AVIVO accelerates Windows Media Center???

moshpit

moshpit

Resident Mac Hater
Have I missed something somewhere? Let me preface this with the point that this thread is NOT a complaint thread or "something isn't working right" kinda thread. It's more of a "Holy crap, I didn't know it could do that..." kinda thread.

I just installed the 8.12 Catalyst a couple of days ago and have been ripping it up in games since then, not watching much TV at all on my PC, so I didn't catch this till now. Basicly, when I start up Windows Media Center, I can watch the GPU activity reading in my Everest Sidebar gadget jump from 0% to between 5 and 15% and stays there steadily, as well as cranking the GPU clock speed from 500mhz to 750mhz.

So basicly, AVIVO accelerates Windows Media Center? Is that what I'm to take from this? Did I miss mention of this in the Cat 8.12 release notes? I've never noticed this happening on Cat 8.10 or 8.11, and I would have noticed if it had. And I KNOW it never happened on any Nvidia card I've ever owned. So what gives? This one detail alone could keep me firmly back in the ATI camp until Nvidia can match it. I like watching TV on my PC, a lot in fact. I have an ATI TV card and an ATI video card, and they're playing VERY nice together.

Edit add on: After sitting and watching WMC for awhile, it's interesting to note the similarity of usage between any one of my 4 CPU cores and the GPU, almost as if the GPU is just being treated as a 5th core for all intents and purposes. That's kinda cool :p
 
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Just for reference, screenshots to follow.

Baseline at the desktop:
5djbdd.jpg



Media Center viewing live TV:
261ki6g.jpg
 
caveman-jim said:
Hmmm, nope, sorry - I need more information on your system. Can you add more data points to your everest sidebar?
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Hehehe. Not enough for ya? I only have about half of em used, I can sling up some more useless information if ya want :p
 
What codecs do you have installed? What res is your VMC display? What size is the source? If it's not native, it could be a reason for GPU activity (i.e. cpu upscales signal to screen size, GPU renders it in aero effects)

Though TBH you ought to have 100% GPU utilization from downloading the ATI GPU F@H Client from the link created by the 8.12 installer... :p
 
Well it sounds cool ;)

I'm not sure I understand though. Aside from the activity you mentioned what if any benefit do you see added?
 
Agustus said:
Well it sounds cool ;)

I'm not sure I understand though. Aside from the activity you mentioned what if any benefit do you see added?
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Really, the only benefit I can notice is the slight just under 1 second time lag between my PC's TV and the real TV is gone after this driver update, don't know if that's from this or not though. To be honest, my TV viewing was pretty much perfect except for that tiny time lag. The lag was only an issue if the living room TV was loud enough to be heard in the computer room, it created a weird echo effect. That's gone now. Now they're perfectly in sync.

Edit: Also, if you stood in my kitchen back when I had the time lag, you could see a split second scene on the living room TV and jump into the computer room fast enough you could see it again exactly in there and still hear the end of that scene in the other room. That effect is what's gone now.
 
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I have that time-shifting effect tripled, sometime. I have digital cable, but the expanded channels are still analog and my TV's can display them directly. So if we have the same channel on an analog TV, a digital TV (i.e. hooked up to set top box) and on my comp with the Theater 650 PCI installed, you can repeat about 1-2seconds of what you've just seen and heard :lol:

Off topic, Cat 8.10 - 12 WDM drivers have been teh suck for me, TV tuner keeps 'disappearing' or we get 'unauthorised to view content' when watching TV, usually on a commercial :nuts: Went back to Cat 8.5 WDM and while picture isn't as sharp, the reliability is much higher.
 
caveman-jim said:
I have that time-shifting effect tripled, sometime. I have digital cable, but the expanded channels are still analog and my TV's can display them directly. So if we have the same channel on an analog TV, a digital TV (i.e. hooked up to set top box) and on my comp with the Theater 650 PCI installed, you can repeat about 1-2seconds of what you've just seen and heard :lol:

Off topic, Cat 8.10 - 12 WDM drivers have been teh suck for me, TV tuner keeps 'disappearing' or we get 'unauthorised to view content' when watching TV, usually on a commercial :nuts: Went back to Cat 8.5 WDM and while picture isn't as sharp, the reliability is much higher.
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Strange behavior indeed. I was having that "unauthorised to view content" error as well on my old video card, but has since dissapeared. Since going back to ATI on my main vid card, my TV tuner has been much better behaved it seems.
 
New information. I have 100% confirmed GPU acceleration in Windows Media Center, and it's NOT a good thing. It's a PITA actually. I can no longer force AA/AF settings in CCC for games and leave it set that way because it causes Windows Media Center to have weird pauses and problems when AA/AF is forced through CCC.

