AMD Sempron 2200 System (1 Viewer)

[blindjudge]

I would like some advice on my system.

I have MP working with 768M RAM, on-board SIS video and at DT 1000T Leadteck tuner card . But it is only just making it for play back. Recording is bord line, some channels the recorded videos are un-watchable and HD is almost always un-usable for playback or recording.

I don’t want to have to get a new Tuner Card or CPU if I can help it.

1) Could some one comment on if a video card could fix my problems? Or will it only help playback.
2) I have read about hardware decoders on Tuner cards... I don’t think there is on the 1000T, can one on the Video Card make up for this?
3) It is possible that I still have something not configured right so any suggestions would be welcome.

 

[cheezey]

Look at http://www.maisenbachers.de/dokuw/install:hardware_requirements for MP hardware requirements.

Your on-board graphics are likely to be an issue and the tuner card too.

 

[blindjudge]

Do you think a video card with a hardware decoder could help with recording? Or will it only help with play back? My understanding is that MP should steam directly to disk without any processing so recording should not be an issue..... (but it is)

 

[Taipan]

I assume that the DT 1000T Leadtek tuner card that you have is an analogue TV card that does not have its own hardware MPEG2 encoder, and thus it uses software (and your CPU) to encode the TV to MPEG2?

I couldn't find any information on it at Leadtek's web-site......

 

[blindjudge]

Sorry wrong name - DTV1000 T

http://www.leadtek.com.tw/eng/tv_tuner/overview.asp?lineid=6&pronameid=220

 

[Taipan]

1) Could some one comment on if a video card could fix my problems? Or will it only help playback..

Quite possibly it would - if you use a video card that supports DxVA (hardware video acceleration), DirectX9 and a video decoder that uses DxVA (like the nVIDIA Video Decoder) then you would find that the CPU usage would drop considerably.

2) I have read about hardware decoders on Tuner cards... I don’t think there is on the 1000T, can one on the Video Card make up for this?.

I think that you are referring to an MPEG2 encoder that is on analog hardware cards to conert the analog signal into MPEG2 for viewing/watching. Since your TV card is a DVB card, then the received stream is already in MPEG2 format.

3) It is possible that I still have something not configured right so any suggestions would be welcome.

It would be helpfull if you posted more specific details about your system - and please use the Support Template.

 

[blindjudge]

Area: Media Portal Program
MP Version: 2.0
Skin: Classic MCE
Windows Version: XP SP2
CPU Type: AMD2200 (1.5MHz)
Memory: 768 DDR
Motherboard Chipset: ASRock SiS 741GX
Video Card: None (Onboard SIS)
Video Card Driver: ASRock SIS drivers.
Video Card Resolution: 800x600 (WS TV)
Video Render Type: Overlay
Video Codec Type & Version: Leadtek DTV Video Decoder
Audio Codec Type & Version: Mpeg/AC3/DTS/LPCM Audio Decoder
TV Card: Leadtek Winfast DTV 1000T
TV Card Type: DVB??? (As in Digital)
TV Card Driver: 4.0.107.3204


Play back and recording (not timeshifting) work fine with the DTV software provided by WinFast. But not with MP. Help from this forum helped me edit set up the capture card, and I can watch 3-4 channels clearly. the other are blocky and un watchable. The same can be said for recording except that only 1-2 channels provided watchable recordings.

I will buy a VideoCard if you think that will help my situation and you can recomend the best one for my system. But I dont want to waist my money if you think it wont help. e.g. Would recording shows actuly make use of the Video card or only playback?

According to my manuals the card needs to be a 1.5V AGP not a 3.3V, or PCI.

Any advice would be welcome.

Cheers.

 

[Marcusb]

the cheapest card to help you out would be a GF5200. This will handle a lot of the work itself and not use anywhere near as much cpu power.
For slightly better quality for a tiny bit more expense, go for a GF6200.

While your system will perform much better with a proper card (onboard sis is about the lowest performance you can possibly get) I don't know if this will help with the blockyness issues.
You can also try different codecs, sometimes the one that came with your card may not be the best. This should be the first thing to try, as it doesn't cost anything. then go for the new video card.

Hopefully someone else will have the same tv card as you and can post their results.

 

[Taipan]

Would recording shows actuly make use of the Video card or only playback?.

The video card will not make any difference to recording TV, as MP is simply saving the DVB stream (which is already in MPEG2) to disk with very little processing.

The video card and the video decoder will, however, affect the viewing of both live and recorded TV. I don't know anything about the on-board SIS video that you are using, but I doubt if it is up to the task.

Try a GF5200, or an ATI 9550, with the nVIDIA video decoder and VMR9, and you should get excellent results

 

[tbert63]

I think your CPU is not faulty. In my mind, the problems should be (by order):

1- you've wrote that you receive clearly only 3-4 channels, others are not watchable. It means that your quality reception could be poor, and it may cause some trouble when you try to record channel since the MPEG-2 bitrate isn't constant. Make a try with an amplified antenna (around 20$) or from a best location.

2- with your tv-card, it seems possible to have 2 channel on the screen (PIP and POP fonctions); it is an high-end card, but it may take too much ressources on your configuration, especially with your poor video card; try to unable these kind of function.

3- it seems that your video card isn't directx9 compliant (a fx5200 or 6200 is DX9), it means that the CPU should not replace the lack of power of your video card for some rendering task (it is a advantage of DX9 to split the job between cpu and graphic unit). Your video card have not hardware acceleration to decode MPEG-2 stream, so it could be a problem to render.

4- your HD should be an IDE model, it take more CPU power than a S-ata model. I hope is it not an USB external model, since it take a little bit more processor power.

You have not write how do you render the output to your TV? i think that your integrated video card don't have TV-out?

Sorry for my english !