Disappointing results from PC Bluray playback

EddScott

EddScott

EddScott

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Wasn't quite sure where to complain - sound, graphics, software or here!

I've built a PC for the living room for gaming and Bluray playback. Its running Win 7, PowerDVD 10 and the HDMI output is via an ATI 5770 card.

Not only has the process of getting sound and picture to my receiver been one of the most infuriating tasks I've ever come across with computers, the actual final result is quite a let down - compared to PS3 playback.

The sound itself is output as Dolby DTS and "I think" is a slight improvement but the picture quality, although reported by the receiver as being 1080p/60, looks like a bad SD feed.

I've read plenty of posts on other forums with people having a nightmare getting these ATI cards to output over the HDMI properly but not many posts regarding poor playback.
 
shouldnt blu ray be 1080/24 and not 60

i use a dedicated bdp since more eficient than having to turn on pc, and for streaming/media center i use ps3.
 
The TV res is set to 1920X1080. Not sure on the 1:1 mapping.

In fairness, I did play around with it and used a Bluray that I know quite well to judge picture quality and I think I got it pretty good. I'm going to do some back to back testing against my PS3.

What I still fail to do is get TrueHD through the receiver. PD10 says its output is TrueHD 5.1 Master Audio but the the receiver says Dolby Digital. I wanted to change from the PS3 so I could get TrueHD output rather than PCM.

Its still very clumsy getting the HDMI output of my 5770 to work properly. I had hoped that I could just put in a Bluray disc, switch the TV and receiver onto the same settings and the Bluray just play on the TV.

Broken Hope said:
It should be 1080/24 yes. I wonder if he's actually watching Blu-rays or has downloaded some films and they are poor quality..
Click to expand...

Funny how I refer to bluray several times yet you suggest its watching poor DLs. Useful post my friend.
 
The 60 refers to 60Hz refresh rate (normal), the video itself will be 24fps :p
 
just a thought, is it possible that your ati 5770 has colour correction on?
if it is on, you probably want to switch it off.

edit - also have you tried using a different media player software?
 
If you are using Catalyst then you may want to check the various video settings. There are all sorts of things in there that I prefer to turn off. In particular I would recommend turning off or reducing anything to do with denoise. Likewise dynamic contrast.

The fact that you are not getting True HD suggests that your card and the AV receiver are not properly handshaking. Does your sound device (presumably ATI) list Dolby TrueHD as a format within control panel? If not then you may want to try searching on the net for ATI EDID override.

If you were watching at 60hz rather than 24hz that wouldn't necessarily give you a poor picture instead you would get some jerkiness on movement most noticeable on panning shots.
 
Khaaan! said:
The 60 refers to 60Hz refresh rate (normal), the video itself will be 24fps :p
Click to expand...

Not really normal, if you are watching 24fps material you want it being displayed at 24Hz otherwise something somewhere has to mess around with repeating or interpolating frames, and it'll probably come out jerky.
 
EddScott said:
Its still very clumsy getting the HDMI output of my 5770 to work properly. I had hoped that I could just put in a Bluray disc, switch the TV and receiver onto the same settings and the Bluray just play on the TV.
Click to expand...

You have me worried! Waiting for my HDMI cable and then will test my Blurays. Would you suggest updating powerDVD 9 to 10?
 
Ive also dabbled a bit with a small HTPC and have an issue that suddenly appeared.

The res used to fill the screen at 1920x1200 then suddenly the picture doesnt quite fill the screen, its got a black border all round and I cannot get it to fill the screen. This had now turned into jerk o vision since I am guessing the TV is downscaling a very high res output to display on the slighly smaller actual number of pixels, I would guess at 1800x1120 or something like that.

If I switch the desktop to a lower res eg 13??x??? it fills the screen properly, is this going to actually display full high def when a blue ray is played or is it going to force output at 13??x??? Power DVD is filling the whole screen as the desktop is.

Maddening and confusing lol

TV is a samsung 40" LCD, can get model number if it helps but dont seem to find any options that would allow me to mess with the layout on screen and force it to fit.
 
First off set your desktop to the native resolution of the TV. Make sure pixel mapping on the TV is set to 1:1. If you are still getting a black border then look at altering overscan settings (possibly on the PC and the TV)
 
Why? If you've got a 24" screen then you've got no problems getting the bets out of 1080p.
 
cram said:
First off set your desktop to the native resolution of the TV. Make sure pixel mapping on the TV is set to 1:1. If you are still getting a black border then look at altering overscan settings (possibly on the PC and the TV)
Click to expand...

I am having the same problem with black borders :(

Looking through the settings.

Also, what is the best way to setup the desktops? I currently have it as extended desktop with my PC monitor as the primary desktop - does this work well for gaming, movie playback etc?
 
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