Questions about PCs/parts - Consulting

[Keith Wallace]

Did you try the other ones they linked? It says that the one in the main page isn't likely to work for many Blu-Ray discs, because of the copyright protection. They link you to solutions for those in there.

 

[QwarkDreams]

To be honest, I'm too frustrated and not really motivated enough to keep trying which keys might work, since I already got a program to play my Blurays

 

[gedzum]

Ok I picked up that drive you recommended. I got the white one since it was nearly ?10 cheaper. At firrst I couldn't play bu-rays, that PowerDVD app kept crashing. It worked fine playing DVDs though. Turns out it may have been a Windows update since it is the only thing that changed. When I rolled back it was ok again.

The drive itself is sleek and seems solid enough. It is also somewhat audible, particularly noticeable in quiter scenes, but it isn't noisy per se. You were also right about load times, but once it gets going, playback is smooth. The only "complaint" is the CyberLink OEM suite. It installs quite a lot of things I probably won't use and I had to disable quite a lot of the start up things.

 

[QwarkDreams]

Ok I picked up that drive you recommended. I got the white one since it was nearly ?10 cheaper. At firrst I couldn't play bu-rays, that PowerDVD app kept crashing. It worked fine playing DVDs though. Turns out it may have been a Windows update since it is the only thing that changed. When I rolled back it was ok again.

The drive itself is sleek and seems solid enough. It is also somewhat audible, particularly noticeable in quiter scenes, but it isn't noisy per se. You were also right about load times, but once it gets going, playback is smooth. The only "complaint" is the CyberLink OEM suite. It installs quite a lot of things I probably won't use and I had to disable quite a lot of the start up things.

Nice! I have the white one too :-D

Strange....what version of Windows do you use? Worked fine with Windows 8.1 and all updates for me.

Yeah, it installs quite a lot and I had to disable some programs too (completely forgot about it....I guess I suppress such things that annoy me). But it's the best way to go when it comes to Bluray playback software, since there is no satisfying free solution and other programs you have to pay for also don't seem to be much better. So I'd say it's a welcome drop of bitterness, considering that it works just fine.

I was quite busy ripping and formatting Blurays and was really disappointed when I tested the files with VLC player and only a few worked and those who worked had non-removeable English subtitles :-( Haven't found a common thread yet so I can determine which Blurays will work and which won't (ripping and formatting; just playing them with PowerDVD worked with all I've tested yet). Have to tinker around with the settings of the programs a bit more.

 

[gedzum]

Nice! I have the white one too :-D

Strange....what version of Windows do you use? Worked fine with Windows 8.1 and all updates for me.

Yeah, it installs quite a lot and I had to disable some programs too (completely forgot about it....I guess I suppress such things that annoy me). But it's the best way to go when it comes to Bluray playback software, since there is no satisfying free solution and other programs you have to pay for also don't seem to be much better. So I'd say it's a welcome drop of bitterness, considering that it works just fine.

I was quite busy ripping and formatting Blurays and was really disappointed when I tested the files with VLC player and only a few worked and those who worked had non-removeable English subtitles :-( Haven't found a common thread yet so I can determine which Blurays will work and which won't (ripping and formatting; just playing them with PowerDVD worked with all I've tested yet). Have to tinker around with the settings of the programs a bit more.

Awesome man. I still haven't taken the plastic film off the top of it. Gives it a textured glass look. Also don't want it to get dirty lol. I might have to take it off eventually though since some it is coming loose already.

I'm also using Windows 8.1. The reason I thought it was a Windows update was because some games were also crashing on start up. It is strange because it was only a few of them. After I uninstalled the updates, everything seems to be working again. I was going to try Arcsoft TotalMedia Theatre first since it seemed to get good feeback and didn't come with all the bloat that PowerDVD comes with. But that also crashed on start up. As a bundled free solution, PowerDVD is pretty feature rich and the interface is good.

Sounds like a let down that your Bluray rips didn't all work. Must have taken a while to rip them.

I know I kinda pushed this thread slightly off topic, so sorry..but last question about PowerDVD. Have you tried using that setting to try and enhance the image quality of DVD playback? I forgot what it is called. And if you have, do you have some graphic artifacts initially?

 

[QwarkDreams]

Awesome man. I still haven't taken the plastic film off the top of it. Gives it a textured glass look. Also don't want it to get dirty lol. I might have to take it off eventually though since some it is coming loose already.

Mine came loose too on the sides, so I took it off. That's why I got the white one instead of the black (not a racist thing^^) because it's quite dusty here (dusting/vacuuming every second day -_-) and that would be much more visible on the black one.

