G200 HW-DVD'ers - Check out SoftDVD3.5!

[cods]

Just had an 'evaluation' of MGI SoftDVD Max 3.5.0060, and it works a treat better than the old SoftDVD interface! No more lengthy pauses on menu changes etc.
It looks similar, but seems less buggy and yes, it triggers the video out to TV, just like the origional! (I'm using PD5.52)
A vast improvement over the original....but should have been an update for existing users. http://www.dvdmax.com/

[This message has been edited by cods (edited 10 April 2000).]

[Bixler]

Interesting, Scott. Have you tested Xin's crack? What about SPDIF out for the Marvels?

Based on what I read in their specs, this APPEARS to be a software decoder...no specific mention of support for our orphan that I can find. Although theres a cryptic reference to HWMC in their brochure. Before I spend any money, I'll try to get a specific statement from MGI tech...and remember, these are the guys who refused to honor Zoran's support agreement with Matrox in the first place. Oh well, if it works, at least we'll be out of the upgrade wilderness.

[This message has been edited by Bixler (edited 14 April 2000).]

[LedoSL]

Hmmm ... HWMC actually stands for HardWare Motion Compensation, which helps to clear up bluring and streaking in the image during playback and is built into some video cards - such as ATI video cards.

As far as it supporting the Matrox DVD add-on, I can't help but be a bit skeptical still. I tried contacting them and getting a statement from them saying either the support it or not. At the time, it was "not at this time" ...

Now, theoretically, it should be able to be modified to support it since it is built on DirectShow, which filters exist to support the Matrox DVD add-on. This is what I have been testing with in DXMedia and it *seems* to be working. I need to add some extra code for navigation (to make sure it's working) and through a monitor on it (right now it is on my TV as I have disconnected the monitor ;o)

More on this to come!

[cods]

Yep, I read that too (about SW only), but was VERY pleasantly suprised!
It is definitely using HW out to TV perfectly (as the old SoftDVD did - not with the PD-TVOUT Switch - no borders/macrovis).

Only one possible difference - Last week I got the Abyss SE, and it has a DVD player on the disc called "PCFriendly DVD".
I installed this SW and it too used the DVDHWMod and played to my TV well, but the interface for this player is even more sparse than SoftDVD2.523_502 !
I since uninstalled PCFriendlyDVD, (the old SoftDVD remains installed), & I have installed the MGISoftDVDMAX3.5, and the interface seems more 'solid', faster, and quality is unchanged on TV (top notch!)

Only 1 'small' problem, some of the on-screen menu buttons are slightly out of alignment with the new version.....small potatoes.....

Oh, and I can't do Marvel stuff (SPDIF) - I've got a MillG200.

[This message has been edited by cods (edited 11 April 2000).]

[Bixler]

Ohhhh Yeah!

Ok CODS, here's the PROOF that the MGI is running in our hardware. I've shown the following screen shots to Matrox Tech Support and one of the Beta Boyz, and they agree...the MGI SoftDVDMax 3.5.0060 is running through our Module. Forgive my doubts, but after this long in the wilderness of old drivers and buggy software I had to be Absolutely sure...one more disappointment with this thing and somebody was gonna digest it.

Quoting Gurm here lately:

OH Frabjous Day, Calloo Callay!!

'K here goes. Before Matrox TS would agree that this new MGI software was decoding through the module, I had to REMOVE the dude from my machine. Screen shot #1 is a naked Marvel G200 tv after a full Matrox driver Uninstall/Reinstall including Registry sweeps. The shot taken is using the 5.52 display drivers, and running the MGI DVD Player, with the Matrox DVD module REMOVED. (Thanks, Jord, for the help with the posting code and the website space. )



Clearly this puppy was eating up my proccessor and running in software.

OK...now shot #2 was problematic...I had to be sure, so I went through a thorough uninstall including registry search for all things MGI and MATROX/G200/MGA and reinstalled afer plugging my Hardware Module in, in the following sequence:
1. PD5.52, Then
2. VT1.50 (higher VT are no work for my SS7), then
3.The OEM Matrox DVD software...this is important!!! Then
4. I installed the new MGI SoftDVDMax and played a DVD. Result is screen shot #2.



Wow! With this little CPU usage, I can multitask my buns off!!

Conclusion: This $19.95 player is working...and working beautifully in HARDWARE. You're dead right CODS!

