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Just got a 1505/6400 - DVDs/Videos look like crap

post #1 of 28
5/16/07 at 9:16pm
Thread Starter 
Is this just the way it is? Or am I missing something?

I'm using the VLC player... when I make it full screen... some movies are laggy...

I'm pretty disgusted about how bad video looks.
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post #2 of 28
5/17/07 at 12:24am
ahh thats easy. Open VLC settings and check the advanced options on the bottom then expand video then select output modules and make sure OPENGL video output is selected. Click save then CLOSE VLC and then all should be right in the world.
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post #3 of 28
5/17/07 at 1:32am
Thread Starter 
I tried that... still doesn't work. It got even worse with the chopiness. It looks like I'm playing a DVD, ripping a dvd using decrypter, burning a dvd with dvdshrink, whilst converting a .vob file using videora, and downloading/uploading torrents, finally transfering 40GB to an external HDD all at the same time.

I'm thinking about installing Windows XP onto the system in the next 1-2 days. I'm not too familiar with doing a "clean install?" Does anyone know of any good guides? Everytime I've done it, I've had someone walk me through it step by step and I don't remember the procedures. I do remember that drivers needed to be installed in a certain order.


Also, if my system came with Vista, am I able to use the drivers on the resource CD? Or do I need to get them from the dell website?... I might try doing a clean install of Vista if the OS CD actually does a clean install. I've heard that dells OS CDs that they ship with actually put back all of the crap that comes pre-installed.

anyways... if there is anything else that might impove the quality of playing DVDs... let me know.
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post #4 of 28
5/17/07 at 1:36am
Thread Starter 
Also... if I make the player(VLC) 150px by 150px the movies play fine and look good.
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post #5 of 28
5/17/07 at 1:39am
then it sounds like crappy drivers. If my Radeon x550 can do it your x1400 should be able to easy. What version of Mobile CAT drivers you on?
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post #6 of 28
5/17/07 at 1:58am
Thread Starter 
I'm using ASTRA32 to look at the system info and it says that I have Driver Version 8.31.100.0 and the Driver Date is 10-24-2006. I couldn't find drivers at the ATI website even though I read many threads that said to get updated drivers from their site.

This is definitely a GPU problem?

My desktop has an x300... not sure how much worse that is than a x550 but it plays DVDs FINE!

p.s. I haven't done a clean install yet because I do not do it often and want to get it right.

Some sites I've seen in threads, that people have recommended are: http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html and http://www.theeldergeek.com/xp_pro_i..._-_graphic.htm. I will look at them more tomorrow and try and get on top of that.
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post #7 of 28
5/17/07 at 2:01am
Thread Starter 
I just checked the same card for windows xp/home and they have drivers as recent as april.
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post #8 of 28
5/17/07 at 2:29am
Thread Starter 
I'm lookin in the CAT Control Center and under Information>Graphics Software it says that OpenGL Version = Not Available.
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post #9 of 28
5/17/07 at 2:32am
Don't use VLC player. It has some issues with Vista, if you're using that. Try PowerDVD--the one that came with the laptop from Dell.
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post #10 of 28
5/17/07 at 7:43am
Power DVD and even Windows Media Center are playing DVD's, including backup copies I made with Shrink and Dvd decrypter, just fine. They look great as a matter of fact. My 6400/E1505 specs are about the same as yours and I'm using the stock ATI driver from Dell's website.
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post #11 of 28
5/17/07 at 2:48pm
it would have to be the program ur using to play dvd's i use powerdvd to play my dvd's on both my E1505 and my M1210 and they both look fine... this is on XP though...
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post #12 of 28
5/17/07 at 4:20pm
Thread Starter 
exactly, you both have xp... I'm running, unlucky me, on vista. XP has driver updates as recent as april 2007...

When you guys say that they look find... they don't look like a CAM recording that you've downloaded? That's what mine look like... and it feels like i'm getting 2-3 fps... it's horrible. I also tried playing HL2 which my desktop played fine at medium/low settings with a x300 in 2005, and it's horrible on this notebook... I'm considering upgrading to a 1705 because I feel it would be worth the extra 300$ if I can waive the lame 15% restocking fee.

I didn't buy this machine to play games but it cannot even play movies which is one reason I did buy it for so... that is very annoying.

So I guess we've concluded that this is a Vista problem.
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post #13 of 28
5/17/07 at 4:34pm
I'm running Vista on both of mine and DVD's and recorded TV look fantastic. I alternate between WinDVD, Power DVD, and Media Center and have no issues. It's almost as good as watching on an HDTV.
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post #14 of 28
5/17/07 at 5:01pm
Its probably the program ur using the play dvds... cause i've seen dvd's and even downloaded movies play on vista just fine... try using something else
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post #15 of 28
5/17/07 at 8:43pm
Thread Starter 
both the poster above this one... did the vista computer you were using have a clean install or was it "as is" from when they bought it? I try to run WMC and it's sluggish as all heck... it takes about 10 seconds to click the "play DVD" and then the picture quality looks just as bad as it does with VLC... although it isn't choppy... but it certainly is NOT HD DVD quality hahaha. I don't have Power DVD... I'll download winDVD and try that with the same expectations as I have now.

With WMC I couldn't even play a downloaded tv show because it didn't have the necessary codecs... that's why I like VLC player..
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post #16 of 28
5/17/07 at 8:58pm
the one i saw was on my laptop, but it was the beta edition of vista ultimate.
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post #17 of 28
5/17/07 at 9:12pm
Thread Starter 
hmm maybe another problem is that my notebook is using 56-60% CPU usage when running vlc... which shouldn't be.
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post #18 of 28
5/17/07 at 10:02pm
Thread Starter 
I'm doing a clean install right now and if that doesn't work I'll probably just install xp pro onto it.
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post #19 of 28
5/17/07 at 10:49pm
Thread Starter 
I just reformated the OS partition and reinstalled vista... and I've just noticed that if I open task manager up and open up a random window it shows that CPU Usage is 50-80% when I resize the window... is this normal? 80% CPU Usage sounds rediculous
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post #20 of 28
5/17/07 at 11:07pm
I have the original Dell Vista install. Haven't gotten around to doing a clean install. I just installed VLC and it played a ripped DVD perfectly. It also played some TV shows I recorded with an HD tuner through media center without a hitch. CPU usage ranged between 15 and 25 percent with VLC. Not bad at all.
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