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

[nathan118]

I would guess it is similar to when I use the Nvidia software de-interlacer. Try looking at the writing on the side of the aircraft towards the end of the clip. This still "shimmers" when I use software mode. Mind you it is pretty acceptable compared to hardware mode, which I agree is awful.

As you have the Nvidia decoder, try turning off hardware acceleration and see if you get the same results as me.

p.s. I am using a 3850, so this is not specific to your model or even series of card.

When I turn off hardware accleration I get deinterlacing "lines" galore. Like when Nick Cage is walking across the screen I see lines in his hair. I do see shimmer all over the place though.

Arg.

[jong1]

Maybe it is the deinterlacing mode being used? Sounds a lot worse than here. Certainly software mode is not perfect, it just looks like it at first glance compared to the stutter in hardware mode.

[chriscic]

It's absurd how these guys from ATI can actually make something WORSE as they work on it. Anyway, back to 8.4, it works very well indeed, I don't know why I even bother trying newer versions ... I think it's just the pure amazement and astonishment at how a team of programmers can make such incredible and systematic blunders ... I see it but I still can't integrate in my nervous system! Why these stupid mistakes, why turn upgrades into downgrades?? Why? :confused:

Brought to you by the company that broke DirectX fog (bonus points to anyone who remembers what I am talking about) :)

[firefoxsilver9]

ugh this is just maddening. I just install the 8.8 drivers and the avivo codec package and still no acceleration of h.246/vc1. mpeg-2 is just so good looking when its being accelerated, the video is smooth as silk and the colors amazing. I've tried Powerdvd, both 7 and 8, mpc-hc and its standalone codec, and nero showtime. This is what i get when analyzing a mkv file that is dxva compatible. is there anything else besides codecs and mediaplayers that can prevent hardware acceleration, like chipset drivers or such? be nice if i had some sort of checklist.

[arfster]

This is what i get when analyzing a mkv file that is dxva compatible. is there anything else besides codecs and mediaplayers that can prevent hardware acceleration, like chipset drivers or such? be nice if i had some sort of checklist.

Codecs or players will never make a difference there - what dxva checker reports is all that the driver is telling the OS its supports. Decoders won't even bother trying to start hardware acceleration in that case.

Chipset drivers are worth checking out, as is a separate OS (second hard disk to clean install on?).

[firefoxsilver9]

i'm using the most recent chipset drivers from Dell, which was released in 2005. Tried the latest from Intel, but it wouldn't install correctly (gave me a success message, but didn't install at all).

[luckyknight]

Does VForceMaxResSize 2800000 still work on Cats 8.8 with PowerDVD 8? I am trying to watch a blu-ray at 1080p24 but I am getting small black bars either side of the picture. The desktop is using the full width.

I'm using a dual monitor configuration on Vista x64. I don't have any previous cats installed as this is a new install of Vista.

Card is 3870 XT

[ExDeus]

Does VForceMaxResSize 2800000 still work on Cats 8.8 with PowerDVD 8? I am trying to watch a blu-ray at 1080p24 but I am getting small black bars either side of the picture. The desktop is using the full width.
Didn't think this was actually a problem anymore --- and when it was, I thought it was black bars all around the picture, or on the top and bottom, not on the sides.

You've tried viewing the movie in a window (not maximized to full screen) to ensure the black bars aren't part of the video?

You've tried applying vforceuvdcd1 and vforceuvdh264 ?

[ExDeus]

I've added a few minor enhancements to ATI HD Reg Tweaks 0.15 (http://exdeus.home.comcast.net/~exdeus/ati-hd2x00/).

* Added short descriptions to the dialog box for each registry setting.
* Added check for null values before attempting to delete HD2400 registry values.
* Added mention of ATI HD4000 series to use HD2600, HD3000 settings.
* Added Denoise_NA=0.
* Added Detail_NA=0.
* Added VForceDeint=6.
* Added VForceHDDenoise=0.

[luckyknight]

Didn't think this was actually a problem anymore --- and when it was, I thought it was black bars all around the picture, or on the top and bottom, not on the sides.

You've tried viewing the movie in a window (not maximized to full screen) to ensure the black bars aren't part of the video?

You've tried applying vforceuvdcd1 and vforceuvdh264 ?

I've tried Terminator 2 (UK - Region B) and Independence Day (UK - Region B). I tried the latest 0.15 with all settings (apart from the dual screen one).

The way that I notice it is by turning on overscan on the TV and you can clearly see the picture get wider without bars. It's only on full screen in PowerDVD. The desktop like I said uses up all the height/width.

Would powerstrip help? I have overscan all the way right in CCC so the desktop is at 1:1.

[jong1]

How small are these small black bars?

If they are very small it sounds like PowerDVD is not cropping 1920x1088 (the resolution on all Blu-ray discs provided for decoder efficiency) to 1920x1080, as it should. Rescaling the image to fit 1088 lines into 1080 physical lines woudl reduce the horizontal width (1920*1080/1088 = 1906, so there would be 7 pixels missing from each side of the screen). MPC-HC still does this with some renderer/mixer combinations.

Trouble is I have the latest PowerDVD and an ATI card and do not have the problem. I am still on 8.7 though. It is possible it is a problem with 8.8. I wonder if anyone else can check?

[luckyknight]

How small are these small black bars?


They are very small. I will try Nero again later.

[jong1]

Since it works with PDVD and earlier versions of Catalyst it could be something broken in 8.8. If so it may just affect PDVD or it could affect all.

You could try Cat 8.7 (after a clean uninstall of 8.8) and see if it goes away.

[arfster]

If I remember right the maxressize problems with pdvd cause it to limit the rendering area to a little over 1600 pixels wide, so on a 1080p screen you'd have 150ish pixels on each side, around 8% each side. Does that fit with what you're seeing?

[luckyknight]

We are talking about less than 1cm of border left and right. I'm not sure if it's Cat 8.8 or not - I will have to try it.

I'm getting a little bit annoyed with the whole PC Blu-ray solution!!! Nothing but problems for me. :(

[luckyknight]

I'm not having much luck here. Uninstalled 8.8 and rebooted into safe mode - ran the driver cleaner. Tried 8.6 and 8.7 and they both refuse to install (driver failed to load in device manager). It's all very strange.

Another wasted 90 minutes of my life trying to get blu-ray to work properly!!

[Siriusfilms]

I have had so many issues getting HXA in PDVD 7 with my Diamond ATI 2600XT and all the latest Driver releases beyond CCC 7.7. I almost gave up. I was living with the Red Shift issues and lots of interlacing problems on the extra content on BR discs. Main feature playback was ok, but I really wanted to upgrade the drivers, every time I tried any ATI driver in the last year it didn't work. I did read here that the HXA could be broken on 2600XT's when used in a dual monitor config. I do have a standard 1600x1050 LCD monitor and a 1080i RP-TV which I use for the BR playback. Even with the reg tweaks on CCC 8.7 HXA didn't work

Fortunately, or unfortunately, my attempt at upgrading Vista SP1 rendered my HTPC useless. I got the Black Screen and Mouse Pointer ONLY. Working with Microsoft support for a few hours on a Sunday we realized that a reinstall was going to be necessary. As a MS Partner, the support tech admitted that when you get a Black Screen and Mouse Pointer in Vista, but no logon, your License Key has somehow gotten corrupted and the OS won't load. The Vista kernel loads successfully, but it stops after that. This is a very SCARY thing about Vista, but I'll comment on this elsewhere.

I ended up reloading the OS from scratch using a Vista SP1 retail upgrade CD I had. My original OEM license key fortunately worked and didn't have to use the upgrade license.

With the successful reinstall I eventually loaded CCC 8.8. I confirmed that the only game I play, GH3, worked satisfactorily, and then proceeded to install PDVD. I installed the latest Full realease of 7.3 and added the latest patch. I may have run the reg tweaks before installing PDVD, but can't remember right now. I was skeptical that it was going to work, but sure enough... I SEE HARDWARE ACCELERATION in the latest PDVD using the latest CCC 8.8 on a dual monitor (Analog & component) setup.

[Siriusfilms]

Is there a way to get BR to play in VMC? I have PDVD7.3 working with HXA (see my post below). I should probably search the thread again befor posting, but as a regular subscriber I don't recall seeing VMC success.

Anyone?

[Siriusfilms]

I looks like the only thing you can do is set up VMC/MCE to launch PDVD and minimize the MC UI. I'm skeptical that it will close PDVD and return to MC. I'll test and see. Here's the solutions:

http://thegreenbutton.com/blogs/mike/archive/2007/01/14/158640.aspx

http://ourmediacenter.com/node/9

[firefoxsilver9]

just upgraded to Vista SP1 and now whenever i try to play a h.264 file, (tried mkv's with dxva compatibility and some trailers from apple), MPC says its using dxva, but nothing is playing. it just says this "H.264 bitstream decoder, no FGT". I also can't get wmv to accelerate either. Tried powerdvd 8 as well. currently using Powercolor's 8.6 drivers.

[HT Slider]

Is there a way to get BR to play in VMC? I have PDVD7.3 working with HXA (see my post below). I should probably search the thread again befor posting, but as a regular subscriber I don't recall seeing VMC success.

Anyone?

EDIT: I just noticed this was the HD2X00 thread and not the PDVD Ultra thread...

One option is to install the latest version of My Movies.

Once this and the latest version of PDVD Ultra (OEM or Retail) is installed and you start Media Center, a pop up message will appear asking you if you want My Movies to integrate PowerDVD Ultra with Media Center for HD-DVD and Bluray.

If you click "Yes", My Movies will do several things:


It will configure Vista Media Center to recognize when an HD-DVD or Bluray disc is inserted and automatically start PowerDVD.
It will configure Vista Media Center so if you click on "play DVD" or click "DVD Menu" on the remote, Vista Media Center will first check if an HD-DVD or Bluray disc is in the drive and if so, it will automatically start PowerDVD Ultra (instead of trying to launch the Media Center DVD module).
It will configure My Movies to enable playing of an inserted HD-DVD or Bluray from the My Movies menu.
It will configure My Movies to enable mounting of an online HD-DVD or Bluray copy (in ISO form - if the correct mounting software is installed) and then start PowerDVD Ultra so the on-line movie will play.


My Movies will also monitor the remote control for "Green Button" presses while PowerDVD is running and if it sees this it will both close PowerDVD Ultra and bring Media Center back to the forground.

There were a number of bugs in the older versions of My Movies (starting PowerDVD, but then hiding it behind Media Center so you can't see it; failing to close PowerDVD when you press the "Green Button"; and leaving the mouse pointer at the center of the screen while PowerDVD Ultra is running) so you need the latest version installed for this to work properly.

The one major issue I have with the way My Movies integrates PowerDVD is the desktop resolution is always used for PowerDVD. In my case I want PowerDVD to run with a display resolution of 1920x1080 (the same resolution as the Bluray and HD-DVD movies) and I want a desktop resolution of something like 1360x768 so I can have a reasonable size for text and be able to read everything.

What I am looking for is a PowerDVD launcher/integration tool that always temporarily switches the resolution to 1920x1080 prior to launching PowerDVD and then switches the desktop back to 1360x768 when PowerDVD is closed.

