MPEG2 Playback problem with ATI Radeon

[botchka]

Greetings,
I wonder if anyone had the same problem. I'd really appreciate it if you could help me.
I recently installed a newly bought RADEON 7000 video card. Installation went well, I uninstalled the previous drivers (had an ATI XPERT98 card) but then now I have some new strange symptoms:
1. worst of all - with both PowerDVD and ATI DVD Player - MPEG2 Playback from either file system or DVD-Rom (Liteon LT163D) freezes the screen, only the mouse works but you can't click on anything. Only restart works...
2. With WinDVD- the same DVD/MPEG2 playback works - but I have horizontal lines appearing on the screen - all over from left to right, about every 1/3 of an Inch. I guess WinDVD just knows how to handle playback better or uses different resources, but I still can't watch MPEG2 with all these lines on it. It happens with both DVD movie playback and my own created MPEG2 video (one is NTSC and one is PAL)
3. I have icons appearing every now and then as if there is a color filter on them. Sometimes in Yellow color, sometimes Red, sometimes Green etc. Always one or two icons, dometimes on Desktop, sometimes on Dialog boxes of applications.
4. Every now and then I have my system rebooting itself. Not too often but still...

I changed some Bios settings after talking to ATI support: IRQ allocation, PnP OS = YES, Cacheable Video memory etc. Nothing helped. I did a 'clean install' , also based on feedback from ATI support (they were very responsive) - including deletion of some reg keys - also nothing helped.

Strangest thing is that when I uninstalled the new RADEON and put back the old XPERT98 I had these lines still on the MPEG2.

Did anyone have any of the above problems? I don't think the card is faulty, I believe something in my PC or the OS environment is causing this.

System info:
Intel Pentium II 300Mhz
64MB RAM
DVD-Rom Liteon LT163D
6GB free on my HD
Windows 98 SE


Thanks a lot in advance

 

[Sammie]

WIN 98 is a potential issue + 64mb ram

I'm no hardware expert but might be a Windows 98 problem, because 98 has some memery leak problem, just does not matter how much memeory you have it will suck it all the way through. Why don't you try WIndwos 2000 or XP so you can find the problem and you better have 256 mb ram for optimal performance. This problem does not have anything to do with ATI. I have the same ATI 7000, 8500, 8500 LE, 2 Geforce 4 4200 under XP without any issues. Also Pentium 3 because when uses L2 cache (if slot) it actually slows 1/2 the speed down, so if you CPU is 550 mhz it slows to 250 mhz, if your Pentium is FCPGA form( socket) then there isn't any cpu issue. That's all I can think of as of now. I hope my suggstions will help. Let me know.
Sako

 

[botchka]

Thanks!

I wanted to stay with 98SE b/c it was faster with multimedia than 2000 or XP. Is there a SW patch for these leak problems in 98SE?
I thought it was a pretty stabe OS compared to the others...
In any case, thanks a lot for your time.

 

[Sammie]

You got to be kidding. A patch from Mr. Gates? funny. He wil make you to purchase a new OS to make more $ out of you rather than making 98 better.

 

[weboneando]

I don´t know if w98 is faster in multimedia than XP, I personaly think not, but sure XP is far more stable than 9x based systems, your problem must be a driver issue, ATI is well known for faults in the developing of their drivers, hopefuly ATI announced that their support is changing and is about to develop drivers every 6 to 10 weeks for now on, this with the porpouse of solving bugs like the one you´re getting

 

[woody]

Hmmm..biggest problem here has been pointed out.64 megs of ram doesn't cut it anymore.Your system specs are borderline to begin with.Ram increase is required.Win2K would be better for you than Win 98.WinXp is not a good idea on your system,it is kind of a resource hog until tweaked.

I don't know why you have Windvd installed(this could be causing problems).The ATI card should have DVD player software with it.Mpeg2 should play with the ATI file player.

Hope that helps..

 

[botchka]

Thanks again.

Thanks to all responding. I was hoping someone had exactly the problem that I have (lines on the video).
I upgraded my RAM to 128MB which did not solve it. I don't have the 'color filters' on the icons anymore so I possibly am in the right direction with your advices. I agree that WinXP would be a stretch now in terms of resources.
Another idea I would like to explore is upgrading my BIOS (I have AwardBIOS v.4.51). I imagine it may help since many of the parameters ATI support suggested I change were in the CMOS setup.
Regarding DVD Player from ATI, believe me I tried it. Both it and CyberLinks PowerDVD froze the screen when trying to play the DVD movie from DVD-Rom or MPEG2 video from the file system. It was WinDVD the only one that could manage playing *something*. I think it is a much better program than the DVD Player by ATI (which again, froze the PC with only restart helping).
Thanks again!!!

