jamespetts
01-09-05, 02:41 PM
I recently upgraded my Matrox P650 to an NVidia GeForce 6800 (vanilla: the XFX dual DVI version), and since have been having problems with applications that use video overlay, particularly my digital television (Nebula DigiTV), but all applications that use video overlay seem to be affected.
I initially had three problems, but upgrading from 66.93 to Forceware 71.20 has solved two of them. One remains, however, unsolved. I include a description of the solved problems firstly in case anybody else has those problems and needs a solution, and secondly, in case it can provide assistance in diagnosing the problem that remains.
Problem 1 - unsolved
Whenever I open DigiTV (or, for that matter, any application that uses overlay rendering), the picture that is displayed has no tonal contrast: the colour contrast is all there, but the whole image is displayed in one single tone (mid grey), which makes the image almost indecipherable. This problem does not affect things like the "press the red button" messages that sometimes appear over the picture on some digital television broadcasts.
However, the picture will return to normal whenever I open the GeForce control panel (and only the GeForce bit - when I just open the ordinary system display properties, the image will remain without tonal contrast until I navigate to the GeForce tab), or change (and apply) any of the settings therein. Whenever I change channel, however, or change the video overlay mode in the DigiTV settings, the tonal contrast is lost again until I again open the GeForce control panel or change a setting.
Problem 2 - solved
Before I upgraded my drivers, the edge-definition was bizarrely jagged: it looked a bit like an uninterlaced picture, except that the problem occurred in all areas of high contrast, whether there was movement or not, and it was not stable, but appeared to shimmer. This greatly reduced the picture quality, although, oddly, I noticed that it was only present when the application was in full-screen mode: in a window, even with the previous driver versions, this problem was not present. This problem (but not the first) also seemed to appear on the opening videos to Grand Theft Auto III.
Problem 3 - solved
Also before I upgraded the drivers, I had an odd problem with several thin horizontal bands appearing across the picture. This would occur both in full-screen and windowed mode. The bands were not black, or even all of one colour, but appeared to be bands of whatever bit of the picture was being displayed there when the picture was first shown, frozen that way. The lines were very thin (I would estimate about one pixel wide, that is, the pixel size of the broadcast stream, not the higher resolution of my monitor). As noted above, this problem is now no longer present since I have upgraded my drivers.
My system
P4c 2.4@3.0
512Mb of RAM
Asus P4C800E - Deluxe motherboard
GeForce 6800 (XFX), Forceware 71.20 (not overclocked)
Eizo L367 TFT monitor
Win XP Pro, SP2
DX 9.0c
DigiTV ver. 3.128
I should be most grateful for any insight or other assistance :-)
I initially had three problems, but upgrading from 66.93 to Forceware 71.20 has solved two of them. One remains, however, unsolved. I include a description of the solved problems firstly in case anybody else has those problems and needs a solution, and secondly, in case it can provide assistance in diagnosing the problem that remains.
Problem 1 - unsolved
Whenever I open DigiTV (or, for that matter, any application that uses overlay rendering), the picture that is displayed has no tonal contrast: the colour contrast is all there, but the whole image is displayed in one single tone (mid grey), which makes the image almost indecipherable. This problem does not affect things like the "press the red button" messages that sometimes appear over the picture on some digital television broadcasts.
However, the picture will return to normal whenever I open the GeForce control panel (and only the GeForce bit - when I just open the ordinary system display properties, the image will remain without tonal contrast until I navigate to the GeForce tab), or change (and apply) any of the settings therein. Whenever I change channel, however, or change the video overlay mode in the DigiTV settings, the tonal contrast is lost again until I again open the GeForce control panel or change a setting.
Problem 2 - solved
Before I upgraded my drivers, the edge-definition was bizarrely jagged: it looked a bit like an uninterlaced picture, except that the problem occurred in all areas of high contrast, whether there was movement or not, and it was not stable, but appeared to shimmer. This greatly reduced the picture quality, although, oddly, I noticed that it was only present when the application was in full-screen mode: in a window, even with the previous driver versions, this problem was not present. This problem (but not the first) also seemed to appear on the opening videos to Grand Theft Auto III.
Problem 3 - solved
Also before I upgraded the drivers, I had an odd problem with several thin horizontal bands appearing across the picture. This would occur both in full-screen and windowed mode. The bands were not black, or even all of one colour, but appeared to be bands of whatever bit of the picture was being displayed there when the picture was first shown, frozen that way. The lines were very thin (I would estimate about one pixel wide, that is, the pixel size of the broadcast stream, not the higher resolution of my monitor). As noted above, this problem is now no longer present since I have upgraded my drivers.
My system
P4c 2.4@3.0
512Mb of RAM
Asus P4C800E - Deluxe motherboard
GeForce 6800 (XFX), Forceware 71.20 (not overclocked)
Eizo L367 TFT monitor
Win XP Pro, SP2
DX 9.0c
DigiTV ver. 3.128
I should be most grateful for any insight or other assistance :-)