Poor or no Video Performance

[Searcher7]

I have an EPIA M10000 Mini-ITX mainboard inside of a Foxconn RS0338
Mini-ITX case.(1GHz processor & 1Gb ram).

I'm attempting to play DVDs and have not been able to get smooth clear
audio and video. I can deal with the audio since I have to read the
subtitles anyway, but the media players I've tried have given me the
following:

Windows Media Player = Audio but no picture
KMPlayer = Audio but no picture
BlazeDVD = Audio but no picture
UmPlayer = Slow motion
VLC Player = Very Choppy
FLV Player = Choppy
GOM Player = slightly choppy

After playing around with any settings I could find in each media
player and also downloading some codec packs nothing has changed. (I'm
wondering if it can be a hardware problem).

I get the best results with GOM Player, but it is still not good.

Can the problem illustrated here in Device Manager be the issue?
http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll257/Statenislander/Computer/DeviceManager_zps81f35cd5.jpg

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

 

[Paul]

I have an EPIA M10000 Mini-ITX mainboard inside of a Foxconn RS0338
Mini-ITX case.(1GHz processor & 1Gb ram).

I'm attempting to play DVDs and have not been able to get smooth clear
audio and video. I can deal with the audio since I have to read the
subtitles anyway, but the media players I've tried have given me the
following:

Windows Media Player = Audio but no picture
KMPlayer = Audio but no picture
BlazeDVD = Audio but no picture
UmPlayer = Slow motion
VLC Player = Very Choppy
FLV Player = Choppy
GOM Player = slightly choppy

After playing around with any settings I could find in each media
player and also downloading some codec packs nothing has changed. (I'm
wondering if it can be a hardware problem).

I get the best results with GOM Player, but it is still not good.

Can the problem illustrated here in Device Manager be the issue?
http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll257/Statenislander/Computer/DeviceManager_zps81f35cd5.jpg

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

http://www.byopvr.com/reviews/via-epia-m10000-mini-itx-review/

"The 1Ghz CPU coupled with the built in MPEG hardware accelerator..."

"as well as DVDs playback just fine without over taxing the CPU
or dropping frames"

"A lot of people ... have been mistakenly referring to the embedded
MPEG-2 Accelerator generically as a “hardware decoder”. It is not a
full on MPEG decoder. It would be more accurate to think of it as
hardware assist decoding chip. It’s a subtle but important
distinction. It does help with MPEG2/DVD playback performance, BUT
you really have to have specific drivers installed and software that
supports the hardware assisted playback."

So that's what you need to get working, that hardware accelerator.

Reading this, didn't give me a very warm feeling.

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=284

It does give a couple keywords to look for though.

Hwmc
Dxva

http://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=8333&p=26040

"If you start vlc with --xvideo-chroma=YUY2 it runs fine."

And there's honorable mention here, of PowerDVD software
being able to use the partial acceleration of the CLE266.

http://www.viaarena.com/forums/archive/index.php?t-4544.html

"I bumpt the res up to 1024x768 and now it works !!
(I was running 720X576, native PAL-DVD res) Think I've
read somewhere that DirectX works best at 1024x768...
CPU util. is now around 60-70% fullscreen
(I should have thought about DirectX limitations
before starting this thread....)"

So yes, it kinda sorta works. You'll just have to read
a couple thousand threads until you find one that matches
the software you want to use.

******

OK. I just saw your Device Manager Yes, you'll
need to install a video driver. You're not going to
get that "flawless snappy" performance without it

CLE266
Graphics Core VIA UniChrome Pro
Hardware Video Acceleration MPEG-2
Dual Monitor Support 2 Contents, 2 Refresh Rates, 2 Resolutions

The first page here is disappointing. Driver from 2003.

http://www.viaarena.com/ViaDisplayDrivers.aspx?PageID=1&OSID=1&CatID=1160&SubCatID=101&lang=en-GB

The one on the second page is from 2005.

http://www.viaarena.com/ViaDisplayDrivers.aspx?PageID=1&OSID=1&CatID=1160&SubCatID=101&lang=en-GB

Paul

 

[Searcher7]

http://www.byopvr.com/reviews/via-epia-m10000-mini-itx-review/

    "The 1Ghz CPU coupled with the built in MPEG hardware accelerator...."

    "as well as DVDs playback just fine without over taxing the CPU
     or dropping frames"

    "A lot of people ... have been mistakenly referring to the embedded
     MPEG-2 Accelerator generically as a “hardware decoder”. Itis not a
     full on MPEG decoder. It would be more accurate to think of itas
     hardware assist decoding chip. It’s a subtle but important
     distinction. It does help with MPEG2/DVD playback performance,BUT
     you really have to have specific drivers installed and software that
     supports the hardware assisted playback."

So that's what you need to get working, that hardware accelerator.

Reading this, didn't give me a very warm feeling.

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=284

It does give a couple keywords to look for though.

Hwmc
Dxva

http://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=8333&p=26040

    "If you start vlc with --xvideo-chroma=YUY2 it runs fine."

