MPEG-2 decoding chip question

  • Thread starter Thread starter George Newton
  • Start date Start date
G

George Newton

I need some help understanding some basic concepts,
if someone would be so kind.

I just tried to run my first DVD video on a new system
using a VIA CLE266 chip and an LG DVD-ROM.

I wanted to see if the video would run w/o any other
software since the CLE266 has "...MPEG-2 decoding"

So the video starts up with the preliminary menu and
the I'm supposed to select some kind of configuration:

Auto-Detect
Comp Core
Direct Show
....
....

Anyway, I select Auto-Detect and then the DVD complains
that an MPEG-2 decoder could not be found.

???

Ok, the LG DVD-ROM came with Power DVD which I guess
is supposed to be good.. and I suspected that I would
need to install it.

But what is the purpose of having an MPEG-2 decoder
in the MB's chipset if you need software also?

Is it just performance?

Or is there some add'l driver I need to look for as well?
I think I installed all of the relevant VIA drivers.

Any help for this DVD newbie will be appreciated.
 
George said:
I need some help understanding some basic concepts,
if someone would be so kind.

I just tried to run my first DVD video on a new system
using a VIA CLE266 chip and an LG DVD-ROM.
Click to expand...

I'm not familiar with that chip. Maybe you better tell us what kind of
motherboard and processor you have in there?
I wanted to see if the video would run w/o any other
software since the CLE266 has "...MPEG-2 decoding"
Click to expand...

Uh no, that's not what the purpose of a MPEG2 decoder is. It's not an
automatic DVD player. The chip is simply supposed to assist software in
decoding MPEG2 video. These things used to be popular in the days when
the main processor wasn't powerful enough to decode the MPEG stream very
quickly on its own. It sort of acted like an alternative processor,
freeing up the main processor for other tasks.

These days nobody bothers with seperate MPEG decoders anymore. The main
processor should be powerful enough on its own.

Yousuf Khan
 
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These days nobody bothers with seperate MPEG decoders anymore. The main
processor should be powerful enough on its own.
Click to expand...

Nobody? The MPEG decoder on the PVR-350 (with its own S-video and composite
out) is considerably better than any software decoder displaying through a
video card's TV-out. If I'm not mistaken, the MPEG acceleration in VIA's
newer MiniITX chipsets is supposed to enable HD MPEG-2 decoding on the
relatively slow (1 GHz and less) C3 processors frequently used on those
boards. Software-only HD MPEG-2 needs a considerably more brawny processor
(3-GHz P4 or equivalent) to decode without dropping frames. Having
motion-compensation acceleration in the chipset or in the GPU (as in
nVidia's GeforceFX line) is a nice thing to have when you're building a PVR.

_/_
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................. If I'm not mistaken, the MPEG acceleration in VIA's
newer MiniITX chipsets is supposed to enable HD MPEG-2 decoding on the
relatively slow (1 GHz and less) C3 processors frequently used on those
boards.
Click to expand...

That's what I was thinking might be the case.

I have a newer Socket 370 with VIA's CLE266 which is the same chip
used on most of the mini-ITX boards, I believe.

So, what I'm trying to get clearer on, is when one has a motherboard
chip that decodes MPEG-2 (or perhaps a graphics card w/MPEG-2 decoding)
is one supposed to still need some type of software (like Power DVD)
to run DVD videos?
 
These days nobody bothers with seperate MPEG decoders anymore. The main
processor should be powerful enough on its own.
Click to expand...

but he's using a VIA... :p

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I have a newer Socket 370 with VIA's CLE266 which is the same chip
used on most of the mini-ITX boards, I believe.

So, what I'm trying to get clearer on, is when one has a motherboard
chip that decodes MPEG-2 (or perhaps a graphics card w/MPEG-2 decoding)
is one supposed to still need some type of software (like Power DVD)
to run DVD videos?
Click to expand...

Yes...and the software needs to know how to use the hardware.

(It's probably not right to refer to what the CLE266, GeforceFX, etc. do as
"decoding." They accelerate certain types of operations (such as motion
compensation), but they don't decode the compressed video all by themselves.
There are products (such as the PVR-350 and Dxr2) that actually decode the
video, but those are different devices.)

_/_
/ v \ Scott Alfter (remove the obvious to send mail)
(IIGS( http://alfter.us/ Top-posting!
\_^_/ rm -rf /bin/laden >What's the most annoying thing on Usenet?

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