Remove Letterbox without VMR9?

[redranger]

I previously used an old CRT TV, but now I have a 16:9 LCD. I'd like to use the Remove Letterbox aspect ratio to zoom 4:3 SD video with bars to fill the screen, however, it only seems to be an option when using VMR9. Unfortunately, HD video performance is poor with VMR9, but is fine with EVR or Overlay. What's strange is I used to play HD files on the old SD TV just fine with VMR9, but I guess it was a much smaller area it had to draw to. So, is there any way to zoom without using VMR9? Thanks.

[pBS]

try vmr9 fse mode...[fullscreen mode]
what codecs are you using? what video card?

[redranger]

I've tried that and the performace is just as bad as the normal VMR9. HD plays back at about 1/3rd speed with lots of freezing, SD is fine.

I'm using the default Windows 7 codecs. Video card is an HD 3200, of the AMD 780G chipset.

[athomas]

You might want to make sure your 32 bit HD codecs are up to date. Also, make sure you are using the latest ATI video drivers and not the default ones supplied with Windows 7.

[redranger]

How do I make sure they're up to date? They're the ones that came with Win7, used by Media Player and Media Center, so they're probably up to date. I might just need to use a different codec, but I like the look and quality of the default ones.

Yea, the video drivers are up to date, it's a fresh Windows install with the latest drivers from the mobo manufacturer. Probably not actually the latest ATI driver, but the last time I tried an integrated driver direct from ATI rather than the mobo manuf, it got quite messed up.

[redranger]

Ok, I tried the free MPV Decoder mentioned in the wiki, and VMR9 works now, but it doesn't look nearly as good as it does in Media Player. I also installed PowerDVD 7 and tried the Cyberlink codec, but it was as choppy as the MS codec with VMR9. It works fine within PowerDVD.

[Snooze]

Have you tried the ATI AVIVO codec http://ati.amd.com/technology/Avivo/downloads.html ? Check near the bottom of this page. http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/wi...%20Edition

[redranger]

Ok, just tried the ATI AVIVO codec, same thing. It works great in EVR, but very choppy in VMR9.

This thread is similar to my problem, but it doesn't look like it was resolved very well.
http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?t=40475

I used to have an ATI HD3450 in the HTPC (because the integrated 3200 didn't have S-Video). People seem to say that hardware acceleration with the 3200 is tough, so I may have to put the 3450 back in.

[athomas]

you might want to use the actual ATI video card drivers instead of the default Windows 7 video drivers. My default Windows 7 drivers worked but not well. I had to upgrade to the actual manufacturers drivers for my video to work the way it was supposed to. Also, what version of Windows 7 are you running? 32bit or 64bit?

[redranger]

They aren't the Windows 7 drivers, they're drivers from ASUS, the motherboard manufacturer. Last night I also tried newer drivers from ATI, they actually worked this time, but didn't fix the problem.

The more I search around, it seems like this is a common problem with the 780G chipset. I wish there was a different way to zoom that would work with EVR. Media Center does it, but I'd be losing a lot switching to that.