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I cant get any front end to work!

849 Views 15 Replies 4 Participants Last post by freeeeeman, Oct 1, 2006

freeeeeman

Discussion Starter · Sep 28, 2006

so after a few totally clean builds & updated drivers, i gave up on MCE as it would stutter & totally fall on it's face.

so now i tried beyondTV and when i choose the overlay option, the colors are all funky. when i choose 3d Accelerated, the colors are correct, but the video is choppy. but the CPU usage stays around 35%. signal strength is 98 to 100%. system is fairly decent (AMD 3800, 7600GS video, HDTV Wonder, etc....)

ideas? seems like others have been timeshifting HD w/ less than a 7600 card...

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walford

· #2 · Sep 28, 2006

If your 720p HD programs(ABC, Fox) are not stuttering and your 1080i programs(CBS,NBC and the rest) are then your 7600GS does not have the GPU power to support non overlay mode rendering at the output resolution you are using. The 7600GT cards are more powerfull and those normally recommended for 1080i HDTV.

freeeeeman

Discussion Starter · #3 · Sep 28, 2006

is there really that much difference in the GS & GT? i selected the GS b/c it was silent. and i also had the same problem when doing 720x480. TV doesn't support 720p.

swats

· #4 · Sep 28, 2006

Sounds like a decoder issue- what are you using?

freeeeeman

Discussion Starter · #5 · Sep 28, 2006

i tried various ones. Cyberlink (came w/ HDTV Wonder), snapstream's and a trial version from nVidia. all seemed to be exactly the same.

i wonder if i should install older drivers for the 7600gs? or perhaps the a180 would be a better card?

i'm surprised no one has figured out the "No Signal" issue with MCE. my signal strength is @ 100% and the cpu isn't overworked, and MCE just starts complaining about a lost signal. then if you reboot, it is fine. so frustrating!

thanks for everyone's help, btw! i've certainly posted my share of issues on this board.

Commodore 64

· #6 · Sep 28, 2006

Probably isn't the TV card. All they do is capture an Mpeg2 stream.

I use a 6600GT and it works fine for 720p and 1080i with the nV decoders using VMR9. Works fine with MPV and DScaler too.

I use Mediaportal, but also used SageTV. No problems with timeshifting either. COuld you have the Si 311x SATA chipset issue?

freeeeeman

Discussion Starter · #7 · Sep 28, 2006

what's this chipset issue you speak of and how do i diagnos & resolve it?

walford

· #8 · Sep 28, 2006

As U stated before if you see a difference in how the 720p and1080i programs concerning dropped frames or stuttering then it is a chip set performace issue which is also affected by output resolution selecrtions.

The problem is similiar to that with NVIDIA 6600 Chip set cards. 6600GT cards have no problem with 1080i HDTV programs, however most ot the plain 6600 Chip cards do.

freeeeeman

Discussion Starter · #9 · Sep 28, 2006

actually, i have the stuttering problem when the signal isn't even HD. so i dunno what's up w/ that. i set it up to record stuff w/o the gui and i'll see if that helps. and here i thought this was going to be easy...

walford

· #10 · Sep 28, 2006

So you are saying the have Stuttering watching an SD analog TV program on an NTSC tuner or are you saying that you are receiving a 480 SD subchannel from one if the "Digital network stations" instead of their primary Digital Channel?

What resolution are you outputting at and over what interface to what display(s)?

Does your audiio also stutter? if yes check for a newer audio card driver.

Commodore 64

· #11 · Sep 29, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by freeeeeman
actually, i have the stuttering problem when the signal isn't even HD. so i dunno what's up w/ that. i set it up to record stuff w/o the gui and i'll see if that helps. and here i thought this was going to be easy...

I saw the SAME behavior when I used a 6200 (128bit version). It seems counterintuitive, but the problems were worse on regular Non HD digital broadcasts than they were on 720p or 1080i.

I pulled much hair out as I had used several video cards(r8500-->r9600pro-->r9700pro-->nv6200) before I broke down the 6600GT, which at the time, was $170 for the passive version.

I've been out of the loop for a while because my HTPC hardware just works (p4 3.0e, 6600GT) and I have not been compelled to upgrade, so I also haven't paid too much attentionto the 7600GS/GT line. Could the GS be that much weaker than a 6600GT that it can't handle the digital deinterlacing with out dropping frames. Is there any way you could borrow a 6600GT or 7600GT (or better) before dropping the cash on a new card? Everything else in your system exceeds mine.

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swats

· #12 · Sep 29, 2006

As I see it there are only a couple of things it could be:

1) Underpowered CPU (check your utilization)

2) Underpowered GPU (though if it can't handle SDTV it's probably not this)

3) Decoder settings/DXVA not enabled. If you are using the PureVide decoders make sure the DXVA setting is checked in the PureVideo control panel. If it is, check to make sure it is using the purevideo decoder by default by openeing GraphEdit and dragging an MPEG-2 file onto it.

freeeeeman

Discussion Starter · #13 · Sep 29, 2006

i'm not sure how to check decoder settings. can you give me a pointer?

however, i did do some tests. i turned off MCE and let it run in the background. very little CPU utilization and it still dropped frames & got "stuck". i just recently recorded some stuff w/ beyond TV w/ a new 7600GT card (which is faster than GS) and BTV4.4 seems to be working flawlessly. fingers are crossed! i'm going to be running a few more tests over the next couple weeks, but at least i've got something that appears to be working...

swats

· #14 · Sep 30, 2006

To access the PureVideo settings tab, first start playing any MPEG2 file in any player. You should see a new NVIDIA icon appear on the taskbar by the clock. Right click on that and select decoder properties. Make sure the "USE HARDWARE ACCELERATION" tab is checked. Also, your deinterlacing settings should be set to "SMART" or "AUTO". Good luck!

walford

· #15 · Sep 30, 2006

Here is a reference that will confirm your card upgrade choice.

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060929/sff003.html?.v=63

freeeeeman

Discussion Starter · #16 · Oct 1, 2006

check this out..... the 7600GT that i'm borrowing fixed the MCE problem as well! strange the MCE recorded stutter even when the GUI was off. but i guess it doesn't store the file as mpeg2, so maybe it uses the graphics card in some way to convert it to the wmv format. sweet!!!!! bottom line, don't use 7600GS for HD & MCE. it's not enough..... odd that the video card would cause "No TV Signal" issues in MCE.... but now that it works, i won't complain.

thanks for everyone's help!

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