More photos showing it mounted and making a custom slot bracket.

i couldn't of done any better making a bracket. hard to imagine at one time MPEG 1 was considered permissible. that's when we thought VHS was good. but even still SVHS or LaserDisc going through a high quality comb filter still looked much better to my eyes than any low res mpeg 1 I ever watched.

Don't you think that
Trio64 > 968
Trio64+ > 968+mvp

32bit Premiere will utilize it, given driver is present.
Prepare to be disappointed at the results 😀

Wmp should be able to use it directly.
Is that not the case ?

Is there a Trio64+ w/VLB and 4 MB? As the LCD's on my desks are native at 1280x1024, I really want the 4 MB over 2 MB.

I'd have to check again to be sure, but I recall the image quality of the Diamond 968 to be quite a bit better than Diamond's Trio64.

I remember seeing elianda's results with the MVP-2000 on a DX2-66 and was quite impressed. His results are what got me looking for an MVP-2000.

I'm still setting up the drivers for the system, but elianda didn't think that WMP 6.4 allowed for MCI. Do you know which versions do? Not sure how well Windows will take to downgrading my WMP version.

EDIT: OK, it appears that Windows 95 already comes with Video for Windows, so I don't need to install that like I would for Windows 3.11. It also looks like the original Windows Media Player for Windows 95 is still installed on the system (mplayer.exe), even though WMP 6.4 (mplayer2.exe) is also installed. WMP 6.4 doesn't have the option to use the MPEG-1 overlay, but the original WMP for Windows 95 does show these options under the Devices tab from within WMP:

1 Overlay-Diamond
2 MPEG Video - Diamond
3 CD-MPEG Video - Diamond
4 ActiveMovie
5 ActiveMovie
6 Video for Windows
7 Sound
8 MIDI Sequencer
9 CD Audio

I can open an MPEG video and select the device 2 MPEG Video - Diamond. The video plays fine and consumes 22% CPU, whereas if don't use the MPEG DIAMOND option, CPU usage is 99%. The problem is that after about 10 seconds or so, the computer freezes up and I need to hard reset. I have noticed that the S3 86C968-P chip gets pretty darn hot once the system has been up for 15 minutes. My IR gun shows it as 61 C. Perhaps the heat is causing the system to freeze when using the MVP-2000? Or maybe this temperature is in the normal range for this IC?

Things are coming alive !

Afair trio64+ or 968+mvp can do no more than 1024x768 16bpp 25fps playback of standard mpeg-1 video (which is 300 something by 200 something resolution).
These first prosumer hardware mpeg decoders had attitude of their own.

In my experience both Diamond and STB Trio64 VLB cards have crisp output, even when hard overclocked, with Diamond's implementation being a hair faster than STB, both of which are same or faster than 96x at different tasks.

Trio64+ is a bit less of a hassle with mpeg decoding, apparently they worked out some of the issues and experience is better-ish.

I think I have resolved the issue with the hang-ups. I believe they are caused by overheating, however I'm not sure why I had the issue on my system, but elianda didn't. Perhaps because I'm running the VLB bus at 40 MHz, and he was running it at 33 MHz. The solution I found was to add a fan just outside of the VLB cards. It solved the issue with the case off. I haven't tested it with the case on yet. But the S3 968 chip was getting up to 61 C without the fan; with the fan it stays under 30 C.

Before adding the fan, I had tried to set the capture device IRQ to 14 and the graphic card's IRQ to 9. Didn't help. As a side note, should these two IRQ's be the same?

Before adding the fan, I tried running the resolution at 1024x768x16 instead of 1280x1024x16. Didn't help.

Here's the fan. I zip tied it onto the bottom of the HDD bay.

Here are the settings you should see when you open Windows Media Player for Windows 95. Click on Devices. This option is not present with WMP 6.4.

Here is a screenshot using WMP-95 with the MPEG decoder. Notice the CPU load.

Here is a screenshot using WMP 6.4 without the MPEG decoder playing the same video. Note that I can also use WMP-95 to play the video in software mode using ActiveMovie, but the CPU load is the same as with WMP 6.4, that is, at 100%.

Here is another screenshot playing a different video. This video was created by user elianda using the MVP-2000 on his system. Note the dashed lines which appear at the bottom of the screen. These sometimes, but not always, appear when playing videos. Perhaps related to the 40 MHz FSB? I suspect this MPEG card was targeting mostly Diamond's PCI version of the S3 968 running at 33 MHz. When you look through the manual, there is no mention of using a VLB card except in the addendum sheets.

Here is a better photo of the dotted lines which appear after about a minute of playback. The longer the playback, the more rows of dotted lines. After I close the player, I can move a window, any window (e.g. the file explorer), over those dotted lines and the dotted lines will be gone.

The manual also mentions to use a ferrite bead on the audio cable. The box comes with the cable and ferrite, but I don't have that. Anybody have any idea the dimensions of a core I need to use and how many wraps? I've connected just whatever I had in my bin to the cable as such:

EDIT: After putting the case on, I still get crashes when using the MVP-2000 decoder card, but the crash didn't occur until 5 full minutes of playback. With the case off, I could play indefinitely. When I measured the temperature of the S3 968 chip, it was only at 38 C. Not sure what else I can do to fix this with the case on. I suspect this MVP-2000 wasn't designed to work at 40 MHz. I'm not sure which component is the component that is causing the crash at temperature. Perhaps something in the BIOS would help? I'm using an Asus VL/I-486SV2GX4

38C is nothing. It does not feel right for things to hang at that temperature.
Been long time since i touched any of this B.C. mpeg decoding stuff, but cannot remember seeing artefacts on screen and it was kind of working as advertised.
I remember this kind of ferrite parts attached to the cables.

