Power DVD and 32 bit color? (1 Viewer)

[Vince Maskeeper]

Okey kids, bare with me, I'm now to this whole thing...
I got my first DVD-rom drive today (Toshiba) and it came with Power DVD. I installed it and ran trying out my first DVD movie playback...
And it failed.

Error Code: F6F00018
Current display mode is not supported
Power DVD does not support the current display mode. (DDraw overlay mode is recommended)
Please lower the screen resolution and color depth, for example 800x600 with 256 colors. Or you may adjust the refresh frequency, for example 75 HZ.

I lowered to 600x800 and it worked, but looked shitty (and of course I don't want to run my comp at 800x600 when I'm usually running 1280x1024. I tried running at 32 bit and changed the refresh to 75hz and it still didn't work.
Eventually I found I can run at 1280x1024 as long as I use 16 bit color.
Is PowerDVD not able to use 32 bit color, or is it just my video card? I'm new to this whole thing, but I would imagine that most people don't have to alter all their display settings to make DVD playback on their PC work.
-Vince
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http://www.musicianassist.com
AIM: VinceMaskeeper
Interested in moving into FRONT PROJECTION with huge 6-10 foot widescreen? Buy my whole HDTV-ready CRT based front projection system delivered, cheap! Click here

 

[Cliff Watson]

Vince,
Most likely your video card drivers need updating, maybe even the DirectX version also.

 

[Matt DeVillier]

Vince,
software decoders work by creating an overlay surface using your video card's available memory. that surface is always in 24 bits per pixel. so Powerdvd needs ~1.5MB (960x540x24 bits) of video ram just to do the overlay, in addition to any video memory it is using to draw the desktop and any windows etc. what is likely happening to you is that your video card doesn't have enough memory to draw the desktop at 1280x1024x32 and have enough left over to do the overlay as well. 16-bit color takes a lot less memory to display and when using it you have enough left to draw the overlay as well.
though as Cliff said, it probably wouldn't hurt to make sure you have the latest video drivers for your card (what card do you have?) and latest version of directx
-Matt
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My DVD collection

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

though as Cliff said, it probably wouldn't hurt to make sure you have the latest video drivers for your card (what card do you have?) and latest version of directx

Went to windows update and it recommended I needed new version of Direct X (version 8). Installed, didn't make any difference.
As far as videocard, it's a cheap card I bought for $5 at a garage sale

Hercules Power Drive Terminator 128/3D GLH
That's what it says on the card.
I just assumed PowerDVD would say "your card doesn't support..." rather than "PowerDVD doesn't support..."
-Vince
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http://www.musicianassist.com
AIM: VinceMaskeeper
Interested in moving into FRONT PROJECTION with huge 6-10 foot widescreen? Buy my whole HDTV-ready CRT based front projection system delivered, cheap! Click here

 

[Matt DeVillier]

Vince,
IIRC, that card only has 4 or 6mb of video memory on it, so the reason I stated above is exactly why you can't run at 1280x1024x32 and watch dvds. If you're looking for a cheap upgrade, a $20 Nvidia Riva TNT based card w/16mb ram (comes in AGP or PCI) would be perfect
-Matt
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My DVD collection

 

[Eric Samonte]

Or add a few more bucks for neato Radeon from http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...nufactory=1126
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Eric Samonte
Dito sa Pilipinas..may Hom Tiyeter rin kami!

 

[Gui A]

If you're looking for a cheap upgrade, a $20 Nvidia Riva TNT based card w/16mb ram (comes in AGP or PCI) would be perfect

!#$%
Is that how much they're worth now? I paid over $250Cdn for that when it came out!
Then again, that was about two years ago.

 

[brentl]

I don't think a PCI TNT card will work!! I Had a Viper 550 PCI and it didn't support DVD playback
Brent L

 

[Iain Lambert]

Really Brent? I know my AGP TNT card worked ok, so I'm surprised that the PCI one doesn't. I agree that this sounds like a memory issue here, so getting at least a 16Mb card is a good idea.

 

[Brian Harnish]

I have a two-year old Diamond Viper V770 32MB AGP card and it works great -- plays back DVDs at 1024 x 768.

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- Brian
My DVD Collection
Want Sliders on DVD? Then please SIGN the petition!

 

[Dominik Droscher]

If you do just work on your PC and do not play any extensive 3d games I would recommend a Matrox G400 or G450. They have the best visual quality out there and have a nice feature called dual head where you can connect a second monitor on the card or even connect a TV if you do not have a second monitor. I have a G400 for 2 years now and am not planning to change it. As Matrox just started to sell the G550 you should get the card for under 50$.
DVD playback is decent if you have a CPU with more than 500 MHz.
BTW they have either 32 or 16 MB of RAM.
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-Dominik Dröscher ICQ: 25318265
"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes."
[Edited last by Dominik Dröscher on August 26, 2001 at 07:31 AM]