD ?
If not and I have to turn the reg settings on and off, when does the driver read them ? Every time you it starts playing a new movie or when the graph is rendered ?

Thanks for your help
justinteractive

daMaster

04-08-08, 02:32 PM

arfster

04-08-08, 02:33 PM

However if I play h.264 TV with 1080i now, I see the GPU maxes out and the HDTV studders (the CPU goes down to 10%).

The problem here is that 1080i HDTV needs deinterlacing (Bluray films don't), and the 2400pro basically isn't powerful enough for that with 1080i. You can set the card to only accelerate Bluray (VForce24FPS1080H264=1), but that won't make any difference - decoding is on the UVD, while it's your shaders that are being overloaded by the deinterlacing.

Try setting deinterlacing to bob in CCC, and checking the GPU meter - does it still max out? (if so then try the next better, motion-adaptive). Also use the regtweaker to switch off denoise/detail (trdenoise/dvxa_detailenhance=0), because those eat GPU a bit. Haven't had a 2400 for a while, but it should be able to manage bob and probably MA for 1080i h264.

torput

04-08-08, 02:45 PM

I use Windows XP and have PCIe version of HD2400.

What would be the best MPEG2 decoder to use with MediaPortal?

sdheda

04-08-08, 03:35 PM

I'm also using EVR in MediaPortal with a 2600Pro. I'm still on Vista pre-SP1, but I replaced my evr.dll with the evr.dll from SP1. I don't have the issue you're referring to.

A few questions:
1) What video card and Catalyst drivers are you using?
2) Which decoder are you using in MediaPortal? Cyberlink? CoreAVC? Dscaler? Etc?
3) Do you have the Aero Windows Vista theme enabled? Easy way to check is to hit the Window key + Tab and see if you get a nifty 3D window switching effect (vs the boring Alt+Tab option). If nothing happens when you press Window key + Tab, then the Aero theme is disabled. If it's enabled, then try turning it off to see if it resolves your problem.

A) I have a HD3650 with Catalyst 8.3 + the hotfix + all the registry tweaks
B) For MPEG2 I am using the Cyberlink decoder
C) I am not at home right now, but I think it is enabled. I will try disabling it when I get the chance.

Google for evrprop.dll and register it under windows/system32...

When I did that, I now have the possibility under DVBviewer to go rightclick->Ansicht->Filters-> EVR Renderer and get that property page...

Best regards

maier2505

Thanks. I will do that as well.

I use Windows XP and have PCIe version of HD2400.

What would be the best MPEG2 decoder to use with MediaPortal?

Since you are running XP, I would use the Nvidia decoders in VMR9 mode. However, if you want to use free decoders, then the bundled MPV decoder is good. You can also try Dscaler5.

torput

04-08-08, 04:25 PM

Since you are running XP, I would use the Nvidia decoders in VMR9 mode. However, if you want to use free decoders, then the bundled MPV decoder is good. You can also try Dscaler5.

Why VMR9 and not EVR?

I get tearing if I start MP on the second display, any ideas what I could do? Zoomplayer works perfectly but MP tears.

arfster

04-08-08, 05:36 PM

I use Windows XP and have PCIe version of HD2400.

What would be the best MPEG2 decoder to use with MediaPortal?

The AVIVO one, ffdshow*, or bitcontrol (which costs). The reason being that the 2400 has enormous problems with the shaders, and can't handle doing mpeg2 decoding as well as deinterlacing 1080i. The answer is to to disable hardware accelerated mpeg2 HD decoding (dvxa_nohddecode=1), but use a decoder that can still access hardware deinterlacing - ie the ones above.

*to get ffdshow to access hw deinterlacing, set output to NV12 only, and interlace flag as bob. FFDshow never hw accelerates so you don't even have to tough the registry.

sdheda

04-08-08, 06:35 PM

Why VMR9 and not EVR?

I get tearing if I start MP on the second display, any ideas what I could do?

I don't believe that the Nvidia decoder uses hardware acceleration in EVR. You can try it and see what your CPU usage is like.

I also forgot to mention the ATI AVIVO decoder, which is also free.

I am still trying to get my new HTPC up and running the way I like. This is also the first time I am using Vista, and for some reason MediaPortal has not been easy to get running smoothly. In XP it was a lot easier.

nathan118

04-08-08, 08:57 PM

nathan118

04-08-08, 09:04 PM

I have hardware acceleration enabled and working. I see my GPU usage go as high as 35-40% on 720p/1080i MPEG2 content, which is the expected usage on a 2600Pro. That's when my GPU temps hit 75 degrees. My idle temp is also around 50 degrees. Can you check your temp when you're doing hardware acceleration and report back?

I may take apart the video card to remove the cooler and replace the thermal paste (btw, it's a Gigabyte 2600Pro).

