Messages posted by Pakk

Quote: => "z" perfectly working here in Classic mode and in Cinema mode using latest retail version of PowerDVD 13

I noticed now the issue was a bit more complicated. It seems to always work in Cinema mode (I've never really used it), however it does nothing in Classic mode with discs that use BD-Java, even if "Enable BD-J keyboard support" is unchecked (I remember I previously had some issues with unresponsive keyboard commands with that option.)

I cannot reproduce the issue in my environment using HDMI and auto-frame-rate adjustment. The Display adjusts to 50Hz or 24Hz depending on the content.

Right, but what if you have a display that's locked to 60Hz? (In my case a monitor using DVI.) I can only assume this causes some conflict with the frame-rate adjustment. Either way it's definitely an issue introduced with 13.

I hope you can take a look at some of these issues. I'm still stumped why certain discs display using Full RGB and others Limited though. I've looked at framerate, codec and BD-J but I cannot for the life of me find the common factor.

Every time a new PowerDVD is released I download the trial and hope that CyberLink has finally gotten their stuff together and made a decent, bug-free version that's actually worth upgrading to, but every time I'm equally disappointed when the update seems to introduce as many issues as it fixes.

First let me just say that the increased speed and minimized bloat in PowerDVD 13 is a revelation and finally a feature that I would gladly pay for, unfortunately there are a bunch of problems that make this version unusable for me, problems that didn't exist in the previous versions:

* Discs with 1080i/50Hz video are unwatchable. About every 3 seconds or so there are dropped/repeated frames that cause a stutter/jerk. It's consistent throughout the playback and reproducible. Another user mentioned "glitches" while watching the European Blu-ray of Caprica here, which I think might be the same problem (that version of Caprica is 1080i/50Hz.) The only cure to this is to set the "De-interlacing" setting to "None" in PowerDVD, in all other combinations the stuttering is there, however this is no solution since you will then get combing on true interlaced content.

* There is some issue with Limited (16-235)/Full (0-255) RGB levels for me. I know on some newer AMD cards there is a "Dynamic Range" video setting in the drivers that controlled this in some versions of PowerDVD, but this setting is not available for me on my HD4670 (newest drivers). The result is that seemingly random discs display with Limited RGB levels (meaning greyish blacks). For example Taken is 1080p24 AVC and displays correctly in Full RGB, but Leon which is also 1080p24 AVC displays in Limited RGB. Jesse James is 1080p24 VC1 and is Full RGB but Baraka which is also 1080p24 VC1 displays with Limited RGB. I have no idea what determines this, all I know is that on previous PowerDVD versions all discs display correctly with Full RGB for me.

* The option to use full-range speakers is now gone from the audio settings for absolutely no reason. What this means for me who's using stereo headphones through the analog out is that the LFE channel is completely stripped out from the 5.1ch->2ch downmix even though my headphones are perfectly capable of reproducing some of the sounds that are typically encoded into the LFE channel.

* The 'Z' hotkey to toggle fullscreen mode no longer works, even though it's listed in the hotkeys.

* The 'U' hotkey to cycle subtitles no longer works. To be fair it's no longer in the hotkeys section but why would you remove it? If you decide to reintroduce it though I would request that it be used to toggle the currently selected subtitles on/off since this is a much more useful function.

If these problems could just be fixed then PowerDVD 13 would be far and away the best version ever and worth paying for, but as it is, it's an improved yet ultimately broken and non-functional release.

My specs:
Windows 7 x64
Intel Q8400
AMD HD4670 (with latest 13.1 Legacy drivers)
1080p60Hz monitor connected through DVI
Realtek ALC889A audio chip (with latest drivers)

And you are sure you're playing the DTS-HD track? Because the disc defaults to the DD5.1 track which works fine.

I've tried it on two different computers with the only common factors being:

(A) the same disc
(B) Realtek audio chip
(C) PowerDVD

And on both systems I get the crackling audio in the exact same timecodes as described above.

Ruling out the problems it cannot be (A) because there are no read errors on the disc, it plays exactly the same from disc as from hard drive, and there are no problems with the audio in TMT.

As for (B) it seems unlikely because they are two different chips (ALC889, which is supported according to CyberLink, and ALC269), I've tried updating the drivers, I've tried every single combination of output format and stereo/5.1/7.1 channel mode, and again there are no problems with the same audio coming from TMT.

This only leaves (C), that the decoded audio stream from PowerDVD simply isn't clean, and has those crackles "built-in". Again I've tried every kind of audio output and processing option in PowerDVD I could find and the crackles are always there, so it's either a problem with PowerDVD, or that PowerDVD has issues with the Realtek chips, which seems pretty bad considering it's probably the most common brand around.

This has nothing to do with my video card because I'm not using the HDMI out. Obviously if you use bitstream you will not notice any problems in the actual PowerDVD decoder!

When decoding the audio track (as in using speakers/headphones connected to the analog out of the soundcard) I get four crackles/dropouts during the time the title is on screen alone, in the same places every time, at 3:11, 3:20, 3:26, 3:28 (and no, the disc itself is fine, I've checked.)

What kind of logs? Here is my DxDiag.

I have been waiting since PowerDVD 9 for a new version that can decode the 96kHz/24-bit DTS-HD MA 5.1 track of the Baraka Blu-ray without artifacts/dropouts. Just tried the trial of PowerDVD 12, and it's still the same: intermittent dropouts in the audio, noticeable for example around 3:00 when the title appears.

Every new update it's more library, file and remix features and still core player functionality is broken. The audio plays fine in ArcSoft TMT by the way.

I've tried it on both Win 7 and XP and on an ALC889 audio chip which is on the list of supported cards.