There is a utility that is supposed to do absolutely everything I am looking for (and you), but the latest version has not been released yet. You can read up on it here http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/thread/279556.aspx. Mikinho is promising the new version will be available on Monday.

[Peekstra]

I'm getting lots of tearing on my Samsung TV (monitor) 2 after I reinstalled my PC :(

All modes (except Zoomplayer with Overlay and MPC's Overlay or Direct3D) are almost unusable. But the picture is perfect on my primary monitor :confused:

Does anyone know how to fix this? I've already applied ExDeus tweaks (just as on my previous install) but it doesn't help.

Also, all Vista updates have been installed including the latest DirectX... (using Catalyst 8.8 with a 4850 card).

thanks!

edit: the problem can be temporarily solved by switching the primary and secondary (and back) in CCC. However, after a reboot the problem is back again.

[arfster]

edit: the problem can be temporarily solved by switching the primary and secondary (and back) in CCC. However, after a reboot the problem is back again.

There are a whole heap of bugs regarding dual monitors for a while now. I think the last one that worked properly was 7.12 , so you could give that a go.

[Peekstra]

There are a whole heap of bugs regarding dual monitors for a while now. I think the last one that worked properly was 7.12 , so you could give that a go.

Arfster, I'm afraid that 7.12 won't properly support my 4850 card?

By the way, it was working fine with 8.8 before I did a reinstall... so the hardware/drivers can function correctly.

At least I'll send a bug report to AMD.

Also, I noticed that my TV can't receive the data at the panel's native 1360*768 resolution because that's not in the EDID table of HDMI connectors 1 & 3. And those are the one's I wan't to use because HDMI2 locks a lot of settings. So while the CCC slider sits at 1360*768 the TV actually receives 1920*1080 (verified with powerstrip). That's some totally unnecessary up- & downscaling.

Maybe the problem can be solved by reprogramming the faulty EDID table with powerstrip...


EDIT:

Maybe the problem has been solved! I've installed the latest Reclock beta (vista compatible, available via the Slysoft forums) and now the EVR renderer works fine :)

Strangly enough, I have disabled reclock in Zoomplayer because it crashed with some files but the tearing is still gone?

For the moment it stays away even after some reboots so lets hope it is permanently fixed. :)

[sharangad]

Apparently the AMD GPU overclocking tool can tell you whether UVD is active, if anyone's in doubt about their card.


http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/1128/AMD_GPU_Clock_Tool_v0.9.8.html

http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/screenshots/1128.jpg

[firefoxsilver9]

Apparently the AMD GPU overclocking tool can tell you whether UVD is active, if anyone's in doubt about their card.


http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/1128/AMD_GPU_Clock_Tool_v0.9.8.html

http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/screenshots/1128.jpg
do you mean while playing a file?

[sharangad]

do you mean while playing a file?

Yeah.

[torput]

I would like to use component 720P with my projector (good old Sanyo PLV-Z1). However, when I plug my ATI HD2400 to the projector, the picture is horizontally compressed (shrunk), and also a part of the display is missing from top and left (see attached picture).

There is nothing I can do on the projector, so I was wondering if there was a way to edit ATI's parameters so that it would be compatible with my projector. PowerStrip doesn't seem to support TV out.

If I plug my DVD player to the projector and output 720P over component, quality of the video is very good. So I know it is possible.

[Eopian]

After reading this thread, and successfully setting one 2600AGP up, I have a couple of questions (I'm getting ready to add one into my main tv watching HTPC):
1. Will a standard DVI<--->HDMI cable work for video only (this is what I'm doing now with my Nvidia 6600GT)?
2. I'm using the Omega drivers with arfsters patch, is there any benefit to upgrading or are the omega drivers fine for now?

Thank you!

[jong1]

1. Will a standard DVI<--->HDMI cable work for video only (this is what I'm doing now with my Nvidia 6600GT)?It will work but you will get PC levels out. With the ATI dongle you will get video levels.

Some TVs cannot be calibrated correctly for PC levels and PC levels can cause problems if the input is shared with another (video level) device eg. through an AVR or an HDMI splitter.

[HT Slider]

After reading this thread, and successfully setting one 2600AGP up, I have a couple of questions (I'm getting ready to add one into my main tv watching HTPC):
1. Will a standard DVI<--->HDMI cable work for video only (this is what I'm doing now with my Nvidia 6600GT)?
2. I'm using the Omega drivers with arfsters patch, is there any benefit to upgrading or are the omega drivers fine for now?

Thank you!

1. As jong1 said, this will output "PC levels" (sRGB with the range of 0-255 for grey levels) and your TV will be expecting "video levels" (BT.601 for SD and BT.709 for HD with the range of 16-235 for grey levels). If you instead use ATI's HDMI dongle (and a card that supports it) along with an HDMI to HDMI cable, the card will automatically output using TV friendly levels. Note that Nvidia cards correctly output using video levels when a DVI to HDMI cable is used (they don't require an HDMI dongle).

You still can "calibrate" the ATI driver to make it output using video levels (without using an HDMI dongle). My preferred method is to adjust the overall "color" settings (not AVIVO) to +31 brightness and 74% contrast. This essentially compresses the "TV unfriendly" 0-255 grey level range into 16-235 and this works for almost everything you are trying to display (video, pictures, video games, internet surfing, etc.). I found the PowerDVD Ultra when run under Vista somehow ignores this and you need to also adjust the brightness/contrast from within PowerDVD (+19 brightness/-5 contrast inside PDVD).

Another method is to adjust the AVIVO settings to +16 brightness and contrast to 86%. This does the same thing, but it only compresses actual video. Pictures, video games, internet surfing, etc. will still not display correctly on your TV (will still use a 0-255 grey level range).

2. I haven't used Omega drivers so I don't even know what, if any advantage they have over regular ATI drivers. With your system using an AGP card, there are only certain driver releases that will work (and my understanding is there are still issues getting hardware video processing to work).

[HT Slider]

I would like to use component 720P with my projector (good old Sanyo PLV-Z1). However, when I plug my ATI HD2400 to the projector, the picture is horizontally compressed (shrunk), and also a part of the display is missing from top and left (see attached picture).

There is nothing I can do on the projector, so I was wondering if there was a way to edit ATI's parameters so that it would be compatible with my projector. PowerStrip doesn't seem to support TV out.

If I plug my DVD player to the projector and output 720P over component, quality of the video is very good. So I know it is possible.

How are you connecting the projector (s-video to component dongle?, DVI to component dongle?)?

Is the projector detected as an HDTV (with 720p support)?

Which resolution are you using? (the video card should output compliant 720p when 1280x720 is selected)

ATI cards are usually quite good at being able to output standard, spec compliant 720p and 1080i formats.

One thing to note is when sending spec compliant formats to your projector that there will most likely be some overscan. This is normal and expected when being driven using spec compliant formats (regardless if a PC, hardware DVD player, STB, etc. is driving the projector). The difference is video devices, as well as video producers (people) expect a portion of the perimeter of the video to be hidden so they don't put anything critical in that area (no text, etc.). PCs, when used as PCs, on the other hand expect everything to be displayed so you need to use custom resolutions or turn on overscan compensation when using your PC as a PC.

When you get 720p displaying correctly, you should see the entire screen filled and potentially the outer 3-8% of the image cropped and hidden.

[Eopian]

Thank you for your responses!

The omega drivers are referenced in links on the first post of this thread. Somebody modified a set of drivers to work with the 2x00 agp series to work with acceleration. I get better acceleration with mpeg4 than mpeg2, but everything is still watchable using a 2.4 ghz Pentium4

[mediaslave]

I recently purchased a Pioneer 1018 receiver with HDMI switching. I had previously passed through audio via onboard audio on my Abit F-190HD to a capable 5.1 receiver with success; however, now that I am passing audio through my MSI 2600xt HDMI video card and using the Pioneer receiver I am only able to receiver stereo sound listening to a surround sound source (e.g., DVDs, HDTV). I have tried updating drivers to no avail. Any recommendations?

[VGA_Mode]

I have a HD2400 pro in a DELL Inspiron 530. Running windows XP. And getting some strange play back problem. Looks like random lines popping up all over the picture. It's worst when using full screen mode. I tried different media type and different player (Windows media player and real player), all seem to have similar problem. I tried several different things like upgrading driver to latest and different codec, but no luck. Also tried regtweak suggested in this thread and still no help.

Anyone experience similar problem? Any suggestion will be greatly appreciated.

[Eopian]

I have a HD2400 pro in a DELL Inspiron 530. Running windows XP. And getting some strange play back problem. Looks like random lines popping up all over the picture. It's worst when using full screen mode. I tried different media type and different player (Windows media player and real player), all seem to have similar problem. I tried several different things like upgrading driver to latest and different codec, but no luck. Also tried regtweak suggested in this thread and still no help.

Anyone experience similar problem? Any suggestion will be greatly appreciated.
It sounds like a driver issue or a power issue. Try completely uninstalling all traces of all drivers (current and past) and installing brand new drivers. Next check to see all of the applicable power cords are snugly connected properly.

[ExDeus]

I am passing audio through my MSI 2600xt HDMI video card and using the Pioneer receiver I am only able to receiver stereo sound listening to a surround sound source
Are you getting decoded stereo LPCM, or compressed Dolby Digital / DTS in stereo?

If you're getting decoded audio, then you want SPDIF passthrough. Install a DirectShow filter that supports SPDIF, i.e., AC3Filter (http://www.ac3filter.net/), then set it for SPDIF passthrough.

In AC3Filter config:

Go to the SPDIF tab, set Output: AS IS (no change); check 'Use SPDIF'; check SPDIF passthrough: AC3, DTS; uncheck SPDIF options: 'Use AC3 encoder'.

Go to the System tab, set Use AC3Filter for: AC3, DTS, DVD, SPDIF (or just check them all); select Filter merit: Prefer AC3Filter.

Note: You can also use Spdifer (http://www.ac3filter.net/projects/spdifer), which is a smaller program just for SPDIF output.

[topcaser]

Hi,

iam using the 780G onboard solution equipped with a Radeon HD 3200 (Vista).

With Aero switched on, i can select only between weave and Bob deinterlacing. When i switch off Aero iam furthermore able to select (in CCC) adaptive. Is there a chance (maybe with a reg tweak) to bring the motion/vector adaptive deinterlacing back?

[luckyknight]

I'm not having much luck here. Uninstalled 8.8 and rebooted into safe mode - ran the driver cleaner. Tried 8.6 and 8.7 and they both refuse to install (driver failed to load in device manager). It's all very strange.

Another wasted 90 minutes of my life trying to get blu-ray to work properly!!

I gave up. Brought a Sony S350 :D

[arfster]

With Aero switched on, i can select only between weave and Bob deinterlacing. When i switch off Aero iam furthermore able to select (in CCC) adaptive. Is there a chance (maybe with a reg tweak) to bring the motion/vector adaptive deinterlacing back?

vforcedeint=6 should do the trick, as long as there isn't something else interfering.

Watch your GPU% though. Especially don't expect it to handle mpeg2 1080i, although you might just get away with h264/vc1.

