ATSC Card Owners: Come here for Support (2 Viewers)

[Tech Geek]

I use:

the nVidia Video Codec
The included audio filter (Mpeg/AC3...)
I've got EPG Grab Turned off
I use A Vbox DTA-150
CVS 020506

And I can Timeshift, record, and view ATSC. I'm watching ABC right now, recording to a hard drive across my network. I'm stress testing it in preparation to record the Superbowl.

My rig is listed in my sig.

Ok... so I'll want a CVS version dated Feb 5, 2006 or newer (assuming the date is the build number).
Use the video codec provided with my ATi X1300.
The included audio filer or better if I can find one.
The EPG grab is failing for me anyway. I did a manual grab through XMLTV and that looks like it might work. The automated one crashes.
I have the ATi HDTV Wonder.

Sadly I was forced to resort to using WatchHDTV to record the Superbowl and I'm not sure it will work since I only got the card installed and working yesterday. It had better record... I'm at work instead of watching it now!

BTW, what can I provide to help the developers to properly set up the analog tuner on this card? Just the graph stuff mentioned elsewhere or is there a code bug I could help track down? I really want to get the analog tuner working as well. I am a software engineer so I could do some looking through the code. Time would be my big limit though... I worked 56 hours this week and that's just what when on the timesheet.

 

[Commodore 64]

C_64 - is that info what you needed? Should I rerun and see if I can find something more?

Tim

I'll try and get to this today or tonight. My daughter has been really sick with the flu and I've been overhauling my file server so I have not had time to address your issue. I think I'll need your graph edit screen cap. You can email it to me if you wish, com64vic28@yahoo.com . Also, I need you device ID. You can get this by going to device manager and finding your Fusion card (note, I used a NIC card because I don't have a cap card in this computer) and right clicking properties:

Everybody Else:I've got most of the parts together for my dedicated testbed system, but it will still likely be a couple of weeks before I get that up and running. I'm going to get a Fusion 5 card and an A180 for testing. Until then, if you are having troubles, the best thing you can do for me is get a graphedit screenie for me and your device ID, so I can make sure your capturecarddefinitions.xml file is right.

In the meantime, please make sure that you've got a 2/5 or later CVS, because the 2/2 CVS broke My TV for me (when I say 2/5 or 2/2, I'm referring to the date of the CVS build).

The directions for installing the CVS are included when you open the file in winrar. All you have to do is browse to the Crogram Files\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal folder and extract the files into there. Make sure you say "yes to all" when it asks about overwriting. Make sure you run start.bat in that same location after you extract the files

 

[Commodore 64]

Those having tuning problems

For those who are having tuning issues: Are you trying to tune through the set-up wizard or through the properties for your card via the F2 settings menu?

Tuning is borked for many people in the Set-up wizard, but it works through the F2 settings. Be forwarned that autotuning takes a long time. be prepared to leave your rig for 30 minutes or so while it does it's thing.

 

[Tech Geek]

Re: Those having tuning problems

For those who are having tuning issues: Are you trying to tune through the set-up wizard or through the properties for your card via the F2 settings menu?

Tuning is borked for many people in the Set-up wizard, but it works through the F2 settings. Be forwarned that autotuning takes a long time. be prepared to leave your rig for 30 minutes or so while it does it's thing.

The base .2 pre release kinda tuned channels for me but skipped and not really usable. The CVS release form today (02/06/06) doesn't even seem to know I have a tuner in MediaPortal itself.
Auto tune did pick up my local HDTV stations in the setup but once in MediaPortal... nothing.
Still nothing out of the Analog tuner no matter what release.
(ATi HDTV wonder)

F2 settings? There are F2 settings?
Is that different than the setup utility or in the setup utility?

 

[Tech Geek]

Ok, problem kinda solved. It was a channel grouping issue rather than an it doesn't work issue. The setup decided to place the channels in another group even though I set that. It might not have saved the change or crashed while doing so.

However... I do get some skipping and it's not a signal issue. It's very close though so I may be able to solve it with a config change.

I did have a crash when trying to change channels and had to reboot to get the tuner back. The system obviously doesn't exit gracefully when something goes wrong.

Now if my Analog tuner would work.

