Blu-Ray Rom and System resources

[Outlaw]

Does anybody have a Blu-Ray player for their pc they use 1080P with?

C2D E6600
EVGA 680i Motherboard
2GB DDR2 1066 running at 800
WD SATAII 160GB 8MB Cache
WD SATAII 250GB 16MB Cache (x2) 1 is OS drive
SilverStone 850W PSU
LG BD Player /DVD/CD RW Drive (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136133)
Cyberlink PowerDVD 7.3 (BD Supported)

Monitor
Samsung 17" at 1280x1024
TV
GE Rear Projection 54" at 1920x1080

On a fresh boot up. My pc will use about 250MB page file and about 150-200MB RAM (i think, not at home).

When I play the Blu Ray on the 17", my CPU's sit anywhere from 40-75% usage on both cores. The Player uses about 256-500MB RAM and the pagefile spikes to 800MB to 1GB with 1.2ish GB free RAM.

When I play the Blu Ray on the 54", my CPU's sit anywhere from 60-100% usage on both cores. The player uses about 256-500MB RAM and the pagefile spikes to 1GB with about 1-1.2GB free RAM.

I expected the larger screen resolution to use more resources but from what I've read, I don't recall it stating it using close to 100% for the length of the movie. I'm not worried about it overheating yet. I am looking to building an HTPC case for it which isn't going to have the same cooling power. When I used the Compatibility Advisor Cyberlink provides, everything but the HDCP compliant monitor is green.

Screenshot of advisor here (http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/08/25/check-your-pc-for-blu-ray-and-hd-dvd-compatibility/). THIS IS NOT MINE

Questions:
1. Would it be possible that by not using the HDCP compatible parts would be forcing that much extra work?

2. It seems to be recommended that 4GB RAM is in the PC. Why doesn't it use more RAM (leaving 1GB free)?

3. Related to 2. Why does it use so much page file while leaving so much RAM free?

[Luke122]

Have you got a dedicated GPU in the system, or are you using an integrated video solution? If so, then the CPU is doing lots of work for the video playback. As for the ram usage, maybe try disabling your swap file?

[Outlaw]

My bad, lol yes there is an 8800GTS 640MB GPU in it.

[Luke122]

Have you tried updating your GPU drivers?

[Outlaw]

The install isn't that old and I installed new drivers from the website. I can check and redownload if they are different.

[Luke122]

My suggestion of disabling your swap file wont help performance, it was just a thought to see if it would increase the memory utilization.

[Outlaw]

I did have it turned off before but can't say I have tried playing a movie with it off.

Also, a regular DVD on the screen is 20-30% less usage and about 200-300MB less pagefile using the same Cyberlink PowerDVD.

When I had changed the resoultion from 1080P to 720P, the difference was maybe 10% and even then there were times it would spike to 90%+. This seem right? Should I try another fresh install?

[Luke122]

Have you checked Cyberlink's support site? Maybe there's an update/fix for this problem, or maybe it's not a problem at all.. ?

[Outlaw]

Here's what Cyberlink recommends (http://www.cyberlink.com/stat/bd-support/enu/system-requirement.jsp) for hardware. I am going to guess its normal but it just doesn't seem right. I guess some of the hardware they recommend/minimum would be to play it to say you can but not necessarily watch the movie.

This did happen for a brief moment where it peaked 100%:
When playing the Blu-ray Disc titles, the video is not smooth, jittery or unable to sync with the sound.
Issue

The playback of Blu-ray Disc titles is not smooth for audio or video.
Cause

1. The CPU speed or graphics card processor doesn!|t meet the recommended requirements to play Blu-ray Disc titles smoothly.
2. You're running another program on your computer in the background.
3. The sound card driver causes some problems for PowerDVD to sync the video well with the audio.

Solution

1. Make sure your CPU and graphics card meet the recommended requirements. You can run the CyberLink BD Advisor to check if your CPU and graphics card are capable to play Blu-ray Disc titles.
2. Close all other unnecessary applications. To check current CPU and system memory usage, press Ctrl+Alt+Del and click Task Manager. In the Windows Task Manager dialog, click the Processes tab. Select a process and click End Process to close a process to save resources for Blu-ray Disc playback.
3. If it's case 3, it's not related to the high system requirements for BD playback. This will happen also for DVD playback. Please try to update your sound card driver to solve this problem.

It also tells you to use the BD Advisor to make sure you hardware can play it. The only thing not green is the HDCP monitor. I know its not HDCP compliant but still use the RGB Component cable to hook it up to the TV.

[Outlaw]

Just wanted to update incase there was someone actually interested.

After a fresh install (XP Pro) and the latest GFX Driver, also the firmware update that LG does and the patch for PowerDVD (which I had before). I think the only thing was that the driver I had was like 178.xx, and the download I did yesterday was 182.xx(I think). The CPU came down to 33-60% CPU Usage but still uses the same amount of ram / page file. With the CPU usage down though, I'm not worried about it. Nvidia's Multi Monitor wizard says that using the Component with a non 1080P tv, it will output to 1080i, but in the settings, it shows a resolution set to 1920x1080.

