Video card for ATI HDTV Wonder

[mpchen]

OK. The Silent record mode worked fine and the resulting file can be played smoothly thru both WIndows Media Player and the WatchHDTV Play mode without noticeble skipping. AFterwards I activate the WatchHDTV Live mode ( no recording, just watch live ) and the skipping recurs consistently. Assuming the Tuner is working fine, the Graphics card in playback of WatchHDTV mode is working fine and the CPU is not overloaded, could this be a dynamic problem in the sense that Watching ( or recording ) LIVE will cause the Data transfer to reach some kind of bottleneck causing buffer underrun/overrun? Of couse it could be the CPU......

M
PS I live inside a mid-rise multistory city building so there are walls the signal has to penetrate and there will be some multipath too!

 

[Navid]

If you can play an HDTV recorded file with WatchHDTVPlay full screen and there is no problem, I don't see how it could be your graphics card.

This suggests that your CPU is the bottleneck because we have eliminated everything else.

Perhaps the CPU has to process what the tuner is doing as well as what the graphics adapter is doing at the same time when you are watching live and it runs out of steam.

To confirm this, it would be good if you could temporarily overclock your CPU to see if the problem would be alleviated.

 

[mpchen]

I was suggesting a bottleneck more related to the driver(s) that aggregately control the data flow of the videostream during Live situation. If the way the decoded data from the tuner driver is handed over to the display buffer somehow created a bottleneck, it could have caused such a problem. There are drivers from ATI and drivers from VIA involved in the flow. I have been logging the CPU utilization throughout and I haven't noticed anything more than 75% loading ( and that's already for a loading spike during switching ). I shall follow your recommendation to overclock the CPU a bit to see if there is any difference. Again Thanks and stay tuned!!

M

 

[Navid]

You may be right. I cannot comment on that.
I just want to make a correction to my last post.

If the graphics card was faster, the CPU would be loaded less. So, I don't think there is anything wrong with your CPU. After all, you have a 3GHz CPU.

I don't know how you can confirm that other than trying a graphics card. Do you have a PCI graphics card on another PC that you can try on this PC?

 

[mrbill21]

 

[mpchen]

SInce I am not a gamer, I have been relying on IGP mostly. MY other desktop uses Nvidia GeForce 6150 IGP. I do have some old graphics cards but they won't be good enough to draw any meaningful comparison. I think I will first wait for the antenna cable to arrive, try to get more DTV channels and inrpove signal strength, and see if the stuttering will be reduced. If not, I may just have to invest in a better Graphics card......any particular AGP card that excels at TV viewing ( de-interlacing, MPEG-encode-decode stuff ) you would recommend? I don't want to waste my money on 3D functions that I will never use! Thanks Navid!

M

 

[Navid]

Look on ebay.

Check out local stores like Circuit City or Staples or Best Buy ..... for cheap cards like RADEON 7000. It is a PCI card. There may also be an AGP version. You can return the card to them if it does not work. You can ask a manager at the store if the card can do what you need. Very likely, he will say buy it and if it does not, just return it.

Anything should be better than onboard because I thing the onboard card uses some of your system RAM!

Another advantage of that 7000 card is that it is ATI-based. So, you MAY be able to use the ATI software just to check it out.

 

[arrfep]

I just installed the HDTV wonder on Monday morning. I'm getting every network in my area...CBS, NBC, ABC, WGN, PBS, FOX, and about 15 other channels, all with a $19 Phillips amplified antenna placed near my window, on the second floor of my house. Of course I'm in the Chicago suburbs so I'm probably close to an antenna.

I'm using an X850XT (PCI-E) and the picture is superb on a 21" widescreen lcd monitor.

I am however having some problems recording...something about my hard disks not being DMA enabled. But everything in my hardware manager says that DMA is enabled....anyone having problems like this? I'm gonna give the watchhdtv a try.