[topcaser]

vforcedeint=6 should do the trick, as long as there isn't something else interfering.

Arfster, if this will work, you are my man. Nevertheless, i had a look to the registry, but it seems that things change in Vista compared to XP: In XP all settings were flat in the "000" and "001" respictively. Nevertheless, in Vista there are more subfolders.
1. In which subfolder does the reg tweak goes to?
2. Is it dword or reg_sz?
3. The UseBt601CSC Tweak: In which subfolder goes this tweak?

Edit: OK, found it in Exdeus post, where the reg tweaks have to go to. Dont need to be answered any more.
Edit2: Arfster, it has worked. You are my man!!!


Watch your GPU% though.


Can not watch it, since the integrated HD3200 has limited access to those parameters like utilization. Also tools (or better the monitors) like Rivatuner do not work. Is there also a reg tweak which brings back at least the ATI overdrive section that i can see current GPU clock speed?


Especially don't expect it to handle mpeg2 1080i, although you might just get away with h264/vc1.
No, thats not what i want to do. But thanks for the information.

Another question concerning EVR: EVR looks pretty good watching HD content. But SD content is very unsharp and the colors are much more poor than with overlay. Is there a trick to get a better SD picture quality? I have registered the evrprop.dll but no option do the trick.

[sd77]

I have a visiontek 2600xt 256mb pce hdmi output..its not recognizing my panasonic plasma..can this be a driver issue.. I updated to the 8.8 driver still no recognition...but it does recognize my sony.hdtv any suggestions? I called visiontek they have no idea and referrred me to call ati.

[SweMart]

I just updated my drivers from 8.5 to 8.8, when running MediaPortal in EVR mode I just get a black screen when watching TV, movies, DVD etc. If I use VMR9 instead I get a picture.

This applies to all the codecs I have available(MS, Avivo, PDVD 8) and also applies to SD and HD(H.264).

I've tried using Driver Sweeper but it makes no difference, I've tried uninstalling/installing a couple of times.

Anything I could try?

(Using a HD2600 512M)

[arfster]

Can not watch it, since the integrated HD3200 has limited access to those parameters like utilization. Also tools (or better the monitors) like Rivatuner do not work. Is there also a reg tweak which brings back at least the ATI overdrive section that i can see current GPU clock speed?


Not that I know of, sorry.


Another question concerning EVR: EVR looks pretty good watching HD content. But SD content is very unsharp and the colors are much more poor than with overlay. Is there a trick to get a better SD picture quality? I have registered the evrprop.dll but no option do the trick.

Did you manage to put in the usebt601csc=1?

Past that, just sharpening is all you can do. If your CCC isn't showing those, add Detail_NA=0 in the usual place.

[daMaster]

I just updated my drivers from 8.5 to 8.8, when running MediaPortal in EVR mode I just get a black screen when watching TV, movies, DVD etc. If I use VMR9 instead I get a picture.

This applies to all the codecs I have available(MS, Avivo, PDVD 8) and also applies to SD and HD(H.264).

I've tried using Driver Sweeper but it makes no difference, I've tried uninstalling/installing a couple of times.

Anything I could try?

(Using a HD2600 512M)

I guess you could wait for the 8.9 drivers that should be out in 4-5 days from now given ATI's usual release schedule. Or try 8.9 BETA which is all over the net.

[bajabronco]

I have been reading through the forum, and am still stuck -
I am running a AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Toledo 2.0GHz Dual-Core Processor , a SAPPHIRE 100207L Radeon HD 2600PRO 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready Video Card, mother board is Asus A8V-XE, my blue ray drive is a LITE-ON Black 4X Blu-ray DVD ROM SATA Model DH-4O1S-08. I am running Windows XP SP3 and have downloaded and done a clean install of the latest video drivers version 8.8 from ATI. I continue to try to use PowerDVD 7.3 with the latest updates, with hardware acceleration enabled, and no hardware acceleration. I am feeding the signal to HD TV at 720p through the HDTV Cable. Any ideas?

Mark

[arfster]

I am feeding the signal to HD TV at 720p through the HDTV Cable. Any ideas?



Do you have two screens attached?

Please post a screenshot of what dxva checker shows, gives us more info:
http://bluesky23.hp.infoseek.co.jp/#DXVAChecker

[bajabronco]

No only one - the TV.

[bajabronco]

Here are the screen shots -

[bajabronco]

#2 - I run Power DVD and am maxing out my CPU, with no processing through my GPU when checking CCC

[arfster]

Odd - dxva checker says the driver supports it fine. My first guess then would be PDVD is at fault. Thus, next step would be to test if acceleration works via another app. Try some h264 with MPC-HC:

http://mpc-hc.sourceforge.net/

That's the only free software that supports acceleration with your card.

[bajabronco]

Ok, I did some testing - ran 1080p video (Miley Cyrust video) I downloaded off of the apple site, In DVDpro v 7.3- cpu cores is down near 4-8%, GPU up around 8-10%
Simposon blu-ray cpu at 98-100% GPU at 3-4%.

Same Miley Cyrus video playing in quicktime maxes out the cpu, GPU at 3-4%

I did download Media Player Classic, but must not have configured it right, - it preformed the same as quicktime at 100% cpu.

[ToughRowToHoe]

I recently purchased a Pioneer 1018 receiver with HDMI switching. I had previously passed through audio via onboard audio on my Abit F-190HD to a capable 5.1 receiver with success; however, now that I am passing audio through my MSI 2600xt HDMI video card and using the Pioneer receiver I am only able to receiver stereo sound listening to a surround sound source (e.g., DVDs, HDTV). I have tried updating drivers to no avail. Any recommendations?

It sounds like the Realtek driver issue. If so, you need the ATI HDMI driver from here: http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=24&PFid=24&Level=4&Conn=3&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false#High%20Definition%20Audio%20Codecs

[DrLar]

I'm havint trouble getting anything out of a VisionTek HD2400 Pro PCIe HDMI card, the "HDMI" part is not working, it was the MAIN Purpouse to purchase this card, it won't detect the TV, it does if I connect it thru the 15 pin VGA or the DVI connectors, but not the HDMI one (the most important of the 3).

Some say that I have to use some DVI-HDMI adapter, so what's the HDMI out connector for? Eye candy?

And the card didn't come with a DVI-HDMI adapter anyway

Specs:
Optiplex 755 PC
Core 2 duo 2.33GHz
2GB RAM
PCIe Slot
300W + Power Supply
WinXP SP2

[DrLar]

OK, I tricked the card of thinking it had an LCD monitor connected, I put a Dell 19 Inch wide screen LCD in the HDMI out (using a HDMI-DVI cable), it detects my Dell monitor just fine, then I quickly connect the HDTV in the HDMI connector, and I get an Image! BUT "CCC" still thnks it's an LCD monitor and won't send sound thru HDMI and the display ratio is wrong, the HDTV (GV47LFHDTV) displays the imaged too zoomed in.

Well I know that the connection is OK, but when I try to re-detect it says I have no display, and I lose the image on the TV, I have to reconnect the LCD monitor to get the image out going again.

HEEEEEEEELPPP!

[dillee1]

ugh this is just maddening. I just install the 8.8 drivers and the avivo codec package and still no acceleration of h.246/vc1. mpeg-2 is just so good looking when its being accelerated, the video is smooth as silk and the colors amazing. I've tried Powerdvd, both 7 and 8, mpc-hc and its standalone codec, and nero showtime. This is what i get when analyzing a mkv file that is dxva compatible. is there anything else besides codecs and mediaplayers that can prevent hardware acceleration, like chipset drivers or such? be nice if i had some sort of checklist.


Same card same problem here. Btw can you get the audio driver installed? I never getting beyond the MS UAA bus stage.

[scat2002]

Hi everyone

I would like to know what is the best connection for my Radeon HD 2600XT under Windows Vista 64, and what if any tweaks or setting in the ATI driver software I should be using.

all desktop size to be 1920x1080, I use SageTV, on want to set up PowerDVD8 Ultra for HD DVD and BluRay DVD playback, I have seen color issues and want the best I can get with this hardware, see my hardware list below.

My choices

1.) no dongle ,video card DVI --> TV DVI

2.) no dongle , video card DVI --> Reciever HDMI --> TV HDMI

3.) dongle used, video card dongle to HDMI --> Reciever HDMI --> TV HDMI

Originally I had it hooked up as number 1, but changed it to number 2 to get it to the HDCP approval, and I have to say Windows Vista 64 looks kinda blurry.

Thank you
Scat



Hardware

Mother board - GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX All Solid Capacitor Intel Motherboard

CPU - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache
with factory heatsink and fan

Memory - OCZ Platinum 3GB (3 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Micron D7 Chip Dual Channel

Video card - SAPPHIRE 100218L Radeon HD 2600XT 512MB 128-bit GDDR3
PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card

Windows Drive - Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB 7200 RPM
Partitioned 120 gb for windows, 380 gb for pictures and mp3 music

Video Drive - Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB 7200 RPM

Power Supply - SeaSonic S12 Energy Plus SS-650HT ATX12V / EPS12V 650W Power Supply

DVD Drive - Blu-ray/HD DVD-ROM HD DVD Drive, LG GGC-H20L

Case - SilverStone Lascala SST-LC17 HTPC Case, Black

[ausvette]

I can't get the profile manager to work properly in any release since 8.5 . In particular the 3d override display frequency when set in one profile is not saved to the xml profile file so therefore changing it in any profile changes it in all. Also unchecking "basic color settings" from application control isn't remebered after starting and stopping media centre.

Anyone else having this problem or have a solution ?

[originalsnuffy]

Scat;

Realistically you just have to experiment. Too many variables that are specific to your system.

I hook my HTPC with a 2400 directly to the TV via VGA and also via the ATI dongle over HDMI through the receiver to the TV. The latter is higher res; but slower and often buggier.

[qweasdzxc63]

I have a funny problem with this card I just bought for $50. I set this up as1650x1050 via the VGA adpater to Acer LCD monitor. Whenever I restart PC, it still stays at th resolution however I in fact have to move my mouse around to each corner to see the full screen. Just like overscan on CRT TV.

Also, I am bit confused by some people claim they are having stunning picture on their TV via DVI. I can get all resolution(my TV report 1080i,720P,480P ) to work just with the latest CCC, but the text is unreadable at all. The only useful use is to play video on TV if that is they call stunning picture.

[el Filou]

Does your TV has a 1:1 pixel mapping mode ("dot by dot", "just scan", etc.)? If so, enable it.

Then in CCC, there is a "scaling" page in the TV advanced peoperties, try fiddling with this setting to see if the text gets better.
If it does not, you may have to create a custom resolution in the TV properties page, which will disable scaling.

Concerning the Acer monitor, are you using both the monitor and TV at the same time?
There have been numerous problems witnessed when using a monitor and a TV at the same time, did you check if the problem goes away when only one of them is plugged in?

[qweasdzxc63]

I tried using DVI for Acer LCD monitor and it is fine. What happen here is HD2600 sending 1680x1050 to monitor, but monitor displaying @ 1440x900. Don't know why.

