My how time files. My last post was in April 2011 with my last Guide Plus update in September 2010. Now it’s April 2012 and I reformatted and reinstalled Guide Plus again in September 2011. I didn’t want to leave anything here open ended.
The thing is, I have used the service and software less and less from about 2008 on. From when I started using it in 2001, I would download listings every weekend, find the series and what episodes where airing when and where, and be set. Then I started to forget and fall behind…two weeks, three weeks…then I was updating monthly…every two months, and then six months at a time. In the longer periods I have used this software since 2008 a lot changed tech and cable wise, and then I started having issues where I lost and/or had to rename/number all the channels over again once I did a fresh install, which I covered before in this thread. This software, in the early to mid 2000s, was bang for buck the best with TV recording and TV listings and I used it for years without issues. That is however until we all started having issues here updating the guide. Since my reinstall in September 2011 I haven’t even used the software or service once, although in the back of my mind it was always there to eventually get around to it. From September 2010 to September 2011 I used it very sparingly. I have a hint of regret not taking more advantage of this software when you still could, but I simply kept forgetting and didn’t have the time.
Getting back to DA1745’s questions…
I guess this software would not work with Windows XP because of its age? So did you get this PC back or what??? Are you planning to put it back into service? --- Or is it just here for additional data? I'm un-clear.
It has been sitting unused in the basement since 2009, getting turned on once or twice a year. It’s so damn slow I really need to find some older used RAM for it. I talked about it to tell you about my history with ATI/Gemstar software and how “TV-on-Demand” was only on that older card, but not for the newer card I got for my computer in 2005. As stated, for the older machine the card served as a capture/recording device
and the computers graphics card. My newer computer – its only purpose was to capture/record. Hence, why they dropped some features on the newer cards makes
no sense to me.
Well IDK for sure but MMC 7 is right around the XP time I don't see why it woudn't work. PLUS once you installed the main components 1) an version of catalyst 6.2 or OLDER, then you could install everything else (dvd decoder, guide plus etc) off the disc and then use a slightely newer version MMC 9.08 and newer (like your MMC 8.2 version from your TV wonder pro disc.
I see support listed for some versions so I would think it does work with XP - but it's a matter of getting all the parts together in the right way.
I assumed since the older
32MB AIW Radeon 7200 (I think it came out July 2000) and its booklet were copyrighted 2000 and make no mention of XP, it would not work. As I have had programs from my Windows 98 days I could no longer use with XP. Sadly I never took the time to run the older machine and install everything with the older disc and hook the cable to it to see if I could make it run like the old days (now with XP Pro not 98). It is kind of buried now under rubble.
After re-reading this post and your last, I understand things better; I initially assumed you were talking about the problem we were all complaining about after upgrading to MMC 9.14-9.16 as some of the problems you mentioned are similar to using those. HOWEVER, I now think that it's possible that the TV Wonder pro doesn't have the option that the AIW did. i have one of those cards but the system I used it in burnt up with a bad Antec Power supply.
Perhaps someone that is still using a TV wonder pro could comment.
Isn’t that what everyone is using? Don’t you mean people who are still using an AIW?
I didn’t know as much about computers back then as I do now. But I
now realize that the All-in-Wonder series was a combination graphics card/TV tuner card, and the TV Wonder Pro is only TV tuner. When I got my new PC (which I’m still using) in 2005, it was built with an Asus P4P800-VM motherboard (which I now detest as I can only overclock it with software and not in the BIOS) which has integrated Intel Extreme Graphics. So I didn’t need an AIW as I had integrated graphics (which I now realize is kind of crappy but back in 2005 this mid-range machine was still pretty pricey for my wallet). I went to Best Buy and bought the then current TV Wonder Pro (did they even make AIWs by that time?), which in my last post I explained wasn’t the same as my older AIW in terms of features.
So, my main question is now – when did ATI remove the TV-on-Demand feature in its All-in-Wonder series? And, was it ever offered in the TV Wonder Pro series? I still can’t find the exact model I have. I bought it in 2005 and the box is copyrighted 2003.
Ok did you mean to say Intel Graphics card there? If your graphics are by Intel then you are using not a Graphics card but Intel's built onto the Motherboard Graphics Chip. If you look at the back of the PC does your graphics VGA port go Vertically (as in it's built right into the motherboard usually up by or near the mouse and keyboard ports) or does it go Horizontally and it's down where the add in cards are? In other words is the GRAPHICS card something you can remove?
