W2000, DVD jerking, G400, help?

[JaKa]

Hi all,

I'm experiencing jerks in the DVD picture when using DVDMax.

Specs:
Win 2000 final 2195
Cel500@563, 64 MB
G400 DH alone at IRQ 11, 5.03 drivers
ABIT BF6
SB Live! 1024
WinDVD, PowerDVD - both stutter

I've tried all standard tweaks (DMA on, background processes off, IRQs ok etc.) and I'm still seeing a jerk (dropped frames) in the picture every 10-20 secs, sometimes more often. This happens when watching .vobs from the HD, too, so it's not drive related. I had a discussion with Matrox techs at their forum, and they said they couldn't see the prob on their internal test W2000 Cinemaster decoder.

I'm pretty sure that this isn't caused by a lack of CPU power since picture stutters even when CPU utilisation is at 30-40% during the scrolling end titles. There aren't any big CPU usage spikes when stutter happens. Frames are dropped only when I have DVDMax output to a TV enabled. When watching from the monitor, no jerking (or at least much less). I watch R2 DVD on a PAL TV.

Anybody, please, suggestions? It annoys paying extra for DH and not being able to use it... If you wish to see more details, see topic "Jerky DVD playback with DVD Max" on DVD and TV Out forum at www.matrox.com.

[DosFreak]

Mabye a memory prob?

[JaKa]

Hi DosFreak, please tell me more. Do you mean Matrox card memory problem or CPU mem problem? How could I test these?

I have set some BIOS options to provide faster operation: lowering cache latency to 1, decreasing memory wait states to 2-2-2 (Celeron has 66 bus so 2-2-2 is no prob for PC100 memory) and setting Video RAM caching on. Also some others, I'm not at my home comp now.

Could some of these or some other option be the cause? These tweaks increased my CPUscore so something must be right.

[spoogenet]

Although I really can't offer much advice on this issue, I can relate to it.

I too have had a similar problem. Using Region 1 DVD's with NTSC and dualhead. I have a Celery 400@500, blah blah blah. I only get the problem when outputting to the TV, and I've only watched like 3 to the TV, and I noticed it on one of them. Emphasis on NOTICED, that is not to say that the problem wasn't present on the other ones, but when I was watching Contact it "skipped" frequently at regular intervals.

Using WinDVD and a very bare install of Win2k final at the time. Bare install meaning Win2k, WinDVD, and that's it.

I would post other specs, but since I'm running a different install right now, they won't do you a whole lot of good.

b