Arcsoft TMT 3 Platinum (return of the trial)

[rdodolak]

Just a heads up for those that have missed the announcement. Over at the Arcsoft forums Jason mentioned that TotalMedia Theatre 3 Platinum will be released sometime between now and Monday morning. The trial version will also return with the introduction of TMT3.

TotalMedia Theatre 3 Platinum

http://www.arcsoft.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1919

Originally Posted by Arcsoft_Jason

Whee. It's real this time.

Files will be going live between now and Monday evening PDT--probably close to the latter but we'll see how things are progressing by the end of the day...

Trial will be available again with one fairly major limitation you aren't used to. No trial on Dolby codecs so you get no audio on such discs. Bummer, but that's Dolby's choice and we could not convince them otherwise.

Xonar HDAV works. You'll be able to test it for yourself on DTS-HD MA. There's some hassle in switching disc formats not unlike in the ASUS version. Known issue. Regarding updates, we'll be updating the core code on our schedule so you'll see an improvement there. Updates to the custom bitstreaming code could potentially (the details are sketchy here at this time) still wait for full approval from ASUS and not migrate into our version until after ASUS releases them in theirs. Some may consider that a mixed bag--so consider that in your decision.

HD-DVD support should be identical to TMT2.

Win7 works. I've seen no issues at all here in limited testing.

Vista64 is supported.

XP64 remains on our "Sorry, not in the cards" list.

Compatability with TMT2 on the same system should be fixed. This was a last minute change and I haven't had a chance yet to verify it. But you should be able to test TMT3 without uninstalling TMT2, and if you hate TMT3, TMT2 will not be affected.

[rdodolak]

TMT 3 is now live. It appears there are now three versions: Standard, Gold, and Platinum editions. The standard and platinum editions are currently available for order.

Feature Comparison

TotalMedia Theatre 3 Platinum (Blu-ray support)
TotalMedia Theatre 3 Gold
TotalMedia Theatre 3 Standard

Link to Trial version

[banyaker]

As a dissatisfied owner of PDVD9 (i say dissatisfied ,cause it wont play BD Audio discs) i wish to try before i buy with TMT3 ,followed the link you posted ,no trial there!is it to come later?

[banyaker]

the 'Try now ' just leads to 'Buy Now'
watch this space i suppose!!!!!

[rdodolak]

It was up last night as I was able to download a copy. I'll try posting that file online so that you can download the trial.

EDIT: I browsed through my browser history and found the direct link. I just checked this link and it still works.

http://arcsoft.s3.amazonaws.com/down...l_tbyb_all.exe

[dadkins]

Looking good rdodolak!
Thanks for the tbyb link!

BD-Live seems... peppy!





^^^ Playing WALL-E ^^^

[blckman]

Okay ladies and gentleman. I have officially downloaded the provided file. First, when you finish downloading the file, you will actually get two different files. One is for Arcsoft Total Media 3.0 which is for Blu-Ray and HD-DVD playback. The other file is titled Arsoft Total Media 3.5. The 3.5 is for regular dvd playback mostly and has a TIVO like feel to it in my opinion. You can install only the 3.0 for Blu-Ray playback and you're fine.

I popped in The Dark Knight Blu-Ray and when starting the software it automatically ask you for a choice to use a mouse with a pocket sized tray. I said yes and the remote sits on the side of the screen. Now, the next pop-up I received was about needing a Codec for Dolby Digital Sound support. I thoght okay. Whatever. Dark Knight played right away and the picture was there, however, the sound was non-existent. It even says that they are working on the sound issue and it should be resolved soon. This really racked my last nerve. I popped in Transformers HD-DVD and the same scenario as above and get this: The picture quality was darker than the Power DVD 7.3 Ultra I'm using. My honest opinion. I will give the picture quality a seven and they really need to work on the audio issue in my opinion. I will stick with Power DVD because when I saw a seen with Tyrese in the desert in Transformers he looked so much darker with the Arcsoft 3.0 than he ever did with PowerDVD. Thank God for PowerDVD. I have never had an issue with their software. That just my two sense. Good luck you all.

