Determining Cat Version?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Harkhof
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Harkhof

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have an AIW X1800XL which has been
using MMC 9.10 and whatever version of Catalyst drivers that came on the
install CD. Things worked great. Recently, however, after installing a SB
xfi Plat, the ATI TV (via svideo out of an STB to svideo connector on the
AIW) initially runs fine, but after running for 20 mins or so, the video
becomes jerky. The longer it runs, the more the image delay.

Anyway, it was recommended that a repair or adjusting the dxdiag settings
might help, or upgrading to a newer version of MMC & drivers.

The repair and adjustements did not help. So, I upgraded to 9.15 MMC & cat
6.9. This did indeed resolve the 'jerkiness', and initially, the TV image
quality seemed better, but upon further inspectiuon, I noticed that the
image was somewhat pixelated and grainy. Certainly not as good as with MMC
9.10. Not nearly as good.

So I reverted back to MMC 9.10 and the driver from the CD and the excellent
picture quality returned, and so did the eventual 'jerkiness'.

That's the history, and here are my questions:

1) The driver tab in device manager properties states a driver version of
8.183.0.0 and is dated 10/14/2005. How does this translate to the cat
version? Is there another way to determine the version? Perhaps from numbers
on the CD label?

2) In an attempt to resolve the issue, would it be better to update just the
driver, just mmc or both?

3) How do I determine which driver (or cat version) will work with which
MMC?

Thanks for any ideas,
\Hark
 
Harkhof said:
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have an AIW X1800XL which has been
using MMC 9.10 and whatever version of Catalyst drivers that came on the
install CD. Things worked great. Recently, however, after installing a SB
xfi Plat, the ATI TV (via svideo out of an STB to svideo connector on the
AIW) initially runs fine, but after running for 20 mins or so, the video
becomes jerky. The longer it runs, the more the image delay.

Anyway, it was recommended that a repair or adjusting the dxdiag settings
might help, or upgrading to a newer version of MMC & drivers.

The repair and adjustements did not help. So, I upgraded to 9.15 MMC & cat
6.9. This did indeed resolve the 'jerkiness', and initially, the TV image
quality seemed better, but upon further inspectiuon, I noticed that the
image was somewhat pixelated and grainy. Certainly not as good as with MMC
9.10. Not nearly as good.

So I reverted back to MMC 9.10 and the driver from the CD and the excellent
picture quality returned, and so did the eventual 'jerkiness'.

That's the history, and here are my questions:

1) The driver tab in device manager properties states a driver version of
8.183.0.0 and is dated 10/14/2005. How does this translate to the cat
version? Is there another way to determine the version? Perhaps from numbers
on the CD label?

2) In an attempt to resolve the issue, would it be better to update just the
driver, just mmc or both?

3) How do I determine which driver (or cat version) will work with which
MMC?

Thanks for any ideas,
\Hark
Click to expand...

Releases are Cat year . month. So the files dated 10/14/2005 should be
Cat5.10. The latest release is Cat6.9. Normally the last release of the year
is 12 but their was a bonus Cat5.13 last year.
IIRC Cat6.2 introduced the Unified WDM driver. If you want to stay with
MMC9.10 get the last release that doesn't use the Unified driver.
Unfortunately ATI didn't announce the change so it's not mentioned in the
release notes.
Your card is new enough that newer versions of the display drivers would be
beneficial but they don't, AFAIK, work with the preUnified WDM drivers. I
assume you wouldn't be able to use the hardware transcoder either.
AFAIK when using 9.15 the TVoD uses a low resolution unless you change the
capture setting from the default Native to something like DVD High. I had a
major problem with the Parental Control of the Cat6.8 release and haven't
had a chance to check it out for sure yet. The Dover race Sunday sure looked
crappy on TNT but that's normal for analog so didn't think to check the
setting. I'll try it later.
 
T Shadow said:
news:t8eSg.2457$eZ4.761@dukeread06...
Click to expand...

Hello again, T. I appreciate your response. I haven't, as yet, had the
opportunity to check out any of the other drivers. Thanks for the info, and
I will post the outcome when I've had a chance to try some of the other
driver versions.

Thanks,
Hark
 
T Shadow said:
Releases are Cat year . month. So the files dated 10/14/2005 should be
Cat5.10. The latest release is Cat6.9. Normally the last release of the
year
is 12 but their was a bonus Cat5.13 last year.
IIRC Cat6.2 introduced the Unified WDM driver. If you want to stay with
MMC9.10 get the last release that doesn't use the Unified driver.
Unfortunately ATI didn't announce the change so it's not mentioned in the
release notes.
Your card is new enough that newer versions of the display drivers would
be
beneficial but they don't, AFAIK, work with the preUnified WDM drivers. I
assume you wouldn't be able to use the hardware transcoder either.
AFAIK when using 9.15 the TVoD uses a low resolution unless you change the
capture setting from the default Native to something like DVD High. I had
a
major problem with the Parental Control of the Cat6.8 release and haven't
had a chance to check it out for sure yet. The Dover race Sunday sure
looked
crappy on TNT but that's normal for analog so didn't think to check the
setting. I'll try it later.
Click to expand...


Another question I hadn't thought of:
If one is replacing drivers only, is it necessary to use the cat
uninstaller, which removes MMC as well, or can one merely remove them via
the update drivers function on the device manager properties page and run
the new executable?

Thanks again,
Hark
 
Harkhof said:
Another question I hadn't thought of:
If one is replacing drivers only, is it necessary to use the cat
uninstaller, which removes MMC as well, or can one merely remove them via
the update drivers function on the device manager properties page and run
the new executable?

Thanks again,
Hark
Click to expand...

I have an older video card and not really a gamer so only change Cats with
new MMC or when having problems. I usually do a complete uninstall and
clean. If I had a newer card, was wanting to try each new display driver
release and wasn't having other problems I'd probably try to shorten the
process. Experience should reveal whether this is a good tactic or not. The
biggest problem being the Cats include the WDM drivers and the Encoder. I
think doing a repair install on MMC afterward would still be a good idea.

Come to think of it you probably should be getting advise on this from
someone with an AIWX1??? card. Good Luck
 
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