WHAT GIVES?

--I have a system with PII 400 with 256MBRAM, Ovation DVD ROM, ATI RADEON 64 DDR, and a Sound Blaster live value card running both WinXP and Win2K (with SP2). I have the latest official ATI and Sound Blaster (July-12th) drivers. I have a Hoontech III add-on card for optical out to my receiver.



--In WinXP, I get AC3 passthrough easily. (Using WinDVD)

--In Win 2000, I get no AC3 passthrough (using the ATI DVD 4.1 – Cinmaster). I have not even bothered with WinDVD since that program works fine in WINXP.

--I really would like to get AC3 passthrough from the native ATI 4.1 DVD player.

--I tried the following per a very helpful fellow forum member’s suggestion which is as follows:

“Because you have a few different dvd software players on your system, you could be having a conflict problem and this where DVD Genie is useful.
You should go into the Genie and click the WinDVD tab. Next click 'options' and then look to the bottom right for a key marked 'Unregister Filters'. Click 'apply' and then exit.
Next , go into the Cinemaster tab. Open up options and look for a key on the right hand side named 'Erase Devb'-- click on it. Then, Make sure HW optimization is checked and that 3:2 pulldown is not checked. Also select 'forced weave' in the de-interlacing window. Make sure that ATI rage 128 (the fifth listing down from the top) is selected in the 'Decode Setting' window. Next, go back to the right side of the tab and make sure the following are selected:
Surface Flip Mode = Default for Cinemaster 2.0
Surface Flip Position = Wait Full Frame ATI 128 Mobility (Default)
Sound Compression = Amplified
Downmix Audio = Dolby Pro Logic
AC3 Downsample Mode = Filter #5 (Default)
AC3 SP/DIF Out = 04 Yamaha, Cirrus, Crystal , Creative SB Live etc.
in the bottom window check only Dialog Normalization, Enable SP/DIF, Require Color Key and Synch Screen Refresh.”



--Before the suggested changes above, I only got the basic DolbyPrologic signal on my receiver without any AC3 passthrough. After the changes, I now receive the full 5.1 AC3 passthrough signal as evidenced by the Dolbydigital light as well as full 5.1 surround sound indicator on my receiver. BUT THAT ONLY LASTS FOR THE FIRST INTRO SCENE.

--For example, I only hear the DolbyDigital intro to Akira, and after that it’s nothing, just everything goes black on the player. Same thing with Gladiator, I get the Dreamwork’s 15sec intro and again, the player screen goes black. The only way for me to get out of that is to restart.

--What am I missing? I know that it is possible to get AC3 through my setup in WIN2K, albeit for one 10-15 secs. Why does it freeze when it changes scenes from the intro?

--Sorry for the long winded post, but I just wanted to present all the pertinent information first.

--Thank you in advance for all your advice and help.

--Maz