 

[mpchen]

>>>Another advantage of that 7000 card is that it is ATI-based. So, you MAY be able to use the ATI software just to check it out.

haha you are at heart an optimist Navid!

The IGP uses 64 MB of my RAM. According to VIA, the IGP is designed for Video HD streaming experience....
http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/chipsets/p4-series/pm800/

I have been looking at the various offerings at Newegg etc. Will keep you posted. Still waiting for the cable....

Thanks
Mike

 

[mpchen]

I have signal strength problem as I live in a midrise building in a city and the antenna is not near any window. Once my new cable arrives, I'll see if I can latch onto more channels. May be I need an amplified antenna too eventually.

There are lots of "stories" regarding ATI's software so you are lucky that it works for you...mostly!

M

 

[videopho]

This tuner was a dog to install in its early days since I first got mine in late 2004 but things have been vastly improved thanks to mostly users like ourselves in coupling with newer/better driver. Here is the link or avs-forum that had helped me thru those miserable moments.

 

[mpchen]

>>>>>l with a $19 Phillips amplified antenna placed near my window,

What is the model number of the Philips Amplified Antenna you are using? The one I saw on the net costs $99 ! Thanks for the help!

M

 

[rbV5]

Check out local stores like Circuit City or Staples or Best Buy ..... for cheap cards like RADEON 7000.

I think you'll find that a HDTV Wonder really needs DX9 class hardware to work properly.

The 7000 is just not up to the task, and even my Xpress200 Radeon IGP isn't up to the task of decoding OTA HD with an AMD64 3000+ stock clocked either. Your issue sounds similar; a little short on CPU and an IGP that comes up a little short as well.

 

[mpchen]

Hi Rbv5, What video card would you recommend? My motherboard only supports AGP4x/8x and PCI-E 1 ( not 16 ). I don't want to sink too much $ into buying an AGP these days. The IGP ( S3 UniChrome Pro ) is supposed to handle HD video with ease but apparently it is not quite true!


M

 

[mpchen]

Ok Navid:
I got the 50' cable and I got an amplifying antenna from Radioshack. I first used a trial version of BeyondTV to "locate " the channels and optimize antenna position for each. Using BeyondTV with the optimized antenna I could get the 2 PBS channel, NBC, ABC, CW, the old UPN but there is no signal at all from Fox and CBS. Now using these optimized antenna position ( each with 90-100 signal strength on BeyongTV ) I tried to tune the WatchHDTV setup, but I kept getting non-recoverable error from WatchHDTV software during tuning for the new channels. I could hear some audio before the softwrae failed and clsoed itself. WatchHDTV has no problem with the original 2 PBS channels and works well with them. So the channel s are clearly there and the signal should be sufficiently strong; yet WatchHDTV couldn't lock on to them and quickly failed. ANy idea or suggestion? I really don't want to pay the extra $ to buy BeyondTV which takes lots of horsepower to run in the background and is more than I need. If WatchHDTV continues to give me problem, DO I have other alternatives? Thanks again!

Mike

 

[Navid]

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=45
This is a forum that may have some useful information about different locations. See if anyone in your area is using WatchHDTV or what channels they get.

I guess I am lucky with my surroundings. No high rises around me. May be that's why I do not have too much trouble.

I am not using the latest version of WatchHDTV. I should try it. But, I am using version 1.89.

I am watching FOX now and it shows 66% for the signal strength. NBC shows at 61%. ABC is at 91%. There is another channel that shows a 54% strength. I just wanted to tell you that you do not need 100%.

I am not sure what you mean by WatchHDTV tuning for new channels! I did not know it had such a capability! I have to enter the channel number and the frequency and select the sub channel. Then, it either shows something or not. I don't remember ever having got an error when doing that.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=590020
This is a thread on WatchHDTV. You may want to have a look. I am not sure if it will solve the problem. But, it may.

 

[mpchen]

>>>>I am watching FOX now and it shows 66% for the signal strength. NBC shows at 61%. ABC is at 91%. There is another channel that shows a 54% strength. I just wanted to tell you that you do not need 100%.