And there's honorable mention here, of PowerDVD software
being able to use the partial acceleration of the CLE266.

http://www.viaarena.com/forums/archive/index.php?t-4544.html

    "I bumpt the res up to 1024x768 and now it works !!
     (I was running 720X576, native PAL-DVD res) Think I've
     read somewhere that DirectX works best at 1024x768...
     CPU util. is now around 60-70% fullscreen
     (I should have thought about DirectX limitations
     before starting this thread....)"

So yes, it kinda sorta works. You'll just have to read
a couple thousand threads until you find one that matches
the software you want to use.

******

OK. I just saw your Device Manager Yes, you'll
need to install a video driver. You're not going to
get that "flawless snappy" performance without it

CLE266
Graphics Core                 VIA UniChrome Pro
Hardware Video Acceleration   MPEG-2
Dual Monitor Support          2 Contents, 2 Refresh Rates, 2 Resolutions

The first page here is disappointing. Driver from 2003.

http://www.viaarena.com/ViaDisplayDrivers.aspx?PageID=1&OSID=1&CatID=...

The one on the second page is from 2005.

http://www.viaarena.com/ViaDisplayDrivers.aspx?PageID=1&OSID=1&CatID=...

    Paul

I've spent another several hours on this and it is becoming more of a
nightmare.

Though not perfect video and audio I watched a DVD last night. Now
today none of the eight media players work completely. Using any of
them I get either no video, no audio, audio with no voices, nothing at
all, or my system crashes. Each player has at least one of those
issues, which tends to change around, but no player's video and audio
work completely at the same time. ?!?

This is my system:
http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll257/Statenislander/Computer/BelarcAdvisor1.jpg

Everything in Device Manager looks ok:
http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll257/Statenislander/Computer/DeviceManager1.jpg

BTW. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to download, so I downloaded
the first one here:
http://www.viaarena.com/ViaDisplayD...ID=1&CatID=1160&SubCatID=101&Old=1&lang=en-GB

Here are all the audio controls I could find:
http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll257/Statenislander/Computer/MasterVolume.jpg
http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/...mputer/SoundsandAudioDevicesProperties1-1.jpg
http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/...mputer/SoundsandAudioDevicesProperties2-1.jpg

1) Windows Media Player = Now does nothing. Not the FLV file on my
desktop or the DVD.

2) KMPlayer = Plays FLV file on my desktop, but when attempting to
play a DVD it now now has video but no voices with the audio, and it
tends to crash my system the longer I leave it open.

3) BlazeDVD = Not playing a DVD at all.

4) UmPlayer = Won't play desktop FLV file. No voices with the audio
and no picture.

5) VLC Player = Will play only audio from desktop FLV file, and will
now not play the DVD at all.

6) FLV Player = Slow video when I open desktop FLV file. (Does not
play DVD format).

7) GOM Player = Won't play the FLV file, but the video/audio will not
start. It won't play the DVD at either.

8) RealPlayer = Plays desktop FLV file, but slow and choppy. WOn't
play the DVD.

I tend to get a weird "ping" (bell-like) sound a few seconds after I
open just about any player.

I have to go back over what links you posted that have downloads in
them and try again, but I'm not sure I'm uninstalling video and audio
related drivers the right way. When I reinstall I always click the
square box with the dark blue top that says "Setup".

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

 

[Searcher7]

I've spent another several hours on this and it is becoming more of a
nightmare.

Though not perfect video and audio I watched a DVD last night. Now
today none of the eight media players work completely. Using any of
them I get either no video, no audio, audio with no voices, nothing at
all, or my system crashes. Each player has at least one of those
issues, which tends to change around, but no player's video and audio
work completely at the same time. ?!?

This is my system:http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll257/Statenislander/Computer/Bela...

Everything in Device Manager looks ok:http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll257/Statenislander/Computer/Devi...

BTW. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to download, so I downloaded
the first one here:http://www.viaarena.com/ViaDisplayDrivers.aspx?Drivers..aspx?PageID=1&...

Here are all the audio controls I could find:http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/...com/albums/ll257/Statenislander/Computer/Soun...

1) Windows Media Player = Now does nothing. Not the FLV file on my
desktop or the DVD.

2) KMPlayer = Plays FLV file on my desktop, but when attempting to
play a DVD it now now has video but no voices with the audio, and it
tends to crash my system the longer I leave it open.

3) BlazeDVD = Not playing a DVD at all.

4) UmPlayer = Won't play desktop FLV file. No voices with the audio
and no picture.

5) VLC Player = Will play only audio from desktop FLV file, and will
now not play the DVD at all.

6) FLV Player = Slow video when I open desktop FLV file. (Does not
play DVD format).

7) GOM Player = Won't play the FLV file, but the video/audio will not
start. It won't play the DVD at either.

8) RealPlayer = Plays desktop FLV file, but slow and choppy. WOn't
play the DVD.

I tend to get a weird "ping" (bell-like) sound a few seconds after I
open just about any player.

