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Hi Robert2 S,
I've never been able to change the aspect ratio or zoom level on my system with PowerDVD 10 Ultra because hardware acceleration is required for blu-ray disc playback. The only time these features have been available to me has been when I play a DVD and turn hardware acceleration off.
In my experience, the use of hardware acceleration prevents these (and other features) from being available. However, the advantages of hardware acceleration on my older WinXP computer are worth it for DVD's. As for blu-ray discs, my system cannot play them any other way---hardware acceleration is always locked on when I play a blu-ray disc with PowerDVD 10 Ultra.
In your case, if you can turn hardware acceleration off while viewing a blu-ray, then it may be possible to use PowerDVD's custom theater mode or one of the zoom settings to fill your display vertically. Personally, I would hate to lose picture (you'll only be seeing a part of the picture).
However, if you can turn hardware acceleration off and you still cannot control the theater mode and zoom settings still do not work, then it may simply not be allowed for the blu-ray disc you are playing. Each blu-ray disc has its own restrictions on which player features are available.
Finally, when I need to zoom in, I use a different trick: I use the zoom setting of my display. The menu on my display allows me to zoom in on anything in 10% increments.
Kind regards, David
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... Just to recap, your working theory is that my video card driver settings are generating completely separate picture quality for BD, DVD, and Desktop settings? ...
No, I'm not saying that your graphics driver has different settings for DVD versus blu-ray. They are the same. What I tried to explain is that the settings for all Windows non-video applications are separate from the video settings. This is because video playback does not use the Windows application settings. Why did I go into this? Because inexperienced PC users may adjust the display settings (they're usually the first settings they'll see) thinking they are adjusting the video settings when, in fact, they are not.
The video settings of your graphics driver should affect all video playback equally. This includes video on DVD discs, blu-ray discs, files on your hard drive, streaming video, etc. I'm not sure how else to explain it without getting really technical.
You've obviously got a problem because your computer does not appear to be displaying blu-ray video correctly. However, if I understand you correctly, this is the first time that you've tried to play blu-ray discs on your computer. Therefore, if I were in your shoes, I would start troubleshooting from the ground up and this means starting with your graphics driver since video playback starts there.
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I have heard of the difference between normal display and video output, but it would surprise me if my video card driver was doing something special just for BD. The BD/DVD comparisons lead me to believe that the difference is in PowerDVD, not the video card. I can try installing the ATI software, but I'm pessimistic about it having options with that much granularity, options that would fix BD without potentially messing up something else.
It seems that some of my earlier descriptions were not understood and I'm not sure what else to say. Of course, your graphics card does things to blu-ray that it doesn't do to DVD discs. It's called HD video and it requires different CODECs, different security algorithms, different hardware acceleration. Just think about this: There are hundreds of older video cards that play DVD's fine and have zero ability to play HD video on a blu-ray disc. Why? Because HD video requires things that the SD video of DVD's does not. So, yes, there are differences.
But you're muddling things here. These differences do not translate to separate video settings in your graphics driver for blu-ray versus DVD (a better contrast would be: HD video vesus SD video). Since your video quality settings seem to differ so much between SD and HD, you may have an out-of-date driver, out-of-date HD CODEC, etc., etc. But one thing is reasonably certain, without any video controls for your graphics card, your computer is missing essential components for adjusting video regardless of its source.
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Plus, why would they even have picture controls in PowerDVD (as one would honestly expect from a multimedia player) if they're overridden or ignored by the video card driver? Surely one could build a multimedia player that made these adjustments correctly...
This question tells me that I haven't been able to successfully communicate, yet. Like I wrote earlier, video setup on a PC is too complicated for most users. The answer to your question was included in an earlier post. I'll try to explain one last time and this will be "it" for me. You should contact CyberLink and get their help---this is a user forum. I'm a user like you and no one is paying me to help you.
How video is adjusted on a PC:
1 - The overall video quality for ALL video applications is controlled at the graphics card driver with the software provided by the manufacturer of the graphics card. The same video settings should work for all video sources (DVD, bu-ray, video files, streaming video, etc.). Once the video settings of the driver are configure properly, ALL good-quality video should look "good" if the playback software (like PowerDVD, Windows Media Player, QuickTime, etc.) uses neutral video settings. Under normal circumstances, if video doesn't look good, then it is a problem with the video source (the video was poorly made, etc.).
2 - If an individual video source has problems (it was shot with poor white balance, it lacks contrast, it has poor color hue, etc), then temporary adjustments are often made with the video controls of the video player software. Then these controls are set back to their neutral position when a good-quality video is played. Why is it done like this? Because you don't want to screw up your system video calibration so you don't want to make temporary adjustments at your driver. You want to be able to easily return you player controls back to their neutral position and know that the video is properly calibrated through your system.
