New ATI Tuner Card.

[SHSPVR]

Will it dispointing vs SageTV make better use of the card then MMC 9.10 the bitrate don't work all recording at 12MB/sec

[nexland]

I'm using the 550 Pro for capturing(in MPEG-2) analogue video from old VHS tapes and I need a bitrate control(max 7900 kbs, average 6500 kbs) and only with MMC 9.10 i can do that. The image of captured video it's brilliant!

[SHSPVR]

nexland you must be using SW encoder and not HW encoder becuase 550 Dose not have a ture variable it fix variable which means you can only use 3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,15 not some thing like this 8.25, 9.5, 10.75, etc, etc.

[nexland]

Yes, for now it's all I need.

[Octavean]

MMC 9.13 + new HDTV Wonder drivers + Cat 6.1 are now out and can be downloaded from ATI !!!!!!!

[SHSPVR]

Much better but the Player dosen't work the video not playing and Profile MPEG-2 (HW) showing 720x240 when it should be 720x480

[Octavean]

Well I don’t think I can test MMC 9.13 on my T550P because MMC has caused some serious problems on my MCE 2K5 PCs before. I have been able to fix the issues and now know what to look for to correct them but it’s just not worth the effort to me.

I might test MMC 9.13 on my older TV Wonder VE and AIW 9800 Pro systems but no way will it ever touch my T550P + HDTV Wonder + MCE 2K5 systems!!!

MMC 9.13 might be a godsend for those T550P users looking for a good free app but for those who already have something they like…..

[Mike K]

Your choice, Octavean...

I'm using the ATI Multimedia Center within MCE2005 since 9.09, on various systems. I never experienced conflicts with these versions (and I had them all). The only problems I can recall were with MMC 9.02 ond 9.03, when we never stated this would be a valid configuration.

I don't want to convince you to try it out and get hammered in case there is still a conflict, I just don't want everybody else being scared to screw their MCE installation. Most probably nothing weird will happen...

[nexland]

Mike K, please tell me, why I haven't access at NTSC display setup with MMC 9.13 on my Theatre 550 Pro and All-In-Wonder 9800 PRO? The older MMC 9.08 has these settings... I want capturing a NTSC VHS video, not PAL! Thank you!

[Mike K]

Pretty simple...

The Theater 550 Pro is a HW encoding PAL hardware. Physics that take signal from Tuner RF and encoding algorithms expect PAL color coding / 50Hz video. AiWs are software encoding, so modifications to capture algorithms are easy to do, still they have preferred formats. Capturing NTSC video works better on NTSC hardware than on PAL AiWs. Hope this answers your question.

[SHSPVR]

Ok and update some time I get heavy microblocking with DVD Low or Custom Profiles with low bitrate.

[bbzidane]

Pretty simple...

The Theater 550 Pro is a HW encoding PAL hardware. [...] Capturing NTSC video works better on NTSC hardware than on PAL AiWs. Hope this answers your question.

So does that mean if I live in Canada, I wouldn't be able to record quality NTSC TV signals?

and I do apologize if this was covered in this thread, but due to the size and duration, I fail to remember a good chunk of it.

[Mike K]

No problem...

There are PAL and NTSC versions of Theater 550 Pro cards. The ASIC/Video chip itself supports both. Just the complete solution fits either PAL or NTSC format video. So in Canada, where ATI is based btw., you will have a NTSC card and it will work fine... As a Canadian company we would have noticed if something didn't work properly

[Octavean]

Your choice, Octavean...

I'm using the ATI Multimedia Center within MCE2005 since 9.09, on various systems. I never experienced conflicts with these versions (and I had them all). The only problems I can recall were with MMC 9.02 ond 9.03, when we never stated this would be a valid configuration.

I don't want to convince you to try it out and get hammered in case there is still a conflict, I just don't want everybody else being scared to screw their MCE installation. Most probably nothing weird will happen...

Right…

I do NOT want to give people the impression that installing MMC on a MCE PC will likely cause problems. My MCE 2K5 installations have some custom installed drivers that may have contributed to the before mentioned issue with MCE. In order to use both the SD tuner of the HDTV Wonder as well as the HD DTV tuner of the HDTV Wonder in MCE 2K5, I used the MCEE drivers from the Kram Mod pack (AKA the MCE4.10Kv_ATI_MCEE). This was and now is again a trouble free install that allows dual SD TV recording/watching + HD TV with the installed T550P and HDTV Wonder.

After installing MMC 9.04 (which came with both my HDTV Wonder cards) the following problems occurred:

The MCE splash screen would take longer to load and the audio that accompanied the splash screen would be out of sync. This gave the entire startup process a sluggish look and feel. Actually all menus in MCE seemed a bit sluggish and all audio effects were out of sync.

All video in MCE be it live TV or recorded TV had an odd ripping effect bisecting the screen. The effect looked much like a video game in need of Vsync. However, MCE recorded TV played in Windows Media Player had no sign of distortion.

I was able to fix all of this without the need of reinstalling the OS and re-activating but it took time to find the solution and I had to live with it being broken for a long time. MMC is easy enough to install and uninstall to fix problems with MMC but an OS like MCE 2K5 is not nearly as easy to fix and reinstallation is not as simple.

The systems that my family and I use the most are systems that I am very particular about. I have found that being cautious about them has increased up time and decreased even minor problems. In fact, most of the time my systems are running as trouble free as one could hope.

However, suggesting to use MMC 9.09 and up with MCE (and conversely advising against using earlier versions) means a lot coming form you.

I also think that you’ll agree that installation of MMC in and of itself is totally unnecessary in MCE. Although, it is nice to know that one doesn’t necessarily have to choose between the two.

In any case, I think I can safely test MMC 9.13 on my older AIW 9800 Pro and TV Wonder VE systems rather then test them on my ACE systems that are used every day. I call this being prudent.

[Mike K]

What my signature is not saying is that my responsibility is Europe, middle East and Africa. I don't have experience with HDTV Wonders, because they simply don't work anywhere in my region. At least it confirms that MMCs before 9.09 potentially caused problems in MCE, used in combination with Theater 550 Pros.
Coming back to the sense of MMC in MCE, it's a matter of taste. I personally like MMC because of it's bigger flexibility and the RF remote. I still have to admit that some things are better solved in MCE, like e.g. MP3 browsing. But there is no disadvantage of running both in parallel, giving maximum flexibility. For example we enabled picture in picture for MMC, got that in MCE?

[nexland]

I'm living in a country with PAL TV system but, right now, I need to capture NTSC video with my AIW 9800 PRO, at least... I understand that my Theatre 550 PRO it's working in PAL system but what can I do with AIW? I haven't this option with MMC 9.13. Thank you for the answers!