Hi,

I've had a hunt around for a solution to my problem, but despite finding a lot of information on stuttering playback, nothing seems to quite match the problem I'm having. If anyone can offer any advice, I'd be grateful.

I've just installed Vista Ulitmate 64-bit on a new set up. I set up media center, and everything works fine apart from video playback in a window.

In Media Center, I select one of the sample videos (eg the underwater one), and play it full screen with no problem. If I reduce media center to window and play the same video, it works ok until I move the mouse into the window. At that point the control icons are displayed in the window and the video stops. Audio continues. After a few seconds, once the controls have disappeared again, the video catches up with the audio. (Most problems I've read of seem to be the opposite - problems in full screen mode)

It's a vanilla install, no other codecs, burning software etc, just MS Office, Firefox, Thunderbird, driver updates and MS updated. No TV Pack either. The CPU isn't maxed out, and there's a load of free memory.

I remember something similar happenning with MCE on my old box, and I think it may have been something to do with the overlays. I can't figure out what though. Despite an evening of googling, I'm stumped!

Here's what I'm running on:

Vista Ultimate 64 bit (no TV pack)
Q6600
Sapphire HD3870 (latest Catalyst drivers as of 19/11 from ATI site)
Asus P5Q Pro (onboard sound)
Corsair 4Gb RAM
Leadtek Winfast DVRT1000 tuner
Samsung F1 500Gb SATA drive

Cheers,

Balders.

Well I thought I'd found a fix last night. I installed the PowerDVD trial and ran up the Vista decoder utility - unfortunately the only video decoder shown by the utility was the MS one.

I also tried installing the old XP Decoder Checker, and could see the PowerDVD decoders using that, but setting them as default made no diffence to VMC or th Vista decoder utility.

So back to square one ...

Balders.

While fiddling around with drivers, I backed out the ATI drivers to an older version and  reinstalled the 8.11 drivers: it all worked ok.

I then changed some settings in Catalyst Control Center (3d settings set to Quality), and the pausing problem came back.  I also had a problem on full screen with the video seeming to flicker between two different images (as mentioned in another thread)

I reinstalled the 8.11 drivers again and playback was fine again - windowed and full screen. Hopefully it will stay that way.

(I know I'm talking to myself, but hopefully it will help anyone else who might run into a similar problem, as I struggled to find anything helpful on the web)

Balders.

I finally figured out what's causing the problem. It seems that the pause (windows) and flicker (full screen) only happen when the Catalyst Software has anti aliasing switched on, or "3D Settings" set above "Balanced".

If I use Quality 3D settings, and then start VMC I get the problem. If I reset to Balanced 3D settings then restart VMC, the playback is fine. Likewise if I'm in Balanced and I change the Anti Aliasing to anything other than "Application Controlled", the problem comes back again.

This explains why reloading the device drivers and catalyst software fixed the problem as it reset all the settings to default. I still can't determine if it's a problem with the Catalyst drivers, or VMC, but at least I now know how to workaround the problem.

Balders.

Balders1:

I finally figured out what's causing the problem. It seems that the pause (windows) and flicker (full screen) only happen when the Catalyst Software has anti aliasing switched on, or "3D Settings" set above "Balanced".

If I use Quality 3D settings, and then start VMC I get the problem. If I reset to Balanced 3D settings then restart VMC, the playback is fine. Likewise if I'm in Balanced and I change the Anti Aliasing to anything other than "Application Controlled", the problem comes back again.

This explains why reloading the device drivers and catalyst software fixed the problem as it reset all the settings to default. I still can't determine if it's a problem with the Catalyst drivers, or VMC, but at least I now know how to workaround the problem.

Balders.

Excellent find.

I was having the same problem with my HD3870.  Last night I reset the 3D settings to default and this strange video playback issue went away.

---

STB w/R5000HD USB I/O, Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4, Quad Q6600, 4.0 GB RAM, ATI HD 3870 512MB, Ultra XVS 600W PSU, 3x SATA 500GB, 2x SATA 300GB, LG GGC-H20L, PVR-250, Toshiba 51H83 (51" HDTV), Yamaha RX-V2400 Amp, 5x Energy Speakers, SVS Sub, Harmony 880 Remote

I've logged feedback with ATI describing the problem, so hopefully they're now aware of it and can get a fix in the next Catalyst release.

Balders.