Hi, I've got an ati tv wonder pro pci running win xp sp3 media center edition 2005. I've got the latest drivers installed and only the drivers from microsoft update. NO ati software installed. My problem is that the preview always displays no output just a blacks screen after awhile it works fine before for like an hour or so of encoding. I'd figured it must be software or driver issue since after using dscaler and its drivers which worked fine except that the recorded output was no good so i decided not to use that. What is wrong anybody know? Also i wanted to know if that shadow stream 2.0 program anybody can send or upload all versions of that for download? Lastly does anybody know if the ati tv wonder 200 original drivers work for the tv wonder pro? I'd like to try those drivers as well. Thanks in advance.
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ATi TV wonder Pro PCI help!
- Thread starter Milardo
- Start date
Hi, Ok first it's very hard to read when everything is jammed into one HUGE paragraph like that.Hi, I've got an ati tv wonder pro pci running win xp sp3 media center edition 2005. I've got the latest drivers installed and only the drivers from microsoft update. NO ati software installed.
My problem is that the preview always displays no output just a blacks screen after awhile it works fine before for like an hour or so of encoding. ???? So it's black but then it starts working? but only for an hour & then what ? Goes back to black or ???
I'd figured it must be software or driver issue since after using dscaler and its drivers, which worked fine except that the recorded output was no good so i decided not to use that. ???? So using descaler you get an image & sound on the screen but it fails to record anything ??? is the file size normal? or just a few KBs? And what are recording it in? What Software decoder are you using? If you don't know use Microsofts free tool:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...AC-0AB6-4990-943D-627E6ADE9FCB&displaylang=en
This tool can be used to CHANGE your default decoder which can be another problem...
You mentioned above that you did not try any ATI software. It might be good if you had that for testing trial purposes to see if you could get something up and working. It does open a can of other issues.
It's really pi$$ late and my memory is failing me... as far as whether the TV wonder Pro / 200 worked correctly with WMC 2005? At first the AIW etc didn't, for a time you needed to install an additional "something" from ATI, but then I believe later they simply incorporated a work-around into the drivers or ??? I can't belive I can't think through that clearly right now or remember specifics.
Basically, I like the old MMC versions 9.09 and prior from ATI so I have no problem using them. And the benefit to me on systems with Windows Media Center 2005 is that I can trouble shoot if the problem is with WMC 2005 or if it's a bigger driver issue...
Another free tool you can try is the WMC 2005 configuration reset tool:
http://www.salloway.org.uk/mediacenter/util/index.htm#reset it helped me a number of times & from time to time when everything SHOULD BE working but WMC just doesn't want to display an image or find a tuner etc.
What is wrong anybody know? Also i wanted to know if that shadow stream 2.0 program anybody can send or upload all versions of that for download?
Lastly does anybody know if the ati tv wonder 200 original drivers work for the tv wonder pro? I'd like to try those drivers as well.
If I remember correctly posted back when they first introduced the Tv wonder 200 some people posted pictures & it had the same chip as the pro...basically if i'm remembering correctly (VERIFY) with google though; they are the same card just renamed.
Thanks in advance.
You mentioned "I've got the latest drivers installed" ...Please be specific. =What drivers do you have installed (for your graphics card & for the WDM drivers for the card)? - Is your Graphics card ATI, Nvidia, or built in?
B/c then you go on to mention "NO ati software installed" - have to ASS-u-Me that you mean besides the drivers? or not?
ATI (since you are using an ATI PCI card) recommends NOT using or installing XP Service Pack 3. IDK if that has ALL, ANY, or NONE of the blame for what problems you are experiencing or not but be aware that i've read, and wrote in (as well as having personal experience with problems with my ATI All-in-wonder cards tuners that I could nail down to beginning after either upgrading to or using a clean install of XP SP3 (so that you know)-(not saying going back to or doing a clean install and stopping at XP SP2 will solve or improve anything in this case) but there is NO BENEFIT security or stability etc. wise to running SP3. You can get every single security update and keep running SP2.
Hi, thanks for replying. First I for example use windows media encoder 9 which displays a message of not being able to use the source device. So I type net stop ehrecvr in the run box. I read somewhere that this helps. So then i can use in it virtually any tv tuner video capture program for awhile but after awhile the video input goes blank.
Dscaler recording was fine except there was picture distortion. The decoders on my system are fine as well.
I tried the ati software before but it never worked properly recording always freezed and other issues arose but I forgot what but i decided against installing them.