My GPU (2600xt) goes between 38-52% on a 1080i mpeg2 broadcast. My idle is 51c, and after 15 mins it has maxed at 55C. Basically it sounds like your card isn't getting any air moving over it. In my HTPC I have a scythe ninja cpu cooler right next to the fins of the videocard heatsink. I have an 80mm fan on the cpu heatsink which pulls are directly off the videocard (about 1 cm away) and towards the cpu, and then I have two 60mm fans for exhaust directly adjacent to that. So it pulls hot air off the videocard, and then exhausts the cpu/videocard heat out the back.

I don't even have an intake fan on that case, just the two 60mm exhaust fans, and even those are slowed down with fan speed adapters.

torput

04-09-08, 01:05 AM

The AVIVO one, ffdshow*, or bitcontrol (which costs).

Thanks! Stupid question: where can I download AVIVO one? My card was manufactured by ASUS. I couldn't find it for download in ASUS nor ATI's page.

punksterz626

04-09-08, 01:12 AM

PLEEEEEAAASE HELP ME!!!!

I cant get my audio to work with my new receiver. Just purchased the yamaha 663. Here is what i did:

My GOAL: Home threatre with my PC

What i have:
vista Core 2Quad
ATI 2600xt (w/original dvi to hdmi adapter for audio and video)
47vizio LCD

What i did:
1)output my computer to my receiver via hdmi (25ft)
2)output my receiver to my LCD via hdmi cable

I was able to get video BUT NO AUDIO! If i connect from my computer directly to my LCD it works perfectly fine, video and sound. Am i missing something here? Do i need a separate audio source to the receiver from my computer? Anyone else have this problem? Im new to the world of audio and video wiring.

Anyone with this issue? How did you get it to work? Is it possible to get audio separately into the receiver since it didnt work with my dvi-hdmi adaptor?

gregwiggles

04-09-08, 01:42 AM

I am not try to steal the thread, but I think my issue is somewhat similar (digital connection issue). I have tried to research the forum for solution, but apparently I have been looking at the wrong places. So any HD2600xt owners out there experienced the same issue, please show me how to solve it.

I just bought a Diamond Viper HD2600xt SB Edition at buy.com, with real HDMI port (selling point for me). I can connect my vista pc to my Samsung plasma S-5053 just fine through VGA port, but I want to use the video card HDMI port. Every time I started up my pc with HDMI cable connect my plasma to my HDMI port on my card, I saw the DELL startup screen, then everything went blank and "Signal not detected."

Please, any help would be greatly appreciated! :confused:

punksterz626

04-09-08, 01:55 AM

just.interactive

04-09-08, 07:07 AM

The problem here is that 1080i HDTV needs deinterlacing (Bluray films don't), and the 2400pro basically isn't powerful enough for that with 1080i. You can set the card to only accelerate Bluray (VForce24FPS1080H264=1), but that won't make any difference - decoding is on the UVD, while it's your shaders that are being overloaded by the deinterlacing.

Try setting deinterlacing to bob in CCC, and checking the GPU meter - does it still max out? (if so then try the next better, motion-adaptive). Also use the regtweaker to switch off denoise/detail (trdenoise/dvxa_detailenhance=0), because those eat GPU a bit. Haven't had a 2400 for a while, but it should be able to manage bob and probably MA for 1080i h264.

arfster, you are the MAN !
of course, you are absolutely right, the deinterlacing causes the burden on the shaders (stupid me ;-) ).
Applying your tweaks and then setting VForce24FPS1080H264=1 did the trick !
In addition I also overclocked the card a little to 648 GPU / 450 Mem.
Now Blu-ray plays absolutely smooth, and HDTV works too. The 1080i is perfect, only with 720p the MediaPortal overlays are flickering.. but I can live with that.
Great, with this setup I can work until a HD3450 card with passive cooling and buildin HDMI comes out.

BTW: one thing I always notice with HDTV and the PowerDVD codec is that sometimes after seeking/FFD/REW and hitting play it studders and you see the GPU load going up and down like a rollercoaster then it plays smooth for about 10 secs, then studders again and so on. If you hit pause and play it plays ok again.
Do others have the same problem ?

Thanks again arfster for your help!
best regards from Germany
justinteractive

gregwiggles

04-09-08, 09:11 AM

punksterz626

04-09-08, 10:15 AM

punksterz626, I tried them all without any luck. Can't even enable the second display in Catalyst setup. By the way I use the driver the Diamond list on their website (dated 10/25/07). Should I try new version by ATI?

I think the 8.3 is out but i thought thats the problem. have you check if the cable is faulty? Try using the hdmi cable with something else and see if thats the problem.

millerbrad

04-09-08, 11:44 AM

punksterz626, I tried them all without any luck. Can't even enable the second display in Catalyst setup. By the way I use the driver the Diamond list on their website (dated 10/25/07). Should I try new version by ATI?

