New ATI Tuner Card.

[Nitestorm]

How about the other software that was mentioned.. (i.e. beyondTv, etc.) does that give me control of "advanced settings"... I want to control vbr, etc..

Just to confirm, GB-PVR does support VBR with the T550 Pro, up to 12Mbit. However, currently it cannot change the audio bit-rate and no matter what you set it to it records at 384kbps or something.

Also noticed a few glitches, like aspect ratio being fine in LiveTV but not when Timeshift recording it. The bottom is cut off and block artifacts appear at the bottom. A temp fix I found was to load BeyondTV first, exit and then run GB-PVR. The author has given me a few tweaks to try and solve it though.

[satnav4]

Just to confirm, GB-PVR does support VBR with the T550 Pro, up to 12Mbit. However, currently it cannot change the audio bit-rate and no matter what you set it to it records at 384kbps or something.

Also noticed a few glitches, like aspect ratio being fine in LiveTV but not when Timeshift recording it. The bottom is cut off and block artifacts appear at the bottom. A temp fix I found was to load BeyondTV first, exit and then run GB-PVR. The author has given me a few tweaks to try and solve it though.

sub at GBPVR is a class act. His software is first rate, and he is always willing to help. The fact that the software is free is lagniappe.

S.

[jonaslasky]

sub at GBPVR is a class act. His software is first rate, and he is always willing to help. The fact that the software is free is lagniappe.

S.

Very funny... worthy of Yves Adele Harlow...
The fact that GBPVR is free is indeed viettarct.


Jonas

[satnav4]

Very funny... worthy of Yves Adele Harlow...
The fact that GBPVR is free is indeed viettarct.


Jonas

As my home is about to be leveled by Hurricane Katrina, it is nice to know my sense of humor is appreciated. I don't plan to be as funny next week. Anyway, after the computer is destroyed, I guess I will need to get some more capture cards. I'll get at least one 550--no doubt about it. While I know a little about Lagniappe, I know not viettarct. Is it just as free?

S.

[Shmee150]

Hold on, I'm far too lazy to read 114 pages, but are they all about this card?

When's the PCIe one coming out??

ShMeE

[jonaslasky]

As my home is about to be leveled by Hurricane Katrina, it is nice to know my sense of humor is appreciated. I don't plan to be as funny next week. Anyway, after the computer is destroyed, I guess I will need to get some more capture cards. I'll get at least one 550--no doubt about it. While I know a little about Lagniappe, I know not viettarct. Is it just as free?

S.

So I guess you do like the Theater 550.... you really like it! BTW I tried the latest version of GBPVR and the latest ATI driver. I wish I didn't. Now the audio is severly out of synch. I don't know if it's because of incompatibity, or because of a messed up installation of the new driver. It was acting weirdly when I installed it. I hope I don't have to start with a clean install to make it work right.

Didn't know you were in the birthplace of jazz... good luck.

Jonas

[beca5olo]

I will definitely be purchasing one!

[jaboso]

Lets check the model numbers.

The Compusa version is listed as VTK-THXP550P for $89. If you seach newegg, you'll find 2 version of the visiontek 550 pro (both retail), a VTK-THXP550P for $82, and a VTK-THMCE550P for $115.

Looks to me that Compusa is selling the newegg $82 version for $89, not the VTK-THMCE550P version with the mce remote.

The Compusa version contains full version of BeyondTV subscription edition. I paid 29.99 for a lifetime subscription of TV guide this is a special price later on its going to be more.
The other version is MCE version with a remote but no BeyondTV included.

[Cyc]

Hi all,

Sorry if this question has already been asked, but a bit of a long thread to search through ! I have looked, but couldn't see anything....so

I have the Sapphire Theatrix 550 Pro card, but when I run the setup in MCE 2005 and select the video source as composite, it works fine until I reboot the system, then it seems to revert back to RF input. I can't leave the system on standby at the moment, so this is a bit of a problem.

Having asked in other forums this is a common problem with the PAL cards, but no one has a solution. Anybody here know how (or if) this can be solved ?

Cyc.

[Octavean]

The Compusa version contains full version of BeyondTV subscription edition. I paid 29.99 for a lifetime subscription of TV guide this is a special price later on its going to be more.
The other version is MCE version with a remote but no BeyondTV included.

There seems to be some confusion on this point.

This August 12th 2005 five page review of the VisionTek Xtasy Theater 550 Pro (MCE version) had the following to say:

Editor's Note - The model reviewed is the Windows Center Media Edition. VisionTek has two versions of Theater 550 Pro:

1) Theater 550 Pro XP Edition (without remote control) SRP is $99.99
2) Theater 550 Pro MCE Edition (with remote control) SRP is $129.99

http://www.bonafidereviews.com/article.php?id=91

I take this to mean, specifically, that the packages only differ with respect to the remote (remote, USB remote receiver, and IR Blaster). Therefore, both packages should have Snapstream’s Beyond TV SE and Beyond Media as common components.

The very idea of paying for Guide info is revolting IMO since I have been getting it free from MCE 2K4-to-MCE 2K5 and Gemstar Guide Plus+ before that.

Having said this, I have already ordered the VisionTek Xtasy Theater 550 Pro (MCE version) from newegg and I should have it by September 1st. At which point I can comment on the package first hand.

***edit***
http://www.bonafidereviews.com/article.php?id=91&page=4

The above review has screen shots of Beyond TV SE and some basic info on it but no mention was made of Beyond Media.

