Hello All I've recently built myself a new HTPC to use with my new Sony KDL-40X3500 full HD TV. My intention is to use the HTPC for DVD and BD disc playback. The system has been built but I'm having problems with BD disc playback. The playback is not smooth and after a few minutes of playback it usually hangs the player. While I did not do extensive research into building this HTPC, I believe it should be capable if BD playback based on the components used. It was built with only premium components and I have extensive PC and HTPC experience, though this is my first build designed for full HD. Here are the main components of the system: AMD Athlon X2 6400 Black Edition @ 3.2ghz 2GB Corsair TwinX DDR2 800mhz, 5-5-5-12-2T ASUS M2N-VM HDMI motherboard Zalman 460 watt power supply LG GGW-H20LRB Blu-ray burner (SATA) Hitachi TravelStar 160GB SATA 2.5" 5400rpm HD WinXP MCE 2005 SP2 with all updates installed except SP3 According to ASUS, the motherboard supports full HD playback (both BD and HD-DVD) using the integrated NVIDIA chipset, which is nForce 630a + GeForce 7050PV. I have my HDTV connected via HDMI cable and the basic system works fine. I'm running a desktop resolution at full HD, 1920x1080p. Playback software is Cyberlink PowerDVD provided with the LG BD drive, updated to the latest version 7.3. I've tried the last two NVIDIA WHQL display drivers, 169.21 and 175.16. I do not use beta drivers. I'm using the latest chipset drivers from NVIDIA and all other drivers are up-to-date. I currently have only 1 BD movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey. As I mentioned, playback is not smooth, like frames are being dropped and movement on-screen is best described as slightly jerky. It's not horribly jerky, but definitely not smooth as it should be. After a few minutes of playback the player usually freezes. I then have to kill PowerDVD from the task manager. A reboot is usually needed to start playback again. The CPU, while not the fastest currently available, is well above minimum specs that I have seen as required for BD playback. I suspect the integrated NVIDIA graphics is the problem, but I have no hard evidence to back that up. I have access to other more powerful graphics cards such as 9600GT, 8800GTS 640MB and even an 8800GTX, but all of those cards are installed in other working systems and I do not currently have the DVI to HDMI adapter needed to connect them to my HDTV. I'm reluctant to drop the money on an HDMI adapter or possibly a new graphics card unless I can confirm the integrated graphics is the problem. I bought this specific motherboard based on local availability and the supposedly built-in support for HD playback on the integrated graphics chip over an HDMI connection. Nothing is overclocked and I do not plan to do so on this system. Where should I start to look for the problem?
If you have a monitor that you can temporarily use with a DVI input, I would try using either of the GPUs you mentioned. If that isn't the problem I would think it was a software problem.
I can give it a try with one of the other cards, but as I understand it I won't be able to use DVI due to HDCP. I can use the usual DVI to VGA adapter and connect that to my TV since it has an analog VGA input. Then I have to hope that my one and only BD movie hasn't limited output to HDCP devices only which means it would not work over an analog VGA connection to my TV. I should also mention that I have no problems playing back DVD's with the current setup.
I made the following 2 changes today, neither of which made any improvement in the BD playback issue. 1. I noticed that the guaranteed timings of 5-5-5-12 for my Corsair DDR2 were specified at 1.9v, so I changed the default settings in the BIOS to 1.9v. 2. Installed XP SP3. I will pull a 9600GT card from another machine this week and try it out using a DVI-VGA adapter. However, there is one issue which I do not know how to solve, if it turns out that I need to permanently install a new graphics card. Since I will ultimately use an HDMI connection, how do I get sound to go through a PCIe graphics card? Does it go over the PCIe bus to the card or is there a cable or other internal connection needed to get the sound to pass through an HDMI connection on the graphics card?
Does any of your other nVidia cards have component out? They usually have some kind of din connector on back. You use the included cable that breaks out to YPbPr. That would be the way to go, not VGA. I wouldn't worry about HDCP for now. You could also try just bumping down the resolution. First even try just going 1080i. If you see no improvement there try running at 720p when watching the Blu-ray. You don't route sound through the DVI port of a video card. You just need to run an analog audio cable from the green line out of your computer to input 5 which is also an HDMI input.
