VRM9 video problems XPSP3 MP 1.0.2.0 (1 Viewer)

[polus]

Firstly, congrats to the dev team for making such a product! As a software, albeit embedded/electronics engineer, I understand the effort that goes into a product like this

Problems...

After 3 attempts to get a Media portal setup working properly I’m nearly there. TBH, I don’t think I can deal with another reinstall and as Ive searched and read through lots of similar problems, I think its time to post.

I’ve managed to get everything I would like working except for video rendering with VMR9. If it is enabled AND ffdshow is installed then all video formats (well it seems to be all) are scrambled showing no video at all. If I unistall ffdshow then I can play MPEG videos.

(Image has been resized/shrunk)

The audio is working correctly. If I change to EVR then all video files play OK. All test videos (720p 1080p Microsoft HD test, Xvid episodes, various other ASF WMV) play fine with all other players (WMP, media player classic).

I’ve tried various combinations, various codecs but all seem to result in the same behavior.

In one install I tried the latest BETA of media portal. I’ve made sure "Use Automatic Deinterlacing" is ticked in Basic Quality of ATI Catalyst Control Center, I’ve made sure I have no filter conflicts and this is a fresh install (as follows):

Installed
- Windows XP Professional Edition (SP2)
- Windows XP SP3
- Sound drivers for HDMI and LAN drivers
- sapphire radeon hd4670 drivers CCC 9.7 (http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/downloads/download_index.aspx?psn=0006)
- .NET 2.0 SP2
- .NET 3.5
- Let windows update run to install all updates (~30)

- Matroska Splitter
- ffdshow (tried 3 different versions, latest being FFDShow MPEG-4 Video Decoder 2009-07-25)
- MPC Video Decoder
- ReClock

- Media Portal Stable 1.0.2
*** Media portal installed DirectX, Runtine libs and WMP11 ***
- Streamed MP 0.8.448


Logs

System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 8/2/2009, 16:27:25
       Machine name: HTPC
   Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.090206-1234)
           Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: System Manufacter
       System Model: System Product Name
               BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
          Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) Dual  CPU  E2200  @ 2.20GHz (2 CPUs)
             Memory: 2048MB RAM
          Page File: 317MB used, 3622MB available
        Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
    DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
     DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.5512 32bit Unicode

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
        Card name: ATI Radeon HD 4600 Series
     Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
        Chip type: ATI Radeon Graphics Processor (0x9490)
         DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
       Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9490&SUBSYS_E100174B&REV_00
   Display Memory: 512.0 MB
     Current Mode: 1920 x 1080 (32 bit) (60Hz)
          Monitor: Plug and Play Monitor
  Monitor Max Res: 1600,1200
      Driver Name: ati2dvag.dll
   Driver Version: 6.14.0010.6973 (English)
      DDI Version: 9 (or higher)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
 Driver Date/Size: 7/2/2009 18:24:44, 335872 bytes

This is the logs from when a 720P WMV video is played.

2009-08-02 16:26:44.437500 [Info.][MPMain]: RefreshRateChanger.AdaptRefreshRate: 'auto refreshrate changer' disabled
2009-08-02 16:26:44.437500 [Info.][MPMain]: VideoPlayer:play D:\test\hd\T2_720.wmv
2009-08-02 16:26:44.484375 [Info.][MPMain]: VideoPlayerVMR9: Enabling DX9 exclusive mode
2009-08-02 16:26:44.484375 [Info.][MPMain]: D3D: BuildPresentParamsFromSettings using 60Hz as RefreshRate
2009-08-02 16:26:44.562500 [Info.][MPMain]:   fonts.SetDevice()
2009-08-02 16:26:44.718750 [Info.][MPMain]: VMR9: added Video Mixing Renderer 9 to graph
2009-08-02 16:26:44.734375 [Info.][MPMain]: added filter:WMVideo Decoder DMO to graph
2009-08-02 16:26:44.750000 [Info.][MPMain]: added filter:WMAudio Decoder DMO to graph
2009-08-02 16:26:44.750000 [Info.][MPMain]: DirectShowUtils: First try to insert new audio renderer Default DirectSound Device 
2009-08-02 16:26:44.750000 [Info.][MPMain]: DirectShowUtils: Found audio renderer
2009-08-02 16:26:44.796875 [Info.][MPMain]: VideoPlayerVMR9: no vob sub filter in the current graph
2009-08-02 16:26:44.796875 [Info.][MPMain]: VideoPlayerVMR9: subtitles are not enabled
2009-08-02 16:26:44.796875 [Info.][MPMain]: VMR9: no need to de-interlace this video source
2009-08-02 16:26:44.828125 [Info.][MPMain]: VideoPlayer:Duration:119.160003662109
2009-08-02 16:26:44.828125 [Info.][MPMain]: g_Player.OnStarted() D:\test\hd\T2_720.wmv media:Video
2009-08-02 16:26:44.843750 [Info.][MPMain]: g_Player: ShowFullScreenWindow switching to fullscreen video
2009-08-02 16:26:44.906250 [Info.][MPMain]: PlaneScene: video WxH  : 1280x720
2009-08-02 16:26:44.906250 [Info.][MPMain]: PlaneScene: screen WxH : 1920x1080