I have to go back over what links you posted that have downloads in
them and try again, but I'm not sure I'm uninstalling video and audio
related drivers the right way. When I reinstall I always click the
square box with the dark blue top that says "Setup".

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

I've spent another several hours on this and it is becoming more of a
nightmare.

Though not perfect video and audio I watched a DVD last night. Now
today none of the eight media players work completely. Using any of
them I get either no video, no audio, audio with no voices, nothing at
all, or my system crashes. Each player has at least one of those
issues, which tends to change around, but no player's video and audio
work completely at the same time. ?!?

This is my system:
http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll257/Statenislander/Computer/BelarcAdvisor1.jpg

Everything in Device Manager looks ok:
http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll257/Statenislander/Computer/DeviceManager1.jpg

BTW. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to download, so I downloaded
the first one here:
http://www.viaarena.com/ViaDisplayD...ID=1&CatID=1160&SubCatID=101&Old=1&lang=en-GB

Here are all the audio controls I could find:
http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll257/Statenislander/Computer/MasterVolume.jpg
http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/...mputer/SoundsandAudioDevicesProperties1-1.jpg
http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/...mputer/SoundsandAudioDevicesProperties2-1.jpg

1) Windows Media Player = Now does nothing. Not the FLV file on my
desktop or the DVD.

2) KMPlayer = Plays FLV file on my desktop, but when attempting to
play a DVD it now now has video but no voices with the audio, and it
tends to crash my system the longer I leave it open.

3) BlazeDVD = Not playing a DVD at all.

4) UmPlayer = Won't play desktop FLV file. No voices with the audio
and no picture. Plays the DVDS audio somewhat.

5) VLC Player = Will play only audio from desktop FLV file, and will
now not play the DVD at all.

6) FLV Player = Slow video when I open desktop FLV file. (Does not
play DVD format).

7) GOM Player = Won't play the FLV file, but the video/audio will not
start. It won't play the DVD at either.

8) RealPlayer = Plays desktop FLV file, but slow and choppy. Won't
play the DVD.

I tend to get a weird "ping" (bell-like) sound a few seconds after I
open just about any player.

I have to go back over what links you posted that have downloads in
them and try again, but I'm not sure I'm uninstalling video and audio
related drivers the right way. When I reinstall I always click the
square box with the dark blue top that says "Setup".

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

 

[Paul]

I've spent another several hours on this and it is becoming more of a
nightmare.

Though not perfect video and audio I watched a DVD last night. Now
today none of the eight media players work completely. Using any of
them I get either no video, no audio, audio with no voices, nothing at
all, or my system crashes. Each player has at least one of those
issues, which tends to change around, but no player's video and audio
work completely at the same time. ?!?

This is my system:
http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll257/Statenislander/Computer/BelarcAdvisor1.jpg

Everything in Device Manager looks ok:
http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll257/Statenislander/Computer/DeviceManager1.jpg

BTW. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to download, so I downloaded
the first one here:
http://www.viaarena.com/ViaDisplayD...ID=1&CatID=1160&SubCatID=101&Old=1&lang=en-GB

Here are all the audio controls I could find:
http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll257/Statenislander/Computer/MasterVolume.jpg
http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/...mputer/SoundsandAudioDevicesProperties1-1.jpg
http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/...mputer/SoundsandAudioDevicesProperties2-1.jpg

1) Windows Media Player = Now does nothing. Not the FLV file on my
desktop or the DVD.

2) KMPlayer = Plays FLV file on my desktop, but when attempting to
play a DVD it now now has video but no voices with the audio, and it
tends to crash my system the longer I leave it open.

3) BlazeDVD = Not playing a DVD at all.

4) UmPlayer = Won't play desktop FLV file. No voices with the audio
and no picture. Plays the DVDS audio somewhat.

5) VLC Player = Will play only audio from desktop FLV file, and will
now not play the DVD at all.

6) FLV Player = Slow video when I open desktop FLV file. (Does not
play DVD format).

7) GOM Player = Won't play the FLV file, but the video/audio will not
start. It won't play the DVD at either.

8) RealPlayer = Plays desktop FLV file, but slow and choppy. Won't
play the DVD.

I tend to get a weird "ping" (bell-like) sound a few seconds after I
open just about any player.

I have to go back over what links you posted that have downloads in
them and try again, but I'm not sure I'm uninstalling video and audio
related drivers the right way. When I reinstall I always click the
square box with the dark blue top that says "Setup".

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

Anything in Event Viewer ?

The ping (bell) probably means something got an error.
Like a check for multimedia is failing somewhere.

You can use GSpot, and drop the movie files on that, and see
whether the rendering path works or not.

http://gspot.headbands.com/v26x/index.htm

http://gspot.headbands.com/v26x/GSpot270a.zip

GSpot has a couple menu items for listing codecs as well,
so you can see what is currently installed on the system. On
my systems here, I can't honestly say what I see there makes
a lot of sense. Many times, I'll see a pile of stuff related
to demuxing mpeg2 streams, and then a video codec will be missing.
So somebody wants me to be able to demux the streams, but they
always miss out the codec that does the decoding. So I don't know
how much value you'll get from reading the list. It's always
fun to click the numbered buttons at the bottom of the screen,
and see if the movie file will render or not.

