dumb dvdmax question...

[VJ]

Hello,

I just recently got my hands on an older G450 (16 MB, AGP) and am trying to get the DVDmax feature to work. (no previous dualhead-on-one-card experience) Here are my settings:

Matrox driver 5.86.032 (running XPpro, SP1)

In powerdesk:
extend desktop to second monitor is checked
multi desktop config: "enabled and active"
dualhead clone: "disabled"
dualhead zoom: "disabled"
dvdmax : "enabled but not active"

I can set up the TV as second monitor (thus with extended destkop), and I can configure the clone using the TV (haven't tried the zoom yet).

In the DVDmax configuration (where you can move the image, ...) a test-pattern is shown on the TV when I enter certain setting-dialog boxes.

However, I can't seem to find a way to get video to display (not even in a window) on the second monitor. I must be doing something wrong, but what...?


Thanks!


Jörg

[VJ]

Oops, forgot: my dvd drive is a Toshiba SD-M1612, DVD player is WinDVD 4 Platinum
(and suprisingly enough: in WinDVD the TV-out dialogbox is greyed out !)

[exMotraxUser]

Do you remember the odd 1024x768 @ 16 bit colors limitation on the first head to do DVDMax with larger resolutions (of video)?
Once I wonder why at 1280x960 only "stamp sized" videos became "DVDMaxed" [SteveBallmerDance ] but hig-res Parhelia shark demo video did not.

Edit: typos

[VJ]

Originally posted by exMotraxUser
Do you remember the odd 1024x768 @ 16 bit colors limitation on the first head to do DVDMax with larger resolutions (of video)?

Do you mean I have to revert back to 1024x768 @ 16 bit colours ? On both displays ?


Jörg

[anteck]

I had the same problem, and fixed it by enabling BUS MASTERING.

Try it, might be the prob. It's in the options section of display properties...

Ant.

[VJ]

Originally posted by anteck
I had the same problem, and fixed it by enabling BUS MASTERING.

Try it, might be the prob. It's in the options section of display properties...

Ant.

Thanks, I'll look into it tonight (have just read it in your thread as well) !
I should also check my bios, as it offers the possibility to turn bus mastering on/off on a per-slot basis.


Jörg

[UtwigMU]

16MB RAM is a little short for 2 heads and DVD.

[VJ]

@antek: bus mastering was enabled...

@UtwigMU: Wel, it is meant as a temporary card... But wouldn't the memory (or lack thereof) only limit the resolutions I would be able to obtain ? I have tried with display 1 on 1024x768x16 bit and both with dual head multi desktop enabled (slider at 8MB) or disabled. The only other enabled feature then is dvdmax (it claims "enabled but not currently active"), but it never seems to activate...


Jörg

[anteck]

Firstly, don'tr worry bout WinDVD greying out the Tv-Out. It's not for Matrox hardwares anyways.

Umm you've prolly tried this but restart after changing to 16 bit colour mode?

Umm try some movies, avi files, different ones, see if any of those work.

Try changing resolution to 800X600

Ok i just thought of something - you mentioned bus mastering can be turned on & off in your bios? You mean your motherboard BIOS? If so thats not the setting we are after. We are after the bus mastering option in the powerdesk settings.

Goto display properties - settings - advanced - options, and it's there, one of the check boxes.

Good luck Now i'm trying to disable macrovision on the TV-out.

Doesn't seem to be a positive thread on it anywheres, to do it software wise.

[VJ]

Well, there has been some progress....

Certain files (still don't know what limits them: some are divx, some have other compression, some with same compression don't activate DVDmax, ...) do play back (and maximize on the second display), but only when media player is used. Playing those same files with WinDVD doesn't activate dvdmax. Other files never seem to activate it, nor does playing back a DVD (not with WinDVD, and not with media player).

Shouldn't it work with regular DVD disks ?

Jörg