Zoran HW DVD player

[J1NG]

Hi, new user here and first post too!

I'm having troubles getting the Zoran DVD player which came with the DVD module to work. The software will start, but the player will not play any DVD's I put in the drive. It will play for 1 sec and then freeze. (With an empty screen) But even this doesn't happen too often. Anybody able to help?

I've enabled DMA for the drive, it's region free, slave on the secondary IDE port (I get the feeling this might be the problem, but it's worked with PowerDVD, the Marvel G200 is sharing an irq (God I hope this isn't the problem, I can't move my card anywhere else!), the software is set to region 2, all DVD's being used are region 2. Any advice will be appreciated.

System Spec's
AMD K6-2 400Mhz,
96MB RAM,
SBLive! value (effectively Live! Platinum),
Matrox G200 PCI with 16MB and DVD module,
Pioneer a03/103 6x DVDROM Drive
And if you're wondering, all on an Abit PR5R2! That's the old Triton III chipset.

[Brent]

Unfortunately, the DVD module must be one of Matrox's biggest failures. It is frought with faults and the driver support stopped a long time ago with the G200 (4.33m).
I have ditched it and gone software with a G400. With a P3, playback is as smooth as the module with a Celeron 300A, and it works without any dramas. The module still has slightly higher sharpness and better contrast range, when it works.
Specifically, I found that the module would hardly ever work after I installed Norton System Works 2000, unless I uninstalled the Cleansweep component. That was when I put the module into the box of components I have labelled "Disappointments".

[J1NG]

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, I'm not upgrading just yet, PC technology seems to be about to make a pretty big turn, so I'm going to wait it out till the next Gx00 card comes out.

Also, for anyone intereseted, I found the answer to my problem. It appears that Matrox has sent me a bit of false information. In an email reply to me, I was told I could simply install later powerdesks over the 4.33 and the software should still work. Well, now I know it doesn't. What ever happens, you mustn't install direct x7.x (Marvel G200 is old anyway), stay with direct x6.x and stay with powerdesk 4.33 and simply wait for the next big upgrade.

[Bixler]

Jing: Before you ditch the thing, try the following tweaks. Brent is right, but I own one of these things on a VERY similar combo and am working reasonably well

Your DVD needs to be master on it's IDE channel. Preferably with no sharing device. Your DVD also needs to be the first removable drive letter available to windows.

Also GO RIGHT NOW over to Matrox's website and get the latest BIOS update for your Marvel, and flash your BIOS. SAVE your BACKUP BIOS -- it has the region change counter, and you may need to reset it someday. If you are actually upgrading your Bios, it will probably be a good idea to do it again, the second Flash backup will then have your region reset and the newer version backed up.

I've gotten the DVD Module running on my system, but did have to fight through several driver conflicts and IDE cabling issues.

If you don't want to fight through the bugs, the good news is Matrox will RMA the thing--they have acknowleged the conflicts and problems. Only problem for you is, based on your older hardware it would be the cheapest and most elegant solution for you and DVD if you could get it to work.

------------------

[AlgoRhythm]

If Brent, or any other disgruntled dvd module owner would like to sell theirs, I'd be glad to take it off you hands. Name your price.

AlgoRhythm

[Brent]

RMA???
You mean I get my money back or just get it "checked" for problems?

[ganyaik]

Hi! It seems I'm one of the few lucky Matrox users I have a G200Mill+RR-G+DVD+TVO+PD5.15 combo with win98 and a Pioneer 10xDVD up and running. The installation was simple. I had the 5.15 drivers and just installed the Zoran thingie that came with the DVD mod. At the first play it gave a BSOD but after a restart everything went fine.
BTW does anyone knows how to upgrade this Zoran player(it seems quite primitive, but works OK), because I couldn't do it with the upgrade I found on Matrox´s FTP.

[Bixler]

Jing:

Glad you're working well. Let me reemphasize the Bios update thing.

It is my understanding (from reliable sources) that the region change counter is stored in the Marvel's bios. This is one of the bugs that still remains unresolved with the HW DVD card. Be sure you have a backup of your current Bios flash, because if you ever uninstall/reinstall your hardware the region change counter will 'permanently' subtract one of the 3 region changes allowed in the internal counter. DVD Utils also has a region change hack on their website that does the same thing. You need to have this on hand, just in case.

Brent:

Matrox issued me an RMA for a refund, but I chose not to exercise it. I think if you are really unhappy with the thing, you'd not find it too difficult to get a refund. They were certainly more than willing with me once I'd jumped through a few technical support hoops.

Ganyaik:

The primitive little Zoran player is, unfortunately, the only one that will work with the H/W module. The "Soft DVD" on Matrox's website is just that--a Software player. The hardware module player is a different program. Zoran got bought out by another software firm, and support for this module just evaporated. From what I understand, Matrox is trying to get some other updates and bug fixes from Zoran, but they are being ignored. I do know that as recently as 3 months ago, Matrox was still hopeful that Zoran would provide some bug fixes that would let this module run cleanly with the 5.x drivers, but so far no joy. If you're running with the 5.x drivers, then you're lucky, but Matrox didn't recommend it.
Since I'm not a gamer, running the 5.x drivers doesn't matter much to me, but if you are a gamer and want to update your drivers, you'll probably continue to be frustrated by this mess.

[Bixler]

Brent:

Yeah, I got it direct. But that shouldn't matter.

I wouldn't be a bit shy about going for it. You'd probably have to work through the folks you bought it from, but I've got enough faith in these folks to say it's worth a try. Once I went through their troubleshooting procedures and they were satisfied that my problem was genuine, the RMA was offered with very little difficulty.

My own story is that I did eventually hunt down the bug that was locking me up (it was a bad Promise Ultra 66 driver--not Matrox's fault at all), so in spite of my disappointment with the driver support (really not Matrox's fault, after all) I decided to keep it.

Better yet, take Algorythm up on his offer above.

The shame is, it's still an excellent conceptual approach to DVD. No IRQ needed, and low processor overhead. I can play a DVD and do anything else I want on my old K6, and she never misses a beat.

[cods]

TweakSD (Region changer) for G200 DVD Module works great (I have changed region over 50 times), but there can be other issues with W98SE.
All that you need to do with WIN98SE is use latest DVDGenie (328) to erase (after backing up!) the Windows region key; mine is under [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\G?614:611]"oaj1"=hex:2d,28,6a,11
2d byte is region, 28 is region change count.
I found this was necessary after about 5 region alterations in Win98SE.
Other than that, all now works PERFECTLY using PD5.25, VT151, on a MillG200, RRG, DVD Module, TVOUT Module and so on.

P.S. Matrox/Zoran tech/driver support - Suck my ass (thats if you ever get off yours) - who needs your f*#cking help! Hackers like Xin keep the world turning!
P.S.S. Yes, I am bitter.

[This message has been edited by cods (edited 06 February 2000).]