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[Bill Kearney]

Just installed MC16 on a Thinkpad T420 laptop running Win7 (running at 1600x900x32 on an nVidia 4200 optimus setup).  Loaded up a bunch of audio tracks (no other types).  When I switch to theatre view I see the navigation text but then it switches to a blank screen.  There's some sort of small gray block in the upper left corner, but nothing else is visible.  If I navigate with the arrows I can see some disk activity but have no idea what. 

What gives?  What's keeping MC from showing anything in theatre view?  The other views seem to work fine.

[Bill Kearney]

I may have narrowed it down a bit.  It's possible in the Windows Explorer to control which graphics processor is used for a program.  Either the Integrated Intel setup or the nVidia 4200.  If I select the 4200 the theatre view appears (but has problems).  If I select Integrated that's when I get the gray box.

When using the nVidia the theatre view appears overly transparent and almost overexposed in brightness.  I've tried different skins, themes and backgrounds and they don't really improve the sitiuation.  It's as if the background is 'too transparent' and the text overlay is 'too bright'.

I take it the theatre view is trying to take advantage of better graphic hardware?  The nVidia control panel has the ability to customize all of it's Physix 3D settings on a per-program basis.  So I can have it change which modes it uses specifically for the MC16 .exe file.  But I'm wondering, what settings would be best suited for MC's needs?

Are there known issues with theatre view on switchable graphics setups like those found in most new Sandy Bridge chipset based laptops?

[Matt]

There are known issues with the Intel video drivers and FSAA.

Under Options > Video Card, try lowering the settings.

If that helps, could you post a section of a log showing the loading of Theater View? (Help > Logging)

Thanks.

[Bill Kearney]

I enabled the log and then went into theatre view.  I took a screenshot and then hit Esc twice to back out.  Here's the log:

Media Center; Version: 16.0.141; Types: 16127
0029438: 4556: General: CMCUICore::SetMode: Start
0029438: 4556: General: CMCUICore::SetMode: Setting UI mode: 3
0029531: 4556: Database: CMediaFileIOLoad::Load: Loading: C:\Users\wkearney\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 16\Library\browser (theater view).jmd
0029640: 4556: General: CMainUIWnd::Resize: Start
0029687: 4556: General: CDXCore::Initialize: Start
0029687: 4556: General: CDXCore::Initialize: Stopping previous instances
0029687: 4556: General: CDXCore::Terminate: Start
0029687: 4556: General: CDXCore::Terminate: DestroyObjects
0029687: 4556: General: CDXCore::Terminate: Release Direct3D
0029687: 4556: General: CDXCore::Terminate: Unload D3D.dll
0029687: 4556: General: CDXCore::Terminate: Clearing variables
0029687: 4556: General: CDXCore::Terminate: Finish (0 ms)
0029687: 4556: General: CDXCore::Initialize: Creating Direct3D
0029999: 4556: General: CDXCore::Initialize: Loading D3DX
0029999: 4556: General: CDXCore::Initialize: Choosing adapter
0029999: 4556: General: CDXCore::Initialize: Testing capabilities
0029999: 4556: General: CDXCore::Initialize: Adapter: 0
0029999: 4556: General: CDXCore::Initialize: Vendor Id: 4318
0029999: 4556: General: CDXCore::Initialize: Device Id: 4183
0029999: 4556: General: CDXCore::Initialize: Getting depth stencil format
0029999: 4556: General: CDXCore::Initialize: Creating device
0030015: 4556: General: CDXCore::Initialize: Success
0030015: 4556: General: CDXCore::Initialize: Finish (328 ms)
0030015: 4556: General: CMainUIWnd::Resize: Finish (375 ms)
0030030: 4556: General: CMCUICore::SetMode: Finish (592 ms)
0030046: 4556: CD: CDiscDriveInfo::MMCDriveReady: Start
0030046: 4556: CD: CDiscDriveInfo::MMCDriveReady: dwError=0x15, nRetries=3
0030062: 4556: CD: CDiscDriveInfo::MMCDriveReady: dwError=0x15, nRetries=2
0030062: 4556: CD: CDiscDriveInfo::MMCDriveReady: DeviceIoControl returns err=0x15
0030062: 4556: CD: CDiscDriveInfo::MMCDriveReady: Finish (16 ms)
0036972: 4556: General: CMCResourceHelper::GetIsModalPopupShowing: Message box showing
0037050: 4556: General: CMCResourceHelper::GetIsModalPopupShowing: Message box showing
0037924: 4556: General: CMCResourceHelper::GetIsModalPopupShowing: Message box showing
0037924: 4556: General: CMCResourceHelper::GetIsModalPopupShowing: Message box showing
0037924: 4556: General: CMCResourceHelper::GetIsModalPopupShowing: Message box showing
0037924: 4556: General: CMCUICore::SetMode: Start
0037924: 4556: General: CMCUICore::SetMode: Setting UI mode: -999
0037924: 4556: Database: CMediaFileIOSave::Load: Saving: C:\Users\wkearney\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 16\Library\browser (theater view).jmd
0037971: 4556: General: CDXCore::Terminate: Start
0037971: 4556: General: CDXCore::Terminate: DestroyObjects
0037971: 4556: General: CDXCore::Terminate: Release Direct3D
0038002: 4556: General: CDXCore::Terminate: Unload D3D.dll
0038049: 4556: General: CDXCore::Terminate: Clearing variables
0038049: 4556: General: CDXCore::Terminate: Finish (78 ms)
0038049: 4556: General: CDXCore::Terminate: Start
0038049: 4556: General: CDXCore::Terminate: DestroyObjects
0038049: 4556: General: CDXCore::Terminate: Release Direct3D
0038049: 4556: General: CDXCore::Terminate: Unload D3D.dll
0038049: 4556: General: CDXCore::Terminate: Clearing variables
0038049: 4556: General: CDXCore::Terminate: Finish (0 ms)
0038142: 4556: General: CMainUIWnd::Resize: Start
0038158: 4556: General: CMainUIWnd::Resize: Finish (16 ms)
0038174: 4556: General: CMCUICore::SetMode: Finish (250 ms)
0041387: 4556: General: CMCResourceHelper::GetIsModalPopupShowing: Menu showing
0042885: 4556: General: CMCResourceHelper::GetIsModalPopupShowing: Menu showing
0045147: 4556: General: CMCResourceHelper::GetIsModalPopupShowing: Main window disabled
0045147: 4556: General: RunProgram: Start
0045147: 4556: General: RunProgram: Filename: C:\Users\wkearney\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 16\Log.txt / Parameters:
0045147: 4556: General: RunProgram: Performing ShellExecute...
0045162: 4556: General: RunProgram: Running process...
0045162: 4556: General: RunProgram: Finish (15 ms)


