G41 Express + Blu Ray

[RhysAndrews]

Hey guys,
I had to get a new motherboard for my Media Centre PC the other day as my other one stopped working.

Previously I had an 8600GTS and used a DVI-to-HDMI converter with it. I could play blu-ray just fine with TotalMedia Theatre.

I picked the GA-G41MT-ES2H motherboard as the onboard graphics included HDMI, DVI, and VGA, and supposedly supports blu ray playback.

However, TotalMedia Theatre's "BD Assistant" says that the G41 Express Chipset does not support Blu Ray. When I try to play a blu-ray disk with the software, I get an error: "failed to utilize video overlay"

I've tried updating the software, but with any update I download, the installer crashes 2 thirds into the intialising of installshield. This is a fresh install of Win 7 64-bit with the latest drivers..

I'd appreciate any help you can throw at me =)
-Rhys

 

[Marshillboy]

Did you try using any other blu-ray playing software? PowerDVD or Cyberlink may be capable alternatives to the software you're using now.

 

[foothead]

Onboard video cannot decode Blu-ray properly. I had the same issue a while back. Throw the 8600 in there and it should work. It will be much faster than the onboard video also

 

[RhysAndrews]

@Marshillboy
I've not really got access to any other, 'cept for PowerDVD which seemed so updated it wouldn't work on Windows 7.

@foothead
Well that's something worth complaining to Gigabyte about. The only problem with the 8600 is that the HTPC is in a fairly tight shelf, and with the DVI-toHDMI adapter it sticks out the front. That, and if I decide to get a higher quality sound system in the near future, having HDMI with sound would really help.

 

[foothead]

The 8600 should have a small two pin s/pdif connector. You plug this into your sound card and it will be able to output hdmi audio.

 

[RhysAndrews]

@foothead
I didn't know sound could go through DVI (remember, I'm using a DVI to HDMI converter when using my 8600).

Doesn't matter now, I managed to fix the problem. There was some odd problem with TotalMedia Theatre, it wouldn't even uninstall and I had to go through the registry to clear it out, but i then kept getting errors when I tried to reinstall it, so I did a system restore. When I reinstalled totalmedia theatre, it worked a treat.

Thanks for your help, guys.
-Rhys

 

[foothead]

You should still use the 8600 if possible. CUDA will be able to decode the video much better. You will end up with a clearer picture.

And yes a DVI port can carry the audio signal. You need a special adapter (the one that came with the card works) and it will be able to teansfer it. I am doing this on my HTPC.