As an experiment, maybe try the 7.7 drivers. They're the best ones I can get to recognize dual-monitors with HDMI. Maybe the way the built-in HDMI & DVI ports are implemented on your card are somehow related to this dual-display problem. (Maybe this is a longshot, but what the heck...)

arfster

04-09-08, 11:51 AM

I've never had a problem with dualdisplay actually recognising monitors, with any drivers, using VGA, dvi-dvi, and dvi-hdmi.

Afaik that part of things is handled by windows anyway - is your monitor appearing in device manager?

daMaster

04-09-08, 11:53 AM

The AVIVO one, ffdshow*, or bitcontrol (which costs). The reason being that the 2400 has enormous problems with the shaders, and can't handle doing mpeg2 decoding as well as deinterlacing 1080i. The answer is to to disable hardware accelerated mpeg2 HD decoding (dvxa_nohddecode=1), but use a decoder that can still access hardware deinterlacing - ie the ones above.

*to get ffdshow to access hw deinterlacing, set output to NV12 only, and interlace flag as bob. FFDshow never hw accelerates so you don't even have to tough the registry.
Thanks arfster - this is very informative, as is usually the case with your posts!

Question: I have a 2600 Pro, and wondering if I should turn off hardware acceleration by setting dvxa_nohddecode=1 with the Avivo decoder? I'm watching 720p/1080i MPEG2 broadcasts and outputting to an RP-CRT @ 1920x1080 30Hz.

arfster

04-09-08, 12:14 PM

Question: I have a 2600 Pro, and wondering if I should turn off hardware acceleration by setting dvxa_nohddecode=1 with the Avivo decoder? I'm watching 720p/1080i MPEG2 broadcasts and outputting to an RP-CRT @ 1920x1080 30Hz.

I'd suggest checking your GPU levels when playing 1080i mpeg2 - it might be a little tight with VA deinterlacing in some circumstances, especially given you're outputting full 1920*1080.

Of course, unless your CPU is quite old, mpeg2 1080i should be pretty easy meat even w/out acceleration. Given that, most folks should be able to use the AVIVO+no acceleration+hw deinterlacing combo without any real issues - it might even be worth recommending this as a default for most people tbh (especially for those with dual displays).

daMaster

04-09-08, 12:17 PM

I'd suggest checking your GPU levels when playing 1080i mpeg2 - it might be a little tight with VA deinterlacing in some circumstances, especially given you're outputting full 1920*1080.

Of course, unless your CPU is quite old, mpeg2 1080i should be pretty easy meat even w/out acceleration. Given that, most folks should be able to use the AVIVO+no acceleration+hw deinterlacing combo without any real issues - it might even be worth recommending this as a default for most people tbh (especially for those with dual displays).
Thanks! Follow-up question: setting dxva_nohddecode=1 in Catalyst 8.3 has an effect on the 2600 Pro and does it impact other hardware acceleration, such as BluRay and HD-DVDs? I guess I'll give it a shot tonight and report back on the results.

arfster

04-09-08, 02:01 PM

Thanks! Follow-up question: setting dxva_nohddecode=1 in Catalyst 8.3 has an effect on the 2600 Pro and does it impact other hardware acceleration, such as BluRay and HD-DVDs? I guess I'll give it a shot tonight and report back on the results.

It only works for HD mpeg2, and there are pretty few bluray discs using that (especially recent ones).

torput

04-09-08, 02:50 PM

I get bad tearing & judder on my second display even with SD material, and the resolution of the screen is only 960*540. (The other display has even smaller resolution with interlace.) I have ASUS EAH2400.

I'm using MediaPortal which only supports VMR & EVR (and I prefer EVR). With Zoomplayer & overlay renderer it works fine.

I have v8.3 drivers and I've installed the registry hacks. I've tried several MPEG2 decoders.

What should I try next? 8.471 beta drivers from Asus?

gregwiggles

04-09-08, 04:23 PM

punksterz626

04-10-08, 01:31 AM

punksterz626

04-10-08, 01:19 PM

Diamond mm tech support suggested to uninstall all ATI drivers that I currently have in my system (only one), reboot with only HDMI connected, and re-install the driver from the original CD. Should I?

i dont see why that will work if your vga output works. Try doing this, connect your computer monitor to your dvi unit and test if its a faulty dvi output. Maybe its your video card problem.

cpalcott

04-11-08, 05:03 PM

So what would be the best driver for a Saphire 2600XT PCI-E on Vista32 at this point, 8.3? Standard or modified? Better to wait for 8.4? Any suggestions?

gregwiggles

04-11-08, 05:58 PM

i dont see why that will work if your vga output works. Try doing this, connect your computer monitor to your dvi unit and test if its a faulty dvi output. Maybe its your video card problem.

