MURCer's Let's show some strength!!!

[Bixler]

Several of us have been agitating for continued support and a coding upgrade for the Matrox DVD Module. Product dev. is monitoring a petition thread to see if there is enough reason to continue support for this hardware. If you care at all about this issue, please register over at the official Matrox Tech Supp. forum site and post in here.
http://forum.matrox.com/mgaforum/For...ML/000126.html

Please help guys!!
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Bixler, relentlessly stupid enough to believe that the little guy can sometimes win.

[DosFreak]

Why are you guys so stressed out about Matrox's DVD? Just use PowerDVD.

[Bixler]

Hey Dos!

Power DVD nor any of the other software DVD players utilize the matrox module for g-200's. If I were to load this program or any other software player, it would eat my processor alive and I'd be watching a slide show (instead of a movie with true spdif sound.) My hardware module would be sitting there patiently blind and waiting for instructions. Folks on older systems with slower processors can't use software based decoders, and besides there are many good reasons to do DVD in hardware even if your processor can handle the load. I paid good money for this little gizmo and it's never been supported properly.
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It's becoming clear why I feel so abandoned (sigh)

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AMD K6III 400 @ 426 On a SOYO SY5EMA M/B. Marvel G200 TV with HW/DVD Daughtercard,
CDBurner, Creative DVD, Promise Ultra 66 Controller
two big WD Hdds, Outboard 56K modem
Parallel Port Scanner,
All stuffed into a Mid-tower ATX case with no device slots left!

[Muad'Dib]

Shit, look at my specs and I still can't run DVD's through software. Actually, haven't tried it with my new sound card, but before the video would turn into a slide show and then the sound would be off track for the rest of the damn movie.

Dimitri

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Athon 700
MSI K7-PRO (110 version)
G400 MAX
196 Megs PC100 RAM
20 gig Maxtor
6 gig WD
DVD-ROM (2nd gen)
RealMagic Hollywood + DVD decoder
Toshiba CDRW (will check on model number when I get home)
SB Live! X-Gamer (ALMOST went for the platinum, but....)

Ok people, keep those UT excuses to suck rolling in. I need all the "help" I can get...

New Excuse: My computer runs it too smoothly. I can't figure out what I'm doing without the choppyness....

[Bixler]

Dimitri:

LOL!

That 700 should do the job easily though...'specially if you've got a g400 with hardware assisted (not true hdwe) decoding.

Something's wrong.

[DosFreak]

Very wrong. I have a G400 + Dxr3 + 6xDVD and Dvd's play smooth in both software & hardware. As soom as a ...uh...never mind.

[Bixler]

DF:

If your reply was to D'Mitiri then ignore. If it was to MOI...then shall we unsheath our swords...

This is a classic misunderstanding without the benefit of good ol' eye contact.

WHAT hardware??? A DXR3? Then I'm happy for you, but I chose the Matrox DVD hardware, and it doesn't work...well not very well.

Less than PIII 350's or ANY K6x and you can forget about a software only player. The product I'm agitating about is a MATROX Hardware decoder (similar to your DXR3, --superior in concept but inferior in implementation) that plugs in to my G-200. It was a good idea, but bound by proprietary code and dedicated to the G-200 series cards.
Software is NOT an option, and I've already spent all the money I should for a hardware decoder from a major video hardware mfr...I just want some support.

My e-mail is in my profile if you want to talk further...I'm just looking for my favorite Vid card co. to support something that they sold me. Enjoy your hollywood with the pass-through noise and/or the software processor overhead...I want what I bought from these guys, a hardware decoder that minimizes processor overhead, needs no IRQ, and has no pass-through. Matrox has it, but the seduction of CHEAPER software solutions has left me in the dust.

I think they'll come through though.

How 'bout wishing me a little luck?

[This message has been edited by Bixler (edited 31 March 2000).]

