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Video card for ATI HDTV Wonder

M

mpchen

Member
Hi there:
Just purchased the ATI HDTV WOnder card and would like to know if onboard video is sufficient to handle the loading. I intend to install the HDTV WOnder in my secondary desktop which is running a Celeron D 3 GHz with onboard S3 video ( 64 MB buffer ) and 1 GB of DDR. I am not a gamer so am trying to limit the amount I have to spend on the video/graphics card. Any suggestion will be appreciated! Thanks in advance.

Mike
 
I don't think the integrated will cut it. Do you have a set budget of how much you can spend? I'd be looking at the X1300s and X1600s. Given my experience with the HDTV Wonder, I would also steer clear of any Nvidia GPUs.
 
Thanks for your reply. Yes I have heard about the driver problem regarding Nvidia GPU in connection to ATI HDTV WOnder. I guess I am willing to spend up to $100+- 20 but not much more. I looked at X1600Pro but they are expensive and I am not sure if I actually need all that 3D power? Could you suggest something that is great for rendering TV/HDTV 2D type streams and great with MPEG encode/decode/de-interlacing etc.? WHat about the Celeron CPU? Do you think that's OK? Thanks
 
I have ATI HDTV wonder currently running on my PC with a 7900GT graphics card (Nvidia).

I use this free utility for using the HDTV card.
http://watchhdtv.net/default.aspx

Other than the driver and the decoder, I do not install anything else from ATI. I have no problem using my Nvidia card with it.
 
I have the same tuner (HDTV Wonder) that has been running fine with my xfx-7800gt for 2 yearr so far.

Navid- What does the utility do?
 
Originally posted by: videopho
Navid- What does the utility do?
Click to expand...

It does everything I need to do with the card.
Setting up the channels; selecting which channel to watch; setting up a schedule for recording; and playing/showing what you want to watch; setting up the screen resolution.

The control media or whatever its name is that comes with the HDTV from ATI is horrible and I hate it.

What software do you use for your card then?
 
Originally posted by: Navid
Originally posted by: videopho
Navid- What does the utility do?
Click to expand...

It does everything I need to do with the card.
Setting up the channels; selecting which channel to watch; setting up a schedule for recording; and playing/showing what you want to watch; setting up the screen resolution.

The control media or whatever its name is that comes with the HDTV from ATI is horrible and I hate it.

What software do you use for your card then?
Click to expand...

MCE2005 would do all that for me I think, I think but I'd give it a shot. Thx

 
Originally posted by: videopho
MCE2005 would do all that for me I think, I think but I'd give it a shot. Thx
Click to expand...

Are you saying you have XP Media Center?
I have XP pro.
 
What program are you guys using to watch TV? I am using Beyond TV Trial and thinking about purchasing it. It seems better than the bundled software.

How is the picture reception/quality on the HD channels? I am using the TV Wonder Elite with the 550 chip and the picture quality is quite nice. I just wish I got more channels.
 
Thanks Navid for the link to that very resourceful website! I went over to ATI.com and took a look at their most recent drivers/software download package. They include the following:
1)DAO/MDAC - includes WIndows Media Encoder 9, Titan TV components for Mutlmedia center
2)HDTV WOnder Drivers
3)DTV Decoder
4)Encoder
5)Multimedia Center

Do you recommend skipping item 1 and 5 and use WatchHDTV instead?
Regarding the Video Card, the 7900GT costs a little more than what I am prepared to pay for a non-gaming platform. DO you think I can opt for a more economical solution? What's your recommendation? Thanks!

Mike
 
Originally posted by: mpchen
Thanks Navid for the link to that very resourceful website! I went over to ATI.com and took a look at their most recent drivers/software download package. They include the following:
1)DAO/MDAC - includes WIndows Media Encoder 9, Titan TV components for Mutlmedia center
2)HDTV WOnder Drivers
3)DTV Decoder
4)Encoder
5)Multimedia Center

Do you recommend skipping item 1 and 5 and use WatchHDTV instead?
Regarding the Video Card, the 7900GT costs a little more than what I am prepared to pay for a non-gaming platform. DO you think I can opt for a more economical solution? What's your recommendation? Thanks!

Mike
Click to expand...

I suggest skipping items 1, 4 and 5. You only need the driver (2) and the decoder (3).

Then, try it with your current graphics card and that program that I linked to see what you get and post back.

You need to set up your antenna and try to find channels. Use the following link to help you do that if you are in the states.
http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx
You enter your zip code and it tells you which channels are around you and at what channel and sub-channel numbers. You will need all those numbers to set up that program.
If you are not in the states, you should be able to find a similar site for where you are.

I never meant to suggest that you needed another graphics card. You may. But, we don't know yet.
 
HI Navid:
For the first attempt, I actually followed ATI.com's recommendation and installed item 1 thru 5 in that order. It went fine until item 4 the Encoder. I got a message saying " Hardware or software required for the installtion ( of Encoder I presume...) cannot be found. Installation can not proceed. Check your configuration." After final reboot, the ATI multimedia center appeared but when I tried to bring up TV ( I didn't see DTV as an option as promised by the guide ), it said " No TV compenent is found. Check driver is properly installed etc. "

Could this be all due to my onbaord Video setup ( S3 UniChrome Pro IGP )? Or should I delete everything and start anew with only item 2 and 3 installation as you have originally suggested. I loked at the system drivers and saw lots of ATI TV Wonder drivers installed under Sound, Video. The board also detected and recognized the HDTV WOnder card after the driver installation. Thanks for your help

Mike
 
ATI's tv apps have always been rubbish. Only install the drivers for your ati card. Then find a better tv viewing app. I've never used watchhdtv so I can't comment on that. I've had great success with dscalar and mediaportal though.

