New ATI Tuner Card.

[Myrdhinn]

The tuner image is very similar on both products--the 550 might be a tad clearer, but not by much if at all. I have a good cable signal. Some have said the AIW analogue tuner is more forgiving than the 550 digital tuner with weak signals. You might try a signal booster if this is the case. And by all means, let ATI and Microsoft know of the PAL/SECAM issue.

S.

I found the opposite... having owned hauppage and leadtek analogue tuners, neither hold a candle compared to my 550 for pulling in channels. Outside of that, people are expecting to much... they see 12bit tuner and think "whoa" this will be killer but the reality is, 10bit tuners display more colour than the human eye can perceive.... all 12bit means is that shades/gradients/blends will be more smooth and natural to the eye. It doesn't do anything for making a sharper picture per se. Sharpness depends on the algorithms used by the card maker and until ATI gets off its ass and enables the control in drivers all we can do is wait. I could be wrong but I'm just going by 10/12 bits as used by colour theory and design prog such as photoshop etc.

[adktk]

Hi all,

I have an audio-video unsynchronisation issue when I was using 550pro to watch TV by GBPVR. would anyone have any kindly advice to solve this problem.

much thanks,

Tim : )

[satnav4]

Hi all,

I have an audio-video unsynchronisation issue when I was using 550pro to watch TV by GBPVR. would anyone have any kindly advice to solve this problem.

much thanks,

Tim : )

Check out this thread and see if it addresses your problem: Audio Sync Issue

I just checked newegg.com and found the Sapphire Theatrix for $74 with free shipping, and the Hauppauge 150 retail for $99 with $5 shipping. This appears to be a good time to pick up a 550 card.

S.

[gaspika]

Media Center of WinXp MCE doesn't operate!

I haven't managed to set up for a week the two card working together under WinXp MCE. During the setting process everything OK (expect that the tv standard here in Hungary is PAL and I have to choose Garmany bacause the clever Misrosoft guys don't know it) so it can identify the two source and tune them (find the channels).

But when I try to watch live tv I get this message:

" Loss of signal
Media Center has stopped capturing data due to low data rate in the TV signal. This may be a temporory situation. If this persist, make sure the cable for TV signal is connected properly, restart the computer, and try tuning the channel."
(I have done it many times!!!)

now separately I have picture and sound in PowerCinema for the 550pro and in MMC for the AIW. Moreover I have a signal booster (I tried on max. level also)

So what the hell should I do? Can someone answer this?

Oh, as I can see the CAT 5.5 & MMC 9.08 is given out! Prabobly it will help?

gaspika

[satnav4]

Well m8, the guy(s) that talked you into MCE is/are going to have to help you with this one. Perhaps you should PM him/them. I have not encountered the problem because I do not own MCE (and don't plan to own it). Given that MMC and Enema work, it sounds like an MCE issue, and not a signal or card issue. Perhaps it has something to do with trying to trick MCE with a different country designation. Have you tried other PAL countries?

S.

[blakev]

Media Center has stopped capturing data due to low data rate in the TV signal.

Gosh. Terrible. In this situation I'd take the box to a friend's house. Make sure the friend has a good strong signal. Use the friend's cables to connect to the TV card. Tune in the channels, and see if MCE again reports a weak signal.
If it does, I would try to return the card. It is usually more trouble than it is worth to troubleshoot these sorts of things. Especially since you've already got an AIW-based setup.

[gaspika]

Thanks blakev. I will do it. The interesting is that under win xp pro (I have a dual boot system) with other applications like MMC for the AIW and GBPVR for Theatrix 550 pro everything goes well.
Does the signal loss message mean that the voltage of the cable is low or something else ralating to my harware?

[Octavean]

gaspika, you are not running the cable through the some other means are you? It is connected to the coax connector right?

I have read the entire thread,….(no small task let me tell you),….before posting,….

I have seen no real mention that Guide Plus works with T550P cards. I know not everyone can use Guide Plus outside the USA but I was able to get it to work on an earlier configuration along with MMC 9.03.

Its not much I know,…

My guess is that I got it functional (video and audio in Guide Plus) by installing all that one would install to get an AIW card working in MCE 2K5.

This includes the Kram MCE4.10 ATI MCEE pack and the DAO-MDAC pack on a fresh install of MCE 2K5.