That's the way video setup and control is normally done by experts. And that's why the place where troubleshooting usually begins is at the driver level. Once a compatible driver has been installed, it is calibrated. Then the only time the adjustments on the video player software are needed are to make temporary adjustments for video sources with problems.
When things don't work this way (like they are not on your system) then the source of the problem can be any one or more of a long list of problems:
1 - The video player software is not compatible with the graphics driver.
2 - The video player is not compatible with the required CODECs or the wrong CODECs are being used.
3 - One or more incompatible video players are installed on the same computer.
4 - The video settings of the graphics driver are so misadjusted that the video settings of the player software cannot correct the problems for all video sources.
5 - The video display (computer monitor, HDTV, etc) is misadjusted and/or uses "dynamic" settings (like dynamic contrast) that are screwing up the video quality for some video sources.
6 - The gamut of the video display is not compatible with the NTSC/PAL SD and HD video standards, preventing proper calibration and/or adjustment.
7 - The firmware of the graphics card is out of date or incompatible with the video source and/or player software.
8 - One or more Windows system components required by the player software are incompatible (this can happen when another application is installed after the video player, replacing one of more of the needed Windows system components).
When you started this thread, it sounded like you just needed to know how to configure and adjust the video settings of your graphics driver. Then we learned that this wasn't even possible because you cannot access those settings without installing more ATI software. And we learned that your problems differ, depending on whether the video is SD or HD. Welcome to the world of HD video on a PC! Good luck!
David
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Hello again,
The symptons you're describing seem to be contradictory. If you turn off all video adjustments in PowerDVD, then the black level, brightness, contrast and color should be very similar whether you view a DVD movie or a blu-ray movie. However, you can't compare apples-to-apples unless you have the exact same source material on both DVD and blu-ray (for example, if you have the same movie on DVD and blu-ray).
The "proper" way to adjust your video picture quality is to turn off all settings in PowerDVD (or set them to a neutral setting) and adjust your video with your computer's graphics driver. Once your video is adjusted properly at the operating system level, then it should look good with any video player software you use (unless the software is defective or misadjusted). However, your driver will need to offer separate adjustments for desktop graphics versus video because the two are not the same. For example, if you calibrate your display for photo editing, you'll only be adjusing the desktop display settings---not the video settings.
My understanding of copy-protected blu-ray movies is that their higher security requirements do not allow the same signal path as a DVD. On my system, blu-ray discs require hardware acceleration to manage the secure decoding. As long as hardware acceleration is enabled, many of the user video controls will not be available inside PowerDVD.
Refer back to your screen capture of the "Video" settings tab from PowerDVD in your original post. If you turn on "Enable hardware acceleration" at the top of the tab, all of the TrueTheater effects will be disabled. Unless I'm mistaken, you only have this choice with DVD media. Blu-ray discs require the hardware acceleration (if they are copy-protected) and this is why you won't have many video adjustment options for blu-ray discs. At least, that's the way it has always worked for me in PowerDVD 8 Ultra and PowerDVD 10 Ultra and my computer configurations.
I'm surprised that your graphics card control panel software is not installed. If you have no way to adjust your video at the operating system level, then you're at a big disadvantage.
CyberLink could do a MUCH better job of explaining this stuff. Sadly, their reputation for customer support leaves a lot to be desired. In my experience, video setup is confusing to 90% of PC users and is too technical for the average user to configure properly. A properly calibrated video system is awesome!!! It is also rare.
Again, I recommend Joe Kane's DVE HD Basics for video setup. Joe does a good job of explaining the basics and his disc has some great test patterns and images. It also includes audio test signals for configuring your surround sound system.
Kind regards, David
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Hi rironin,
Normally, the video image settings are controlled with your computer's video driver rather than a movie player like PowerDVD. All of my computers have nVidia graphics so I can only discuss the nVidia driver...
nVidia Video Adjustment
Launch the nVidia Control Panel and set the "Advance Settings" option at the top of its window to "Advanced". The settings are divided into three sections and are selected with the treeview list along the left. The "Display" section controls all non-video applications (including photo editors). These "Display" settings are best calibrated with a dedicated display calibrator (I use the Pantone Huey Pro). The "Video" section controls all video applications (like PowerDVD) and this is the section you'll want to adjust.
The place to start is with the "Adjust video color settings" page. Set "How do you want to make color adjustments?" to the "With the NVIDIA settings" option. Then click on the "Advanced" tab and set the "Dynamic range" to "Full (0-255)". This should fix your black level problem.