I found out the problem just by accident. Browsing thru my Samsung S-5053 manual, I saw this: "HDMI 1/DVI In not compatible with PC". Changing my TV input to HDMI 2 works like a charm.
Thank you veryone for pitching in with various advices.:)

Now if I can only change my streaming movie from my NAs to 16:9 aspect instead of letter box in a 4:3 frame. Is the setting in CCC?

Dee_NA

04-12-08, 07:57 AM

Speakin of 8.4, isn't it about time for it to come out?
If so, I wonder if anyone knows of any changes ATi has made.

arfster

04-12-08, 08:25 AM

The "8.3 hotfix" on ATI's website is already 8.4 :-)

Official 8.4 will be out this week I guess, but might actually be older than the 8.3 hotfix due to ATI's test cycle (hotfixes are typically very, very recent builds).

DrLove

04-12-08, 08:52 AM

Hi,

Is there another s/w for custom editing of the LUT (custom curv shapes) than the Riva tuner, I think it's not that good.

nac777

04-12-08, 10:36 PM

Having a weird issue with my new Vista/ATI 3870 build. Seems on some content blacks look fine, but near-blacks have a weird blue tinge. Taking down the brightness some in AVIVO fixes it, but i'm not sure if that's the correct thing to do. I have ffdshow outputting YV12 only, not sure if that might have something to do with it.

one_2go

04-13-08, 08:28 PM

Just out of curiosity, I have been reading the recommendations for the AVIVO MPEG2 decoder being used with the ATI cards. I do have a 2600Pro and I am running most of my HDTV MPEG2 capped material using MPC HC with DScaler 5 with the IVTC mod and I am quite happy with it.

What are the differences, Pros & Cons using AVIVO vs. DScaler 5 w. IVTC?

Thanks.

arfster

04-13-08, 08:32 PM

Dscaler can't use hardware deinterlacing. Shouldn't matter much for IVTC though, both dscaler and the card will do a good job of that. The difference will be for actual interlaced content within the film, eg computer edited bits - dscaler can only bob those, the card can do all its fancy deinterlacing.

one_2go

04-13-08, 08:41 PM

HT Slider

04-13-08, 08:55 PM

Thanks for the quick reply. Do I then download the separate AVIVO package that has the silly line in there "Avivo Video Converter will only work with X1000 series products" which sort of indicated to me I don't need it with a 2600Pro card.

Once installed do I set the priority using the Direct Show filter manager so that it will be used for MPEG material? I do want to give it a try because some of the 1080i material especially from CBS do not play very smooth at times. (I do have an E6850 CPU with plenty of RAM)

I too would like to know how to set up my system to try the ATI AVIVO mpeg-2 decoder.

Can anyone, Arfster?, answer these questions:

- I've read that there is an ATI mpeg-2 decoder that not only produces very good image quality, but it also fully takes advantage of hardware acceleration. Is this installed along with the driver package or do we need to install the AVIVO package to get this codec?

- In order to use this with Vista Media Center I understand we need to make a registry change to select the preferred decoder for dvr-ms files in Media Center. What needs to be done and what is the best way to do this?

- I've also read that there were some issues with using this decoder with Media Center. Something to do with chapter skipping not working when watching DVDs and issues with content protection. Have these been resolved since I read about them over a year ago?

- one_2go, what is the Direct Show filter manager? I've always changed the merit on filters by changing settings manually within the registry. Is this an easy to use tool or something that lets you do this?

Thanks.

theother

04-14-08, 12:51 AM

HT Slider

04-14-08, 01:05 AM

ya i would like to learn more about the avivo mpeg-2 decoder also

HT Slider here is the link (http://www.softella.com/dsfm/index.en.htm) to the DS Filter Manager. I've used it quite a while now, beats messing with the registry manually :-)

It specifically does not list Vista as supported.

I know there weren't that many changes to the core DirectShow for Vista - does it work with Vista? Or does it screw everything up...?

avekevin

04-14-08, 01:16 AM

I installed my new 2600 Pro AGP yesterday and I have been experimenting quite a bit since then. After a lot of tinkering, I finally got pretty good results. It took me forever to find a codec that supports HA - NVDVD does but I don't want to pay for it. I downloaded the trial version and it does work. I've found that even with software decoding the card gave approximately 50-200% better performance over my old Radeon 7500, depending upon settings.

I then found out the my driver disk does include an ATI HA decoder for both Mpeg-2 and H.264. I don't have any H.264 content yet, but the TS files I have recorded using my myHD card are playing smoothly. CCC reports that the GPU is working at about 75% during decode, and the CPU is running around 50% utilization. Playback is working within Meedio, Zoom Player and MPC.

My current PC is a Athlon XP 1700+, 512MB RAM, XP Pro SP2. So far I am pleased.

The driver disk that I got was CAT 7.9 (from August), but I've modded the CAT 8.3 Hot Fix on my machine. Unfortunately, this did not include the newest decoders - I am still looking for those.

More info to come.