As to HTPC, my Hitachi has no such setting. I will be surprised if any RPTV has such setting. Does this have anything to do with HDCP.? The text is just unreadable. But if I change it to something like 800x640, it is readable because text is bigger.

Personally, if it shpuld work out, it must be some settings from TV. Customizing resolution will not make day and night difference.

[HT Slider]

Hi everyone

I would like to know what is the best connection for my Radeon HD 2600XT under Windows Vista 64, and what if any tweaks or setting in the ATI driver software I should be using.

all desktop size to be 1920x1080, I use SageTV, on want to set up PowerDVD8 Ultra for HD DVD and BluRay DVD playback, I have seen color issues and want the best I can get with this hardware, see my hardware list below.

ATI cards behave differently depending on if the ATI HMDI dongle is used or not. When it is in use AND the display's EDID confirms that it is an HDMI device, ATI cards follow the HDMI spec. Without both the HDMI dongle and an HDMI confirming EDID, ATI cards resort to PC monitor formats, regardless of whether Catalyst Control Center recognizes the display as a TV or not.

Note that the HDMI dongle must be an actual ATI HDMI dongle, not a regular DVI to HDMI adapter. The dongle must also be the correct version for the particular video card. In addition the video card itself must be a model that recognizes the ATI HDMI dongle. The best way to be certain the correct dongle is used and is supported, is to purchase a video card that comes with a dongle and use it with that card.

Essentially if you use the correct HDMI dongle with a modern HDTV (with an HDMI connection and EDID), ATI cards output using YCbCr with a calibrated visible range of 16-235 (which is what HDTVs are by "calibrated" for).

In all other cases, ATI cards revert to full range sRGB (RGB with a 0-255 range). While TVs will produce an image with this, the majority will produce an overly contrast image with dark scenes almost black and bright scenes with lots of clipped white (solid, constant bright regions instead of showing color details). Full range sRGB is what PC monitors are designed to use, not TVs.

Looking at your choices and assuming the dongle came with the card:

This 1.) no dongle ,video card DVI --> TV DVI

will drive your HDTV with sRGB.

This 2.) no dongle , video card DVI --> Reciever HDMI --> TV HDMI

will also drive your HDTV with sRGB.

This 3.) dongle used, video card dongle to HDMI --> Reciever HDMI --> TV HDMI

should drive your HDTV with appropriate YCbCr with a 16-235 visible range - assuming the receiver creates an appropriate EDID to send to the video card (most likely it does).

I would advise using #3. If you use #1 or #2 you will need to do ONE of the following:


Configure your HDTV to accept full range sRGB from within the settings menu (most TVs do not support this).
Calibrate your HDTV so instead of a visible range of 16-235, it has a visible range of 0-255 (most TVs do not have enough "adjustment range" to do this).
Adjust the overall "color" settings within the ATI Catalyst Control Center so brightness is +31 and contrast is 74%. This, as a final output setp, compresses all levels such that 0-255 is converted to approximately 16-235 (this works with everything from photographs to video games to TV playback, etc. - except some software (like PowerDVD Ultra) ignores this if you are using Vista). This is the method I use since my HDTV has a DVI port (no HDMI) and can't be calibrated to display sRGB properly.
Adjust the AVIVO color settings within the ATI CCC so brightness is +16 and contrast is 86%. This makes it so video processed by the AVIVO "engine" remains with a 16-235 range. This only affects video, not photographs, desktop, video games, etc. Also, if a software video decoder (such as ffdshow) is used, this has no effect (FYI ffdshow itself can be configured to do the same thing though).



In addition to what I have mentioned above, ATI video cards have what most of us consider a long standing BUG where they do not process SD video correctly. By default, ATI cards assume all SD video (less than 720 vertical lines) uses the sRGB colorspace (0-255 range). This would theoretically be correct for native PC content (video games, Internet) - BUT, it is totally incorrect for true video, including TV. SD video uses BT.601 (16-235 range), not sRGB. Almost all SD video, even video downloaded from the Internet, uses BT.601 so there is little reason for ATI do default to sRGB (FYI, Nvidia correctly processes SD video as BT.601 by default).

In order to make your video card process SD video correctly you need to add the "UseBT601CSC=1" registry setting.

The easiest way to do this is to use a utility. My personal preference is to download DXVAChecker, run it, right click on any DXVA modes and select "Video Acceleration Settings". In there, turn on "UseBT601CSC" and set it to "1". If you are running XP, reboot (no reboot required for Vista) and play some video.


At this point all that is left is fine tuning. Some things to consider are adjustments to your CCC AVIVO "All Settings". Here Edge Enhancement and Denoise are worth adjusting. With a very sharp digital display (LCD, etc.) I prefer to keep the denoise quite high and edge enhancement low and with an analog display (rear projection CRT based, projector, etc.) to run less denoise and more edge enhancement.

The other area worth paying attention to is grey level calibration for your HDTV. You'll need a calibration source such as the ones you can download and burn from http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=948496. You'll probably find some relatively minor fine tweaking to brightness and contrast will make a big improvement.

[HT Slider]

I have a funny problem with this card I just bought for $50. I set this up as1650x1050 via the VGA adpater to Acer LCD monitor. Whenever I restart PC, it still stays at th resolution however I in fact have to move my mouse around to each corner to see the full screen. Just like overscan on CRT TV.

Your best bet for an LCD monitor is to configure the desktop resolution for the monitor's actual pixel resolution. It sounds like you have the desktop set higher than the monitors maximum resolution and the video card is using a virtual desktop resolution and panning the image around as you move the mouse. I forget how to turn this feature on/off, but you can switch to the scaling mode if you really want to use a different resolution than the monitor's native resolution.

Based on your 2nd post, it sounds like your monitor has a pixel resolution of 1440x900.

Also, I am bit confused by some people claim they are having stunning picture on their TV via DVI. I can get all resolution(my TV report 1080i,720P,480P ) to work just with the latest CCC, but the text is unreadable at all. The only useful use is to play video on TV if that is they call stunning picture.

It sounds like you have a CRT based HDTV, it is being driven with incorrect video levels and it probably could use calibrating. The reality is these don't have the accuracy required to make text look terrific at the best of times. On the other hand, if you have a quality HDTV and everything is calibrated well (convergence set accurately, BT.709 grey level output from the card, etc.) you should still be able to easily read the text - even when using 1920x1080 with 1080i timing (of course you won't be able to read the overscanned regions).

A modern digital HDTV on the other hand, does produce very sharp, clear text at all resolutions.

My HDTV is a 51" Toshiba 51H83 and the "couch" puts the viewers eye about 6.5 feet away from the HDTV. It is a rear projection CRT based unit that natively supports 540p, 720p, and 1080i (the CRT will also happily run at 1440i). I drive it through the DVI port like you and with ATI cards, by default these overdrive white/black text (ATI cards output using sRGB levels, instead of the required BT.709 levels to HDTVs with DVI ports). My HDTV will accept 480p, but it does a terrible job of converting it to 720p (the actual CRT does not support 480p). ATI cards do not natively support 540p, nor 1440i so that leaves me with 720p or 1080i.

My personal preference for desktop resolution is 1360x768 displayed within a custom 1080i resolution. The clearest text is displayed when using a custom 720p resolution (1186x696), but I find 696 is too few vertical pixels for practical use. Even though 1360x768 uses an interlaced display mode, since there are "almost" two vertical pixels for each virtual 1360x768 pixel, there is very little interlaced flicker; hence this is a better compromise for me. 1440x900 is another option, but the interlaced flicker is noticeable for text/desktop use.

I do also use 1776x1048 now and then and this is a 1:1 pixel mapped custom resolution using 1080i timing. Although the text is legible, the interlaced flicker gets annoying after a short while. One thing I do find is the convergence needs to be nearly perfectly set for text to be legible at this resolution (I set my convergence though the system calibration menu - with something like 90 convergence points to adjust; I typically adjust it once or twice per year).

For video games I either use 1440x900 or 1776x1048, depending on which looks better for that particular game (for most I use 1776x1048).

One thing these older CRT based displays do do well is display video. Calibrated properly these displays produce a more "movie theater like" image when compared to a modern mid-priced digital display of similar size. Although the image is softer and easier on the eyes, the detail is still very good with HD content. Several video enthusiasts have told me they prefer watching movies on my system than their equally sized LCD or plasma (I do too).

Try creating a custom resolution within 720p and another in 1080i and try carefully adjusting your displays convergence and calibrating the brightness and contrast (read my previous post; I recommend using the "overall color" setting, not AVIVO, since this improves text legibility of the desktop/PC applications). You will probably be pleasantly surprised at how functional your HDTV can really be (but don't expect text to ever look as good as it does on a PC monitor).

[RockySpieler]

Regarding Widescreen LCD Monitors with HDMI issues.

I have a Chinese Special 19" Widescreen HDTV LCD, which I just brought for my holiday Caravan............it to has an Non-HDTV native resolution in my case 1440x900.
Within ccc I was able to choose 1440x900 via HDMI (Dongle and HD2600XT) however the EDID information was 1080p or 720p, and the ccc drivers were scaling the image to 1080p. If I played with the scaling options (within ccc) I could get an ok picture, but it had bands top and bottom because the scaling was reducing a 16:9 ratio resolution (1920x1080) down to a 16:10ish resolution. Plus the TV itself was adjusting for overscan.

With centre based timings I got a small 1440x900 scaled down image within a scaled down 1920x1080 window.

Via VGA 1440x900 was 1:1 pixel mapped straight away, this would be my choice for PC connection on my particular 19" HDTV LCD.

I did not try dvi to HDMI without the dongle, perhaps this would give different EDID info. Nor did I try to tick the ignore EDID box, and manually input a max. resolution and refreshrate (in ccc).

I normally have a 42" 1080p lcd connected via HDMI, I was just putting my new purchase through its paces before taking it to the holiday "home".

[firefoxsilver9]

Does anyone else have a problem watching movies with VMR9? I'm having this issue with red and blue colors in the video having jagged lines in them. It almost looks pixelated and is very annoying. It doesn't seem to happen with EVR, but i don't like that renderer in XP. Here's some examples of what i'm talking about. I haven't tried VMR 7 to see if it appears there. I've tried both Window and Renderless of VMR9. i've used both media player classic and windows media player. i'm using Windows XP.


the screenshot is showing a red laser btw.


EDIT: the snapshots i posted don't show the jagged lines i'm experiencing. :(

[scat2002]

ATI cards behave differently depending on if the ATI HMDI dongle is used or not. When it is in use AND the display's EDID confirms that it is an HDMI device, ATI cards follow the HDMI spec. Without both the HDMI dongle and an HDMI confirming EDID, ATI cards resort to PC monitor formats, regardless of whether Catalyst Control Center recognizes the display as a TV or not.

Note that the HDMI dongle must be an actual ATI HDMI dongle, not a regular DVI to HDMI adapter. The dongle must also be the correct version for the particular video card. In addition the video card itself must be a model that recognizes the ATI HDMI dongle. The best way to be certain the correct dongle is used and is supported, is to purchase a video card that comes with a dongle and use it with that card.