I use a software mce encoder to be able to inside media center.
I've got a nvidia graphics cards and the latest drivers for both cards and ati tv wonder pro-version 2005. just the drivers which i got from microsoft update.
I prefer to use xp sp3.
Dscaler recording was fine except there was picture distortion. The decoders on my system are fine as well.
I tried the ati software before but it never worked properly recording always freezed and other issues arose but I forgot what but i decided against installing them.
I use a software mce encoder to be able to inside media center.
I've got a nvidia graphics cards and the latest drivers for both cards and ati tv wonder pro-version 2005. just the drivers which i got from microsoft update.
I prefer to use xp sp3.
This is really FWIW, & in case it helps by giving you some directions to check out...
TO answer your question on older drivers... Best advice I'd have is search online, but you'll have to use ATI (not the MS neutered version), & if you find different versions, research & try those that sound promising. Whether they'll help with what you want to do I have no idea. Also, there's a huge difference between drivers & any sort of media-related software -- you should be running the ATI drivers, which are pretty much what you get from MS, only working, & the ATI encoders designed for the card. Whether you install the ATI software for capping etc is totally up to you.
As far as capping goes, there are several apps out there that should work with your card. Quality is going to be determined by your signal, the bit rate of your captured files, & the capture codec. Natively the ATI card does mpg2, same as MCE AFAIK (disguised as DVR-MS), while many capping apps (like descaler) do AVI, with your choice of codec (that you supply). A mjpeg or DV avi file at max/high bit rate is higher quality than most all mpg2 at 12 or less (the old MMC used to be able to cap mpg2 at 20 something, which was very close to DV). HUFYUV is a very good capture codec, but you'll need to re-render to something else for your finished project. If your problem with descaler was [even partly] caused by poor signal quality, you *may* have better luck using VirtualDub if you can get input filtering working for you.
TO solve your problem in MCE capping, I'd suggest 2 places to look -- one is with the reg entries for your ATI card, the other is with whatever Direct Show & BDA filters you have installed, or not. Tracking down registry problems in my experience is a matter of deleting everything about your card, then installing the ATI drivers fresh. To track down DS & BDA filter problems I've used Graphedit or GraphStudio, & tried to put together a chain that would work for viewing, & optionally if possible, capture. If there's a filter missing, you need to get it & install (register) it. Once you know what you need, you know what you don't need --> everything else that could interfere. You can also use a process monitor (like the one from System Internals -- a part of Microsoft) to get an idea of what MCE preview is using. Then after a backup get rid of the junk you don't want (i.e. possibly interfering filters etc), checking to see if it works after each removal. If you have (or think you have) problems with your MCE set-up, head over to the Green Button.
TO answer your question on older drivers... Best advice I'd have is search online, but you'll have to use ATI (not the MS neutered version), & if you find different versions, research & try those that sound promising. Whether they'll help with what you want to do I have no idea. Also, there's a huge difference between drivers & any sort of media-related software -- you should be running the ATI drivers, which are pretty much what you get from MS, only working, & the ATI encoders designed for the card. Whether you install the ATI software for capping etc is totally up to you.
As far as capping goes, there are several apps out there that should work with your card. Quality is going to be determined by your signal, the bit rate of your captured files, & the capture codec. Natively the ATI card does mpg2, same as MCE AFAIK (disguised as DVR-MS), while many capping apps (like descaler) do AVI, with your choice of codec (that you supply). A mjpeg or DV avi file at max/high bit rate is higher quality than most all mpg2 at 12 or less (the old MMC used to be able to cap mpg2 at 20 something, which was very close to DV). HUFYUV is a very good capture codec, but you'll need to re-render to something else for your finished project. If your problem with descaler was [even partly] caused by poor signal quality, you *may* have better luck using VirtualDub if you can get input filtering working for you.
TO solve your problem in MCE capping, I'd suggest 2 places to look -- one is with the reg entries for your ATI card, the other is with whatever Direct Show & BDA filters you have installed, or not. Tracking down registry problems in my experience is a matter of deleting everything about your card, then installing the ATI drivers fresh. To track down DS & BDA filter problems I've used Graphedit or GraphStudio, & tried to put together a chain that would work for viewing, & optionally if possible, capture. If there's a filter missing, you need to get it & install (register) it. Once you know what you need, you know what you don't need --> everything else that could interfere. You can also use a process monitor (like the one from System Internals -- a part of Microsoft) to get an idea of what MCE preview is using. Then after a backup get rid of the junk you don't want (i.e. possibly interfering filters etc), checking to see if it works after each removal. If you have (or think you have) problems with your MCE set-up, head over to the Green Button.
