New nVidia Beta 84.12 Driver enables H.264 decoding and PureVideo

fliguy84

Senior member
Jan 31, 2005
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Release Highlights:

* Adds support for GeForce 7300 GS and GeForce 7300 LE GPUs.
* New NVIDIA PureVideo features and enhancements. Please visit the NVIDIA PureVideo website for more information on PureVideo technology and system requirements.
o Support for high definition H.264 hardware decode acceleration on GeForce 6 and 7 series GPUs.
o Support for high definition MPEG-2 inverse telecine.
o Support for high definition MPEG-2 spatial temporal de-interlacing.
* Adds mixed vendor support for NVIDIA SLI.
* TV-Out/HD-out support for NVIDIA SLI.
* Added support for VSync on Direct3D games when running NVIDIA SLI.
* Microsoft® DirectX® 9.0c and OpenGL® 2.0 support
* For a full list of fixed and known issues please view the Release Notes.

Changes:

? Windows XP, GeForce 7800 GTX: Dell 30" panel DVI link hot plug
does not work properly.
? Windows XP: Corel Paint Shop Pro X does not work on dual-core
processors.
? GeForce 7 Series, GeForce 6 Series: Resolutions higher than 1280x800
are unavailable on the Dell 3007WFP panel with dual-link DVI GPUs.
? GeForce 7 Series, GeForce 6 Series: Serious Sam 2 freezes on Dual
Core CPUs.
? GeForce 7800 GTX/GT 512: 4x AA does not work at 2560x1600 on the
Apple 30" Cinema display.
? GeForce 7800 GTX/GT: Reflective surfaces in Max Payne 2 are
unaffected by light sources.
? GeForce 7 Series, GeForce 6800: The NVIDIA Dawn Ultra demo runs
slowly on AGP systems.
? GeForce 7 Series: Global profile options are changed when changing
individual application profiles.
? GeForce 7 Series: There is no default color-correction option available
in the application profiles.
By design, the default setting for color profiles is ?Not A
? GeForce 6800, Windows XP: Star Wars Knight of the Old Republic 1
and 2 stutter badly with dual core CPUs.
? GeForce 6600, Windows XP Media Center Edition: Component out
options are not available in the NVIDIA TV Device Settings page.
This issue is resolved with BIOS version 5.43.02.89 or higher. Please contact
your OEM or graphics card manufacturer to receive this BIOS.
? GeForce 6600: ?Run a DLL Error? occurs when changing resolutions
in nView Horizontal Span mode.
? GeForce FX 5950 Ultra: Dungeon Siege 2 intermittently hangs with a
black screen.
? Windows XP, GeForce FX 5900/5950: Graphics corruption occurs
with Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth 2.

SLI

? GeForce 7 Series, GeForce 6 Series, SLI: Resolutions higher than
1280x800 are unavailable on the Dell 3007WFP panel with dual-link
DVI GPUs.
? GeForce 7800 GTX/GT, SLI: Cars and various objects do not render
properly in TOCA Race Driver 2 with any level antialiasing enabled.
? GeForce 7800 GTX/GT: Flickering occurs in the water in Serious Sam
2.
? GeForce 7800 GTX/GT, SLI: There is corruption when running
Ground Control 2 with SLI enabled.
? GeForce 6800, Windows XP, SLI: There is a large performance drop in
Far Cry when 8x SLI antialiasing is enabled, compared to 4x
antialiasing.
? GeForce 6600 (all models except GeForce 6600 VE), SLI: RUNDLL
error occurs when enabling SLI without the SLI connector.