[banyaker]

I think i read someware that DD support would not be offererd on the trial and that Dolby labs were playing hardball but should be ok for DTS formats.
Im gonna see if i can find the link and hope that TMT3 can co-exist with PDVD9.
As for Cyberlink i have had nothing but problems not helped by there inain customer services which frankly if i performed like that at work i wouldnt have a job....but there you go way of the world these days .
I will let you know how i geton with TMT3 trial later.

[rdodolak]

DD isn't included in the trial version due to some decisions made by Dolby. You can find the quote to Arcsoft_Jason's statement on this in my original post along with a link to his post.

[banyaker]

Thanks for the link ,downloaded ,installed and quit impressed so far.No DD sound at all as expected and warned about but the one thing it does that PDVD9 cant is play BD audio titles eg(Spatial Dynamics by Alexander Jero)in DTS HD MA .I have been trying to find out why this disk doesnt play in PDVD for months so far with no sucsess ,Cyberlink support is worse than usless in my experience.So i have now established that TMT does somthing that PDVD9 or 7.3 Ultra doesnt .
Does anyone know what formats PDVD does not play compared to TMT(3)?
Is it true that PDVD will not play ripped BD's where TMT does?
And if so why is this?

Regarding TMT the PQ seems as good as PDVD and the interface seems a little smoother with faster loading times .The DTS HD MA sounded very good indeed but i think i need to try some more movies before making a final judgment.
Dont know if i could justify spending more money on TMT just to play this one kind of BD so I think i will just have to persue Cyberlink as to the limitations of there software....

[dadkins]

The loading screen(Fireworks over the Disney Castle on WALLL-E), and trailers, there was no sound - Dolby maybe?

Afterwards, the menu screen(WALL-E) and the movie itself played audio quite well!
Speakers were cranked up because of the no sound at the loading screen & trailers...

PQ is excellent!
As per my earlier screen shot, DTS-HD MSTR was automatically selected. Sounded great through TV speakers(saving up for HT surround).

I like it!

*BTW*, there was a new WALL-E/Disney BD-Live update that will remember all your login info so you don't have to "type" it in each time!
Still kind of lacking on BD-Live content though...

[dadkins]

Looks like the trial link is live!

http://www.arcsoft.com/public/softwa...WNLOAD#submenu

[hiro1030]

I upgraded from TMT 2 to TMT 3 this morning. Using the "Upgrade" option and the promotion code "madness09", the total was $34.99.

It works with Catalyst 9.3!

[JaylumX]

To add for those of you who have an ATI card using catalyst version 9.1, 9.2 and 9.3, the mpeg2 decoding bug which screws up the screen for DVD playback is fixed. You now do not need to revert back to catalyst version 8.12 and before or disable hardware acceleration to resolve the problems.

I am glad i went with Arcsoft

[Ataneruo]

Can you still take Blu-ray disc screenshots in TMT 3? That was the main reason I preferred Arcsoft over PowerDVD.

[dadkins]

Without AnyDVD, screen shots are not possible - even in ArcSoft TMT 2.

[Ataneruo]

Hmm...I have anyDVD HD and I never knew that was why I was able to take screenshots in TMT. So I assume then that with anyDVD and TMT3 you can still take screenshots?

[dadkins]

Haven't tried - more than likely, yes!

[Offender_Mullet]

Just ended my WinDVD run after years of being a loyal customer, but I got tired of the buggy software and infrequent updates. Arcsoft TMT 3 Platinum is an upgrade in every aspect. $70 well-spent.

[Mullins]

I have upgraded from v2 to v3 but not happy so far, there is a bug when playing blu-ray's using an nVidia 2xx series GPU, which causes the picture to be aliased and blurry.