Integrated ATI Radeon HD3200 graphics (DirectX10) - Blu-ray support

[Salazar]

Hi guys,

I need a little help with my pc home theatre setup. I've just completed a new build (my first) this weekend -

Gigabyte GA-MA78G-DS3H AMD 780G (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5600+ 2.80GHz
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache
OCZ 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK)
LG GGC-H20L Blu-Ray Reader & HD-DVD ROM Serial ATA Drive
500W PSU and ThermalTake M9 VI1000BWS midtower case from previous system.

I've got my Acer P223W 22'' LCD hooked up through VGA (monitor 1) and a 40'' Samsung LCD connected via DVI to HDMI (monitor 2).

I did a lot of research fro this setup (on a budget) and was finally able to ditch my slow 2004 single core 2.0GHZ AMD setup.

I had no real trouble getting the thing up and running. Where I've run into a problem is trying to get a Blu-ray playing! Im using the motherboard on board graphics (I'm not a gamer... yet!) and the Integrated ATI Radeon HD3200 graphics (DirectX10) has Integrated HDMI/ DVI interface with HDCP and UVD. So it should support the playing of a blu-ray, when putting the disc in the drive PowerDVD 8 Ultra appears to recognize the disc says 'loading' and then both my screens go black (even vertical stripes a couple of times). Nothing happens and I have to reset the pc. The drive is working properley as a I copied and burnt a dvd in it yesterday.

There are various options within the graphics interface, clone mode and extend my desktop etc. none of the changes I've made seem to be sloving the problem. I've had a look in the BIOS and selected what appear to be the relevant options.

I can only assume this some issue with the graphics set up? Any advice please?

Thanks

[Jay]

have you tried with just your TV plugged into monitor 1?

[Salazar]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. Yes I've now disconnected the vga 22'' monitor and I'm just running it on the Samsung 40''. Pc working no problem and the onboard graphics is finding just the one monitor.

I've just put a normal dvd in and this makes the system crash also! It got futher along the process than blu-ray though, I had the powerdvd media controls up on the screen during the freeze up and then had to reset pc.

What would be the best screen res settings for play back? Samsung is 720p 1366x768. Any other thoughts?

Thanks

[Jay]

do you have any 3rd party codecs installed?

This place really needs some ATi mods or just anyone to look after it! I know Agent does the rounds but I am sure he has enough on his plate than to have to look after ATi's forum as well.

[Salazar]

Hi Jay,

No 3rd party codecs installled. I was wondering last night if maybe i need some sort of driver for the Blu-ray drive? It came as OEM with no packaging or software, I just plugged it in and it worked. Perhaps for the more advanced functions, such as blu-ray playback, I need some other driver or codecs?

Im new to the technical side of pcs. Im learning fast but it seems the knid of issue I'm having could be caused by a no. of things. Where to start?

Thanks

[eden188]

Salazar,

**Note! Only had this problem in Vista, so unless you have Vista, then the following won't be any use to you. **

I'm not sure whether this is totally related to your problem, but it really sound quite similar to the problem I had a while back with my ATI 3850 and Vista 64.

If you have Vista, then follow the instruction below and see if its any help:

i. Click on the Start (or whatever the button is), then type in 'System Configuration' (without quotes in the search box.
ii. You will be given the System Configuration dialogue box. Select the Boot tab and click on the Advance button.
iii. Another dialogue box should appear, now tick the box for the number of processors and select 2 in the drop down box. Also tick the memory check box and leave the value as 0.
iv. Now click on OK until you are out of both dialogue boxes and Vista will ask you to reboot.

Have a go and place your BD or DVD and see if you have further problem!!

BTW, I'm about upgrade my HTPC and have chosen the same motherboard, so any comments about this would be appreciated!

Cheers!

[Salazar]

Hi Eden,

Thanks for your input.

I finally got the whole issue sorted by upgrading the motherboard BIOS from v.F2 to v.F4. And updating all the Gigabyte motherboard (graphics,audio etc.) drivers from their website. I then updated the Blu-ray drives driver from v1.2 to the very latest v1.03.

