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Legal: The author has not and will not provide or otherwise make any copyrighted material available in part or in its entirety publicly or privately in an way shape or form. The author has not and will not violate any EULA. The end user assumes all responsibility technical and legal when attempting any such modifications. The author is not responsible for any damages or liability incurred from following any actions described herein, forthwith or otherwise amended. The author does not and has not urged or otherwise coaxed the end user to follow any of the methods or techniques describe herein. The objective of these writings is solely to provide information and stimulate intellectual conversation as well as the exchange of ideas.
Legal: Please note that the modification outlined herein is most certainly a violation of the ATI MMC EULA in and of itself.
Warning: It is the opinion of the author that the installation of MMC can cause problems on otherwise healthy systems. Furthermore, un-installation of MMC can cause problems on otherwise healthy systems. And finally the use of MMC can cause problems on otherwise healthy systems. Given these intrinsic difficulties, it is reasonable to assume that the modification of MMC’s install process could result in the introduction of additional issues. Such a modified install process of MMC is unsupported buy the author and any known entity. ATI is not necessarily obligated to support such an installation and in all likelihood will not support any system so long as the modified installation resides on said system. Proceed at your own risk!!!
The scientific method: Observation and description of a phenomenon, Formulation of a hypothesis to explain phenomena, Use the hypothesis to predict other phenomena, or to quantify the results of new observations, Performance of experimental tests of said predictions by independent experimenters.
hypothesis: It has been postulated that all versions of MMC 9.03 and above are capable of supporting the T550P. Since MMC 9.03 and MMC 9.04 detect, accept and install on T550P based systems it is presumed that ATI simply disabled T550P detection, acceptance and subsequent proper installation of MMC for said hardware in the install program itself. It is further assumed that overall support for the T550P remains unchanged in the MMC software package itself but simply cannot be installed due to the install program’s inherent hardware detection discrimination. Therefore, manipulating the MMC install program itself to recognize and accept T550P hardware should result in a working MMC/T550P setup.
Technical note: There is no guaranteeing that the latest version of MMC will have superior performance with the T550P. Improvements over MMC 9.03/9.04 are unlikely since development for the T550P with respect to MMC has supposedly ceased.
Prerequisite: The following components will be necessary for successful installation of MMC 9.06/9.08 (or the latest version of MMC) on T550P based systems.
Original MMC 9.03 or 9.04 install CD (Source)
Original MMC 9.06/9.08 (or latest version) install CD (target)
Theater 550 Pro tuner card
MMC Supporting OS
Technical note: The use of downloadable versions of MMC 9.03/9.04 and MMC 9.06/9.08 (or newer) may be possible but are outside of the scope of this article. In order to use such downloadable versions one must first extract all individual files necessary from the self-extracting executable file(s) made from said downloads.
Methodology: The technique is simple and very easy to execute. From your original install CD, copy all files pertaining to MMC 9.06 or 9.08 (or the latest version of MMC) to a folder on your HDD. From your original MMC 9.03 or 9.04 install CD, drag and drop the file named “ATIMMC.msi” (Windows Installer Package) to the MMC 9.06/9.08 folder on your HDD. Allow it to overwrite the original MMC 9.06/9.08 “ATIMMC.msi” file.
Install: At this point simply start the MMC install process as usual by clicking “setup.exe”. Then click “next”. Read the “License agreement” and if you agree to it click “yes”.
Legal: Please note that the modification outlined above is more then likely a violation of said EULA.
Install: Enter or accept the necessary “customer information” and then click “next”. Click “custom” and then select the features you wish to install.
The user should now find that the T550P is indeed detected by the install program. It should be seen as “TV” or if you have additional ATI multimedia hardware it should be either “TV” or “TV2”. In such a multi tuner case you will have to designate the T550P as the primary or secondary tuner after the install or simply accept the default selection.
Finally click “next”.
This Method should work for MMC 9.06 and MMC 9.08 but please note that there hasn’t been a “Proof of concept installation” and as such it is untested !!!
Technical note: Newer or older versions of MMC may have slight variations of the Data1.cab file that generate error massages when or if missing files are encountered. In such a case, editing the CAB file by extracting the contents of the CAB file and adding the missing files should correct it. A new CAB file would then have to be made.
Technical note: Methods for editing and creating a new CAB file are outside the scope of this article.
Advanced techniques: It is conceivable that more advanced techniques can be used to achieve the same means.
Technical note: Such advanced techniques are outside of the scope of this article.
Secondary Method: Alternatively, copy the MMC 9.03/9.04 install files to the HDD and then overwrite its “Data1.cab” file with the MMC 9.06/9.08 “Data1.cab” file.
Technical note: It is unknown which Method is a superior method.
Technical note: If for some reason there are problems with the installation with respect to the T550P the user can likely uninstall MMC as usual without issue. The user can also try installing MMC 9.03/9.04 and then copying the registry in its entirety. Uninstall the MMC 9.03/9.04 installation and then install the MMC 9.06/9.08 MOD. Restoring the registry at this point may correct a T550P glitch but once again,….this is all untested!!! Proceed at your own risk!!! As always, backup any important data!!!
Whether this method works for the majority of end users or not, I am reminded of something once said by “Sir Isaac Newton”:
"If I have seen further,........it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."
Therefore, if these writings didn’t get you where you wanted to go perhaps someone else will pick up where it was left off,…..although for legal reasons no one is urge to do so.
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