Messages posted by Rob

As an update,
I installed the new Zoom Player Max 7.0 Release Candidate 1 and it plays one of the problem DVDs (That PDVD9 always green screens on) just fine. It should be noted, and I'm not sure if it's related, but if I try playing a DVD in Zoom using FFDShow as the decoder, I get an ugly red error message and it complains about an undetected version of Direct-X. However, if I use DScaler as the decoder, it works fine. Are the newer PDVD versions perhaps having issues with FFDShow? Elecard decoder also complains about the DirectX version. The Microsoft Video decoder player the video, but it's garbled (See attached). It should also be noted that in the setup options for Zoom, it lists Cyberlink PowerDVD6+ as a decoder option (Which also appears to work fine in Zoom), but no mention of PDVD9 as a decoder option.

Haali's Video Renderer gives me a Macrovision failure error. All of EVR Renderer, Overlay Mixer Renderer, VMR9 (All Windowed, Windowless, Renderless) Renderer, VMR7 REnderer, seem to work fine.

I don't know if any of this can be related to PDVD, but it can't hurt.

Cheers,
Rob

Hi Michael,
Aside from what I posted over in the other thread, I'm not using anything out of the ordinary. Aside from what Windows installs by default(i.e WMP), for AV specific software, I have installed is

-VideoLAN VLC Media Player 0.9.4
-Inmatrix Zoom Player 5.01
-PowerDVD 9 Ultra
-PowerDVD 6 Deluxe
-Quintessential Media Player (MP3s)
-A couple stand-alone image viewers (VuePro, ACDSee)
-Most recent 64-bit Creative driver (XFi Fatal1ty card)
-Most recent 64-bit nVidia driver (GeForce GTX 275)

I also have a package of video codecs installed it's located here...

http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Codec_Pack_All_in_1.htm

The difference is that the ffdShow I'm using is newer, as this was one thing I read somewhere which some people suggested as a fix for PowerDVD.

Rob

Perhaps related to another issue?

http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/8387.page

Such problems seem related to DVDP9 and not so much Windows 7, also it seems independent of x32 or x64. And people have experienced issues with both ATI and nVidia chipsets. It didn't work on my Vista x64 either. It complained adamantly about my DVDP7 that came with my Blu-Ray drive saying it was not compatible. So, I also threw money at it, $70 and it didn't fix the problem. In desperation, knowing things used to play things fine on my old system, I installed version 6 and lo-and-behold...it works fine. Yes, it won't play Blu-Ray but it plays all the DVDs DVDP9 keeps puking on. So until they have the issue resolved, I have PDVD6 for regular DVDs and PDVD9 for Blu-Ray.

Not ideal, but at least it works.

Didn't help me either. Luckily PDVD6 still seems to be OK for any DVDs I feed it. Shouldn't have to though.

Ahhh, perfect consistency. So the only common threads are Vista (Some 64-bit and you on 32-bit) and the version of PDVD. Has to be an issue with PDVD. Hopefully Cyberlink is looking in to this.

I installed an older trial version (6.0) of PowerDVD (The one I was using on my old XP box) and it plays the afore Species DVD with no issues.

Now on a different note, I had my DVD ISO played through Daemon Tools freeze up and lose frames in WMP...problem occurs both over the network and on an eSATA drive. I wonder if there's something OS related or something in the newer APIs that is interfering with the playback.

Trying the Daemon Tools DVD in PDVD 6 to see how it performs. It played through the first problem spot at about 12 minutes. There was a bit of artifacting, but it played through and kept up. I wonder if enabling the option to drop frames to keep sync will make any difference. It played through the second problem spot at about 18 minutes, where both WMP and PDVD 9 both locked up. No noticeable issues or artifacting at this point. It should be noted that all artifacting I'm experiencing was also present on the old machine. It seems nothing is perfect. PDVD6 locks up when I close it and it has to be killed.

Perhaps Windows 7 wil alleviate some of these issues.

Rob

Hi Andrew,
I'm not really familiar with the nVidia APIs. Is the CUDA API DVD specific? If not, shouldn't it affect BluRay in the same way? Or, perhaps I was just lucky in the two I chose.

Why only certain disks though? As I previously noted, Titan AE, worked fine every time. Now it's an older disk from 2000/2001, where the "Species: The Awakening" disk is much newer at 2007/2008. I wonder if the encoding on newer disks might play some part in it as well.

Cheers,
Rob

Hi Andrew,
Ahhhh, I didn't realize that, thanks for the clarification. So the issue could reside anywhere within PowerDVD. I did notice that neo-x is also running Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate x64 SP2 and a newer nVidia card, a 280GTX OCX (I run a 275GTX and probably the same driver). What about you Andrew? I wonder if PowerDVD is having issues with the handling of the new nVidia cards/drivers.

On the other hand, I don't seem to have problems with PowerDVD and BluRay which, of course, is a different codec. At least not for the two disks I tried (Coraline and Kitaro). So perhaps that points to an issue within Cyberlink's MPEG-2 codec and/or how it interacts with the newer nVidia cards/drivers. Have you had any problems with BluRay, or are your problems strictly with DVD?