Most of the video image settings are controlled from the "Color" tab. However, these are difficult to do correctly unless you have an appropriate test disc with calibrated test images. I use the blu-ray version of DVE Digital Video Essentials HD Basics by Joe Kane Productions. It includes descriptions and instructions if you are new to video calibration. It also includes the red, green and blue filters you'll need to view your display through when calibrating the color.
Hope that helps...
Kind regards, David
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Problem 4: After a blu-ray disc has "loaded", the following error message sometimes appears:
Playback stopped because your graphics card driver is incompatible. Make sure it meets the minimum requirements. You can find additional information on the CyberLink FAQ web site (code = 0012).
Run the BD Advisor tool for more information.
When this happens, it is impossible to play the blu-ray movie and PowerDVD 10 Ultra build 2113 must be stopped and restarted.
This message is an error. My nVidia graphics card has the latest driver and I NEVER received this error message when using build 1516. The problem began when I was forced to upgrade to build 2113. (If desired, see my first post for details of my system.)
During normal operation, the error is intermittent and occurs infrequently. However, I have discoved a way to force the error to occur: Launch the NVIDIA Control Panel. Then launch PowerDVD 10 Ultra build 2113. Then insert a blu-ray movie. The error usually (but not always) happens if the NVIDIA Control Panel was already open before PowerDVD and a blu-ray movie are launched.
I discovered this when recalibrating my display. The calibration procedure requires me to play a blu-ray test disc with various test signals while making adjustments to the video settings of the graphics driver with the NVIDIA Control Panel software. I also discovered a workaround that enabled me to do the calibration: launch the control panel AFTER PowerDVD and the blu-ray disc have been started.
However, as explained above, this problem intermittently happens under normal operation as well (when the NVIDIA Control Panel is not open). Since a restart of PowerDVD usually fixes the problem, it isn't a show stopper. But it is a major annoyance.
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Problem 3: The buttons at the bottom of the "Classic" mode screen do not always respond to a single mouse click. About half of the time it takes multiple clicks to get the program to respond to a mouse click. For example, you have to click on the Pause button two or three times to get the program to pause a movie.
This problem did not exist for build 1516 which I was previously using. It seems to be unique to the 2113 build. Other programs work fine and respond immediately to my mouse.
My mouse and keyboard are the Logitech cordless "wave" models and they have good batteries.
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Greetings,
I'm starting this thread so users who have PowerDVD 10 Ultra build 2113 (10.0.2113.51) can list any problems they are having. It should be helpful for those considering the update or first-timers who are considering a purchase. I don't think that this would be the place to find a solution to these problems (that would probably need to be the CyberLink Tech Support message system). I've already submitted an official support request about my S/PDIF issue. In the meantime, a catalog of problems may be helpful here...
If you're like me and you have Blu-ray discs (BDs) in your movie collection, you may not have a choice whether or not to install the 2113 update. I didn't. Yesterday, my wife wanted to watch our Twilight BD and PowerDVD popped up a message stating that PowerDVD needed to be updated before it would play it.
That sort of thing is normal in the sense that Blu-ray security periodically requires PC player software (and even stand-alone BD players) to be periodically updated. What is not normal is for the update to "break" your system, as it did mine, so you can't continue to play the Blu-ray discs that you could previously play. CyberLink needs a better way of handling Blu-ray security updates to prevent this sort of thing from happening.
If you haven't added Blu-ray discs to your collection, then you shouldn't require the 2113 update. If all you watch are DVDs and non-Blu-ray video files, then you should be able to continue to use older builds of PowerDVD Ultra 10 until its problems are sorted out.
Also, bear in mind, that some of the problems I experienced may be unique to my computer. You hardware, operating system and drivers will probably not match mine, making your results different.
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Problem 1: Audio cannot be streamed out the S/PDIF port of my Turtle Beach Montego DDL sound card for any copy-protected Blu-ray or DVD disc after the 2113 update. It works okay if the source is not copy-protected which tells me that the updated security of the 2113 build caused the problem.
Before the update, I was using the 1516 build (10.0.1516.51) and I had no trouble in the "Classic" mode. I could play any copy-protected Blu-ray and DVD and stream the sound out the S/PDIF port of the Montego DDL sound card in my computer. It sounded great!
After the update, my S/PDIF port wouldn't work with PowerDVD 10 Ultra with any copy-protected movie disc (Blu-ray or DVD). This is a showstopper for me!!!
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Problem 2: The pseudo 3D feature that creates a 3D effect for a 2D movie ruins the aspect ratio. I keep the aspect ratio setting of PowerDVD fixed to the aspect ratio of the source (which in my case is almost always one of several widescreen shapes). When the 3D effect is turned on for a 2D movie on a DVD, the image is stretched horizontally (the height is unchanged) so that a significant portion of the image is no longer visible (since it has been pushed off the left and right edges of the display in fullscreen mode).
