Problem showing some programs after upgrading to 99.12

[Andy Henderson]

I've encountered a problem that I managed to solve by switching decoders, but I thought I'd better report it as it might come back to bite me later.

I just upgraded from 99.05 to 99.12. I also installed the latest patches from:
- GVPRecordingService.zip
- mem-usage.zip
- GPVR.zip

I am using a Hauppauge 150MCE under Windows XP MCE Rollup 2 connected to Freeview UK digital to air service.

For some programmes the picture is showing in the top left corner of the screen (sometimes in an incorrect aspect ratio) with the rest of the screen being made up from gibberish or the occasional chunk of a previous channel. The OSD displays at the correct place on the screen. See attached screen shots.

When first displaying the problem program, it displays correctly full screen for a second or two before reverting to the problem display.

The problem appears to be program rather than channel related. The problem consistently occurs for some programs and immediately disappears when a new program/adverts are shown (and vice versa). '+1' channels sometimes display correctly when the main channel doesn't and vice versa.

I can't spot a pattern about what works and what doesn't. It tends to occur with older programs, but not exclusively. It tends to occur with non-widescreen programs but, again, not exclusively.

I never saw the problem before upgrading.

I tried rebooting and re-running config. I tried switching from nVidia to Cyberlink (PowerDVD7) and it didn't fix the problem.

Switching to Intervideo did fix the problem!

Andy

[sub]

For some programmes the picture is showing in the top left corner of the screen (sometimes in an incorrect aspect ratio) with the rest of the screen being made up from gibberish or the occasional chunk of a previous channel. The OSD displays at the correct place on the screen. See attached screen shots.

This is the often discussed nvidia aspect ratio bug. Its a bug in the nvidia video card drivers and affects lots of other apps also. Work arounds include disabling hardware acceleration in your video decoder, or switching to VMR9 Custom or using old nvidia drivers.

The reason you didnt see it with the intervideo decoder is because it wasnt using your video cards acceleration features.

[Andy Henderson]

Thanks for the reply, but why did it start only when I installed 99.12?

The problem occurs with some programs that are widescreen. Would they cause the problem you describe? Sorry, I monitor several forums but I've not heard of this problem before.

Andy

[sub]

Thanks for the reply, but why did it start only when I installed 99.12?

It didnt start with 99.12, but the 99.12 upgrade did reset the video renderer to 'VMR9' from 'VMR9 Custom' so you'll find you were previously using VMR9 Custom, and now you're using regular VMR9 and are seeing the problem.

[Andy Henderson]

Oh, and why does the problem occur with the Cyberlink codec if it's an nVidia problem? Just tried it again, switching from Intervideo to Cyberlink brings the problem back.

Andy

[sub]

Its not a problem with the nvidia decoder, its a problem with your nvidia videocard drivers. Any video decoders that use the hardware acceleration features from your videocard will show this problem. Both the Cyberlink and Nvidia decoders are using this hardware acceleration.

There are tons of threads on this problem going back the last 18 months or so.

[Andy Henderson]

Back to normal. Switching to VMR9 Custom in the GB-PVR Config program fixed the problem.

Thanks for the explanation, I appreciate it must be frustrating responding to the same problem over and over but I did spend around an hour searching the forums before posting.

Might be worth a post in the 'survival guide' given that 99.12 can have this disconcerting side effect.

Andy