Blu-ray setup on home theatre pc...help!?

[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 (ATI Catalyst), 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? Its driving me a bit mental now!

Posted this in ATi-multimedia.care@HEXUS as well, may get some customer care help!?

Thanks

[Mossy]

Have you tried the Samsung Screen on its own?

[crazyfool]

yeh try either screen on its own... otherwise try different outputs eg dvi, vga, hdmi etc...

[Salazar]

Hi Paul,

Thanks very much for your reply.

I havent tired just the Samsung on its own yet. Its on my list so to speak, as I was wondering if my lcd monitor would be able to support the HD signal but its res is set at 1680x1050 so it should be able to cope. Anyway I'll need them both to operate at the same time so I can use the system properly, I'd hate to have to unplug my Acer vga monitor everytime I wanted to watch a blu-ray. I'll try the Samsung on its own when I'm home later this eve, I'll have to set the Onboard VGA to Clone mode to do this.

Do you think the Acer may not be HDCP compliant?

Thanks

[Mossy]

your using Analogue so I presume its not HDCP compliant. Plus the 40" and a second monitor does not sound like the onboard VGA likes it. I would have an indepandant card with atleast 512MB of memory if I was you.

i would also purchase one of these cables

http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=659845

[Salazar]

Thanks crazyfool (liking the name!), I'll try switching between a few connections.

I'm using my DVI out to a HDMI input on the Samsung. Its a DVI-D, do you think this would make a difference?

Rear connections are -

1 x PS/2 keyboard port
1 x PS/2 mouse port
1 x D-Sub port
1 x DVI-D port (Note 5)
1 x HDMI port
1 x optical S/PDIF Out connector
1 x IEEE 1394a port
4 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports
1 x RJ-45 port
6 x audio jacks (Center/Subwoofer Speaker Out/Rear Speaker Out/Side Speaker Out/Line In/Line Out/Microphone)

(Note 5) The DVI-D port does not support D-Sub connection by adapter.

[Salazar]

Thanks Paul.

The cable looks good, I'll need a longer on though. Not too expensive either

I only bought the Acer monitor a little while ago and didn't think not having the DVI input would be much of an issue. Now it seems after deciding to build a new sytem with Blu-ray capability, I may have made an error, considering the same model Acer P223W with DVI was only £20 more! and is HDCP compliant.

[Mossy]

You still can use the 40" though let me know how you get on.

[Salazar]

Hi Paul,

I've now disconnected the vga 22'' Acer 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