HTPC wont play movies

[pvbj]

Hello all,
I put together an HTPC system comprized of P4, 2.4 GH w/512 MB RAM, and 80 GB hard drive I had lying around. I purchased a cool/quiet aluminum HTPC case with 450w PS, an AGP, XFX 6800XT 256 MB video card, an AuzenTech HDA X-Plosion 7.1 DTS Connect sound card and an LG GSA-H10L DVD ROM burner.

Got the timmings/reolution set to fit my JVC 52" HDILA perfectly with no overscan.
Plays games like a champ; Doom and Quake look awesome with pretty high settings.

The problem is no matter what i do it just wont play a movie.

When trying to read a DVD the system resources go to 100%, slows way down, and the only way to get it back is to end task and that can take quite a few minutes just to end task it's so slow .

Ive loaded TheaterTek, Zoom player, Nero, Power DVD, set IDE controllers to DMA, upgraded win 2k to service pack 4, Explorer to 6.0, Direct X 9.0, updated DVD firmware, tried another DVD drive.....

Iv'e dumped the hole system twice and reformatted the system from scatch with just the minimum loaded.

Zoom player has a feature that tells you what (DVD Decoder) is missing, you klick on it and it takes you a place to down load it, I did all that. With No luck.

If nothing else I feel better now that I got all this off my chest but I t sure would be cool if I could play DVD movies.

Any ideas anyone?
Thanks

[Baldrick]

Try VLC, it has builtin codecs. Same problem?

[edDV]

6800xt 256 MB video card ...

How are you feeding the computer monitor and/or HDTV?

If it is a TV (YPbPr, S-Video, etc.) read the ATI instructions on setting "Theater Mode".

Edit OOps: I was dyslexic and read 6800XT as 9800XT.
You need to read the overlay instructions from NVidia which can be tricky in dual monitor mode.

[pvbj]

The 6800xt has dual DVI and one what they call TV out: S-vid

I'm using the DVI.

[edDV]

The 6800xt has dual DVI and one what they call TV out: S-vid

I'm using the DVI.

It's all about getting overlay set correctly.

[Baldrick]

But overlay problems doesn't usually cause the "system resources go to 100%" and doesn't respond.

tried VLC?
does video from other sources than your dvd work?

[edDV]

But overlay problems doesn't usually cause the "system resources go to 100%" and doesn't respond.

tried VLC?
does video from other sources than your dvd work?

Good point. VLC is a self contained software solution. PowerDVD should include a MPeg2 decoder as well but pvbj may not have loaded it. Depends whether it was on the DVD-Rom install CD or was a on the CD that came with the retail version of PowerDVD.

A black window indicates a display card overlay issue. High CPU % indicates hardware MPeg2 decode assist may not be selected in the decoder preferences.

[pvbj]

And.......What..........exactly does that mean?

For what it's worth, I have taken it off the tv and currently have it connected to a 19" VGA monito via VGA/DVI adaptor.

[Baldrick]

tried play dvds with VLC ?
does video from other sources than your dvd work?

[edDV]

And.......What..........exactly does that mean?

For what it's worth, I have taken it off the tv and currently have it connected to a 19" VGA monito via VGA/DVI adaptor.

It means download and install this and try to play your Mpeg file.
https://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=VLC_media_player
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

Let us know if it plays on the computer or HDTV monitor.

[pvbj]

I have not tried VLC,but will.
How is it different than what I am doing now.

[pvbj]

Actualy thats another weirdness.
Zoom Player (if you are familiar) has the capability of selecting what ever video decoder audio decoder installed in the system but the only ones that show for the most part, are FFDshow ones, not that htey work. Ive loaded DScaler also.

Needless to say I'm not sure whats going on. I just keep loading and dumping stuff in an effort to get something that works.

[edDV]

Since VLC is self contained, it helps separate potential decoder/player issues from video card setting issues.

Are you sure you have a MPeg2 decoder installed and functional? The VLC test will help figure that out.

[pvbj]

I am not sure of much edDV, but I down loaded VLC and will give it a go when I get home.
Is there anything I need to do prior to launching VLC? like remove programs or whatever?

When I installed FFDshow I checked the box for MPeg2.
Should I only enable MPeg2 type decoders?
Could I be enabling to many?

[pvbj]

Well I installed VLC and it slows the system down quite a bit but if I wait long enough I get some sound.

Havent found VLC test you mentioned yet, where might I find such a thing.

Something I forgot to say is the dvd reads are real low when benchmarked like .78 MB/s

[pvbj]

Does anyone think a bad IDE cable could cause these sort of symptoms

[edDV]

The test is whether the MPeg2 (or other) files play on a computer monitor and/or on your HDTV.

Slow playback with a P4 2.4GHz indicates other computer issues. Make sure hardare acceleration is selected in the VLC preferences.

[pvbj]

Yes thank you edDV,
A CD of a video from my digital camera, AVI I believe, plays on Windows Media player okay but I can't play the same video in VLC.

I looked in preferences and could not locate hardware acceleration tried checking advanced option still cant find it.

Sorry edDV, Please bare with me.
Thanks

[edDV]

Did MPeg2 from a DVD play? That was the test.

Digital camera video is likely to be MJPEG, Quicktime or MPeg4.
MJPEG should play in VLC.

I looked in preferences and could not locate hardware acceleration tried checking advanced option still cant find it.

Sorry, i was thinking of a different player. Use default hardware settings (found under DirectX-advanced). No need to make changes.

[pvbj]

No MPeg2 did not, just got a black screen and had to end task.
Is there a way to verify the presents of MPeg2 decoder?
Do you think it could be hardware related? MOBO bios upgrade, or a jumper or something.

I removed all related programs including VLC and reinstalled VLC just incase.

Same thing.

Not sure why the video camera video would'nt play in VLC. It's on a CD not a DVD disk, i selected open disk and changed from DVD to VCD still no luck. It plays great on MP.

Does MP play MPeg2?

[pvbj]

Last night I noticed a problem with a usb contoller in Device Manager.
Tried searching for a driver a few times with luck so went on the ASRock sight and found a driver update in addition to the USB driver thy had an Adio, INF, and LAN driver, so I went ahead and updated them all.

Whalla movies work!!!
Both VLC and Zoom player work great.

Not sure if it was getting rid of the USB conflict/problem or one of the other updates but I'm as happy as a clam.

thanks for all you help.
Next is HDTV tuner card