Video woes - ASUS M2A-VM HDMI in Vista64

[OhSmeg]

Mainboard: ASUS M2A-VM HDMI (AMD 690G- aka Radeon X1250). DVI, VGA & HDMI outputs
CPU: Athlon X2- 4800
TV: FusionHDTV- Dual Express
Vista Ultimate 64 (fully patched!)
Catalyst 7.2 (latest from ATI) - Note: ASUS supplied Catalyst drivers would not work with VMCE!

Monitor is- Samsung LA32S7 (Quotes PC resolution at 1360 x 768) (Connected on VGA-tried HDMI, but panel only supports 720P, 1080i- which don't map pixel for pixel so went back to VGA)

The problem:

The Catalyst drivers wont detect 1360 x 768 (even is I manually press 'detect monitor') - it always shows 1280 x 768. However, a check of the 'current resolution - using the info button on the LCD remote' shows 1360 x 768 @ 60 Hz- which is correct.

I cannot see the correct resolution in the list of resolutions and the EBID info reported by the Catalyst Control Panel- says 'Not Capable' for reporting resolutions etc. However I tried the same in XP MCE2005 and the drivers do show 1360x768 in the list of resolutions.

This means the image is crisp as it is locked on the native resolution, but because the applications think the actual resolution is 1280x768 - the aspect ratio is wrong in playback of VMCE (Live TV, DVD, etc does not fill the screen (black bars at top and bottom)- even though the OS Start menu and other windows do fill the entire area.

Q1. Does anyone know why the Vista Catalyst drivers are so different from the XP equivalents with regards to resolution detection? How do I make the ATI driver see the atual LCD panel resolution- 1360x768?
Q2. Has anyone else noticed that the ASUS supplied Catalyst drivers detect the GPU as X1250 whereas the ATI ones detect as X1200? WTF? (and the ASUS Catalyst drivers crash VMCE and FusionHDTV!)
Q3. I've read through a lot of posts here and I'm beginning to think I made a bad choice for my VMCE platform. It seems that the AM690 integrated solutions- while being sold a multimedia platforms- are so buggy- ATI doesn't want to support them- they want you to buy a new Graphics Card. The MB vendors drivers are buggy- and the wonderful AMD site loves to tell everyone how wonderful their AM690 chipset solution is for hardware DXVA playback when in truth- it just does not deliver the goods. Has anyone actually been able to achieve HARDWARE playback of MPEG2 Encoder in VMCE? If not- which software MPEG2 encoder delivers the best PQ on these AM690 platforms?


I've built both MCE 2005 XP and Vista 64 MCE and I'm very disappointed in the hassle it has taken to get a decent working solution. My old Digicrystal 9300 had better picture quality than this expensive HTPC - no hassles (but no recording).

Should I ditch this MB and start again?

[falcc]

Hmm... I hear your pain.

Does the same problem(resolution one) exist under 32bit Vista?

[OhSmeg]

Don't know if Vista 32 bit is affected, but my guess is that it is. I am currently bouncing a support ticket back and forth with ATI/AMD. They don't properly answer my question- which is why it works properly under Calatyst XP but not under Vista- and they don't read my problem properly- I'm NOT using DVI/HDMI - I'm using VGA and according to ATI support reply, VGA *should* work properly. (See ATI support response below)

It's worth posting for others though- that ATI GPU's currently DO NOT support 1366x768/1360x768 resolutions from DVI and HDMI.

From ATI/AMD Support...

The chipset is an x1250. It just that the new drivers now categorize the video chipset as x1200 series. So an x1650 would be categorized as x1600 series. This has no effect on performance.
>>>>>>>>>
737-27692: Radeon Series - The Resolution 1366x768 Not Available on some LCD TV Using DVI or HDMI
The information in this article applies to the following configuration(s):
• Radeon® series
• Windows Vista 32bit
• Windows Vista 64bit
• Windows XP Professional
• Windows XP Home Edition
• Windows XP Media Center Edition
• Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
• Windows 2000 Professional
• SHARP L26GA4E LCD TV
• SONY KLVS32A10 LCD TV
• EVESHAM V32ECCB-ZE3 LCD TV
Symptoms:
With above mentioned LCD TV the resolution 1360x768/1366x768 is not available through DVI or HDMI, whereas Sharp indicated 1366x768 as native resolution. Through VGA connection the resolution is available. The EDID information from LCD TV manufacturer does not include these resolutions.
Other graphics cards or LCD TVs might be affected.
Solution:
Currently there is no solution.
ATI Engineering has been advised of this issue and is investigating. Any updates will be published when they become available.


So there you have it- if you want to support 1366x768/1360x768 resolutions via DVI/HDMI it doesn't currently work with ATI RADEON chipsets!

On the software decoder question-
How the hell do I select a new software decoder for VMCE under Vista 64?

I could not get VMCD to work under Vista64 despite following many posts on this site that suggest I can get it to work after running DECCHECK first. The authour of VMCD appears to agree that he cannot get it working under Vista64 either!

When I try to run VMCD I get some sort of immediate NET Framework exception error- and then the interface opens with blank drop downs for Video an Audio decoder options.

Surely someone somewhere has been able to get this working under Vista64? It really is amazing that no one else seems to be having this problem? Perhaps all others have chucked out Vista64 and gone back to Vista32?

Sure I can hack the registry, but I've already had to do a system restore from screwing around with the MCE decoder registry- and even when you do, you're not really sure if the decoder HAS changed- because DECCHECK doesn't tell you the correct current 64bit decoder?

Help!

[dgaust]

That's not what their email is saying. Their email is saying that your TV doesn't broadcast the EDID information that says that it will accept 1360x768.

In any event, I have used 1360x768 on a x1250 chip over HDMI to my Sony TV in Ultimate 32bit.

[OhSmeg]

I hear what you're saying and not arguing with you, but ATI does appear to suggest the end result is that this resolution is therefore not availbable over DVI/HDMI- 'With above mentioned LCD TV the resolution 1360x768/1366x768 is not available through DVI or HDMI'

I cannot confirm it because my LCD panel only supports 720P 1080i over HDMI in any event I'm using VGA and the issue for me is that it does work in XP over VGA, but does NOT work properly in Vista (syncs at 1360x768- but reports 1280x768 to Vista).

I'd be interested to know how you got it working over HDMI at that resolution? What did you have to tweak?- since I dont ever even see 1360x768 as an option?

tnx

[dgaust]

I didn't tweak anything. I plugged it in and it worked. Because my TV is sending the correct edid information.