ATI TV Wonder not working

[MIGhunter]

I bought a TV wonder with the intent of doing some video capture. I don't really care about the TV functionality so I didn't even hook up my satellite to it.

Now the problem is that I hooked up my video camera in order to transfer a VHS over. When I open the TV and set it to composite connection I get sound but no picture. the screen is all scrambled and moving. If I hit pause on my camera, the screen stops flickering. So, it seems like it is getting a signal but no picture. Kinda like trying to watch a vcr on the wrong channel (before they incorporated the blue screen). There are no channel buttons visable so I can't change them. What could be the problem. I feal like I have wasted my money, since I can't get the darn thing to work. Thanks for the help.

 

[paralazarguer]

Ya, ATI's software support for this card is very spotty at best. Nothing but problems. Anyway, you can get the picture that you're looking for by hitting some key which I forget or by changing desktop colour depth during playback/capture. There are also some beta drivers with a new media centre which help a bit. It's been a long time since I've gotten one of these things working but when I was struggling with it the guys in rage3d forums were able to help me out with it. They have a whole section deditacted to it here.

 

[paralazarguer]

same source:

"Go to http://www.ati.com/ and go to the TV Wonder's driver page. Download the latest package from this page. Go to the 8500's driver page, and get the 'MMC 7.6 no dvd' and 'MMC 7.7 upgrade' package. Uninstall all previous MMC versions, and TV Wonder drivers before going on.

Run the program you downloaded from the TV Wonder driver page. Click 'Next' until you reach the page with the install directory. Make sure that the directory name indicates what version of MMC lies inside the folder, then take note of where the TV Wonder's MMC will be installed (we aren't actually installing MMC now, what this is installing are the installer files for MMC). Click 'Next'. The TV Wonder WDM Driver installer should start up now. Select a directory to install the drivers to, and remember where you put them.

Go to the Device Manager, and open up the Properties of the Multimedia Controller. On the 'Driver' tab, click 'Update Driver', then 'Install from a list or specific location' and click 'Next'. Select 'Include this location in the search', and Browse to the directory where the TV Wonder drivers are. Click 'Next'. When it complains about the drivers not passing the Windows Logo testing, select 'Continue Anyway'. Repeat the instructions in this paragraph, but click on the 'Multimedia Video Controller'.

Now WinXP will find a bunch of new hardware. For each of the windows that pops up asking for drivers, point it to the directory where you put the TV Wonder drivers. Once everything has been installed, reboot. (When I first did this guide, my computer froze during shutdown, I had to use the reset button to get it going. When I updated this, I did a clean install of all ATI stuff (video drivers, tv drivers, & MMC), and WinXP didn't freeze on shutdown.)

Run the MMC 7.6 executable that you downloaded. Click 'Next'. Make sure that the directory name indicates what version of MMC lies inside the folder, then take note of where MMC 7.6 will be installed (again, this isn't MMC being installed, it's just the installer files). Click 'Next'. Wait for the files to be extracted and copied, then in the window labeled 'Welcome to the InstallShield Wizard for ATI Multimedia Center 7.6.0.0', click 'Cancel', then 'yes'.

Now go to the directory where you put the MMC 7.6 files. Then, open up another window of explorer, this time go to the directory with the TV Wonder's MMC (the default location is C:\ATI\support\MMC_7_1_TVWONDER\MMC, if you didn't change the install directory from the default, that's where you need to go. Make sure you're in the MMC directory, not the directory one level above the MMC directory.). In the MMC 7.6 files, rename 'setup.inx' to 'setup.inx.bak'. Copy the file 'setup.inx' from the TV Wonder MMC files to the MMC 7.6 folder. In the MMC 7.6 folder, edit the file 'Install.ini'. Add the line 'DetectHW =0' after the line 'CDBuild= 1' in the Install.ini file. Under the 'File' menu, select 'Save', then exit the file editor. Run MMC 7.6's 'Setup.exe'. Go through the MMC 7.6 install. You may get a 'Cannot read REG file' error message. Don't worry about it. (Note: at this point, install DVD 7.6, assuming you've got access to it)

Now to update to MMC 7.7. Run the MMC 7.7 package you downloaded. It will ask for a directory. Again, this is just where the installer files will be placed; note where they're going. Click 'Next', then after it finishes installing the installer files, it will start the setup, hit 'Cancel'.

