GeForce 8200 - 8 Channel LPCM Output Fully Supported!! - Page 35

Good to hear. We need someone with a little bit of knowhow to look at this stuff. I'd love to test hybrid power, but my last graphics card was an ATI....

just out of curiosity, what's your temperature situation? i seem to recall, i don't remember if it was this thread or a review somewhere, that mentioned their particular stuttering being caused by excessive heat, and when fixed it worked fine.
don't ask me how much heat it was, i don't recall anymore, but something that's lingered in my head, and being you said that audio by itself stutters, leads to something more than the supposed phenom post-processing solution.
Maybe even just the drivers, as if i'm not totally off-base, there's a different driver in use for analog vs. hdmi, since analog audio gets processed through the audio chipset, while hdmi audio goes through the nvidia chipset? Anyone wanna confirm this or slap me upside the head?
Can you also report as to the rest of your config, such as memory, memory speed, PSU, as well as the temps you're seeing?

-Tony

I doubt temperature is the culprit. System, CPU and HDD temps are never more than 35C. At idle they stay about 22-25C. Stock HSF with the CPU, Coolmax CUG-700B PSU, 2x1 GB of OCZ Gold DDR2 800 @ stock timings, Segate ST3500320AS HDD and Liteon DH-20A4H-08 DVD+/- burner in a Antec 900 case.

just thinking out loud here, and I'm sure lakaw and other experts, can almost disconfirm this, but is there any reason to believe that sending hdmi video and audio together to the avr helps with a/v sync, or with the speeds today in interfaces is it pretty much a non-issue?
i, too, was one that always questioned sending the video through an avr, as i always was under the old, and possibly wrong assumption that avrs should just handle audio and nothing else, which it seems is being debunked by the readings here. i'm still not totally convinced it's superior or required, save the 1 extra cable, except for the fact that we're all wanting just one cable!

-Tony

Yes, there are two diferent audio devices. For the nvidia HDMI HD audio, I'm currently using the current .23 driver. I don't remember the previous version I used but stuttering was still happening. BTW, even with the HDMI HD audio disabled in the BIOS and not using HDMI video, I was still geting studdering untill I unpluged the HDMI cable.

well I have Hybrid power working which completely KILLS the 9800GTX. I'm serious, there's a green LED that comes on this card when it's active. Nothing when inactive...
UPDATE: not only is the card dead, the FAN is too! I renabled just to make sure I didn't fry things out, but it's still working! Hybrid power really works quite well!

BTW this ECS board gets MASSIVE stuttering with sound just playing a simple MP3 in Winamp. Something is going on here, as I'm getting hiccups left and right in simple web browsing. Sadly this isn't just isolated to HDMI as it occurs during my headphones too.

I'm going to install process explorer and get to the bottom of these "hiccups"

renethx,

How well is your Phenom X3 working with H.264 video without using hardware acceleration ?

Right now I have a Q6600 on my main HTPC, and the CPU usage gets to 55% max when playing high bitrate H.264 video (like Spider-Man 3 Blu-ray).

I'm considering upgrading my main HTPC to a 8200 motherboard (I already have an ASUS M3N78-EMH HDMI based HTPC which I built for a friend) + compatible CPU which doesn't need the help of hardware acceleration (I find that hardware acceleration is very limit to my needs), so maybe I can save few $ and go with Phenom X3.

sorry for quote my self but can anyone,plase,give me a hand with that??? as marioman i´m worried about the x3 phenom can works properly with BR/HDDVD and heavy mkv without HA.
thanks again

You have no black screen with TMT? Also, how is the audio with TMT?

I ask as you mentioned black screen in previous post, and your find is great news for this TMT user. Thanks

Bahn, the hiccups with the ECS board sound exactly like what I was getting. Investigate if you want, but I would save myself some time and just RMA it to NewEgg like I did. I spent many hours trying to solve it. I could get smooth playback right when I turned on the board, but after 5-10 minutes the hiccups returned, regardless of what I did, even with a fan directly blowing on it.

i got the biostar board today and so far it has been great. the heatsink is slightly warm to the touch, as opposed to the one on the ecs, which would burn you if you left it in the ambient. back to the biostar board. win xp2 install went smoothly, though the hdmi audio situation is the same regardless of driver, either two channel or always 7.1 channel.
I tried powerdvd 8, got the same "Incompatible Graphics Driver" message as renethx. this is with a measly Athlon 3200+. Cyberlink/nvidia really need to get this situation straightened out though.

tried nero 7 oem version for sd dvds and it worked great, smooth and dd 5.1 came fine as bitstream when i selected "SPDIF" in the audio. no luck with hd-dvd though, but i didn't download any updates or purchase the plug-in, so no real surprise there.

But, I have also had great success with Arcsoft. I downloaded the (fully featured) trial and played my Batman Begins Hd-DVD from the hard drive with truehd seemingly working fine (again, there is no SURE way to know, since the receiver always say Multichannel LPCM), but it is indicated as such in the arcsoft menu. Without HA, my CPU usage was at 100% (no surprise with a single core), but when I clicked the HA button (while the move was playing even), it went down to 40-70% and stayed there. playback was very smooth. there was some slight tearing in high action scenes, but I was impressed that it works as well as it does with such little processing power. Of course, Arcsoft doesn't have an option for PLIIx, so I am still stuck with 5.1! But, still good news. From the disc, it will still play, but not nearly as smoothly. I also tried transformers from disc (AVC codec vs. VC-1), and it played also, but not smoothly. At the moment, I'm ripping TF to the hard drive and will let you know how it goes. Of course, renethx has already beat me to the punch with AVC playback, but if it plays as well as Batman, I'll be impressed. Later today I'll switch in the processor from my other machine, the 5000+ X2 BE which runs at 3 ghz, so I think things will be even better when that happens. Also, I used the japanese renderer files that DPlettner posted. Without them, I just got a blank screen. I have attached them here if others want to try them out. Just replace the ones in your "Program files\\Common files\\Arcsoft\\Mpeg engine" folder with the ones in the file.