I don't really have any good theory as to what's happened to your
system. You've undoubtedly rebooted a ton of times before
the "good" DVD playing session. So I don't see why shutdown over
night, and attempting to play the next day, should lead to so
much grief.

And you haven't mentioned any crashing, so I'm not about
to blame hardware at this point.

Paul

 

[Searcher7]

Anything in Event Viewer ?

The ping (bell) probably means something got an error.
Like a check for multimedia is failing somewhere.

You can use GSpot, and drop the movie files on that, and see
whether the rendering path works or not.

http://gspot.headbands.com/v26x/index.htm

   http://gspot.headbands.com/v26x/GSpot270a.zip

GSpot has a couple menu items for listing codecs as well,
so you can see what is currently installed on the system. On
my systems here, I can't honestly say what I see there makes
a lot of sense. Many times, I'll see a pile of stuff related
to demuxing mpeg2 streams, and then a video codec will be missing.
So somebody wants me to be able to demux the streams, but they
always miss out the codec that does the decoding. So I don't know
how much value you'll get from reading the list. It's always
fun to click the numbered buttons at the bottom of the screen,
and see if the movie file will render or not.

I don't really have any good theory as to what's happened to your
system. You've undoubtedly rebooted a ton of times before
the "good" DVD ...

read more »

I have no idea what "Event Viewer" is.

I'm certain the problem is not the various media players I've been
trying. None of them are failing to play the DVD or FLV file in
exactly the same way. I'm thinking the problem is in the hardware.

KMPlayer is the only media player that will freeze up my pc within a
minute of playing an FLV file, necessitating a re-boot. But KMPlayer
comes the closest to playing a DVD. It's just that the voices are
missing. Especially since other apps like Adobe Reader are giving me
problems. (I can't even install Alvira on this system because of the
specs, but was able to on a different system that had lower specs).

I read that you can lose voices out of the audio if the audio is set
to 5.1 and two speakers or headphones are connected because the middle
channel which you wouldn't have is the one with the voices.

But I think the problem is the EPIA Mini-ITX motherboard.

I tried re-installing Windows XP. But this machine from hell won't
even let me do that. After I press a key to boot from the CD the files
start to load and then the screen goes black and nothing else happens.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

 

[Searcher7]

Anything in Event Viewer ?

The ping (bell) probably means something got an error.
Like a check for multimedia is failing somewhere.

You can use GSpot, and drop the movie files on that, and see
whether the rendering path works or not.

http://gspot.headbands.com/v26x/index.htm

   http://gspot.headbands.com/v26x/GSpot270a.zip

GSpot has a couple menu items for listing codecs as well,
so you can see what is currently installed on the system. On
my systems here, I can't honestly say what I see there makes
a lot of sense. Many times, I'll see a pile of stuff related
to demuxing mpeg2 streams, and then a video codec will be missing.
So somebody wants me to be able to demux the streams, but they
always miss out the codec that does the decoding. So I don't know
how much value you'll get from reading the list. It's always
fun to click the numbered buttons at the bottom of the screen,
and see if the movie file will render or not.

I don't really have any good theory as to what's happened to your
system. You've undoubtedly rebooted a ton of times before
the "good" DVD ...

read more »

I have no idea what "Event Viewer" is.

I'm certain the problem, which is something that can effect both audio
and video, is not the various media players I've been trying. None of
them are failing to play a DVD or FLV file in exactly the same way.

If I disable the "Vinyl AC'97 Codec Combo Driver (WDM)" I get no sound
at all, but at the same time I was wondering if it could be my
problem. A problem that affect multimedia files coming from my DVD or
stored on my pc.

I disabled "VIA/S3G UniChrome" in Device Manager which actually
improved things back to where they were, but not to the point I can
play a DVD movie with no issues. (Does this mean I have to find
another "Display Adapters" driver?).

By the way I use a CRT monitor.

KMPlayer is the only media player that will freeze up my pc within a
minute of playing an FLV file or DVD, necessitating a re-boot. But it
also comes the closest to actually working with the DVD "Avengers". On
my last attempt I managed to get the voices in the audio that were
missing back at the same time the video slowed to a crawl just before
it froze my pc.

The GOM Player I used last night is the only one that will play the
DVD "Battleship". (Though still a little choppy and without certain
functions working).

So basically what doesn't work and what works somewhat tends to vary
between media players and also within each media player.

I think the problem comes down to the EPIA Mini-ITX motherboard
drivers.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

 

[Paul]

I think the problem comes down to the EPIA Mini-ITX motherboard
drivers.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

It could be that the hardware acceleration is causing problems.
By disabling S3G, you're probably falling back to a generic
VESA driver that Windows has, which would be un-accelerated.
Movie playback then, would be done purely in software.
The movie players check for acceleration features, get
a report back that there are none, and would then
proceed to play the movie choppy, with lots of missing
frames, due to the lack of acceleration in hardware.
Your CPU isn't strong enough to pick up the slack.
Even my 3GHz processor will drop frames given a chance.