Just out of curiosity, why'd you go for the HDTV Wonder instead of the new 650?
 
I cannot tell you why it failed because it failed for me too!
That is why I told you to just install the driver and the encoder.

The only thing you will be missing, if you use the free software I suggested, which I don't know if the ATI software would have if it worked or not, is that you cannot click a button and expect the software to search and find all the channels available for you.
You will have to program every channel one by one. But, I told you how to fins the channels if you are in the states.

What OS do you have?
 
I was told that the 650 was being recalled. Apparently it has been re-released recently. I got the HDTV WOnder at around $70 so it is cheaper I suppose, provided it works!

M
 
>>>>That is why I told you to just install the driver and the encoder.
I assume you are talking about the Drivers and the DECODER? Not the encoder right. The encoder is where I ran into trouble during installation.....

OK I shall remove everything and reinstall Just the Driver and the Decoder ( Iten 2 & 3 above ). I'll report back soon.

I am just using basic XP Home SP2

ThanksNavid!

M
 
Originally posted by: mpchen
>>>>That is why I told you to just install the driver and the encoder.
I assume you are talking about the Drivers and the DECODER? Not the encoder right. The encoder is where I ran into trouble during installation.....

OK I shall remove everything and reinstall Just the Driver and the Decoder ( Iten 2 & 3 above ). I'll report back soon.

I am just using basic XP Home SP2

ThanksNavid!

M
Click to expand...

Yes, I'm sorry, driver and the decoder.
 
Hi Navid:
Just finished setting up the channels. It seems that the 2 PBS channels with signal strength at around 70% are fine. The other channels ( NBC, CBS, CW etc. ) with varying but usually low signal strength ( <50% ) had good audio but the vidoe stream either broke up ( partial view ) or unstable. I suppose I need to get a better ( amplified) antenna. What would be your suggestion? Thanks

Another problem I encountered is that when I switched channel by the "+" or "-" button, the program would freeze and crash.......

PS Haven't tried the scheduling and DVR function yet. ALos the the remote WOnder is not installed

M
 
So, I guess that means your graphics card is up to the task!

Can you get any other channels if you move the antenna?
The antenna in the box is a directional antenna.

I am using the same antenna. Except that I ordered this cable.
http://www.monoprice.com/products/produ...1021602&p_id=641&seq=1&format=2&style=

This is a much longer cable that lets me move the antenna with more freedom. It turned out to be a better cable than the one included with the card. I can get more channels wit it! May be better quality cable!
 
>>>>So, I guess that means your graphics card is up to the task!

The verdict may be still out on this as I have this freeze-up/crash problem as I switch channel. The DVR function is yet to be checked out. Will keep you posted!

I shall get the longer cable and see if that improves things too. Thanks for the link. I find it funny that the only two channels I can get are both PBS!

M
 
HI Navid:
I placed an order to get a 50 ft coaxial cable for the antenna. We shall see if that helps to lock on to more channels and a better signal strength. Right now I have only two PBS channel s setup with signal strength of around 50-60%. The video-audio stream sometimes will become jerky/start-stop, and I still encounter freeze/crash of the WatchHDTV program as I switch between the two channels from time to time. When I tried to record live to a file, the video will also become jerky for a while. It may recover later. During all this I used ASUS PC-Probe to monitor the CPU usage and it has not ever exceeded 75% yet. So either I have Driver problem or my Integrated Video S3 UniChrome 64MB shared buffer is somehow the bottleneck here. Any easy diagnostic idea I should try? Or you think I should just get a separate graphics card?Thanks again for your help!

Mike
 
Are the two channels that you receive associated with stations that are the closest to where you are and are the other transmitters much farther from you?

Do the two stations send HDTV also or just regular TV?

You can use silent record to record an HDTV signal without your graphics adapter doing anything. Then after, you can check it out with windows media player to make sure that there is no skipping. If there is, your reception needs to improve.

If there is no skipping, you can then watch the same recording with WatchHDTVPlay full screen. Now, your tuner will be out of the equation and you will be checking your graphics card.

If the file is recorded properly but it skips when you watch it HDTV (full screen with WatchHDTVPlay), I think it is proof that your graphics card or CPU are the problem.
 
>>>>Are the two channels that you receive associated with stations that are the closest to where you are and are the other transmitters much farther from you?

The two PBS stations are about 8 miles from where I live, In fact all the relevant stations are listed at 8.5 miles from me based on the Antennaweb link you gave me.

>>>>Do the two stations send HDTV also or just regular TV?
Yep. They send both regular and DTV signal. The DTV signal being the subchannels

I shall read up on the Silent record thing and get back to you! Thanks!

M
 
Originally posted by: mpchen
>>>>Are the two channels that you receive associated with stations that are the closest to where you are and are the other transmitters much farther from you?

The two PBS stations are about 8 miles from where I live, In fact all the relevant stations are listed at 8.5 miles from me based on the Antennaweb link you gave me.
Click to expand...

That web site also gives you the orientation of each station. Can you get any of the other channels by pointing the antenna towards the station?
8 Miles is close enough. I receive from stations that are 20 Miles away!
 
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