When I was researching overclocking, running dual monitors and RAM usage a while back, I now realize years later,
it’s intergraded with the motherboard.
MMC 8.8 is the oldest version I have ever used and it came with TV on demand (when using an AIW ==> again not sure about with a TV wonder pro though). So this may simply be a loss of the feature from AIW line to the TV wonder pro card line. Which makes since since you say you had it back in MMC 7 on your old system. And I had it in MMC 8.8 (using AIW 9600XT) and MMC 9.06 & 9.06.1 & 9.08 using (AIW 9800 pro & X800XT). So it's not gone from the software, likely just not a feature the TV wonder pro has.
Can you get your old system back? Try out the AIW 7200?
This
begs the question, why remove such a vital feature as TV-on-Demand in the TV Wonder Pro series? It’s a
TV tuner card – that is its main purpose! To record/capture/watch/screencap TV through your computer. Why the heck remove the ability to be able to log about an hour’s worth of television and be able to scroll back/fast forward, etc?
Can I put my old AIW in my newer 2005 machine without it disrupting my Intel integrated graphics?
More channels were lost/moved from what I posted here. This has to do with the move to digital and analog signals slowly being replaced. In Canada the analog shut off is August 31, 2011 – will Guide Plus then be useless? No, that's not correct
Actually, I think it is, as I’ll explain later on…**
Well Windows itself has a Screen capture feature. It's the button called PrtScn / Sys Rq up in the upper middle right of your keyboard usually (depending on keyboard style). In order for this to work for me, the TV Window can't be in full screen mode it has to be in the Window-ed mode --> you know where you can resize it etc. (it can still take up almost the entire screen but just can't be full screen mode in Windows Media Center --> IDK if the same applies to MMC though.?.
That is the most basic and wrong way. In recent years I found VLC Media Player can make screens, but I still miss and prefer the way I could screen back when I could scroll through logged TV and cap things with TV-on-Demand. As stated, for some stupid reason if you play a file in ATI File Player, the screenshot camera icon goes “blank” when you pause the video. Honestly how else do they think people can screencap? You can press the camera icon when the video is playing, but it’s close to impossible to cap exactly what you want when the image is moving. Someone really effed up there.
You might try digging around two ACTIVE boards. Avsforum.com -- they have a HTPC thread. Try searching for you card ATI TV wonder pro there. OR The green button.
However, even if the on demand is gone you can still record and watch later and with the Print Screen capture button you should be able to get by.
The on-demand feature was a really big deal for me when I had it ten years ago. It was the main reason I bought another ATI card for my newer machine only to find out years later it was missing the very feature I wanted. An oversight on my part, I know.
With XP and an older PC there are lots of issues to consider does your PC only have PCI ports which today limits your TV tuner options. There aren't too many quality ones that are PCI. Here's one but it's expensive.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...uge-_-15116033
The other issue is the Software that comes with the cards. Some have terrible software too. And you can't use MMC with them so you are back in the trouble boat again.
I have spent all the money I’m going to spend on this older machine so I’m stuck with this older ATI stuff. I was still running on 500MB of RAM until 2011 until I finally upped it to 3GB with some cheap used RAM to make browsing the now bloated Internet and its browsers of today (Firefox is a memory hog) easier. I’ll get a new PC eventually and will have to research the new options in TV tuners then. Yes, this machine has PCI ports.
For 95% of my needs I have moved to Vista Media Center & Now Windows 7 Media Center. I use TV Tuner cards and it in general is a decent Tivo like setup. I can record series of shows, new or all episodes so I don't have to remember each day to set a timer etc. I just monitor it as did a good job in Vista of recording the show I wanted when a conflict occured but it's not as good in Windows 7.
I've lost track of whether the ATI TV wonder pro can work with Vista or W7... but you'd need to know b4 you went that way.
I will be riding on XP for as long as possible. I both dislike Vista and 7 for several reasons.
If you Current PC has PCI-Express slots you could buy less expensive TV tuners. Or you could use a USB external though they are software based... Here's the rub again, but one thing you would have gained access to with many newer tuners is OTA Digital and what ever Clear QAM (if any) digitial un-encrypted SD or HD channels your cable company is putting out there. UNFORTUNATELY, XP requires software in order to be able to operate those... So if it doesn't come with the card you bought OR it's crappy then it's a bit disappointing.
Is getting the AIW 7200 back into service an option?
