Red dots in the LiveTV/Playback?

[jmcclain]

Anyone else notice a couple red dots flickering around during playback? I'm pretty sure it is something in the MPEG/DVD player codec that I have installed (I'm currently using WinDVD 4 included with the ATI 9600 Radeon). I don't think it has anything to do with snapstream, actually, as I've seen the same artifacts show up during a DVD playback. I'm going to see, but I think that they ONLY show up after I've edited the registry to enable the hardware "assisted" MPEG playback (the Hwdx and other registry key whatever documented in the forums other places).

Anyway, it looks pretty bad (though the hardware assisted decode certainly helps the quality, it seems, or maybe that is just the deinterlacing). I can turn off hardware deinterlacing and it is still there.

-Jeff

P.S. I'm playing this all back on a Mitsubishi 55" HDTV using RGB inputs and running Powerstrip to run at 856x480 (but the TV says it is in 1080i for some reason...I don't understand that).

[Brett]

I had this problem with one of my TI4200s. It was actually one of the PCs at my parents house. I called up newegg told them of the problem and they sent a new card.

I bet if you run dxdiag and do the visual test where it draws the cube it will look all messed up. Now I am not saying this is the only way to fix the problem, but it seems to me if replacing the hardware with identical hardware fixes the issue then it was likely a hardware failure.

Not to throw a sales pitch for newegg but I made this call 3 months after I purchased the OEM card with no warrenty. They gave me a cash credit (as the card was no longer produced) for the amount I paid which I was able to buy another TI4200. This company absolutely kicks butt.

-Brett

[jmcclain]

That is sort of what I was thinking too, Brett, except that normally graphic RAM errors or heat problems with the card, aren't repeatable, but with this, I can back up the video and see the pixel every time (so either it is a problem with the card that happens every time and not just a heat problem, or it is in the raw video). I'll pull the MPEG2 into virtualdub and make sure on my other computer that the pixel isn't really there (pretty sure it is something on the hardware assisted decompress), but I'm fairly certain it wasn't in the comercial DVD's that I've been watching and the pixels are there too. Guess I need to double check for certain that it DOESN'T show up with the hardware assisted registry hacks enabled.

Funny, it doesn't show up on the windows desktop though. Only during MPEG play back. Worst case, I'll just swap it out with my nVidia 440MX, which I'm pretty sure didn't show the problems when I tried this out as a "proof of concept" before buying all the new hardware.

Thanks,

-Jeff

[jmcclain]

Just an update on this. I have confirmed that it does this ONLY when I have enabled hardware (through the HWMC/DWMA registry hacks for the BTV Indeo nonCSS decode or by enabling hardware support in the various PowerDVD and WinDVD players I've tried). Also, MPEG2 files encoded on this machine showing the problems look fine on other computers on my home network, as does DIVX reencodes (since it isn't using hardware assisted modes). Finally, the nVidia GeForce4 440MX looks fine as well in this system. I am not overclocking the ATI 9600SE (but I may go in and try to UNDERCLOCK it and see if it helps). I am running the Catalyst 4.2 drivers (may try some earlier drivers just to see).

Ultimately, I think I'm going to try to return this card and get a replacement and see if that fixes everything.

Regards,

-Jeff

[Brett]

Originally posted by jmcclain
Just an update on this. I have confirmed that it does this ONLY when I have enabled hardware (through the HWMC/DWMA registry hacks for the BTV Indeo nonCSS decode or by enabling hardware support in the various PowerDVD and WinDVD players I've tried).

Yep its the same problem! Now that you say this I remember that it would also work fine if I disabled the hardware. But I did as you wanted and convinced newegg to take the card back claiming it was damaged (which I highly believe is/was the case).

-Brett

[jmcclain]

FYI, got a new ATI Radeon 9600SE 128MB card and swapped it in. All the red pixels are gone! So it was certainly a hardware problem.

Regards,

-Jeff