New ATI Tuner Card.

[Octavean]

OK,… so you two chaps (and likely others as well) don’t have or haven’t noticed the low volume issue. I’m glad to hear it. In fact. I couldn’t be happier to be wrong that it isn’t a universal T550P problem,….if true,…

However, the low volume issue has been reported by a number of people in this thread (as well as other threads on the net),….

It was always low for me even through three different driver version as well as two different applications (MCE 2K5 and CPC). It has been made even more conspicuous now that I am running a dual tuner setup. Switching between the two tuners can be hazardous to ones ears!!!!

Oh, for what it is worth, I think I know how to force the appearance of the EPG buttons in CPC. Unfortunately, you will likely still need some sort of provider for this feature to work.

One odd thing, once the EPG feature has been forced to show itself,….the setup defaulted to some West Indies island (I forget which) and when scanning channels it was black and white only. I was under the impression that CPC was running locked in PAL mode even if you chose a native NTSC region. This is something of a departure from the standard USA CPC setup, which defaults to the USA and scans channels in color.

***edit***
In MCE 2K5 the T550P yields comfortable listening at about a volume level of “20” (quasi max setting) whereas both SD and HD on the installed HDTV Wonder are reasonably comfortable at about a volume level of “9”.

[hrlslcbr]

The volume in my captures isn't low either.
I'm very happy with my theatrix card, and with the previous drivers I did get the 3D comb filter to work with the composite connection, but haven't tried with the new drivers.
Now the only thing I want is Dolby Digital encoding...

[thatdude90210]

Anyone who don't find it low, have multiple tuners on the same system? Especially if you have a Hauppauge Pvr card in there and can compared back to back.

I have a Theatrix 550 and a pvr250 in the same system, running Sage TV. The sound from the Theatrix is much lower than the pvr. It's pretty annoying, I have to turn up the sound everytime the Theatrix is being used.

[AIW_VID_FAN]

I have yet another problem with my elite 550 I figured I should post.
I have given up on ATI and the long ugly history with this card.
I figured things would get better with time and many driver patches as usual.
So I have been using my HD-Wonder/MMC and yes Powercrap at times.
This latest problem has happened to me once before, I had to re-install the OS to get past it.
Powercinema displays only a black video window , no audio, yet the preview
function that displays channel surf screenshots does work fine.
I have updated all drivers to the latest, no help.
looks like a fresh install of the os and new drivers is enevidable.

[Octavean]

thatdude90210, you just said what I was thinking. Those who do have dual (or more) tuners are in a unique position to do a back to back comparison whereas a single tuner setup is much harder to contrast.

I’m not saying those who claim not to have a problem really do. I’m sure you all know your respective systems well enough to say one way or the other. I’m just saying its like night and day on my system.

The volume on my T550P is indeed more then audible but it is always lower when compared to other sources.

Another example:

If I were to transfer a T550P recorded DVR-MS file from MCE PC #2 to MCE PC #1, I would have to up the volume on the TV in order to here it comfortably. After watching the file and switching to “Live TV” the audio would be blaring loud.

[Octavean]

AIW_VID_FAN, can you see video if you reduce CPC to window mode?

Well, all be told, I haven’t really got a clue as to the cause of your problem. However, an OS reinstall is a bit drastic so perhaps there are a few things you can try:

CPC isn’t a multi tuner application. I have heard of people having problems with CPC when installing it on a multi tuner system but only during the installation. You can try temporarily disabling the HDTV Wonder in device manager or uninstalling its drivers. Then scan for channels on the T550P using CPC and see if that fixes it. If not you might want to try uninstalling CPC and reinstalling it while the HDTV Wonder is still disabled.

You can also try,….and I hate to say this,….installing MMC 9.03 which is T550P aware. There will be bugs but you might be able to get both the HDTV Wonder and the T550P working that way,… yeah,…I know,…I know,….that’s an ugly solution and even if it works it will not work nicely,…

I’ll see if I can come up with something else,….

[duren]

https://support.ati.com/ics/support/...estionID=10135

OK I've tried 9.03 before and the installer quit on me, so this is a revised 9.03 that ATI has sneaked into their driver collection.

Also, of course they are going to make it work with 9.03, it's super buggy and 9.03 is the version that has a no-capture-options-available issue. (and they suggest going back or forward a version). 'nuff said.

This is a feeble attempt to appease 550 owners, although it is one step closer...

[3Cs]

I only use one tuner card at a time. As I said, with the 550 card, I do not have to turn up the volume on my tv, as I did with my previous cards.

One thing, when I first got the 550 card, I replaced the Leadtek card without doing a clean install. My country is using PAL-B, but the card was continually resetting to NTSC-M - irrespective of the settings in what ever program I used. Also, often other settings were reset - the noise reduction, comb filter, and volume settings were set to zero. In the end, I did a clean install of WinXP and now everything works fine.

[satnav4]

Anyone who don't find it low, have multiple tuners on the same system? Especially if you have a Hauppauge Pvr card in there and can compared back to back.

I have a Theatrix 550 and a pvr250 in the same system, running Sage TV. The sound from the Theatrix is much lower than the pvr. It's pretty annoying, I have to turn up the sound everytime the Theatrix is being used.

Ditto here. I have 2 150's and a 550, and the 550 is noticeably lower. Perhaps there is fault on both sides. There are many complaints that the 150 is too high. I see a new 150 driver has been released, which allegedly addresses the volume issue. I have not confirmed this yet. I have noticed that playback of 550 encodes on my TV set through a Hauppauge MVP are lower that the regular TV broadcasts. There is no doubt that volume could use some increase, but not by a dramatic amount. If I didn't have a 150 and 550 in the same system, I wouldn't have noticed it as much.