I'm also using Windows 8.1. The reason I thought it was a Windows update was because some games were also crashing on start up. It is strange because it was only a few of them. After I uninstalled the updates, everything seems to be working again. I was going to try Arcsoft TotalMedia Theatre first since it seemed to get good feeback and didn't come with all the bloat that PowerDVD comes with. But that also crashed on start up. As a bundled free solution, PowerDVD is pretty feature rich and the interface is good.

That sucks :-/
Haven't heard about TotalMedia Theatre at all (Arcsoft rings a bell but I can't relate it right now). Is it for free?

Sounds like a let down that your Bluray rips didn't all work. Must have taken a while to rip them.

Yeah but that happend with some DVDs too (Underworld 2, Knights of the Coconut,...). Seems like they have a different protection.

I know I kinda pushed this thread slightly off topic, so sorry..but last question about PowerDVD. Have you tried using that setting to try and enhance the image quality of DVD playback? I forgot what it is called. And if you have, do you have some graphic artifacts initially?

Hey, that's okay ;-) Look what the AMD vs Intel thread turned into^^
I actually haven't tried any DVDs yet since I already have all my movies on the HDD. (Also I have to read up on 'graphic artifacts"^^)

 

[gedzum]

Mine came loose too on the sides, so I took it off. That's why I got the white one instead of the black (not a racist thing^^) because it's quite dusty here (dusting/vacuuming every second day -_-) and that would be much more visible on the black one.

That sucks :-/
Haven't heard about TotalMedia Theatre at all (Arcsoft rings a bell but I can't relate it right now). Is it for free?

Yeah but that happend with some DVDs too (Underworld 2, Knights of the Coconut,...). Seems like they have a different protection.

Hey, that's okay ;-) Look what the AMD vs Intel thread turned into^^
I actually haven't tried any DVDs yet since I already have all my movies on the HDD. (Also I have to read up on 'graphic artifacts"^^)

Yeah my room gets quite dusty too, no matter how hard I try and clean. I place it on top of my PC case and the white contrasts really well with the black.

When I was looking around for possible software solutions, I saw threads recommending TotalMedia Theatre. Unfortunately it is paid software, but it comes with a (2 week) trial I think. I just wanted to give it a try before commiting to PowerDVD.

Oh and the thing with the artifacts..it was like when I switched on that enhancement setting for DVDs it would introduce coloured boxes as it tried to do its enhancements. After a while they would go away and the final video is indeed a bit sharper. I was just wondering if it was normal for the coloured boxes to appear.

 

[QwarkDreams]

Yeah my room gets quite dusty too, no matter how hard I try and clean. I place it on top of my PC case and the white contrasts really well with the black.

When I was looking around for possible software solutions, I saw threads recommending TotalMedia Theatre. Unfortunately it is paid software, but it comes with a (2 week) trial I think. I just wanted to give it a try before commiting to PowerDVD.

Oh and the thing with the artifacts..it was like when I switched on that enhancement setting for DVDs it would introduce coloured boxes as it tried to do its enhancements. After a while they would go away and the final video is indeed a bit sharper. I was just wondering if it was normal for the coloured boxes to appear.

I agree, the white one stands out in general more than the majority of multimedia devices (which are almost always black/-ish).

Ah, I understand. I'm quite satisfied with PowerDVD, especially because it came with the bluray player for free.

Have to try it out with a DVD. I sometimes have this phenomenon with older video files of tv shows that are already in bad quality (240p-360p). But that occurs when I use VLC.

 

[gedzum]

Just a quick update about that artifacting issue in PowerDVD. Turns out it is most likely due to using the external drive. I'm guessing the USB interface isn't sufficient for that feature, maybe USB 3.0 might work but I only have USB 2.0 on my desktop. When I used my internal drive it worked smoothly when I turned on the enhancement feature. So I guess that issue is solved

 

[QwarkDreams]

Just a quick update about that artifacting issue in PowerDVD. Turns out it is most likely due to using the external drive. I'm guessing the USB interface isn't sufficient for that feature, maybe USB 3.0 might work but I only have USB 2.0 on my desktop. When I used my internal drive it worked smoothly when I turned on the enhancement feature. So I guess that issue is solved

What enhancement setting do you mean?
Now I really wanna try out if USB 3.0 does make a difference.

 

[gedzum]

Ah it is the TrueTheater settings. It is supposed to allow for some customization and enhancements for the content you are watching.

 

[QwarkDreams]

It seems that I can't access them, the options for this are greyed out. I can only activate hardware acceleration.