Go to one directory level above where the MMC 7.7 installer files were placed, and make a copy of the MMC 7.7 installer files' directory (I recommend adding 'unaltered' to the end of name of the copy). Go into the non-unaltered directory (we haven't altered it yet, gimme a minute), and rename the 'setup.inx' to 'setup.inx.bak'. Then, copy the MMC 7.1 'setup.inx' into the altered MMC directory, and edit the file 'Install.ini'. Add the line 'DetectHW =0' after the line 'CDBuild= 1' in the Install.ini file. Under the 'File' menu, select 'Save', then exit the file editor.

Run the unaltered MMC 7.7's 'Setup.exe'. Go through the MMC 7.7 update. Reboot. Run the altered MMC 7.7's 'Setup.exe'. Select 'Modify', and click 'Next'. Check the box next to 'TV', and click 'Next'. You may get some 'REG file' errors, don't worry. Enjoy MMC 7.7!

Chances are that you'll have the garbled image problem in the TV app. If this is the case try using AMD Man's workaround: http://www.tc.umn.edu/~wilc0076/ATI/atifix5.zip
(Follow the instructions in the readme file to install it.)"

 

[paralazarguer]

The above instructions are for using the AIW meida centre instead of the outdated and broken TV wonder one. Try applying AMD man's workaround referenced at the bottom of the last post before doing this. It may solve your problem.

 

[alm99]

gonna have to not AMDmans workaround, does this fix the garbled screen so I won't have to adjust my color from 32 to 16 and then back again each time it does this?

 

[DX2Player]

Are you on XP OS? I had it installed in Windows ME and worked prefectly, moved it over to Win XP system and got the same problem you did, sometimes i could get it to work with patience opening and closing it about 100 times. I then but it back into my old system and worked prefectly again. Its an old card so I think it has some sofware comatability issues with Win XP, but what do you want for $29.

 

[paralazarguer]

gonna have to not AMDmans workaround, does this fix the garbled screen so I won't have to adjust my color from 32 to 16 and then back again each time it does this?

yes, this is exactly what it's meant to address. Installing the media centre intended for the all in wonder will do this aswell but it requires a lot of hacking.

Are you on XP OS? I had it installed in Windows ME and worked prefectly, moved it over to Win XP system and got the same problem you did, sometimes i could get it to work with patience opening and closing it about 100 times. I then but it back into my old system and worked prefectly again. Its an old card so I think it has some sofware comatability issues with Win XP, but what do you want for $29.

Yes, they've been unable in over 1.5 years to produce reliable drivers for XP. As for the price, it sells for more than that retail and it's comparitavily priced with other cards. In fact, it uses the same phillips tuner and similar hardware. The only difference is that the other cards work in XP. ATI just didn't want to spend the money on writing working drivers for this product.

 

[DX2Player]

Um no I bought mine at best buy for $29 other TV tuner cards start at about 60

 

[bocamojo]

I didn't have a lot of success with my AIW 8500DV and my 8mm Handycam either, so I decided to use my good ole' trusty Pinnacle DC10 Plus video capture card. I bought the Pinnacle Studio 7 software only, since I already had the DC10+, but you could buy the whole AV package for less than 100. It works great for video capture / editing my 8mm stuff. The 8500DV is great for capturing TV, just not so great with my camcorder.

 

[paralazarguer]

Um no I bought mine at best buy for $29 other TV tuner cards start at about 60

Maybe the other cards at best buy are the more expensive but you can get comparatively priced TV tuners that actually work out of the box with windows XP. Win TV Go for example.

 

[Iron Woode]

Originally posted by: paralazarguer

Um no I bought mine at best buy for $29 other TV tuner cards start at about 60

Maybe the other cards at best buy are the more expensive but you can get comparatively priced TV tuners that actually work out of the box with windows XP. Win TV Go for example.

I bought the MSI TV@nywhere. It is virtually fool proof. It works perfectly with WinXP. No crashes, no weirdness and a fine picture. The only fault I could find is that it doesn't have software support for full stereo sound, just mono. Not a big deal for me because I have the sound piped through my receiver, so it sounds great.

Anything seems to be better than ATI's TV tuner cards.

 

[MIGhunter]

I bought mine off newegg and it cost me $73 after shipping. I really thought that it was the TV wonder VE but oh well. I guess if I can't get it working, I will send it back and get something else.

 

[alm99]

Originally posted by: DX2Player
Um no I bought mine at best buy for $29 other TV tuner cards start at about 60

You must have bought ATI TV wonder VE

 

[MIGhunter]

Ok, I tried the AMDmans work around and it lets me watch the video from another device. But as soon as I hit record it goes scrambled again. Also, he mentions "Change the target of the TV shortcut to the path of ATIFix.exe. There are no parameters." How do you do that. Will the 1st part of the post (all the download this and that, load it here and there) fix my problem. Or am I doomed and should look for another card.