PVR 350 - Hardware decoder instability?

[Caliban]

Ok, recommmended min requirements are 1ghz... regarding the video card tv out I have found the best results for me are with the nvidia pure video decoder (as good as watching analogue terestrial direct from the aerial on my tv) - but you will need a bit of trial and error on this one.

If mine ran on 1GHz, it might give it the edge for software decoding. For hardware decoding, 800MHz is more than plenty (if it would only work). I've seen reports people got it working on 450MHz, though that may be pushing it.
So yeah, I agree the easy way out would be to upgrade, and use software decoding.

[stefan]

And that technique is called OSD.... Gotcha! Thanks for clearing that up.

No problems =)

Is there a central list of these "problem" boards? The incompatibility thing is a matter of definition I think. Incompaitibility is a matter of hardware. When it's software, it's called a bug.

Nope, that's one of the quirks here. People with (seemingly) exactly the same motherboards have reported both success and no success with exactly the same setup. When you look at the boards here and over at Sage, it seems like more people using Via motherboards (as opposed to others) have this problem.

but was (and still am) not clear about what exactly the problem is. I did not blame everyone, I just blamed the people saying it was a hardware problem. Which btw I'm still not convinced it is.

I thought we all agreed it's a combination of [bad driver]/[motherboard]

[Caliban]

I thought we all agreed it's a combination of [bad driver]/[motherboard]

Aparently not :p
I still find it hard to digest that if a hardware combo runs fine with one set of software, but pukes on a second set of software, there's still something wrong with the hardware? Looks to me there's something wrong with the first set of software, nothing more. Unless the second set of software has a workaround for a certain known issue of course, but that does not seem to be the case.

[sub]

You're missing his point.

He is saying that the bug only manifests itself with some combinations of hardware. The bug may just be a simple software bug in the drivers that doesnt cope well with the way interrupts or DMA transfers are performed on a specific motherboard or chipset. The root cause may be a software bug, but as stefan said, it is only seen with a combination of bad driver/motherboard.

Short of Hauppauge fixing the problem in the drivers, the only known work around is using a different set of hardware which fairs better.

[Caliban]

You're missing his point.

No, I see his/your point. What I'm saying is that regardles of how or where it manifests itself, it's still a software (driver) problem. There's nothing wrong with the card or the motherboard, or combinations of them. And that's what got my "rant" started, since the title of the thread says "Hardware decoder instability". The hardware decoder is stable as a rock, but it's the software that ruins the party.

Short of Hauppauge fixing the problem in the drivers, the only known work around is using a different set of hardware which fairs better.

Or, the unthinkable, use a third party driver.... Too bad one doesn't exist for Windows.

I'm beginning to see there is no way I can get it to work the way I want. I have the choice of upgrading my hardware, and not use the nice hardware decoder that I paid extra for, or use Linux, which is a pain to setup, and has its own set of issues.... I just can't win :o

[elite]

But the point is that because the driver or whatever doesn't work - the hardware doesn't work, surely this is a hauppauge issue and we shouldn't have to rely on third party drivers - They have released a product that doesn't perform as described and therefore should have issued a fix!

[gEd]

They have released a product that doesn't perform as described and therefore should have issued a fix!

They supply a card and software which both work together. They don;t use OSD so they could argue that this is out of spec?

Or perhaps I am being too lenient....

I too was well cheesed off when I spend £130 on the 350 when I could have bought a different card for 1/2 the price that would also not run so hot. I had hoped to run the 350 tv-out with the cpu underclocked at low power and therefore near silent but it was not to be.

Mind on the plus side, I can now watch divx recordings and dvd's via the graphics card tv out.

[onestar]

Not adding to the argument about 350 support, but wondering how you guys get a smooth sharp picture using software decoding. I tried it briefly and it was no match vs the MVP or the 350. I don't mean it critically, just general viewing, the two hardware decoders produce smooth images, whereas the software decoders produce well to me, don't.

[gEd]

Well for "general viewing", my ATI 9600 pro works just fine. A little soft perhaps but totally watchable. This is an old card as well.

I only used the tv-out on the 350 for a very short while and TBH, it was a bit noisey, perhaps that was due to the supplied cable.

I would appoint Csy as the authority on tv-out quality so perhaps search for some of his posts on this subject.

If you have an ATI card, you need a 9550 or above. For Nvidia, a 6200 or above (ideally). Csy's threads have a lot on info on how to tweak settings to get the bets image quality.

Good luck

[Caliban]

But the point is that because the driver or whatever doesn't work - the hardware doesn't work, surely this is a hauppauge issue and we shouldn't have to rely on third party drivers - They have released a product that doesn't perform as described and therefore should have issued a fix!

I agree. But they choose not to fix the problem, so a third party driver is the only way out. Luckily, we can vote with our $$$, and never buy hauppauge again...