...no video, audio fine.... after 4 seconds...

2009-08-02 16:26:48.437500 [Info.][MPMain]: GUIVideoFullscreen:stop
2009-08-02 16:26:48.437500 [Info.][MPMain]: g_Player.OnStopped()
2009-08-02 16:26:48.437500 [Info.][MPMain]: GUIVideoFiles: OnPlayBackStopped idFile=1 timeMovieStopped=3 resumeData=
2009-08-02 16:26:48.437500 [Info.][MPMain]: VideoPlayer:ended D:\test\hd\T2_720.wmv
2009-08-02 16:26:48.437500 [Info.][MPMain]: VideoPlayer9:cleanup DShow graph
2009-08-02 16:26:48.453125 [Info.][MPMain]: state:Stopped 0

I cant see anything wrong but all I see is the above screen capture.

Full Logs:
MediaPortalLogs_02_08_09.zip

Q. Can anyone give any insight or hints as to why Im having such a problem with ffdshow?

Q. One more cheeky question; apart from cyberlink decoders, are there many codecs that use the hardware decoding of the ATI 4670 GPU?

 

[tourettes]

Please try to revert to older ATI drivers, some other have been reporting similar issue with the latest driver version (9.7).

 

[nfox]

As mentioned by tourettes, this seems to be caused by using the MPC codec when Catalyst 9.7 is installed. Reverting to a previous version of the Catalyst drivers or actually using the Catalyst 9.7 codec instead of the MPC one solver the problem for me.

 

[polus]

Before I revert - nfox, where are the ATI codecs? Ive just a search and cant find where to install them so I can select them. I presume they use the GPU which would be great!

Which drivers do I revert to? 9.6 or earlier?

Many Thanks!

--- later

Found them

--- later

To conclude...

Firstly installed xcode (ATI codecs). No difference.

Uninstalled 9.7 COntrol center and ati driver, restarted, cleared ati ccc dir and reinstalled 9.4, restarted... success!

All works, even the 9.7 ATI codecs and audio HDMI driver! I had feared this might be a problem as there is no audio driver for 9.4 but its all good

There is some stuttering (really very slight) in some older wmv files but the wmv 1080p test files are good and Im sure i can sort that the former with some tweaking!

 

[steveperthau]

Thanks Catalyst 9.4 worked for me too

Thanks guys,
Spent hours trying to work this one out.

For me basically:
EVR = .avi OK / DVD navigator not OK (info screen stuck at the bottom then MP lockup)
VMR = .avi not OK (interlacing issue) / DVD navigator OK

Changed to Catalyst 9.4 now everything works fine.
Seems strange that only Mediaportal was having a problem with VMR and catalyst 9.8

Steve

 

[Biografen]

I installed Catalyst 9.8, and oh boy ...toke me 2 days of hardwork to roll back. With the 9.8 i was not able to see tv at all.
So before next Catalyst update...i will try to find someone here that have tried it at says it's ok to use