Windows 7: Preventing mode switch

Good morning,

I would need some advice on the following issue I am encountering on my Windows 7 MCE setup.

The unit is a GF8300 motherboard with a low power AMD CPU. I am primarily using the HDMI output both for audio and video, quite recently since prior to that I as using an old DSP-A1 with SPDIF input only, so only video was routed through the HDMI output.

Note that I reinstalled everything from scratch, and no additionnal codec installed (except Haali media splitter and the associated registry hack to enable MKV support in MCE).

I'm located in Europe, so I use the 1920x1080 50Hz setting, latest NV drivers

I have now a new amplifier (Denon AVR-3311), and I'm running into several issues:
- Mode switch: WMC keep changing mode output. When playing back LiveTV, it goes into 1080i mode. Likewise playing a video file results into a mode switch (and for that I still don't understand why, since the video file is 1080p).
- HDMI hotplug autodetection: the new amplifier has an HDMI switch built-in. Problem is... when I switch input on the amplifier, the MCE unit registers a hotunplug event. And when it reconnects (ie when I switch back on the input to the MCE PC0, the end result is quite random: I've had instances of 1080i mode, even on the front end, the audio setup is messed up (it goes back from 7.1 to stereo), etc

So if anyone has a way to:
- Force MCE to NOT switch modes and keep 1080p 50Hz
- Disable HDMI hotplug detection

That would be really helpful

Thanks for your help

Regards

Vincent Nguyen

The hot plug detection is a problem that cannot be fixed on the computer side, it's just the way the amplifier operates, there is a way to fix that but it means buying an internal S/PDIF cable and connecting it to the GPU.

The mode switch is quite simple, 50hz is not a HD frequency, it will output the framerate of the video to match that of the settings you've made default in media center, now since most video files that are HD run at 30fps, then the frequency needs to be either 59hz or 60hz, it's exactly relative to the framerate of the video, so to downscale to the different setting will automatically interlace the video file to cope with the different frequency.

On the hotplug, I believe it can be fixed at computer level, since it is basically the PC which reacts to an outside event. I have exactly the same behaviour (more or less) if I unplug physically the HDMI cable, even with the amplifier out of the picture.

On the mode switch: actually most HD content is 23.976fps (movie type), that's what the BD/HD-DVD contents are using. I don't mind the switch in that case, as the application take precedence and reverts back nicely when it exit. However broadcast content (ie TV-channel) are 1080i/50hz (at least in France), not 30fps (or 60hz).

The content can very easily be de-interlaced by the GPU, and displayed in progressive. There is absolutely no reason for MCE to switch to 1080i in that case.

Sidenote: the internal SPDIF cable solution is only relevant for old NVIDIA graphics HW, which did not have bitstreaming through HDMI, and used essentially an audio mixer. In my case on top of that I'm using internal graphics, so the internal SPDIF is always physically routed to the HDMI connector.

Vincent Nguyen

I see, now isn't this a testament to reading forum rules, firstly, you needed to fill in the relevant data here > http://www.sevenforums.com/profile.php?do=extra , I can't mind read unfortunately, secondly, if you are using an onboard GPU then HD content will be interlaced as the GPU isn't designed to cope with such graphically intensive tasks. Sorry if this sounds contradictive, it isn't meant to be. Hope you get it solved