When the 3D effect is turned off, the movie's shape is still distorted and you have to stop the movie, exit PowerDVD and restart it to reset the program and return to normal operation.
Note: I do not have a 3D system. My Blu-ray drive, graphics card and display are all 2D. So PowerDVD uses the old-fashioned "Anaglyph" mode that requires the old-style red/cyan glasses. The effect isn't good enough to enjoy and I don't plan to use it---but I thought I'd test it and the aspect ratio problem is a bug that may cause confusion for some users.
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I hope this information is helpful. Remember, let's just list the problems here and save the troubleshooting for other threads devoted specifically to individual problems.
Kind regards, David
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My PC specifications:
OS: Windows XP Media Center Edition SP3
CPU: Pentium D dual core 3.2 GHz (P940 Presler) with 945G Express chipset
RAM: 4 GB
Video: EVGA nVidia e-GeForce 8600 GT 512 MB GDDR3 with driver version 258.96
DirectX: version 9.0c
HD Tuner: DViCO FusionHDTV7 Dual Express with driver version 3.80.00
Display: Dell 2408WFP with a native resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels and HDCP support
Sound: Turtle Beach Montego DDL with driver version 5.12.01.0008.14.18
BD: Sony BWU-100A with firmware 1.0F
DVD: Philips DVD8801
HD: two 1 TB Seagate SATA HD's in a RAID-1 array
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...I have learned to edit large posts OUTSIDE of the provided editor window due to a funky scrolling bug.
I've been doing the same thing---VERY annoying. Also, having to manually enter BB codes in an outside editor is a pain. And some BB codes don't work properly like the codes for indented lists.
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David,
That was an excellent post...very informative. Do you think the problem this person is having is similar in this topic?
http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/11369.page
I have attempted to offer help....but I ran out of ideas....would you take a look at this and offer any additional ideas if I missed something?
Thanks, Kevin.
I usually don't comment on PowerDVD 9 posts because I've never used it (I skipped version 9 and jumped from version 8 Ultra to 10 Ultra). So I'll refrain from contributing to the thread you cited.
Generally speaking, I believe that older versions of PowerDVD (older than version 10) will have increasing problems playing some blu-ray discs---especially new ones as we go forward. This is because CyberLink support for older versions will undoubtedly slow as they put their primary efforts into supporting version 10. That's a problem inherent to blu-ray copy protection technology: It is not static so we'll need to continually update our software and firmware to maintain compatibility with newer iterations of its HD digital rights management (DRM).
Personally, I find this digital rights quagmire disgusting. On the one hand, I totally sympathize with the movie industry's desire to prevent piracy. I'm a software developer and I hate it when someone bootlegs my software. But on the other hand, the blu-ray DRM system is a muddy mess and only makes users angry. If I angered my customers by making my software as difficult to use because of DRM, then I would be out of business. And the really lame part of this is: the movie industry is not stopping the pirates who have the means to duplicate blu-ray discs with DRM intact. All they do is make problems for their customers. That's like shooting yourself in the foot. And the ill will amassing among their customers is going to come back on them big time.
Fortunately, there may be a ray of light on the horizon because I'm aware of at least one initiative under way outside of the U.S. that hopes to alleviate the situation in the future. But I'm not involved with it and am unable to comment further here. Besides, it may come to nothing.
Back to your other thread: If you want to add a link to the other thread back to this one, then some of the comments here might help---especially AnyDVD HD. It may be the best way to get PowerDVD to play troublesome blu-ray discs _IF_ the problem relates to security.
Kind regards, David
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Hi Greg & Alain,
There are a number of things that can cause the kind of trouble you are reporting. Plus, in Alain's case, there are additional issues when attempting to play a copy of an HD blu-ray movie from a hard drive. First the general issues...
The place to start is with your PowerDVD 10 Ultra installation. Here are some points to consider. Any one of them can cause trouble, including unsupported disc errors. Sometimes the error messages are not accurate and do not convey the true cause of the problem.
1 - PowerDVD 10 requires current video drivers. It is strongly recommended that you remove your existing video drivers and install the latest versions before you install PowerDVD 10. Drivers that were okay with older versions of PowerDVD may not work with version 10. (Contact your computer or video card manufacturer for the latest driver.)
