Video Cards and Drivers -PT 2

So how can you find out if your drivers need to be updated? Fortunately there is an easy way get all the necessary information First, go to Start then Run in Windows XP. For Vista type the Start key and the letter R at the same time. Type dxdiag into the run command line and click OK. If you get a Yes or No pop-up window just click Yes. Once the DirectX Diagnostic Tools window opens you will see several tabs across the top. The System tab will give you information about your PC's Processor and System RAM. On the Display or Display 1 tab you will find the Name of the video card and the Approximate Total Mmemory in the left column. In the right column you will find the DATE of the driver that is currently installed. The date of the driver is important because it tells us what release of DirectX 9 the video card is operating under.

Example: If the date of the video driver is 5/13/06 and the software is using DirectX 9 instructions released in February of 07, then the Video card is not going to be able to process all the information.

So how can you update the drivers for your video card? For desktop PC's you simply need to go the the home page of the Video Card manufacturer's web site. It will most likely be NVIDIA or ATI if you have a dual head VGA card. Those you you who are using laptops will need to get the latest available drivers from your laptop manufacturer not the video card maker. For example; Dell laptop owners can go to the Drivers support page and enter the Service Tag number found on the bottom of their laptops. Once they enter the number they will get a list of all available updates for their computer. The Video Adapter will be last on the list and all updates for your video card will be listed with their release date. Most laptop manufacturers have a similar process for finding the drivers for your specific model.

What if my drivers are out of date and the manufacturer does not offer anything recent? Then you need to read the next post about getting "modified" drivers.

Video Cards and Drivers - PT 1

One of the first things you will learn after investing in a high-end presentation software is that the video card really matters. Gamers already know this, unfortunately most serious computer gamers are not the ones using the presentation software. MediaShout has higher requirements then most PC games. MediaShout uses a Microsoft language called DirectX 9 to render all video within the application which includes video files, DVD playback and live video feeds. Microsoft updates this language every other month and releases new updates to accommodate the ever-changing demands of the gaming industry. The MediaShout programmers occasionally make changes to the instructions used for rendering when they learn the new features and controls that can increase the quality and stability of video playback within the application. The drawback to these changes in programming is the need for users to update the drivers for their video card.
Updating drivers is typically not a problem, however laptops usually require the owner to get driver updates from the manufacturer's website. Dell, HP, Gateway, Acer, Asus, Cyberpower, Toshiba, Sony, IBM all limit driver updates to the ones they provide. My old HP laptop was unable to install drivers from ATI because of an INF file. This INF file is the limiting factor in the drivers install files. I am assuming that the manufacturers want more control over to keep the GPU from overheating. We will address modified drivers in the next post.
With the latest update to MediaShout version 3.2, many users are finding that video files will no longer play. This is simply because the current installed drivers do not understand the new DirectX 9 instructions. There is a language barrier between the software and the video card. The 3.2 update and the full version both contain the full DirectX 9 from Feruary '07. So if your drivers are dated before this, you may have poor or no video playback. The next blog will explain how to find out what the date of your drivers are and how to update them if necessary. Until then....

Where are you now? Where do you want to be?

I have talked with lots of lay people and church staff members who are wanting to take their presentation to the next level. Many are using Power Point or some other worship presentation software. Until now they have been content simply putting still graphic images behind the lyrics of their songs. Perhaps they have ventured so far as to have a pre-service announcement loop. So the question is this. Where are you now and where do you want to be with your multimedia presentation? The poll below is for the first part of the question. I am interested to know where the readers of this blog fall. Please answer the poll and we will go from there. Until then you can go check out the new Clearpoint Presentations web site