More details here:

http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_downloads_winxp_2k_32bit_84.12.html
 

DAPUNISHER

Super Moderator CPU Forum Mod and Elite Member
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Thanks! Downloading now. I'll post up how it does with the KingKong 1080 trailer
 
Mar 19, 2003
18,289
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Wow! Never thought we'd see this, especially for 6-series cards. Downloading now to test it out. :D

Edit: Not sure if I'm doing something wrong...my h.264 files still play using a different decoder, and when I unregister that other decoder, the video doesn't play back at all. I have the PureVideo decoder installed and it still plays (MPEG2) transport streams fine...:confused:
 

DAPUNISHER

Super Moderator CPU Forum Mod and Elite Member
Super Moderator
Aug 22, 2001
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I'm using ShowTime v.2.0.1.4 and it isn't getting any help from the PCIe 6800GS GPU, must need the newest, or a yet released version? It doesn't even play the whole KK 1080 trailer smoothly, has a couple of hitches, and the CPU load is very unbalanced between cores. Tried the GPU core speed between 400 and 525 to see if it would have any effect, since nV stated the decode capability was directly tied to GPU core speed, but no change.

Depending on the decoder and player I use, I get drastically varing results too. Zoomplayer has the absolute best playback subjectively speaking, and nearly maxes both core out@2.5ghz. ShowTime, MP classic, and VLC all hitch or have sections that look like slow-mo. I tried ffdshow, elecard, and nero decoders in graphedit too just for giggles, all played it that way, but none as well as QT7 and ZP do.
 

xtknight

Elite Member
Oct 15, 2004
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Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER
Originally posted by: xtknight
Having some weird problems with these drivers. Parts of games (Q3+UT2k4) seem to be flickering with a black flash in the middle of the screen (easily noticeable on menu). :confused:
Not good, I'll fire up Q4 and CoD2 when I get back, and see if there are any issues with those.

Disregard that, it was PEG link in BIOS...
 

Astonm

Junior Member
Jan 16, 2006
19
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This looks good, but one quick question, can i use this properly with MCE 05?, thanks!
 

Gstanfor

Banned
Oct 19, 1999
3,307
0
0
So... where's Creig and the other FanATic FUD peddlers who flamed me and claimed NV40 was broken now? ...

Originally posted by: IeraseU
Yes ATI has something very similar for it's cards.
Not for r42x it doesn't - only for r52x. r42x was NV40's direct competition and it can't do H.264 despite the fanatics flaming nVidia over purevideo virtually since NV40 was released...
 

Qbah

Diamond Member
Oct 18, 2005
3,754
10
81
I am sick and tired of nvidia's level of drivers and stability. Every driver after 81.98 is totally unacceptable for me! EVERY time I try to do something using all the later ones gives me a BSOD. EACH AND EVERY TIME! If I want to play a game and alt-tab to desktop, bam, system stops after I reeneter the game and after 10s or so I get a BSOD. I can't play movies, cause the system HANGS each time I try to change something in the PureVideo controls. Bah, even opening them hangs the system!

After installing 84.12s I launched a DVD and :shocked: It looked so damn impressive! No pixels, no artifacts, no NOTHING! Perfect image quality! PureVideo at it's finest. But since I can't do anything else with those drivers, I went back to 81.98s. I launched the DVD again and almost cried. It looked so ugly, with plenty of artifacts and pixels (those drivers don't support PureVideo in DVDs). Games play fine - well, WoW mostly, but the shimmering is starting to give me a headache in this game! I tried so many different settings, none solve the problem.

I am desperate now. Please, PLEASE, I want a driver with 84.12s support for PureVideo, but completely stable and useable! The 10mins I watched my beloved Underworld completely spoiled me. I CAN'T watch it without PureVideo now, cause my eyes bleed once the first scenes show. The terrible IQ makes me wanna shoot myself!

As soon as a x1900xl or similar hits the market it's bye bye nShitia forever. Never again will I make the mistake of buying their products again!

EDIT: Some minor spelling mistakes.
 

aggressor

Platinum Member
Oct 10, 1999
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So does anyone have any info on what exactly is required for Purevideo now? Why would they mention h.264 in the drivers if its a seperate download? Do you still need a seperate h.264 decoder? I just installed the Purevideo trial and tried some h264 content in Media Player Classic and it wouldn't play.

Also, lol at the ads for BFME2 in the install program.
 

