VISTA GMA DRIVER - DXVA/INTERLACE PROBLEMS WITH VMR7

[jhb50]

I have Vista installed on my Gateway system which uses the Intel GMA Driver.

I utilize applications that use VMR7 in both Overlay and 3D mode. All work correctly using the GMA Driver under XP.

With the Vista Distributed Driver Version 1109, DirectShow VMR7 will run in both Overlay and 3D mode but DXVA will only activate in Overlay mode and creates interlacing with 1080i files.

Upgrading to the Gateway Distributed Driver Version 1147, VMR7 will run in Overlay but will not connect to any Video Renderer in 3D mode. Again DXVA will only activate in Overlay mode and creates interlacing with 1080i files. I need to use this Gateway Driver to get support for the Fn Battery and Brightness Icons.

Upgrading to the latest Intel Distributed Driver Version 1409 (using overwrite), VMR7 will again run in both Overlay and 3D mode but DXVA will only activate in 3D mode. There is no interlacing present with 1409. The Fn Key Icons however do not work.

I have used the On-Air GT HDTV Program, Graphedt, ZOOM and MPC to diagnose this and all exhibit the same fault using VMR7.

Bottom line isthe 1109 and 1147 Drivers are faulty and the latest Intel 1409 is better but still faulty in the support of VMR7 which is the default Directshow Video Renderer for application compatibility purposes.

I have reported to this to Intel Support and Gatewayand I post it here now for others to be aware and hopefully confirm these findings. I have not tested with VMR9 or EVR bot perhaps others will report experience here.

Simply put I need a Gateway approved driver that supports the Fn Icons, supports DXVA in both Overlay and 3D mode with VMR7 and correctly deinterlaces in all modes.

PS: If anyone knows how the Fn key functions are added to the driver please post. I can see no differences in the driver install packages between the Gateway 1147 release and the Intel 1409 release that would account for 1147 having this support. WhenI installed Vista, 1109 just gave white boxes,, 1147 made the icons functional and when I installed V1409 over 1147 (by using -overwrite to avoid the "not for your system" error) the icons become corrupted.

Thank you

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The information regarding my system is as follows:

System Category: Gateway Notebooks
Model Number: MP8708
CoreDuo 7200, GMA945

[jhb50]

I have sent the following note to Intel Support with the information required to reproduce and demonstrate this error. I'd appreciate any insight others can give as to how I can this error addressed by Intel.

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Thanks for your response. Based on the info below I would like to ask that this be escalated for analysis and fix. Only if Intel fixes the problem can I try to get Gateway to release its corresponding version of the Driver that also supports the Fn hotkeys, which do not work with Intels 1409 release. By copy to Gateway, you should also be analyzing and reproducing this for escalation to Intel in support of your "multi-media" laptops.

All of the recomendations in your note were already performed prior to my original request. The Bios was in fact upgraded by Gateway to 72.15 which is one level better than publicly available. As reported all 3 available versions of the VISTA driver have been tested and contain the interlacing error ..Vista Distribution 1109/Gateway's 1147/Intel's latest 1409 release

I appreciate that this issue may not have been reported by others, but it is easy to reproduce:

Consider the following as to why others have not reported it:
a) many advanced users have yet to migrate to Vista. XP works fine.
b) the error only occurs with 1080 interlaced video which required an over-the-air Transport Steam signal from NBC or CBS. It does not happen with ABC 720 progressive signals.
c) The error only occurs with VMR7, which is used by the On-Air GT application, while many other applications and users use VMR9 or EVR.
d) The error only occurs with the 945GMA on a laptop, whereas most Video HTPC are utilizing Desktop systems with NVIDIA cards.
e) Directshow Filters/Drivers are complex and problems are not easy to diagnose.
I have spent hours on this one.
f)It is difficult to get Gateway to accept that there are driver bugs and to act upon them. Most responses just say this is the only driver we have available rather than analyzing and acting on valid errors and reporting them to Intel. They have not responded to my escalation on the above reference.
Each of these reduce the probability of others either encountering this or getting support organizations to reporti it.

As to repeatability, this problem is very easy to reproduce.

a) Install latest version of the Mobile Intel 945GM Express Chipset reference drivers PV15.7.3 = level 1409 Driver.
b) Obtain the NVIDIA and Cyberlink Video Decoders both of which support DXVA.
NVIDIA comes with the On-Air GT Product and Cyberlink with PowerDVD.
c) Obtain Haali Media Splitter which supports Transport Stream Files.
d) start TaskManager to observe CPU load while playing video.
e) Utilize Graphedt and render a 1080i transport stream file.
f) VMR7 will be the default renderer based on Microsoft's settings.
g) Observe which Decoder is used (should be NVIDIA based on Default Merit), and observe its DXVA setting using the filter Properties under Graphedt. If DXVA is on, play the video and observe the interlacing and note the CPU load, then look at VMR Properties and observe the Video Input Subtype is DXVA. Now turnoff DXVA, using th e filter properties in Graphedt, THEN YOU MUST SELECT "NEW" and render the 1080i file again to have the no DXVA setting activate, then play the video and observe deinterlacing occurs correctly without DXVA andnote the CPU load is twice the DXVA amount and observe the VMR properties Video Input Subtype is YUY2.
h)Now switch to the other decoder (Cyberlink) by changing its merit to 900000 (ahead of NVIDIA's), and reboot to have this accepted by Graphedt, and then repeat the DXVA/no DXVA tests remembering to select NEW and rerender the file after changing the DXVA setting and observe interlaced/correctly deinterlaced videos and the VMR subtypes.

This test shows that the problem is not Decoder related. The correct subtypes are being passed to the VMR and the driver is utilizing DXVA but it is not implementing hardware deinterlacing correctly.

I can provide you with the test .ts file, graphedt, Haali and the Video decoders to verify this yourself.

The Graphedt results for NVIDIA look like this. As you can see the Graphs are the same yet the DXVA graph plays with interlacing while the non-DXVA one does not. (This is the XML version of the Graph as supported by Graphedt8)

For DXVA off:
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DXVA ON:
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[jhb50]

Well 15.8 is out and these problems are still not fixed. I have also found that the same interlaced output occurs in overlay mode with DXVA with VMR9 as well.