Kevin

Edit: I didn't put this in my original post, but it may be important to someone. I am running an old nForce 1 motherboard w/ 4x AGP. AGP 8x does not seem to be required.

adfox

04-14-08, 01:27 AM

Hi folks, this looked like the place to ask this question, I hope someone here can help. I've just set up a new PC with a Gigabyte 2400xt card. I use it as my main PC and also have it hooked up to an old Loewe CRT via S-VID. The problem I am having is that video is squashed a little, ie circles are shorter than they are wide. The TV is calibrated correctly and was fine with the previous setup, and video played on the LCD monitor is fine. I'm using clone mode with theater mode enabled. The overscan adjustements work when the desktop is being displayed, but don't affect the fullscreen tv output when a video file is playing. The width is correct, I can see the whole image, but it just needs to be a little taller. Any help would be much appreciated, this is killing me!

avekevin

04-14-08, 01:41 AM

The ATI codec seems to support lots of formats other than h.264 and MPEG-2. Good to see....

Here's the output from DirectShow Filter Manager:

Category CLSID:{083863F1-70DE-11D0-BD40-00A0C911CE86}
CLSID: {37A4D808-E76C-11D2-935C-00A024E52661}
FriendlyName: [ATI MPEG Video Decoder]
Version: 2
Merit: 0x99999999
Pin count: 3
----- Pin 0 ------
Flags: Output:0 ZeroInst:0 Renderer:0 ManyInst:0
Instances: 0
Media Types: 7
Type: 0
MajorType: FourCC:vids MEDIATYPE_Video {73646976-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}
MinorType: {D0196540-FCAE-11D2-935D-00A024E52661}
Type: 1
MajorType: FourCC:vids MEDIATYPE_Video {73646976-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}
MinorType: KSDATAFORMAT_SUBTYPE_MPEG2_VIDEO {E06D8026-DB46-11CF-B4D1-00805F6CBBEA}
Type: 2
MajorType: FourCC:vids MEDIATYPE_Video {73646976-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}
MinorType: FourCC:DIVX {58564944-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}
Type: 3
MajorType: FourCC:vids MEDIATYPE_Video {73646976-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}
MinorType: FourCC:DX50 {30355844-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}
Type: 4
MajorType: FourCC:vids MEDIATYPE_Video {73646976-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}
MinorType: FourCC:H264 {34363248-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}
Type: 5
MajorType: FourCC:vids MEDIATYPE_Video {73646976-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}
MinorType: FourCC:MP4V {5634504D-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}
Type: 6
MajorType: FourCC:vids MEDIATYPE_Video {73646976-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}
MinorType: FourCC:mp4v {7634706D-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}
----- Pin 1 ------
Flags: Output:1 ZeroInst:0 Renderer:0 ManyInst:0
Instances: 0
Media Types: 1
Type: 0
MajorType: FourCC:vids MEDIATYPE_Video {73646976-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}
MinorType: GUID_NULL {00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}
----- Pin 2 ------
Flags: Output:1 ZeroInst:0 Renderer:0 ManyInst:0
Instances: 0
Media Types: 1
Type: 0
MajorType: KSDATAFORMAT_TYPE_AUXLine21Data {670AEA80-3A82-11D0-B79B-00AA003767A7}
MinorType: KSDATAFORMAT_SUBTYPE_Line21_BytePair {6E8D4A22-310C-11D0-B79A-00AA003767A7}

DrLove

04-14-08, 02:28 AM

So where can I find this ATI AVIVO codec?

Best regards /L

avekevin

04-14-08, 07:06 AM

Do I then download the separate AVIVO package that has the silly line in there "Avivo Video Converter will only work with X1000 series products" which sort of indicated to me I don't need it with a 2600Pro card.

- I've read that there is an ATI mpeg-2 decoder that not only produces very good image quality, but it also fully takes advantage of hardware acceleration. Is this installed along with the driver package or do we need to install the AVIVO package to get this codec?

It's not part of the driver package, but it was on my driver disk (VisionTek). I tried downloading the AVIVO package online, and it does _appear_ to have the codec along with software for parental control. I skipped the PC software (perhaps it's for tuner cards?) but the codec seemed to install OK over my previous version. You might go ahead and give it a shot.

Kevin

millerbrad

04-14-08, 07:47 AM

Do FF & RWD work on the AVIVO decoder yet? I'd tried them in the past, but losing FF & RWD was a dealbreaker, and the wife made me switch back to the MS codec...

DrLove

04-14-08, 07:58 AM

It's not part of the driver package, but it was on my driver disk (VisionTek). I tried downloading the AVIVO package online, and it does _appear_ to have the codec along with software for parental control. I skipped the PC software (perhaps it's for tuner cards?) but the codec seemed to install OK over my previous version. You might go ahead and give it a shot.

