ATI only, Vista MCE only, DVD IQ problems (examples)

Ok... so I'm back at it again.

I have a image quality problem that I have been tryign to figure out for quite some time. I havent been able to make much headway but here is what I know so far.

First, my setup:
FoxConn nForce 4 Ultra Mobo
2GB DDR Mem
A64 X2 4400+ CPU
HIS ATI x1950Pro PCIe video
250GB SATA
16x DVD+/-RW / DL
V@Box DTA 151
Happuage Roslyn based PVR card
Windows Vista Home Premium

The problem I am experiencing can only be described as a pixelation effect on DVD movies and Live TV under Windows Vista MCE only.

The problem is always there but most noticeable on chroma rich content, such as finding nemo, the incredibles, the end credits in blade (can't remember if blade or blade 2 but the end credits are red) and is noticeable on skin tones.

The problem is not present when I play a DVD back in Windows Media Player under Vista.

The problem is not present when using a 7600GT in MCE or WMP

I can grab a screen shot from WMP, but not MCE in Vista (which would make me think MCE is defaulting to overlay for some odd reason).

The problem is not there on the same exact setup, but using MCE 2005 and purVideo Decoders.

The problem is not present on a laptop running vista MCE and a 7600go

I have tried to install PowerDVD 7 and set it as the preffered MCE decoder, but the problem still remains and I can not grab a screen shot.

The problem is not present when using PowerDVD 7 with HW accel enabled.

I have tried every windows update, and several different driver versions for my video card.

I have tried the TRDenoise registry hack and the DXVA_DetailEnhance hack

Since I can not seem to grab an image out of MCE I decided to try to simulate the problem using an image editing program and have duplicated the results pretty close. So here are the pictures:

Here would be what it should look like... nice and clean




here is about what I am seeing, notice how it has a almost pixelated effect to it?





I hope that seeing these pictures will give someone out there a better Idea as to what is goign on, and possibly find a solution or even just say this is a ATI driver bug in vista and it is known lol... any thing at this point would be so helpful!

had to re-do the pictures lol, photobucket resized them on me and you couldnt see the difference. Should be noticeable now.

This seems to be exactly what I am seeing here:

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volum...ug-4-2001.html


I know this is an older bug but it looks almost exactly the same.

Just out of curiocity... here are my registry settings.

anything look out of place? Could the Denoise setting be the same as the TRDenoise? ShouldI turn that down from 150 to 0?

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SYSTEM\\ControlSet001\\Control\\Video\\{ 504B9F79-00DD-4C88-9BE8-9AC417D78EA2}\\0001\\UMD\\DXVA]
"DI_METHOD"=hex:2d,00,31,00
"DI_METHOD_DEF"="-1"
"3to2Pulldown"=hex:31,00
"3to2Pulldown_DEF"="1"
"OvlTheaterMode_DEF"="0"
"TrueWhite_DEF"="0"
"Denoise_DEF"="150"
"Detail_DEF"="0"
"ColorVibrance_DEF"="0"
"Fleshtone_DEF"="0"
"WhiteBalanceCorrection_DEF"="0"
"ContrastEnhancement_DEF"="0"
"LRTCCoef_DEF"="0"
"OvlTheaterModeType_DEF"="0"
"DXVA_WMV"="0"
"DXVA_WMV_DEF"="0"
"Denoise"="150"
"Denoise_DE_MIN"="100"
"Denoise_DE_MAX"="200"
"OvlTheaterMode"=dword:00000030
"TrueWhite"=hex:30,00,00,00
"Detail"=hex:30,00,00,00
"ColorVibrance"=hex:30,00,00,00
"Fleshtone"=hex:30,00,00,00
"WhiteBalanceCorrection"=hex:30,00,00,00
"ContrastEnhancement"=hex:30,00,00,00
"LRTCCoef"=hex:30,00,00,00
"OvlSavedSettings"=dword:00000011
"TRDenoise"="0"
"DXVA_DetailEnhance"="0"

It doesnt change resolution as far as I can see. Most monitors and displays would also indicate the resolution change themselves.

See above, already tried that with PowerDVD, same identical results

VMCD gave the options for:

Cyberlink SAC Video Decoder (PDVD7 HomeNetwork)
and
Cyberlink Video/SP Decoder

selecting the first one I got audio and no video, the secon had the same results as the MS decoder, and I was unable to take a screen shot.

ddoes anyone know how to check if Vista MCE is running in overlay mode?

OK so I took another machine and wiped it out completely and installed vista

System uses a X850XT

Problem is not there

This is so aggrivating, I really wish I could find out what is going on here, I have been through a couple parts of the registry and have had little success.

Is there a utility I can use to see what is happening when I playback DVDs in Vista MCE on this machine? Show what renderer and mode is being used?

CPU use is still very low so HW accel has to be used I would think

Welp ATI released Cat 7.9 today

After going through many different driver versions 7.9 fixed my problem! WOOHOO!