2 - Some overly aggressive security software can interfere with the PowerDVD 10 installation and you may NOT receive an error message during the installation process. You could check the logs of your security software to see if they intervened during the installation. If you suspect that this is a problem, the solution is to remove PowerDVD 10, disconnect your computer from all networks, including the internet and temporarily turn off all antivirus, antispyware, antimalware and firewall software. Then re-install PowerDVD 10. Remember to turn back on your security software afterward before you reconnect to any network including the internet.
3 - PowerDVD 10 is not compatible with some of the other HD media players. For example, Arcsoft's TotalMedia Theatre software (a competing media player) is known to cause trouble if PowerDVD 10 is also installed. This is fairly common. It is usually best to have just one media player installed for blu-ray playback---unless you know for certain that your particular combination of players will work together.
Next, we come to hardware issues:
4 - Blu-ray disc playback requires a secure system that supports HDCP from end to end. (You can sometimes get around this requirement with third-party programs like AnyDVD HD described below.)
5 - Blu-ray security is not static---it is updated from time to time and this means that newer discs may not play on older players. This is why blu-ray drives need to have their firmware periodically updated so they can support the latest security changes ("improvements"). (Contact your computer or blu-ray drive manufacturer for the latest firmware for your drive.)
Next, weird issues:
6 - I have one disc that PowerDVD 10 Ultra won't play on my system. It is the "District 9" blu-ray and it gives the "unsupported format" error message. The District 9 disc is a hybrid disc because it contains both the HD movie and a PS3 game. Many other PowerDVD 10 Ultra users are able to successfully play the Distric 9 blu-ray disc without problems but I couldn't get it to work on my computer. Perhaps it has to do with my operating system (I'm still using Windows XP MCE) or a myriad of other variables (no two PCs are the same). In the end, I discovered a solution: I installed SlySoft's AnyDVD HD to temporarily circumvent the blu-ray security. The District 9 disc plays fine while AnyDVD HD is running. But this is an additonal expense---a "lifetime" AnyDVD HD license will cost you about the same as PowerDVD 10 Ultra.
Hard drive playback issues:
7 - CyberLink is in business to sell its media player, PowerDVD 10 (in addition to other software). In order to do this without incurring the legal wrath of the movie industry, they have designed PowerDVD 10 Ultra to comply with their copy protection requirements. This means that PowerDVD 10 Ultra will try to detect if a copyrighted HD movie is being played from a source that is NOT a licensed blu-ray disc and disable playback if it is discovered. Older versions of PowerDVD Ultra reportedly take a more lenient stance regarding the media source drive but that was "yesterday" and things have gotten worse today. This is why you should try a program like PowerDVD 10 Ultra before you buy it. It might not do what you want. One solution may be to install AnyDVD HD to circumvent the blu-ray security (as described above). But CyberLink cannot support such actions and probably won't allow a discussion of it here. The best place to get more information would be at SlySoft's forum.
Finally, if you haven't already done so, submit a support request to CyberLink about your issue. The first thing they will ask is for you to download a program that will enable you to send them a list of every driver in your computer related to PowerDVD 10 so they can see if one of them needs to be updated.
Remember, forums like this are designed primarily for users to help users and they are voluntary. Always pursue support directly from CyberLink Tech Support as you first-line avenue for help.
Kind regards, David
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... If you will not receive the software by the end of April' 2010, then you can contact us back. ...
Hi Rob,
The answer is in the message from CyberLink that you quoted. You're supposed to contact them again. If you have already done so, then that's all you can do. This forum is a public user-to-user forum and is voluntary. The only thing we can do here is advise you to do what CyberLink said to do.
Others have lodged similar complaints here before but it doesn't do any good. It appears that CyberLink is just plain slow to respond sometimes. Therefore, my advice is to keep after them until you get a response.
Kind regards, David
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David, Thanks for responding - do you have the full retail version or the update? Now here is what happens on my Win7 system with my GT220 card: ...
I purchased the upgrade. In fact, I took the same upgrade path as you: I went from version 8 Ultra to version 10 Ultra. However, I installed mine differently. I didn't know that an older version was needed in order to install the upgrade so after I downloaded the upgrade installer using the link that came in the email message with my new serial number, I first uninstalled version 8. Then I used the registry cleaner in Norton 360 to clean the Windows registry. Then I updated my NVidia video driver to the latest version. Finally, I installed the PowerDVD 10 Ultra upgrade. Contrary to what CyberLink says about needing an older version for the upgrade, mine installed fine without it. Perhaps this was because my computer was connected to the internet at the time and the installer was able to immediately validate my installation. Regardless, I have no desire to return to version 8 and have no plans to install it again because it dropped frames when playing high-definition video. Version 10 doesn't drop frames.
