Media Center Video Issue

Jeff_C · 06-27-2008, 10:15 AM

Hello,
I'm not sure if I'm posting this in the right place because I don't think this issue is with my video card anymore. However it is an issue with video quality so here we go.

I have an issue that has frustrated me for over a year now. I built a Media Center PC with the intent of ripping our DVD library to it. Everything works great with one exception. During video playback we get a horizontal distortion line that moves in an upward direction. Everything about it seems random, from the location on the screen where it starts to the regularity with which it appears. The original video card was an eVGA nVidia 7600GS. During my efforts to diagnose the problem I tried playing video in several different ways. First, we noticed that it does this when playing straight off the hard drive so we played a movie in the DVD drive which had the same results. Than I tried taking the TV Tuner card out, thinking there might be some interference happening, there was no change. I than reinstalled the tuner card, watched TV through it, and got the same distortion line. Than I tried playing the video through 3 different media players, all had the same distortion. Than I streamed the video to our notebook downstairs and everything worked perfectly, no distortion. So, than I took the notebook upstairs to play it on the same TV with the same cable as the Media Center and there was still no distortion and everything worked great. This is the point where I replaced the video card with a Palit ATI Radeon HD 2600Pro Sonic. In my way of thinking, all the same components were being utilized in the Media Center with the exception of the video card and the addition of the wireless netwrok addapter to stream the video over the network as when played directly through the Media Center, that must be incorrect since the issue still persists. I believe the scenarios I've outlined have eliminated everything except the Motherboard and power supply, I thought that the streaming scenario eliminated these as possible candidates as well but that wouldn't leave anything to fix. I would prefer not to throw anymore money at this until I'm sure what the problem is. I'm at a loss as to what it might be so I'm open to any suggestions.

Oh, and just for kicks I bypassed the surge protector once and plugged directly into the wall outlet, there was still no change.

Here is a list of components that make the Media Center.

Silverstone Lascala LC17 Case
Antec NEOHE 550 550W Power Supply
Abit GD8 (LGA 775, Intel 915P, SATA150) Mother Board
Kingston 1Gig (PC3200, DDR400) RAM
Antec Smartcool 80mm case fan (1) In addition to stock case fans
Antec Smartcool 92mm case fan (2) In addition to stock case fans
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Audio Card
Intel P4 541 3.2Ghz Processor
Seagate 320 Gig (ST3320620AS) Hard Drive
Samsung DVD Burner (SH-S183L)
Palit Radeon HD 2600Pro Sonic (Was an eVGA nVidia 7600GS) Video Card

This PC isn't used for gaming at all just movies, music, and pictures.

Thank you in advance for your help!

Jeff_C · 06-27-2008, 02:07 PM

I just read an old review on extremetech of an Abit board very similar to mine that indicates that they have seen BIOS issues with Abit boards that limits the performance of the PCI-e X16 slots. I wonder if this could be my issue.

06-27-2008, 10:15 AM	#1 (permalink)
Jeff_C Registered User Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 2 OS: Windows XP Media Center	Media Center Video Issue Hello, I'm not sure if I'm posting this in the right place because I don't think this issue is with my video card anymore. However it is an issue with video quality so here we go. I have an issue that has frustrated me for over a year now. I built a Media Center PC with the intent of ripping our DVD library to it. Everything works great with one exception. During video playback we get a horizontal distortion line that moves in an upward direction. Everything about it seems random, from the location on the screen where it starts to the regularity with which it appears. The original video card was an eVGA nVidia 7600GS. During my efforts to diagnose the problem I tried playing video in several different ways. First, we noticed that it does this when playing straight off the hard drive so we played a movie in the DVD drive which had the same results. Than I tried taking the TV Tuner card out, thinking there might be some interference happening, there was no change. I than reinstalled the tuner card, watched TV through it, and got the same distortion line. Than I tried playing the video through 3 different media players, all had the same distortion. Than I streamed the video to our notebook downstairs and everything worked perfectly, no distortion. So, than I took the notebook upstairs to play it on the same TV with the same cable as the Media Center and there was still no distortion and everything worked great. This is the point where I replaced the video card with a Palit ATI Radeon HD 2600Pro Sonic. In my way of thinking, all the same components were being utilized in the Media Center with the exception of the video card and the addition of the wireless netwrok addapter to stream the video over the network as when played directly through the Media Center, that must be incorrect since the issue still persists. I believe the scenarios I've outlined have eliminated everything except the Motherboard and power supply, I thought that the streaming scenario eliminated these as possible candidates as well but that wouldn't leave anything to fix. I would prefer not to throw anymore money at this until I'm sure what the problem is. I'm at a loss as to what it might be so I'm open to any suggestions. Oh, and just for kicks I bypassed the surge protector once and plugged directly into the wall outlet, there was still no change. Here is a list of components that make the Media Center. Silverstone Lascala LC17 Case Antec NEOHE 550 550W Power Supply Abit GD8 (LGA 775, Intel 915P, SATA150) Mother Board Kingston 1Gig (PC3200, DDR400) RAM Antec Smartcool 80mm case fan (1) In addition to stock case fans Antec Smartcool 92mm case fan (2) In addition to stock case fans Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Audio Card Intel P4 541 3.2Ghz Processor Seagate 320 Gig (ST3320620AS) Hard Drive Samsung DVD Burner (SH-S183L) Palit Radeon HD 2600Pro Sonic (Was an eVGA nVidia 7600GS) Video Card This PC isn't used for gaming at all just movies, music, and pictures. Thank you in advance for your help!

06-27-2008, 02:07 PM	#2 (permalink)
Jeff_C Registered User Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 2 OS: Windows XP Media Center	Re: Media Center Video Issue I just read an old review on extremetech of an Abit board very similar to mine that indicates that they have seen BIOS issues with Abit boards that limits the performance of the PCI-e X16 slots. I wonder if this could be my issue.