You're right, I won't route sound over DVI but I will over HDMI. Let me be clear, I don't see anything other than HDMI as a long term solution thanks to HDCP. If I use an analog connection, either VGA or component, then I run the risk of buying a BD movie in the future which doesn't allow playback except over an HDCP encrypted HDMI connection. Do you think the store will let me return a movie I've bought when I tell them it won't play back because the movie won't allow output over analog? I don't think so. I also intend to route the HDMI through a home theater receiver and I'm not about to go with analog connections and the cable jungle that comes with it. I will run a single HDMI cable from my HTPC to an HDMI receiver and then into my HDTV via a second HDMI cable. I don't remember any of my NVIDIA cards coming with a component breakout cable. I will try a VGA connection and also dropping the resolution of my current setup in the next few days.
Just a short update, I have identified the problem or at least found a solution. I tried my 9600GT card using a DVI-VGA adapter and VGA cable to my HDTV, and BD playback is fine in that configuration. So it seems this motherboard feature of "HD playback" is vastly overpromised. Unfortunately I can't leave the 9600GT in my HTPC so I have to find a new card, something that has an HDMI connector built onto the card. Back to one of my earlier posts, how will I get audio from the onboard audio chipset to pass-thru a PCIe video card so that it will go through the HDMI cable and into my HDTV? Does the audio go over the PCIe bus "automagically" or do I need to connect some special HDMI audio cable from the motherboard to the video card?
I reckon your problem all along was the on board graphics, but to test this you could have dropped the res down to 720P which should have improved playback. Also, your test with the PCI-E card was not fully conclusive since without a HDCP compliant connection the software player will drop the res down to SD. Hence you might as well be watching a DVD. I can understand the HDMI requirement and there are cards with HDMI but I can only imagine that there is an audio cable from M/board to G/fix card to gain didgtal audio. Alternatively you could still go with DVI because DVI can deliver HDCP if the G/Fix card is HDCP compliant and use a sound card with a S/PDIF output, but be careful, some of those only output stereo. I use DVI to my LCD and the Motherboard has a S/PDIF output. I can select the S/PDIF output in Power DVD and I get Uncompressed digital audio to my surround amp via Co-axial connection.
Hi, first off i am not nearly or remotely experienced as you when it comes to HTPC building but i've built a few pc's and my next one is going to be like yours a HTPC, hopefully with a combo HD-DVD Blu-Ray drive. I wanted you to know about some of the new motherboards built specically for HD play back, the one i'm intending to use, according to a well known magazine review, has all the necessary components onboard for smooth play-back of Blu-Ray dvd's, the GIGABYTE GA-MA78GM-S2H based on AMD'S new chipset. It has HDMI and S/PDIF outputs, it is claimed it has the fastest onboard graphics processor around, called the Radeon HD 3200 and is based on the same design as ATI's HD 3850 and 3870 graphics cards. The HD 3200 can encode H.264 video, has the mentioned HDMI, DVI and VGA outputs and has no fans, apparrently when installed with only a Athlon 64 X2 3600+ processor it played Blu-Ray movies perfectly at 1,920x1,080 res and used around 45% of the processor's power. This and the nearly silent running would make this a perfect budget HTCP motherboard and with an even better processor and the correct software, which is one of the biggest reason for problems regarding play back, i hope this will be my answer to many of the problems associated with HD play back. I have heard many people who use ASUS motherboards having problems with installed graphics cards but this is going of topic, it seems it's not only the best graphics cards that support HD play back that are the best choice but a card dedicated solely for HD and not games as well. I hope you can help me if i to have the same trouble when i finally get around to my build, i'm currently looking for the extra hardware to go with the Gigabyte motherboard as i'm on a budget and i was looking for a good case, preferably a small form factor one that can stand upright and flat, not to mention the best software to use.