Kevin

From ATI or VisionTek? I have installed the AVIVO package from ATI and I can't find the AVIVO decoder as an option in my player (Zoom Player).
I have decompressed the AVIVO package and in $OUTDIR I can find an AVIVO.msi file, I'll try to install this manually on my HTPC later.
Or is there another way?

one_2go

04-14-08, 08:31 AM

It specifically does not list Vista as supported.

I know there weren't that many changes to the core DirectShow for Vista - does it work with Vista? Or does it screw everything up...?

I am running this on Vista with no complications.

I know it is buried in this thread somewhere on how to identify this elusive AVIVO decoder and by what name it goes but a repeat of any installation points to use it as the primary MPEG2 decoder, I am sure is appreciated by many.

I was not aware of the FF & REW issues, if that is the case it is a deal braker because I use this in VMC constantly. You got leave a man to fiddling with his remote, what else is there in live. Oh, yeh fiddling with HTCPs & there graphic cards :D

Dee_NA

04-15-08, 12:56 AM

I'm guessin that the cat 8.4 is comin out tomorrow?

avekevin

04-15-08, 04:55 AM

From ATI or VisionTek? I have installed the AVIVO package from ATI and I can't find the AVIVO decoder as an option in my player (Zoom Player).
I have decompressed the AVIVO package and in $OUTDIR I can find an AVIVO.msi file, I'll try to install this manually on my HTPC later.
Or is there another way?

ATI. It doesn't look like I direct links to the file is working, but it's the "Complete AVIVO Pagakage" on this page (http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_catalyst.aspx?p=xp/radeonxavivo-xp).

I checked the file contents of that download versus the CAT 7.9 codec files that I got on my CD. The files on my CD are timestamped newer, but they otherwise seem identical. The critical file is atidvcr.dll and it gets installed to C:\Program Files\Common Files\ATI Technologies\Multimedia.

In order to get everything to work, I had to increase the merit of the filter because FFDShow will set a very large value for merit. I have not been able to get this codec working for H264 yet, but it's working great for MPEG-2.

I DO have H264 HA working in MPC-Home Cinema, using its internal filter. I don't have ready access to H264 content, but I got a 720p MKV clip off the internet encoded with x264. CPU utilization dropped from 100% using ZoomPlayer down to <15% using MPC-HC. Impressive!

Does anyone know if the MPC internal H264 filter is available as a DirectShow filter?

Kevin

PS...Re: FF/RW - Zoomplayer doesn't display the content while FF or RW is pressed but the seeking does indeed work. No "live view", though.

arfster

04-15-08, 07:07 AM

If you open up the packages, you're looking for avivo.msi - install that and you get the decoder.

DrLove

04-15-08, 07:26 AM

If you open up the packages, you're looking for avivo.msi - install that and you get the decoder.

I did just that and I still can't se the codec in zoomplayer's dvd setup. I find the ATI mpeg video decoder (atidvcr.dll) in "registred filter manager" but I can't use it for decoding dvd or H.264 even if I place all other codecs that can decode H.264 on the blacklist and raise the merrit for ATI mpeg video decoder to 80000, I only get a black screen then.

Royster

04-15-08, 10:12 AM

I just did a full reinstall of XP SP2. I have a 2400 Pro AGP and used Cat 8.3 hotfix (which show up as cat 8.4) Mpeg2 playback was horrible until I added TrDenoise=0 so it is still needed by me. DXVA_NoHDDecode is missing from the registry

Dee_NA

04-15-08, 12:41 PM

topcaser

04-15-08, 12:46 PM

Hi,

i installed also the AVIVO Package. I am able to select it for both SD and HD in DVBViewer. Nevertheless, if i watch to HD content and double check the decoder in view - filter there is the PowerDVD decoder again. What did i wrong?

ToughRowToHoe

04-15-08, 05:08 PM

dufflover

04-16-08, 02:10 AM

To skip the rant, just look out for the Blue ;)

This thread was very helpful in setting up my simple HTPC ... and subsequent debugging of it when the HD2400Pro couldn't do 1080i MPEG2 properly. It didn't help that I had Vista bug of it ignoring the CCC de-interlacing option even though I was in XP MCE :rolleyes:. A recent format and driver update (was on like 7.10 then 8.3) fixed that though, so I left it on Bob mode.

Setup:
- AM2 X2 3800+
- HD2400XT (just got today to replace over HD2400Pro which I still have on-hand)
- Catalyst 8.3
- XP MCE 2005
- Material is Aussie HDTV, so 1080i MPEG2

First incase you're wondering, the 2600Pro/HD3650 costed twice as much so while I knew they'd do it fine, it was just too big a jump. 8500GT was inbetween the Pro/XT price and 2600 price; still a bit too high and couldn't really confirm if it'd do the job. Much more info around on the ATI cards. I was out to get a 2400Pro for my cousin's similar HTPC but when I saw this only a tiny bit more $$$ more I figured I'll give him mine and I'll step up to the XT since he's not gonna be using HD and is looking to spend minimum $ anyway.

