Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (
More info?)
Arthur Hagen wrote:
>> What software are You using? I have no problem watching DVDs at
>> 1680x1050 with my PNY Verto GF6600GT PCIe...
>
> Video overlays should be independent of the software used.
> If the software does it for you, bypassing the drivers, that's
> cheating.
Yes, _should_. However, reality is different. I for example have no problems
with PowerDVD while WinDVD sometimes gives me artifacts...
> So the answer is really "any program without special nVidia support".
> This includes Pinnacle Studio 8 and PCTV Vision, BeyondTV 3,
> Intervideo WinDVD Recorder, Bink/Smacker player, and a bunch of games
> (where cut-screens don't appear on the second monitor at all, even
> when an overlay is used).
Fine. But if You re-read my postings You might notice that I was talking
about DVD playback as was the OP. Not about watching TV or any video
players...
>> Maybe You should just choose a different card, or check Your
>> setup/configuration...
>
> I tried an ATI X800 pro first. That was much worse -- it can't do
> overlays to a second monitor at all unless you use clone mode.
>
> As for configuration, I'm uncertain what to check for. It's not like
> there's a lot of options in the nVidia drivers for overlays when
> running W2k. There are some things I am sure are just plain wrong
> with the driver setup, though, like:
>
> - Having no less than *eight* monitors show up in the device manager
> when I really have two. If I remove any of them, they reappear if
> doing a hardware scan. I have four "Default Monitor (winseset)", two
> Envision monitors and two Mitsubishi Diamond Pro monitors listed,
> when in reality I have one Envision and one Diamond Pro. No matter
> what I try, the extra non-existing monitors reappear in the device
> manager as long as the GT6800 card is installed.
Can't confirm that. One of my friend is running W2k because of paranoia on
his P4 with 6600GT PCIe (with one 19" TFT and an Liyama 17" crt), and he
doesn't have this problem...
> - Whenever I select the "GeForce 6800 GT" tab in the display
> properties advanced settings, the primary monitor degausses and goes
> black, and I have to turn the monitor off and on again to get the
> display back. Same when I OK out of the display properties.
Also this doesn't happen here...
> - DDC/CI doesn't work. I refuse to believe that a $400 card doesn't
> support this, and think it might be related to the above mentioned
> confusion with number of monitors.
Again, no problems here...
This definitely isn't a problem of the Nvidia W2k driver (which btw. is the
same like the XP driver). Your system really screams for help. I don't know
what hardware You have, and remote diags often are difficult, but all I can
say is that the Nvidia drivers work flawlessly under W2k as they do under
XP...
You said You had an X800 first. It's possible that there are remainings of
the ATI Catalyst driver that hasn't been uninstalled properly...
>>> Provided you use Windows XP. If you use Windows 2000 (which has
>>> some advantages over XP, where XP has been crippled)
>>
>> And what advantages should that be?
>
> There's at least a few places where XP has been deliberately crippled:
>
> - Multiple colour profiles per monitor.
I can add as many colour profiles to my monitors as I want on my XP Pro
machine...
> - For networking, having more than 10 half-open connections (which
> has been crippled even for XP Pro with SP2).
With SP2 MS lowered the TcpNumConnections value to prevent DDoS and flooding
attacks. The options were already there in WinXP Pre-SP2 and even W2k, but
not activated. If You use XP SP2 You can raise the number of connections by
hand. XP before SP2 behaves exactly the same like W2k.
> - Being able to "Remove Hardware", so you can revert to a previous
> version of a driver if the latest one gives you problems, even when
> there's no specific uninstaller.
That works exactly the same in XP than in W2k...
>> That's BS. The GF6600GT works as well with video in W2k as it does in
>> WinXP...
>
> Nope. Look at nVidia's site:
>
http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/dvd_decoder_sysreqs.html
These are the requirements for Nvidias DVD Player software(!). This has
nothing to do with the video capabilities of the GF6600 gfx cards which _do_
work fine under W2k...
> Or this review from Anand:
>
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2305
Anandtech is unreachable atm. Don't know why...
> In short, thne nVidia hardware decoder isn't available for W2k (and
> neither is WMP 10 which you need to take full advantage of all the
> options).
No. You need WMP10 for WMV-HD and for using the Nvidia DVD Decoder. You
don't need it if You want to use the DVD decoding features of the Geforce.
And that's all the OP wants...
> I'd love to, but I don't know what to check or how to fix what's
> wrong, beyond what I've already tried. Do you have any specific
> suggestions? ´
I'd check if there are any remainings of the ATI drivers on Your computer
which should be removed. If You use a board with non-intel chipset get the
latest mainboard drivers from the chipset manufacturer website. Always use
the drivers from the chipset manufacturer and not from the mobo/gfx card
manufacturer site as the latter often are old.
Benjamin