HD DVD/Blu-ray playback with G965/X3000 graphics... is it possible?

[thuppu]

Hello,

had to register to this site... I have a Intel DG965MQ based Media/HTPC with GMA X3000 graphics and DVI. All works fine except HD DVD/Blu-ray playback. I use Cyberlink PowerDVD Ultra v7.3 player software, and it claims "Incompatible graphics driver Error code = 0012". I belive it meens non HDCP-protection support. Cyberlinks HD/BD avisor shows no go for the X3000 graphics and graphic drivers. The driver is "Intel Graphics Media Accelerator Driver v14.27.2".

I had understand that this motherboard/graphics should support HDCP protection..? On my other PC, with Nvidia/ATI graphics, HD/BD playback works just fine. It would be nice if it would work with X3000 graphics too. Any advices? Thanks.

-Thuppu

[Aaron_B_Intel]

Ah, was wondering when this would come up.

From a technical standpoint, the X3000 can handle both media, although you'll need a decent Core2 Duo in order to deal with high-bitrate H.264 onBlu-ray since there's no hardware accel for H.264 on X3000. However...

PowerDVD 7.3 needs two things to run Blu-ray and HD DVD: a valid HDCP graphics card, and "an HDCP-enabled graphics driver". Unfortunately, the latter requirement really means "an HDCP-enabled graphics driver that Cyberlink has studied and placed on theirapproved list", and in Intel's case, they haven't bothered. I contacted them about this a couple months ago and received:

Dear Customer,

The PwerDVD Ultra support ATI and nVidia for Blu-ray disc and HD DVD playback. RD engineer need to study if this card can be support by PowerDVD Ultra.

Best Regards,
CyberLink Support.

Needless to say, I am not encouraged. Perhaps we'll be luckier with WinDVD?

In some cases you can foolPowerDVD 7.3into not caring about the graphics card (AnyDVD HD does this), but there is as yet no way to fool it into not caring about the graphics driver. The driver requirement, I'm told, was not present in PowerDVD 6.5 Blu-ray/HD DVD, and if you can get a hold of a copy of that you can use AnyDVD HD to make it work, but from what I understand not only is 6.5 buggy, it won't work on newer disks since there's a mandatory DRM upgrade coming.

It would be really nice if the ISV folks at Intel could make the effort to help get this working. We've got HDCP compliant ADD2 cards out there for the X3000, they should be able to get PowerDVD and WinDVD support for them. Audio over HDMI would be nice, too,but I know there are DRM concerns with HD Audio so I'd settle for just video.

Maybe Josh Bancroft or madcvdesylvcan comment on any progress?

[thuppu]

Thanks for clearing up things. I looked at Cyberlinks FAQ/Trouble shooting site, and also get the comprehension that only Nvidia's and ATI's graphic cardsare supported.

I have alsoPDVD v6.5, but havent tried it... Maybe I do. On the other hand I already order a GF 8500GT graphic card with hdcp. I belive it would be a nice budget card with H.264, VC1 etc. hardware acceleration.

[Aaron_B_Intel]

The 8500 series are getting great reviews and they compensate for the major flaw in video processing today: weak H.264; I'm waiting for one which is HDMI and fanless, though if Intel gets its sith together and pushes Cyberlink/Intervideo to allow the G965 maybe I won't have to.

[thuppu]

archibael:

I'm waiting for one which is HDMI and fanless

Almost there. Fanless but only DVI: http://www.club3d.nl/index.php/products/graphics/item/264

[Aaron_B_Intel]

Yes, almost. Not quite, though.

In related news, the Cyberlink folks are at least quick to respond, if not useful:

Thanks for your Email.

The PwerDVD Ultra support ATI and nVidia for Blu-ray disc and HD DVD playback.
Please check below linkage.
require_112_ENU.html

We apologize for the inconvenience caused.
We have forwarded your case to the Research Department for detailed analysis.

In other words: not supported, no word on when or if it will be.

[thuppu]

Have you tried with WinDVD 8? Does it have same limitations? One big blame with WinDVD however is the down res it does. It outputs only 960x540 res...

[Aaron_B_Intel]

Update:

Heard back from some of theguys in Intel's chipset graphics division, and they inform me that we should get HD DVD/Blu-ray support for Intel IGP out of WinDVD and PowerDVD sometime this year.

Would love to havethe datesnarrowed down further, but I'm justhappy to find out it's coming. I would expect it to show upin time forthe G33/X3100 and G35/X3500 platforms, but it's supposed to support G965/X3000 as well.

No word yet on whether it will require a funky PCIe 1x decode accelerator boardas wasdemo'dat IDFin China this year, but I suspect it's a good idea to have that available just to keep CPU utilization lower.

Very cool, and can't come soon enough, IMO.

[Calin_B_Intel]

Until then, it is possible to decrypt your HD media onto your hard disk for playback with Intel graphics. I'm not a lawyer, but as far as I know, there is not yet a legal precedent repealing fair use--not even the DMCA. (In fact, the DMCA states that fair use shall remain a right, though the entire Act appears to be in contradition to fair use, to me.) But, I digress....

The place to learn about playing HD-DVD and BRD without resorting to expensiive and non-Intel HDCP solutions is the www.doom9.org forum. Unfortunately, only OEM Power-DVD 6.5 doesn't down-res and, as previously stated, P-DVD is buggy. The workaround is to edit the .xml acs files by hand and remove the things that trip up the player, like subtitiles and programmatic structures.

I have an Intel G965OT mobo and an Add2 DVI card. I've never achieved perfect playback with it--either under Viiv/ MCE 2005 or Linux (using the recently released Linux drivers.) The big problem is poor sync to vertical blanking, resulting in tearing of the video image during motion or panning in the scene. It's most noticable when playing HD content. Other users have reported the same problem with the 965 on the MythTV list. In fact, my Intel 915GUX and 915GEV boards work much better than the 965 for home theater, due to this problem with the 965. The Intel graphics in the Mac may be better--at least a couple of Intel Mac mini users report the tearing is absent under Mythv (Linux). Too bad--the G965OT is supposed to be a "Media" mobo.

Heres' a little Ubuntu howto:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats/BluRayAndHDDVD

-Cal

[Calin_B_Intel]

oops--www.doom9.org

[thuppu]

Nice to hear that there is some progress(maybe) with this... On the other hand, my new Gigabyte 8500GT(GV-NX85T256H) works really great. Simply the best video/HD(multimedia, no game) graphic card I ever have.

[thuppu]

MADcwbraban:

The place to learn about playing HD-DVD and BRD without resorting to expensiive and non-Intel HDCP solutions is the www.doom9.org forum. Unfortunately, only OEM Power-DVD 6.5 doesn't down-res and, as previously stated, P-DVD is buggy. The workaround is to edit the .xml acs files by hand and remove the things that trip up the player, like subtitiles and programmatic structures.

The newest PDVD 7.3 Ultra with the latest patch works fine for me. Not so buggy at all.

[thuppu]

Has someone tried this patch for PDVD Ultra? http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/download/dl_patch_397_112_ENU.html

"Enables support for secure BD/HD DVD playback on Intel 965/946 graphics chip with Windows Vista Aero-glass on."

I don't have Vista, so I can't try it myself.

[Aaron_B_Intel]

Holy crap! Great news!

[abbot_b_]

Easy DVD Player can play BD and HD DVD very well and you can download it and just have a try http://www.easy-dvd-player.com