New ATI Tuner Card.

[Octavean]

Hello everyone,
This thread is for issues related to Theater 550. If your product is working fine, then that's great and there's no need to post here unless you're helping out someone else with their issues. I am also not at liberty to comment on any unreleased products. I cannot comment about internal ATI decisions and proceedings either. If something wasn't publically announced, then it's not meant to be public. Now onto some actual issues. Even though there's a separate forum section for Remote Wonders, I'll deal with the question here. I just tried out using Remote Wonder Plus with MCE and it works fine. What issues are people having?

Sure, the Remote Wonder 3.03 Driver “ATIRW.exe” crash issue is really quite common and well known. So common that even a reviewer made note of it in a AIW X1900 review. This actually can effect the Remote Wonder line in its entirety not just the Remote Wonder Plus.

Unfortunately, recent versions of ATI's Remote Wonder software seem to have a tendency to crash for no reason, robbing one of control of the PC and throwing an error message:

I've noticed this problem lately as a regular user of the Remote Wonder, but I was surprised to see it show up with the Remote Wonder Plus on our newly installed Windows XP MCE 2005 test system. If the instability is caused by a software conflict, it must be conflict with a very common system-level driver or the like.

Linkage:

http://www.techreport.com/reviews/20...0/index.x?pg=3

http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthre...=remote+wonder

http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthre...=remote+wonder

http://www.xpmce.com/forum/new-remot...e-vt97380.html

I have two RWP remotes but only one system seems to have this crashing issue habitually.

[satnav4]

BTV also does everything that SageTV does. What I liked about SageTV was that they were the first application to allow more than one tuner card per license. BTV followed soon enough though. GBPVR of course has had that feature for a long time......before anybody else. But then it's free... so the author wasn't going to make any more money by limiting the number of cards on one license.
Jonas

Actually, Sage now will stream video like SlingBox. I don't think BTV does that. I am using Orb right now for streaming, but I would like to see BTV add that function. Otherwise, I think BTV beats Sage hands down. I also have had no problem with the 2-550 tuner issue with the latest release.

S.

[Octavean]

Hello everyone,
This thread is for issues related to Theater 550. If your product is working fine, then that's great and there's no need to post here unless you're helping out someone else with their issues. I am also not at liberty to comment on any unreleased products. I cannot comment about internal ATI decisions and proceedings either. If something wasn't publically announced, then it's not meant to be public. Now onto some actual issues. Even though there's a separate forum section for Remote Wonders, I'll deal with the question here. I just tried out using Remote Wonder Plus with MCE and it works fine. What issues are people having?

This thread predates the release of the Theater 550 Pro (a point were you would not haven been at liberty to comment on the T550P) therefore its origin transcends simple support and problems related to it.

That’s not to suggest that this isn’t a good place for T550P support related issues (because it is obviously a great place for that) but it does strongly suggest that support is not the only legitimate T550P subject matter to be discussed here.

T550P sale prices, bundled third party applications, and so on, it should all be fair game as long as it relates to the T550P,….and as long as people are being civil,….

Anyway,…

One reason why I didn’t see the T550P as a complete MCE solution initially was that there didn’t seem to be any video editing software that worked with the T550P and was DVR-MS aware.

In fact, there are a lot of programs that simply don’t work with the Theater 550 Pro or at least that was the case when it first shipped and for a great while after that. In many cases there are no software demos to test T550P compatibility/functionality.

Is there a list of programs that function properly with the T550P?

WinDVD creator 2 just crashes hard when I try to capture using the T550P.

[jonaslasky]

Is there a list of programs that function properly with the T550P?

WinDVD creator 2 just crashes hard when I try to capture using the T550P.

No thanks to ATI, but Nero does work with the T 550 as long as you're capturing from its tuner section. The S-Video input doesn't "stick" you can set it to capture from S-Video but when you actually start the capture, it reverts back to the tuner. Very very frustrating. I'm not even going to bother to ask Mike about that. We'd be here till next millenium before we get to that, and we have a long way to go . Capturing through the video inputs is possible with the latest MMC though.

Jonas

[hrlslcbr]

WinDVD creator 2 just crashes hard when I try to capture using the T550P.