Essentially if you use the correct HDMI dongle with a modern HDTV (with an HDMI connection and EDID), ATI cards output using YCbCr with a calibrated visible range of 16-235 (which is what HDTVs are by "calibrated" for).

In all other cases, ATI cards revert to full range sRGB (RGB with a 0-255 range). While TVs will produce an image with this, the majority will produce an overly contrast image with dark scenes almost black and bright scenes with lots of clipped white (solid, constant bright regions instead of showing color details). Full range sRGB is what PC monitors are designed to use, not TVs.

Looking at your choices and assuming the dongle came with the card:

This

will drive your HDTV with sRGB.

This

will also drive your HDTV with sRGB.

This

should drive your HDTV with appropriate YCbCr with a 16-235 visible range - assuming the receiver creates an appropriate EDID to send to the video card (most likely it does).

I would advise using #3. If you use #1 or #2 you will need to do ONE of the following:


Configure your HDTV to accept full range sRGB from within the settings menu (most TVs do not support this).
Calibrate your HDTV so instead of a visible range of 16-235, it has a visible range of 0-255 (most TVs do not have enough "adjustment range" to do this).
Adjust the overall "color" settings within the ATI Catalyst Control Center so brightness is +31 and contrast is 74%. This, as a final output setp, compresses all levels such that 0-255 is converted to approximately 16-235 (this works with everything from photographs to video games to TV playback, etc. - except some software (like PowerDVD Ultra) ignores this if you are using Vista). This is the method I use since my HDTV has a DVI port (no HDMI) and can't be calibrated to display sRGB properly.
Adjust the AVIVO color settings within the ATI CCC so brightness is +16 and contrast is 86%. This makes it so video processed by the AVIVO "engine" remains with a 16-235 range. This only affects video, not photographs, desktop, video games, etc. Also, if a software video decoder (such as ffdshow) is used, this has no effect (FYI ffdshow itself can be configured to do the same thing though).



In addition to what I have mentioned above, ATI video cards have what most of us consider a long standing BUG where they do not process SD video correctly. By default, ATI cards assume all SD video (less than 720 vertical lines) uses the sRGB colorspace (0-255 range). This would theoretically be correct for native PC content (video games, Internet) - BUT, it is totally incorrect for true video, including TV. SD video uses BT.601 (16-235 range), not sRGB. Almost all SD video, even video downloaded from the Internet, uses BT.601 so there is little reason for ATI do default to sRGB (FYI, Nvidia correctly processes SD video as BT.601 by default).

In order to make your video card process SD video correctly you need to add the "UseBT601CSC=1" registry setting.

The easiest way to do this is to use a utility. My personal preference is to download DXVAChecker, run it, right click on any DXVA modes and select "Video Acceleration Settings". In there, turn on "UseBT601CSC" and set it to "1". If you are running XP, reboot (no reboot required for Vista) and play some video.


At this point all that is left is fine tuning. Some things to consider are adjustments to your CCC AVIVO "All Settings". Here Edge Enhancement and Denoise are worth adjusting. With a very sharp digital display (LCD, etc.) I prefer to keep the denoise quite high and edge enhancement low and with an analog display (rear projection CRT based, projector, etc.) to run less denoise and more edge enhancement.

The other area worth paying attention to is grey level calibration for your HDTV. You'll need a calibration source such as the ones you can download and burn from http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=948496. You'll probably find some relatively minor fine tweaking to brightness and contrast will make a big improvement.

HT Slider

WOW, what a awesome and very technical response, I don't know anything about the
YCbCr visible range of 16-235 or th sRGB (RGB with a 0-255 range), and this is why
I hangout here to learn and to ask questions and get a professional answer like yours.

I thank you so very much and I will do as advised on Saturday and will report back with the results.

Hats off to you:)

Scat

[Gaizka]

Hello there,

I have 2400pro agp card and latest drivers brokes HA in many circustancies..
As i read at many posts, best are 8.4 agp host fix that works great with MPC-HA..
Getting old 8.4 driver was very hard to me and i found a site that has all of them:

http://www.ngohq.com/home.php?page=Files&go=cat&dwn_cat_id=18

Best regards

[Longshankers]

Hi there. I have a TravelMate 7520G with ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2400XT. I can clone to my TV but not initiate 'cinematic' mode so that my TVU or VLC is shown full-size on the TV because (or so I think) because I only have basic CCC (Acer butchered the CCC) and I can't seem to make -any- other version of drivers/catalyst center on my laptop under Vista.

Am I simply screwed as long I use Vista? Or is there some way I can make my Laptop do 'cinematic' mode vs a TV (S-Video/Multimedia cable) without getting a mode advanced CCC then the one that Acer supplies? Any experiences? :confused:

Thanks.

[Nimo]

Just bought an HD 2600Pro on flea bay for 73.00, thanks for the link to the agp drivers.

[HT Slider]

I've added a few minor enhancements to ATI HD Reg Tweaks 0.15 (http://exdeus.home.comcast.net/~exdeus/ati-hd2x00/).

* Added short descriptions to the dialog box for each registry setting.
* Added check for null values before attempting to delete HD2400 registry values.
* Added mention of ATI HD4000 series to use HD2600, HD3000 settings.
* Added Denoise_NA=0.
* Added Detail_NA=0.
* Added VForceDeint=6.
* Added VForceHDDenoise=0.

One comment on your Reg Tweak tool is it seems to both add a lot of entries that are not necessary with current drivers and it adds all of these to many unnecessary locations.

Personally I've learnt (the hard way) over the years that it is always best to perform the absolute minimum number of tweaks required to get the job done. Newer drivers for example might handle some older tweaks in a different and negative way.

Does your latest version of the tool still add all of the tweaks and still add them to multiple locations?

[HT Slider]

Undocumented ATI registry entries

Looking at the tweaks available within DXVAChecker, it is clear that there are literally hundreds of undocumented entries that can be used to tweak our ATI cards.

Arfster, you seem to understand which ones we can use to get around certain issues, but there are so many more. Do you, or anyone else, have information on what they ALL do?

One tweak I'd really like to find is one that controls the output format. I'd like to be able to manually control if sRGB, YCbCr, or RGB BT.709 (16-235) is used. I wonder if one of these undocumented settings control the output format?

Running DXVAChecker, selecting "Video Acceleration Settings" and then clicking "show all settings" brings up over 200 registry entries that can be tweaked....

What do they all do?

What does "MasterDriveMode" do for example?

[arfster]

What does "MasterDriveMode" do for example?

Not a clue on that one. I've figured out quite a lot of them though (and there are actually a lot more!), feel free to ask. You might want to have a play with DXVA_EXTENDED_COLOR for your srgb/ycbcr stuff. Total guess there though.

Many of them are obselete btw, and/or not relevent to our cards.


Edit: DXVA_EXTENDED_COLOR probably refers to xvYCC, but you never know. Some of the regkeys have decidedly silly names.

[HT Slider]

Not a clue on that one. I've figured out quite a lot of them though (and there are actually a lot more!), feel free to ask. You might want to have a play with DXVA_EXTENDED_COLOR for your srgb/ycbcr stuff. Total guess there though.

Many of them are obselete btw, and/or not relevent to our cards.


Edit: DXVA_EXTENDED_COLOR probably refers to xvYCC, but you never know. Some of the regkeys have decidedly silly names.

Do you have a spreadsheet or list you could post with what you know?

Or is it "all in your head"?

Not much point in me asking about each one individually...

What we really need is for someone with inside information (beta team or something) to "leak" what all of the registry settings do. Not only is it difficult to figure out what they all do, but it is even more difficult to figure out what values can be used for each setting. Many of them are not a simple "0" or "1".

[HT Slider]

Edit: DXVA_EXTENDED_COLOR probably refers to xvYCC, but you never know. Some of the regkeys have decidedly silly names.

Does it seem like all of the settings within DXVA are to do with decoding of video?

Assuming this, where would final output be most likely controlled?

I'd like to figure out how to turn on and off final output color compression (sRGB -> BT.709 type stuff).

I'm almost certain ATI has this capability in there somewhere...

[ExDeus]

One comment on your Reg Tweak tool is it seems to both add a lot of entries that are not necessary with current drivers and it adds all of these to many unnecessary locations.
My program has, since its initial release, allowed the user to add all entries, or to select the individual settings they would like to apply.

This covers scenarios for more- and less-knowledgeable users, and for different driver versions. The HD2400 and other cards are split up specifically to avoid unnecessary settings.

To make software that is useful under many different circumstances, one can't assume everyone is running a certain operating system or a certain driver version with a certain graphics card.

I'm still running Cat 8.4. For many users, I know settings are still useful that would be considered "unnecessary" with the latest drivers. What's unnecessary with today's drivers, may become necessary again with tomorrow's. We've already seen that.

The program only adds the settings where necessary.

For WinXP, it adds the settings in multiple places (almost always two places), because each display on the graphics card has its own settings.

If you want acceleration on the display attached to Port 0 of the graphics card, I've made the assumption that you want acceleration on Port 1 as well. Still, only the settings you select are applied, so no harm done; no "clutter" is added.

For Vista, I did make a change in 0.12, released in February 2008, to use a different registry key that applies to all displays, so the settings are only added under the one key. This still only reduced the entries made from two to one.

Personally I've learnt (the hard way) over the years that it is always best to perform the absolute minimum number of tweaks required to get the job done. Newer drivers for example might handle some older tweaks in a different and negative way.
You can remove a setting if it produces an undesirable result (i.e., color expansion is not as you expect), but as for the acceleration settings, adding an entry to enable DXVA when DXVA might have already been enabled does not cause any harm.

Many of the settings are also subjective, so adding them all might seem well and good for some, but unnecessary for others. Denoising, deinterlacing, edge enhancement, color expansion --- all user preferences. One could argue that the absolute minimum settings should be applied by default, and only add extra settings by request, but my view is that an all-or-individual approach achieves the greatest good. On the one setting I've been advised by arfster could be harmful without dual displays, HWUVD_ForceMPEG2, I added a warning. If you think an enhancement to have "recommended" settings for the current drivers would be useful, let me know.

Regardless, the user ultimately has control to add or remove any individual setting. The program just puts what the user wants applied where it needs to be.

[scat2002]

ATI cards behave differently depending on if the ATI HMDI dongle is used or not. When it is in use AND the display's EDID confirms that it is an HDMI device, ATI cards follow the HDMI spec. Without both the HDMI dongle and an HDMI confirming EDID, ATI cards resort to PC monitor formats, regardless of whether Catalyst Control Center recognizes the display as a TV or not.

Note that the HDMI dongle must be an actual ATI HDMI dongle, not a regular DVI to HDMI adapter. The dongle must also be the correct version for the particular video card. In addition the video card itself must be a model that recognizes the ATI HDMI dongle. The best way to be certain the correct dongle is used and is supported, is to purchase a video card that comes with a dongle and use it with that card.

Essentially if you use the correct HDMI dongle with a modern HDTV (with an HDMI connection and EDID), ATI cards output using YCbCr with a calibrated visible range of 16-235 (which is what HDTVs are by "calibrated" for).