[Octavean]

OK just got the VisionTek Xtasy Theater 550 Pro MCE version and the package says the following:

What’s In The Box

Theater 550 Pro MCE Edition PCI card
Audio/Video input adapter
Beyond TV 3.7 Subscriber Edition
FM Antenna
Remote Control
Remote Receiver
IR Blaster
Beyond Media 1.0
Snapstream.Net TV Guide, 30 Day Free Trial
Installation CD
S-Video Cable

VisionTek has a Frequently Asked Questions page up for the Xtasy Theater 550 Pro MCE version.

[Octavean]

Just installed the VisionTek Xtasy Theater 550 Pro on System2 which previously only had a TV Wonder VE. I left the TV Wonder VE in and simply added the T550P. System2 had the latest version of Media Portal 0.1.30 installed as well as MMC 9.1 (most recent version that works with the TV Wonder VE) and CPC3. I also installed Beyond TV SE 3.7.0 (then upgraded to BTV 3.7.4) and BeyondMedia 1.0.0 (then upgraded to BM 1.1.0).

Media Portal seems to work with the T550P,…sort of,…

Oddly enough, MMC 9.1 recognized the T550P card and prompted a setup of Multview. Switching the T550P to the primary tuner yields better picture quality then MMC 9.03 and MMC 9.04. Although I didn’t think MMC 9.1 would work with the T550P at all the picture quality is really quite good and there is little to no sign of the interlacing issue that plagues MMC9.03/9.04 with respect to the T550P. It is still quite broken in many other ways however,….

CPC3 isn’t a dual tuner capable program and only sees the TV Wonder VE

BeyondMedia works quite well and I like it much more then I thought I would.

BTV SE 3.7.4 works but it is a unstable.

The package says only Windows XP SP2 and MCE are supported. It also says that a DirectX 9.0 card is needed so these may be contributing factors in the stability of Beyond TV.

I just never got around to upgrading to SP2 on System2 in part due to my wife using it to telecommute to work from time to time. I thought SP2 might cause some problems with the applications and protocols. However, I was considering a video card upgrade from the Visiontek gForce4 Ti 4600 (DirectX 8) to an AIW 9800 Pro (DirectX 9). Newegg was and possibly still is selling refurbished AIW 9800 Pro cards for $120 so I was thinking I would give it a go.

I still much prefer MCE over all other PVR apps that I tried so I might buy another copy of MCE 2K5. Beyond TV is OK but there are a number of things I don’t like about it (not withstanding the SE version).

[SHSPVR]

That odd Octavean being for me BTV 3.7.4 is very stable for me.

[Octavean]

I don’t doubt that BTV is very stable for many, if not it wouldn’t be so popular,..

Don’t get me wrong,…

I’m not blaming BTV, but rather I am suggesting that the problem might be the installed DirectX 8.0 gForce4 Ti 4600 card or the fact that SP1 is installed rather then SP2. It could also have something to do with the dual LCD monitor setup (seems more stable when I disable one monitor).

I’m going over the usual suspects,…updating drivers and such,..I’ll likely have this pinned down soon,…I hope.

Just to give you an idea of what’s going on though:

Launching BTV from Beyondmedia results in instant BSOD mem dump

Launching BTV manually is OK but it auto sizes to a window.

Resizing the BTV window results in instant BSOD mem dump

Opening BTV to full screen results in instant BSOD mem dump

Something to do with “awvide5.dll”,…. or ks.sys,...

[hrlslcbr]

hey guys, since Michael B helped you all out with those device drivers a few months ago, have there been any further device driver, or other software updates, that improve on the matters that are important to you?

is there a summary post of what's still outstanding on this?

where are things standing from a 'released software' perspective?

cheers, PD

ATI released a new driver some time ago, that fixes some bugs, but the drivers still don't have some things that some people here want: higher volume (although I don't think it's low), dolby digital encoding, be able to capture to uncompressed video that's filtered by the card's filters (3D comb, noise reduction, etc.), and something I asked Andrzej some time ago, a 'switch' to capture either IRE 0 or IRE 7.5 sources (don't know if that's possible).
I don't know if there's something left that someone would like to add.

[Octavean]

For those considering it, a little note on the VisionTek Xtasy Theater 550 Pro bundle.

As we all know, Beyond TV SE does indeed require a subscription to continue using the snapstream.net program guide after 30 days. There are a number of subscription options to choose from which include: Lifetime sub for $49.99, Yearly for $29.99 and monthly for $4.99. Special deals may apply however.

What I didn’t know about Beyond TV is that it can be made to use XMLTV rather then the snapstream.net program guide servers. Therefore it may not be necessary to part with more money in order to keep the SE version working as it should. It’s involved and requires some plug-ins and add-ons but it works,…or so I hear. I may look into this more.

The OEM version of BeyondMedia seems to have been hobbled as well. Apparently, BM is supposed to have a DVD option but the OEM version does not. After upgrading from ver 1.0.0 to ver 1.1.0 a DVDdecoder (Cyberlink) is auto installed but no option is made available via the main menu. I believe that it is possible to launch a third party DVD app but it isn’t quite the same thing since it lacks tight integration with the front end. It may be possible to force the DVD option to work,….

The MCE remote works well enough. I tested it by simply loading the batteries and using it with my HP MCE PC. It just worked and worked well. It doesn’t seem to be a learning remote however. The newer MCE remotes with two power buttons (one for TV and one for PC) at the top seem to have this ability but I don’t think the bundled one does.

Anyway, I was able to fix the Beyond TV 3.7.4 issues with respect to stability. All I really had to do was disable the dual monitor configuration in Windows XP and (this was the critical part) physically disconnect the second LCD monitor. Now its solid as a rock!!!

Unfortunately, if it comes down to Beyond TV or dual monitors,…..dual monitors wins,…at least on this system, for now,… I'll see if I can fix it so we can have the best of both worlds. However, the Wife has gotten rather accustom to the high faluting lifestyle of dual monitors both at home and at work