For whatever reason, it sounds like when the GPU is made
available, the utilities don't work very well.

Unfortunately, I don't have a ready-made test suite for video.
I've tries to set that up in Linux before, but failed (in the
sense that the recipe was just too damn complicated, and I doubt
if I tried it twice in a row, it would work the same way both
times). I wanted something that would work right out
of the box.

You can try 3DMark2001SE Built 330. It relies on the GPU being
turned on, and some flavor of DirectX to be installed. It's
relatively old, so whatever DirectX is on your Windows install
is probably fine. It is a 40MB download. When you have weak
video cards (I've got a lot of those, like FX5200), the
score will make you feel better.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/3Dmark_d99.html

If such a test crashes the computer, or errors out before it
finishes a benchmark run, then *something* in your hardware
just isn't stable.

Paul

 

[Searcher7]

It could be that the hardware acceleration is causing problems.
By disabling S3G, you're probably falling back to a generic
VESA driver that Windows has, which would be un-accelerated.
Movie playback then, would be done purely in software.
The movie players check for acceleration features, get
a report back that there are none, and would then
proceed to play the movie choppy, with lots of missing
frames, due to the lack of acceleration in hardware.
Your CPU isn't strong enough to pick up the slack.
Even my 3GHz processor will drop frames given a chance.

For whatever reason, it sounds like when the GPU is made
available, the utilities don't work very well.

Unfortunately, I don't have a ready-made test suite for video.
I've tries to set that up in Linux before, but failed (in the
sense that the recipe was just too damn complicated, and I doubt
if I tried it twice in a row, it would work the same way both
times). I wanted something that would work right out
of the box.

You can try 3DMark2001SE Built 330. It relies on the GPU being
turned on, and some flavor of DirectX to be installed. It's
relatively old, so whatever DirectX is on your Windows install
is probably fine. It is a 40MB download. When you have weak
video cards (I've got a lot of those, like FX5200), the
score will make you feel better.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/3Dmark_d99.html

If such a test crashes the computer, or errors out before it
finishes a benchmark run, then *something* in your hardware
just isn't stable.

    Paul

The pc the went down resulting in me trying to get this one going has
a less powerful CPU and half as much ram, but I was still able to play
DVDs.

Should I continue trying to find better drivers? Is this system a lost
cause if I want to watch movies?

I don't seem to have a problem playing Youtube videos.

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

 

[Paul]

The pc the went down resulting in me trying to get this one going has
a less powerful CPU and half as much ram, but I was still able to play
DVDs.

Should I continue trying to find better drivers? Is this system a lost
cause if I want to watch movies?

I don't seem to have a problem playing Youtube videos.

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

Turn on the S3G, then run 3DMark2001 and then run the benchmark in there.
I'm curious what will happen.

You can run "dxdiag" from Start:Run, to verify that DirectX is present
and working. The test buttons can be a bit deceiving. But it's better than
nothing, especially if 3DMark starts complaining that you don't have
DirectX.

Paul

 

[Searcher7]

Turn on the S3G, then run 3DMark2001 and then run the benchmark in there.
I'm curious what will happen.

You can run "dxdiag" from Start:Run, to verify that DirectX is present
and working. The test buttons can be a bit deceiving. But it's better than
nothing, especially if 3DMark starts complaining that you don't have
DirectX.

    Paul

I can't drop $40 on 3DMark2001, but Dxdiag shows I have DirectX 9.0c

Hardware sound Acceleration Level is at maximum, but a test says,
"Your sound card does not support hardware buffering. Sounds will only
play back from software buffers." (I have no sound card).

And everything in under the Display tab is enabled.

In Device Manager can anything under "Display Adapters" and "Sound,
video and game controllers" that has an uninstall option be
uninstalled without a problem? (I'm still playing around with
drivers).

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

 

[Paul]

I can't drop $40 on 3DMark2001, but Dxdiag shows I have DirectX 9.0c

Hardware sound Acceleration Level is at maximum, but a test says,
"Your sound card does not support hardware buffering. Sounds will only
play back from software buffers." (I have no sound card).

And everything in under the Display tab is enabled.

In Device Manager can anything under "Display Adapters" and "Sound,
video and game controllers" that has an uninstall option be
uninstalled without a problem? (I'm still playing around with
drivers).

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

You can uninstall video drivers, because the OS has a VESA driver
it will use if nothing else is available.

Sound is optional, and should not gate successful operation of the OS.

Disk drivers are obviously important, because they enabled booting
to complete after BIOS handoff. While computers could have likely
operated using extended INT 0x13 services from the BIOS, the evolution
of the OSes headed to OS owned drivers instead.

*******

Being shareware, you can "evaluate" 3DMark2001SE. It is not even
nagware. I've never received any nagging messages from it. You're not
going to be using it every day for the next two years. You'll be
evaluating it, and whether pass or fail, removing it when done.
While it's entertaining to watch the first time, it's not exactly
riveting.