Didn't ATI say that Intervideo products would support the theatre 550 pro chip???

Mike: I read here http://www.visiontek.com/ that:
"The Theater 550 Pro™ features the highly integrated ATI® Theater 550 chip with 128-bit video decoder, Dolby Digital® 2.0 Audio and MPEG-2 Video encoding with advanced rate control." (the 128-bit decoder must be a typo...).

If the chip doesn't support DD audio why do ALL partners that released a card say that it DOES support it

[SHSPVR]

jonaslasky BTV don't do everything that SageTV dose.
Keep in mind that in order to get BTV to same level as SageTV you have install Beyond Media and the do not forget that firefly has it own app to but BTV dose have one thing that SageTV dosen't that a FM Radio build in.
Nero Vision Express has alway been joke and slow vs other.
I can fig for life of my why some are saying ATI need to support the card under WinXP when it work fine under Windows 2000 Pro other then some function.

[jonaslasky]

jonaslasky BTV don't do everything that SageTV dose.
Keep in mind that in order to get BTV to same level as SageTV you have install Beyond Media and the do not forget that firefly has it own app to but BTV dose have one thing that SageTV dosen't that a FM Radio build in.
Nero Vision Express has alway been joke and slow vs other.
I can fig for life of my why some are saying ATI need to support the card under WinXP when it work fine under Windows 2000 Pro other then some function.

I know you like Womble's DVD application, but how do you make a decent menu with that? I'm being serious. If you can give me a few pointers, it would really help. As far as I can see customization is limited. What do you think of TMPgEnc's DVD Author? It seems pretty fast, but I'm always looking for a faster way to transcode HDTV to DVD.

Jonas

[Multimedia Mike]

don't you think it's a little weird that Visiontek released two versions of the card (one for MCE and the other for XP)?
Check the 'supported cards' on this page:
http://www.visiontek.com/550_driver_page.html

Hi everyone,
Those to cards are exactly the same card. We don't have a separate Theater 550 for MCE and not for MCE. The only difference in those 2 products are that one of them includes an MCE remote (and maybe some software or something). As to the earlier post about VisionTek, yes the 128-bit is a typo, it should be 12-bit. Now regarding the Dolby Digital 2 channel encoding, I've talked about this earlier in the thread, but let me repeat. The actual Theater 550 Pro doesn't do Dolby Digital encoding and if you go to http://www.ati.com/products/theater550/index.html you won't see us saying it does anywhere. The reason I think some partners claim Dolby Digital 2.0 encoding is that the Cyberlink PowerCinema that ships with the product might do it (or was supposed to do it). I'm still confirming this with Cyberlink and I should be getting a clarification shortly and i'll let you guys know what's going on with that. I apologize for the confusion, but we do send accurate information about our products to partners and sometimes they mistype or mis-interpret things and it's a little out of our control.

[Octavean]

Didn't ATI say that Intervideo products would support the theatre 550 pro chip???

I believe that Intervideo was a launch partner of the Theater 550 Pro with support via their “Home Theater” package. IMO Home Theater 2 wasn’t much of a software title though (about on par with Cyberlink PowerCinema).


Perhaps many Intervideo products do indeed support the Theater 550 Pro. However, Intervideo doesn’t seem to be very supportive of their software products. For example, if a software product crashes so consistently one would likely check software configuration, check for driver updates, check for software patches for the application and so on. Intervideo offers no, I repeat, NO patches for WinDVD Creator 2 on their web page. The only patches that I have ever come across for Intervideo WinDVD Creator 2 were OEM specific. In other words, each patch would only install if a specific hardware product was present (HP MCE PC or whatever).

There is no true update function within the WinDVD Creator 2 application itself.

Ulead Videostudio 10 seems like a very interesting product though:

http://www.ulead.com/vs/features_plus.htm

Ulead Videostudio 10 has some new HD functionality as well as Digital TV support in the form of DVB-T for those of whom live in an area that can take advantage of it. InterVideo WinDVD 7 is included in some versions as well.

I guess Ulead bought Intervideo or the like,….

