[viggen]

I have an older Sony  tower PC (VGCRC210G, Pentium D 3ghz 2gb ram) with ATI X300 video card.  I mainly use it to watch videos via streaming flash and harddrive.  However, I want to connect my PC to my TV via HDMI.  So, I got an ATI HD4350 with HDMI out.  The card works perfect when watching movies from harddrive.  Audio works perfectly too.

But, when I watch something on the web and maximize the video to full screen, the video will get stuck but not the audio.  Sometimes it gets stuck after 30 seconds of maximizing.  Sometimes after about 5 minutes.

Video streaming worked fine with the old card, so maybe there's a compatibility issue with the new card?  It's a PCIE 2.0, whereas my PC is PCIE 1.0.   I can't find a PCIE 1.0 video card with HDMI video and audio out that will fit in the PC though.  The card has to be very thin.

Here's a link to the new video card I got.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125251

What I already tried:

1) Downloaded latest Firefox which is my browser of choice
2) Updated to latest Adobe Flash
3) Tried to stream via IE, but IE crashes instantly when streaming video.  It's an older version of IE though.

Please provide suggestions on how I can watch stuck-free video on my 46" LCD TV from my PC via HDMI for both video and audio without buying a new PC.  I am rather attached to this PC.  It's pretty.

Much appreciated.

[srb]

Have you downloaded the very latest ATI Catalyst Control Center driver from
 http://www.amd.com/us/Pages/AMDHomePage.aspx ?
 
Steve

[viggen]

Hi Steve:

Yes.  I have the latest CCC.  Even played around with it.  Reduced from "quality" to "performance" in 3D.  Also jacked up and down the overdrive option. 

None seem to have an affect.

[skunark]

The fun bugs.. If you have the latest of all software and tried multiple browsers then you probably want to make sure that:
1) Review the flash cache settings
2) Unplug any peripherals not needed. Close any extra apps.  Even consider disabling your virus scanner if you have one.
3) Defrag the HDD
4) Review how fragmented the swap file is on the HDD (via defrag).  You might want to "zero" it out, defrag and enable it again.   (control panel -> system -> performance options -> advanced -> virtual memory file -> no paging file if you have XP)   You might actually want to attempt to watch it while there is no virtual memory.

If this doesn't help then perhaps review the firmware for the motherboard, video card, oil heater ... you get the idea...  Also if you know what the chipset is you might google for issues with both the chipset and graphics card as the search terms.

[viggen]

The fun bugs.. If you have the latest of all software and tried multiple browsers then you probably want to make sure that:
1) Review the flash cache settings
2) Unplug any peripherals not needed. Close any extra apps.  Even consider disabling your virus scanner if you have one.
3) Defrag the HDD
4) Review how fragmented the swap file is on the HDD (via defrag).  You might want to "zero" it out, defrag and enable it again.   (control panel -> system -> performance options -> advanced -> virtual memory file -> no paging file if you have XP)   You might actually want to attempt to watch it while there is no virtual memory.

If this doesn't help then perhaps review the firmware for the motherboard, video card, oil heater ... you get the idea...  Also if you know what the chipset is you might google for issues with both the chipset and graphics card as the search terms.

Well, I skipped to the last part of your recommendation and looked for firmware.  Sony does not have updated firmware unfortunately.  My motherboard is proprietary as with anything Sony, so I think that is the only place I can look.  I think the original manufacturer is either MSI or Gigabyte.  But, I am not knowledgeable with computers hardware...

Previously, I downloaded the latest Catalyst from AMD website.  Lastnight, I downloaded it from Gigabyte.  I then was able to have more control over the 3D stuff.  I turned them down from optimal to performance.  And, I streamed a video for about 10 mins without the video getting stuck.  So, maybe problem solved? 

When streaming, the video quality is not as good compared to before installing the current video card though.  Video is noticeably choppier as if there are dropped frames.  Horizontal scrolling texts are most obviously not smooth. 

I can live with it unless there's a better solution.  Video and audio quality of movies played off harddrive is really good.  What improved the most is the audio.  Now, the built in tv speaker sound like I installed a half way decent soundbar when playing using the PC as source.  I would say the audio sounds even better than when the TV is using the PS3 as source.  And, using 1 HDMI cable over 2 cables (RGB and audio minijack) helps keep the clutter down.

[viggen]

Problem solved this afternoon.  Right clicked the streamed video to bring up a menu and click "settings".  Click the left most tab and uncheck "enable hardware accelerator".  I get smooth video ever since.  I guess my older PC cannot handle hardware acceleration.  There might be a bottle neck issue since my motherboard accomated PCIE 1 while the videocard is PCIE 2.

Anyways, I swore I right clicked the video before.  Don't know why I didn't see the setting option there before.