Went with the XT after reading some posts here that it can handle 1080i de-interlacing beyond just Bob, unlike the HD2400Pro.

But after a quick swap and driver install it's not the case for me. Just like the 2400Pro, the GPU load in CCC just gets maxed to 99%, CPU same as before ~30%, and yeah, it's unwatchable.

So I signed up to get access to the thread search :p, and there hasn't been anything which seems to help. So any ideas here? (if it's been mentioned just link me up!). I guess for distinct questions it'd be:
1. Was I wrong in reading/thinking that the HD2400XT can handle it fine?
2. One post somewhere (here or elsewhere) caught my attention about splitting the load, like decoding in CPU, de-interlacing in GPU. Conceptually makes perfect sense to get it to work fine, but does such a codec/solution exist?

As a final rant I find it annoying that it's not really GPU-assisted. I originally had a Sempron 3000+ (which is going into my cousin's budget rig mentioned earlier). I upgraded to the X2 whilst trying to "fix" the 1080i. It's not assisting if all it does it shift the bottleneck elsewhere :confused:.

Thanks in advance and for all the helpful posts before :)

johnny5o

04-16-08, 02:47 AM

Arfster, have you tried 8.3 hotfix on Vista, and if so is HD post processing enabled? I think it was turned off in plain 8.3.
thanks

scat2002

04-16-08, 05:55 AM

I plan on buying a SAPPHIRE 100218L Radeon HD 2600XT 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 and a LG Blu-ray/HD DVD-ROM HD DVD Drive.

My question is - How to connect for best display and sound?

The 2600xt has 2 DVI outputs, so do I use the included DVI to HDMI adapter and a HDMI to HDMI cable or us a DVI to HDMI cable to my display and use the on board sound chip on the 2600xt, so the sound goes out the HDMI cable?

or
do I connect the optical or analog for the sound?

Also where are you guys buying your analod 5.1 or 7.1 cables from? I looked at monoprice but could't find any.

Thanks
Scat

arfster

04-16-08, 09:58 AM

2. One post somewhere (here or elsewhere) caught my attention about splitting the load, like decoding in CPU, de-interlacing in GPU. Conceptually makes perfect sense to get it to work fine, but does such a codec/solution exist?

Use the AVIVO decoder, set dxva_nohddecode=1, it should hw deinterlace hopefully. That reg setting might disable hw deinterlace also though

If dxva_nohddecode also disables hw deinterlacing, use ffdshow and set output to NV12, deinterlace flag bob. This should work with dxva_nohddecode=0, as ffdshow doesn't support hw decoding at all.

Bitcontrol will definitely work, but it costs a little. It has settings so you can control what hw stuff is used.

arfster

04-16-08, 10:08 AM

Arfster, have you tried 8.3 hotfix on Vista, and if so is HD post processing enabled? I think it was turned off in plain 8.3.
thanks

Yeah, used that, don't think they fixed it.

Rumour has it's fixed in upcoming drivers though - although at a guess might not work too well on slower cards. Also, they might do the normal ATI thing of disabling it on anything short of the top end cards (aka being over-conservative, or a cynic might see it as trying to make you buy new cards).

grubi

04-16-08, 02:33 PM

8.4 is available for download from the official ATI page. Release notes do not promise anything exciting so far.

arfster

04-16-08, 02:51 PM

8.4 official: 0804071224-8.476-080328a-061008C
8.3 hotfix: 0803270817-8.471.1.1-080326a-061801E

Actually is newer, surprisingly.

arfster

04-16-08, 03:58 PM

EDIT: WRONG WRONG WRONG! This post was an error, they didn't fix anything. Was just a screwed up driver uninstall messing with things (blocked expansion, but unusable colours instead). Incidentally, >8.3 don't uninstall properly at all.

Well, knock me over and colour me bright pink with lipstick. They actually fixed something.....

SD now expands the same as HD by default! Doesn't make a big differerence really, it's just the same as usebt601csc=1, but nice they finally responded to my eons of arguing with their tech support. Only took them 9 months to do anything about it.

Multi-display acceleration bug still exists, so you still need vforceuvdvcd1=1 and vforceuvdh264=1. I'm told this has been fixed in "upcoming versions", although whether that means next month or next year.....

Edit: not sure whether SD expansion will happen in XP VMR9, you might need to experiment. In Vista EVR always expands regardless of acceleration or anything else, so it's not an issue.

topcaser

04-16-08, 04:48 PM

@arfster: I used these registry settings up to now:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Video\{2 5589F61-E1C0-4487-B2A6-E8167D54E65E}\0000]
;"DXVA_DetailEnhance"="0"
"TrDenoise"="0"
"UseBT601CSC"="1"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Video\{2 5589F61-E1C0-4487-B2A6-E8167D54E65E}\0001]
;"DXVA_DetailEnhance"="0"
"TrDenoise"="0"
"UseBT601CSC"="1"

You said, usebt601csc in not necessary any more. Great. Then there is one left: TrDenoise.