Unlikely to be BIOS settings in my opinion.
I would take everything out of the rig and try with minimal config only.

I don't have the space right now to be picking things apart.

I'm going to try running the system at 33 MHz and see if that solves the issue. I'm pretty sure that it is a MHz + Temp issue. The S3 968 works fine at 61 C and 40 MHz when not using the decoder card, but reports from Elianda mention that at 42.5 MHz, his Diamond S3 968 doesn't work properly. This implies to me that 40 MHz is at the design limit. Add the decoder card and a bit of heat and it craps.

One other note of curiosity, in System.ini, under [STLTHCAP.DRV], I see that Interrupt=9. This is also how the card is jumpered, so that seems correct.

In the file STLTHMVP.INI under [system] I see IRQNum=5. What is this IRQ for and should it also be set to 9? In STLTHMVP.INI under [MpegAudioDecoder] I see Interrupt=1. What is this interrupt for and why are so many IRQ's being set in different places? The only non-config file place I can see to set IRQ's for this card are in Control Panel - Multimedia - Video Capture Devices - drop down box to set IRQ. I think this should be set to the IRQ9 that I set the card's jumper to (IRQ9), yet I still see those other two IRQ's 1 & 5 listed in the ini config files. What gives?

On my system, if I view the IRQ resources, IRQ 1 = keyboard. IRQ5 = sound card. The free IRQ's are 7, 9, and 14

Something that i remember - related to overlays getting in the way.
Searched online and found this: http://diamond.retropc.se/driver/stealth/64v3 … x0/mvp2k402.txt
There are notes about power saving features and screen savers. That probably was it.

Yeah, that is included in the driver package I am using and I've looked through most of it already.

During video playback all Advanced Power Management (APM) and/or screen saver functions must be disabled. Failure to do so will cause the system to lock and require a hard reboot.

Screen saver disabled and so are the power features related to the monitor.

Adode Premiere 4.00 when using the Video Capture function at 640x480 playing live video will causes garbage to appear on screen.

Curious. I wonder if that 'garbage' is my dotted lines?

What about the power features of in the BIOS ?

Premiere needs to be active to eventually cause trouble, but your screenshots show only WMP.

You are getting my itch going with this stuff. I can try in one of the next days and see what's what. 😀

BIOS power all disabled. I even made sure IRQ9 power watching event was disabled.

Are you saying that you have one of these MVP-2000 cards?

Hypothesis is supported, that is, the system does not hang when using a 33 MHz FSB. To use this at 40 MHz, sufficient airflow may be required. I had no issue at 40 MHz with the case off and a fan blowing at the card. Maybe someone else with one of these cards can share their experience w/40 MHz?

We kind of abandoned this thread for private chat that moved onto other things.
But back to this - what happens if you make a screenshot of the corrupted lines ?
Do they show in it ?

So, are you lowering the FSB, or adding more fans ?

I can check with PCI S3 + MVP-1100, but that will prove exactly nothing for your case.

But will be interesting none-the-less.

33 MHz - no more crashes, even with no fan and S3 968 at 62 C. artifacts still present after prolongued playback though. The artifacts can be removed by maximising any window, then minimising it again.

40 MHz - needs fan and case off for no more crashes

40 MHz with case on + fan = crash after 5 minutes of playback. 5 minutes gets extended if I leave the heater off in the office. I haven't check exactly how long yet. Will do this tonight. elianda sent me a whole mpeg movie at 320 x 240 to test on this system.

In reality, most videos of the time weren't longer than 5 minutes so I can live with 40 MHz + fan + case.

I don't plan to add any more fans because there is no input vent on this old 486 case. I'd really need to cut a hole in the side of the metal case and put a fan there to make this work out well.

EDIT: Attached is a photo of the case showing the limited air flow situation. Note that case is connected thru a KVM and monitor image does not show the OS on the X5-160.

Will give it a try over the weekend and see whats what.

Nice find!
I was also searching for the rare MVP 2000 but still no luck.
In the meantime, I suppose you've already seen the addenums from here
(audio cable w ferite core & IRQ jumper settings):
https://retronn.de/imports/hwgal/hw_graphics_ … 00_front.html#0

And a question.
Have you set the jumper on the diamond stealth?
I tried to enable an IRQ on mine (even without having the MVP2000)
and now my stealth is dead 🙁 .
Every time I try to boot there is a POST error beep message
about faulty VRAM-VBios (or whatever GPU-related error)
I'm afraid something went wrong and either fried the vision968 chip or its power circuit dunno
anyone else experienced this? any suggestions are appreciated 😁.

Keep up your good work

Sorry, these tests were done 6 months ago and I can no longer recall if I tried different positions for JP2. I feel like I did, but they may be lost in PM to elianda. Unfortunately, I don't see a [badly needed] search feature on Vogons for PM's. My biggest complaint with this MVP module is that the driver I must now use causes a hang on shutdown. Switching the monitor to PnP and back to NEC before every shutdown is my temp. workaround. Apparently, shutdown errors like this weren't uncommon with Windows 95.

If JP2 is for IRQs, I'd trace out the pins to see where they go - eventually to an IC, perhaps after a resistor, and see if the QFP solder joint on this pin is loose.