And I really don't mind the 20 bucks...SMOOTH navigation...no lockups on FF and REW, and a quick and painless install. WHEEE!

IMPORTANT! If you try this...leave your Matrox DVD navigator software alone!. Just install the new stuff without any uninstalls of the old. The MGI S/W has to have the filters provided on the OEM Matrox DVD installation to perform as shown.

One more note: Ledo Simon (bless you!) is working on a cleaner, smaller .exe install utility that will allow this solution to work without the old Zoran SoftDVD navigator's files.

S/PDIF support for Marvels is still being checked by Ledo...but MAN is this an improvement!

Thanks Haig, Rags, CODS, Ledo, and Jorden for your help!

More to come...

------------------
AMD K6III 400 @ 426 On a SOYO SY5EMA M/B. Marvel G200 TV with HW/DVD Daughtercard,
CDBurner, Creative DVD, Promise Ultra 66 Controller
two big WD Hdds, Outboard 56K modem
Parallel Port Scanner,
All stuffed into a Mid-tower ATX case with no device slots left!


[This message has been edited by Bixler (edited 14 April 2000).]

[Profound Runner]

While this solution does work for Windows 98, it fails for Windows 2000 Pro.

Hopefully Ledo can figure out how to install the Hardware Module's filters in W2K so that SoftDVD Max would use them.

I purchased the SoftDVD MAX 3.5 and it does run under W2K, but its very jerky and erratic (worse than software decoding under 98.)

Jones'n enough to nuke the W2K and reinstall 98 to tryout the SoftDVD and Hardware module goodness.

Thanks!

------------------
Profound Runner
---- aka Willie -------

[Profound Runner]

By the way Bixler, yo da man!!!!

Perhapse Matrox can now work on the filter support in W2K and let us use the SoftDVD MAX software. They could workout a new licensing issue and provide the MAX software as a free upgrade for those with the Module (or an even cheaper upgrade.)

Good luck Ledo, let me know if you need someone to test the filtering under W2K, I'm willing!

Thanks,
William Turner

[Bixler]

Stay Tuned William...Ledo is working, but it's tax time and a new baby in the house...According to 'sources' W2K DRIVER support (strictly on this issue) is no real biggie...the filters and navigator are...well, keep your fingers crossed. Maybe there is a god.

[LedoSL]

OK ... Taxes are in the mail and the Babies asleep! Now for the SPDIF test ...

<Center>I CAN ASSURE YOU - THERE IS A GOD!</Center>

I had just about enough time to install SoftDVDMax on an existing install of the 4.33 PDs and VT1.20 and the OEM SoftDVD install that came with the module. I popped in G.I. Jane (my wife and I were supposed to watch this 3 weeks ago ;o) and brought up SoftDVDMax. Started playing it and checked out my Dolby Digital receiver ... WE GOT SPDIF output!! It showed that it was receiving AC-3 output via coax on the Marvel and was decoding the stream perfectly!

This brings me to two conclusions. Either the Marvel SPDIF output support is in the filters (which would be great) or the code to support it is still in the SoftDVDMax software and MGI just tuned up the rest of the code and left the SPDIF code in for now. Either way, it is working and working much better than the OEM version!

Todo's: Although not really necessary to confirm the findings, I do plan to remove the old PDs and install the latest v5.52 PDs and v1.52 VTs and retest. Also, I am still planning to isolate the Matrox filters and put together a minimum install pack. I'll let you know when it's ready for testing!

[Brent]

I am facing a clean install of Win 98SE to a new hard drive and have the G200 Mystique with hardware DVD module. I hear the warning to first install the original SoftDVD and then the new 3.5 version, but what about the Matrox driver? Can I first install say 5.25 (which might be safer than 5.52 ??) and then my original SoftDVD 1.1 and then the SoftDVD 3.5, or must I install the Matrox driver 3.32 that came with the module and then upgrade to a 5 series driver?
Secondly, I wonder whether anyone has found the module to be incompatible with an ACPI install of Win 98SE? On my system (Asus P3Bf), if I do a clean ACPI install using BIOS 1005 which by default installs ACPI, the very first time that I disconnect all power to the computer, as in pulling the wall plug, my monitor will no longer recover even from standby - not system standby but just monitor power saving - and on booting up after pulling the plug, my system goes into 256K colour mode and tells me that my "hardware" is incompatible with current settings. It is then a battle to get back to my colour and resolution settings by having to change my adapter type and manually reselect "Matrox Mystique G200 AGP" and the "Have Disk" option and let WINDOWS reinstall the driver (5.25). Just reinstalling the Matrox driver does not work and the system boots up each time with the hardware incompatible problem. I am using 5.25 because if I use 4.32 or 4.33m, with the module, or any 4 series driver with or without the module, in ACPI mode, my screen is garbage on resume from system standby.
If I use 1004 BIOS and a clean APM install, everything is fine except of course I do not have STR and fans off etc in system standby.
If I remove the module, with a 5 series driver, no problems with ACPI.
As far as I am concerned, this is just another reason why Matrox's support of the module sucks.

