Nvidia Decoder / Video quality problems

[brundag5]

I am battling video playback quality issues and could use some advice. My setup is as follows.

CPU: AMD Athlon64 3000+ (1.8 GHz)
512 MB Ram
OS: XP Pro
MB: Asus AN8-E nforce-4 chipset
Graphics Card: Nvidia 6600 LE
Tuner: PVR150
Decoder: Nvidia Bronze
TV: Panasonic 53 rear projection (16x9), using DVI input port for video.

I have used the Microsoft codec checker to set the pure video codec to my preferred/default decoder. In sagetv if I set my video decoder to default I can display video (albeit choppy, blocky, and soft), but if I select the nvidia video decoder from the list I get a playback exception error. This leaves me to wonder if I am actually using the pure video decoder.

Furthermore, because the nvidia decoder icon does not appear in the system tray when I’m watching video (with sage) I can not adjust the settings (VMR9/Overlay ect). Also, if I play a video clip with Windows media player and try to right click on the decoder icon it causes windows explorer to crash.

A few weeks ago I had purchased an ECS Motherboard for my setup. I had freshly installed all software and my picture quality was great. Equal or better that normal TV. However after about 15 minutes of watching video the system would continuously lock up. Therefore, I RMA'd the MB and went with the ASUS MB. Because I’m using the SATA hard drive as my main drive I had to completely reinstall everything again and now I’m back to my original picture quality problems.

Is everyone able to select the nvidia decoder within sage without problems?

[Tiki]

I get this same error if using overlay with 3d acceleration on with the PureVideo decoder. But VMR9 with or without FSE works and overlay works as long as 3d accel is turned off.

I just installed this decoder this week (I had been using Cyberlink which wouldn't work with VMR9 at all). I have an MSI 6200 card, Gigabyte MB, 512MB ram, Sempron64 3100+ CPU, 2 PVR-150s and 1 PVR-150MCE. Using Component output to 1080i projection TV (5x4). So, similar setup.

[Pretzelboy]

I had the same error as tiki at times with 3D acceleration so it's been off for some time. Brundag, we have a very similar setup, same tuner, same graphics card and decoder, same OS, processor speed (not the same processor) and same amount of RAM. I'm not using a SATA though.

I'd certainly guess this was a settings issue conflicting as it did for me early on.