There are a few more differences between our systems. My enterntainment computer is a few years old and is still running Windows XP Media Center Edition (SP3). However, I never use the Microsoft Media Center any more. My video card is an EVGA e-GeForce 8600 GT with 512 GB of DDR3 memory (not exactly state-of-the-art but more than adequate for blu-ray playback). And I use a multi-display setup with two 1920 x 1200 pixel displays configured independently to create a 3840 x 1200 pixel desktop. The main display is HDCP compliant and is used for all copy-protected video playback. The other is not.
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... My old PDVD 8 ultra had access to color controls with all my Blu-ray disks (I really don't view DVD anymore and if I did I'd use another player) and the "hardware acceleration" has alway been turned on. In fact, I tried to uncheck it once a movie stops but it automatically gets checked and greyed out once I start playing a Blu-ray movie (like you said) - again this is with PDVD 8 (I did not bother with purchasing PDVD 9). With PDVD 10, hardware acceleration is automatically turn on and there is a COLOR Tab even with HA on - the controls are just greyed out. ...
You're right about the "Color" tab being available when hardware acceleration is on. But in my case it is only when playing a blu-ray disc. When playing a DVD, it does not appear at all when hardware acceleration is turned on. (I still play DVDs because there are lots of movies that are not available on blu-ray. Some may never be. But I never buy a DVD if a blu-ray is available---or will be available in the near future.)
My system has always behaved the way I described in my original post. Even with PowerDVD 8 Ultra, the color controls were disabled whenever hardware acceleration was turned on. The reason the hardware acceleration control is greyed out when playing a blu-ray disc is because it must be on and it won't let you turn it off.
So I can't comment on why you used to be able to access the color controls while hardware acceleration was on with PowerDVD 8 Ultra. It never worked that way for me. So, from my perspective, PowerDVD 10 Ultra works the same as version 8 Ultra with regard to the color controls.
Perhaps the difference you are seeing has something to do with your video card (since we have different models) or our different operating systems (my Windows XP MCE verses your Windows 7).
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... In the NVidia Control Panel, I alway have 'With Player' ticked and this is suppose to allow for player adjustments. ...
It's never made any difference on my system. Regardless whether the "color adjustments" option of the NVidia driver is set to "With the video player settings" or "With the NVIDIA settings", I have never been able to use PowerDVD Ultra's color settings when hardware acceleration is turned on. As I wrote above, this was true with both version 8 and 10.
In my case, I must set the NVidia driver to "With NVIDIA settings" because my viewing environment has carefully conrolled lighting and is very dark. No stray light ever reaches my displays. This enables me to see more shadow detail and it exposes a flaw in the color space that most PC video cards use. Most use a limited dynamic range that is slightly less than 8-bits per RGB color channel. The full dynamic range would have 0-255 levels. But most video cards supply only 16-235 levels and this is why many Windows PCs do not produce a deep black when playing a video in a dark environment. (The worst example is QuickTime video.) The problem is exacerbated by LCD displays because the liquid crystals don't block 100% of the light and therefore never reach a full black, doubling the problem.
Why is the dynamic range reduced by default? Because most PCs are not used in a dark environment with controlled lighting. With a full dynamic range, the ambient light of the environment will wash out the shadow detail and you would actually see less shadow detail. By limiting the darkest level to 16 instead of 0 (zero), the "brightness" of the shadows is turned up so you can see them in the presence of a modest amount of ambient light. Of course a high ambient light level will still wash out your display---direct sunlight being the worst case.
By setting the NVidia driver to "With NVIDIA settings", I can use the "Advanced" tab of the "Adjust video color settings" page of the NVidia Control Panel to set the dynamic range to "Full (0-255)". The result is a huge improvement for video playback in a dark environment. Blacks are now as black as my displays are capable of making them.
I'm not sure how helpful my comments will be since we seem to have had a different experience with PowerDVD 8 Ultra. But I hope the difference may shed some light on your situation (i.e. we have different video cards and different operating systems).
Kind regards, David
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Hi jidelite,
I have an NVidia card and I'm able to access the video color controls okay with PowerDVD 10 Ultra. But there are a few caveates...
First, the color controls are only available for videos of DVD or lower quality (at least that's the way it is on my system). They are not available for high definition videos like the movies on most blu-ray discs. This is because the high-definition video requires "hardware acceleration" from your video card.
Second, the video controls are not available when "hardware acceleration" is turned on. To turn off hardware acceleration, press Ctrl+C to launch the Settings dialog of PowerDVD 10 and click on "Video" in the list on the left. Then uncheck "Hardware acceleration".
Once hardware acceleration is turned off, you can control the sharpness and brightnes by clicking on their checkboxes and using the sliders. To get to the color controls, click on the "Advanced..." button near the bottom. Then select the "Color" tab when the "Advanced Video Properties" dialog appears. (The "Color" tab is only available when hardware acceleration is turned off.
