video card error?

[kayak4ever]

Since upgrading to 1.2.9, I have been having a sporadic problem when I finish watching a recording. The computer freezes, either for 1 minute or indefinitely when I press the stop button. Upon unfreezing, I sometimes find that the computer has crashed and needs rebooting. My best guess, with no real basis for thinking so, is that either my video card is not up to the task of 1.2.9 or that my computer processor is not up to the task. I tried to attach all my logs but the zipped file is still too large (3320kb and I have enabled log flushing). The most recent occurrence just happened so it should be one of the last entries in the logs.

I am using the vmr9 fullscreen exclusive in large part because overlay gives me a black screen during playback. Sometimes when the video freezes and crashes, I get the message that my system doesn't support vmr9 which seems strange given that it uses vmr9 most of the time when it isn't crashing. To correct this, I need to choose overlay from the config program, get the system working and then switch back to vmr9 custom or fullscreen exclusive.

As you can imagine, this is a bit frustrating so I am wondering if I should upgrade to a new video card. Because my computer is old, it has to be a card that is not "pci" because I don't have pci slots. I have found a ASUS N6200 GEFORCE 6200 AGP8X 128MB for a good price and I am considering trying it to see if it corrects the problem. The website http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=2&l...odelmenu=1 states that this graphic card "Powers the next generation of cinematic realism. Full support for Microsoft® DirectX® 9.0 Shader Model 3.0 enables stunning and complex special effects". I am not worried about the picture quality as I am quite happy with the quality I have now (better would be nice but not something I am concerned with)

My support question is whether the logs (now posted) show anything else that might be the problem and\or whether anyone else thinks that suggested new video card might solve the problem.

The related question is what can I do to decrease the size of the log file (i.e. which logs should I compress to a zip file) so I can post my logs. After this problem is solved, should I disable log flushing so that my log files are smaller?

I have resisted doing the upgrade to be able to use the EVR renderer because it seemed like an intimidating task. Is there a reasonable chance that my problem would be solved if I use the EVR renderer?

Thank you for any suggestions or help

p.s. I forgot to mention that the problem occurs with Cyberlink decoder, Nero Decoder, Intervideo non-css decoder. I am now trying gpl mpeg-1/2 decoder.

[mikeh49]

I can't offer any significant help for your crashing problem, but can share my experience with video cards. I recently upgraded from a Geforce 6200 to a Radeon 9600 Pro. The 6200 was fine when I was feeding a standard CRT TV through S-video at 720X480 resolution. With a new 720p LCD TV at 1366X768 resolution, I had nothing but trouble even with standard definition content. After trying multiple decoders and renderers, I got the Radeon on ebay for about $20 and it has been a significant improvement. I would recommend at least the 9600 Pro or Nvidia 6600 if you are going to upgrade. If you go beyond that generation of cards, you may encounter driver problems since newer cards were intended for the PCI-e interface, and were "backfit" for AGP. The X1500/1600 series of ATI cards may work well in AGP, someone else can perhaps help there.

We are at the end of the line for AGP, and, as others on the forum have recommended, it's not worth investing much in an AGP card. It might be time to bite the bullet and get a new, modern, PCI-e motherboard.

Regarding the logs, I think each time you start PVRX2, it starts a new log file, and renames the old ones with a number designator. So, if you can reproduce the problem, you should only have to post the latest version of the files. Also, if you are using PVRX2, you probably don't need to post the GBPVR log, as I think that is only for the GBPVR interface.

[ShiningDragon]

Hello kayak4ever!

My first question would be:
Are you using the drivers from ASUS itself (with it's additional softwarejunk) or the regular NVIDIA ones?

If you're using the asus ones, than i would recommend to remove all the asus software for the displaycard (the software makes problems with a few other software too).

Try out the latest drivers from nvidia itself, they should work way more better.
http://www.nvidia.com

I wish you best of luck.