But it doesn't necessarily have to be USB 2.0 that causes artifacting, I have this on some older video files of series that are on my HDD. And I had some kind of stripes when watching DVDs on my old PC with int. DVD drive (SATA).

edit: Oh, okay, I have to deactivate hardware acceleration to get access to the True Theater settings. I activated them and watched a few minutes but it didn't seem like there were any problems.

 

[gedzum]

hmm it's probably something else with my configuration then. No worries, I guess I'll just run DVDs of the internal drive in the mean time. Thanks for confirming how it works for you though. I may be able to rule it out as a potential issue.

 

[QwarkDreams]

Well, until now I haven't really found that much that borhers me with the drive. In fact it's just one thing: the responding times when I paused a DVD/Bluray and resume the playback (regardless if it's a movie or data disc). Those are really annoying to me and that's one of the reasons why I wanted to have all my movies/shows on my HDD (that and I'm too lazy always looking for a certain movie or if I just want to watch a certain episode of a show while I eat).

The thing where I would get those stripes was with two certain shows (Scrubs and The Simpsons) and not on PowerDVD but on VLC Player.
There are so many options and settings that I wouldn't even know what to de-/activate to get the best quality/performance^^

Edit: I think I found out what made those strange lines in "fast" movements during watching videos: I happend to see it on a YouTube video after scaling an old video up to 720p, so it might have to do with old resolutions being upscaled.

 

[QwarkDreams]

Well, looks like I'm going to replace my monitor next month. I've had two horizontal lines (one at the top where usually the tabs end in Firefox, one on the bottom where the task bar ends) that no one I've asked could explain and now a third appeared.

I've browsed a few online shops (mostly Geizhals.at because they have great filters to close in on the stuff that's relevant for you) and one particular monitor caught my attention: the Dell UltraSharp U2414H. It has a 23.8" AH-IPS panel with 1920x1080 @60Hz and 8ms response time. The price isn't that bad (210-220€).

Has anyone of you had experiences with Dell or IPS panels and gaming?

 

[Keith Wallace]

No, but just to ask, you ARE sure that the lines are from the monitor, and not a failing graphics card, right?

 

[QwarkDreams]

No, but just to ask, you ARE sure that the lines are from the monitor, and not a failing graphics card, right?

Yes. I've had them when I used my old PC and even now. The position of the lines hasn't changed too. But it only seems to occure when I use Firefox for a longer time (hence the position of the lines; long, static display of graphics). Like they burn in while having static graphics displayed and fade away after the image changes.

 

[gedzum]

I have a Dell U2412M and it has been one of the best investments on my PC for me. Colours and viewing angles are great, the build quality is very sturdy and robust as well as having tilt, pivot and height adjust. Gaming performance is very good IMO. I don't notice much ghosting. The only downside for me, is the anti glare coating makes the screen seem less vivid compared to my Vaio Pro screen. Otherwise it's a very good monitor. I would think a Dell IPS monitor is a worthy consideration. Asus is also a brand I hear great things about.

 

[QwarkDreams]

I have a Dell U2412M and it has been one of the best investments on my PC for me. Colours and viewing angles are great, the build quality is very sturdy and robust as well as having tilt, pivot and height adjust. Gaming performance is very good IMO. I don't notice much ghosting. The only downside for me, is the anti glare coating makes the screen seem less vivid compared to my Vaio Pro screen. Otherwise it's a very good monitor. I would think a Dell IPS monitor is a worthy consideration. Asus is also a brand I hear great things about.

Did you notice any issues while using DP or HDMI? I've read that with nVidia GPUs there's a common issue when using DP1.2 (no problems when disabling 1.2) and HDMI. The GPU recognises the monitor as an HDTV and reduces the RGB range, which makes the display look washed out.
Wouldn't matter to me right now since I have an AMD GPU, but this might change in the future and I don't want to be limited in my choices because of this.

A matt display might take away some of the crispness, but I prefer it for everday use (especially on laptops). My current monitor has also a matt display, so it won't bother me.

I'm actually quite determined about this monitor. It's one of the cheapest I could find with my requirements (23-24", 1080p, IPS panel, HDMI+DP, reputable brand). There are only 2 AOC monitors that would meet those requirements but one has a silver bezel and the other one has a bezel that's textured which I don't like. Since I'm going to look at it quite often I don't want to regret my choice just because it was a few bucks cheaper.

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[gedzum]

No problem mate. Ah are you also considering this monitor? I've only ever used the the DVI cable, sorry I can't really say much about that issue. I agree about the matt display. The glare and reflections on my laptop screen can make it pretty unbearable at times. Another thing I like about the monitor is the relatively thin bezels. It's minor but going to a montor with thicker bezels distracts me slightly now haha. Just got used to it I guess.