[DosFreak]

Geesh Bixler this must really have ya upset! Nope I was referring to Muad'Dib.
He should be able to play a DVD in software with that setup.

[Bixler]

DF:

Sword resheathed!

Yeah, the adrenaline is kinda pumping, only because I'm confident that with a little controlled heat and an appeal to reason, we could get some support for this misbegotten orphan.

Someday I'm gonna have a collectors item.

Me in 2020:

"Yeah, Sonny, back in 'ought ought' we used to play movies with this curious little contraption that plugged into a video card, HeHeHe"

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Sorry Dos! :0)

[breezer]

I got a creative encore x5 with my g200 works great with svhs and dolby digital out.

Won't be able to upgrade to an athlon though.

[Wombat]

Muad'Dib,
Something is wrong with your system. You should be able to play DVD's in software with ease. I can:

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MSI-6167 w/ Athlon 500@750 (thx Greebe!), 128MB Crucial PC133, G400MAX,SBLive!-MP3,Pioneer 10x DVD, Phillips CD-R, a hard drive or two, and a Sony 420GS. Running RH6.1, and Win98 (when I have to).

[Pace]

Hey Wombat, a few questions about RH6.X.

1. Do you run OpenGL games under it? e.g. Quake2/3, UT and how do they run (compared to Win98)?

2. How does the SBLive! work? Good?

3. Can you do MP3 encoding in hardware (via SB)?

TIA, Paul.

PS: Sorry to branch from topic Bixler but the little guy can win! I heard a story from a novel called the 'Bible' or something

<ignore>
Now comes an UBB test (sorry again to e'body)


[This message has been edited by Pace (edited 31 March 2000).]

[Bixler]

Pace:

As long as it keeps the thread at the top, interested parties will read my post...I'm happy

The good news is, We are being listened to, just no official word yet on W2K support.

[RAB]

Hi Tim,
If you have a DVD card, Matrox should support it until such time as it works as advertised. I thought I saw a new update to the Zoran software posted not long ago. Did you get that?

But beside that, have you searched for a "trial" version of one of the software players? (I thought I had a link, but it didn't work. Wait a minute, dvdutils is now http://www.7thzone.com/ ). You can even get the Cinemaster one that comes with the G400. With your new K6-3 400, you should have no problems playing DVD's. I don't have a DVD-ROM on my G200 system or I would try it and let you know for sure. But I'm sure someone around here has tried a software player with a G200 and a K6-3.

Any reports folks?


Dimitri,
My G400, Matrox software player and K6-3 450 run DVD's flawlessly. No problems. Do you want to tackle your DVD problem in another thread? My first guess is that your DVD is not running in UDMA mode. But that's just a wild ass guess. Put a check in the DMA box in Device Manager.

RAB


[This message has been edited by RAB (edited 01 April 2000).]

[Bixler]

Good to see you posting in Rab

A bit of explanation is in order about this little add on.

The Matrox DVD Add-on is INCOMPATIBLE with ANY outside player or navigator...it doesn't work.

ONLY the stripped down Zoran Navigator bundled with the card will work, and this is one of the complaints from the owners of this puppy.

If I load Power DVD or Cinemaster, or anything else, my little Matrox module is idling on the sidelines quietly waiting for instructions while my Main Processor is overheating from the load.

None of the software players have the drivers to talk to our proprietary little orphan, and there just hasn't been enough attention paid to our plight since software decoding has left us in the dust.

Our appeal is for Matrox to devise a driver layer or a clean install of only the filters so that other players can talk to the Module.

I'm told that its a relatively simple task, and now that some noise has been made, they will probably come up with a solution. Things do look good, and they are listening.

It's clear that the future belongs to the type of decoding going on with the G-400 and other cards, but there are still plenty of machines that could use pure hardware decoding, There's third party developer potential as well.

When the buggy little sucker works the picture quality, particularly TV Out, is just startling, and for current g200 owners it a great $80.00 DVD solution for older processors.