Legit Reviews

Ever since I bought the ATI HD4870 I haven't been able to view any movieclips (mpeg, mpg, avi..) or look at TVUplayer. I can hear everything but the video is all black. No complaints about missing codecs or anything. For the clips I've tried viewing them in MP11, VCL, PowerDVD and Winamp, all with the same result
Worked fine before with the X1900XT but since I replaced that one it's been black.
Is there a hidden "blind" button somewhere in the catalyst control center?

thanks

edit: forgot to mention that I used to run the drivers that came with the card. today I switched to the latest from the ATI site but that didn't help

What version of windows are you running? And does your monitor support HDCP? What input are you connected over?

It sounds like some sort of copy protection for video gone wrong. Have you tried uninstalling and reinstalling codecs?

Dan

oh, that's a lot of questions I'm not sure of
XP pro (just today updated to sp3 which didn't help either). ASUS monitor, not sure what it's exactly called but it looks a lot like this http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/4 ... SS500_.jpg , bought it close to 2 years ago.

What input are you connected over?

what are my options and how can I tell?

It worked until I got the new gfx card. Card itself and drivers was the only things changed. Had a look in MP11 and it's set to look for new codecs automatically and i've had the card for a couple of months now so I imagine there has been some kind of updates in that time?

Well as you are running XP it doesn't matter so much if your monitor supports HDCP, it's just vista which is more fussy about the content protection things.

The options are VGA (Dsub), or DVI and the connectors look like:



You should still try re-installing whatever the latest codecs are, as they might have installed themselves with specific settings to the last videocard/drivers, and now that there are new drivers (and a new card) they don't work properly.

If you don't know where to look for codecs, then you can get all the main ones from the K-Lite codec pack. The Standard package should have everything you need in it:
http://www.free-codecs.com/K_lite_codec ... wnload.htm

Dan

I know I have the white connector type plugged into the computer so I assume it's DVI into the monitor too?
Tried the Full K-lite and still no video

i agree with DMB..reinstall the codecs..if not, i also know that some if not all X-vid codecs should decode most of the major formats(including the ones you listed). i just wish i knew that for sure..i know mine decodes the major ones..try that as well ..i did see that you updated to SP3..i wouldn't have thought that would cause an issue but that is possible too.id still uninstall and reinstall the codecs tho

I've had the issue with black clips for a couple of months so it shouldn't have anything with SP3 to do.
Can't help but thinking that it's something simple about displaying "overlays" (think that's what it's called), is there a setting for that in CCC?
(I rely heavily on "hands off" as long as everything is working so I have plenty of time to forget everything I learn between the times of problems )

Seeing that even VLC doesn't work and that one doesn't even use codecs, I'll ask the obvious.

You did calibrate color in Catalyst for all available modes (desktop, overlay, 3D, etc), didn't you?

Do you still have your old card, or a friend with a card that you could test to see if the problem is related specifically to the video card? Short of that, i would remove ALL ATI software and drivers, ALL codecs, and all video players that you have. Start back with JUST the ATI stuff (if I recall correctly, ATI has a complete set of players that should play most anything). If that works, move on to your other players, VLC, etc. By installing one at a time, you can eliminate problems more easily than uninstalling and reinstalling everything at once.

hnzw_rui wrote:Seeing that even VLC doesn't work and that one doesn't even use codecs, I'll ask the obvious.

You did calibrate color in Catalyst for all available modes (desktop, overlay, 3D, etc), didn't you?

no idea how to do that so unless it's automatic, no

riviera71 wrote:no idea how to do that so unless it's automatic, no

Open Catalyst Control Center. Following the "Basic" menu should give pretty straightforward options for changing settings for video playback.

looking in Quick settings/video playback/adjust video for room brightness all (home, office, theatre) alternatives are pitch black

riviera71 wrote:looking in Quick settings/video playback/adjust video for room brightness all (home, office, theatre) alternatives are pitch black

Then try manually adjusting settings in Advanced -> Avivo Video -> Basic Color.

