ATI 2x00 FAQ

Hardware

Newegg - ATI Radeon HD 2000 series category∞
2400Pro ~$50

• fanless, cheap, has trouble with the very highest workloads (e.g. 1080 + deinterlacing + Aero, upscaling to 2560x1600, running two 1080i videos on separate monitors), 64bit memory bus & not much OCing headroom, drivers have strange default settings

2400XT ~$75

• double the memory bandwidth = solves all known perf issues of the 2400Pro = no need to OC

2600Pro ~$90

• as above, built-in HDMI available

2600XT ~$100

• as above, harder to find fanless, still pretty cheap, excels at all kinds of video out of the box

FAQ / Known issues

• GPU % is spiking / dropping frames on interlaced content
  1. turn off Aero.
  2. If that's not enough, use the CPU for decoding and the GPU for deinterlacing only. Set DXVA_NOHDDECODE=1 and then use PowerDVD (the player, not just the codec) to force Vector Adaptive hardware deinterlacing.
  3. If running WinXP, upgrade to Vista. VMR9 has significant overhead on both operating systems; you use EVR for best results.
• What do arfster's tweaked drivers fix?
  Changed:
  HKR, "UMD\DXVA",DXVA_Only24FPS1080H264, %REG_SZ%, "0" (default 1, fixes EU 1080i50)
  HKR,, DXVA_WMV_NA, %REG_SZ%, "0" (default 1, shows WMV acceleration tickbox)
  Added:
  HKR, "UMD\DXVA",DXVA_NOHDDECODE, %REG_SZ%, "0" (fixes mpeg2)
  HKR, "UMD\DXVA",DXVA_DetailEnhance, %REG_SZ%, "0" (turns off sharpening)
  HKR, "UMD\DXVA",DXVA_TRDenoise, %REG_SZ%, "0" (turns off denoising)
  
• Levels are screwed up (improperly expanded from TV->PC)
  • Only happens with HD content (>719 horizontal lines). No permanent fix is known - all drivers thru v7.7 are known to have this bug.
• So what does the PC/TV levels control in CCC do then?
  • It affects the entire display, i.e. not just video playback. The bug is that HD video playback outputs PC levels regardless of this switch.
• I have underscan/overscan, but the Catalyst Control Panel (CCC) doesn't let me adjust it?
  • If your display isn't detected as a TV, set it to an "HDTV" resolution such as 1080p. The option should appear.
• Do I need a special DVI->HDMI adapter for sound to work?
  • At this time, we believe so.
• How do I get the special HDMI adapter from ATI?
  1. Get a 2600XT or higher. Check the pictures on Newegg to be sure the adapter is included -- some 3rd party manufacturers skimp out.
  2. Buy one here∞ - coupon code atill5off gets you 5% off that too and free shipping that costs almost as much as the adapter
• Is deinterlacing on? How can I tell?
  • Unfortunately, there's another driver bug here. The deinterlacing setting in CCC is only accurate for SD material. For HD material, your settings will not necessarily be used -- the GPU will silently drop to a less complex algorithm once it hits about 90% usage. The only way to verify this is by watching the GPU% meter in RivaTuner, or using your eyes :) To force Vector Adaptive deinterlacing on HD material you must use PowerDVD (the app, not just the codec). Note: it appears this bug may only affect Vista, not XP.
• What do the GUIDs mean in PowerDVD's Video -> Advanced dialog?
  • 6CB69
  • 5A54A
  • B338D
  • 4553D
  • 3C532 = vector adaptive
  • 552C0
• How do I configure the card for acceleration under Windows Media Center?
  • Whatever codecs you assign with DirectShow merits will work in the Video Library feature exactly as they do under WMP and GraphEdit.
  • For TV and DVD playback, manually choose the correct codecs using the PreferredMPEG2VideoDecoder key. See instructions in the MCE section below.

Downloads

arfster's tweaked 7.6 drivers∞
ATI's official driver site∞
RivaTuner official site∞

TODO: test clips

Configuration

Known good program / codec / driver / OS / hardware configs:

HD DVD / Blu Ray:

• PowerDVD 7.3.2911, Vista x86 or XP

H264 files:

• PowerDVD 7.3.2911, Vista x86 or XP
• DirectShow players using the PowerDVD decoder

MPEG2 files up to 1080p:

• PowerDVD 7.3.2911, Vista x86 or XP
• DirectShow players using the PowerDVD decoder
• for TV & DVD playback under MCE, see below

MPEG2 interlaced:

• With 2400Pro, you may have to use the CPU for decoding (see FAQ). ATI's MPEG2 hardware implementation is very inefficient, requiring 3-5X more GPU% than H264.
• PowerDVD (player or codec) + XP seems to be the best combo since it does not have the deinterlacing driver bugs.
• Assuming the above bug gets fixed, using vector adaptive deinterlacing will require lots of GPU power. If want to use Aero, or you are running WinXP, or you need to use a VMR9 app, get the 2400xt. If you need to do several of these at once (eg Aero+VMR9+1080i mpeg2), get a 2600.
• for TV & DVD playback under MCE, you must set deinterlacing to Auto in CCC; trying to force Vector Adaptive will just leave it in weave-only mode, even on SD material

Xvid / Divx files:

• no known acceleration

WMV files:

• no known acceleration

Known program incompatibilities:

PowerDVD theory from mule∞:

Typical 2400Pro GPU usage (peak):

720p H264 10Mbit - 15%
1080i MPEG2 - 70% (see FAQ #1)
480i MPEG2 - 60%
480p24 MPEG2 (i.e., film DVDs) - ?
HD DVD - 20%
Blu Ray - 20%

Windows Media Center

I had the following symtoms:

• LiveTV looks ugly (weave artifacts everywhere)
• Recorded TV crashes immediately
• Video Library plays fine w/ acceleration

I solved it by setting the MCE preferred decoders under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion \Media Center\Decoder. This key did not exist on my system (Vista Home Premium x86 RTM). I used Garry Whitaker's tool∞ to create the following values:
Video: Cyberlink PowerDVD 7.x
Audio: Microsoft MPEG1/DD

Note: the tool is pretty fragile. In order for it to work, I had to a) run it as an admin b) create the above key first. Garry is apparently not a fan of error checking ;-)

I then set deinterlacing to "auto" in CCC. Trying to force Vector Adaptive did not work.