LEADTEK WINFAST "DELUXE" TV2000XP TV/FM MULTIMEDIA CARD - RETAIL BOX (UPDATE: NOW $42.00 shipped!) @ Newegg!

[krackato]

bump for the afternoon crowd.

 

[corinthos]

Might want to google for some reviews... I believe I saw one with snapshots in the review...

 

[omar888]

I've had this card for 6-8 months, and while the software and drivers have improved over time, I still give them only a C+ for software. The image quality is better using dscaler than the provided app. I'll post a screenie comparison when I get home from work if no one's done that yet.

The newest software package and driver set ( yes, I know the drivers have been the same for some time now) causes the 'puter to hang when shutting down. I run win2k sp3 and noticed that others in this thread had the same problem. There was few posts about isolating the problem.....did anyone ever fix the problem? I tried switching pci slots, and it worked for the first re-boot only.

I have the old drivers and the old app that I could install, but frankly, I'm not willing to go back with either. I disabled the scheduling agent from loading at startup, but the computer still hangs durning shutdown. Any thoughts?

 

[huesmann]

How about upgrading to XP?

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: omar888
I've had this card for 6-8 months, and while the software and drivers have improved over time, I still give them only a C+ for software. The image quality is better using dscaler than the provided app. I'll post a screenie comparison when I get home from work if no one's done that yet.

The newest software package and driver set ( yes, I know the drivers have been the same for some time now) causes the 'puter to hang when shutting down. I run win2k sp3 and noticed that others in this thread had the same problem. There was few posts about isolating the problem.....did anyone ever fix the problem? I tried switching pci slots, and it worked for the first re-boot only.

I have the old drivers and the old app that I could install, but frankly, I'm not willing to go back with either. I disabled the scheduling agent from loading at startup, but the computer still hangs durning shutdown. Any thoughts?

I have not been able to resolve the hang at shutdown issue. I have two boxes, both running Win2k SP3 and both running the same Winfast drivers and app, each with the TV2000 XP Deluxe card (the latest of both) and one hangs and the other doesn't (Epox 8K7A hangs, MSI KT3 Ultra2 doesn't). Tried different slots, and I got the same as you - one free reboot and then hang, hang, hang. I guess I could try switching the cards.

I'm real curious how you use dscaler. Do you uninstall the drivers? Or do you just uninstall the app? Or do you just ignore the app and run dscaler instead? Any hints? Thanks.

 

[omar888]

"upgrade to winxp"? come on now....I wouldn't consider that an upgrade.

dscaler produces the best image. No doubt. However, it's not meant for timeshifting or for use as a pvr.
In order to get it to work with this card, you select your input source ( cable tv in my case) and select your tuner type (phillips), and scan for channels. That was about it. I have dscaler installed in the same directory as the leadtek pvr. No need to uninstall anything. If I'm just watching tv, I always use dscaler. If you can't get it to work then I'll answer any questions about it when I'm not at work (wish I had a tv card in this pc...heh, heh, heh) One confusing thing about dscaler is the seemingly millions of filters and de-interlacing options. The adaptive options work best for me, as different channels look better with different settings. I just let dscaler figure it out.

That's bad news that you can't get your pc to shut down yet either. Interesting note: I'm running an abit-KG7 mobo in my home rig. It's the same chipset (AMD 761) as your epox board. Hmmmmmmm.

 

[omar888]

link to a screenshot using the included pvr software.
http://www.geocities.com/rhino_888/tv.bmp

56K WARNING this is a giant bitmap >900K

Also, geocities has issues. You may need to cut and paste the URL into a different browser window, rather than click the link. Sorry. Nuttin' I can do about it.

 

[KeyserSoze]

Arggggghhhhhhhh.......I caved, and bought it. Seems like a good deal with all these posts



So far, I heard I need to get:

1) DigiGuide
2) ShowShifter
3) TmpgENC
4) VirtualDub


Anything else????




KeyserSoze

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: omar888
"upgrade to winxp"? come on now....I wouldn't consider that an upgrade.

dscaler produces the best image. No doubt. However, it's not meant for timeshifting or for use as a pvr.
In order to get it to work with this card, you select your input source ( cable tv in my case) and select your tuner type (phillips), and scan for channels. That was about it. I have dscaler installed in the same directory as the leadtek pvr. No need to uninstall anything. If I'm just watching tv, I always use dscaler. If you can't get it to work then I'll answer any questions about it when I'm not at work (wish I had a tv card in this pc...heh, heh, heh) One confusing thing about dscaler is the seemingly millions of filters and de-interlacing options. The adaptive options work best for me, as different channels look better with different settings. I just let dscaler figure it out.