Finally, if you want to control the color while hardware acceleration is on, you'll have to use the NVidia driver. This is done from the NVidia Control Panel. From the "Select a Task..." sidebar along the left side of the NVidia Control Panel, select "Adjust video color settings" near the bottom under "Video". Then select "With the NVIDIA settings" option and the color controls will become active. Click on the "Apply" button to accept the changes. Note: These controls only affect video playback---they do not affect Windows' normal desktop color settings. For example, if you want to adjust the Windows colors for an application like Adobe Photoshop, then you must use the "Adjust desktop color settings" under "Display".
Hope that helps...
Kind regards, David
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... Please leave this thread. All you do is irritate people. We don't need your bashing. ...
Wow John, I had no idea that I was "irritating" and "bashing" some people. Please accept my sincere apology. I only wanted to help. I'll take your advice and avoid this thread from here on.
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... You know everyting ...
Hi Ushva, Obviously I don't. My first post to this thread was to report that I had found a problem with the audio of the Cinema mode but that it was a different problem than the earlier posts. I think I've made myself pretty clear in my earlier posts as to what I believe CyberLink needs to do. I'm sorry if my reply to your post seemed offensive. Please accept my apology.
Signing out, David
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... Could someone explain to me why Power DVD 10 works perfectly on my system with no sound issues when changing to cinema mode if Power DVD is so buggy? ...
Hi Kevin,
There are many things that can go wrong.
1 - The program may not have installed correctly. This can result from over-protective security software like antivirus, antispyware, antimalware and firewall software which interfere with the operation of the installer. It can also result from the user not being logged into Windows with administrator priviledges during the installation. And the same can sometimes happen if the user tries to run the program after it is installed from a different user account---especially if it doesn't have administrator prividges. In my experience these problems can vary between U.S. and international versions of Windows.
2 - The video and audio drivers may not be up to date. PowerDVD 10 (as mentioned earlier) needs the latest drivers. Before the drivers are updated, the old ones should be completely removed first. If this is not done, fragments (system components and codecs) of the old drivers may persist in the system and may affect their operation. I recommend that the drivers be updated and the Windows registry be cleaned BEFORE attempting to install PowerDVD 10.
3 - One or more hardware components may not be compatible. This could be the video card (or video module on the motherboard), the audio card (or audio module on the motherboard), the blu-ray drive, etc. This can also be complicated by hardware security features like HDCP. As with drivers, these hardware components may have worked with an older version of PowerDVD but they may not be compatible with version 10. In the case of a blu-ray drive, it may need to have its firmware updated (however, firmware issues usually affect only some blu-ray discs---not all).
4 - One or more programs on the computer may conflict with the PowerDVD 10. One common source of conflict would be another media program similar to PowerDVD 10. For example, one user reported problems when both PowerDVD 10 Ultra and TotalMedia Theatre 3 Platinum were installed on the same computer. I've observed problems between Roxio's Easy Media Creator suite and the Microsoft Windows Media Player. So this kind of problem is not uncommon. The best advice regarding media players: Don't install too many overlapping media programs on the same computer. But media players are not the only applications that can cause trouble. Security programs can also interfere with the operation of PowerDVD 10. These include antivirus, antispyware, antimalware and firewall software.
5 - Finally---and I mean no disrespect---you may have an audio problem and not realize it. I've worked professionally in the audio industry since 1980. So my experience with sound is much deeper than most folks. It is not uncommon for me to notice problems that others are unaware of. This is not a criticism of them---they simply don't have trained hearing. In this regard, "ignorance is bliss".
There are ways to make an audio problem easier to recognize for average listeners. Remember that in my case the Cinema mode caused the surround sound signal of a blu-ray movie to collapse into a louder mono signal when I switched from the Classic mode to the Cinema mode. To duplicate this and make it easy to recognize, you will need a blu-ray disc with a surround sound setup/test signal. The blu-ray version of "DVE Digital Video Essentials HD Basics" by Joe Kane may serve this purpose. The surround sound setup will typically send a sound to each channel one at a time and an announcer will announce the channel. The signal is often a "pink noise" signal which sounds like static and it will go something like this:
Left Front
Center Front
Right Front
Right Rear (right surround)
Left Rear (left surround)
Subwoofer (low-frequency channel)
If PowerDVD 10 Ultra's Cinema mode worked correctly, then you would hear each signal emanate only from the appropriate speaker of your surround sound system.
Now the original post of this thread (by Aval0n) observed a different problem. In his case, he got no sound when he switched to the Cinema mode. This is a different problem that doesn't happen on my system so I can't comment on it.