In all other cases, ATI cards revert to full range sRGB (RGB with a 0-255 range). While TVs will produce an image with this, the majority will produce an overly contrast image with dark scenes almost black and bright scenes with lots of clipped white (solid, constant bright regions instead of showing color details). Full range sRGB is what PC monitors are designed to use, not TVs.

Looking at your choices and assuming the dongle came with the card:

This

will drive your HDTV with sRGB.

This

will also drive your HDTV with sRGB.

This

should drive your HDTV with appropriate YCbCr with a 16-235 visible range - assuming the receiver creates an appropriate EDID to send to the video card (most likely it does).

I would advise using #3. If you use #1 or #2 you will need to do ONE of the following:


Configure your HDTV to accept full range sRGB from within the settings menu (most TVs do not support this).
Calibrate your HDTV so instead of a visible range of 16-235, it has a visible range of 0-255 (most TVs do not have enough "adjustment range" to do this).
Adjust the overall "color" settings within the ATI Catalyst Control Center so brightness is +31 and contrast is 74%. This, as a final output setp, compresses all levels such that 0-255 is converted to approximately 16-235 (this works with everything from photographs to video games to TV playback, etc. - except some software (like PowerDVD Ultra) ignores this if you are using Vista). This is the method I use since my HDTV has a DVI port (no HDMI) and can't be calibrated to display sRGB properly.
Adjust the AVIVO color settings within the ATI CCC so brightness is +16 and contrast is 86%. This makes it so video processed by the AVIVO "engine" remains with a 16-235 range. This only affects video, not photographs, desktop, video games, etc. Also, if a software video decoder (such as ffdshow) is used, this has no effect (FYI ffdshow itself can be configured to do the same thing though).



In addition to what I have mentioned above, ATI video cards have what most of us consider a long standing BUG where they do not process SD video correctly. By default, ATI cards assume all SD video (less than 720 vertical lines) uses the sRGB colorspace (0-255 range). This would theoretically be correct for native PC content (video games, Internet) - BUT, it is totally incorrect for true video, including TV. SD video uses BT.601 (16-235 range), not sRGB. Almost all SD video, even video downloaded from the Internet, uses BT.601 so there is little reason for ATI do default to sRGB (FYI, Nvidia correctly processes SD video as BT.601 by default).

In order to make your video card process SD video correctly you need to add the "UseBT601CSC=1" registry setting.

The easiest way to do this is to use a utility. My personal preference is to download DXVAChecker, run it, right click on any DXVA modes and select "Video Acceleration Settings". In there, turn on "UseBT601CSC" and set it to "1". If you are running XP, reboot (no reboot required for Vista) and play some video.


At this point all that is left is fine tuning. Some things to consider are adjustments to your CCC AVIVO "All Settings". Here Edge Enhancement and Denoise are worth adjusting. With a very sharp digital display (LCD, etc.) I prefer to keep the denoise quite high and edge enhancement low and with an analog display (rear projection CRT based, projector, etc.) to run less denoise and more edge enhancement.

The other area worth paying attention to is grey level calibration for your HDTV. You'll need a calibration source such as the ones you can download and burn from http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=948496. You'll probably find some relatively minor fine tweaking to brightness and contrast will make a big improvement.

I changed my setup to option #3 so my color space would be correct for movie and TV viewing, but Windows still looks better when I used option #1, haven't adjusted any brightness or contrast yet.

Thank you for your help
Scat

[HT Slider]

I changed my setup to option #3 so my color space would be correct for movie and TV viewing, but Windows still looks better when I used option #1, haven't adjusted any brightness or contrast yet.

Thank you for your help
Scat

If you are really convinced #1 lookes better for "Windows", then you could always use #1 combined with adjusting the AVIVO color settings to +16 brightness and 86% contrast. This will cause sRGB to be output for Desktop, PC applications, video games, etc. and BT.709 to be used for video.

You still, as usual, need the UseBT601CSC=1 registry setting to tell the video card that SD video is using the TV/video colorspace BT.601.

Having said that, I find it difficult to understand why using sRGB would look better for "Windows". sRGB uses the full 0-255 range of visible grey scale and your HDTV should only make the range 16-235 visible (BT.709). This means that everything that is supposed to be in the dark range 0-16 will be displayed as black on the TV and everything in the range 235-255 will be displayed as full brightness on the TV. This will provide a very high contrast image, but it will be loosing all of the dark and bright detail. Dark scenes in video games will be totally black for example.

I suggest you download some of the calibration samples I've linked to previously and have a look at how they appear on your HDTV. If callibrated correctly, the .bmp image should produce a visible range of 0-255 (sRGB) and all video should produce a visible range of 16-235 (BT.709). Essentially to display correctly on your HDTV, the video card will actually compress the .bmp so the 0-255 range (sRGB) becomes 16-235 (BT.709) so it will display correctly (it does the same with all other "windows" or PC applications too). To display correctly on your HDTV, video will be sent as it was originally recieved, using the range of 16-235 (BT.709 - actually SD video, originally in BT.601, will be upconverted to HD and converted to BT.709).

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=13939785&postcount=5409

[jong1]

Anyone who has trouble coming back from changing sources on their TV or AVR, or from standby - either blank screen or just sluggish response/system seizing for the first couple of minutes should check out this troublesome ATI service, if you missed the separate thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=14338769#post14338769

Certainly the XP name gives no indication that it might mess around with screen detection

Kudos to leeperry for mentioning this waste of space way back in 2007!

[Nimo]

Well I got my 2600 pro up and running on my 875p Intel board pushing it with a 2.5 Northwood. I'm playing Iron Man BD on the Pioneer internal using MPC-HC latest build for Vista Ultimate. The latest build of MPC plays this thing out of the box with no external decoders, good job there guys. My ALC 655 Realteks also work in Vista a very dated sound chip even though Vista says incompatible they get the job done.

I'm totally surprised on the playback using EVR with the HD 2600 Pro, with exceptional playback. Installation was not such a breeze my EVGA disc has the drivers for Vista but you have to manually install them and you have to pick the right one! Other than that I'm satisfied with the results and it only costs me 73.00 for the card to get BD/HD playback. My client just gave me all the stuff she had so I have another mobo the dreaded p4s8x and an nVidia card I'll build this system for her kids I already have a 350 watt PSU and spare DVD player just need a 29.00 80 HDD and her kids will be set.:)

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o65/freedombikesusa/Untitled.jpg

[shenrei]

Hello everyone,

I was hoping someone on here can chime me in with a bit of advice. As I understand, AVIVO is a way (or is what ATI uses) for ATI cards to optimize video playback using the hardware on your video card, and NOT the processing power of your CPU. I'm not sure if that's exactly right, but it's what I've gathered from reading.

I currently own a HIS ATI2600XT and I am having problems with AVIVO functioning correctly in the CCC. Some new manufacturer's drivers were released last week (HIS ATI 8.9) and I have installed them over my older manufacturers drivers (8.4). Whereas the AVIVO video preview/color preview in the Avivo tab in CCC would function correctly in 8.4, it now shows a pitch black screen in 8.9. This would also occur when installing any of the drivers on ATI's site. Rolling back to the HIS 8.4 drivers, and the black screen on the preview would not occur. Rolling back even further to the drivers that came with the card itself, and it would function correctly. I'm not sure why this is, has anyone experienced this?

[Shrikery]

Sorry to jump in like this but i cant get much help on my issue anywhere ive tried.

Last week i got a Force3D HD 2400Pro PCI-E Graphics Card and it will not upscale any video no matter what i do, it simply resizes the video to fullscreen by making the pixels bigger rather then upscaling with resampling. Ive tried the basic xvid codec install, ive tried K-Lite codec pack, and various media players like MPC, WinDVD, the standard WMP and they all do the same thing. All i can get is simple resized video without any upscaling/resampling taking place so edges are very jaggy, its just zooming in on the pixels. This is with all formats i have, dvd, xvid, mkv, 264, wmv. The machine is a brand new base install of XP SP3 and ive used various ATI Catalyst drivers and every setting inside the CCC. I know its not the software build because i did the exact same install on an older machine with an ATI 7000 and its working with upscaling as normal. Ive had 3 ati cards now, a 7000, 7500 and 9700 Pro and they all upscale out of the box, i cant turn it off if i wanted to. The only way i can get upscaling now is by using a specific players upscale function such as WinDVDs Tridemension or ffdshows resize. Ive tried installing windows, then Catalyst 8.9 and then the basic xvid codec only and playing in WPM with the same results.

As far as im aware upscaling has always been automatic in graphics cards over the last 10 years or more and with ATI you cant actually turn it off so if anyone knows of a switch which allows upscaling to be turned off and on, that would be the only thing that would show that the graphics card is working properly. The place i bought it from says that upscaling is a function of the player software and not the graphics chip but i dont believe thats true, can someone educate me on this?

I can work around it by forcing ffdshow to upscale everything using the resize filter but that doesnt fix a faulty graphics chip and obviously increases processor usage. So can anyone give me some suggestions to prove that the graphics chip is at fault rather than user error? Put it this way, can anyone else play video through an ATI graphics card at fullscreen WITHOUT the video being upscaled with resampling as opposed to simply making the pixels bigger exactly like the zoom function in an image editor? Even the onboard Intel 3100 graphics upscales albeit very badly so therefore its not the software right?

Can anyone tell me if this is in any way normal for this card or what exactly is going on? Can ati cards now not do what their lowest end cards could do 7 or 8 years ago?

Also the deinterlacing options and denoise and sharpness sliders in my CCC make absolutely no change at all in thru any player or format. Is that normal? Doesnt sound so to me. Gawd this things got me ranting and raving hasnt it!

thx all, and apologies to anyone reading this a second time.

[speedfrk]

Hello everyone,

I was hoping someone on here can chime me in with a bit of advice. As I understand, AVIVO is a way (or is what ATI uses) for ATI cards to optimize video playback using the hardware on your video card, and NOT the processing power of your CPU. I'm not sure if that's exactly right, but it's what I've gathered from reading.

I currently own a HIS ATI2600XT and I am having problems with AVIVO functioning correctly in the CCC. Some new manufacturer's drivers were released last week (HIS ATI 8.9) and I have installed them over my older manufacturers drivers (8.4). Whereas the AVIVO video preview/color preview in the Avivo tab in CCC would function correctly in 8.4, it now shows a pitch black screen in 8.9. This would also occur when installing any of the drivers on ATI's site. Rolling back to the HIS 8.4 drivers, and the black screen on the preview would not occur. Rolling back even further to the drivers that came with the card itself, and it would function correctly. I'm not sure why this is, has anyone experienced this?

I would always uninstall the old drivers and CCC first instead of installing on top of old drivers. Try uninstalling all things ati and them reinstall the new drivers and CCC.

[speedfrk]

Well I got my 2600 pro up and running on my 875p Intel board pushing it with a 2.5 Northwood. I'm playing Iron Man BD on the Pioneer internal using MPC-HC latest build for Vista Ultimate. The latest build of MPC plays this thing out of the box with no external decoders, good job there guys. My ALC 655 Realteks also work in Vista a very dated sound chip even though Vista says incompatible they get the job done.

