Bad Playback on MCE

[Mike]

I recently replaced the graphics card I had with one on the 'approved list' and the TV part is working great.

I then recently (this morning) downloaded the My Movies plugin which looks great. One thing I noticed was the DVD playback (from a real DVD) stutters (seems to fluctuate vertically as well as a lot of artifacting (cubing, etc).

I use the nVidia decoder (platinum) atm, under the trial version (I am assuming that should not be the issue here). The TV output is perfect.

I upgraded the firmware on an older Samsung DVD drive, and am wondering if that could be the culprit. I assume not since I took the VIDEO_TS directory from another computer that is confirmed to work properly and got the same results here. This was using VOB files.

I tried using ISO files created on the Media Center PC and that did not work either. The reason I questioned the DVD drive was since it was older, but the issue occurs on physical DVD playback as well. Im using DVD Decrypter (latest) to RIP the DVDs. I tried VOB files and the like from another computer which make me question the decoder, but I am using 'THE' decoder (nVidia). I must be missing something on the prep.

Anyone have any suggestions or seen a similar issue? I'm trying to find another dvd drive, but the symptoms dont point in this direction.

I ran the decoder program from MS and it shows the nvidia decoder as preferred but shows two other decoders (sonic and intervideo), could there be something here?

When I rip them I put them on a local drive under G:\DVD\<name?\VIDEO_TS\
then either the full VOB type contents or the ISO files. Perhaps I am doing something wrong here?

 

[Mike]

I did some more digging:

1. I replaced the DVD drive with a new one I had lying around - Same issues (I didn't expect this to be the source of the issue since it also happened on previously ripped content).
2. I also used other DVD's to make sure the ones I was using were not the culprit. Issue remained.

I then used the decoder utility and switched the preferred decoder from nVidia to Intervideo (which happened to be installed). Output is perfect. The only problem is now I have no sound from TV or DVD's. The MCE sounds from button clicks work but sound from playing media does not work.

I'll dig further, but wanted to throw this out there in case anyone else had this issue. Since I'm not sure how I got that decoder (maybe it was installed with the TV card), I'm guessing its limited in someway.

 

[electron]

Intervideo usually comes with DVD players, it is MCE compatible, but doesn't do DD, DTS etc as far as I know. I would also recommend the AC3filter, which might fix your sound issue, eventho the Nvidia decoder is the most recommended one, and should work without any issues. A reinstall might be required.

 

[Mike]

Ok, and resolution: The issue was with the drivers for the card. I bought a Gigabyte Radeon 9600XT (on the approved list) and updated the drivers from the Gigabyte site.

What I had gotten there was essentially out of date drivers. Included was Catalyst 5.5 which has an issue. On the radeon site I was able to get 5.8 specifically for MCE.

I had assumed the manufacturer would have the latest drivers (Im used to nVidia so missed this).

I'm guessing that since its an older card they stopped updating their site...

Now that this is working, I can see myself running into storage issues very quickly (only have 580GB on the system which is going to be filled pretty quickly if I put DVDs on it). I now understand the other posts better about setting up arrays with over 3TB....