VisionTek vid cards and Power DVD

[WhiteKnight77]

I have a GF3 Ti 500 from VisionTek with s-video out with nothing hooked up to it and disabled in the nVidia control panel. I get a TV out error when I try to play a copyright protected DVD (the DVD that comes with the newest 3 Doors Down CD) saying to disable it. I have patched PowerDVD 4.0 with the latest patch as stated in the Text VisionTek Sold Defective nVidia VideoCards (!?) thread and still get the TV out error. What to do now?

 

[Lord Evermore]

What version of drivers for the GF3 do you have installed? Nvidia has disabled DVD playback with the latest drivers unless you have a "macromedia approved" TV chip on your video card. Even if you've disabled the chip and aren't using the TV output, if the chip is detected and not approved, you can't play DVDs. I never saw anything about this being specific to VisionTek cards or a specific DVD player software, since a lot of companies used various TV output chips.

The exact error you get would probably be helpful, if in fact it's not due to the drivers.

Have you tried using an older driver?

 

[stonecold3169]

you definitely need to use the 3x.xx series of drivers for this to work... I have a GF3 vanilla with the same problem. The issue is that the TV out chipset is an older version that doesn't support macrovision because visiontek took the cheap way out with it... and because of it, dvd playback software won't run under it.

I refuse to use older drivers, so I rip the dvd to my hdd to watch it... only takes 5-10 minutes, and it reduces the noise during playback. When you're done, just delete it and be on your merry way... it's a crappy solution, but it works. I personally think that visiontek should do some sort of reimbursment, but they never will...

 

[Lord Evermore]

It's not really an issue with the cheap way out or it being an older chip, it's an issue with nvidia modifying their drivers to check for specific Macrovision approved chips. Visiontek can't be held responsible for providing a fully-functional product and then nvidia following Macromedia's orders to disable it.

You also can't blame Visiontek for you refusing to use older, functional drivers that are still newer than the ones that existed when the product was released, and insisting on using newer drivers that are known to disable functionality.

 

[AmdInside]

Originally posted by: Lord Evermore
It's not really an issue with the cheap way out or it being an older chip, it's an issue with nvidia modifying their drivers to check for specific Macrovision approved chips. Visiontek can't be held responsible for providing a fully-functional product and then nvidia following Macromedia's orders to disable it.

You also can't blame Visiontek for you refusing to use older, functional drivers that are still newer than the ones that existed when the product was released, and insisting on using newer drivers that are known to disable functionality.

That's so dumb. In this case, it is Visiontek's fault. They are the ones that made the card. They are the ones who chose to save a couple of bucks by using a non-Macrovision enabled tv encoders. Unfortunately, the customer is the one who is paying for this. If I had one of these cards, I would demand that Visiontek replace my card, after all they do offer lifetime warranty. How can Visiontek expect that they can create video cards with non-Macrovision tv encoders and not have this problem come back to haunt them. Since the very beginning, DVD's have beeen Macrovision protected.

 

[Lord Evermore]

They chose to use a perfectly functional TV chip. There was no reason for them to think that they needed to use a Macrovision-approved chip at the time. The chip they used worked, people could watch DVDs, and it's worked for quite a long time, until nvidia changed their drivers. No video card maker ever would guarantee that their card will always work with every single version of drivers that someone else makes. They provide you with a functional set of drivers and software. If you choose to use something else, you can't complain that it doesn't work and blame the card maker.

Having a TV chip that isn't Macrovision approved and one that doesn't work with Macrovision are two different things. Macrovision has forced or paid nvidia to not allow non-approved chips in the drivers, because the non-approved chipset can't be guaranteed to provide the copy protections that Macrovision wants. That does NOT mean that the chips won't play Macrovision protected DVDs.

If you want someone to blame, blame Macrovision for forcing nvidia to change their drivers to disable people's legitimately purchased devices and disable legitimate usage of those devices. Macrovision is only interested in enforcing what they think should be allowed to be done with DVDs. They could perfectly well have just mandated that future cards must comply and have the drivers enforce that, but instead they've decided to disable every device whether the user had a choice or not. Blame nvidia for their drivers if you want. But the card makers should be the last to blame.

 

[AmdInside]

Originally posted by: Lord Evermore
They chose to use a perfectly functional TV chip. There was no reason for them to think that they needed to use a Macrovision-approved chip at the time. The chip they used worked, people could watch DVDs, and it's worked for quite a long time, until nvidia changed their drivers. No video card maker ever would guarantee that their card will always work with every single version of drivers that someone else makes. They provide you with a functional set of drivers and software. If you choose to use something else, you can't complain that it doesn't work and blame the card maker.

Having a TV chip that isn't Macrovision approved and one that doesn't work with Macrovision are two different things. Macrovision has forced or paid nvidia to not allow non-approved chips in the drivers, because the non-approved chipset can't be guaranteed to provide the copy protections that Macrovision wants. That does NOT mean that the chips won't play Macrovision protected DVDs.

If you want someone to blame, blame Macrovision for forcing nvidia to change their drivers to disable people's legitimately purchased devices and disable legitimate usage of those devices. Macrovision is only interested in enforcing what they think should be allowed to be done with DVDs. They could perfectly well have just mandated that future cards must comply and have the drivers enforce that, but instead they've decided to disable every device whether the user had a choice or not. Blame nvidia for their drivers if you want. But the card makers should be the last to blame.