Why do this ATI? Why does my TV viewing need 3D acceleration? I got by for years just fine letting my CPU do the work, now ya gotta go and make life trickier... :/
 
moshpit said:
Strange behavior indeed. I was having that "unauthorised to view content" error as well on my old video card, but has since dissapeared. Since going back to ATI on my main vid card, my TV tuner has been much better behaved it seems.
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I'm back on Cat 8.5 and problems solved.

moshpit said:
New information. I have 100% confirmed GPU acceleration in Windows Media Center, and it's NOT a good thing. It's a PITA actually. I can no longer force AA/AF settings in CCC for games and leave it set that way because it causes Windows Media Center to have weird pauses and problems when AA/AF is forced through CCC.

Why do this ATI? Why does my TV viewing need 3D acceleration? I got by for years just fine letting my CPU do the work, now ya gotta go and make life trickier... :/
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I guess its for performance when running HD content, or low cpu power devices (offload to integrated graphics). I dont have the issues as my tv card is mated up with a FireGL V3400 (i.e. HD2400Pro) which I don't force anything on, its main use if TV and wmv/avi/mkv playback and websurfing.
 
Hmmmm. I'm starting to think I may build up a HTPC for secondary monitor use then. Up till now, my main machine has been the "do everything" machine. With 2 monitors hooked up to it, and a beefy vid card with 2 outputs and a quad core CPU and 4Gb of ram, I've been treating my rig as capable of handling both my multimedia needs and my gaming needs, and often at the same time. Looks like I may be reaching the end of that time now.

I've been really spoiled on the ability to game and watch TV/movies simultaniously and not worrying about my 2D activities interfering with my 3D activities. Now the line between the 2 is blurring so much that I find myself having to limit one or the other. :(
 
The unauthorized to view content problem can happen when you have the monitor connected to the secondary connector on the card. Newer drivers seem to be more particular about which connector you use. I figured this out about a year ago or so on a hunch as I was having this problem. I moved the monitor DVI connection to the connector farthest away from the motherboard on my X1950Pro PCI-E card and the problem went away and has not returned since.

Try the other connection on your card and see if this fixes it.

My .02

EDIT: Sorry about your problems Moshie.
 
Dr. Zhivago said:
The unauthorized to view content problem can happen when you have the monitor connected to the secondary connector on the card. Newer drivers seem to be more particular about which connector you use. I figured this out about a year ago or so on a hunch as I was having this problem. I moved the monitor DVI connection to the connector farthest away from the motherboard on my X1950Pro PCI-E card and the problem went away and has not returned since.

Try the other connection on your card and see if this fixes it.

My .02

EDIT: Sorry about your problems Moshie.
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No sweat. It's not a show stopper yet. Mainly just an annoyance really.
 
moshpit said:
Hmmmm. I'm starting to think I may build up a HTPC for secondary monitor use then. Up till now, my main machine has been the "do everything" machine. With 2 monitors hooked up to it, and a beefy vid card with 2 outputs and a quad core CPU and 4Gb of ram, I've been treating my rig as capable of handling both my multimedia needs and my gaming needs, and often at the same time. Looks like I may be reaching the end of that time now.

I've been really spoiled on the ability to game and watch TV/movies simultaniously and not worrying about my 2D activities interfering with my 3D activities. Now the line between the 2 is blurring so much that I find myself having to limit one or the other. :(
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I think the limiting factor here is the tv tuner, not the machine. Before you decide to splash on a HTPC, look at a new tuner like a hauppauge or a HDHomerun. ATi seems to be slacking off on multi-media, they killed the AIW (well there is a $200 HD3650 AIW :nuts:), the tv tuners aren't stacking up well against hauppuage, k-world etc., especially for drivers, and they sold their tv chip business.

Dr. Zhivago said:
The unauthorized to view content problem can happen when you have the monitor connected to the secondary connector on the card. Newer drivers seem to be more particular about which connector you use. I figured this out about a year ago or so on a hunch as I was having this problem. I moved the monitor DVI connection to the connector farthest away from the motherboard on my X1950Pro PCI-E card and the problem went away and has not returned since.

Try the other connection on your card and see if this fixes it.

My .02

EDIT: Sorry about your problems Moshie.
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Hrm, wonder why I was getting the problem then? Single DVI connection, never changed, and it has since stopped since I reverted to cat 8.5 avstream drivers.
 
Does your card have a VGA connector Jim? I know you'd hate to use it, but can you test it just for sh*t's and grins? :D
 
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