S.

[backlund]

I also agree. I have a pvr150 and a 550pro and the 150 is about twice as loud as the 550. It's annoying, because every time the 150 kicks in, I get blasted with volume. Good to see this thread coming alive again!

[dutchfudge]

I had notice before that with virtual vcr, under device tab, video filter properties, there is a volume setting(0-255). The default is 128, but I haven't tested at all.

[Myrdhinn]

Dunno.. maybe because it's going through the pci bus instead of a dedicated out... many cards amp the sound on dedicated outs. Personally, I prefer no stupid cable from tuner card to sound card. I can use that extra in for something else. And, try find one of those cables if you lose it.

[AIW_VID_FAN]

Octavean:
Thanks for the suggestions.
I should give more setup details.
Running an AIW x600 . Elite 550 and the ATI DTV wonder, and an audigy2,
Xp pro sp2 in a MSI K8N Neo 4.
The channel scan (and screenshot preview) also displays video OK.
You may be right that the problem is multiple tuner related,
A hdtv ATSC and 3 ntsc tuners and 2 fm tuners is pushing it.
Especially from ATI.
I will again try to remove all ati software and clean the registry...
re-sizing and running in a window did not help either.
i have also tried mmc 9.03 many times ,have had limited success witht the 550,
Yes 903 is 550 aware,Installs as tv2. It worked perfectly except the longest it wound run was about 5 or so random minutes until it freezes the video...but i can replay timeshifted video , until mmc is restarted. (It always runs in time shift mode, like the dtv wonder).
will have to do a fresh install with new drivers in my "spare time".
I should be getting paid to test this stuff.

[jonaslasky]

Dunno.. maybe because it's going through the pci bus instead of a dedicated out... many cards amp the sound on dedicated outs. Personally, I prefer no stupid cable from tuner card to sound card. I can use that extra in for something else. And, try find one of those cables if you lose it.

You could have something here..... In any case it's better than just bitching endlessly about it. I think most people agree the sound from the 550 is a little too soft. I think what will happen is ATI will get out of the tuner card business and just sell chips to set top box manufacturers. ATI is using us all as guinea pigs. They don't really want to handle the headache of customer service.

Jonas

[Octavean]

Myrdhinn the HDTV Wonder doesn’t use an external dedicated out either but it’s audio is well within expectable levels.

AIW_VID_FAN, with an AIW X600, T550P and ATI DTV wonder (HDTV Wonder?) how exactly are you sure which tuner you are using at any given time (other then HD) and which tuner is indeed at fault?

In MCE 2K5 it’s not too hard to tell which is being used:

With the audio differential I can tell which tuner I am using with my eyes closed (harp on lol ), however,..

After enabling the SD tuner on the HDTV Wonder in MCE it was oddly enough automatically set as the default tuner over the preexisting T550P. This is problematic because the HDTV Wonder cannot use both its SD and HD capabilities at the same time. Therefore, if left as is, simultaneous SD and HD recording wouldn’t be possible because the HDTV Wonder would only be able to display the HD content and would display a blank screen for the SD.

Using these guidelines written by ArcCoyote will allow one to edit the registry manually to set another tuner as the default tuner under MCE.

This forces the T550P to be used first for recording and viewing before going to the enabled SD on the HDTV Wonder thus allowing both dual SD recording as well as simultaneous SD + HD recording under MCE. It works as long as dual SD recording isn’t attempted while HD is being used.

This isn’t likely your problem since you are not running MCE but it does serve to illustrate a point. There are limitations to the hardware. If an application is using the hardware in some way it may cause problems when you fire up another application.

There is also the question of what software is using what hardware.

BTW, gaspika has had a great deal of trouble trying to setup an AIW and T550P. If you have had it running right even for a little while you have gotten further then a number of people that come to mind.

If there is a software title that can use two or possibly all three of your installed tuners I would suggest using it as a test. Beyond TV comes to mind but I am unsure if the latest release will function with an AIW card. In fact, I’m not sure if Beyond TV will work with the HDTV Wonder either but it still might be worth a look since the demo is free. Also any free multi tuner app or demo that will recognize your what you have may be worth a shot.


Oh yeah, before I forget, did I mention that there is a way to force DVD functionality in CPC? It’s beyond me why the Sapphire version of CPC ships without the ability to play DVDs or for that matter view pictures and play music (you can download the latter two functions) and I believe the same is true of the ATI version.

One thing that is odd to me is that DELL customers seem to be reasonably happy with the “DELL Media Experience” which is in fact the same application AKA CPC without the TV component. I guess the TV component and EPG are CPC Achilles Heal,……or maybe the whole program is rubbish .

[satnav4]

BTW, gaspika has had a great deal of trouble trying to setup an AIW and T550P. If you have had it running right even for a little while you have gotten further then a number of people that come to mind.

If there is a software title that can use two or possibly all three of your installed tuners I would suggest using it as a test. Beyond TV comes to mind but I am unsure if the latest release will function with an AIW card. In fact, I’m not sure if Beyond TV will work with the HDTV Wonder either but it still might be worth a look since the demo is free. Also any free multi tuner app or demo that will recognize your what you have may be worth a shot.

Well I had an AIW 9800 working with a 550 before loading MMC 9.08, now it is all screwed up. I had good luck before with MMC 9.03. I used Beyond TV with the 550 and MMC with the AIW. Now the AIW freezes mid recording when BTV is recording.

An AIW can run in Beyond TV, but you have to roll back drivers. There is a support article on the point which I do not have handy.

S.