There is also a free 30 day demo of Ulead Videostudio 10 but I keep getting an “unpack error” that prevents install.

http://www.ulead.com/vs/trial.htm

Pinnacle Studio 10 (10.5) has a demo too now:

http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSit...0_5+10_5TE.htm

I wonder how they fair with the T550P since we all know the T550P has limited software compatibility to some extent.

Pinnacle Studio 10.5 still doesn’t seem to support DVR-MS files though at least they didn’t list it as a supported import format,….

[SHSPVR]

jonaslasky I use Womble's for editing only and Ulead DVD MovieFactory 4.0 as my DVD application and as for Womble's DVD application is ok but still need lot work and it will get there over time.
As for TMPEGEnc DVD Author it good but slow
http://www.shspvr.com/images_other/dvd_test.html
Keep in mind that it is old ver so I have no idea if TMPEGEnc made any head way with newer ver with that apps and looking forword test ver 2.0 demo when it come out in next few day if there is a demo.
Octavean "I guess Ulead bought Intervideo" wrong the other way a round

[jonaslasky]

Thanks... so I guess I wasn't wrong after all. DVD authoring in Womble's Video Wizard is pretty weak. However their video editing is top notch. Very intuitive, fast and I love the mouse scroller jog control. It's handy for taking out commercials too, because those automatic commercial remover applications aren't that accurate.

TMPGEnc's DVD Author 2.0 is already out... I installed it a few days ago. Creating a menu is almost as bad as Womble's DVD Wizard. Video editing is not as good.... but I'd like to hear what you think.


Jonas

[hrlslcbr]

Hi everyone,
Those to cards are exactly the same card. We don't have a separate Theater 550 for MCE and not for MCE. The only difference in those 2 products are that one of them includes an MCE remote (and maybe some software or something).

Yes, I know they are the same card, but I posted that so someone could understand that the cards were not meant to be usable only under MCE, but also with Windows XP.

[thethinman]

The reason I think some partners claim Dolby Digital 2.0 encoding is that the Cyberlink PowerCinema that ships with the product might do it (or was supposed to do it). I'm still confirming this with Cyberlink and I should be getting a clarification shortly and i'll let you guys know what's going on with that.

Mike Cyberlink PoweCinema is not included in the Visiontek Theater 550 Pro package!
BeyondTV from Snapstream is the included software for their card. Also BeyondTV does not encode Dolby Digital via software, so this still does not explain the FALSE CLAIM of Dolby Digital encoding, be that via software or hardware.

[satnav4]

It's probably safer being a bomb sniffing dog than the ATI liason on this thread. Obviously, there is a lot of history here---mostly dissatisfaction. I cured mine for the most part by shelling out about $60 for BTV. That was a hidden cost for the card. Others buying now are much better off with GBPVR, Sage TV, BTV, etc support. Before the 650 is launched, ATI would be well served to send cards and drivers in advance to those same PVR companies/services to enable support. ATI should also:

1) Provide fine bitrate control;
2) Permit volume adjustment;
3) Permit sharpness adjustment;
4) Enable DD support.

It would be a good idea to provide these fixes to the 550 now to reward the loyal users.

There are other things, but I must go back to work.

S.

[jonaslasky]

Before the 650 is launched, ATI would be well served to send cards and drivers in advance to those same PVR companies/services to enable support. ATI should also:

1) Provide fine bitrate control;
2) Permit volume adjustment;
3) Permit sharpness adjustment;
4) Enable DD support.

It would be a good idea to provide these fixes to the 550 now to reward the loyal users.
S.

That might be asking too much of poor old ATI. Let's make everything simple. Surely they can put an intern on the job of ACTUALLY TESTING the T 650 on various PVR/DVR applications. They can then use the most compatible application as their officially endorsed one. Why would anyone go with something that doesn't work at all like they did with the T 550 ... I'll never understand.

They don't have to come up with fine bitrate control or those other adjustments.

All they have to do to make it easy for them and to be FAIR TO THEIR CUSTOMERS is to admit up front that they DON'T have any of those That way the consumer can better decide where to spend their money and not waste their time trying to make something work when it never had a chance of working as advertised in the first place.

In other words be honest.. so we don't have to waste our time and money.

They don't have to be geniuses... but they shouldn't be total idiots.

Jonas

[SHSPVR]

satnav4 you forgot one and dosen't HOT