FF/RW Directx 9.0c Bug

[ian]

ugh. i tried to troubleshoot for a good 3 hours on sunday after doing a clean install of XP and installing SP2 and remaining updates. i couldn't understand how a clean system could have so many problems that my previous installation (SP1, DX9a) didn't exhibit. i kept all of my old settings, etc, and it took me looking into the problem on the forums here to figure out what the hell was going on.

so, looks like it's overlay for me. guess that this is a DX9c problem, though -- other people are having the same problem that rely on the same technology...

[nanook105]

Saying that these issues are not Snapstreams problem is just rediculous.

I certainly did not mean to imply that this was not SS's problem to resolve. I just don't know who's court the problem is in. I do think that it is ridiculous to believe that SS has the ability to control the priority of these issues with Nvidia and especially Microscum.

Like I said, at miumum, they need to keep their customers informed. If they are not getting the priority they need with NVidia, I am sure the the impacted users would be more than happy to contact NVidia with their concerns

[wheemer]

MY cooment wasn't directed towards you in particular, I've gotten that feeling before too...

I don't know about being "happy" to know that they are try to get it resolved. I guess at least it would be a little releif or something.

[wheemer]

Ian, try the solution I posted on page one... It works perfectly with the only side effect that I've seen being that WMVHD content cannot be viewed without 9.0c... That's not really such a big deal for me though.

[raistlin_m]

lol Oh yes that is a bit extreme but at the time with the answers I received from some of the support, I'd have considered it justified. Don't get me wrong I really like the software and have nothing in particular against the people who work there. I just strongly believe in standing behind your product and helping your customers. I sure hope that some day snapstream realizes that just releasing the software is only half of it. Support is crucial in such a product and blowing paying customers off is just not good business.

[StephaneM]

Hi All,

I've made some progress on this (without reverting to DirectX 9b).

It seems that not all MPEG2 decoders have the issue.

Sonic DS : affected (the worst).
Nvidia nvDVD (newest one : 1.00.58) : affected
Snapstream Basic : not affected (don't use DXVA)
Snapstream S/P : seems to works*
Cyberlink S/P (furnished with Beyond Media) : seems to works*

* = was not able to reproduce the bug

Note when these decoders works, the PQ quality is :

Sonic : Best (sharp / tickers smooth and clear)
Nvidia : Best (sharp / tickers smooth and clear)
Cyberlink SP : Good (tickers smooth but blurry)
Snapstream SP : Good (tickers smooth but blurry)
Snapstream Basic : Very good with Software progressive fields deinterlace (high cpu usage though you will surely have dropped frames and strange sound effect with overlaid guide).


So, now I can enjoy again 3D Accel, and choosed the Cyberlink SP.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[wheemer]

I can confirm that the only decoder that does truely work is the snapstream s/p. DVXA is important to me, as I use the computer for other things and I would like to take advantage of all the benigits of my hardware.

That said, with dvxa enabled, the nvidia 1.00.58 and cyberlink powerdvd 6.0 do indeed exhibit this behaviour. Although with the cyberlink it is less noticeable.

The other decoders I can't comment on, as I have not used them, however since this IS definately something related to the directx 9.0c release, as confirmed by many people, even at Frey, I would imagine that any decoder using DVXA would exhibit it.

Are you sure about your findings, because I would double check if I were you.

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by wheemer

That said, with dvxa enabled, the nvidia 1.00.58 and cyberlink powerdvd 6.0 do indeed exhibit this behaviour. Although with the cyberlink it is less noticeable.
.../...
Are you sure about your findings, because I would double check if I were you.

You can't never be too sure , I can't see it with nVidia (though I'm not sure if I really have the 1.00.58 : can't find the trial for this one, but have one Forceware for media center 2005 that seems to be almost the same).

And for PowerDVD 6, I can't say because the only one I tested are those furnished by Snapstream (PowerDVD 5).

I will tell you if I see it again with the nVidia decoder (for now my testings are only tests and not daily use, so changing channels and forwarding like crazy hoping to see it happen, my eyes can't see what I see immediately with the Sonic decoder when I do the same thing).

Edit : nVidia does it too, but less frequently than with Sonic. Now I stick with Cyberlink SP untill the bug is resolved.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[StephaneM]

Could this be related to this bug : http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;885354 ?

[ian]

Originally Posted by wheemer

Ian, try the solution I posted on page one... It works perfectly with the only side effect that I've seen being that WMVHD content cannot be viewed without 9.0c... That's not really such a big deal for me though.

thanks, wheemer, but i'd rather not go that route. if i knew this before my reinstall, i would have opted not to install SP2 / DX9c at all but at this point, i'll keep it as-is. overlay is working quite well FWIW.

cheers,
ian

[wheemer]

I have to hand it to you Stephane... I've read A LOT of posts concerning this issue and the problem really has been driving me up the wall. I absolutely hate the idea of not running the latest update available. Not being able to use directx 9.0c has been such a pain. Especially considering the process to revert back to 9.0b and the fact that you loose wmvhd playback and whatever other advances 9.0c has to offer.

So I reinstalled my XP SP2 with the repair otion to bring the system back to 9.0c, rebooted in safe mode and plopped the quartz.dll file from 9.0b into c:\windows\system32, overwritting the one that was there. Rebooted once more and WOW, totally crips ff/rw and 9.0c too boot!!!

Thank you so much for your research. I really couldn't be bother contacting microsoft for the newer dll.

If anyone wants to try this really simple version of a fix for this just do as I said with the file atttached.

Thanks again!

[StephaneM]

I'v read that nVidia (on xpmce forum) will update the new DVD decoder 1.00.58 to bypass this bug. This updated version should have been out after Thanksgiving...

Anyway changing the quartz.dll in Safe Mode has done the trick for me as well. I can now enjoy my new config to the max (And I must say that the new nVidia decoder gives a very beautiful picture).

Regards,
Stéphane.

[Ellerbestyle]

Well I did the quarts.dll after I reinstalled Dx9c and now my ticker is not smooth anymore. I dont know what to do now, I should of just left it alone.

Where is the new decoder for Nvidia. Can ya post a direct link please?

[wheemer]

Did you do this in safe mode? Because otherwise it will not work. This IS a solution, so double check please.

[Ellerbestyle]

Yes did all of it in Safe Mode except when I reinstalled Service Pack 2 to get to DX9c.

I am going to try the DVD encoder from Nvidia to see how it looks.