That's bad news that you can't get your pc to shut down yet either. Interesting note: I'm running an abit-KG7 mobo in my home rig. It's the same chipset (AMD 761) as your epox board. Hmmmmmmm.

I downloaded dscaler some time ago but never installed it because I was clueless what it really was, could do, etc. I just unzipped it and see what looks like a very decent help file (.CHM file). So, you use it to watch live TV and don't use it for recording or watching recordings? That's cool and definitely worth it if the picture is better. Does it do a good job with synching the audio and video? The Winfast app doesn't really get it right, even with live TV. It often really screws up the synch with recordings. So, there's no need to uninstall the Winfast drivers? If this is true, I can record with the Winfast PVR and use Dscaler for live TV. Interesting theory about the AMD761 northbridge chip. I know another guy who's having this problem and I'm going to PM him and ask if he also has this chip. I'm then going to try to get dscaler to work.

 

[Brodequin]

I can't get the TitanTV site to work with this card. Whenever I click record on the titantv website, I get a popup message saying "Sorry, the data is invalid." Any suggestions? I noticed some were having problems with this too (around page 8 or 9 of this thread ) .

 

[Muse]

I installed Dscaler but so far it's not working. I chose PHILIPS NTSC for the Tuner, but after closing the configuration screen, the dscaler screen is just a uniform blue. When I go to the Settings menu/Video Input, Tuner is greyed out.

Edit: I think I've got it working. Here I go...! I had to go the the Channel menu item and then Channel Setup. That's were I configured for USA Air Frequency. The channel scan was impressive. It automatically only saved channels that come in decently.

Edit2: So far I'm only getting stereo with the Winfast PVR, not Dscaler.

 

[psloan]

You need to install a newer verions of the winfast software. Recently titan tv changed the data format. You should be able to downloade the latest from the leadtek site.

--pat

Originally posted by: Brodequin
I can't get the TitanTV site to work with this card. Whenever I click record on the titantv website, I get a popup message saying "Sorry, the data is invalid." Any suggestions? I noticed some were having problems with this too (around page 8 or 9 of this thread ) .

 

[mrbojangle]

For you guys with DScaler, I modified someone's Girder 3.2 script to be used with the program. Girder is a great freeware remote program found at www.girder.nl and you guys can download the plugin Here temporarily. If someone else could host this, it would be great as I don't want my site to get shut down by Adelphia.

 

[Whitneymuse]

mrboj...
is the file size 9.39K?

 

[ChoppedBroccoli]

Originally posted by: Whitneymuse
mrboj...
is the file size 9.39K?

yeah that sounds about right for a girder .gml file.

 

[Brodequin]

I using the latest software (ALL_TVAP_30130.zip), which I found using the upgrade link from the titantv website, and its doesn't want to work for me. That's why I'm so puzzled. I sent a message to thier support area yesterday as well, so maybe they can find a solution.

Originally posted by: psloan
You need to install a newer verions of the winfast software. Recently titan tv changed the data format. You should be able to downloade the latest from the leadtek site.

--pat

Originally posted by: Brodequin
I can't get the TitanTV site to work with this card. Whenever I click record on the titantv website, I get a popup message saying "Sorry, the data is invalid." Any suggestions? I noticed some were having problems with this too (around page 8 or 9 of this thread ) .

 

[omar888]

muse, glad to see you've got dscaler working. I'll check into the stereo. Still haven't solved the shutdown mystery. Thought I could live with the problem by setting the power button on the pc to force hibernation. 'Puter won't even hibernate. Sheesh. Googled all over the place looking for answers, but no luck. Posted a question in the tech support forum here at AT. So far, no response.


mrbojangle, Thanks-a-million! Can use the girder proggy w/ the Leadtek remote? If so, thanks again for the plugin.

Was anyone able to view the screenshot I posted? I think the picture w/ this card looks great....just don't like the software.

 

[mrbojangle]

Originally posted by: omar888

mrbojangle, Thanks-a-million! Can use the girder proggy w/ the Leadtek remote? If so, thanks again for the plugin.