When you say that BD plays in MPC without external decoders are you saying that you don't need PDVD8 or similar? Typically, MPC will use other codecs if it needs them. For instance, it is definitely using the Realtek codecs that installed with your sound card. If it will play BD without any other software, that would be very surprising- and good!

[Luar Azul]

My program has, since its initial release, allowed the user to add all entries, or to select the individual settings they would like to apply.

...
Regardless, the user ultimately has control to add or remove any individual setting. The program just puts what the user wants applied where it needs to be.


I just would like to say that I use your tweaks and they work great. Many thanks!! :)


Hello everyone,

I was hoping someone on here can chime me in with a bit of advice. As I understand, AVIVO is a way (or is what ATI uses) for ATI cards to optimize video playback using the hardware on your video card, and NOT the processing power of your CPU. I'm not sure if that's exactly right, but it's what I've gathered from reading.

I currently own a HIS ATI2600XT and I am having problems with AVIVO functioning correctly in the CCC. Some new manufacturer's drivers were released last week (HIS ATI 8.9) and I have installed them over my older manufacturers drivers (8.4). Whereas the AVIVO video preview/color preview in the Avivo tab in CCC would function correctly in 8.4, it now shows a pitch black screen in 8.9. This would also occur when installing any of the drivers on ATI's site. Rolling back to the HIS 8.4 drivers, and the black screen on the preview would not occur. Rolling back even further to the drivers that came with the card itself, and it would function correctly. I'm not sure why this is, has anyone experienced this?

I have tried all versions of Ati drivers and always go back to 8.4. In my setup it is the best. It is amazing to me how and why a company can actually make drivers worse as time goes by, in any case, that is what happens in my system. (2400pro, windows XP, mpc-hc)

8.4 Rocks!! :)

[arfster]

It is amazing to me how and why a company can actually make drivers worse as time goes by, in any case, that is what happens in my system.


Not just you - to my mind, it's more than a year since the last vaguely competent set of drivers was released. Since 7.12 they broke all acceleration with dual monitors, and refuse to do anything to fix it - yes, you can get h264/vc1 back with a reg tweak, but 99% of people won't ever find that out and thus have zero acceleration, one of the card's main features!

Of course 7.8-7.12 were useless for other bugs as well, so really the July07 drivers are the last that could be called better than alpha-tested.

[HDGIANTS]

All:

We are a content distribution company that is distributing VC-1 content for the CEDIA marketplace.

We encode our content using a variety of different encoders, but for the most part we use Telestream's Episode encoder.

We are finding that partners who want to play video using ATI cards cannot get hardware acceleration to work.

We are encoding using the VC-1 Advance Profile, L3 (that would be 45 mb/s).

We are forced to use Microsoft Media Player for playback because all of the content needs to be wrapped in Microsoft DRM.

We have been told that the problem is that ATI has stopped supporting Mode C and that Microsoft is not yet supporting Mode D for their player.

Can anyone shed some light on this problem?

Thanks!

[madshi]

We are encoding using the VC-1 Advance Profile, L3 (that would be 45 mb/s).
Progressive or interlaced?

We have been told that the problem is that ATI has stopped supporting Mode C and that Microsoft is not yet supporting Mode D for their player.
That's more or less correct. However, it's not the media player which is important, it's the VC-1 decoder being used by the media player. The official MS VC-1 decoder doesn't support mode D, which is the only accelerated mode ATI hardware supports.

If your content is progressive you can try using the new open source VC-1 decoder developed by the MPC HC guys which supports mode D just fine. You'll have to find a way to force the MS media player to use this other VC-1 decoder. Maybe raising the merit of the open source VC-1 decoder will already do the trick. Otherwise you may have to delete the MS VC-1 decoder. Here's the link to the MPC HC doom9 forum thread:

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=123537

The open source VC-1 decoder is part of the MPC HC media player. But it's also available as a standalone codec, too, so that it can be used in other media players. The download links are buried somewhere in that thread.

[dak0ta11]

Could somebody answer this for me? I have the following card:
SAPPHIRE 100219L Radeon HD 2600XT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 AGP 8X HDCP Ready Video Card
Does this card come with the built-in soundcard? It did NOT come with the ATI HDMI adapter, but I ordered one anyway.
I am currently using analog out to my Onkyo 606, but I'd like to switch to HDMI only if it will work with this card.

Thanks,
Brian

[Nimo]

When you say that BD plays in MPC without external decoders are you saying that you don't need PDVD8 or similar? Typically, MPC will use other codecs if it needs them. For instance, it is definitely using the Realtek codecs that installed with your sound card. If it will play BD without any other software, that would be very surprising- and good!

It depends on the audio track but it has H.264 acceleration built in along with a bunch of other codec's. This version is hard to control the codecs in Vista just like my video card drivers. The HD2600 I have using the Vista drivers it came with is stuck in extended mode and there is no way to untick the switch. If I play anything in PDVD it will down res to 1280 from 1080p 60. But the good news is my LX177 can do 24Hz native so when I switch refresh rates it goes into a 1:1 desktop and shows the proper resolution.

I even installed the CCC thinking I can switch it off there, but no go so I'm just running the drivers with no control panel because it really does nothing for these drivers.

[Nimo]

Has anybody tested the 8.6 drivers from visiontek? I'm dl'ing them now but would like some feed back if possible this for my HD2600 AGP card.

[Nimo]

Just tested 8.5/8.6 and no go stutter city so I reverted back to 8.4 and installed CCC found out the overscan slider is set in the middle causing the cropping. So it's all good here in 875p land once again. Ok I'm now officially done screwing with this thing got the day off and going to watch some movies in series.:cool:

[crabnebula]

Just installed Cat 8.10 on my 780G. Contrary to previous driver upgrades, I did not need to reapply the UseBTCS601 registry tweak to get SD video to expand to 0-255 levels. Maybe they've normalized color output for HD and SD?

However, I'm still looking for a way to have all output compressed to 16-235. I'm currently using a DVI to HDMI cable. Does anyone know if using the HDMI output on a 780G motherboard forces YCbCr output like the HDMI dongle does on discrete cards?

[h8redv2]

Hi all

Just jumped on the HDMI wagon and need some help to understand it.

This is all on Vista 32 bit...!!

HD 2600XT is connected to philips lcd with hdmi
Philips lcd is connected with coax digital to yamaha 5.1 reciever.
This is to have perfect lipssync, as suggested by philips.

I have checked dts and dolby digital in audio properties.

When I play back the dts sample, my reciever switchs to DTS and I have sound from all speakers.

When I play back DD sample, the 5 test tones just bounces between my two front speakers ???

Why is this ?

Does VMC not passthrough DD like it does DTS ?

Do I have to install AC3 filter to do a passthru ?

PLease help me understand

[arfster]

Just installed Cat 8.10 on my 780G. Contrary to previous driver upgrades, I did not need to reapply the UseBTCS601 registry tweak to get SD video to expand to 0-255 levels.


I did :-(

Did you use drivercleaner before installing? Reg entries are pretty persistent.

[jong1]

The tweak is still needed for sure :(

[crabnebula]

Strange, I've made it a habit of just upgrading over the previous version, but in the past I've always had to reapply the registry tweak afterwards. Guess for some reason it didn't get erased during the latest update.

[crabnebula]

However, I'm still looking for a way to have all output compressed to 16-235. I'm currently using a DVI to HDMI cable. Does anyone know if using the HDMI output on a 780G motherboard forces YCbCr output like the HDMI dongle does on discrete cards?

Tested this and the answer is yes, using HDMI out on a 780G motherboard does yield YCbCr output.

[aravs]

just wondering if anyone here has gone on and upgraded from the 2x00 series card to the 3x00 series like i did. I'm experiencing some problems as outlined here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=14857042&postcount=184) and cant seem to find a solution. Hasn't been much activity in the 3x00 threads; guess everyone has moved onto the 4x00 series cards :(

Any help or suggestion would be appreciated.

[jong1]

just wondering if anyone here has gone on and upgraded from the 2x00 series card to the 3x00 series like i did. I'm experiencing some problems as outlined here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=14857042&postcount=184) and cant seem to find a solution. Hasn't been much activity in the 3x00 threads; guess everyone has moved onto the 4x00 series cards :(

Any help or suggestion would be appreciated.I think most 3xxx series users kept using this thread. I know I did (I have a 3850). I have replied in the other thread.

[Luar Azul]

Not just you - to my mind, it's more than a year since the last vaguely competent set of drivers was released. Since 7.12 they broke all acceleration with dual monitors, and refuse to do anything to fix it - yes, you can get h264/vc1 back with a reg tweak, but 99% of people won't ever find that out and thus have zero acceleration, one of the card's main features!

Of course 7.8-7.12 were useless for other bugs as well, so really the July07 drivers are the last that could be called better than alpha-tested.

Well, today I went over to the same frivolous task of checking out the latest version (8.10) of Ati's drivers. Although this is becoming a habit I was still amazed to find yet another set of drivers that keep hardware acceleration broken for many kinds of encodings. I've been expecting the opposite, that a new set of drivers would reveal more of the true power of these graphic cards (for instance, allowing for more reference frames in 1080p encondings) for they can obviously surpass the ability of any cpu on the market on this kind of parallel processing task.

Perhaps, with the development of CUDA and other GPGPU languages, we will see other kinds of software (like coreavc) start taking advantage of the power of these GPUs to decode any kind of encoding in spite of the crippled drivers.

In any case my vision of the corporate industry certainly changed, there are simply too many instances to be ignored: they are certainly not trying to fulfill every consumer need, desire and aspiration to the best of their abilities. Instead they first try to create a hype about a product and later on they cripple their own products to keep us buying more and more of their sophisticated-junk. We certainly cannot (http://www.storyofstuff.com/downloads.html) go on like this for centuries without trashing the planet. How I would like to have more google-minded enterprises in the world!

Well all of this was to say that I tried the 7.7 version that you mentioned, it might be the best "out of the box" driver, but with the tweaks (http://exdeus.home.comcast.net/~exdeus/ati-hd2x00/) that you and ExDeus created the 8.4 works much better for me. In any case, after fiddling with a disappointing 8.10 and trying the 7.7 again, I returned to the tweaked 8.4 and everything is running fine and dandy again. Thanks for the tweaks Arfster and for all the light that people like you and ExDeus bring to compensate for messed up companies and their software. In a better world Ati would pay people like you huge sums to come up with an excellent driver, and everyone would win.

Well, in this world the tweaks will have to do! Thanks :)

[el Filou]

Well, today I went over to the same frivolous task of checking out the latest version (8.10) of Ati's drivers. Although this is becoming a habit I was still amazed to find yet another set of drivers that keep hardware acceleration broken for many kinds of encodings. I've been expecting the opposite, that a new set of drivers would reveal more of the true power of these graphic cards (for instance, allowing for more reference frames in 1080p encondings) for they can obviously surpass the ability of any cpu on the market on this kind of parallel processing task.

Perhaps, with the development of CUDA and other GPGPU languages, we will see other kinds of software (like coreavc) start taking advantage of the power of these GPUs to decode any kind of encoding in spite of the crippled drivers.

