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Good desktop, dark video

 
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AnalogRocks
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Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 26690
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

TV/Projector: Sony 1252Q, AMPRO 4000G


PostLink    Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 8:01 am    Post subject: Good desktop, dark video Reply with quote


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Ok here's another one for you propeller heads to help me with.

I use Power DVD Ultra full edition and VLC media player to do most of my watching on the HTPC.

I've noticed if I watch a movie the video is a little dark. I curently using a Sony G520P 21" CRT monitor for testing this PC. I run the brightness at 32 for the desktop but have to boost that to 48 to see the video. This makes the desktop grey not black.
I have the LG HD-DVD/ Bluray combo drive installed to USB2.

Now I generally run my desktop at 1152 x 864 and bump it up to 1080P for the highdef movies. Now, what I'm getting is after the resolution change, I get a super dark video playback with a normal desktop brightness. The only fix I have found so far was a reboot.

System Specks:
AMD 4400 X2, 4GB ram, Nvidia 8600 GTS 256mb, WinXP Pro SP2.
Power DVD Ultra-download( not the bundled version that came with the drive )
AnyDVD-HD

Any ideas guys?

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josh31p




Joined: 16 Jul 2007
Posts: 41
Location: UK


PostLink    Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 8:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have this problem with my old Nvidia card, I think Nvidea enable you to adjust JUST the video setting eg..brightness etc. As far as I remeber in the nvidea control panel there is video tab.
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nuttall_chris




Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 832
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada


PostLink    Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 1:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

There is a registry tweak required for PowerDVD that will address this issue.

Search your registry for COLORSPACE_OPTION and set the value to 1.

Chris.
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lyd




Joined: 15 Sep 2007
Posts: 390
Location: Lake Mills, Wi


PostLink    Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 11:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

nuttall_chris wrote:
There is a registry tweak required for PowerDVD that will address this issue.

Search your registry for COLORSPACE_OPTION and set the value to 1.

Chris.


He's right! Wink As I said in the other thread, everything is as it should be now.

BTW, the key is under :

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\CyberLink\PowerDVD\HDDVD

Thanks again, nuttall_chris, you're my hero!

lyd
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AnalogRocks
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Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 26690
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

TV/Projector: Sony 1252Q, AMPRO 4000G


PostLink    Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 11:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I did that change, it was set to value of 3 previously. No change. If I close a video and open another or change desktop resolutions I end up with a dark video window.

That's enough for now. it's 6:24 and time for bed.

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lyd




Joined: 15 Sep 2007
Posts: 390
Location: Lake Mills, Wi


PostLink    Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 1:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

AnalogRocks wrote:
If I close a video and open another or change desktop resolutions I end up with a dark video window.

Oh... I must have misunderstood you earlier. That sounds like a while other problem, some kind of glitch with overlay. Have you tried different drivers?

lyd
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AnalogRocks
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Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 26690
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

TV/Projector: Sony 1252Q, AMPRO 4000G


PostLink    Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 9:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nope not yet. I hesitate to update drivers sometimes. But the bad experiances I've had have been ATi not Nvidia sho I guess I'll try it.
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lyd




Joined: 15 Sep 2007
Posts: 390
Location: Lake Mills, Wi


PostLink    Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 9:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

AnalogRocks wrote:
Nope not yet. I hesitate to update drivers sometimes. But the bad experiances I've had have been ATi not Nvidia sho I guess I'll try it.


Oh, expect bad experiences. That's the joy of the Microsoft driver architecture.

When you change drivers, don't just do an update. Uninstall the current driver, boot into safe mode, run something like Driver Cleaner Pro to delete everything that didn't get uninstalled, boot back into normal XP, cancel the new hardware wizard when it detects your GPU, then run the exe for the driver install.

Pain in the ass, but I have not had any of the usual dll hell type nightmares since adopting that as standard procedure, and I was changing around drivers quite a bit when I first built this box and was looking for the best tweaked drivers to use for a couple specific games.

lyd
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Elaine Benes




Joined: 25 Apr 2006
Posts: 1416



PostLink    Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2008 7:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It sounds to me like you are experiencing expanded video levels.

I *think* PowerDVD expands video levels when playing back HD DVD or BD discs. When it does this, the video looks darker than it should, and you lose the ability to display blacker than black and whiter than white video information if your display is set up to computer black levels.

I'm just now trying to get an understanding of this whole thing though, and its not something that can be fixed, as far as I can tell...

If its an Nvidia card, I had noticed that the Nvidia control panels RGB Gamma adjustment worked only on the image in the video window of PowerDVD. In the Video and Television section of the full Nvidia control panel slide the RGB Gamma sliders over while you have a video window until it is similar to your desktop...maybe...
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nuttall_chris




Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 832
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada


PostLink    Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2008 1:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Elaine Benes wrote:
It sounds to me like you are experiencing expanded video levels.

I *think* PowerDVD expands video levels when playing back HD DVD or BD discs. When it does this, the video looks darker than it should, and you lose the ability to display blacker than black and whiter than white video information if your display is set up to computer black levels.


The registry tweak I suggested earlier in this thread fixes the problem of expanded video levels.

Chris.
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AnalogRocks
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Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 26690
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

TV/Projector: Sony 1252Q, AMPRO 4000G


PostLink    Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2008 3:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Elaine Benes wrote:
It sounds to me like you are experiencing expanded video levels.

I *think* PowerDVD expands video levels when playing back HD DVD or BD discs. When it does this, the video looks darker than it should, and you lose the ability to display blacker than black and whiter than white video information if your display is set up to computer black levels.

I'm just now trying to get an understanding of this whole thing though, and its not something that can be fixed, as far as I can tell...

If its an Nvidia card, I had noticed that the Nvidia control panels RGB Gamma adjustment worked only on the image in the video window of PowerDVD. In the Video and Television section of the full Nvidia control panel slide the RGB Gamma sliders over while you have a video window until it is similar to your desktop...maybe...


I did all the gama tweaks in the Nvidia control panel. The video looks good. It's aboot the same brightnes as the desktop. I was even able to swap movies three times while demoing it and they played back normally. The 4th caused a black screen and a computer hang. Had to reboot. So there's something not right there.

Seem's it got pissed off when I swaped the VGA cable from the Sony G520P monitor over to the input on the Sony 1271 switcher. Make's me wonder if PowerDVD envoked some form of DRM when it saw the G520P disconnect. Or is it the Nvidia card getting pissed off at having the monitor disconected?

FWIW the only way I could get it to play nice with the Sony switcher was to plug the VGA into the switcher and reboot the computer. Any time I tried to start on the monitor and swap off to the switcher it would go black screen on me. And no it wasn't the screen saver Wink

I'll update the driver this week and see where it goes from there.

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