Latest HD 4000 drivers cannot be used for live TV (HD)

[RMitr1]

HI,

I'm trying to evaluate the latest HD4000 processors for HTPC use.

Before deciding I decided to test the HTPC typical capabilities on my desktop with a new i7 3770 in an Asus P8Z77-V and ddr3-1600 memory.

I am testing using Windows 7 x64, mainly Media center (but sometimes also media player)

As it turns out, I have heavy corruption on start of any HD video. The corruption lasts for anything between 20s to 2min, before it stabilizes. This happens any time I switch channels on live TV (from an SD to HD channel, or switching between different HD (720p, 1080i)) channels. I also found this behaviour when trying to play back recorded TV of that type, and again when I resize the media playback window. I have of course verified, that the appropriate channels or content other wise play fine on my older systems, including a DG45ID+C5200, a DH57DD+i3-540, a DQ57TM+i5-660 and a DZ68DB+i7-2600k, each running win7 x64.

I have tried drivers from OEM site, which currently is v 2596, and generic drivers 2696 and the latest 2761. All show the same behaviour.

The release note of the latest generic driver contain the known issue:

KNOWN ISSUES IN DRIVER VERSION 2761

VIDEO PLAYBACK

 Windows Media Player* application: Corruption may be seen in video playback after changing the display resolution.

Is this what I'm seeing?

If yes, are there any hopes this is going to be fixed?

Needless to say, this behaviour effectively prohibits the use of Ivy Bridge in HTPCs then.

Thx

Update Oct 24. Driver Version 2867 -- no fix

Update Nov. 2 Driver Version 2875 -- no fix

[idata]

I have installed the new INTEL HD x64 driver on my system (Windows 8 pro, ASUS P8Z77-M, Core i5 3570K - using WMC) and have been testing it for a week or so now.... and the "42sec" prolonged live TV glitch has gone.

However, on my machine there is still a few seconds (3sec max) of "glitch" whenever i change channel - (the glitch looks like the one in the youtube clip on post by - MrEv Nov 29, 2012 11:20 PM).

In addition to this, i am experiencing a visible glitch that appears intermittently. It lasts a few frames and happens seemingly at random but generally spaced at about 5-10mins apart. This issue sounds very similar to the post by yamcenutzer (Dec 9, 2012 8:03 AM).

To get around the "42sec" issue I had disabled the Microsoft live tv codec and used the LAV codec. This gets rid of the 3sec glitchy channel change problem but using the updated INTEL HD driver the intermittent video glitches still occur. I will be changing back to the previous INTEL HD driver because i had no video glitch issues when using the LAV codec with SHARK007 codec pack.

[RMitr1]

Sometimes, after channel switching, you will see 2-3s worth of 'leftover' data from the old stream. That's buffers not properly flushed. This has been the case since Clarkdale (first gen HD graphics), and again, it does not happen always. It's still a bug though. But since it hasn't been fixed since Clarkdale, I doubt it'll be fixed now.

Using Lav filters hacked into WMC works, but it's not completely unproblematic. Apart from the fact that you loose ff/rew capability, it sometimes hangs when pressing those buttons on the remote (instead of skip buttons). I would say use at your own risk.

[idata]

I can underwrite yamcenutzer's observations. They are very accurate! The glitch after the initial 40-42 seconds is there and when switching channels there is often some "leftover" distorted image from the previous stream. This also happens when skipping forward/backward. It looks very odd, because it's a mixup of two totally different scenes.

I have an older Arrandale Core i3 370M, which shows the same bug. The bugs we're talking about here occur when using WMC, but they are still Intel bugs. Too bad these bugs can't be solved quickly by the software engineers.

[idata]

glitches when changing channels are not "beautiful" but almost "normal",

the more serious problem is the following observation I think:

"In addition to this, i am experiencing a visible glitch that appears intermittently. It lasts a few frames and happens seemingly at random but generally spaced at about 5-10mins apart."

that would mean that the recordings are "ruined" with this "intermittently appearing glitches" as well ?

too bad the the intel engineers can't fix this out.

[RMitr1]

I suggest to wait for the next official driver drop, and if these issues are still there, we can start a new thread. After all, the original 40s bug is, well, kinda gone.

Out of curiosity, I would like to know a bit more 'technical' details, but this is probably not the place to ask for it.

Cheers,

[idata]

Yep, using Lav filters in WMC does work, better than MWC anyways, and even though ff/rw is not functioning I much prefer this to the unsightly and unacceptably scrambled pictures that lasts for seconds on every channel change (plus, i prefer using the skip button instead of the ff/rw, it's much faster)... however, i do miss thumbnail's which Lav filters are not compatible with (yet).