Now in 2012, I think it is a lost cause…
>>All course all channels still come though the TV.<<
What I may have not made clear here in my older post: I’ve lost channels in the Guide Plus listings, however ALL the channels still come through the ATI TV; some now have lost there title (like ABC, FOX) and just show their channel numbers without their name.
I mentionned that i saw other people on internet who was also complaigning about the termination of the service but i have no idea of how many. Just on another forum the thread has been read by over 60 peoples in a few hours. I am surprise because ATI cards are at least 7 or 8 years old
Can you link the thread here?
After reading over the most recent posts, it appears ATI/Gemstar/Guide Plus is officially dead in 2011/2012. I didn’t use the program much between May 2011 (when we couldn’t download listings anymore) and September 2011 when I had a hard drive crash and reinstalled. Since then I put everything back and did the registry edit of the “
http://144.198.100.134/gtidl/gdnget2.asp” URL, which of course doesn’t work. I’m now fiddling with the software again for the first time in seven months getting the TV to work again. It was so much easier to get the TV working when I could download listings first.
**However, the real death knell for this aging software, besides the fact that we lost listings last year, is the fact that analog cable is dead and as far as I see it, this software is now useless. Let me explain (see image):
This is my set up and has been for years. Analog cable coming from the wall in my room (originally from the basement). The cable goes into a splitter: one way to my VCR (to use as a converter [old knob TV] and recorder), other way into the back of my PC, into the TV Wonder Pro card. With this set up, I can watch TV through both TV and computer, and can watch/record different things on different screens. Example, I could be watching something on channel 25 on the television and be watching channel 50 through the ATI TV on the computer monitor. I can change channels separately on the computer using the ATI TV.
For those of you who live in Ontario, Canada, and are with Rogers Cable, then you know that starting back in January 2012 there was an announcement that Rogers was shutting down its analog cable and that people still with analog would need a digital box to keep getting channels. This started in the biggest cities in Feb/Mar, and just today (which prompted me to come back and post here) I got a letter from Rogers for my area (a smaller district about an hour and half south of Toronto) that we need these boxes soon as by May 31, 2012 our analog service gets shut down.
From what I’ve read here, and from what I’ve read in general about digital cable, boxes, and PVRs, this essentially makes my current set up
useless.
Everything has to go through the
digital box first. Gone are the days of spitting analog cable as much as you wanted to throughout your household (and subsequently paying for only one TV). Because you need a digital box for every television set you own. All of which cost more money/fees and drain more electricity as they are always on. The digital box becomes the primary source of function and the main thing to navigate channels. You can only change channels through the box! This means I can’t change channels through the ATI TV anymore, because its source to my computer is an analog source that never needed a digital box to convert anything first. After May 31, 2012, I assume I will only get white noise or nothing through my ATI TV.
And even if I got a digital box, and then spilt it on its way out (if that’s possible, I don’t know the detailed specifics about digital cable/boxes/PVRs or even DVD recorders) two ways to my old television set and to my computer…I’d assume that since you can only change channels through the box, what I watch on my old TV is what I will see through my computer. I won’t be able to watch different channels at once anymore. Hell, I don’t even know where the digital cable signal would even show up on ATI TV if I spilt it from the digital box and hooked it to the TV Wonder Pro card on the back of my PC. Channel 3? Channel 4? Auxiliary video? As per what I’ve read as a whole on digital cable – we’ve lost the ability to simply record one program and watch another. That’s what the VCR was all about in the 1980s! That seems like a major step back and I don’t even know if you can hook a VCR up to a digital box. How can you watch one thing and record another if all functions go through the digital box and not the VCR? I assume the one free box you get from Rogers only has one tuner inside of it.
Right now I’m going to fiddle and try and get my old ATI TV working as right now it is not. Generally I’ve moved on to
Zap2it as a reliable source for listings in my area. I even wrote them to tell them how much I like the service and wish I had discovered it earlier. However there are things about Guide Plus I will always miss. Eventually when I get a new computer, as I doubt I can find any decent TV tuner cards for this one anymore, I’ll need something that:
-[File Player] Can screenshot when paused (VLC is okay but could be better).
-Can log live TV for about an hour and be able to pause/rr/ff/screencap through it (TV-on-Demand).
-Can record with better quality/smaller file size/and different file formats.
-
A reliable EPG with all and correct channels for Canada. (Zap2it is doing a good job for now).
-And eventually, be able to hook up my VCR and record my VHS tapes to files.
I also may have conflict from all the PVRs Ive tried to install. I still have the ATI MMC installed because it still works, I just have to work a lot more to get it to work. I just want to record my shows quickly and easly