New ATI Tuner Card.

[Mace]

Sorry Mace, this is the quote by Michael B(ATI):


I know, I read on another forum about MMC 9.06 also.. but this looks like it go shot down

Oh well

I was looking forward to using the thruview. I don't know of any other applications that support this feature

[thatdude90210]

I'm not at home so I can't try it yet, but I saw in another forum that Media portal has added support for the 550 pro. media portal "Added support for the 'ATI TV Wonder Elite' tv card "

[satnav4]

I'm not at home so I can't try it yet, but I saw in another forum that Media portal has added support for the 550 pro. media portal "Added support for the 'ATI TV Wonder Elite' tv card "

Every time I load MediaPortal is another time I need to do a clean Windows install to get GBPVR working again. Please set a restore point, although that has never worked for me. Please report back on your luck with MP. Maybe I am just doing something wrong.

S.

[bubbaganoush]

I've tried it already...no luck.

[Michael B]

Hi,

I have only posted a few threads on here, so you dont know me yet. I dont spin. if its No I say No, if its yes then its yes. I am from Rotherham in Yorkshire, and we dont mess about like that

MMC is still available for the ALL-IN-WONDER cards, the team is still doing great work on it, just not on Theater 500 Pro. For Theater there will be support for a huge range of applications, some simple, some OS based like MCE, some with multiple tuner support etc. We are in month one of our new product, however over the coming months you will see more and more applications being added, some very simple and others much more in depth. We cant please everyone, but we do want to offer a good range of SW. thats what you will see.

What would be usefull to, is what dont you like about Power Cinema? and what are your fav parts of MMC..



M

[bubbaganoush]

The most obvious thing is the major lack of anything in PowerCinema.

-Laggy/ bulky feel to the interface
-No closed captioning
-Slow channel changing
-Can't use the other input sources (Svideo/ RCA)
-No sharpness/colour/brightness/etc controls
-Can't choose where the recordings are stored (heck I can't even find where its stored by default)

-Probably some more which I can't think of ATM.


Right now it feels like PowerCinema just gives TV video and audio as is.
What I like about MMC is all the little settings that are available. I know PowerCinema was geared towards the point and click HTPC type user but its still nice to be able customize the settings.
If Power Cinema did all that then all would be fine

[SHSPVR]

Michael this problem is still here CTHELPER.exe crash on boot up I have Creative Lab Audigy 2 ZS, if I disable the Theater 550 Pro in the device manager then reboot and wait everthing to load then re-enable Theater 550 Pro in the device manager then CTHELPER dosen't crash.
Michael can ask driver team if they even address this problem above I only run Windows 2000 Pro just so you know.
As for your reply that dispoint to hear there be no MMC for Theater 550 Pro which would have been much more useful then MCE or PowerCinema is rigth now as Manuel Recording application for thoses that only run Windows 2000 Pro or thoses that don't care for MCE or PowerCinema that much in tell better 3rdparty support get here.

Hey myth most likely your problem has to do with the motherboard bios.

[wenis]

I'm not sure if this has been posted , but this site did a review. They echo everyone else's sentiments. Basically ATI wasted their time making this card because the software blows so hard. Too bad, it seems the hardware is impressive to everyone. I really had my hopes for this card. Hauppauge here I come.

http://www.thetechlounge.com/review....50_theater_pro

I just don't understand. ATI has always been known as the company that makes great hardware,but has horrible drivers and software. How could they manage to bundle something worse?! Who is in charge of ATI's software division?

[Michael B]

Hi,

I will do my best to help out when I can, you will have to bear with me though, I am not tech support, and only have the info regarding how things should be, not all the nitty gritty bits. I am logging all of yout thoughts regarding what you want access to, and what you think of MCE or Power Cinema. It is with this we can do the best job. That is why I am happy that PD invited me here.

Keep the Cyberlink and or MCE thoughts coming. Its very usefull..

Michael

[backlund]

Michael-
I would like to see an applet for MCE that would allow us to tweak settings like the color, brightness, or SHARPNESS. I can currently change some of these settings on the Nvidia DVD Decoder, but the problem is that I would like to do this individually on the cards. Basically, I want the color and brightness to match between my 550 pro and my Hauppauge 150.

[hrlslcbr]

Michael: This is a question that has been asked many times, but I want to be sure about the answer. When capturing to AVI, are the filters (3d comb, noise reduction, etc) bypassed, or not?
Thank you.

[MrFr33z3]

guys - please take heed of what Michael has said - he's not tech support - for tech support please refer to your reseller, your AIB manufacturer, or the correct ATi channel.

his job description almost certainly doesn't obligate him to be here, so please think about what you post - before you post - and please always post politely and constructively.


essentially i see Michael and ATi's participation here as an opportunity for you guys to have the possibility of:

(1) getting answers to bigger questions from someone who has direct access to the answers

(2) potentially influencing the future direction ATi's products...

it's your opportunity - i suggest you don't screw it up for yourself, or for others...