[Bixler]

Brent:

As long as you've made the transition successfully from 4.x to 5.x and haven't gotten any Region Change problems...you shouldn't have to go through much else. Just install the MGI software and go. All that hassle has to do with making sure your BIOS hasn't messed up the region coding scheme.

Unless you need the latest VidTools I'd go ahead and install all this from the 5.52's, but it has worked on 5.25 and 5.52 as well.

Sorry about all the cautious steps I posted...just being sure, but if all else is installed correctly ALL you gotta do is install the MGI right over the top of everything else, and try it. If it doesn't work, uninstalling the MGI will, of course, disable some files from the OEM player, but a simple reinstall should fix that.

[MultimediaMan]

There is support for the Matrox HW-DVD module...and it is here, right in these forums.

Kudos to Bixler, cods, and Ledo for doing the dirty work and finding a solution that WORKS!



------------------
My (Current) Primary system:

Abit BE6 (PL BIOS)
P3 450
384MB PC-100 SDRAM (Non-ECC)
Matrox Marvel G200-TV AGP (NTSC) 16Mb w/ HW-DVD Module v2.6 BIOS
3Com 905B-TX NIC
SBlive (W/ OD I/O Card, Liveware 3.0 + Update)
ADS Cadet Radio Data AM/FM Card (8 Bit ISA)
3x WD AC28400 EIDE HDDs (ATA66 Enabled)
Creative DVD5241E EIDE 5x DVD-ROM
M/S Windows 98SE (English)
DirectX 7a

My (Current) Secondary system

Data General/ ALR 2650 Mobo (v6.004 BIOS)
2x P2 266 (SMP)
128 MB PC-100 SDRAM (ECC)
2 x Creative Savage 4 32MB PCI Adapters
3COM 905B Onboard Adaptec AIC7895
Onboard Intel 82558 NIC
Onboard Cirrus Logic SVGA adapter (Disabled)
Creative ModemBlaster 5630 Data/Voice/Fax Modem (PCI)
Creative SBLive! (Full Version)
2x WD 4.5 GB Enterprise SCSI3 HDD
Panasonic LK-MW602 CD-R
Nakamichi MBR 7.4
2 EIDE HDD Swap bays
Windows 98SE/NT Server Dual boot
DirectX 7a/SP-6

Tertiary system:
Dell Inspiron 7100 Laptop

[Bixler]

Hey Matt: As you said, Here's where the support is gonna have to come from, so please post in with details or any issues you had with the installation, quirks, etc. Jorden is gonna save this thread for the FAQ's when the dust settles.

[Profound Runner]

I am really hoping that the upcoming W2K driver release will contain the lines of code that are necessary for the DVD Module.

I wonder if the same lines of code are also used for the interface to the Rainbow Runner G-Series. This is a product we know Matrox will continue to support. If the Overlay or whatever specific driver feature is used for either product, that would be fantastic!

With this support and the efforts of the MURC forum users, we may be able to support the product in a fantastic manner!

Haig - does the DVD Module require code different than the code for the RR-G series. I'm not refering to the filters for the DirectShow portion of the interface, but the overlay or whatever code that needs to exist for the filters to operate.

Thanks,
William Turner

[flee]

Just a quick question.

I have followed the procedures to remove Matrox PD and re-installing using PD 5.30. Once PD 5.30 is installed, I installed VT 1.51. When I try to install the DVD software that cam e with the Matrox DVD module, I get the following message "Your graphic board doesn't contain valid region information". The insyallation process then stops.

I have been on Matrox's website and they recommend PD 4.33M for the DVD module.
My question is do I have to install 4.33M first and then PD 5.30? Or is there a way to set the region using PD5.30?

Any suggestions will be very helpful...