EVR Problems on XP - Anyone have it working?

[86atc250r]

In my experience, setting purevideo to work and it actually working in GBPVR are two entirely different things. On my system, on normal programs it may not be immediately obvious it's not working, but if there is a scroller on screen or if you're watching sports it's immediately obvious (if you've ever seen it work). Also, when it's working colors are more saturated and images are sharper.

From what I've found, one little setting either in GBPVR or in the nVidia app can cause it to not work for GBPVR and still work fine in WMP.

Besides hardware, it may also be a difference in the resolution we are running. I tried this system on a smaller LCD TV running 13xx x 768 and had much better success. However, I am running at full 1920x1080 resolution (1080i)

That's a strong possibility. I almost asked about resolution, but for whatever reason, didn't... I'm running in 720x480 on an old Sony 32" CRT. I originally started in 800x600 and after I switched to the native 720x480 everything looked better, text was more sharp, etc. However, I didn't have any problems with frame loss - but there's a big difference between 800x600 and 1920x1080.....

I assume since the TV isn't upscaling it on it's own you are using the VGA or DVI to connect to the TV? If you are only watching "standard def" content from GBPVR you might try using the S-Video output from your video card, setting your resolution to 720x480 and letting the TV do the upscaling.

[tjb]

I assume since the TV isn't upscaling it on it's own you are using the VGA or DVI to connect to the TV? If you are only watching "standard def" content from GBPVR you might try using the S-Video output from your video card, setting your resolution to 720x480 and letting the TV do the upscaling.

I connect to the TV via Component Video cables. Also, everything I watch is High Definition via ATSC. When I run the TV Wizard in nVidia, if I select 720p the TV cannot display it, only 1080i (or much lower resolutions). I believe that the TV does no upscaling, because if I run a lower resolution than 1920 x 1080, then the picture just appears smaller on the TV (even though nVidia card is still in 1080i mode). I can watch at 1024x768, for example, but it only utilizes about 1/4th of the screen.

Actually, I am very happy with the display I get in FSE mode, my only reason for trying to get EVR to work is because something occasionally happens (like a popup or something, not sure what it is) which I cannot see because FSE takes over the whole screen, and then my only recourse is to hit the power button and restart the PC. It's frustrating when you cannot close or minimize GBPvr to see what the real problem is.

[86atc250r]

In that case, all you normally need to do is reset focus to GBPVR by clicking the mouse somewhere on the display.

Seems like someone wrote a utility a while back that checks to make sure GBPVR has focus to prevent this from happening - I haven't tried it, but it should prevent this problem.

When I run my system in FSE, I have a wireless mouse connected to the computer and stuck somewhere in the entertainment center - if gbpvr loses focus, I just grab the mouse, click the screen and the problem is solved. The little monitoring program would be more transparent to less technical end users though, if you can find it.

[tjb]

In that case, all you normally need to do is reset focus to GBPVR by clicking the mouse somewhere on the display.

Seems like someone wrote a utility a while back that checks to make sure GBPVR has focus to prevent this from happening - I haven't tried it, but it should work.

When I run my system in FSE, I have a wireless mouse connected to the computer and stuck somewhere in the entertainment center - if gbpvr loses focus, I just grab the mouse, click the screen and the problem is solved. The little monitoring program would be more transparent to less technical end users though, if you can find it.

For some reason, this does not always work - when it gets in this state I have never been able to get the focus back. Anyway, it only happens maybe once a week, so I guess it's not that big of a deal. Even my wife seems happy with it (we just cancelled cable and the cable DVR about 3 weeks ago). So I guess that says a lot. Thanks again for all your help and advice.

[stustunz]

what remote do you use
do you use hip ?
if you do there are few things you could try
i have it bring up task manager then kill the porcess doesnt matter what it is
it just starts at the top and closes them till they are all gone helps for what ever reason and means you dont have to restart whole system (99% of the time)
also map the red button on my mce remote to hip control then press #1 even though i cant see hip is open it sort of flashes once you press one you have control back if hip control is still flashing i just press the red button again and its all good again

this is to get around th FSE issues

[tjb]

what remote do you use
do you use hip ?
if you do there are few things you could try i have it bring up task manager then kill the porcess doesnt matter what it is.it just starts at the top and closes them till they are al gone helps for what ever reason and means you dont have to restart who system (99% of the time)

I use a remote that came with the Fusion Gold ATSC tuner. It has a small app that basically converts RC buttons to keyboard presses. When this problem occurs, I have tried to start Task Manager in the past, but then GBPvr and Task Manger fight for the screen. Basically, you can see Task Manager try to display, so it ends up in a sort of flicker mode. But I see your point. Maybe I will explore trying to shut down GBPvr in some type of command file or something (which I could also run from a RC button).

Edit: Found a SysInternal utility called pskill.exe that can kill a process by specifying the name. I'll set up a key on my remote to kill Pvrx2.exe and next time it locks up, I'll give it a try. Thanks again for steering me in the right direction.

[stustunz]

ok some keys combos to try
alt+f4 (closes current wiondow)
esc
alt+tab (next app)
ctrl+alt+delete (then wait or other key) alt+e this will kill what ever is at the top then esc after will close the box orone of the other i have listed

[ram4x4nut]

In my experience, setting purevideo to work and it actually working in GBPVR are two entirely different things. On my system, on normal programs it may not be immediately obvious it's not working, but if there is a scroller on screen or if you're watching sports it's immediately obvious (if you've ever seen it work). Also, when it's working colors are more saturated and images are sharper.

From what I've found, one little setting either in GBPVR or in the nVidia app can cause it to not work for GBPVR and still work fine in WMP.



That's a strong possibility. I almost asked about resolution, but for whatever reason, didn't... I'm running in 720x480 on an old Sony 32" CRT. I originally started in 800x600 and after I switched to the native 720x480 everything looked better, text was more sharp, etc. However, I didn't have any problems with frame loss - but there's a big difference between 800x600 and 1920x1080.....

I assume since the TV isn't upscaling it on it's own you are using the VGA or DVI to connect to the TV? If you are only watching "standard def" content from GBPVR you might try using the S-Video output from your video card, setting your resolution to 720x480 and letting the TV do the upscaling.

Could you tell us what settings you messed with to get it working? I don't want to make the jump to Vista unless I absolutely have to. Could you post your settings from the purevideo app? As well as what related settings you have in GBPVR?

Thanks in advance,

Ram

[TornadoTJ]

Well, it's not working for me at all. I installed the patches. The patch for proper display format worked, but the others didn't help. When I play back using EVR, the screen seems to refresh at different rates horizontally. I'll end up with the top half of the screen not quite matching the bottom half and there's a seam in the middle. Sometimes there can be 3 or more seams at a time. Going back to VMR9 Custom or FSE fixes the problem.