 

[Commodore 64]

Tech Geek: Make sure you have EPG grab turned off! That will cause channels to freeze when changing.

Also: I would hope the x1300 is up to the task. You may need something pretty beefy to deinterlace the HD stuff. I got mad stutters with a r9600pro, r9700pro, and nV6200. I had to go up to a 6600GT before I could get crystal clear, smooth ATSC reception and microstutterless DVD playback.

I use the nV PureVideo decoders but the new Avivo decoders for ATi are supposed to work really well.

Fusion users: I have not forgotten about you. I just ordered a Fusion 5 Lite and the rest of the parts needed for my Test rig. I should have it up and running sometime this weekend

 

[Tech Geek]

Tech Geek: Make sure you have EPG grab turned off! That will cause channels to freeze when changing.

Yup, had that turned off.

Also: I would hope the x1300 is up to the task. You may need something pretty beefy to deinterlace the HD stuff. I got mad stutters with a r9600pro, r9700pro, and nV6200. I had to go up to a 6600GT before I could get crystal clear, smooth ATSC reception and microstutterless DVD playback.

I use the nV PureVideo decoders but the new Avivo decoders for ATi are supposed to work really well.

I get zero stutters with WatchHDTV no matter what resolution but about 1 per second with MP even on SDTV res stuff.

Avivo is mostly the same no matter what card except some have faster memory. As long as the card is faster than the frame rate the video requires it shouldn't be a problem Since it isn't a problem for WatchHDTV I'd say the problem is related to MP. Besides, it would be a more constant problem and digital SDTV would probably work while HDTV wouldn't.

I have a 2600+ CPU. I'll try some overclocking to see if that makes a difference.

I'm using the build dated 02/06/2006 btw.

 

[Commodore 64]

I get zero stutters with WatchHDTV no matter what resolution but about 1 per second with MP even on SDTV res stuff.

Avivo is mostly the same no matter what card except some have faster memory. As long as the card is faster than the frame rate the video requires it shouldn't be a problem Since it isn't a problem for WatchHDTV I'd say the problem is related to MP. Besides, it would be a more constant problem and digital SDTV would probably work while HDTV wouldn't.

I've been there, done that with the watch HDTV and Avermedia Apps. Both of those weren't using VMR9. I could get stutter free TV with both of those apps and SageTV using Overlay, but the picture kind of sucked due to crappy deinterlacing. Thats where purevideo or Avivo comes in. Does the X1300 have > 10G/sec bandwith? If it isn't a pro, it may not. If it doesn't, you might be in for VMR 9 stuttering.

http://www.a1-electronics.net/Graphics_Cards/ATI/2005/ATI_Guide_Aug_pg2.shtml

Video adapter with 128-MB DDR video memory with 128-bit interface; an AGP8x interface or PCI express; video memory bandwidth of 10 GB per second or greater; support for MPEG-2 iDCT acceleration. You might not find all of this information included in the hardware specification for the video adapter. If that is the case, try calling the manufacturer directly to inquire or contact your PC hardware manufacturer for video adapter recommendations.

From here: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/mce/expert/hdtv.mspx

 

[Tech Geek]

Wouldn't all VMR9 playback stutter then? I don't get it playing back movies.

And SDTV won't require as much bandwidth as HDTV so it should at least stutter less but it's identical.

I've read several different specs on this with 8.32GB/sec being the lowest and 16GB/sec the highest for an X1300.

 

[Tech Geek]

Well, after doing a little searching I found that the HDTV Wonder's analog tuner doesn't work with Windows XP Media Center either. So it's something about the design of the card or how the drivers work. And I don't expect it to ever work as more than an HDTV tuner with XP MC or MP either. ATi doesn't exactly seem to be pushing it anymore and I'm guessing they will push their new cable card tuner and or a different digital tuner they haven't shown yet.

I was considering buying another analog tuner anyway so I could have an FM tuner and the better video of the Theatre 550 chip.
However, if it requires me to also spend more on a video card I may have to look for an alternative to MP.

I made some changes and I'll need to see if those fixed the problem. If not then I'll see if the video card is going to work with just XP MC. If it works there the problem is with MP. If that doesn't work then it's a Windows issue and I won't have a choice but to use something else.