 

[woody]

Okay bud,be very careful with a bios upgrade.It can render your computer useless if there is a problem.If the bios chip is not socketed you will have to bring your computer in for repairs.

I don't know if you recently installed any other new hardware.I had a similar video problem with an old system.I added hardware and the power supply couldn't handle the extra load.Everything slowed down.It was only a 100 watt supply.

I am not a video expert,so maybe Chickenman or somebody else may be more help to you.

 

[ChickenMan]

Did your MPEG2 files play okay previously with your old old XPERT98 card? Has the problem started only after installing the new RADEON and has then persisted even after removing the RADEON and going back to the old XPERT98 ?

Have you replaced any other cards or hardware in recent times. This all sounds like a hardware problem to me.

 

[radioman970]

I've had this same problem with several video cards. I upped from a Ti4600 to a Radeon 9700 pro and I've got lines on the screen with PowerDVD. Annoying!! Some movies are fine but others not. PowerDVD sound is great. WinDVD picture okay but the sound will cut short during some dialogue. The ATI DVD player doesn't do 5.1.

I have Win98se, 512 megs and a AMD1800+. I recently replaced an old DVD drive. Still there. My machine is plenty powerful for DVD movies. What's the deal with these lines?! I'd hate to bend over for Bill and up to XP then have it not work. Software makers have I by the you-know-whats! We cant return opened stuff but have to open it to see if it works. And they wonder why so much software piracy goes on...

 

[botchka]

Go for XP Pro...

It is a huge change compared to Win98 - in ALL aspects. Dealing with pictures, hardware. Everything.
And I am quite sure that once you make the move - your DVDs will play right.

 

[Dnd4evr]

How long has it been since Windows was freshly installed? If you have changed hardware/drivers and installed/uninstalled software frequently you may be looking at cumulative registry issues. The IS people I know say its not uncommon to have to reload Windows 98 every year or so and by my experience that's close. I have a system now that is getting pretty flakey. If I don't reboot between games, it may hang or crash to the desk top unexpectedly. As soon as I get some time I'm just going to type "format c:" and start all over.

There are utilities available that are suppose to help with memory leakage issues. Check the 6/17 issue of PC Magazine page 122 for reviews.

 

[radioman970]

How long has it been since Windows was freshly installed? If you have changed hardware/drivers and installed/uninstalled software frequently you may be looking at cumulative registry issues. The IS people I know say its not uncommon to have to reload Windows 98 every year or so and by my experience that's close. I have a system now that is getting pretty flakey. If I don't reboot between games, it may hang or crash to the desk top unexpectedly. As soon as I get some time I'm just going to type "format c:" and start all over.

There are utilities available that are suppose to help with memory leakage issues. Check the 6/17 issue of PC Magazine page 122 for reviews.

You could be right. My system is extremely stable right now. I recently upped to 512 megs, bought a brand new DVD player and it really helped overall...gaming, etc. That could help you too. I figure the leaks are still going to happen...just takes longer .

Anybody who has a CD burner should get in the habit of backing up and then clearing off the HD then putting on a fresh copy of Windows. Feels like a new car!

As far as the lines on DVD movies it only happens with PowerDVD. The free player called Maximus 1.2 works better...just some other quirks like it trys to play the movie before the DVD has spun up and no features but still a great player for free. Maybe one day I'll isolate the problem (or breakdown and buy WIN XP).

 

[radioman970]

It is a huge change compared to Win98 - in ALL aspects. Dealing with pictures, hardware. Everything.
And I am quite sure that once you make the move - your DVDs will play right.

I'm one of these people that says "if most stuff works then don't change a thing". But DVDs are in the Top 3 things I do on my machine: 1. Gaming, 2. DVD movies, 3. Surfing the net for porn (joking...ha ha).

I'll pick up WIN XP next year sometime and post here if it fixes the problems. I'm using it at work and look looks nice but I haven't done research. I'd be interested to know if performance takes a hit in gaming and etc...

 

[Dnd4evr]

I have GeForce 3 on one machine and a 4 on the other and I get no lines with PowerDVD on either. Might be something with the ATI card or driver. My GeForce driver has a section for tweaking settings for D3D and OpenGL. If the ATI driver has an advanced section where you can change things like antialiasing, anisotropic, mipmap, texture memory and verticle sync and see what happens. I don't have any experience with ATI cards at all, but I am seriously considering getting one when I build my next system.

My 3rd system has WinDVD that came with the Voodoo 3 (yeah, its that old). It runs great even on the older hardware. Do you have access to a copy to try? It might work better for you than PowerDVD.