I know it isn’t necessary to install this in MCE but I figured I would give it a go to see if other versions of MMC (other then 9.03) would work. As you may have guessed MMC 9.06 didn’t work but Guide Plus oddly enough did.

It would be nice if we could somehow force identification of the T550P as something else,…in order to trick MMC in some way,…but there would likely still be bugs even if it worked at all,…

[gaspika]

Thanks for the replies!

@satnav4
During the setting up TV process I tried different PAL countries dut it didn't help. I will try a fress install of MCE2005 without any country cpecific settings. But it takes time, probably I will do it at the weekand.

@Octavean
Prbably you misundertand me. Media Center is the main application of Win XP MCE 2005 and I have problem with this application. Other applications like MMC (Multimedia Center 9.06 for the AIW cards) and PowerCinema/enema (for the Theatrix 550pro)
are working well. I can tune the TV under tese two program. The "Loss of signal" problem apply to Media Center applicaton.

First when I only had the AIW the Media Center could tune it.
Also interesting that durig setting it up Media Center find the two tuner and the channels but when I try to watch live TV get this message.

BTW could someone tell me what mili voltage should I get on the incoming coax.?

gaspikoma

[Octavean]

Actually, I understood you quite well gaspika.

Both “MMC” and “Powerless-minima”,… * cough * I mean,…”PowerCinema” allow for alternate video sources. That is to say that you don’t necessarily have to go through the tuner but rather s-video or composite with a cable/satellite set top box (STB) or the like. I was just trying to get an idea of how you physically setup the connections.

As far as I know, MCE doesn’t allow s-video and composite inputs,….just the tuner(s). I might be wrong on that point though.

For troubleshooting purposes I would suggest that you attempt a single card installation in MCE from a fresh install of MCE. Then add the T550P. I would also be sure that you have a very clear image with one card. Adding splitters can add a great deal of attenuation to the line so proper setup is important.

BTW, I’m Agustus from rage3d.com.

Optimistically, if you do get this problem solved,…

Remember what we were talking about with respect to the “DVR-MS” proprietary files. Well the Sapphire Theatrix Theater 550 Pro should come with a CD that has “Cyberlink MakeDVD”. This program will automatically convert (non-DRM) “DVR-MS” files and burn them to DVD for you. It is a little buggy and a little ugly but hey,…Cyberlink made it after all so what can you expect!?!

Anyway, you already have at least one program that will do the conversion for you,…

[gaspika]

Helo Agustus!

My connections are plain coax. from the wall socket to the tuner nothing else.

Yes, the PowerCinema at least does the job.

[satnav4]

Helo Agustus!

My connections are plain coax. from the wall socket to the tuner nothing else.

Yes, the PowerCinema at least does the job.

Did you ever get GBPVR up and running?

S.

[gaspika]

Did you ever get GBPVR up and running?

S.

Yes, thank you very much for the suggestion. It is a superb proram. It was hard to setup. At present it doesn't operate, but it's an other question. (I have a "no live tv picture" question on the GBPVR support forum. But it is under XP pro.
I just would like to set up my XP MCE also.
I'm an AIW fan for five years. The 550pro card is very good because I have to do a lot of research. I hope finally I can solve every problem.

gaspika

[spacded]

As far as I know, MCE doesn’t allow s-video and composite inputs,….just the tuner(s). I might be wrong on that point though.



…

MCE works perfectly with Svideo and Composite into a 550 PRO card

[satnav4]

Yes, thank you very much for the suggestion. It is a superb proram. It was hard to setup. At present it doesn't operate, but it's an other question. (I have a "no live tv picture" question on the GBPVR support forum. But it is under XP pro.
I just would like to set up my XP MCE also.
I'm an AIW fan for five years. The 550pro card is very good because I have to do a lot of research. I hope finally I can solve every problem.

gaspika

I understand you want MCE to work--I would too if I forked out all that cash. However, if we can get the card working with GBPVR, you will be substantially closer to having a working PVR, which is my focus. Then you can fix MCE at your leisure and probably decide you like GBPVR more. Did you get the xml set up to grab the channels? Fortunately, I have never had to do that because of Zap2It in the US. This weekend I will check the GBPVR forum for your problem.

S.

[Myrdhinn]

gaspika, maybe this will help to set up gbpvr until you can get MCE sorted out .... its the xml tv list wich does list hungary.... http://membled.com/work/apps/xmltv/ ... you'll have to wade thru it all to figure what you need.