Matrox Hardware DVD module - What gives?

[waldo22]

I have the Matrox hardware mpeg-2 decoder with windows 2000, plugged into the Rainbow Runner-G board which is attached to my G400 Max.

Apparently, Matrox has given up on the Hardware module, especially in Win2K.

I remember reading a while back that some talented programmers were working on a patch that would allow the Cinemaster (the bundled Matrox player) and maybe even other software decoders to utilize the hardware module that Matrox has generously decided to no longer support, and never did in the first place. This should work regardless of operating system.

Does anyone remember or has anyone seen such a patch?

I hate to think that this hardware decoder is worthless.

Thanks

[J1NG]

Tough one this...

Hey there,

As far as I am aware, the Hardware Matrox DVD Module would work with certain software solutions automatically (cinemaster 2000 comes to mind, and this isn't the one bundled with the G400 by the way) in Win98 ONLY (Or Win9x), and even then only with certain drivers. Windows 2000 will NOT work with the module AT ALL. Now this has been the situation since Win2000 was released. I'm not sure about recent developments, but I'm sure I would have picked up on anything if it came up. ( I myself run the module on a Marvel G200 PCI ) I'm not sure on this though, I may try out a few more times when I install Win2000 in a day or two. Will post if anything remotely works, but don't hold your breath. Meanwhile, I suggest looking at some software DVD solutions instead.

J1NG

[waldo22]

software is fine...but

Hi,

Thanks for the quick reply.

2 things...

I have software players that work just fine, but this is a matter of principal

I paid them for this damned thing, and I want it to work in hardware.

I found out the other day the hard way that the bundled player does not work in win2K.

Maybe I could buy the Cinemaster 2000.

Second thing, How do you know for sure that the HW module does not work with win2K at all? Is that just what Matrox says, or do you have some sort of technical basis for this?

Is there any reason that this can't ever work with win2K if the proper drivers are written for it? Wouldn't a software player that supports it be enough?

Let me know if you know of some scientific reason why the module can't work in win2K... is it something with the kernel, or are the Matrox engineers just too lazy (or too budget-restricted) to provide us with working drivers?

Wes

[Greebe]

Waldo... the hardware dvd module never had any drivers written for it to support Win2k... it's a Win9x thing only.

[waldo22]

but....

I guess what I am really getting at is this:

Does Matrox HAVE to enable support for the DVD module in their drivers, or...


Is it enough for a DVD player app to have support for the ZORAN chip on the Matrox HW DVD board?

If the app supporting the board is enough, then surely a good programmer (not I) could patch the software app using info included with the original matrox(zoran) HW player.

My drivers do recognize the DVD module in win2K...

Just a thought. Any good programmers out there?

Wes

[Bixler]

Hey Waldo.

Two things. If you've got the Module running with a G4x and a RRG you're lucky. As I understand it, it was never sold or marketed as compatible with the G400 at all--only the G200.

I've heard of one other user who made it work through the RRG on a 400, but it was never intended to work that way.

Second, W2K support will never, never happen.

One of M's developers did get a rudimentary software install package sorta going about a year ago, (for W9x) but this project was strictly to register the custom directshow filters for the module to allow users to utilize other DVD Players that are directshow based as "software navigators"

If you're unwilling to use dualboot and install W98, put the board up on ebay or Murc's happy shopper.

E-mail me if you want the developer's e-mail addy who was working on this last year...I don't have any idea whether the OEM filters work at all in W2K.

[ganyaik]

Hi,
I also have the DVD addon, but with a G200 and W98. It's fine, but I'm pretty sure that you won't find any drivers for w2k.
That's because(AFAIK) Zoran wrote some part of the DVD mod driver. Some company bought Zoran and right after that they stopped to support M with driver updates. I may be wrong with it, but you can do a search and see it for yourself. There was a long discussion about it on the forum...
There's an ongoing effort to make the stuff work under linux, but I didn't have time to see how it works.

[albatorsk]

Originally posted by ganyaik


I'm pretty sure that you won't find any drivers for w2k.



That's because(AFAIK) Zoran wrote some part of the DVD mod driver. Some company bought Zoran and right after that they stopped to support M with driver updates. There's an ongoing effort to make the stuff work under linux, but I didn't have time to see how it works.

Seriously, if these guys can get it to work with the documentation they've been provided with, then surely so can Matrox. It's probably just a case of Matrox dropping support because the board is too old (never thought I'd say that about Matrox).

[Wombat]

Cool, support for the module under Linux. I wonder how they got all the information they needed.

[Greebe]

hehe

[albatorsk]

Originally posted by Wombat
I wonder how they got all the information they needed.

Did you check the "documentation" link?

[Wombat]

What I meant to say was "I wonder how they got all the information &lt and why a bunch of guys writing a FREE program can get something functional when a bunch of paid programmers can't get their own product to work under a common OS &gt.

Better?

[albatorsk]

Originally posted by Wombat
Better?

Better!

That's the same point I was trying to make

/per