Cheers,
Rob

Hi Michael,
I did try that last night, but just for completeness I tried it again since I did install the Vista Ultimate x64 SP2 upgrade last night. Still green screen on both settings. Something else of note is that even though the screen shows up green, the DVD menus are still active in PowerDVD and if you manage to find one with the mouse pointer, it will turn to a finger and let you click the menu item. The target screen is still green, but it will go there.

Interestingly enough, it does seem to play fine in Windows Media Player 11; clunky piece of software though. That should be using the Cyberlink MPEG-2 codec as I don't think any version of WMP ships with an MPEG-2 codec out of the box. I tested it 6 or 7 times. So, it appears it not necessarily an issue with the codec or the video driver, but more likely the PowerDVD software itself.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Rob

Quote: Hi,

can you both please provide some more detail info about the issue?

PowerDVD full Version
PowerDVD SR Number (when click on "CyberLink in left top)
Operating System (including x86 or x64 Bit Version)
Is your PowerDVD a Retail product or bundles with HW?
Used VGA
Used VGA driver version
Used Audio device
Used Audio device driver version
Which kind of display connection (HDMI/DisplayPort/VGA/DVI)
Are you using singel or dual monitor environment
Are you using clone or extended mode (if use two display)
What kind of Antivirus SW are you using
The detailed issue description

as more info we can collect as more easy it is to reproduce them and let RD work on such issues.

Thanks and br
Michael

Hi Michael,
I have the same problem. This is a new PC that I've only had since Sunday, so the OS is still pretty fresh.

PowerDVD full Version: 9.0.2201.0
PowerDVD SR Number: DVD090918-04
Operating System: Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 x64
Is your PowerDVD a Retail product or bundles with HW?
i7 920 w/6G 1600 RAM on a 1600 capable board.
Bundled on new PC version 7.3, which I updated as per recommendation (To fix BLu-Ray issues) with file CyberLink.5711_TaRe43_CLT_DVD090831-03.exe (Size 98,623,488 ). Purchased upgrade from Cyberlink. Downloaded file name PowerDVD9Ultra_UpgradeFromUltra_1719.exe (Size 133,899,960)
Then upgraded with the recommended update. File name CyberLink.2201_DVD090918-04 update.exe (Size 131,334,968 )

Used VGA: nVidia GeForce GTX 275 (Bios 62.00.60.00.70)
Used VGA driver version: 191.07 (Newest 64-bit driver)
Used Audio device: Soundblaster XFi Fatal1ty FPS Platinum
Used Audio device driver version: 6.0.1.1373 (Newest 64-bit driver)
Which kind of display connection: DVI to monitor
Are you using single or dual monitor environment?
Dual Viewsonic VX2240w
Are you using clone or extended mode? (if use two display)
Extended...if by that you meanone desktop across both screens

What kind of Antivirus SW are you using?
McAfee Antivirus Enterprise 8.5.0i - Scan engine 5301.4018

The detailed issue description
I'm experiencing what both the previous guys mentioned, right down to the green displays in his screen captures. It doesn't matter which screen I play on the issues occur on both screens.

ISO DVD Image
First Test: I tried with a mounted (Using Daemon Tools) ISO of a DVD. Sometimes I get the green play screen (See file bbbbb.jpg) with sound other times it plays normally, but PowerDVD will freeze solid sometimes within seconds other times it lasts 10 or 15 minutes before freezing, but always freezes. I tried with various PowerDVD settings including HW acceleration, interlacing, theater modes, etc. All to no avail. This is played over a gigabit LAN though I doubt it's the LAN. It was never an issue on previous versions of PowerDVD on Widows XP on a single core P4. This ISO has been played many times on my old XP box.

Retail DVD Test 1
Second test was with "Species: The Awakening" (Bar code: 027616085313). It asks me to choose a region, which I did, for region 1. (See file AAAAA.jpg) The only option it allows. It asks second time, again I choose 1. Incidentally, I had already put this disk in and chose region one. This was the second time I had to go through this process, chosing region 1 a total of 4 times. The packaging is clearly marked Region 1. It actually played this time, the first time in over ten tries, but I got a green screen. (See file bbbbb.jpg). Tried again on the second drive, got the green screen again. I do, however, get sound. HOWEVER, after further testing, I discovered that if I press stop, the play again, it will bring up thumbnails for the chapter selection and sometimes, not always, clicking a chapter will actually play the video properly, at the chapter location of course. Then one can right-click and choose a menu and all seems to function fine from there. I played 20 minutes before stopping it. I tried again, pressed the "Restart" button and got a green screen with sound. I still have not been able to get this disk to play from the start. On the 6.x.x.x version of PowerDVD I had on the XP box I never had an issues with any DVDs.

Retail DVD Test 2
Third test was "Titan AE" (Bar code: 024543009245). This one seems to play fine. Loaded 3 or 4 times on both drives and was successful on all tests.

Blu-Ray seems to work fine. I tested with Coraline and played about 1/2 an hour of it with no issues.

Let me know if any more information is required and I'll get it to you ASAP. At $70 for this software I hope to get this resolved quickly.

Thanks,
Rob