Generally, if I get a new video card, I might use that for one
run, and then I'm done with it. If the result is 17000 or 100000,
I might compare the result to a published result somewhere, just
in case my card is not performing up to its potential. Other than
that, I'm looking for a crash that says the hardware is broken.

Paul

 

[Searcher7]

You can uninstall video drivers, because the OS has a VESA driver
it will use if nothing else is available.

Sound is optional, and should not gate successful operation of the OS.

Disk drivers are obviously important, because they enabled booting
to complete after BIOS handoff. While computers could have likely
operated using extended INT 0x13 services from the BIOS, the evolution
of the OSes headed to OS owned drivers instead.

*******

Being shareware, you can "evaluate" 3DMark2001SE. It is not even
nagware. I've never received any nagging messages from it. You're not
going to be using it every day for the next two years. You'll be
evaluating it, and whether pass or fail, removing it when done.
While it's entertaining to watch the first time, it's not exactly
riveting.

Generally, if I get a new video card, I might use that for one
run, and then I'm done with it. If the result is 17000 or 100000,
I might compare the result to a published result somewhere, just
in case my card is not performing up to its potential. Other than
that, I'm looking for a crash that says the hardware is broken.

    Paul

Outside of changing the audio cable I kept uninstalling and
reinstalling the driver I found. I thought I finally fixed things but
the best I could do was getting GOM Player playing DVDs and *some*
files depending on where I get them.(Apparently there are
somedifferences between files depending on what website I get them).

All other media players will either freeze my system, work sluggishly,
onot play at all, or crash immediately. (Every media player exhibits
different symptoms.

So it's not the hardware.

For some media players it's like something is playing around with some
media player controls in the background because I can see some
functions "vibrate" for lack of a better way of describing it. But
it's always something different from one player to the next.

The problem is obviously something involved in the *tranfer* between
the stored media files themselves and *any* media player.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York

 

[Searcher7]

Outside of changing the audio cable I kept uninstalling and
reinstalling the driver I found. I thought I finally fixed things but
the best I could do was getting GOM Player playing DVDs and *some*
files depending on where I get them.(Apparently there are
somedifferences between files depending on what website I get them).

All other media players will either freeze my system, work sluggishly,
onot play at all, or crash immediately. (Every media player exhibits
different symptoms.

So it's not the hardware.

For some media players it's like something is playing around with some
media player controls in the background because I can see some
functions "vibrate" for lack of a better way of describing it. But
it's always something different from one player to the next.

The problem is obviously something involved in the *tranfer* between
the stored media files themselves and *any* media player.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York

I forgot to mention that 3DMark2001 doesn't work on my system.
(Windows XP, 1Ghz processor, 1024mb ram, Via Mini-ITX motherboard).

When I start the app I get the following message:

"The 3D accelerator you selected does not support the display setting
combination you had chosen. The settings have been downgraded.

The default settings for 3DMark2001 are 1024 x 768 resolution, 32 bit
colors, 24/32 bit Z-buffer, compressed textures using DXTC formats 1
and 3."

Then when I click "Benchmark" or "Demo" it runs for about 20 seconds
and freezes before I get the blue screen with the message that Windows
has detected a problem and shut down my pc to prevent further damage.
And that the problem seemed to be caused by VTdisp.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

 

[Paul]

I forgot to mention that 3DMark2001 doesn't work on my system.
(Windows XP, 1Ghz processor, 1024mb ram, Via Mini-ITX motherboard).

When I start the app I get the following message:

"The 3D accelerator you selected does not support the display setting
combination you had chosen. The settings have been downgraded.

The default settings for 3DMark2001 are 1024 x 768 resolution, 32 bit
colors, 24/32 bit Z-buffer, compressed textures using DXTC formats 1
and 3."

Then when I click "Benchmark" or "Demo" it runs for about 20 seconds
and freezes before I get the blue screen with the message that Windows
has detected a problem and shut down my pc to prevent further damage.
And that the problem seemed to be caused by VTdisp.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

One of two possibilities.

1) You need to track down a different driver.

Sometimes, the drivers provided for your vintage of
hardware, are not updated.

But as long as VIA continues to make new chipsets, which
reuse the same generation of graphics hardware (which I suspect
is true in your case), it could be, that a driver intended for
a later chipset, will also install to yours. The difference
being, you inherit any bug fixes that may have occurred when
packaging and shipping the driver for the later chipset.
The evidence might be in the .inf file. You'd look at the .inf
in the existing file, look for VEN/DEV numbers. And when you
download some other driver (say for Unichrome Pro or whatever),
you again check the .inf file to see if your chip numbers
are present.

2) The second possibility, is the graphics just aren't Direct3D quality,
and it will never work for that purpose. Fortunately, things like
DXVA or other movie playback acceleration features, would be
separate from Direct3D. And all that the loss of Direct3D does,
is cause things like 3DMark2001 (or some Windows 3D game) to not
work.

Even if, by some miracle, you find specs for your chip, and it's
not "DirectX 9", I think I'd still search for another driver.
Anything which might have a bug fix, is worth chasing after.