Yes I have also noticed the signal strength scale is quite different between BeyondTV and WatchHDTV. The Radioshack Amplified antenna also doesn't seem to improve the signal strength a lot for the WatchHDTV.....

>>>>I am not sure what you mean by WatchHDTV tuning for new channels! I did not know it had such a capability! I have to enter the channel number and the frequency and select the sub channel. Then, it either shows something or not. I don't remember ever having got an error when doing that.

WHen i say Tuning I mean " entering explicitly the channel number, then click the TUNE button in the WatchHDTV Channel Setup window. Not automatic channel search.

One interesting experiment I did this morning: Using WatchHDTV scheduler I successfully recorded 10 minutes of the CW channel in " Silent Record" mode. The resulting dvr-ms file can be played back thru the Windows Media Player but invoking the WatchHDTV Play viewer caused similar crash of the WatchHDTV software. So the tuner is fine and WatchHDTV is receiving the incoming signal. Somehow some of these channel will just cause the display mode of WatchHDTV to fail. COuld it be Resolution switching? Video Card driver/memory roblem? I don't know.

I also noticed the error report say QUartz.dll failure which seems to point to DirectDraw/DirectX reslted issue.

Thanks Navid

Mike

 

[Navid]

Have you tried (an experiment) to lower your color setting to 16 bits to see if that has an impact on the skipping or crashing?

 

[WT]

In the market for an HDTV card and I am stuck on whether to get the ATI Wonder Pro or the ATI Theater 650. The Wonder Pro includes an antenna, so with 10 stations bradcasting HD within 9.2 miles of me, I prefer that included. But the remote bundled with the Wonder Pro isn't as good as the Microsoft unit. I am also buying a Microsoft Media Center keyboard (no USB IR blaster included), so buying the Theater 650 Pro with a coupon for a free Microsoft remote with the IR blaster solves my remote/IR blaster needs.
Decisions, decisions ...
I'm leaning towards the Wonder Pro with keyboard, and then hoping the ATI remote is at least serviceable for the time being. The Theater 650 Pro has a better image and remote, but currently ATI does not offer it in an all inclusive package like the Wonder Pro offers.

 

[WT]

Bought the HDTV Wonder from Buy.com for $60 w/ free S/H. Too good a deal to pass up. Added a MCE keyboard and remote for a grand total of $150 for everything. Not bad for the price, and I can finally surf from the sofa and watch HD without paying the cable co. an extra $17 a month !!

 

[beggerking]

Just a heads up, it is now $59.99 - $10 (google checkout) = $49.99 w. free S/H no rebate at buy.com..

 

[Navid]

Originally posted by: beggerking
Just a heads up, it is now $59.99 - $10 (google checkout) = $49.99 w. free S/H no rebate at buy.com..

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=40&threadid=1940607&enterthread=y

 

[WT]

21 pages of this deal over on Overweight Billfold, with most of the posters awaiting the rebates. This was one deal where it paid to wait on a bit. Good card with lots of supported plugins and includes an HD antenna to get you viewing HD OTA content.

 

[Cabages]

Just checking up on this thread. Wanting to know what happened in the end result with the OP.

I also got in on the $49.99 price at Buy.com, and will be trying this out on my new rig pretty soon.

It will contain: an Athlon FX-55, a GB of RAM, and of course this card. Im going to hold out on the video card. I have an old Geforce 2 PCI that I highly doubt will be compatible with this, much less be able to power it, but I am trying to hang in there for the next round of video cards.

Any suggestions? I am basically being lazy, and havent ordered the rest of the parts when I have the other half of it.

 

[Navid]

Originally posted by: Cabages
Any suggestions? I am basically being lazy, and havent ordered the rest of the parts when I have the other half of it.

If you decide to give it a try with your dual core AMD CPU, make sure to install the dual core drivers from AMD. Otherwise, it will stutter.