[Luke122]

Glad to see that you were able to get this sorted out. :)

[crenn]

Your graphics card only supports PureVideo, not PureVideo2.

[Outlaw]

Thanks Luke

crenn- Thanks for pointing that out. I didn't even think to look at that. I'm ok with that, it was just that the resources used were so high and the hardware in PowerDVD's minimum and Recommended lists were kind of scary considering what I was seeing. I don't believe they said it was for the Bluray playback so it was probably to cover all basis. But when you see they have single core P4 under minimum, and Pentium EE and D, and I have a C2D and its maxing out. My CPU is in the middle of all the recommended Intel's so it's definitely not the best or the worst which is why I can handle 30-60% cpu load. I was just worried about heat in the htpc case if it were going to sit at 90% the whole time.

Thanks again.

[crenn]

You may want to later upgrade your GPU to a newer model (The 9800GTX+ series should be on special now if you can afford it) so you can offload decoding to the GPU (PowerDVD I believe supports this). I know ATi 4xxx series cards support it, just I don't know what programs support it.

[Outlaw]

I wish I could afford it. Right now though, the CPU is going to have to deal with decoding part of it. Buzzkillington posted a $110 9800GTX in the Hot hardware deals (http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?p=236178#post236178) section which would be nice but it has a 75 MIR which I can't afford up front. And PowerDVD from what I read does support it. Now that the CPU is running half of what it was I think I can live with it and just need to get a better TV to even see the difference of 480, 720, and 1080. lol Rear Projection can only take you so for in HD. I am probably going to wait till I build my next pc but that wont be til next year after tax time hopefully if i don't need a new car.

[haha49]

Does anybody have a Blu-Ray player for their pc they use 1080P with?

C2D E6600
EVGA 680i Motherboard
2GB DDR2 1066 running at 800
WD SATAII 160GB 8MB Cache
WD SATAII 250GB 16MB Cache (x2) 1 is OS drive
SilverStone 850W PSU
LG BD Player /DVD/CD RW Drive (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136133)
Cyberlink PowerDVD 7.3 (BD Supported)

Monitor
Samsung 17" at 1280x1024
TV
GE Rear Projection 54" at 1920x1080

On a fresh boot up. My pc will use about 250MB page file and about 150-200MB RAM (i think, not at home).

When I play the Blu Ray on the 17", my CPU's sit anywhere from 40-75% usage on both cores. The Player uses about 256-500MB RAM and the pagefile spikes to 800MB to 1GB with 1.2ish GB free RAM.

When I play the Blu Ray on the 54", my CPU's sit anywhere from 60-100% usage on both cores. The player uses about 256-500MB RAM and the pagefile spikes to 1GB with about 1-1.2GB free RAM.

I expected the larger screen resolution to use more resources but from what I've read, I don't recall it stating it using close to 100% for the length of the movie. I'm not worried about it overheating yet. I am looking to building an HTPC case for it which isn't going to have the same cooling power. When I used the Compatibility Advisor Cyberlink provides, everything but the HDCP compliant monitor is green.

Screenshot of advisor here (http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/08/25/check-your-pc-for-blu-ray-and-hd-dvd-compatibility/). THIS IS NOT MINE

Questions:
1. Would it be possible that by not using the HDCP compatible parts would be forcing that much extra work?

2. It seems to be recommended that 4GB RAM is in the PC. Why doesn't it use more RAM (leaving 1GB free)?

3. Related to 2. Why does it use so much page file while leaving so much RAM free?


No problem I got a e6600
2 gigs ram
ati 4670 thats the ddr2 one 1gig though..
runs no problesm at all hardrive doesnt matter unless you playing off it and that would be not an isuse anyways..

use more cpu then ram get powerdvd ultra 9 or 8 ... 9 works with vista media center so its a bit nicer..

no isuses at all playing it on that only used 20 percent of the cpu... its the video card that will take alot of the load off the cpu..

now I run it on a
q9550
4 gigs ram
ati 4870 512mb

runs fine with even less cpu load its at like 10 now.. but Im runing alot more programs at the same time..

once you go blu ray I cant go back hell no... useing a stero 7.1 hometheater setup in my bed room useing 24 inch moniter thats higher then 1080p... so I like it..:banana:

[haha49]

You may want to later upgrade your GPU to a newer model (The 9800GTX+ series should be on special now if you can afford it) so you can offload decoding to the GPU (PowerDVD I believe supports this). I know ATi 4xxx series cards support it, just I don't know what programs support it.
ati 4670 more then enoff card can its cheap...runs farcry 2 maxed out with out aa on I was supprized it did so well because its a small card..

[haha49]

No problems at all I ran it on less... on a p4 3.0 with a ati 4670 1gig card.. mostly video card is what you need.. I used power dvd 8 but 9 can be used with vista media center..