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power dvd question

orc brute

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hi i was reading an article on the web about power dvd this is the link http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/...d-dvd-and-blu-ray-discs-bd-in-powerdvd-ultra/ , i purchased a new pioneer blu ray drive and i already have the toshiba xbox hd drive , and the latest version of power dvd ,my problem is the hd dvd plays fine no problem , but when i play the blu ray drive it stutters and i have lots of sound drop outs and it almost crashes , so do you think according to the above link i need to install 1 version for hd dvd playback , and one for blu ray playback, does this make any sense ?:confused:
 
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No, since PowerDVD ver. 7.3, it can do both, HD-DVD and BR, simultanously.
The problems must be due to some other misconfiguration.
 
No, since PowerDVD ver. 7.3, it can do both, HD-DVD and BR, simultanously.
The problems must be due to some other misconfiguration.

thanks for your reply yes i thought that was the case the only thing i can think of it might be my graphics card , my specs are , nvidia 7600 gs
2 gb ram
core duo 2.13 ghz
pioneer bd rom 202
toshiba x box 360
power dvd 3104a
operating system vista ultimate , all this is connected with dvi to hdmi lead to a 42" hd lcd which is only 3 months old ,so has anyone else got any more suggestions , thanks.
 
At first sight, I woul have suspected that your problem lies with your CPU, that could be not sufficiently powerfull to play BD.

I have noticed myself that PowerDVD consumes A LOT more CPU resources, when reading BD content, than with HD DVD, especially since version 3319a.

Yet considering your configuration, your CPU should be sufficient.

My advice is to check the distribution of CPU resources in the Task Manager when reading BD content (Ctrl Alt Del to display it).
 
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At first sight, I woul have suspected that your problem lies with your CPU, that could be not sufficiently powerfull to play BD.

I have noticed myself that PowerDVD consumes A LOT more CPU resources, when reading BD content, than with HD DVD, especially since version 3319a.

Yet considering your configuration, your CPU should be sufficient.

My advice is to check the distribution of CPU resources in the Task Manager when reading BD content (Ctrl Alt Del to display it).
thanks for you reply frg , i also thought that this might be the problem i will check it out but some people have run blu ray on lower specs than my system , but i still think it maybe my graphics card i have just ordered a Sapphire X1950Pro 256MB GDDR3 DVI TVO HDCP PCI-E Graphics Card, do think this will help?
 
I have noticed myself that PowerDVD consumes A LOT more CPU resources, when reading BD content, than with HD DVD, especially since version 3319a.
Yes, all this BD+, decryption, anti-hacking code eats quite a few CPU cycles... another reason to root for HD DVD. :D
 
thanks for you reply frg , i also thought that this might be the problem i will check it out but some people have run blu ray on lower specs than my system , but i still think it maybe my graphics card i have just ordered a Sapphire X1950Pro 256MB GDDR3 DVI TVO HDCP PCI-E Graphics Card, do think this will help?
Your 7600 does only provide a partial hardware acceleration in decoding MPEG4 (aka AVC). This does put your CPU under stress.

The X1950 will not do better in this specific department.
I am not even sure it provides any acceleration (and it is not HDCP compliant, but it is not a problem with AnyDVD).

If you want a graphic card that provides full hardware acceleration, you must go with the ATI 2400 and 2600.

And I think that the newest 3x00 serie from ATI, bound to be released about now, should provide it as well.

The downside of generation 2x00 is that they are poor to average in the game department. Generation 3x00 should be substantially more performant on that point.

And to be complete, the nVidia 8600 serie provides full acceleration with MPEG4, and partial acceleration with VC-1 (the successor of WMV-HD from Microsoft).

But this should suffice with your CPU.

Finally the nVidia 8800 serie does not provide any hardware acceleration, these cards are designed for hardcore gamers, not HD video users.
 
Your 7600 does only provide a partial hardware acceleration in decoding MPEG4 (aka AVC). This does put your CPU under stress.

The X1950 will not do better in this specific department.
I am not even sure it provides any acceleration (and it is not HDCP compliant, but it is not a problem with AnyDVD).

If you want a graphic card that provides full hardware acceleration, you must go with the ATI 2400 and 2600.

And I think that the newest 3x00 serie from ATI, bound to be released about now, should provide it as well.

The downside of generation 2x00 is that they are poor to average in the game department. Generation 3x00 should be substantially more performant on that point.

And to be complete, the nVidia 8600 serie provides full acceleration with MPEG4, and partial acceleration with VC-1 (the successor of WMV-HD from Microsoft).

