TN_5.0_04 Video Card Support in Nextiva Review

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Technical Note: TN_5.0_04

Video Card Support in Nextiva Review

Creation Date May 17, 2006

Created By: Marie Mukarusine

Approved By: Eran Wachman

Revision 1.1

PRODUCT(S) Nextiva 5.0

TYPE OF TECHNICAL NOTE Defect Resolution

APPLICABLE SOFTWARE PACKAGE(S)

Nextiva

SUBSYSTEM(S) Review

SERVER(S) Review workstation

INCLUDED IN SERVICE PACK N/A

CHANGE WILL BE OVERWRITTEN BY FUTURE UPDATES OR SERVICE PACKS

No

DESCRIPTION This document offers a list of video cards that are supported by Nextiva Review. It also describes test results for video cards that were tested for use in Nextiva Review.

Guidelines

A number of high-end video cards are not supported in Nextiva Review. This technical note indicates the models that are supported and presents test results for each card.

In order to qualify, the video card must have at least 128 MB RAM. For details on video card specifications, refer to the Nextiva Customer Furnished Equipment Guide.

Technical Note: Video Card Support for Nextiva Review of 7

Confidential - For internal use only

Test Results

Tests were conducted on the ATI, Matrox and nVidia model in order to qualify those cards for use in Nextiva Review. We have also tested the embedded Intel video graphic cards; but thy all failed the tests since they are specifications.

All the tested ATI models passed the tests. The X800, X1800, and X900 models were not tested, but since they meet the minimum requirements, we presume that they will pass.

A number of Matrox cards do not meet the minimum specifications. They include: the G400, G450, and G550. However, the P650, P750 as well as the Parhelia passed the tests.

Tests on the nVidia cards were not conclusive. All the cards that we tested failed. We presume that the cards that were not tested will also fail the tests.

The following table summarizes the test results:

Models Series Tests Results Comments

X300 with 128 MB Passed -

X600 Passed -

X800 Not tested Presumed to pass


X1600 Passed

ATI

X1800-X1900 Passed -


GeForce 6100, 6200, 6500 Not tested Presumed to pass Driver v.93.71

GeForce 6600 Not tested Presumed to pass Driver v.93.71

GeForce 6800 Passed Driver v.93.71



nVidia


GeForce 7900CS Passed Driver v.93.71

GeForce 8800 Not tested Presumed to pass. Very expensive, completely new chipset and new drivers.


G400, G450, G550 Failed -

P650, P750 Passed -

Matrox

Parhelia Passed -

nVidia Card Specifications

All the nVidia cards failed the tests for multiple view display. Here are the card specifications:

The ForceWare version 84.21 also failed the tests.



PC Hardware and Software

The processor supports hyper threading with a single core.

System Setup and Conditions

We cannot display tiles side by side in Nextiva Review (or using DirectX SDK DShow tool) if the following conditions are true:

1. All video tiles use the Microsoft VMR9 Renderer. 2. At least two of the video tiles are scaled from their original dimensions. 3. The PC Intel processor is configured in hyper threading or it is an Intel dual-core processor.

The problem disappears on single core without hyper threading. 4. The graphics card is an nVidia GeForce 6600 or 6800 card with ForceWare 84.21. Though

all cards were not tested, we nevertheless know that the GeForce Fx5200 with ForceWare 78.01 works well. However, the Fx5200 does not work well with the ForceWare driver 84.21.

Notes: The problem is much easier to reproduce with four video tiles.

Problem Description

If the conditions described above are true, the following problems may occur:

1. The video of most tiles flashes white. The frequency is not fixed and depends on the size of the window. This problem is reproducible; however it may take some time to reproduce.

2. The video tile stops rendering for a while (5 to 10 seconds) before re-starting. 3. After a while, the nVidia video driver crashes and its icon in the bottom right corner

disappears. This behavior was observed only once. 4. When this occurs, the Nextiva Review application crashes.



Illustrations

The following screen captures illustrate the problems.




Discussion

We are using VMR9 (Direct 3D) for rendering 2D video because Nextiva supports overlay over up to 16 tiles. The illustrations above do not show any overlay. However, it is possible to use overlay with VMR7 or DirectDraw directly, but not for multiple video windows. The VMR9, along with a good graphics card and the appropriate driver, helped us achieve our goal.

Nextiva detects systems that do not support Direct3D; it automatically shifts to DirectShow and disables overlays. However, for the nVidia card, this problem went undetected since it supports Direct3D and VMR9.

Looking at the data we have at this stage, we think the problem might be in the new hyper threading of the nVidia drivers for Direct3D.

Workarounds

At this stage, we have two possible workarounds but none of them should be considered definitive. While we are still waiting for a fix from nVidia, here is how we can temporary offer a workaround to our customers:

• Disable VMR9 (Direct3D) rendering to remove the overlay feature in Nextiva Review. This can be done by modifying the registry. This will also remove the overlay capability since our application will not load the VMR9. To disable VMR9:

1. Open the registry editor: Start>Run, type regedit, then press OK.


2. In the Registry editor, locate the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Loronix\CCTVware\Common

3. Create a new DWORD Value named VMR9Enabled: On the right pane, right-click then select New> DWORD value. Name it VMR9Enabled. Leave the default value to 0.

• Disable all Direct Draw and Direct3D accelerations by setting the hardware acceleration slider from the display properties to the middle. To do this:

1. Right-click the Desktop, then select Properties.

2. Click the Advanced button, then select the Troubleshoot tab.

3. Set the Hardware acceleration slider to the middle.

Conclusion

Verint opened a ticket with nVidia to request a fix in the nVidia drivers. In the meantime, nVidia cards can only be used if the customer is not using overlay in Nextiva Review.

Rollback

1. In the Registry, locate the DWORD Value named VMR9Enabled: On the right pane, right-click, then select New > DWORD value.

2. Name it VMR9Enabled.

3. Change the DWORD value to enable VMR9 (Direct3D) rendering.


TN_5.0_04 Video Card Support in Nextiva Review

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