I havent used vforceuvdvcd1 because this tweak is for multimonitor applications, isnt it?

Just for information: Iam using XP...

Do you also remember to my last question:
i installed also the AVIVO Package. I am able to select it for both SD and HD in DVBViewer. Nevertheless, if i watch to HD content and double check the decoder in view - filter there is the PowerDVD decoder again. What did i wrong?

arfster

04-16-08, 06:49 PM

You said, usebt601csc in not necessary any more. Great. Then there is one left: TrDenoise.

In 8.3 Vista you needed trdenoise to switch it off, because switching it off in CCC didn't work. Does XP have the CCC sliders also? Have a play there, see if they work (esp. whether trdenoise=0 does the same as switching em off in CCC). Unfortunatrely XP and Vista functionality isn't always identical.

I havent used vforceuvdvcd1 because this tweak is for multimonitor applications, isnt it?

Yes - only need for multimon.

Your AVIVO issue will prolly just be a filter priority one. Do you need AVIVO for any particular reason though? Cyberlink works fine for me - the only useful thing avivo does is the sw decoding+hw deinterlacing trick.

HT Slider

04-16-08, 07:00 PM

In 8.3 Vista you needed trdenoise to switch it off, because switching it off in CCC didn't work. Does XP have the CCC sliders also? Have a play there, see if they work (esp. whether trdenoise=0 does the same as switching em off in CCC). Unfortunatrely XP and Vista functionality isn't always identical.

I'm running Vista, an ATI HD 2600XT PCIe, and Catalyst 8.3.

I spent quite a bit of time experimenting with the TRDenoise setting a couple of days ago and although it used to work very well with all releases prior to 8.3, with 8.3 I don't see any difference at all with TRDenoise added and set to 0.

This is when playing content in Media Center, so using EVR.

I do see a very slight change (almost nothing) in denoise levels by sliding the slider up and down and turning denoise on and off in CCC. Unfortunately there is very slight ghosting even with denoise turned off in CCC (with TRDenoise=0 or not added to the registry too). The sharpness setting in CCC has a much more visible change, but I prefer it off also (or very close to off).

For those of you seeing TRDenoise=0 working in Vista with Catalyst 8.3, are you using Media Center for playback?

arfster

04-16-08, 09:51 PM

Bad news folks - looks like 8.4 doesn't fix SD expansion after all. I'm not quite sure what happened with my setup, didn't have any time to look at it but seems some element of a beta driver I was testing didn't get cleaned off. Whatever happened, the result was a blocking of expansion, but a screwing with colours instead (same as happens with VMR9 w/out acceration).

Anyway, just got 8.5 beta, will have a test of it tomorrow.

ExDeus

04-16-08, 10:03 PM

By popular demand, I updated ATI HD Registry Tweaks 0.14 (http://exdeus.home.comcast.net/~exdeus/ati-hd2x00/) to optionally DELETE registry entries, as well as add them.

There is a new prompt after selecting your video card to ask whether you wish to ADD or DELETE registry settings.

As with adding the tweaks, you can elect to delete settings individually or all at once.

While I believe the program to be reasonably safe (it is not deleting random registry settings) and I USE THE PROGRAM MYSELF, as always, no warranty is offered or implied. Use at your own risk.

dufflover

04-17-08, 03:48 AM

Use the AVIVO decoder, set dxva_nohddecode=1, it should hw deinterlace hopefully. That reg setting might disable hw deinterlace also though

It's the AVIVO decoder that comes with the separate AVIVO driver/application package right?
I tried that previously and it just crashes on HD channels on reg setting 0 or 1.

On a side note, setting that option to 1 should push it all onto software? Cos using the Cyberlink codec it loads the GPU to 99% regardless.

Gave the ffdshow thing a try and I think it kinda works. I did this particular one through WinVNC :P, so I could check the quality of image; just the CPU/GPU loads.

Also gave OCing the 2400XT to 750/850 and it kinda helps ... I think. It is all perceptual so could be the placebo effect, lol.

Anyway I haven't formatted the HTPC in quite a while and no doubt it's a bit messy with all my previous tinkering with the HD2400Pro, plus I updated the 2400XT BIOS after my initial test/driver install with it so yeah. I'll report back after the format.

But just to ask again, True or False that the 2400XT should be able to handle "fancy" de-interlacing on 1080i MPEG2?
My guess is yes, but only in Vista because XP MCE has the VMR overhead?

Edit 2: the 2400XT (at least all the ones I've seen) are only 64-bit memory bus, not 128-bit which apparently is a big part of it! Heh, so anyone who has a happy HD2400XT say if theirs is 64 or 128?