Unexpected bleed in object edges during video playback with HD Graphics

[Filip_S_]

Dear Intel!

We are developing applications for Medical video management (capturing, re-displaying, distribution, storing etc.).

Since a while back (about 12 months) we have been noticing some bleeding or dis-coloration in video rendering on Intel HD Graphics platforms (all gens) under Windows 7 (not 8/8.1 and not XP). Worth mentioning is also that we do not see the same on Intel Q45 Graphics (or any other make of graphics devices like nVidia, ATI etc. for that matter)

We believe it is a driver related problem we’ve run into and since a lot of our customers run our client application in basic, plain vanilla, PC boxes most of them feature Intel HD Graphics for video playback. The main problem here is that we work with medical images and even a slight dis-coloration can be very "undesirable" (so to speak)...

I’ve posted some example videos on an http URL: http://81.88.12.16/Image_1.wmv http://81.88.12.16/Image_2.wmv http://81.88.12.16/Image_3.wmv and http://81.88.12.16/Image_4.wmv.

Do note! You will only experience the bleeding/dis-coloration on Windows 7 and with current (since 12 months, at least) drivers. The “effect” I’m talking about is mostly visible in edges between brighter and darker areas/structure of dis-coloration in cyan or red:ish tints will appear every now and then. Playback the video with cine loop and you will start noticing it after a while. You need to use a media player which will use DXVA acceleration for playback (not VLC which uses its own type of hardware assist). Windows Media Player is fine for testing/seeing this.

The exact same “effect” seen in Windows Media Player is also seen in our medical image management client application. We need understand why this is happening, why it only happens on the Intel HD Graphics adapters (which constitutes a majority of our clients client PCs) and if there is anything we can do to remedy this situation. Or; if it is indeed a driver problem which we assume at the moment and then, if Intel intends to do something about this, and when. We have a fair amount of customers who are starting to see this and we need to address it somehow.

Please advise!

[Bradley_W_Intel]

Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I see the effect clearly in your Image_1.wmv. Please be patient while I investigate what might be causing this.

[Michael_C_Intel2]

Hi Filip,

I have passed your issue to the graphics driver media team so they can investigate and debug. I should note that any fix we get will only be on 2nd Generation Core and newer GPUs, older GPUs are not supported by the graphics driver team at this time.

[Filip_S_]

OK. Good thing you were able to reproduce. Did you also try this on another (make) GPU to see that this is actually not visible then?

Anyhow - what could be an expected time frame for fixing/releasing a driver which does not have this problem, in your opinion/experience? We need to issue a statement of some kind to our customers containing the reason for the problem as well as an estimate on when it will be fixed. Please advice!

[Michael_C_Intel2]

To anyone following this thread, we have taken the conversation off the forums to better facilitate the investigation. In regards to Filip’s question about a time frame, we cannot give one yet as we do not know the root cause of the issue and thus the complexity of the fix.

[Filip_S_]

To anyone who might follow this thread I can say that despite no problem reproducing this issue for the Intel engineers. Very cooperative support from our side in pointing out what is wrong with the driver this issue still remains 5 months later. Not exactly what you expect from a company like Intel and not particullary nice for a company like ours with medical imaging products (which currently cannot be used on Windows 7 and Intel HD Graphics).

Intel - care to update?

[Michael_C_Intel2]

Hi Filip,

As we discussed in December there are 2 causes of your issue one with Windows Media Player (WMP) and the other with the driver. For Intel's part the driver fix was implemented mid-December and will be in our driver 15.36.14.64.4080 posted early January:
https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?DwnldID=24596&lang=eng&ProdId=3720

Keep in mind that even with the driver fix corruption is still seen due to an issue with WMP and you need to contact Microsoft for support and a fix for their software.