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Hardware Decoder Cards... and after effects.

C

Crimzon

Senior member
I have one of those Dell 4550 systems every bought, and today I thought I'd put an old Hollywood Sigma Designs Plus decoder card into it. I hook everything up, start up the computer, install the software and run the software. It works, but there are these funny vertical lines on the screen, and everything looks "dulled". I run the movie, but no sound comes out of my usb speakers, only the computer's headphone jack, and I'd assume the audio outputs on the soundcard and the decoder card. To get video, I had to take a connector and plug it into my video card, into the decoder card, and then I pluged my flat panel into the decoder card (according to instructions). Because of the loss in quality, I decided even if the decoder card will decode movies better, I didn't want the vertical lines, and "dulled" overall 2d image.

So I uninstalled the software for the decoder card, and disabled it. Now however, my PowerDvd won't work anymore. So I have two questions:

1. How do I get the regular software decoding to work again? (the program has been uninstalled and reinstalled, with reboots along the way.)

2. If I want to use the hardware decoder card, how do I get it to look... well normal. Without the vertical lines, and the "dulled" overall image?

Thanks.
 
I had that problem with a vertical line across my screen and the dull images also. I just removed the card because I didn't want to deal with it 😱 Does PowerDVD install correctly? What happens when you try to open the program? Have you tried reinstalling the video card drivers? Not sure how that would help but the decoder might have fooled around with your drivers. Hope this helps.
 
As far as I can tell, it installs just fine. When I start up the program itself, it starts up fine too. The problem comes when I put a dvd into the drive, and then start the program. It'll start up like normal, check the dvd drive, spin up, and then just close.
 
Well, I just reinstalled my video drivers, then reinstalled power dvd. Same problem. If there's a dvd (movie) in the drive, it'll load up, and the program will just close. If there's no drive, I can right click, to bring up the menu and the 2nd I goto configuration, then it'll close.
 
Before you make a drastic move like resort to software DVD decoding (Ugh) you should try to contact the manufacturer. If another user had this problem as well, then it is possible it is a common problem and they know how to fix it. I had a strange problem with DVD playback on my system where horizontal green lines would appear when I tried to fastforward or rewind certain movies. I e-mailed ATi about it (As the 8500 has some hardware DVD decoding capabilities) and their response cleared up my problem right away. All I had to do was enable video shadowing.
 
Heh, I know what you mean about resorting to software decoding, but I have a nice home theatre system anyway. The computer would basically be for anime, or late night sessions. I'm pretty sure *some* of the problem was with the cable connections between the two, so unless I buy a new connector, the lines and dullness will be there. But the unsettling part is the fact that after disabling the card, the software decoding won't work anymore.
 
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