In reply to freaxx "that would mean that the recordings are "ruined" with this "intermittently appearing glitches" as well ?" As i understand it, the recordings are fine... the glitches that occur are playback issues and are related to the decoding of the h264 file. So thankfully the problem isn't being 'baked' into the recorded files. When the "42sec issue" was present on the PC that i was recording on I could take those recordings to my other PC (that was not using Intel HD 4000) and play them back with no troubles.

[Jx7]

The Beta driver isn't available anymore. Why?

[RMitr1]

maybe it's going to be released anytime soon now?

I still have it, at least the x64 version.

[Jx7]

i should have it too, but i thought they release the new driver first and then delete the beta?!

[idata]

I just saw that a new release is available for download. Although it is dated december 18th, I didn't see it earlier on the download page.

It's version 2932. Since I do not have the beta version, I'm bit reluctant to test it...

[idata]

The latest release (2932) behaves the same as our test version. It scores a bit higher in the Windows performance index.

[RMitr1]

As the OP of this thread I'm taking the liberty to mark this question as answered by the latest released driver version 2932.

The original bug of 42s distortion for certain HD streams seems resolved.

What remains is pixellation for a few secs. after channel change (sporadic).

Other issues, such as EDID overrides, 23p refresh rate accuratzcy, should be discussed in specific other threads, IMO.

Cheers

[DArce]

Clowg, could you please confirm that all issues have been resolved by using our latest generic driver 15.31.9.3165(9.18.10.3165) posted here?

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/SearchResult.aspx?lang=eng&ProductFamily=Graphics&ProductLine=Desktop+graphics+drivers&ProductProduct=3rd+Generation+Intel%C2%AE+Core%E2%84%A2+Processors+with+Intel%C2%AE+HD+Graphics+4000&ProdId=3712&LineId=1100&FamilyId=39 Download Center

[RMitr1]

As stated above, the driver release 2932 already fixed the 42s issue.

23p issue with DH77EB was 'fixed' by BIOS rel. 101 (also just recently) and not by any driver.

Edid override issue is something that I don't care about right now, maybe someone else can confirm.

However, I did note that the range settings seem to be persitent now.

[RBark3]

I have a HTPC system that I built with an Intel DH77DF motherboard and an Intel i7 CPU, that I built to use with Windows Media Center. I have tried loading both Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 on this system, but in both cases when I got the digital CableCard (Ceton InfiniTV) tuner installed and tried to play live TV, I got a "Display Error... hardware does not support content protection."

I tied a couple of times to contact Intel technical support to resolve this, bit no one ever got back to me. I also used to do some consulting work at Intel, and I know a few developers there, so I tried to contact them directly, but they could not offer any solutions.

I have seen a few postings on web forums that people have gotten Windows Media Center to play live TV on systems using the Intel HD4000 graphics hardware/drivers, but have not been able to find out what drivers need to be loaded, or what steps needs to be performed to make this work.

As a point of reference, I have tried the latest Intel graphics drivers (from the Intel web site), and also installed the latest ME drivers. I also tried deleting the graphics driver from the Intel web site and allowing the system to download a graphics driver from the Windows Update web site, but that didn't work either.

Also note... I tried running the Windows Media Center "Digital Cable Adviser" application, which checks all hardware and software for compatibility, and the graphics hardware/drivers failed.

Nvidia and ATI have had no problem producing drivers that work properly with Windows Media Center. It seems pretty sad that Intel apparently dropped the ball on this... and has provided me no support for it.

If anyone has any suggestions for how to get Windows Media Center working properly on Intel graphics, I would welcome the help.

[ROBERT_U_Intel]

@ Russ Barker, What version of Intel HD Graphics driver are you using? Also, What version of http://cetoncorp.com/product-support/ InfiniTV* software are you using?

Thanks

Robert

[RBark3]

OK... after MUCH experimentation with the drivers and hardware on a few different Intel HD graphics based systems (in my case i& CPUs with HD4xxx graphics), I finally found/resolved the problem I was having with getting Content Protection (most specifically the Content Protection in Windows Media Center) to work.

Apparently virtually ALL motherboards (both those made by Intel and 3rd party motherboards) that support Intel HD graphics have a BIOS option that allows software developers to do "Graphics Performance Analysis". If this option is enabled, the Intel Content Protection will NOT work. Unfortunately it seems that on motherboards that are sold separately (including Intel motherboards), that option is enabled when you get it.

Once I disabled the "Graphics Performance Analysis" BIOS option, and installed the latest Intel chipset (INF), ME and display (GFX) drivers (which I got from the Intel web site), the Content Protection started working properly. I am now able to watch live (Content Protected) TV channels (from my CableCard tuner) in Windows Media Center on my Intel i7 HD 4600 system.

[ROBERT_U_Intel]

@ Russ Barker, Thanks for the update. Great find.

Thanks

Robert