[Buckster]

any tips please ?

I've tried latest stable build and a few of the most recent SVN builds to no avail ...

windows set to 1080p - 50hz TV definately is receiving 1080p 50hz.

as an example - content with 25fps = 50hz - great - well according to info screen when pressing z anyway.

but TV is actually receiving 1080p - 60hz/60p

but go back to the menus in XBMC - and TV is now showing 50hz

so bascially in full screen mode XBMC is displaying all content, 50hz, 60hz, and 24p material at 60hz - and I can't figure out why. any ideas please ?

Nvidia 9400 GFX chipset if it makes a difference

thanks for any help, Buckster

[Mark_A_W]

I really think this feature needs the ability to specifically set the three required resolutions.

Three choices for resolution/refresh rate, rather than just the current Screen one.


As it is you have no control...who knows what res it will choose?

[bobo1on1]

I've seen this before on linux, xbmc sets the refreshrate to something, the operating system reports the same back, but the videocard remains at 60 hertz.

I'm not sure there's anything you can do about this, other than using vga instead of hdmi.

[Myxin]

I've seen this before on linux, xbmc sets the refreshrate to something, the operating system reports the same back, but the videocard remains at 60 hertz.

I have the same problem on Vista. If I change only the refresh rate (Settings/Appearance/Screen/Resolution) and go on "Test Resolution" the screen goes to black for a second, but the refresh rate doesn't change. But if I also change to a different resolution the refresh rate also changed.

So if I want to look a 24Hz video and the current refresh rate is on 60Hz I have to change from 1920x1080@60 to 1280x720@60 and than go back to 1920x1080@24. Than it works.

Perhaps you can integrate the switching to a different resolution before setting the correct values as a workaround.

I'm not sure there's anything you can do about this, other than using vga instead of hdmi.

What do you mean with VGA? Go back to an analog signal?
I think this is not an acceptable solution.

Bye the way... Thanks for your good work on smoothvideo.

[Mike48236]

I was having a similar (possibly the same) issue in Windows 7 with the refresh rate not actually switching from the video card. I never tried the switching to another resolution and back to 1080p with a new refresh rate, but I think I made a change that did manage to fix it.

I right-clicked XBMC.exe in Program Files, selected "Properties" and went to the "Compatibality" tab. I'm not near my HTPC now, but I know it was either "Disable Visual Themes" or "Disable Desktop Composition" that made the problem go away (it was one or the other, not both). So you could give that a try.

I'm still having an annoying issue with my Sony TV recognizing the signal as "PC Input" over HDMI while at 60Hz. PC mode disables a bunch of the TV's calibration settings and makes the picture look washed out (the benefit is that it makes text sharper - so it's irrelavent to videoplayback). It doesn't happen at 24Hz. PowerDVD is able to somehow turn this off at 60Hz, so I don't think it is a timing issue. Also tried 59Hz/29Hz with no joy. And this is happening with just the TV as a display.

But anyway, that's quite possibly a separate topic. The above managed to take care of my adjust refresh rate problem, at least.

Oh - and just to note some details in case anything is relavant on this topic:
-Nvidia card - GeForce 9600 GT with the 186.18 drivers
-XBMC rev. 21183. (I made the compatibility change yesterday, so I think that was the build. If not, it was a build from the day before)
-Windows 7 RC1 x64
-Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 processor @ 3.18Ghz
-3D settings: triple buffer off, threaded optimization off, vsync on
-XBMC Settings: Vsync "Let Driver Decide"; "Screen" resolution at "Auto"

I think I will try the plain "1080p" screen resolution option in Appearance tonight to see if that makes a difference. I tried 1920x1080@60Hz before and that made no difference with my "PC Input" issue.

And yes, I too would like to send out a huge thank you to bobo1on1 for smoothvideo.

[Buckster]

sorry gents - hadn't realised my thread had been responded to - didn't get an auto-update email for some reason ...

anyway Mike ... not sure which exact one fixed it but disabled Disable Visual Themes and Dekstop Composition for the proprities of XBMC.exe and BINGO !! works perfectly

absolute superstar thanks - would never have found that

[seeker83]

Hello guys. I have the same problem, just haven't had time to look at for a few weeks.

Nice to see that compatibility mode works for some people I tried all combinations of disable visual themes and disable desktop composition, both in normal compatibility mode and in Windows XP SP2 compatibility mode, but without any luck. The disable visual themes setting causes some strange behaviour for me: XBMC looses focus to the OS during the refresh rate change, thus displaying the correct refresh rate but since XBMC doesn't have focus anymore it's worthless (more on this below).

I've seen this before on linux, xbmc sets the refreshrate to something, the operating system reports the same back, but the videocard remains at 60 hertz.

I'm not sure there's anything you can do about this, other than using vga instead of hdmi.

The problem is exactly as you say; xbmc tries to switch refresh rate and gets a confirm from the OS, but the refresh rate stays the same for the video playback.

If you switch to the desktop however, you can see (at least on Windows Vista) that the desktop resolution HAS changed to the correct refresh rate matching the movie. The movie continues to play in the background (yes you can still see the picture) with the correct refresh rate set. But this is of course not optimal since you can see the start menu and the video rendering gets jerky (probably since it hasn't got focus), and when switching back to XBMC the old refresh rate is sadly set again.