I'm running on the nVidia graphics hardware, which I forced on the mc.exe via the nvidia control panel.  

Here's what the screen shot looks like:


It's as if the background was much too transparent.  Should it even BE transparent at all?  I can see some sort of patterned picture that I'm guessing is the background for the Obsidian skin.  Under that I can see the desktop (this web page in the browser) but they're blurred out.

[Matt]

Thanks for the log.

Did adjusting Options > Video Card help?

[Bill Kearney]

No, surprisingly, it does not appear to have made any difference at all.  When using the nVidia, that is.  When running with integrated graphics it fails if using high or medium, no UI gets shown at all.  In low it appears to work a bit better.  But it's still showing the desktop through a transparent background.  It's a bit more solid, but still showing the underlying windows and desktop.

I'm running with a Windows Aero theme (transparent stuff).  If I reconfigure the desktop to not use Aero, the theatre view complains about not having Aero.

So there are appear to be two issues here, one being support for graphics hardware.  The other being the background.  The graphics hardware issue might be a bit more complicated to fix.  But what of the transparent background?  Might that be easier to fix?

There's also an issue when switching the theme to use a Black Background (instead of skin image).  It does fade out the desktop and make a solid background... sort of.  When moving down into menus the top bar goes back to being semi-transparent, while the main field of text stays using the black background.  I'm using the Obsidian theatre view during all of this.

So am I dealing more with skin issues here?

[Matt]

Are you using Noire Glass?  If so, try Noire.

Also, what's this section of the log when you use the Intel (this snippet was for an nVidia):
0029999: 4556: General: CDXCore::Initialize: Vendor Id: 4318
0029999: 4556: General: CDXCore::Initialize: Device Id: 4183

Thanks.

[Matt]

Bump.  If we know the vendor and device ID, we can disable FSAA automatically for the bugged Intel drivers.

[Bill Kearney]

Been a little tied up with actual work this week. 

Here's what the device manager reports for the video hardware:

NVidia 4200
PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_1057&SUBSYS_21D017AA&REV_A1
driver version: 8.17.12.6802

Intel HD
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_0126&SUBSYS_21D017AA&REV_09
driver version: 8.15.10.2321

Curiously it seems like things change when I use the desktop docking station.  Which has two of it's own DVI/Displayport outputs, one of which I have connected via DVI.   But I'm not running MC on the external monitor, always just the built-in LCD.  I have not jumped back/forth between docked/undocked with MC to check if the transparency issues react differently.

The nVidia Optimus setup is designed to only make use of the higher power 4200 setup when an application requires it.  Either by deliberate configuration or by use of certain higher quality features.  I've no idea how that changes when running in the desktop dock.

[Matt]

Thanks for the details.  What's the CPU type?

I'm filling in a table here:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=65662.0

But since it looks like every Intel CPU has a different GPU ID, I think we may just disable FSAA for all Intel cards.

[Bill Kearney]

This is a Lenovo T420 laptop, the CPU is an i5-2540M and it's a Sandy Bridge chipset setup.

[Bill Kearney]

I can report that if I use a custom video setup and disable FSAA that it does show theatre view properly when using the Intel display (while docked).  I'll try it undocked.

[Bill Kearney]

Curious, it only appears to happen when the laptop is undocked.  Docked it's connected to a single desktop monitor, along with the built-in LCD.

[Bill Kearney]

I just tried it docked but without the desktop monitor connected and it behaves the same as undocked.  That is, the background isn't black, it's partially transparent. 

Would an extended desktop make any difference in how MC brings up theatre view?