I'm short on time i'll try to re-read through this later. But a couple of things...with SP2 plus all the security updates you get the same protection without any of the errors problems that SP3 creates.Hi, thanks for replying. First I for example use windows media encoder 9 which displays a message of not being able to use the source device. So I type net stop ehrecvr in the run box. I read somewhere that this helps.
I tried the ati software before but it never worked properly recording always freezed and other issues arose but I forgot what but i decided against installing them.
I use a software mce encoder to be able to inside media center.
I've got a nvidia graphics cards and the latest drivers for both cards and ati tv wonder pro-version 2005. just the drivers which i got from microsoft update.
I prefer to use xp sp3.
If something is contra indicated ie no benifit and it creates problems then you can take a perfectly fine piece of hardware and render it nearly worthless.
Second, never ever, never, never-ever take Microsofts suggestions for the ATI software that you need for any legacy All-In-Wonder or TV Tuner cards. Further, what they recommend is NOT CORRECT (requires more than one driver to run the TV Wonder pro). The problem is more complicated now because you have installed them. Normally you could simply un-install a program/driver and install the correct one. But with these older ATI products they dont' change or correct the registry settings. Use of Driver Cleaner Pro is or similar program to attempt to clear out the registry is necessary...although sometimes even it fails to do a thorough job and requires a format and clean install of the Operating system.
ATI pays to have MS certification for the drivers BUT and it's a huge BUT...MS updater does not/and cannot understand the complex issues that surround the AIW & older TV tuner cards. They don't understand the interplay between digital & analog drivers and they always suggest the latest product available from ATI rather than matching the correct driver to the correct set-up. In more recent ATI products they un-install themselves more completely and there is a single unified driver so the issues that were present with your card & others are no longer an issue.
I can't make you believe this...but you only have to have a correctly set up TV recording set up brought to it's knees and (unable to correct with un-installs, use of driver cleaner pro to clean out the registry), all because you took MS incorrect suggestions and installed the wrong driver or update for something as simple as the remote control.
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When i first got the card in 2006, i used the drivers from ati cd and the ati software. I never got a complete movie captured from composite the ati software always froze or I mean the video capture screen always froze except the sound part. So that is why i used the drivers from microsoft and used wme for awhile which worked pretty good for a couple of years i guess. I can't use mce because it doesn't record from composite source only from tv tuner. But I did find that using a special software encoder works meaning be able to watch and record from the tv tuner source in mce 2005 i posted that in the green button forum. I am right now trying to create a graphedit scheme to record from composite source. The problem is the avi muxer doesn't work or when trying to record mpeg the file output is huge! Anybody got a working graph using this card? Yes, I might have to try using older ati drivers not the ones from microsoft. I did notice that the drivers on my cd seem to be the same as the ones from microsoft though. Lastly does anybody got the 200 ones i thought those were slightly different. Oh yeah what about that shadow stream program I read that it works great with ati tv wonder pro
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Hi, when you say special software encoder, could you elaborate (i'm unclear if you might be referrring to the special software that ATI put out for the AIW/TV Tuners to work with Windows Media Center 2005....they were needed b/c MCE2005 was designed to work with a hardware encoder card (so ATI's had to make a work around b/c all it's cards back then were only software encoded).But I did find that using a special software encoder works meaning be able to watch and record from the tv tuner source in mce 2005 i posted that in the green button forum.
I am right now trying to create a graphedit scheme to record from composite source.
Anybody got a working graph using this card? Yes, I might have to try using older ati drivers not the ones from microsoft.
Lastly does anybody got the 200 ones i thought those were slightly different. Oh yeah what about that shadow stream program I read that it works great with ati tv wonder pro
After a while they encorporated whatever that was into the ATI's Catalyst or WDM drivers =OR= did you mean basically the encoder like ATI's-Cyberlink, Nvidias, etc.?
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GROG, on this board has a long thread about GRAPHEDIT. He's on from time to time here or I've seen him on AVS forum.
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I think people that bought the 200 (at least originally were able to see the TV Pro markings on it, under a sticker or stamped on the board. From dataed memory here, I thought they were the same card (IDK if that changed after the first production run or not).