Grey blacks with internal player + EVR (4 Viewers)

[zunixnuz]

Did you try Pixel Format set to "RGB 4:4:4 Studio Limited" instead of YCbCr?

Yes, but limited RGB produces more terrible black values than YCbCr.
Very strange... i always thought these two formats have the same color range!?
But as i know YCbCr should be the "most correct" setting for nearly all video material...

 

[damaster]

I only have those 2 DXVA checkboxes ticket, when i disable them (and turn the rest on) i still get the same results. Bars 2-25 flash with MP4 files inside MP, so incorrect levels

That is very strange indeed! Try the 2600XT and see what you get with that. Also try disabling service "Desktop Windows Session Manager" (which effectively kills Aero).

 

[HomeY]

Did you try Pixel Format set to "RGB 4:4:4 Studio Limited" instead of YCbCr?

Yes, but limited RGB produces more terrible black values than YCbCr.
Very strange... i always thought these two formats have the same color range!?
But as i know YCbCr should be the "most correct" setting for nearly all video material...

There shouldn't be a real visible difference between those 2 settings, except for BluRay movies.
YCbCr has indeed a native range of 16-235 but can do 0-255.

I'll put the 2600XT back in tomorrow and test with that. If that gives the correct levels, then me and zunixnuz (and all other HD4670 owners) prolly need to give ATi a visit...

 

[damaster]

Did you try Pixel Format set to "RGB 4:4:4 Studio Limited" instead of YCbCr?

Yes, but limited RGB produces more terrible black values than YCbCr.
Very strange... i always thought these two formats have the same color range!?
But as i know YCbCr should be the "most correct" setting for nearly all video material...

There shouldn't be a real visible difference between those 2 settings, except for BluRay movies.
YCbCr has indeed a native range of 16-235 but can do 0-255.

I'll put the 2600XT back in tomorrow and test with that. If that gives the correct levels, then me and zunixnuz (and all other HD4670 owners) prolly need to give ATi a visit...

These are the EVR DLLs I am using on my Vista install: evr_vista_sp1_RTM.rar - hop - BADONGO. You may want to give them a shot.

 

[HomeY]

These are the EVR DLLs I am using on my Vista install: evr_vista_sp1_RTM.rar - hop - BADONGO. You may want to give them a shot.

How do you download from that site??

 

[1stdead]

These are the EVR DLLs I am using on my Vista install: evr_vista_sp1_RTM.rar - hop - BADONGO. You may want to give them a shot.

How do you download from that site??

Right site, after a few seconds, enter what it says and wait and download.

 

[damaster]

Ok, just to be sure I'll do the following test if you promise to do it as well:
- Get AVS HD 709 1.3 test patterns MP4 version and AVCHD or PATCHED version: AVS HD 709 - Blu-ray, HD DVD, & MP4 Calibration - AVS Forum
- We'll only be using the "Basic Settings" title, first chapter. It's the Black Clipping Pattern, a very low APL pattern for observing black-level on a digital display.
- For this test turn your TV's brightness up all the way because we are really just trying to determine what output levels we're getting out of the HTPC. You can set it back to the calibrated level once we're done.
- Run the MP4 version of the Black Clipping Pattern in MPC-HC, note the flashing bars you are able see.
- Run the AVCHD/PATCHED version of the Black Clipping Pattern in PowerDVD (mount or burn the ISO first), again note the flashing bars you are able see.
- Run the MP4 version of the Black Clipping Pattern in MediaPortal, again note the flashing bars you are able see.

Please post here the flashing bars you were able to see in each of the scenarios above. I'll do the same over the weekend.

So I ran all of the tests above in MediaPortal, MPC-HC, and PowerDVD 7. I've got good news... for me, but bad news for you guys, sorry!

In all of the tests above I am seeing exactly the same thing, i.e. only 17-25 flashing bars. MPC-HC with EVR or EVR Custom Presenter gives me 17-25 only. PowerDVD 7 gives me 17-25 only. And finally MediaPortal with EVR gives me 17-25 only. In the MediaPortal and MPC-HC tests my graph always had MPCVideoDecoder->EVR.

This is with a Sapphire Radeon HD 3470, running Catalyst 9.5 with Pixel Format set to RGB 4:4:4 Studio Limited. Also once again, this is on Vista x86 no SP but with the EVR DLLs from SP1 that I linked to previously.

 

[Dr Tone]

Just to add I'm running the Sapphire 4670 as well.

Within MP I'm getting 2-25 flashing, 17-25 playing the mp4 with windows media player. I'm using the mpc codecs latest build.

I'm running Vista SP2, though. Catalyst 9.6 drivers, and YCbCr 4:4:4. RGB 4:4:4 Studio Limited gives me the same results.

So from damaster's results I think we can limit it the reason he isn't having any issues down to his special no SP but with EVR dlls from SP1 or to the fact he's running a 3470 and we are running 4670s.

One other note: my issues isn't only during video playback, the media portal interface is washed out as well. It's quite noticeable in the StreamedMP skin. As a band aid, I've rolled the brightness back to -28, doing so gets the blacks back to normal.

 

[zunixnuz]

One other note: my issues isn't only during video playback, the media portal interface is washed out as well.

Yes, this i can also see on my system.
I don't think this is a general problem of HD 4670 because else in every player black would be grey!

 

[HomeY]

One other note: my issues isn't only during video playback, the media portal interface is washed out as well.

Yes, this i can also see on my system.
I don't think this is a general problem of HD 4670 because else in every player black would be grey!

Very well noticed! I hope you're right on that side. I'll try to switch my HD4670 with my old HD2600 later today and will also try the DVI --> HDMI dongle (which came with the HD2600XT) on my 4670 to see if that changes anything.

@damaster: you're also using the DVI --> HDMI dongle?