MPEG hardware decoder not available on FX5600

Rox271

I just purchased a Creative Blaster 5 GeForce FX 5600 which is a questionable acquisition (I read previous posts).
This card is supposed to have a hardware MPEG2 decoder.
For some reason, I cannot choose the hadrware decoder in the Win Media Player (Tools - Options - Performance - Advanced - Preferred decoder : radio buttons grayed an default choice on Software).
I did a clean installation of drivers using the Driver cleaner, reinstalled Direct X 9b... no way.

Using WinDVD, I can select hadware acceleration and I got the following information available:
Video:
Hardware:
Vendor: Nvidia
Connection type: MEDIASUBTYPE_DXVA_ModeMPEG2_B
DXVA acceleration type: IDCT
Downstream renderer: CLSID_OverlayMixer
Stream:
Type: Encrypted MPEG2
Bitrate: 5.500 Mbps
Framerate: 25.000 Hz
Resolution: 720x576
Aspect ratio: 16x9

Any one knows why the hardware acceleration is not available on Win Media Player???

Rox271

Was in touch with the Creative support and this is their explanation:

The FX5600 has Hardware MPEG-2 support, but it is not a hardware decoder
itself. It uses a process called "Motion Compensation" (software) to assist an
MPEG decoder card. This graphics card cannot hardware decode an MPEG steam.

Doh, what's that crap??? Even nVidia claim the hardware decoder is fitted on their GeForce Fx 5600???