Overlay Problem PowerDVD 6 and ZoomPlayer

Hello,

everytime ObjectDock is running these two Programms have problems with schowing any picture. When ZoomPlayer is maximiezed i get a black screen. PowerDVD is always black.

My Configuration is an ATI Radeon X800Pro with the latest Catalyst drivers.
3,579 views 5 replies
Reply #1 Top

This is due to a bug in the overlay setup code in those applications.  Their code is not fully compatible with Windows 2000 or above.

You will need to disable overlays in those applications and use VMR7 or VMR9 mode instead.

Reply #2 Top
Thanks for the hint but if you could tell me where i could disable overlay and enable VMR7 or VMR9, i would try this .

EDIT:
OK for ZoomPlayer i've found the option but PowerDVD seems so as it has'nt any option like ZoomPlayer . Or did i only not find it?

ZoomPlayer:
Ctrl+O (Options / Setup) --> Filter Control --> Standard Media Playback --> Video Renderer
Reply #3 Top
Ok i haven't found anything to run PowerDVD and OBjectDock without Problems at the same time. But i have found the DockTool and it's a really good help to solve the Problem.
It closes the Dockbar when starting PowerDVD and returns to it automatically when exiting PowerDVD. But look at the Comments of this tool because there is a little bug.
Reply #4 Top
I get the same problems with Zoomplayer and VLC. I found if I run VLC and pause a video, a second instance of Zoomplayer or VLC will play just fine. Kind of annoying but before that I was shutting down ObjectDock just to play videos.

Could this be because these media players are trying to use the same overlay that ObjectDock is using, not recognizing that it is in use? I think that for some reason when video players incorrectly assume that the first overlay is free and uses it, it actually gets marked as being busy/in use, causing 2nd and 3rd media player instances to move on to the next overlays that aren't being used by ObjectDock. This makes me think the problem could be worked around in the ObjectDock source - after all what are these media players doing to mark overlays as being used so that others don't try and use them at the same time? Couldn't ObjectDock do the same thing? Perhaps ObjectDock should register the overlay in the same manner that the video players do, if anything, to make sure that other video players see that it is in use.

I know the ATI x300 series and up support simultaneous overlays but my previous card, a GeForce2 GTS, didn't support more than one. Either way it makes sense to do some kind of workaround in ObjectDock, because at the very least upon seeing that the first video overlay is in use, a video player can fall back to software rendering if another hardware overlay is unavailable. Much better than everyone seeing black like it is now.

Reply #5 Top

ObjectDock does not use the overlay.  The problem is both ZoomPlayer & VLC have bugs in their overlay setup code which is why they glitch when ObjectDock is running.

Basically the overlay init code in the apps is not fully compatible with Windows 2000 or above and ObjectDock is exposing the problem.

If ObjectDock did register the overlay then a number of apps which use the overlay would break as some apps do not have fallbacks to software rendering.

If you run WindowBlinds at the same time then the glitch will not happen as WB 'fixes' those apps but this is something only WindowBlinds can do.