flash playback looks like crap

i'm not sure what happened, but i get tearing during flash video playback. not so much stuttering, just jagged horizontal lines especially during high animation parts.

right now im running 186.81 drivers with flash player 10.1 beta installed. i tried everything, newest drivers, old flash player, combinations of the 2. i even did a system restore to a system image that didnt suffer from this problem.

edit: the problem is now surfacing in all video playback, dvd, blu-ray, flash, etc

 

hmmm...

Did you somehow globally disable v-sync? That sounds strange...

or maybe its a flash palyer setting? There's a hardware acceleration setting now...try playing with that...

 

someone reported experiencing this in another thread after installing the 195.xx drivers.

 

I dunno what vsync is but I do hjve hardware accel enabled in flash player.

I dunno if 195 can be to blame considering I restore to an older image that never saw 195

 

maybe try powermizer
http://whattodo-jiangchen.blogspot.com/2009/01/nvidia-powermizer.html

 

ok this might be the most bizarre part of all. i also get blockiness on regular or "high-quality" youtube videos, they look like CRAP, but the youtube SOME HD 1080p videos seem to play fine and crisp!.. (note the "regular HD" videos are also crippled during play. and it's not just youtube, it happens on the sites too lol

i mean, im watching HQ videos that i've watched in the past and i know for a fact they looked good, and now im getting blockiness, blurriness/tearing.. .


powermizer switch didnt help

 

I'd say its probably a bug with the beta, I had some issues with beta 1 too, beta2 is supposedly out now, but either way going back to the non beta might be a good move if that doesnt help.

I'd also have a look at your desktop refresh rate just incase that's been changed

 

i've reinstalled flash, even to the non-beta, tried different nvidia drivers, EVERYTHING. like i said, even did a system restore. i just tried to play one of my favorite flash based games and it's fuzzy! could this be hardware issue?

edit: while upon further inspection, i've noticed poor playback issues in my AVI and MKV files. this is not just a flash issue. somebody think my GPU is starting to fail?

 

Its possible, but unlikely as it'd usually manifest elsewhere (especially if you're on Vista as I'd presume, as your GPU will be under basic use for aero). A reinstall of the laptop would be the clearest easiest way to check this (obviously not installing Beta flashes afterward) BUT I can understand if thats not an option for you.

 

Lets see:

Latest official Nvidia drivers and Adobe Flash 10.1 beta 2 = Crap playback

Playing .mkv files with H.264 encoded video? = Crap playback

Playing .avi files with either DivX or XviD encoded video = Crap playback

Only the flash and H.264 can be gpu decoded with Nvidia 9600m GT, so its wierd that you also get it with .avi files.
You could try checking out HP to see if they offer a newer bios update that may fix Windows 7 related issues but other than that i dont know what it could be.

Maybe you could download CPU-Z and GPU-Z to check out the notebooks temps, but since you use a notebook cooler that shouldent be a issue.

 

well considering i've system restored and now that the problem is apparent in dvd's as well, i can only assume it's hardware. but other than blurry, pixely video playback, there is no problem. could it be gpu?

i guess i'll be calling hp.. anybody know how long i'd be without the computer if i sent in for repair?

 

Do this first before calling HP.

Check that your CPU and GPU arent throttled down causing poor performance. Heat can be a culprit.

If you do send it in, it usually takes 1-2 weeks depending on what needs to be replaced/repaired. If parts need to be ordered in or the service center is very busy then it can take another week or two.

 

my temps never EVER go up 70c for GPU and maybe 60c for CPU. idle around 50 and 40, respectively. plus, i dont game at all.

man i dunno if i can go 2 weeks without my computer lol. im going to try a total system restore right now, not to my image, but a complete restore, see if this does anything.