SJMaye

[SJMaye]

Now you are picking at an old wound. lol  I built a mATX MC for my Dad as a Xmas present.  Had a few technical issues.  Not sure if they were him or real computer issues.  Either way we both agreed it would be better for him to go back to a Comcast STB.  I am trying to move all those new components to a case for his desktop. 

I know this is not a HTPC, but I knew I would get good feedback from you guys- Sorry bout that.

 

[SJMaye]

Read your review on that one this morning.  It is pretty nice looking and using a regular ATX PSU is a plus.  The reason I was looking at slim chassis was this will sit on his desk next to the monitor.  Just trying to keep the package as small as possible. 

On the flip side it will be a nightmare (for me) if he has power supply failures as many with slim cases have reported.

[SJMaye]

I have heard varying reports on ROku on wireless.  Was your Roku streaming on N or G? 

[SJMaye]

Understood.  I added your reg file to the registry and switched dynamic range OFF in CCC. Will monitor MC playback to see if it stays in FULL.

As for colors.  Thanks for the tips.  I just need to play with it.  Being color deficient I never know how the colors look to a normal person 🙂

[SJMaye]

[quote=babgvant]

It tells the MC EVR presenter to set 0-255 instead of 16-235 on the samples.  This is a consistent issue with AMD’s GPU drivers.

FWIW, I like to turn off most of their VPP.  The defaults blow out the colors and perform way to much NR; it’s great for HQV, but in practice it looks over processed.

[/quote]

It has been a couple weeks.  For other reasons I decided to do a reformat and re-install of the OS.  I thought I would evaluate for a little to make sure any video issues were not related.  Still the same issues.  It appears Dynamic Range periodically switches from my setting of FULL back to LIMITED.  All I do is flick the Dynamic Range on/off off and on again and all is good.

So, I understand about setting the registry value you supplied.  This will permanently set this value to full regardless of what I have in the CCC?

As for PQ, I appreciate the thoughts on turning them all off.  I have been playing with all the settings trying to understand their effects.  Since my beginning with MC years ago I have always been trying to achieve the same PQ as a cable or satellite set top box.  Sadly, not successful yet.  Granted I will never get a 42″ plasma image on my 73″ DLP, but I know it has been better with STBs in past.  Colors more vivid and sharper image.

I will keep working on it.

[SJMaye]

[quote=osburnfamily]

Try and manually set your DNS addresses instead of using DHCP/your router.

I reloaded one of my PCs last week 3 times because I couldn’t get DRM to update or Netflix to work.  Finally after the 3rd time, I thought about DNS.  Set a static DNS address and bingo–

[/quote]

Interesting.  I am game.  Can you explain how?  Sorry.   Just never done that before.

 

[SJMaye]

In case this might help someone else.  One thing I read somewhere was to disable and re-enable the ATI HDMI audio.  I did this and had no loss in audio for a few days. 

Due to other issues I took the whole system down for reformat and reinstall of Windows so I guess we will never know for sure.

[SJMaye]

OK.  I manually syncd the time, but no change.  Anytime I try to add a movie to the instan queue I get the error telling me to check my internet connection.

And this is with a fresh install of Win7 and the Netflix plugin.  Odd.

 

[SJMaye]

Thanks for the explanation, Michael.  I will check and report back.

[SJMaye]

Well, yes.  Sort of.  I reinstalled Win 7 yesterday and set my time zone.  Did a rudimentary set of the clock, but assumed the auto time sync would adjust it.

Can you tell me why this would cause the problems I am having?  Seems odd.

[SJMaye]

I have not gotten a chance to try the driver you have referenced.  I am embarassed to say I had thought I could only get the HDMI audio driver with the Radeon video card driver.  Never thought it could be installed separately.

I lost audio again yesterday.  I think I saw something for a split second that is a clue to the issue.  When I looked at the playback devices radeon HDMI audio was grayed out and on board digital audio was selected.  Then in an instant HDMI audio kicked back in without me doing anything.  HDMI audio is the default audio source.  It appears HDMI audio was momentarily disabled.  Then when I simply opened to look at the playback devices it enabled itself again.

Sort of strange.  Maybe the separate audio driver is the cure.

 

[SJMaye]

I am so new to ATI video cards I did not know that.  Sure is strange though.

[SJMaye]

OK.  Just did not know if one was better for video playback as compared to another.

 

Thx.  Will report back when I have installed the new drive.

[SJMaye]

Something else while waiting to replace the drive.  When configuring the new drive I can make it either basic or dynamic.  When it comes to the problems I am having does it matter which one I choose?

[SJMaye]

Now that is cool.  Thanks, Andrew.  I am on the road now, but will try when I get back this weekend.

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