But this should suffice with your CPU.

Finally the nVidia 8800 serie does not provide any hardware acceleration, these cards are designed for hardcore gamers, not HD video users.

thanks for your detailed reply, i was just checking my blu ray discs , adn a very stamnge thing is occuring , i put hellboy in the player , and i had the same problem of the stutter and sound drop outs i checked the cpu usage and core 1 was between 85% and 100% and core 2 was 60 to 75% , so i then put layer cake blu ray in , and guess what, it played perfect, no sound drop outs or stutter , the cores were operating at just under 30% , so my question is do different discs require more cpu usage , so if this is the case do need a higher spec cpu , and if i do ,can somebody reccomend one , up from the e6400 2.13 ghz , thanks.:)
 
thanks for your detailed reply, i was just checking my blu ray discs , adn a very stamnge thing is occuring , i put hellboy in the player , and i had the same problem of the stutter and sound drop outs i checked the cpu usage and core 1 was between 85% and 100% and core 2 was 60 to 75% , so i then put layer cake blu ray in , and guess what, it played perfect, no sound drop outs or stutter , the cores were operating at just under 30% , so my question is do different discs require more cpu usage , so if this is the case do need a higher spec cpu , and if i do ,can somebody reccomend one , up from the e6400 2.13 ghz , thanks.:)

When playing your BDs bring up PDVD's info box, there it will tell you the codec used on the disc you are playing.

Alot of the earlier BDs were encoded using mpeg2, that will probably explain the difference you are seeing and why your setup plays some discs ok. Mpeg2 uses alot less system resources than mpeg4 AVC.
 
Yes, all this BD+, decryption, anti-hacking code eats quite a few CPU cycles... another reason to root for HD DVD. :D
Yes and no...

If I use 3319a (with the help of AnyDVD) to read a ripped BD on my HD, It still uses substantially much more resources, than if I use 3104.

And using AnyDVD, with the original disc, saves about 10% in CPU resource, I guess because it bypasses the various BD protections.

F.i., a ripped copy of Fifth Element Remastered (*) uses about 50% CPU, when read with 3104, and about 90% when read with 3319a (100% without AnyDVD :eek: ).

This is with a Pentium IV 3.2 HT (Northwood).

(*) Truth be said, 20% of this 50% are only to unzip the DTHD soundtrack (40% on 90% with 3319a !!!). Unzipping seems NOT to be a walk in the park in BD mode !

I can't help but think that there is a serious waste of CPU resource in 3319, even if just in the video decoding.:mad:

And off course, when reading HD DVDs, CPU use never goes up 35%, even without AnyDVD !!! :D
 
thanks for your detailed reply, i was just checking my blu ray discs , adn a very stamnge thing is occuring , i put hellboy in the player , and i had the same problem of the stutter and sound drop outs i checked the cpu usage and core 1 was between 85% and 100% and core 2 was 60 to 75% , so i then put layer cake blu ray in , and guess what, it played perfect, no sound drop outs or stutter , the cores were operating at just under 30% , so my question is do different discs require more cpu usage , so if this is the case do need a higher spec cpu , and if i do ,can somebody reccomend one , up from the e6400 2.13 ghz , thanks.:)
As bingobill explained it, some codecs are more greedy than others ! ;)

Regarding the CPU, an E6600 or higher should do it.

But considering their price range, I would rather advise to choose a more adequate graphic card.

If you are a gamer, wait a little bit for the new ATI 3x00 serie, they should be the winning ticket if they hold their promises.

Or much cheaper : just overclock your E6400.:D
It is very easily done, and the CPU won't get much warmer (I would not even write "hotter", as they are so efficient ! 8) ).
 
As bingobill explained it, some codecs are more greedy than others ! ;)

Regarding the CPU, an E6600 or higher should do it.

But considering their price range, I would rather advise to choose a more adequate graphic card.

If you are a gamer, wait a little bit for the new ATI 3x00 serie, they should be the winning ticket if they hold their promises.

Or much cheaper : just overclock your E6400.:D
It is very easily done, and the CPU won't get much warmer (I would not even write "hotter", as they are so efficient ! 8) ).

thanks for the info , my next question is how do i overclock it ? any help would be greatly appreciated thanks :)
 
When playing your BDs bring up PDVD's info box, there it will tell you the codec used on the disc you are playing.

