New Reciever/Dell Inspiron 8100 SPDIF (1 Viewer)

[Matt_SA]

I recently tore my entire old setup down which consisted of a Panasonic DVD player with built in DD Decoder, and a Techniques 80 wpc mid-fi reciever, (add various PC/game system connections/a PC using stereo RCA and a run of the mill WEGA TV) , and swapped in a new Panasonic SA-HE100 reciever which would spposedly yeild better sound, and am now running spdif from my PC (Dell Inspiron 8100) w S-video out (limited from the adapter). First off I had a problem in my old setup from my component cables from my Panasonic DVD player to the tv, weather it was the wires/some sort of interference/faulty machine etc, there was a lot of distortion (wavy lines) in the blacks. ( Used all monster cables)..Now with the s-vid out from my PC, the lines are gone, but the picture looks like absolute crap (all grainy; using Intervideo WinDVD on win ME/GeForce2Go-16 meg)..and the sound crackles (yes it does output DTS and DD 5.1 (EVEN tho I'm usinf a 75 ohm gold sheilded monster cable, (it's even directional, and I have it on the right way)). So basically my DVD playing off my PC sucks at the moment, with less than stellar sound and the worst quality picture I've ever seen come from a DVD. As soon as I hook my OLD Panny DVD up through the SAME spdif input, using the SAME cable, as well as the SAME s-vid cable I was using for my PC, I get a stunning picture (for my TV) and superb, crisp sound! This leads me to believe this is a problem from my computer. Should I upgrade The Intervideo Software? Because I get the same crappy quality with that other player that every DVD auto installs, and I get the same or worse quality with winMedial player 9 series, etc.. I don't HAVE to use my Pc to play DVD's, I just want to know what the problem is, so if anyone has experience with this please share it with me so I can at leat know what it is (and ideally fix it). PS: This problem exist no matter the bitrate/freq. being transmitted through the spdif connection - my reciever auto detects everything, so I also do not think that is the problem, however I'm really a novice as is most likely obvious....so any insight is appreciated - even if it's simply that I have a sub-par computer..
-Matt
Edit: additionally, I do not believe that Intervideo is attempting to perform any decoding, as I do not think it even has that feature..However please correct me if I am wrong, because I realize this may be the cause..The version is the OEM that came with ME. It does have the spdif option un-greyed and not patched by DVDGenie.
Edit#2: I have also tried Minority report : outputs DTS, but very crackley at a high bitrate, Jurassic Park 3, outputs DTS, NOT that crackley for some reason...Uptown girls (not my movie) sound is FINE at a lower bitrate but the picture still looks like crap)
Additionally I have tried other various monster, ultralink and even some OEM video cables to no avail.

 

[Matt_SA]

Anybody?
I am trying Power DVD v.5.0 tonight and another program that let's you configure codecs, and a new s-vid cable.

 

[Kimmo Jaskari]

First of all, directionality of cables is a lot of hooey. I pratically guarantee that if you switch the cable around you'll notice zero difference.

But I digress... unfortunately, the problem here is most likely the fact that the TV-out circuitry on the laptop sucks royally. My Inspiron 8000 produced a really crappy image as well. I haven't even tested the Inspiron 8200 I'm currently using.

When viewing DVD's or DivX/Xvid/whatever other video format off my Xbox using the HDTV cable kit and component video cables I get an image that is superb for any and all those formats. Viewing them on the laptop itself (on the built-in screen) I get a great picture as well.

Viewing them via the TV out the image is, frankly, crap. I don't think tinkering with cables etc will have any effect.

I have never had any crackling from the SPDIF though. Might be indicative of something like a ground loop between your display and the computer, perhaps?

 

[Matt_SA]

Thanks, I'm also getting an HD kit for my X-box so I'm probably going to give up on getting anything of quality out of my 8100. When using x-box to play DivX/Xvid's, can you store them on the HD? I know this is one of the reasons I never bothered to use my Dreamcast for these files, despide most likely better quality playback than my PC..

 

[Kimmo Jaskari]

Ok, totally off topic by now, I guess. Ah well.

Well, I'm not sure if it's legal to do anymore in the land of the free... but my Xbox has had its BIOS patched so it can run programs that aren't approved of by Microsoft as well as "signed code". When you do that, you can also swap out the hard drive for something meatier than the built-in 8GB, I have 120GB and do indeed use that to store MP3's and DivX files etc.

Then I installed a truly wonderful program called Xbox Media Center, http://www.xboxmediacenter.com and use that to both play music and watch video.

Absolutely superb picture quality and top-notch usability. Easily replaces a HTPC for my use.

XBMC also "speaks" SMB, ie the normal windows file sharing protocol, so you can just store your music and video on a hard drive on your PC and access it from the Xbox (assuming you get the Xbox and the computer hooked up to a network). This would make it less urgent to replace the hard drive.

Getting there isn't all that easy though, since you have to first mod your xbox and then you have to find XBMC somewhere. For legal reasons, they only have the source code on their webpage and you either have to find a way to find non-official binaries somewhere or have a Microsoft compiler to make the binaries. Either way, it takes a little doing.

I do hear that Microsoft is releasing some form of Media player software shortly as well for the Xbox, so I guess soon you won't need to mod the box to get to Xbox Nirvana...