In any case my vision of the corporate industry certainly changed, there are simply too many instances to be ignored: they are certainly not trying to fulfill every consumer need, desire and aspiration to the best of their abilities. Instead they first try to create a hype about a product and later on they cripple their own products to keep us buying more and more of their sophisticated-junk. We certainly can not go on like this for centuries without trashing the planet. How I would like to have more google-minded enterprises in the world!

I think you set your hopes too high.

The reason graphics cards will never be able to cope with more complex 1080p encodes is because there is no widely-used standard for these kinds of encodes. Manufacturers have to set themselves a goal, and this goal is H.264 Profile 4.1. Why? Because that's what is used by Blu-ray and HDTV.
The higher profiles are of no use to consumers, and supporting only some enhancements, like a higher number of reference frames, is getting out of the official profiles, so you don't have a canvas anymore. It's the people who encode that have to stick to Profile 4.1 and all will be well.

For the technical side, why don't the manufacturers develop drivers that support a higher number of reference frames or something else? Because they developed highly-specific circuits to handle video acceleration. These circuits (UVD/VP2/whatever) use a low transistor count so take little space on the chip, and don't need much power. Because these chips are tight to very detailed specs (Profile 4.1), they won't accept something that goes outside of the specs.

If you implemented H.264 decoding through the shaders you would waste valuable power (did you mention trashing the planet?) and would only please a very small market (people watching non-profile-compliant pirate rips of films), so they won't do it.
CoreAVC might do it one day but the benefit is not worth the cost of development.

Now, if you think about other enhancements, like consistent YCbCr-to-RGB conversion between SD and HD or settable output format, you are right but in that case it's either evil or just incompetence as these things should be easy to implement.

[kammiz]

i am having major issues with my club3d radeon 2600 hd xt card. i have an asus m2n-e sli motherbord, 4gigs of memory and 2,8ghz dual core amd2 cpu.

when i install the driver for the 2600 hd, vista will not boot. it fails during load and restarts, saying there was an hardware error due to a newly installed hardware/software. safe mode will work, but from the point of installing the drives it will not boot vista normally anymore.

i just tried formatting my disk, install vista and then the ati driver, but it still fails. do i need sp1 maybe? what else can cause this???

[Disc13]

Hi all,

Hopefully I can get a little insight into a problem I've been having.

I recently got a TV Tuner for the HTPC and have noticed that most of the time, 1080i material (CBS football games and shows) has some stutter associated with it. I'm talking about both live TV and recorded. Other HD channels run fine (and heck, even sometimes CBS runs perfectly).

So far my HD-DVD/Blu-Ray playback has been nearly flawless (until today when I played Doomsday and I got a pulsing sharpening/unsharpening thing, really weird, but since it's the first time I've seen such a thing I'm not worried). I'm on 8.6 drivers with no CCC installed -- 8.8-8.9 gives me a display driver crash when I play HD material, and 8.7/8.10 introduces some artifacts (often green boxes) or slight tearing.

So I guess my question is if any of you guys are running a 2600Pro and getting perfect video from CBS or 1080i material (1080p trailers from Quicktime are also hit and miss). I'm wondering if it's a limitation of the card, my card, or even something else in the system.

Thanks a lot in advance!

Dual Core E6750 2.66G
2Gig Ram
Vista 32 Sp1, TVPack

[sharangad]

i am having major issues with my club3d radeon 2600 hd xt card. i have an asus m2n-e sli motherbord, 4gigs of memory and 2,8ghz dual core amd2 cpu.

when i install the driver for the 2600 hd, vista will not boot. it fails during load and restarts, saying there was an hardware error due to a newly installed hardware/software. safe mode will work, but from the point of installing the drives it will not boot vista normally anymore.

i just tried formatting my disk, install vista and then the ati driver, but it still fails. do i need sp1 maybe? what else can cause this???

Are you on Vista 32 bit?

[indieke2]

Interesting, that not having returned on this page for a while, 8.4 with tweak, is still hot. The one I am having for ages now, tweaked of course! Otherwise 1080 i, Mpeg 2 is unwatchable! had to delete register entries to make this work and trying different versions!

But now I have a problem. Trying to use Arcsoft Total media. With no acceleration, picture stutters. WITH acceleration, it becomes unwatchable, with blokking and strange movements. Doesn't this (latest) version of ATM doesn't like Ati 2600 xt, or must I use other drivers to make my Bd's work on it?

I have another computer wit N Vidia 9600 GS, that I don't use in my home theater, there everything is fine with this arcsoft version...

Your 5 cents? Something to do about it?

[billkaren3]

Hi guys ,My beautiful hd 2400 pro is a paperweight!! Seems the only driver that works for these cards are 7.9 beta and guess what!!! Ati made Visiontek
pull them and i cant find them anywhere.Vista and XP both crash on any catalsyt install ,card only runs with windows garbage display driver.:confused::(

[Luar Azul]

I think you set your hopes too high.

The reason graphics cards will never be able to cope with more complex 1080p encodes is because there is no widely-used standard for these kinds of encodes. Manufacturers have to set themselves a goal, and this goal is H.264 Profile 4.1. Why? Because that's what is used by Blu-ray and HDTV.
The higher profiles are of no use to consumers, and supporting only some enhancements, like a higher number of reference frames, is getting out of the official profiles, so you don't have a canvas anymore. It's the people who encode that have to stick to Profile 4.1 and all will be well.

For the technical side, why don't the manufacturers develop drivers that support a higher number of reference frames or something else? Because they developed highly-specific circuits to handle video acceleration. These circuits (UVD/VP2/whatever) use a low transistor count so take little space on the chip, and don't need much power. Because these chips are tight to very detailed specs (Profile 4.1), they won't accept something that goes outside of the specs.

If you implemented H.264 decoding through the shaders you would waste valuable power (did you mention trashing the planet?) and would only please a very small market (people watching non-profile-compliant pirate rips of films), so they won't do it.
CoreAVC might do it one day but the benefit is not worth the cost of development.

Now, if you think about other enhancements, like consistent YCbCr-to-RGB conversion between SD and HD or settable output format, you are right but in that case it's either evil or just incompetence as these things should be easy to implement.

(This is clearly an off topic message :o but I thought it might be interesting to share it instead of being just a private message.)

Thanks for the clear reply el Filou, I'm still hopping for that "shaders software" and I'll tell you why: now that we have so much technology and machines that could be working for us (instead of we being slaves to "maximum growth") I like to imagine a world where money would not exist and people worked for shifts for the benefit of all and dedicated their spare time to art, sports, science and philosophy, and other such pleasures. It is true I am constantly being disappointed by the choices that are fashionable in this society (like the lack of support for free software, or sacrificing true well being for great appearance). But I believe it is like in John Lennon's Imagine, "You may say I'm a dreamer", but I prefer to be an absolute idealist regarding ends and an absolute realist regarding only the means to achieve them.

Denouncing worse drivers is just a petite and almost insignificant way to remind us that things could be different. I'm just striving for a world where I'd rather live (instead of just trying to "fit in", as many of us do).

Thanks again :)

[marksfink]

Looking for help with a problem. A few details first of my config...

Dell XPS 420 with ATI 2600XT connected via HDMI to a Sony KDS60A3000 TV (and via DVI to an LCD monitor).

My ATI CCC settings for the TV are 1920x1080, 60hz with deinterlace set to Automatic and 3:2 Pulldown checked. I've applied Ex Deus's tweaks. ATI CCC version is 8.9.

I'm using Vista Media Center with Microsoft MPEG2 decoder and ATI cablecard tuners (thus, I must use the MS-MPEG2 decoder).

PQ on HD channels is great. It is also very good on most SD channels. However, when I watch many SD programs (not all), I get severe stuttering during motion. Using Comedy Central as an example, "The Daily Show" plays fine, looks great, but "Scrubs" stutters horribly. It affects only certain programs, not all.

I can "fix" the problem by changing the deinterlace setting (in ATI CCC) to either Adaptive or Bob, both work well - that is, all SD programs (including "Scrubs") play back fine without stuttering. However, when I do this, it noticeably softens the HD channels -- they look ok, but not nearly as good with deinterlace set to Automatic or Vector Adaptive.

So for the best picture, I am faced with changing the deinterlace setting depending on what I want to watch. I created ATI profiles (with desktop icons) for the deinterlace settings to make it easier, but I have to logoff and logon again for the change to take effect, so it is tedious.

Does anyone know of a hack or tweak I can use to improve the situation? Ideally, I'd like VMC or ATI to detect the source material and apply the appropriate deinterlace method. I think that is supposed to be happening anyhow, but it is apparently broken.

I don't mind changing ATI CCC versions if anyone thinks that will help. Registry hacks are fine too. But remember, I can't change the MPEG2 decoder with ATI cablecard tuners.

If there is no solution, then it will at least be good to know that (for now). I have tried everything I can think to try with the various ATI CCC settings -- that I have not mentioned here obviously.

[daMaster]

I have an ATI Radeon HD 3470 and I'm using the ATI DVI->HDMI dongle that came with the card:
1) With the ATI dongle, I'm losing BTB and WTW. Why is that?
2) My GPU speed on the DVI port of this card drops from 800MHz to 300MHz and my mem speed also drops from 800MHz to 400MHz. I can't change it in CCC or RivaTuner! With the component output, it is running fine at the spec speed of 800MHz and 800MHz. Anybody else have this strange issue?

[jong1]

I have an ATI Radeon HD 3470 and I'm using the ATI DVI->HDMI dongle that came with the card:
1) With the ATI dongle, I'm losing BTB and WTW. Why is that?Because the driver first expands video levels to PC levels, so 16 becomes 0, for example, if you capture the screen; Values below 16 are lost. Then it recompresses to video levels. You need to manually tweak brightness and contrast to avoid this. However, since these are not intended to be seen once the system is calibrated there is little practical benefit in doing so. Can be done if you wish though.

[tman247]

Can anyone comment if ExDeus's script will work on the new 4000 series cards (specifically 4550, which I plan to replace my 2600XT with at some point), and also an embedded HD3200 series (780G chipset).

[Joe Hendrix]

I hope someone can answer Marksfinks's question. I have the EXACT same problem. I'm just scratching my head on what to do with this. I have the HIS 2600 XT on an Intel DP35 Motherboard, and get QAM through HD Homerun. I'm running Vista SP1 (no TV Pack). My system is on a gigabit network, if that matters at all.

[kammiz]

Are you on Vista 32 bit?

yes, i am on vista 32 bit.

hoping for some help here.. i returned my motherboard and graphiccard, but the store could not find any fault with it. they installed vista and the drivers with no problems.

[sharangad]

yes, i am on vista 32 bit.

hoping for some help here.. i returned my motherboard and graphiccard, but the store could not find any fault with it. they installed vista and the drivers with no problems.

You said you had 4 GB of RAM. I was wondering whether you'd have the same problem if you reduced your RAM to 2 GB. 32 bit operating systems can only 4 GB of total RAM including actual RAM, memory mapped I/O. For instance with a graphics card with 1 GB of RAM. the actual amount of system RAM you can have goes down by 1 GB. Generally a 32 bit OS like XP or Vista can only address 3.2-3.3 GB of RAM. Some drivers like those for Creative soundcards don't run too well with 4 GB of RAM.