Cinemaster 2000

[FrankDC1]

I use and like Cinemaster 2000. I've tried other DVD players (PowerDVD4, WinDVD, the updated Cineplayer from Sonic, etc) and none of them are as smooth, at least on my system.

But one minor drawback is that there's no way to adjust brightness, contrast and hue of the overlay window in Cinemaster 2000. Nvidia includes these controls in their display drivers, Matrox does not.

Anyone know of a way to add this functionality to Cinemaster, or to Matrox's driver? I'm using PD v5.82.

Thanks,
Frank

[Dr Mordrid]

Control these settings on the desktop or the vidout?

With the Parhelia and P-750 you can control the vidout and/or computer monitors video playback hue, saturation, brightness and contrast in the Video Playback Settings of PowerDesk-HF.

This ability to adjust the vidout and desktop TV settings has also been in the Settings/Advanced/DualHead menu since the G400.

Dr. Mordrid

[FrankDC1]

Dr, I was referring to the overlay window on the primary monitor. I'm using a G400 Max, and according to Matrox T.S. there's no way to control video playback settings on the primary monitor, unless the DVD software has these controls.

PowerDesk-HF is exactly what I'm looking for. Is there a way to make its Video Playback Settings work on a G400 Max?

Thanks,
Frank

[Dr Mordrid]

No, because it's for the Parhelia and P-750/650 boards only.

Did you check and see if the Powerdesk/Settings/Advanced/DualHead/TV Settings menu does what you want?

Dr. Mordrid

[FrankDC1]

No, because I have a single monitor setup and haven't enabled DualHead. According to Matrox tech support PowerDesk's TV Settings don't control the overlay window of the primary monitor.

Most people have just one monitor, and it seems strange that Matrox built these overlay controls for a secondary monitor/TV but not the primary display. Nvidia has had these adjustments in their drivers for years now.

Anyway, it's a minor annoyance and certainly not worth spending hundreds to replace the card.

Thanks,
Frank

[magician]

But why don't you use TV for watching movies?

[FrankDC1]

Well, because I spent $1500 on a 22" monitor and DVDs look freaking awesome on it.

[magician]

$1500 for a 22" monitor? Is it a LCD or it has golden housing?

Try using ffdshow filter in your filtergraph. Zoom Player could help there if you aren't familiar with DirectShow structure.

[Brian Ellis]

Frank

Computer monitors are not really a great idea for watching TV/DVDs etc. Apart from the fact that the gamma and colour rendering are different from that of TV monitors/sets, they are not interlaced, while the signal from the source files are (unless your DVDs are specifically burnt without it, in which case, they will look awful on a TV). If you mix interlaced/non-interlaced systems, then the result will appear mediocre. This is why, when editing, many of us use a TV and not the computer monitor to judge what the final effect will look like on a TV/DVD/VHS tape.

[Jkun]

Brian, progressive DVDs - or DVDs burnt w/o interlacing, as you call it - look very good on TV.

The DVD players will do a pulldown and interlace the signal, if a TV is attached.

The other way around requires more work (deinterlacing) and doesn't look as good. Although the latest Xcard-Dscaler setups look pretty good for the price...

J-kun

[FrankDC1]

Brian, thanks for the info. I'm almost strictly a viewer not an editor. As it turns out I found an easy workaround -- my monitor came with software to adjust image quality without having to go into the OSD (which was the real hassle), so I just fire up that utility as soon as the DVD starts, adjust, and all is well.

Still I wish Matrox would add overlay adjustments for the primary monitor to their G-series drivers. As I mentioned earlier Nvidia has had them in their drivers for years now, and there shouldn't be any technical reason why Matrox can't also do it.

Frank