Flickering During Media Center Playback

[Joudoki]

Okay, so I've put together a home theater pc for our home theater. I used the following components:
- Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R
- Intel Q9400 Core 2 Quad
- 8gb ( 4x2gb ) G.SKILL PI Black DDR2 800
- ATI Radeon HD 3870 ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102719 )
- Hauppage 1800 Tuner Card ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815116015 )
- Windows Vista Home Premium 64 Bit OEM

Now, when using media center, I get this strange issue where when the controls fade, playback flickers between the last frame of content that was displayed and the content itself ( as it's playing ). Now, obviously, this is incredibly annoying and makes Media Center unusable.

It seems to occur during the following playback modes:
- DVD Playback
- TV Playback
- Local Video Playback

However, the flickering does NOT occur during use of the Netflix module. The issue also does not occur when using any other video playback software; i.e. windows media player, powerdvd ( for blu-ray ), vlc media player, etc.

When I try minimizing the window ( so that it's not full screen ), the playback freezes. The audio still comes through, but the picture stays on the last frame that was displayed full screen; When I try to resize the window, the newest frame displays, but it doesn't play.

I have the latest drivers for both the ATI card ( ATI Catalyst 9.6 Drivers ) and the Hauppage card. I have applied all updates to Windows Vista through the Windows Update service.

If anyone else has this same issue, or if anyone has managed to solve it, please post here.

People with similar issues:
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies-archive.cfm/1042508.html
http://forums.amd.com/game/messageview.cfm?catid=279&threadid=106079
http://forums.techarena.in/media-center-pc/1064349.htm
http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vistamedia/thread/ccb3baf9-c9dc-4688-8672-22b67a94f97d
http://www.avforums.com/forums/windows-media-center-edition-mce/889804-movies-flickering-media-centre.html

 

[John Fiduci]

This seems to be (by now) a "very well known issue" with Hauppage tuner cards: No support for 64-Bit Windows systems (i.e. Vista / Win7) which have over 4GB of RAM installed. It certainly won't work on the older cards (PVR-150 / 500 etc.). Experiences on the newer ones (1600 /1800 etc.) vary though. Lots of Googling may help you out with your 1800 card issue. I myself (Win7 / 8GB) will now buy a Hauppage 2200. For this one there are at least "PreRelease"-drivers available which (Hauppage claims...) DO support this setup (download thru: ftp://www.hauppauge.com). The driver readme states:

Driver Release 7.6.1.27023 (1/23/09)
* 64Bit OS "greater than 4G" memory issues resolved (black/green screen issues).

So dip in the deep, and get a HP-2200... (and hope this company FINALLY gets serious about supporting there own products fully!).

Suc6, John.