If this were true, then is it that only a small handful of cards have this problem. Why is it that most graphic cards from all different companies feature a tv encoder that supports Macrovision. Because these companies knew that even if NVIDIA wasn't strictly enforcing it, that they should still make their cards Macrovision complaint. My girlfriends Geforce3 doesn't have this problem (forgot who makes this card). My sisters Hercules Geforce2 Ultra doesn't have this problem. My exgirlfriends Geforce2 MX (Asus) doesn't have this problem. I have an ATI Radeon 9700 but before that I had an eVGA Geforce4 Ti 4400 and I didn't have this problem. Visiontek either got an incorrect batch of tv encoders or diliberately went with tv encoders that does not support Macrovision to save a couple of bucks.

 

[Lord Evermore]

And? What does it matter that they saved money? When they built them, they worked, and will continue to work as they sold it to you. They can't be held responsible for your insistence on changing to a driver that doesn't support the full functionality.

 

[stonecold3169]

Originally posted by: Lord Evermore
And? What does it matter that they saved money? When they built them, they worked, and will continue to work as they sold it to you. They can't be held responsible for your insistence on changing to a driver that doesn't support the full functionality.

well, they've fixed what my main beef was... while normally I would agree with you, the box of the card specifically says "Experiance high quality dvd playback"... but on the webpage the drivers they offered for download were ones that caused dvd playback to not work. This is blatantly wrong. Luckily, they now only have the older drivers available for download.

But yes, when I'm promised a feature, and then the drivers they choose to support it with take away this feature, I expect them to do something about it.

 

[Lord Evermore]

If they did put up a driver version that disabled it, obviously that's them screwing it up, but again nobody made you change drivers. Obviously they weren't aware it was going to make their cards stop working either, or they would have not posted the drivers or put a notification. That doesn't change the fact that the card DOES play back DVD just fine.

 

[WhiteKnight77]

Sorry for the delay in replying. I am using the 41.09 drivers right now (Splinter Cell runs really good on them, but I can roll back to the older ones.) I have to look for the 3x.xx series of drivers I had. It's a shame that I have to do this, but I guess I have no choice. I will let y'all know what happens. Thanks.

 

[WhiteKnight77]

After reverting from the 41.09 drivers to the 30.82 drivers, I can now watch my DVD on my PC. I would almost have to wonder if it is a nVidia problem vs. a VisionTek problem. I can't say for sure. Outside of a VT GF2 MX 400 card this is the only other vid card I have had. It's been a good card and even benchmarks on this rig at 9200+ in 3dMark2001SE. I know I could get higher scores with a newer card (will get one later this year possibly,) but at this time don't really see a reason to upgrade. All my games run really well on it (can get up to 270+FPS in GR on the Embassy map) and can play SC pretty good with no slide shows (SC plays hell on some systems because of the lighting effects,) and expect it to be able to run Tron 2.0 when it finally gets released.

Thanks for y'alls help.

 

[Lord Evermore]

I don't think this happened until very recently. At least I didn't hear about it until like the 41.09 version. Does 40.72 have the same problem?

 

[weeber]

Originally posted by: WhiteKnight77
I have a GF3 Ti 500 from VisionTek with s-video out with nothing hooked up to it and disabled in the nVidia control panel. I get a TV out error when I try to play a copyright protected DVD (the DVD that comes with the newest 3 Doors Down CD) saying to disable it. I have patched PowerDVD 4.0 with the latest patch as stated in the Text VisionTek Sold Defective nVidia VideoCards (!?) thread and still get the TV out error. What to do now?

Whitenight, I'm the one that said get the patch for the PowerDVD since it worked fine for me. I'm curious what the filename of the patch you download was? The one I got is "PDVDxp4_Patch_2417.exe" Before, I got the macrovision error when I tried to play The Matrix DVD, but after the patch it played fine. Maybe I should try with more DVDs.

 

[AmdInside]

Originally posted by: WhiteKnight77
After reverting from the 41.09 drivers to the 30.82 drivers, I can now watch my DVD on my PC. I would almost have to wonder if it is a nVidia problem vs. a VisionTek problem. I can't say for sure. Outside of a VT GF2 MX 400 card this is the only other vid card I have had. It's been a good card and even benchmarks on this rig at 9200+ in 3dMark2001SE. I know I could get higher scores with a newer card (will get one later this year possibly,) but at this time don't really see a reason to upgrade. All my games run really well on it (can get up to 270+FPS in GR on the Embassy map) and can play SC pretty good with no slide shows (SC plays hell on some systems because of the lighting effects,) and expect it to be able to run Tron 2.0 when it finally gets released.

Thanks for y'alls help.

You can use the 40.72 drivers also. However I would just use the 30.82 drivers which are more stable.

 

[WhiteKnight77]

Originally posted by: weeber

Whitenight, I'm the one that said get the patch for the PowerDVD since it worked fine for me. I'm curious what the filename of the patch you download was? The one I got is "PDVDxp4_Patch_2417.exe" Before, I got the macrovision error when I tried to play The Matrix DVD, but after the patch it played fine. Maybe I should try with more DVDs.

That is the same patch I tried. I have some experience (not me as I used CD-ROM) in GR with people complaining of Macrovision's SafeDisk messing up installations and playing of GR and now Splinter Cell. Seems that older burners and combo drive's have problems reading SafeDisk protected disks. I have seen untold complaints about this when people are told that their dream system is incomplete cuz they lack a plain old fashioned CD-ROM.

Now if manufacturers want to protect their stuff, I have no problems with that, but remember that blank audio tape and blank video tape is for sale and people can tape someone else's CDs and tape movies right off HBO or other movie channel. How can they justify trying to protect CDs and other digital media as long as I can buy and use vid and audio tape? By reverting to older drivers for my vid card now allows me to play and watch the DVD here on my PC and if I had the proper cable, I could output it to my TV or my VCR and tape it if I want. Protecting stuff by disabling devices via driver revisions is assinine IMO.