Alot of the earlier BDs were encoded using mpeg2, that will probably explain the difference you are seeing and why your setup plays some discs ok. Mpeg2 uses alot less system resources than mpeg4 AVC.
bingobill you are correct , i did what you said ,and used the pdvds info switch , when it plays all the trailers and menus it is in mpeg 2 and it is working fine ,as soon as it it goes to the movie it changes to mpeg 4 and thats when it starts to struggle to play, so does that mean i need a more powerful cpu , and if so what are you guys using, thanks for your help:)
 
thanks for the info , my next question is how do i overclock it ? any help would be greatly appreciated thanks :)
The original frequency of the E6400 is:
8 x 266.66 MHz = 2.13 GHz

If you push it from 266.66 to 320 MHz (+20%), you will have:
8 x 320 MHz = 2.56 GHz

That would place it between an E6600 and an E6700.
Not bad I think, and certainly sufficient for your needs! 8)

This light overclock can be done without even modifying the voltage applied to the CPU (Vcore). Therefore, it would not get much warmer.

This modification must be made in the bios of the motherboard, and without modifying the frequency applied to the RAM and the other components
The problem could be that your motherboard would not allow such tweaking. If you bought your PC from a major brand (Sony, Toshiba, Dell, etc...), it is unfortunately often the case.

I cannot give you a 101 on overclocking here, but if you are interested, I suggest you google a bit, there are dozens of websites that explain how to proceed.

CAUTION:
Be aware that a bad overclock could seriously dammage or even destroy your hardware. Therefore proceed with caution.
 
bingobill you are correct , i did what you said ,and used the pdvds info switch , when it plays all the trailers and menus it is in mpeg 2 and it is working fine ,as soon as it it goes to the movie it changes to mpeg 4 and thats when it starts to struggle to play, so does that mean i need a more powerful cpu , and if so what are you guys using, thanks for your help:)
You should be all set if you use the ATI 2400/2600 or nvidia 8600 as was mentioned.
I have an E6700 (not overclocked or anything) and an 8600GTS - my cpu dropped from over 70-80% to 15-25% when I swapped my X1950 for the 8600GTS. Though my cpu went up a little when I went from 3104a to 3319a - it is fine when playing from the hdd, but when I play Transformers from the hddvd drive (without AnyDVD running), I do get an occasional stutter (cpu is up around 70% with some peaks that cause a stutter here and there).
 
I went with the brand new 8800 GT and I'll tell you right now it is *THE* best card I've ever seen. For the price it can't be beat. Transformers....not a problem at all. Highest CPU utilization I saw during the whole movie was about 50% and it never stuttered once. I'm beyond impressed with that card. If you can find one and afford it, I highly recommend this card for both medium gaming and full on HTPC duty.
 
You should be all set if you use the ATI 2400/2600 or nvidia 8600 as was mentioned.
Avoid the ATI 2400, it sometimes doesn't have enough horsepower for HD hardware decoding. ATI 2600 is wonderful, CPU load is below 5% (!) when playing files from harddisc (no AACS decrypting in realtime). With AACS decrypting CPU load raises, of course, but still below 20%.

The NVidia cards need more help from the CPU, even with hardware decoding enabled.
 
I went with the brand new 8800 GT and I'll tell you right now it is *THE* best card I've ever seen. For the price it can't be beat. Transformers....not a problem at all. Highest CPU utilization I saw during the whole movie was about 50% and it never stuttered once. I'm beyond impressed with that card. If you can find one and afford it, I highly recommend this card for both medium gaming and full on HTPC duty.
This is indeed an excellent video card... for gamers!
Quite similar in performance to the 8800GTS, but seriously cheaper.

Yet, if my memory doesn't fail me, it doesn't provide any hardware acceleration for HD video, therefore, a quite potent CPU is needed in this exercise.

What CPU do you use in your PC?
 
That depends, James. The new 8800 GT has been working incredibly well for me. It has the VP2 processor in it and it seems to handle much more hardware wise than the older cards. I can't say enough nice things about this card. Also, if you're going to do an ATI card, wait a week or two for the new generation to hit the streets. At the very least the current generation will drop in price.
 
This is indeed an excellent video card... for gamers!
Quite similar in performance to the 8800GTS, but seriously cheaper.

Yet, if my memory doesn't fail me, it doesn't provide any hardware acceleration for HD video, therefore, a quite potent CPU is needed in this exercise.

What CPU do you use in your PC?

Very incorrect on the HD video acceleration. It has the VP2 processor as I was just telling James and it handles the HD video streams VERY well. I have a meager AMD X2 4200+ in that thing and it's beyond fine for all the video I've played on it. Both Blu-ray ISO's ripped from my PS3 and HD DVD direct from the Xbox 360 USB drive play perfectly.
 
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