Help me build a Passively-cooled HTPC w/ Silverstone ML03b!

[richard1980]

Yes, the 9300 and 9400 are both integrated into the motherboard.

[barnabas1969]

Yes, the 9300 and 9400 are both integrated into the motherboard.

OK, I knew that already... but I wanted to clarify it for the OP.

[assassin]

To follow-up it looks like the 29/59 bug is related to metadata that is incorrectly sent out by the broadcaster and not necessarily the fault of Intel, ATI, NVidia or even Microsoft. There have already been a few workarounds posted for non-Clarkdale based iGPUs.

With all that said chances are that many people might not even be affected. It all depends on what you are wanting to do with your HTPC. The OP should see if others using his cable provider are having any issues as they might not have any channels that this bug affects.

For others building or using a HTPC and not doing live TV (probably a minority at this particular forum) then this does bug does not apply.

[barnabas1969]

Hey, Assassin... welcome to the issue at hand! To put it simply, the OP wants to use a CableCARD tuner. There are several very popular channels that can only be received with a CableCARD tuner, and they exhibit the 29/59 issue. The "workarounds" you mention are settings in specific GPU's that can minimize the effect of the 29/59 issue. However, the Sandy Bridge (and presumably, the Ivy Bridge) iGPU has no such settings to minimize the problem. So... either stick with a Clarkdale iGPU, or get an add-on video card that handles the problem successfully. The one I listed earlier is one such graphics card... it is inexpensive, and effective.

So... let's get back to the OP's question, shall we?

So... if Comp625 would like to answer my questions, I will help him/her find hardware that will accomplish his/her goals... with CableCARD in mind.

[assassin]

Hey, Assassin... welcome to the issue at hand! To put it simply, the OP wants to use a CableCARD tuner. There are several very popular channels that can only be received with a CableCARD tuner, and they exhibit the 29/59 issue. The "workarounds" you mention are settings in specific GPU's that can minimize the effect of the 29/59 issue. However, the Sandy Bridge (and presumably, the Ivy Bridge) iGPU has no such settings to minimize the problem. So... either stick with a Clarkdale iGPU, or get an add-on video card that handles the problem successfully. The one I listed earlier is one such graphics card... it is inexpensive, and effective.

So... let's get back to the OP's question, shall we?

So... if Comp625 would like to answer my questions, I will help him/her find hardware that will accomplish his/her goals... with CableCARD in mind.

Sure it does --- no reason to talk down to me. Not all channels or providers have these issues and he may or may not even encounter it. And I was discussing the issue at hand (from another site)...

I resolved the 29/59 frame rate issue on:

ASUS P8H67-M EVO motherboard (BIOS v2303) with HD2000 Integrated Graphics

Driver Version 8.15.10.2656

Windows 7 x64 SP1

Plugged in via HDMI

In the Driver Control Panel (Advanced Mode) I am currently setup as follows:

DISPLAY:

General Settings:

Resolution: 1920x1080

Color Depth: 32bit

Refresh Rate: 60i Hz (I have a 1080i panel)

Color Enhancement:

YCbCr: CHECKED

Monitor / TV Settings: [note: I could never get these to 'stick' to any other values, but I did play around here]

Quantization Range: Limited

IT Content: CHECKED

MEDIA:

Color Enhancement:

Standard Color Correction: Driver Settings

Brightness: 0.0

Contrast: 1.00

Hue: 0.0

Saturation: 1.00

Total Color Correction: UNCHECKED

Image Enhancement:

Noise Reduction: Driver Automatic Settings

Luma: SELECTED

Sharpness: Driver Automatic Settings

Skin Tone Enhancement: UNCHECKED

Other Settings:

Film Mode Detection: UNCHECKED

Adaptive Contrast Enhancement: UNCHECKED

Image Scaling:

Scaling: UNCHECKED

NOTE:

After doing all of this, I also did the following, which in the end seems to have been the trick:

- Right Click on the HD Graphics Notification Center Icon

- Select Graphic Options, Profiles, Media Properties, and Default Profile.

No check mark will appear next to Default Profile if you check it, however when I had WMC in windowed mode on HBOHD and performed this, the flickering stopped immediately. I rebooted and made sure things were still good and indeed they were. I also confirmed that a recorded video which previously experienced this problem no longer had the visual flicker, even though when I looked at '411-More Info' I could still see the rapid cycling between 59 and 29 on the Presentation Mode screen.

[richard1980]

And here's the problem with that entire post:

"when I had WMC in windowed mode....the flickering stopped immediately"

I'd like to know what happened when that person went back to full-screen mode.

[assassin]

I wish I had a signal that had this issue and I would test. I guarantee this is a driver and/or setting issue.

[richard1980]

There are a couple of samples on WEC. http://experts.windows.com/frms/windows ... spx#470316

AFAIK, nobody has ever been able to get smooth playback on a Sandy Bridge GPU. But there's always a first time.

[assassin]

There are a couple of samples on WEC. http://experts.windows.com/frms/windows ... spx#470316

AFAIK, nobody has ever been able to get smooth playback on a Sandy Bridge GPU. But there's always a first time.

Looks like its present with all vendors and at least one person with an NVidia card was able to completely fix it just by changing drivers.

Has anyone tried all the various Intel drivers? I would but my time is too limited currently.

http://experts.windows.com/frms/windows ... ageIndex=6

Also the Ceton rep claims that this is entirely M$'s fault:

It's not a ATI/NVidia bug - in fact, they have tried to mitigate it. It's an EVR bug in Windows. I (on behalf of Ceton) formally requested that MS fix it, and they declined. Now we are working on a plan B

[richard1980]

Well the problem is in the content, not the GPU. So yes, the problem will exist regardless of what GPU is used. However, the result of reacting to the problem differs based on a number of factors including the specific GPU used, the driver used, and the settings that are applied. That said, having the right GPU in the first place is going to be a prerequisite. Without the right GPU, it won't matter what driver or settings you have.

Whether or not there exists a problem with the EVR is largely irrelevant. I don't doubt that a problem exists in the EVR, but it's important to understand that fixing a problem with the EVR can't fix the content. At best, fixing a problem in the EVR could improve the reaction to the content in such a way that adverse on-screen effects are minimized. However, the adverse effects can't be completely eradicated. There will always exist some level of adverse on-screen effects as long as the content remains encoded incorrectly. This is due to the fact that WMC reacts to the MPEG header and the MPEG header doesn't always match the picture. Simply put, when the MPEG header is wrong, WMC processes the picture wrong. No amount of work to the EVR will ever fix that.

So while Eric may be correct that there is a problem with the EVR, do not mistake that to mean the 29/59 issue is Microsoft's fault.

[barnabas1969]

OK, I think the OP is just going to be confused by all this stuff. He asked for help building an HTPC. I was just trying to recommend hardware that I know will work without the guy having to stand on his head and wiggle his ears.

We've probably scared him away by now.