I trained it with my Leadtek remote, so it should work with everyone else's too. You need to make sure the SENDMESSAGE plugin is activated in settings along with the
winfast plugin for girder. I actually converted the exisiting plugin from girder's website for dScaler to work with the current version of girder and added in a bunch of features like Mute, Volume up and Down, Channel Numbers, etc... I also changed the remote around so that when you press the Sleep button on the remote, your monitor turns off thru the OS and when you press the red button in the colored button section , the screen turns back on. I'm sure there are a million other things you could do too...

 

[ChoppedBroccoli]

Originally posted by: mrbojangle

Originally posted by: omar888

mrbojangle, Thanks-a-million! Can use the girder proggy w/ the Leadtek remote? If so, thanks again for the plugin.

I trained it with my Leadtek remote, so it should work with everyone else's too. You need to make sure the SENDMESSAGE plugin is activated in settings along with the
winfast plugin for girder. I actually converted the exisiting plugin from girder's website for dScaler to work with the current version of girder and added in a bunch of features like Mute, Volume up and Down, Channel Numbers, etc... I also changed the remote around so that when you press the Sleep button on the remote, your monitor turns off thru the OS and when you press the red button in the colored button section , the screen turns back on. I'm sure there are a million other things you could do too...

Hey I used that Girder .gml file that was posted for Dscaler, but the channel numbers don't work. When I press 1, it doesn't change the channel to 1, but instead changes the channel to the 1st channel on my channel list (7). Likewise when I press 21 it will change the channel to the 21st channel on my list, not the actual channel 21? anyone know why?

 

[abc]

is this card still better than:
PCTV Rave TV Tuner

CompUSA Price: $29.99

 

[abc]

morning bump

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: omar888
"upgrade to winxp"? come on now....I wouldn't consider that an upgrade.

dscaler produces the best image. No doubt. However, it's not meant for timeshifting or for use as a pvr.
In order to get it to work with this card, you select your input source ( cable tv in my case) and select your tuner type (phillips), and scan for channels. That was about it. I have dscaler installed in the same directory as the leadtek pvr. No need to uninstall anything. If I'm just watching tv, I always use dscaler. If you can't get it to work then I'll answer any questions about it when I'm not at work (wish I had a tv card in this pc...heh, heh, heh) One confusing thing about dscaler is the seemingly millions of filters and de-interlacing options. The adaptive options work best for me, as different channels look better with different settings. I just let dscaler figure it out.

That's bad news that you can't get your pc to shut down yet either. Interesting note: I'm running an abit-KG7 mobo in my home rig. It's the same chipset (AMD 761) as your epox board. Hmmmmmmm.

Limsandy (Anandtech username) has this persistent shutdown problem with an Epox 8KHA+ with the VIA Apollo KT266A Chipset. No AMD761 chip there.

 

[omar888]

Muse, thanks for the update. I think the problem has something to do w/ SP3.
All of us w/ the shutdown problem....do we all have win2k and SP3?

I'm losing all my hair trying to figure this out. Looked around at tv-cards.com and didn't find much, except some links to alternate drivers. I couldn't make 'em work right with the pvr app. Speaking of which, the person who asked for a card comparison between the leadtek and another card might want to check out tv-cards.com for a comparison.

I did make some progress w/ the software, tho. I used third party software to keep the scheduler from loading at startup. If there's an option to disable it from the leadtek app, I missed it.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: omar888
Muse, thanks for the update. I think the problem has something to do w/ SP3.
All of us w/ the shutdown problem....do we all have win2k and SP3?

I'm losing all my hair trying to figure this out. Looked around at tv-cards.com and didn't find much, except some links to alternate drivers. I couldn't make 'em work right with the pvr app. Speaking of which, the person who asked for a card comparison between the leadtek and another card might want to check out tv-cards.com for a comparison.

I did make some progress w/ the software, tho. I used third party software to keep the scheduler from loading at startup. If there's an option to disable it from the leadtek app, I missed it.

Why do you want to disable the scheduling? Scheduling is something that's working for me. I have been using TitanTV. I think it might be necessary to change the scheduled programs to stereo from mono if you want stereo. For some reason when I schedule with TitanTV the default is (well, it says) "Mono." What it says and what it is I've often found to be different when it comes to mono versus stereo with this card. The other guy I know with the shutdown problem is running Windows 2000 also, don't know what SP.

 

[SilverThief]

I received mine this past weekend, and love it!
Super clear picture, and especially dig the remote.