HTPC still finely balanced

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dale77

294 posts

Ultimate Geek

#87515 30-Jul-2011 18:47

Taking a break from quake issues I gave the HTPC a bit of time recently.

My first thought was to try out the new Total Media Theatre 5 app, currently I'm running the venerable PDVD8.

Result - TMT5 cannot play bluray smooth on my system unless I disable hardware acceleration.

So I tried an ATI catalyst update from 10.12 to 11.7.

Result - TMT5 problem fixed, BUT mediaportal exhibits random glitching in HDTV playback...

So i tried out the new PDVD11 release (should provide unmolested HD-Audio from my Realtek audio hardware)

Result - PDVD11 crashes trying to play a bluray, and the UI refused to vanish in full screen mode, and...

Final Result - Returned to the Golden-image I created before trying to improve things.

Sigh.

I suppose I might have better luck after an OS upgrade to Windows 7. It would be nice to install something on there that just-works (tm) though.

HTPC: Antec Fusion 430, Intel i3, Gigabyte 1050, Corsair 4x1Gb, Hauppauge WinTv, Logitech z-5500, Logitech Harmony 525, Yamaha Rx-v6a, Samsung KS8000 4k, Windows 10, Mediaportal 1.30, BLU-RAY: Panasonic UB820

lokeynz

104 posts

Master Geek

#499900 30-Jul-2011 21:55

h.264 hardware decoding has been glitching since catalyst 11.5 afaik, finally fixed in 11.8 preview

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dale77

294 posts

Ultimate Geek

#499915 30-Jul-2011 23:24

lokeynz: h.264 hardware decoding has been glitching since catalyst 11.5 afaik, finally fixed in 11.8 preview

Thanks for that. I'll check it out when 32bit 11.8 arrive.

AllenG

441 posts

Ultimate Geek

#504047 9-Aug-2011 19:58

lokeynz: h.264 hardware decoding has been glitching since catalyst 11.5 afaik, finally fixed in 11.8 preview

I've been tearing my hair out trying to fix this issue since we got DTT here in New Plymouth. Installed 11.8 preview and so far so good. Watching TV3 HD on DTT and no stutter observed in a couple of hours.

Where did you see mention of a problem/fix for H.264 ? I didn't see anything on the release notes?

I have a dual screen setup. Media centre is still dropping frames fullscreen when mouse/keyboard focus is returned to my primary monitor, but looks good when focus is on media centre TV, or when windowed rather than fullscreen. Odd. Have you got this problem, or a fix?

Many thanks for this post.

Regards Allen.

dale77

294 posts

Ultimate Geek

#509446 20-Aug-2011 20:31

dale77:
lokeynz: h.264 hardware decoding has been glitching since catalyst 11.5 afaik, finally fixed in 11.8 preview

Thanks for that. I'll check it out when 32bit 11.8 arrive.

It is better in 11.8, but still glitches very occasionally. Oh well, back to glitchless golden install.

AllenG

441 posts

Ultimate Geek

#509468 20-Aug-2011 22:20

dale77:

It is better in 11.8, but still glitches very occasionally. Oh well, back to glitchless golden install.

Hi Dale77

Yep still glitches occasionally in fullscreen or window and drops frames. Panning and scrolling credits are jerky. It is worse when not fullscreen or doesn't have focus. I have also borrowed and tried an Nvidea Geforce GT220 and H.264 is much better than on the Radeon HD5770 with the 11.8 catalyst. Video settles within a half second after skipping through the pause buffer on the Nvidea. Radeon farts around pixelating and stuttering for a couple of seconds some times. I have both cards installed in my Win7 setup and can drag the media centre window between them for instant comparison.

Can I ask what your Glitchless golden setup is?

dale77

294 posts

Ultimate Geek

#509491 20-Aug-2011 23:49

AllenG:

Can I ask what your Glitchless golden setup is?

Caveat, I'm running Vista, no doubt win7 is a different beast...

Ok, AMD install is: Catalyst 10.12

The other part of the equation I swear by is the h.264 codec I use with mediaportal. "PCM H.264/AVC Decoder". This comes with Cyberlink Powercinema 6, if you want to try it you can install the trial from Cyberlink, then set your h264 codec in mediaportal config. I don't actually use Powercinema for DVR, but since I get good value from their codec, I paid for it anyways.

Other components per my sig.

AllenG

441 posts

Ultimate Geek

#509572 21-Aug-2011 11:58

dale77:

Ok, AMD install is: Catalyst 10.12

I'll see if I can I get an older catalyst version online.

The other part of the equation I swear by is the h.264 codec I use with mediaportal.

I have cyberlink powerdvd 9 and have tried the codec in media portal but not with your Golden catalyst driver version. I much prefer the media centre UI

I'm using Win7 pro 64bit. What I have found after trying Shark007 codec pack is that you cannot over-ride the codec that media centre used for TV. It is fixed at "Microsoft DTV//DVD Video Decoder" and cannot be changed short of some registry hacks which I'm not really keen to do.

Allen.

AllenG

441 posts

Ultimate Geek

#510106 22-Aug-2011 19:27

dale77:

Ok, AMD install is: Catalyst 10.12

Hi Dale, Uninstalled 11.8 preview driver and installed 10.12. It's way worse for me.

Oh well. I might just have to do that windows reinstall. (need to do it for other reasons anyway.) I now have now borrowed a Radeon GT260 I can try as well. The GT220 was definitely better at HD tv than the ATI.

Allen.

dale77

294 posts

Ultimate Geek

#510114 22-Aug-2011 19:51

AllenG:

Hi Dale, Uninstalled 11.8 preview driver and installed 10.12. It's way worse for me.

Sorry to hear that Allen. Good luck. I would certainly try and keep Win7 as clean as possible - I think you should be able to get decent playback on vanilla Win7.