Video Quality Issues with AMD APU?

[Zarathustra[H]]

Hey all,

I just upgraded my ancient Athlon x2 1.8Ghz with Radeon 3200 IGP HTPC.

I replaced it with a low end Richland APU (A4-4000) I got very cheap on eBay to hold me over until Kaveri is launched.

I'm having some issues though. High quality HD Video streams look great, and the same as they used to. No problems there.

Standard definition and lower quality video streams - however - look MUCH worse, with smaller light features on dark backgrounds flashing, and just looking obnoxious. It seems like the APU is doing a terrible job at interpolating and upmixing lower resolution content to 1080p compared to the much older 3200 IGP.

Does anyone have any thoughts what might be causing this? Everything I have read suggests that the APU's should make for fairly decent HTPC's Maybe I've overlooked some configuration?

Appreciate any suggestions,
Matt

 

[Spazturtle]

Never heard of this on an APU before, could be defective, maybe that is why it was cheap.

Or it could be an issue with your setup.

Did you do a clean Windows install?

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

Never heard of this on an APU before, could be defective, maybe that is why it was cheap.

I hope not! It was unopened and sealed with an AMD logo seal though...

Or it could be an issue with your setup.

This is probably more likely. I built it around a new FM2+ A88x board in preparation for Kaveri. They are relatively new, so I wonder if future BIOS tweaks will improve things...

Did you do a clean Windows install?

No i did not. I was hoping to avoid this, as I had put a lot of work setting up my HTPC just the way I liked it, not that long ago.

I did uninstall all drivers, and do a driver sweeper as well as a CC cleaner before moving the SSD over to the new build.

I guess that ought to be the first thing I try... Sigh...

 

[stealthy123]

I have a couple of apus running, if you can link to a video you are having issues with I can see if I have the same problem.

Haven't noticed anything, but I am not the one who uses the APU machines 90 percent of the time.

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

I have a couple of apus running, if you can link to a video you are having issues with I can see if I have the same problem.

Haven't noticed anything, but I am not the one who uses the APU machines 90 percent of the time.

Thanks ofr the offer. What OS are they running?


My biggest issues seem to be with the dedicated Windows 8 app for Netflix. Most affected seem to be CGI type scenes, and only in SD content.

I have been re-watching Star Trek: Voyager when ever I'm bored, and a prime example of bad interpolation has been the intro scene of that show, with stars in the background flickering in and out, etc. This was never a problem with the old Radeon 3200 IGP.

Thanks,
Matt

 

[stealthy123]

I am on windows 8 on all my machines at this point. I hate the netflix app and always just watch from firefox.

let me fire it up some Voyager from the app and check it out. Good taste in show, least we know that much.

 

[stealthy123]

Yup exact same thing happened with the flicker and some off looking lighting.

That's on both an older Stars core A8 APU and the newer A10. The netflix version also cuts off the right side of the scene, which probably isn't an issue with the APUs so much as it's one of those head scratchers nerflix pulls.

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

I am on windows 8 on all my machines at this point. I hate the netflix app and always just watch from firefox.

Yeah, I'm not crazy about the app, but was running it because my old HTPC didn't have the horsepower to run Netflix HD content through Silverlight. (The app on the other hand has good GPU acceleration, which is why it works on wimply tablets).

Right now the Netflix app is really the only thing I run that I can't use my Windows Remote for. It's just not programmed with arrow-key type navigation in mind, which is too bad.

I have noticed that one benefit with it is that it seems to be able to maintain HD streams much better than the in-browser version, which I can't explain.

let me fire it up some Voyager from the app and check it out. Good taste in show, least we know that much.

Thank you very much

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

Yup exact same thing happened with the flicker and some off looking lighting.

That's on both an older Stars core A8 APU and the newer A10. The netflix version also cuts off the right side of the scene, which probably isn't an issue with the APUs so much as it's one of those head scratchers nerflix pulls.

Hmm, that is disappointing. At least this saved me from an experimental Windows reinstall! Thank you for that!

I was eager to blame the netflix app, but that doesn't explain why it worked well on my old Radeon 3200 IGP, and not on the newer APU...

Instead, I am going to play around with the video settings in the catalyst Control center and see if I can come up with anything that will resolve the problem.

Yeah, I've also noticed Netflix struggling with the 4:3 aspect ratio in this title as well, which is annoying, but that seems to just be a bad encode, as it affected my old system as well...

Thanks again. I will post back here if I find a solution!

 

[jbltecnicspro]

Yeah, I'm not crazy about the app, but was running it because my old HTPC didn't have the horsepower to run Netflix HD content through Silverlight. (The app on the other hand has good GPU acceleration, which is why it works on wimply tablets).

Right now the Netflix app is really the only thing I run that I can't use my Windows Remote for. It's just not programmed with arrow-key type navigation in mind, which is too bad.

I have noticed that one benefit with it is that it seems to be able to maintain HD streams much better than the in-browser version, which I can't explain.

What exactly do you mean by "maintain HD streams much better than the browser version?" Do you mean network dropouts? Anywho - I would think an APU should be able to handle streaming HD. Though I don't have Netflix, so I really can't say either way. Hope you get this resolved!

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

What exactly do you mean by "maintain HD streams much better than the browser version?" Do you mean network dropouts? Anywho - I would think an APU should be able to handle streaming HD. Though I don't have Netflix, so I really can't say either way. Hope you get this resolved!

I can't explain the exact cause, but in the app HD content starts almost immediately and always stays without dropping back down. In the browser - for whatever reason - it often struggles to reach HD content instead streaming at lower bitrates, and when it gets there, it doesn't always stay.

It's probably not the network, as this is on the same machine, same NIC, etc. I did mention it to Netflix support and they stated that it is a known issue they are working on. They may even have fixed it by now, as I spoke to them a couple of months ago.

 

[Yakk]

If the win 8 Netflix app is anything like the android Netflix app, it'll take them a while to get it right...

I have a couple APU laptops per sig and they stream Netflix in browser just fine in Win 7. Maybe make sure hardware acceleration is enabled actually working.

 

[Spazturtle]

I can't explain the exact cause, but in the app HD content starts almost immediately and always stays without dropping back down. In the browser - for whatever reason - it often struggles to reach HD content instead streaming at lower bitrates, and when it gets there, it doesn't always stay.

It's probably not the network, as this is on the same machine, same NIC, etc. I did mention it to Netflix support and they stated that it is a known issue they are working on. They may even have fixed it by now, as I spoke to them a couple of months ago.

The netflix site tests your bandwidth to determine what bitrate video to give you when you start a video.

The app does this test when you open it.

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

The netflix site tests your bandwidth to determine what bitrate video to give you when you start a video.

The app does this test when you open it.

Might be a bug in the speed test code then.

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

Instead, I am going to play around with the video settings in the catalyst Control center and see if I can come up with anything that will resolve the problem.

At this point I think I've tried every video and panel related option on and off, to no avail.

This is really kind of annoying...

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

At this point I think I've tried every video and panel related option on and off, to no avail.

This is really kind of annoying...

So, just to make sure I'm not going crazy, I fired the same scene up on my desktop (the old HTPC is already dismantled so I can't test it again).

It looks like the artifacts are the same as on my new HTPC, but with one big difference. Contrast. The new HTPC has WAY more contrast than my desktop, resulting in the starts in the background being much much brighter on a much darker background, which makes the effect much more noticeable than it was before.

Maybe I can just play with the picture quality settings a bit.