Paul

 

[Searcher7]

One of two possibilities.

1) You need to track down a different driver.

    Sometimes, the drivers provided for your vintage of
    hardware, are not updated.

    But as long as VIA continues to make new chipsets, which
    reuse the same generation of graphics hardware (which I suspect
    is true in your case), it could be, that a driver intended for
    a later chipset, will also install to yours. The difference
    being, you inherit any bug fixes that may have occurred when
    packaging and shipping the driver for the later chipset.
    The evidence might be in the .inf file. You'd look at the .inf
    in the existing file, look for VEN/DEV numbers. And when you
    download some other driver (say for Unichrome Pro or whatever),
    you again check the .inf file to see if your chip numbers
    are present.

2) The second possibility, is the graphics just aren't Direct3D quality,
    and it will never work for that purpose. Fortunately, things like
    DXVA or other movie playback acceleration features, would be
    separate from Direct3D. And all that the loss of Direct3D does,
    is cause things like 3DMark2001 (or some Windows 3D game) to not
    work.

Even if, by some miracle, you find specs for your chip, and it's
not "DirectX 9", I think I'd still search for another driver.
Anything which might have a bug fix, is worth chasing after.

    Paul

I assume you are referring to the display adapter drivers, correct?
(Perhaps I'll trying e-mailing VIA again).

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

 

[Paul]

I assume you are referring to the display adapter drivers, correct?
(Perhaps I'll trying e-mailing VIA again).

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

Yes, the display adapter drivers.

The cores have names, like UniChrome Pro. (Check the name
of yours again - I forgot)

And the same core gets used again and again. If they stop
offering a driver directly for your chipset (on the mini-ITX
motherboard), there is a possibility a driver for another chipset,
one with the same graphics core, could be used. And if that chip
is more recent, it may benefit from any bug fixes they
discover along the way.

If the board has a slot for a plug-in card, that would be
another way to "fix" the problem. By fitting a graphics
card with better drivers. But at least a few of those
little boards, have inferior single slots. Like say,
a PCI slot, running at 133MB/sec. On some mini-ITX (without
VIA chipset), they've offered as good as a PCI Express x16 slot,
in which you can put a regular video card. You could get
a relatively low power one, which would give you DXVA and a
smattering of 3D gaming performance (no it won't run Crysis
well, but of course your processor couldn't push the pixels
for that anyway). But what are the odds, that a board with
relatively broken graphics, offers a stellar expansion slot ?

There are PCI graphics cards, they do work, but the driver
writers put checks in the drivers, for the card slot type.
Things like motion compensation, or 3:2 pulldown, are disabled
when the slot bandwidth is inferior. So rather than leaving
all the eye candy turned on and letting the user play with it,
they just decide for you, and turn some of it off. And that's
why I can't give an unreserved recommendation to an
"ordinary" PCI graphics card. If you had any kind of PCI
Express slot, that's better. I think the driver will disable
one feature, if it detects x1 PCI Express lane wiring. But
doesn't cut quite as many features, as may be cut for a PCI
slot type.

They really meant these little boards to be a challenge,
and this one is excelling at it.

Another possibility, is to find a web forum that
specializes in mini-ITX, and see if anyone there
managed to find a good driver.

*******

Notice a Linux user didn't have much luck.
He ended up using Windows.

http://forums.gbpvr.com/showthread.php?32980-Via-Epia-M10000-(C3-1ghz-Nehemiah)-Success-story!

*******

There is a PCI video card here, as an example of a
more modern card. This would replace your on-chip
graphics, and there would be a video decoder in
the video card.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500262

ZOTAC ZT-60604-10L GeForce GT 610

"serves its purpose

Pros: Used to replace a bad HDMI port on a mini-itx motherboard
with a single PCI slot. Functions as it should in Ubuntu
12.04 using the proprietary driver, giving me native 720p
output for my monitor and HDMI audio (the former of which
I was unable to achieve using my board's antiquated
onboard VGA)."

From the Nvidia site for the GT 610.

Thermal and Power Specs:
102 C Maximum GPU Temperature (in C)
29 W Maximum Graphics Card Power (W)

Apparently it's a rebadged GT 520.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5845/...ased-geforce-gt-610-gt-620-gt-630-into-retail

The video decoder in the GT 520 is "fifth-generation Purevideo".
A lot more of the video decoding process, would be
done by the hardware.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purevideo

ATI has a parallel feature set, and there may be
modern cards from them on Newegg. This HD 5450
is an HTPC type of video card, and relatively
low power.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161353

The HD 5450 is 9.2 watts while gaming, and 3.2 watts idle.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/graphics/display/gpu-power-consumption-2010_3.html#sect0

The HD5450 is UVD 2.2 level video decoding. So it's not
the latest ATI has got. Unfortunately, I don't see any
UVD 3 capable cards, in a PCI format.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UVD

Paul

 

[Searcher7]