In Catalyst 8.8, the Video Preview window is supposed to show a picture of a girl with pink flowers and fruits.

Default values I have are:
Brightness: 0
Contrast: 100
Saturation: 100
Tint: 0
Gamma: 1.00

Don't know if this will help but I've had similar problems with video attachments in email. I save the attachment to my hard drive then open it with Media player and it works fine.

Just a thought......

Good luck
Jack

hnzw_rui wrote: Then try manually adjusting settings in Advanced -> Avivo Video -> Basic Color.

In Catalyst 8.8, the Video Preview window is supposed to show a picture of a girl with pink flowers and fruits.

Default values I have are:
Brightness: 0
Contrast: 100
Saturation: 100
Tint: 0
Gamma: 1.00

Interesting, all those options are greyed out for me. I can drag the slider for brightness around but that's all.
Default (and seemingly permanent) for me are:
Brightness: 0 (slider works here but up and down arrows does nothing)
contrast: 0
Sat: 1.00
Tint: 1.00
Gamma: 1.00
I can see the girl when I first enter Presets but if I switch to any options (home, office, theater) it goes black. Is it a picture or a video with the girl?

@unfaithfulsfan: already have the clips on my HD but no luck

riviera71 wrote:Interesting, all those options are greyed out for me. I can drag the slider for brightness around but that's all.
Default (and seemingly permanent) for me are:
Brightness: 0 (slider works here but up and down arrows does nothing)
contrast: 0
Sat: 1.00
Tint: 1.00
Gamma: 1.00
I can see the girl when I first enter Presets but if I switch to any options (home, office, theater) it goes black. Is it a picture or a video with the girl?

On mine, it was just a picture. With Contrast set to 0, it's no wonder all you're seeing is black. I'm not in front of my PC so I'm trying to do this from memory. If there's a "Custom" preset available, choose that. If you can see a check box on any of the Avivo Video settings which says "Use application settings" or something to that effect, uncheck it and then play around with the color (brightness, contrast, etc) settings. Also, what version of Catalyst are you using?

Use application settings is a tick box in Basic Color but it's already unticked (tried ticking it but still the same)
Custom doesn't seem to do much, still can't change anything (and when I switch over to custom from whatever it is to begin with the pic of the girl goes black).
In the About CCC it says I'm using 2007.1220.2143.38732.
Something was a little strange when I installed latest drivers btw. At first I ran the driver that came with the card. This weekend when I tried installing new drivers it kept saying that something (not sure if it was CCC or the actual drivers, got a bit annoyed and quickly closed the error message) was older than what was already on my computer. Dont see how that is possible when I'm downloading the latest from their website

Try uninstalling all ATI drivers and just re-installing again.

Also, where did you download your drivers from? ATI's website or directly from the manufacturer? If it's from the ATI website, I suggest you download drivers directly from the manufacturer's page.

I downloaded my drivers from SAPPHIRE's website and it was Catalyst 8.8 (Version 2008.0731.2322.39992).

Question. Did you have the same problem using the drivers from the installer disc that came with the card?

Yes, I did have the same problem with the older drivers. (that's why I updated). I got those from the ATI site so I'll see of Powercolor has their own, card is a Powercolor HD4870 512MB GDDR5.
I had my brother over helping me install it but iirc he didn't uninstall any drivers (used with the old X1900XT) and I know I didn't uninstall the ones that came on the CD when I installed the latest. Probably wont have time for uninstall/reinstall until the weekend

edit: considering the thread below it just might be possible that Powercolor hates swedes :D

I had a simliar problem but mine was all video playback was black regardless. After trying every codec and player out there nothing worked. I opened Catzlyst Control Center went to advnaved settings then to the preferences tab then clicked on restore to factory defauts and It fixed it. Hope this helps, it took my all evening to figure it out.