Screen tearing during Blu-Ray playback at 24fps on Intel DH55DC / i3-530

[idata]

I built an HTPC with an Intel DH55DC motherboard and an Intel i3-530 processor. Drivers and BIOS are the latest version. OS is Windows 7 32 bits. The HTPC is connected thru HDMI to a Denon AVR 4308 / Pioneer Plasma. The display refresh rate is set to 24Hz.

Whenever I play a Blu-Ray disc, horizontal screen tearing is visible as if the HTPC fails to synchronize frame output to 24 Hz. I tried to change various display driver properties, but nothing seems to help. Has anybody experienced something similar?

This problem occurs both with PowerDVD9 and TotalMedia Theatre 3, so it seems more like a driver issue than an application issue.

[idata]

I have the exact same problem. Fresh install of windows 7 with the core I3-530. My motherboard is a MSI H55.

I get horizontal tearing in most media play back (not just 1080p / bluray). Switched to an ATI 4650 graphics card and the problem disappeared instantly.

I had the latest drivers from intel and the latest bios from MSI and the tearing would not go away. I tried different codecs, different screen resolutions etc.

[idata]

There is a http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1172451&page=24 thread on AVS Forum where I have also posted this issue. Someone from Intel is reading and posting there, so perhaps you can share your experiences there as well?

[idata]

l am also experiencing screen tearing during Blu-Ray playback with a Core i3 530 in an Intel DH55TC motherboard and Win7 Pro 64-bit. It plays back just fine with an MSI R5570 PCIe card in it. Unfortunately I primarily puchased it to run without a video card in a 2U case. I have had it since July and if Intel cannot fix this problem, I want my money back.

Joe

[idata]

Any answers on this, this is very bad form

[idata]

It is looking more and more like Intel is hiding a difficiency in the Core i3-530 IGP. It is advertised as having Intel® HD Graphics "hardware-accelerated

decode for Blu-ray" but some of us are experiencing its inability to playback Blu-ray DVDs. I am on the third set of memory, 4GB of Patriot 1.5V DDR3 2x2GB 1333MHz and still have the screen tearing problem. It passes Intel's CPU test on the Kingston or Patriot memory but it is not obvious to me that the test includes the IGP. I will ask Intel once again to replace the processor and if the problem persists, I will never purchase a Core i processor again.

Joe

[idata]

An update to the Core i3's inability to do Blu-ray playback: I have been through 3-sets of memory, two DH55TC motherboards and two core i3 530 processors. I eventually upgraded PowerDVD to the latest eval 10 instead of 8 that came with the Lite-On BD-ROM drive. The screen tearing does not occur but PowerDVD locks on the main menu and it won't play the main movie at all. I replaced the Lite-On iHOS104 with the LG HL-DT-ST BD-RE GBW-H20L from my Core i7 machine and it loaded the full menu (before it did not get that far) but locked again. I then installed a Asus ENGT240 and it played the whole Blu-ray DVD flawlessly. Recap: I had installed a MSI R-5570 with the Lite-On drive with the same success. Once AMD puts a ATI IGP on their processors Intel stock will drop like a rock. The Intel Core-i3 IGP (and/or their driver) is simply incappable of Blu-ray playback as far as I can tell. My next endeavor will be to purchase a newer Intel processor with a 15-day no questions asked return policy that fits the DH55TC board to see if that corrects the problem. If not it goes back. If it does, Fry's needs to take the core i3 530 back that I bought with the false advertisement of Blu-ray playback capability in July. I am building this system for a 2U case and have no intention of adding a video card. If I could only get paid back for my time...

Joe

[idata]

Thanks Joe for such an informative investigation.

I've updated my i3-530 to an i5 cpu and all is well.

damn i3-530 its rubbish for blu ray.

[idata]

The 24fps is due to hardware problems. Sandybridge has the same issue that Intel didn't fix because it would push back their release time line for Sandy Bridge. You can set your HTPC to output only at 60 and it will solve your problem. Still a wonky solution for a problem. This is from a company touting their IGPs as aimed for HTPC people. Oh and there are big time picture quality issues when it comes time to using Media Player Classic they both Intel and MPC-HC people have known about since last year or a year before that.

Alex

[idata]

And yet another update to the belabored Blu-Ray screen-tearing issue. I did try a faster Core-i3 processor with the same result. Returned it an put the i3 530 back in. I then rebuilt the Win 7 64-bit system on clean drive, installed Power DVD 8 and the latest update. It now plays Blu-Rays without screen tearing. I don't believe that this is just an Intel issue. Cyberlink needs to take some of the heat on this one. Certainly their software works much better with ATI or Nvidia GPUs that Intel's. If anyone knows of an alternative to Cyberlink PowerDVD that will play Blu-Rays without screen tearing on Intel IGPs, please post here.