Searcher7 wrote: > > I assume you are referring to the display adapter drivers, correct? > (Perhaps I'll trying e-mailing VIA again). > > Thanks. > > Darren Harris > Staten Island, New York. Yes, the display adapter drivers.. The cores have names, like UniChrome Pro. (Check the name of yours again - I forgot) And the same core gets used again and again. If they stop offering a driver directly for your chipset (on the mini-ITX motherboard), thereis a possibility a driver for another chipset, one with the same graphics core, could be used. And if that chip is more recent, it may benefit from any bug fixes they discover along the way. If the board has a slot for a plug-in card, that would be another way to "fix" the problem. By fitting a graphics card with better drivers. But at least a few of those little boards, have inferior single slots. Like say, a PCI slot, running at 133MB/sec. On some mini-ITX (without VIA chipset), they've offered as good as a PCI Express x16 slot, in which you can put a regular video card. You could get a relatively low power one, which would give you DXVA and a smattering of 3D gaming performance (no it won't run Crysis well, but of course your processor couldn't push the pixels for that anyway). But what are the odds, that a board with relatively broken graphics, offers a stellar expansion slot ? There are PCI graphics cards, they do work, but the driver writers put checks in the drivers, for the card slot type. Things like motion compensation, or 3:2 pulldown, are disabled when the slot bandwidth is inferior. So rather than leaving all the eye candy turned on and letting the user play with it, they just decide for you, and turn some of it off. And that's why I can't give an unreserved recommendation to an "ordinary" PCI graphics card. If youhad any kind of PCI Express slot, that's better. I think the driver will disable one feature, if it detects x1 PCI Express lane wiring. But doesn't cut quite as many features, as may be cut for a PCI slot type. They really meant these little boards to be a challenge, and this one is excelling at it.. Another possibility, is to find a web forum that specializes in mini-ITX,and see if anyone there managed to find a good driver. ******* Notice a Linux user didn't have much luck. He ended up using Windows. http://forums.gbpvr.com/showthread.php?32980-Via-Epia-M10000-(C3-1ghz-Nehemiah)-Success-story! ******* There is a PCI video card here, as an example of a more modern card. This would replace your on-chip graphics, and there would be a video decoder in the video card. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500262 ZOTAC ZT-60604-10L GeForce GT 610 "serves its purpose Pros: Used to replace a bad HDMI port on a mini-itx motherboard with a singlePCI slot. Functions as it should in Ubuntu 12.04 using the proprietary driver, giving me native 720p output for my monitor and HDMI audio (the formerof which I was unable to achieve using my board's antiquated onboard VGA)." From the Nvidia site for the GT 610. Thermal and Power Specs: 102 C Maximum GPU Temperature (in C) 29 W Maximum Graphics Card Power (W) Apparently it's a rebadged GT 520. http://www.anandtech.com/show/5845/...ased-geforce-gt-610-gt-620-gt-630-into-retail The video decoder in the GT 520 is "fifth-generation Purevideo". A lot more of the video decoding process, would be done by the hardware. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purevideo ATI has a parallel feature set, and there may be modern cards from themon Newegg. This HD 5450 is an HTPC type of video card, and relatively low power. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161353 The HD 5450 is 9.2 watts while gaming, and 3.2 watts idle. http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/graphics/display/gpu-power-consumption-2010_3.html#sect0 TheHD5450 is UVD 2.2 level video decoding. So it's not the latest ATI has got.. Unfortunately, I don't see any UVD 3 capable cards, in a PCI format. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UVD Paul

I tried posting to Via Arena forums and after 85 views and no responses I'mabout ready to give up and consider the Via ITX stuff garbage.

http://www.viaarena.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=20

I tried the FAQ and downloaded a recommended codec, only to finsd that I need an internet connection to install it. So since I no longer have internetservice I doubt I'll get this done now anyway via the library pc and a flash drive.

The pc is starting to freeze more often, and not just when I open KMPlayer.

Sometimes the registry has to be fixed and other times I just get a black screen with the words: "Attention: 82k/182HZ Frequency is out of Range"

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

 

[Searcher7]

BTW. I just came acorss this page: http://www.via.com.tw/en/support/drivers.jsp

And after selecting "Integrated Graphics" a few drivers were displayed for download. Using trial and error should I be trying those?

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

 

[Paul]

BTW. I just came acorss this page: http://www.via.com.tw/en/support/drivers.jsp

And after selecting "Integrated Graphics" a few drivers were displayed for download. Using trial and error should I be trying those?

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

If you try the menus, you may find something like "CLE266 Unichrome" in
the list. So the trial and error might be just one download at
the library. You never know. Check the name of your stuff, before
you head off to the library.

I've been away for a week, and during that time, was using a computer
on dialup, and attempting to fix stuff on it. Every download took
at least an hour, so the fixing process was "slow as molasses". I
expect your "use the library" method as a bootstrap will also
be slow.

You can occasionally find a dialup ISP in your area, where you could
buy service for a short period (like a month). So if you wanted
to pick up a few drivers, it might cost you $10 to $20 to do it
from the convenience of your own home. But dialup networking still sucks.

Paul