decoder issues?

[m2cupcar]

I've yet to successfully complete viewing a dvd in BM. The first thing I noticed was the random squares that litter the screen, sometimes worse than others, but never to the point that you can't make out the image- just an annoyance. I think I've figured out that this is a decoder issue. Based on the exact same occurence in BeyondTV using the same Cyberlink decoder. And I just recently installed the ATI decoder (which now appears as "ATI(Cyberlink decoder)?" and have the exact same squares appearing. If I use the snapstream basic decoder all is fine.

The other thing that happens, is about 15 minutes into the dvd (all of three I tried) the BM dvd player locks up. Thoughts? Suggestions? Is there a way to add decoders to the BM dvd player? or a definitive how-to for adding any decoder to BM? thx-rob

[weezer1024]

I get the same dancing squares with the SS non-basic decoder as well. It's very annoying. I had to enable overlay mode to get rid of them.

[m2cupcar]

do you still have the squares with overlay enabled AND using the cyberlink decoder?

[m2cupcar]

I just went through and check various scenarios. Here's how it went- I get the "dancing squares" with any "cyberlink" decoder. This includes the ATI, Snapstream and Cyberlink. I get the squares whether I'm watching live tv or recorded. Neither Snapstream Basic nor the Nero produce the squares. Anybody else experiencing something similar? - rob

[weezer1024]

I'm using the SS decoder, which as you say appears to be a cyberlink decoder. I too have the ATI(Cyberlink) decoder and the pure Cyberlink decoder (though from an old PowerDVD version 4 that came bundled with my DVD drive). I'll try enabling both of those tonight and overlay mode to see if I get the squares.

Personally I can't wait until the nvidia decoder is available for sale again.

[m2cupcar]

UPDATE: I altered the bmsettings.xml to include reference to other dvd decoders. Among them was the ATI (cyberlink) and the Nero. Both performed better than the default Cyberlink decoder included with BM as they exhibited a near-clean screen. Near, as in I noticed distoration (squares) twice in about five minutes of dvd playing. At the end of that five minutes the BM dvd player totally locked up the pc. This happened twice. When using the default Cyberlink decoder I got in a good 15 minutes of video before the BM dvd player crashed- but it didn't take down the entire machine. So I'm wondering if this is an issue outside of BM, as I had a multitude of problems with both BM and Btv prior to a clean OS install. I'll try and play a dvd in WMP next. - rob

[m2cupcar]

UPDATE: After a fresh install of XP sp2 and BM (unaltered xml settings file), my first test of dvd play worked fine. All functions work and there's no artifacts. I'm using the default cyberlink decoders for both graphics and audio. - rob