I, for one, truly appreciate the job Michael and PD (HEXUS) have done to help alleviate some of the issues we've faced with this product thus far.

As I noted in a previous post, I was having some major issues earlier with rather old drivers available on Sapphire's site. I am happy to share with you all that those problems have vanished since installing the latest drivers that Michael has so graciously taken his personal time to share with us. If you have the Sapphire card, and are experiencing issues, grab these new drivers, you won't be disappointed.

http://www.ati.com/online/customerca...ter550pro.html

Should ATI have posting some large ad on their home page to the effect of "Hey, for those of you with issues relating to the 550, grab these files now!".... Of course not. This is a brand-spanking-new product we're talking about. Hell, this is ATI we're talking about. They're one of the most prominent chip makers around today. I was frustrated by the fact that there were issues with the drivers, as well as the software that most of you have come to know as "PowerEnima", but let's face it... Most new offerings have at least "some" issues, and there will be several apps that will support this chipset sometime in near future.

I *must* add that with these new drivers, and making sure MMC is *not* installed, I was able to get this card working PERFECTLY with BeyondTV, including (almost) full support for the remote. Shocking, but true. I captured video from my Hi8 VidCam, and could NOT be happier with the results. I was able to use WindowsXP Movie Maker 2 to successfully capture video that looks great playing on my home DVD player. Although I have not received my final CD from Sapphire, which they noted they'd be sending out today (as you might recall, it was not included in the box), the trial version works as well as can be expected on this card. I no longer experience lock-ups or the occasional "sputtering". As you can see, the issue is clearly software.

What more could I ask for? Well... That's another story... But I've regained quite a bit of confidence in ATI now that I've downloaded and installed the latest drivers. Par for the course, if you ask me. Drivers and applications were made to be fixed... Again, and again.

The hardware itself, you ALL must agree, is rather impressive. Software? That can be updated, as it has been with these latest drivers. That's what driver updates, patches, and service packs are all about. All I can say is THANK YOU PD, HEXUS, and Michael B for getting us this information and doing what they can to sort things out. They are in no way "obligated" to do so, on this forum, yet they are.

PM me if you would like further information on my system specs or a more in-depth explanation on anything I've covered. I'd be more than happy to help.

Thanks again, guys. Were it not for what took place on this forum, I'd still be searching for answers. I remain one happy owner of ATI products.

[SHSPVR]

PD HEXUS ATI email support is temporarily offline and has been for some time now and for me email Sapphire they have reply any one of 3 email I sent some time ago nor are even look at there own forum so us user can only hope Michael can pass problem area that need addressing.

Any way bad news again the MPEG files generated by the Theater 550 Pro are still not compatible clip even with 6.14.10.52 drivers becuase in Womble MPEG-VCR MPEG "GOP fixer" is still showing lot's of error in GOP time code which not good at all.

I'm sorry Michael I talk about MCE so min time before on why it bad and as for PowerCinema 3 I can't install it on Win2000 Pro which is a CyberLink problem where they made this WindowsXP only product which very odd all there other product work with Windows 2000 and Sapphire lie to buyer about Operating System support and if wasn't for BeyondTV working it be good paper weigh all ready so I'm can't give you my thoughts on that PowerCinema product.

[Myrdhinn]

The beef i have though with "several apps supporting in the future.." is, A) it'll cost around $70 US to buy any of those future apps B) ATI has a great free prog that does most of what everyone is complaining about bundled with every other tv card they make except this one C) PowerEnema will be releasing ver 4 this yr which may have some of the stuff we want but it's not a free upgrade to PowerE that is bundled with tv cards D) so I spend even more for software that works and with the cost I couldve bought 2-3 hauppage 150s for the price. Problem is, ATI thinks everyone will run MCE but it'll be a few yrs before MCE even reaches the base of 2k/XP users.

And how did you get beyond tv to work? It says i have no cable installed.. even does this with my winfast deluxe.

I think it's great Micheal takes the time to post and inform us, I'm just frustrated we have to rely on 3rd party vendors that we know will continue to give us dumbed down software versions where we can't control any of the potential this card has.

[SHSPVR]

Myrdhinn what BeyondTV ver did you install? I'm run rigth now 3.5.2 and I had 3.5.0 install before that which also work for me.

[thatdude90210]

I've given up on PowerEnema 3. I'm just hoping ATI will support other 3rd party developers like Frey technology, the makers of the excellent Sage TV.

Anyway, I couldn't get Media Portal to work, can't configure it, keep getting "unable to creat graph for this device" and just can't scan for channels.