Justinus

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 2005
3,166
1,508
136
Originally posted by: Qbah
I am sick and tired of nvidia's level of drivers and stability. Every driver after 81.98 is totally unacceptable for me! EVERY time I try to do something using all the later ones gives me a BSOD. EACH AND EVERY TIME! If I want to play a game and alt-tab to desktop, bam, system stops after I reeneter the game and after 10s or so I get a BSOD. I can't play movies, cause the system HANGS each time I try to change something in the PureVideo controls. Bah, even opening them hangs the system!

After installing 84.12s I launched a DVD and :shocked: It looked so damn impressive! No pixels, no artifacts, no NOTHING! Perfect image quality! PureVideo at it's finest. But since I can't do anything else with those drivers, I went back to 81.98s. I launched the DVD again and almost cried. It looked so ugly, with plenty of artifacts and pixels (those drivers don't support PureVideo in DVDs). Games play fine - well, WoW mostly, but the shimmering is starting to give me a headache in this game! I tried so many different settings, none solve the problem.

I am desperate now. Please, PLEASE, I want a driver with 84.12s support for PureVideo, but completely stable and useable! The 10mins I watched my beloved Underworld completely spoiled me. I CAN'T watch it without PureVideo now, cause my eyes bleed once the first scenes show. The terrible IQ makes me wanna shoot myself!

As soon as a x1900xl or similar hits the market it's bye bye nShitia forever. Never again will I make the mistake of buying their products again!

EDIT: Some minor spelling mistakes.

I'm sorry, but every driver after 81.98 is beta or unofficial. 81.98 is the latest official non-beta driver.

You can't just expect a beta driver to be perfect.
 

Gstanfor

Banned
Oct 19, 1999
3,307
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0
Originally posted by: aggressor
So does anyone have any info on what exactly is required for Purevideo now? Why would they mention h.264 in the drivers if its a seperate download? Do you still need a seperate h.264 decoder? I just installed the Purevideo trial and tried some h264 content in Media Player Classic and it wouldn't play.

Also, lol at the ads for BFME2 in the install program.

they don't say the drivers "have" h.264, they say the drivers "support" h.264. In order to enable that support you need purevideo. ATi is no different in this regard. Neither ATi or nVIDIA are going to give you DVD/H.264 decoding free of charge due to licencing costs.
 

Qbah

Diamond Member
Oct 18, 2005
3,754
10
81
Aye, I know that. Still no PureVideo support for DVDs in the last official ones. I got a taste of it and will not come back to the crappy images I get with 81.98s. That's why I am so pissed. For god's sake, my movies looked better on my old lappy! (ati 9700-m inside). I paid a third of my cash just for the graphics card (half a year ago). And what I got was fast, yeah, but the downgrade of IQ was almost unacceptable! Now when I got a glimpse of what it SHOULD look like from the beginning (with the 84.12s), I am unable to accept, that it will most likely look like sh!t for many months to come.

Once I get me a x1k family Radeon with it's AVIVO, I'll get all I was hoping to get, when buying a series 7 GF.
 

Qbah

Diamond Member
Oct 18, 2005
3,754
10
81
Originally posted by: aggressor
Like I said, I've installed Purevideo. Why isn't h264 content playing?


You need to use a supported player. PowerDVD ain't one. Neither is Media Player Classic. A know WMP10 is for sure. The movies look absolutely gorgeous in it. A shame I can't do anything else with my system, when using 84.12s (see a few posts above).

Cheers
 

aggressor

Platinum Member
Oct 10, 1999
2,079
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71
That isn't true. It's supposed to work with any VA compliant video player, which MPC is. I am still pretty confused on what's required, since using MPC+Purevideo only won't allow h264 playback, only MPEG2\DVD.

From the nzone requirements page:

# Windows Media Player 10, Windows Media Center Edition 2005 or DirectX VA compliant video player
# NVIDIA GeForce 6 or GeForce 7 Series GPU
# ForceWare 84.12 or higher graphics driver
# PureVideo compatible MPEG-2 or H.264 (MPEG-4 Part 10/AVC) Decoder