But what we all can agree on is that the Cimena mode handles sound differently (in some way) than the Classic mode because almost all of us have no problem with the Classic mode. The way I view this is: Both should be the same. Either they should both work or neither mode should work. It tells me that the two modes (which we understand to actually be two different programs) do not handle sound the same and, based on the observations thus far, the Cinema mode is the mode with flaws.
Kind regards, David
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... So problem must be PowerDVD10 Ultra cinema mode ... Not my computer or drivers !!! ...
Hi Ushva,
Yes, there is a problem. But tests like yours don't help because you don't seem to understand the drivers in your computer and the important role they play. Just because PowerDVD 9 Ultra works on your computer is no guarantee that version 10 will work.
Version 9 is an older program and will work with older drivers. Version 10 is a newer program and requires newer drivers.
Before you can make a meaningful contribution to this discussion, you have to first do like many of us did and make sure that your drivers have been updated to the latest versions BEFORE you test PowerDVD 10 Ultra. Only then, can you be sure that the problems you experience on your computer are relevant to this discussion.
Kind regards, David
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Hi Russ,
The default AnyDVD HD settings should have done the job if it was a security issue. It sounds like PowerDVD Ultra is designed to ignore drives "A" and "B" for blu-ray playback. Strange!
It may be a requirement forced on CyberLink by their blu-ray decryption license (the license that allows them to legally sell a progam like PowerDVD Ultra). Or it could simply be an oversight by the CyberLink programmers. But I doubt the latter since you reported that drive letters "A" and "B" worked okay for DVD playback.
At this point, you'll probably have to contact CyberLink Tech Support if you want to pursue the matter further.
Kind regards, David
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Hi Russ,
Thanks for sharing the interesting observation about the drive letter. As for the cause of the blu-ray problem that you experienced, my guess is that the blu-ray security requirements probably preclude a drive with letters A or B from being used. That's the sad side of copy protection---it can produce some silly results sometimes.
If you are interested, you could do a test. Install SlySoft's AnyDVD HD on your computer and see if PowerDVD 10 Ultra will let you use your blu-ray drive if it is assigned letter "B". AnyDVD HD defeats the blu-ray security system. If it clears up the problem, then you'll know that the issue is indeed security related. (Note: AnyDVD HD has a 21-day demo period during which you can test it for free.)
Kind regards, David
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... It is good to hear you have not had issues. ... Interestingly I have just installed AnyDVD and now PowerDVD10 will recognise Bluray disks. ...
Hi Mark,
Actually, I have had issues. I have a lot of movies on blu-ray and PowerDVD 10 Ultra croaked on one of them: District 9. (District 9 is a "hybrid" blu-ray disc with both the HD movie and a PS3 game.) I would get an invalid disc error from PowerDVD 10 Ultra whenever I tried to play the District 9 movie. AnyDVD HD fixed the issue for me as well.
Other users of PowerDVD 10 Ultra reported that they were able to use the Disctrict 9 blu-ray. So the problem seemed to be unique to my system.
I boiled it down to two possible causes: a Windows XP problem (my entertainment computer uses XP Media Center Edition) or the age of my blu-ray drive (a Sony BWUK-100A). My blu-ray drive has the latest firmware, too, (1.0f) but it has been well over a year since Sony updated it. This may be because it is one of their early drives and they may not support it as well as they used to.
Because AnyDVD HD fixed the problem for me, I'm tending to think the problem was the Sony firmware---it probably doesn't support the security features of the District 9 disc and, by disabling them, AnyDVD HD removed the problem.
Your issue sounds like a driver issue to me. One problem that I've run into is that you often need to remove an old driver before you install a new one. For example, some of the NVidia drivers will let you install them on top of an older version. But most of the time you need to remove the old one first. If you don't do this, you may still have some old system files in your computer that muck things up. And a program like PowerDVD 10 seems to be very sensitive to driver issues.
Kind regards, David
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Hi Mark,
The most common problem for new users of PowerDVD 10 is probably driver incompatibility. If you haven't kept your video and audio drivers up to date, then that may be the source of the trouble. I'd also include blu-ray drive firmware in that.
It is fairly common for a complex new audio/video program like PowerDVD 10 to require the latest drivers. The fact that your old version of the program works fine, has no bearing on this.
Your issue may not involve drivers---I don't know. But the fact that an older version of PowerDVD runs and the new one won't is not "shameful"---it is the way computers have been "forever" with some types of programs. When you consider the things that PowerDVD 10 tries to do---especially with 3D---you can easily understand why it may not work unless the computer is up-to-date (even if you do not plan to use 3D).
Kind regards, David
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