Then I actually got it working, and got a blu-ray to play on my LCD TV! but only on the 40'' LCD

Now comes my two big issues and they are hardware issues :-

1) My Acer monitor is VGA and therefore of course is not HDCP compliant. Gutted, so I've ebayed it (at only a £28 loss, so not too bad) and bought a monitor with DVI HDCP compliant connection.

ACER P243Wd 24" wide format TFT Screen (2 ms) - By far the best monitor for the money!

2) So now then you'd assume I'm all good to go.... well no. As it turns out on the Gigabyte GA-MA78G-DS3H motherboard you can only use either DVI or HDMI at one time (I was going to have one monitor hooked up to the DVI and one with a DVI-HDMI adapter hooked up to the HDMI). As these are the 2 digital connections on the I/O at the rear you would need one for each monitor so that you are running 2 digital connections both with HDCP. This as I said is not possible to use both at the same time. So I have now had to purchase a dual DVI output graphics card.

Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 3650 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express)
Fully Blu-ray and HD-DVD compliant.

www.lambda-tek.com - £40.31 inc.VAT (cheaper than Overclockers and delivered next day, which was today!)

Make sure you look into Dual Video decoding capabilities for H.264, Mpeg-2 and VC-1, also get Cyberlink Blu-ray disc advisor which scans your system for blu-ray compatiblity.


I'm now at the stage where Ive got the set up working with desktop extended onto second monitor (my 40'' LCD), but when I drag the powerdvd window over to the second monitor the video image wont display in the powerdvd window, drag it back to monitor one and there it does display the video! A liitle niggle I'm going toi have to work out tonight.

So my suggestion to you is maybe not to go for this motherboard. One of the reasons I bought it was to save money by using its onboard graphics for my HTPC setup. Obviously now Ive had to buy a graphics card anyway, so my initial chice for motherboard may have been different had I know its limitations with the DVI-HDMI sockets on its I/O using the same channel.

Hope all this helps, let me know how you get on, fellow HTPC builder!

[Salazar]

Oh yeah, also I'm only running Windows XP

[eden188]

Thanks for the advice Salazar.

I was aware about the 'only 1 connection to HDMI/DVI' issue, this isn't a problem for me as I would connect the HDMI to the AV amp (which also connects to TV) and the D-Sub to the TV. This seems pointless, but I like the option of using the D-Sub for normal use and HDMI for movie experience.

Good points on the H.264, Mpeg-2 capabilities. I have checked on the ATI website, this seems to be handled by the Avivo HD feature (http://ati.amd.com/technology/Avivo/index.html), so that should be OK for me.

I'll probably continue with the purchase of this motherboard, unless the 790GX comes out in time, worst scenario would be to buy a proper GPU card.

Hopefully, I have my kit soon and I'll keep you posted. Have fun with your gear!!

[Salazar]

Hi Eden,

Cool, have fun building your setup!

Let me know how you get on, I'll be eager to hear what setup you end up with and how it performs.

My system is now up and running in all its glory! Love it. So if and when you run into any probs, just ask, I may well have come across those same issues as well.

Cheers

[eden188]

Cheers Salazar!

[baronsamadi]

I got a ATI Radeon X1250 on a asus motherboard with blue ray support and it works pretty good.

[eden188]

Thanks for that Baronsamadi.

It's good to know that a predessor GPU could handle HD material as well, that pretty much confirms the IGP on the mobo should handle what I need.

[Ksmgangsta]

hmm, thnx this topic helped me

[Salazar]

Hey Eden,

How's the HTPC build coming along?

Mine's still going strong although some audio sync issues here and there!

[eden188]

Hi Salazar,

Still no go yet. I am waiting for the 790GX mobos, should be out end of this month. Not that I really need it as the 780G should be sufficient for HD playback. Depending on the pricing (I think its roughly about £40 difference).

What is your main HD material do you play? HD DVD or Blu Ray? Have you used AnyDVD HD before? My colleague recently built his HTPC and had a lot of issues with HDCP/HDMI, he said installing this resolved a lot of his issue, probably not the lip synch issue you have.

www.slysoft.com

Will keep you posted once the PC is built!!