So I think the OS is confirming the new refresh rate since it has indeed set itself to the new refresh rate. The rendering window in XBMC is however for some reason unable to enforce this new refresh rate.

This behavior happens on my HTPC which has an AMD 780g chipset motherboard with a built-in ATI Radeon 3200 GPU. I run Windows Vista x64 SP1 on it and use the motherboard's HDMI output to connect to my HDTV.

The auto refresh feature works perfectly on my Windows XP SP2 computer using an Nvidia GForce 8800 GTS 512MB graphics card, so the problem is either with ATI cards, or more likely Windows Vista.

[seeker83]

I have the same problem on Vista. If I change only the refresh rate (Settings/Appearance/Screen/Resolution) and go on "Test Resolution" the screen goes to black for a second, but the refresh rate doesn't change. But if I also change to a different resolution the refresh rate also changed.

So if I want to look a 24Hz video and the current refresh rate is on 60Hz I have to change from 1920x1080@60 to 1280x720@60 and than go back to 1920x1080@24. Than it works.

Perhaps you can integrate the switching to a different resolution before setting the correct values as a workaround.

I usually change my refresh rate to 24hz before I start XBMC if I know that I'm going to watch a movie. This is kind of annoying though since we all know that XBMC has the ability to:
1. check what refresh rate should be used for a movie, and
2. change resolution and/or refresh rate

As Myxin points out, and I've tried this myself several times before, changing the resolution to a temporary one (e.g. 720p@60Hz) and then to the target resolution and refresh rate (e.g. 1080p@24Hz) works fine. After the target refresh rate is set you can start the movie and it keeps the GUI's current refresh rate - just as it should.

A possible fix for the auto refresh feature on Vista could be that instead of trying to change refresh rate the normal way (which works for most people), XBMC could use the same procedure as it's using when changing the resolution, since that obviously works if done before starting the movie. The original refresh rate (and perhaps resolution) must then be stored in some variable so that it can be recalled later when playback stops.

And bobo, don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, I really appreciate your work, it's awesome! I just thought this might be a nice temporary solution.

I will look into it myself when I get the time to do it, but my understanding of all this video rendering libraries and the XBMC code framework in general is still limited, so that might take a while So if someone else feels they are up to the challenge, feel free to try implementing this!

//seeker

[alturismo]

i also can confirm this behavior on 2 xbmc installations here

both using also 780g chipset and vista x64

i will try XP on 1 mashine these days if that may helps

[punking]

I think I made a change that did manage to fix it.

I right-clicked XBMC.exe in Program Files, selected "Properties" and went to the "Compatibality" tab. I'm not near my HTPC now, but I know it was either "Disable Visual Themes" or "Disable Desktop Composition" that made the problem go away (it was one or the other, not both). So you could give that a try.

Thanks. I did the same and now it switches to 24fps for movies and back to 60fps for the GUI. One thing though is that British 720p and SD material brings up a 'Mode Not Supported' on my TV. However as I'm in the USA, I'm guessing that perhaps the TV can't do those resolutions and needs XBMC to adjust it. Although I was surprised that the 720p didn't work, but it's probably because it's at 50 rather than 60... or something..

[ashlar]

Now that XBMC is able to look "into" files for resolution, codecs, etc. the approach for refresh rate change should be to change the refresh *before* playback begins and not after. I'll post about this in the feature request as well.

[alturismo]

ok, i tested now on WinXP 32bit and Win7 64 bit

the XP version doesnt even show me an change on "z" info, always stays on 60 hz.

Win7 shows same behavior like Vista, "z" info shows 24 hz but windows still running on 60

so seems like AMD chipset 780g and XBMC cant get auto refresh rate to work here at all

all tested with latest ATI 9.6 drivers

MB: ASUS M3A HDMI with an Athlon X2 5200 CPU, 4 gig RAM

connected with HDMI to LCD TV

note: Media Portal auto refresh works ... just tested to check if TV has any issues

[Murkas]

Hello guys,

I have exactly the same problem that you guys exemplify in this thread. "Adjust refresh rate" doesn't work and it is even impossible to change refresh settings under Settings->Appearance->Screen. It rather annoys me...

My HW:
Gigabyte 785G motherboard with integrated HD4200
AMD Phenom II X4 965 processor
4GB Ram

My SW:
Windows 7 Pro
ATI CCC 9.9
Lots of XBMC from 9.04 to latest build. Now running with Rev.22516

Any new ideas about how to fix this?

I have tried everything from changing vsync in XBMC to checking boxes in windows compatibility tab - with no result.

Thank you guys for a great, great piece of software!

[Murkas]

Tried to bind hotkeys for different profiles with different refresh rates in ATI CCC, and it works great when executing it in windows - but when executing it in XBMC the screen flashes but when the display comes back the refresh rate isn't changed...

Anyone that has any suggestions?

[chrispitude]

Was looking at a 785G+XBMC HTPC solution, but I think I will wait to see how this plays out...

- Chris