I'm going to investigate to see if there is a way to get PLIIx type functionality in mplayer classic, but maybe I'll get ambitious and try the Nero plug-in later today.

 

ArcSoft EVR-VMR Renderers From JP Trial (for Intel IGP).zip 164.6171875k . file

Yes, I had the exact same problem. I RMA'ed the board, hopefully you can do the same. I got the biostar board and it has been perfect. Others have had some success with the ECS board, but it seems like at least one other person (Bahn Yuki) is also having the same problem. The Abit and Asus boards are also available, and two MSI boards became available at NewEgg today, but only one of them has HDMI it looks like.

I have absolutely no skipping problems with my ECS. I can play mp3s, FLACS, divx, etc with no skipping problems. I am using .16 of the HDMI audio driver now.

Update: I just lost all stereo sound with .16 version of the driver. The only way I got sound was from bitstreamed audio to the receiver (through HDMI). I updated to the newest version of the driver and I have stereo again. I think I will leave it on .25 for a while until we can get something figured out for this whole HDDVD/BluRay playback with a X2 processor.

Same exact issues bleggett. although I can live with VGA/discrete sound card, that's not in line with this thread. We must find out what's causing the HDMI stuttering. I believe a BIOS update or a driver could really help us out here.

Have you guys seen this page? 8CH PCM is possible without 1.3a, but what is gained by getting a board that is 1.3a certified? I'm still having stutering issues, the only audio I can play without it is through pandora.com. Thinking about rma'ing and switching boards, but if the board worked correctly I'd be entirely satisfied. Hybrid SLi works using the 175.16 drivers with my Gigabyte 8500GT.

renethx,

Thanks for the info. Can you try MPC with FFDShow Video Decoder ?

Just installed the "16" drivers and no sound at all. But there was 5.1 again! heading back to "25".

This HDMI stuttering is pretty disappointing. It not only effects videos, but everything you do. We should write an email to ECS to get their act together, last BIOS is from April 17th, you'd think they'd churn another release to address this issue. Today my friend's coming over and we're gonna try to tinker around in BIOS to see if any of the settings in there will alleviate any issues. For those with the ECS boards, could you please tell me what your current BIOS settings are?

I tried varying almost every BIOS setting I could with the ECS board, but none of it affected the stuttering. This was with the latest BIOS from the website, not the one the board came with.

I thought I had posted a response to this about an hour ago, but don't see it now.

If you email Gary Key, he will respond. I asked him a few days ago about the 5.1 vs 7.1 issue and he told me about the meeting he was going to have with nvidia (he posted here about it). However, I never heard back from him as to the outcome of the meeting. In one of his earlier articles on Anandtech he has data from playing several Blu Rays in powerdvd with an Athlon X2 4850e, so it is clearly possible. Nvidia and cyberlink just need to get things worked out. He used the 173.68 drivers (found them here), so maybe I'll install them and see if it makes a difference with PowerDVD.

I don't want to keep pestering him, but if someone does email Gary Key to ask about the PowerDVD issue, don't forget to ask about the 5.1/7.1 issue as well.

I have the ECS board and have ZERO stuttering issues. I left my BIOS as it was from the factory. Codecs I have installed are FFdSHOW, along with DIVX pro.

I have only tired two versions of the driver -
.16 results in 3 options when I "configure" my HDMI audio device: Stereo, 5.1, and 7.1. Unfortunately, this driver results in no sound when I play anything that doesn't have AC3/DTS that is bitstreamed over HDMI. All Stereo material is mute.

.25 results in only stereo in the configuration tab, but I have sound and can bitstream AC3/DTS in VLC, VMC, Nero, etc. Also, winamp has sound again.

So, I'm not sure what causes the stuttering. I am running an ATX Mid-Tower case, not a low profice HTPC case, so maybe heat is an issue. I only have two fans though, one intake and the stock fan on my CPU.

Well, I just tried the 173.68 driver and it killed my sound and my bluetooth keyboard and mouse. Don't know what the problem is with the bluetooth, but I had to track down an old USB set! I'll try the 175.70 and see what I get with that.

Update part 2: Just tried the 175.70 driver and still had no sound. Went back to the official driver 175.25 and I have sound and bluetooth connectivity. Guess I'll wait it out too.

So, the 173.68 drivers are definitely NOT a good idea (at least in XP). PowerDVD didn't give me an incompatible driver error message, but instead didn't load anything and the screen flickered constantly. Also, HDMI audio stopped working. When I tried TMT, it worked ok, but when I closed it I got a memory dump and restart.

So, I am going back to 175.70 and TMT. I'll wait for nvidia and cyberlink to work out their issues and in the meantime try to figure out a solution for the 5.1/7.1 thing.

This is on the abit board still right? Also I'm assuming this is on Vista 32 bit? I would like to use TMT with Vista 64 bit, but they don't support it yet right?


What mobo are you using? I'm using the Asus M3N78-EMH HDMI, and none of the Hybrid options are showing up in the bios v 0222 (I think?) using an ASUS 8400GS. Has anyone gotten Hybrid SLI to work with this board yet? I'll have to check for an updated bios.

Anyone with working 1080p and multich LPCM try 24hz output? I'm considering picking up the Giga-byte GA-M78SM-S2H GF8200 as it's available locally.

I'm interested in 24p as well.