 

[radioman970]

I have GeForce 3 on one machine and a 4 on the other and I get no lines with PowerDVD on either. Might be something with the ATI card or driver. My GeForce driver has a section for tweaking settings for D3D and OpenGL. If the ATI driver has an advanced section where you can change things like antialiasing, anisotropic, mipmap, texture memory and verticle sync and see what happens. I don't have any experience with ATI cards at all, but I am seriously considering getting one when I build my next system.

My 3rd system has WinDVD that came with the Voodoo 3 (yeah, its that old). It runs great even on the older hardware. Do you have access to a copy to try? It might work better for you than PowerDVD.

The thing is that I've had this problem on a GF4 Ti4600 (which was a flawed card) and the ATI card I replaced it with. I had reinstalled Windows between Video card replacement. I don't remember this happening with the GF2 card I had before. An old ATI rage card I had didn't do this (had it's own set of problems but DVD playback was not one of them). Strange. I wish ATI would update their DVD player to 5.1. It would be the best to use in my opinion. Anything not 5.1 ATI is the one I view it on. I watched a stereo 2.0 surround sound movie yesterday (remake of Night of the Living Dead from 1990) and it played beautifully. With prologic turned on it was almost as good as 5.1. Sounds from the front, behind, the sides...all great. No lines...perfect picture. But I like to take full advantage of sound...so maybe ATI will get it together and upgrade the player.

Tweaking around would be fine...but maybe tweaking PowerDVD is the answer. What is different with it than the other players I used? That's the question I've been thinking about.

I have WinDVD and no lines...but the sound sometimes cuts out for very short periods...like at the end of someone's dialogue it will cut out the last word. Very strange. My machine is AMD 1800+, 512 megs, 90+ gig HD, ATI 9600pro, MSI KT3 MoBo with AC'97 onboard sound, Toshiba 16x DVD drive and Lite-on 52x cdr. I also have a Altec Lansing 510 5.1 speaker system that I'm not real happy with...but it was cheap. I don't use the middle speaker because most of a movie's sound is directed just below (or above) my 19" monitor. Yuck! 4.1 is fine until I win the lotto and spend $10,000 on a new system. THAT system would probably have a ATI card in it too. This card is worth the trouble. I remember trying to install an ATI AIW Rage 128 card years ago in a AMD socket-7 board. Damn! I wanted to bash the whole damn thing with a hammer. Funny, I put that same card in mom&dad's Pentium III machine and it worked great with the old drivers that came with the card. But these new series of cards are much better. ATI is a good choice. Although...GeForce has that cute little fairy selling theirs...LOL...

 

[Dnd4evr]

I really hate on board chipsets. I have had nothing but trouble with them (both sound and video). Unless you have to have something expensive like Creative Labs Audigy, a Sound Blaster Live 5.1 can be had for $30. I have Altec Lancing 2.1 set (no room for the 5.1, but that will change). Love the bass.

Software some times conflicts. Maybe PowerDVD doesn't like something on your system. Have you checked the Cyberlink site. They do update the player from time to time.

I did a quick google search and found this. Maybe it will help.

http://www.hifi-writer.com/he/dvds/interlace.htm

I have seen the Mad Max example created when I converted a DVD to VCD.

Good luck

 

[radioman970]

I really hate on board chipsets. I have had nothing but trouble with them (both sound and video). Unless you have to have something expensive like Creative Labs Audigy, a Sound Blaster Live 5.1 can be had for $30. I have Altec Lancing 2.1 set (no room for the 5.1, but that will change). Love the bass.

Software some times conflicts. Maybe PowerDVD doesn't like something on your system. Have you checked the Cyberlink site. They do update the player from time to time.

I did a quick google search and found this. Maybe it will help.

http://www.hifi-writer.com/he/dvds/interlace.htm

I have seen the Mad Max example created when I converted a DVD to VCD.

Good luck

I downloaded the update to PowerDVD and upped my ATI drivers and that fixed it for a while. But now here we go again. Lines are back. I'm wondering if the drivers become corrupt over time somehow. Typically I only install and uninstall games. I don't tweak drivers or anything like that.

Funny, last night I was watching a movie and those lines appeared but just now I was going to test to see if maybe I turned off the hardware selection within the player the lines would go away. But now, no lines to test it with. Very strange. I gotta wonder if I upped from Win89se to XP that would stop it.

 

[Duracell]

Funny, last night I was watching a movie and those lines appeared but just now ... the lines would go away.

overheating/overclocking problems?

I gotta wonder if I upped from Win89se to XP that would stop it.

upgrading an OS is the worstest thing you can do; it will avenge sooner or later;
fresh installation is the "only" way;


Greetings from
Duracell