View Full Version : DVICO Fusion 5 HDTV tuner
Pages :
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
[
10]
11
Anybody else have audio that sort of "auto-compresses" on a loud sequence and sucks into a low-volume mode until things quiet down and then the volume drop repeats?
Example: hockey game announcer and crowd: normal. Then after a little loud burst from the announcer and crowd, the audio quickly compresses down to half volume for a while. Kind of like extreme compression. Very annoying.
bigpoppa206
06-20-07, 03:27 AM
What were your recording settings? (TP/MPG for DTV and type of analog) Also what is your Fusion unit type and OS?
Capture Transport Stream (TP) for DigitalTV, AnalogTV was (I think, not in front of unit right now) DVD with highest quality setting. Fusion card is a FusionHDTV5 RT Gold PCI card running Windows XP SP2 with all patches downloaded from MS.
bigpoppa206
06-20-07, 03:29 AM
Anybody else have audio that sort of "auto-compresses" on a loud sequence and sucks into a low-volume mode until things quiet down and then the volume drop repeats?
Example: hockey game announcer and crowd: normal. Then after a little loud burst from the announcer and crowd, the audio quickly compresses down to half volume for a while. Kind of like extreme compression. Very annoying.
Or is the circuitry trying to protect itself against what it may perceive a steady stream of too much signal?
TPeterson
06-20-07, 09:40 AM
Anybody else have audio that sort of "auto-compresses" on a loud sequence and sucks into a low-volume mode until things quiet down and then the volume drop repeats?
Example: hockey game announcer and crowd: normal. Then after a little loud burst from the announcer and crowd, the audio quickly compresses down to half volume for a while. Kind of like extreme compression. Very annoying.Doesn't seem to be a FusionHDTV issue, but rather some weirdness elsewhere in your HTPC setup.
TPeterson
06-20-07, 09:50 AM
Capture Transport Stream (TP) for DigitalTV, AnalogTV was (I think, not in front of unit right now) DVD with highest quality setting. Fusion card is a FusionHDTV5 RT Gold PCI card running Windows XP SP2 with all patches downloaded from MS.I don't see any such option on Analog in setup of 3.62.02.
Were you able to repeat the recording problem or was it a one-time anomaly?
bigpoppa206
06-20-07, 04:21 PM
I don't see any such option on Analog in setup of 3.62.02.
Were you able to repeat the recording problem or was it a one-time anomaly?
Oops, the DVD quality setting for analog is for the version I'm using, 3.61. The newer beta version 3.62.02 includes options to save recordings as WMV and other similar formats. IIRC, there is also a patch you can download from the Fusion site to add the MPEG2 option back which is what I did. The analog recordings were MPEG2 set to the highest quality available.
TPeterson
06-20-07, 05:28 PM
Again, were you able to repeat this glitch? Was it dependent upon using the MPEG-2 patch??
Well, I've never had any audio issues with any other audio source from my PC, including any number of audio and video apps. Seems to be a Fusion issue. Something about the way the mpeg4 compressor is dealing with audio levels. The quality is fine, it just does this whole choking down thing volume-wise just like if you turned a compressor on full ratio and it squeezes way down. You don't really notice it with regular programs, just sports shows with the big crowd roars and excited announcer bursts. Very weird.
But this 1650x1050 video setting really spoils you for anything less. Now when I go into Costco and check out the Panasonic 1024x768 plasmas they look like SD. Get some resolution, will ya?
I just got the Gold v5 card yesterday PCI, installed it with the latest drivers and software from their website since the drivers on the CD were outdated. Just have to say that the Schedule Recording portion completely SUCKS, you have to be in the viewing tv mode just to add or change a schedule, but of course you can just look at what's schedule without opening the application, however it probably wins the aware for the year for being the most energy star compliant the card allows it to turn on and off your system.
The channel numbering is HORRIBLE, I have a long list of numbers for channels, and non of them have names associated with them and I couldn't figure out any way to assign some sort of name to the channel rather then just a number. Also is anyone else having problems where the same station will change channel number usually goes between 2 different numbers, like 441 sometimes and 442 other times. This happens with several of the stations, not sure if this is some form of encryption from Comcast to prevent people from doing what they are doing.
By the way I'm using QAM to get the channels off the cable feed. Going to try an old antenna later to see if any better luck with that.
Also what applications are people using to edit the .tp/.ts files to remove commercials ect... so far the only application that I've been able to get to work is the Womble MPEG editor, its not the most stable/greatest app on the planet, I was really hoping that TMPGenc MPEG Editor v2 would work since it said that it supported .ts streams but when ever I open up the file in it it appears all scrambled and there's no sound. Any ideas on other applications, I really like TMPGEnc and have been using it for ages for my analog captures.
Also when ever I run the files though mpeg2repair I get a lot of warring's: (4mb txt file per episode)
Sequence Frame 47(13-B) / Time 0:00:01 :
VideoWarning: TemporalRef gap of 3. Timestamp gap of 0.033367 sec. ending at file offset 297508
VideoWarning: TemporalRef gap of 1020. Timestamp gap of 0.000000 sec. ending at file offset 265466
VideoWarning: TemporalRef gap of 1. Timestamp gap of 0.000000 sec. ending at file offset 308913
VideoWarning: TemporalRef gap of 1022. Timestamp gap of 0.033367 sec. ending at file offset 306294
VideoWarning: TemporalRef gap of 7. Timestamp gap of 0.066733 sec. ending at file offset 329410
VideoWarning: TemporalRef gap of 1018. Timestamp gap of 0.033367 sec. ending at file offset 322841
VideoWarning: Timestamp gap of 0.033367 sec. ending at file offset 326048
VideoWarning: Timestamp gap of 0.033367 sec. ending at file offset 313464
VideoWarning: TemporalRef gap of 4. Timestamp gap of 0.000000 sec. ending at file offset 343832
VideoWarning: TemporalRef gap of 1019. Timestamp gap of 0.033367 sec. ending at file offset 340904
VideoWarning: TemporalRef gap of 2. Timestamp gap of 0.033367 sec. ending at file offset 352207
VideoWarning: TemporalRef gap of 1022. Timestamp gap of 0.033367 sec. ending at file offset 349393
VideoWarning: TemporalRef gap of 1013. Timestamp gap of 0.033367 sec. ending at file offset 355048
Sequence Summary:
File Size Processed: 796.21 MB, Play Time: 00h:43m:34s
704 x 480, 29.97 fps, 15.00 Mbps (2.29 Mbps Average).
Average Video Quality: 9.52 KB/Frame, 0.23 Bits/Pixel.
AC3 Audio: 2/0 Channels (L, R), 48.0 kHz, 192 kbps.
Dialog Normalization: -19.0 dB
13 of 76846 video frames found with errors.
0 of 81713 audio frames found with errors.
3731 corrupted video bytes in file.
93440720.539342 seconds of video timestamp gaps.
0.000000 seconds of audio timestamp gaps.
There's a sample of them, any idea if this is normal....
Also it appears that some of the commercials are coming though either encrypted or something cause they appear all screwy when trying to edit them and often times causes the application to crash.
Also what kind of hardware is required for optimal recording of HDTV streams, I've got a Dual Xeon 2.4GHz, 2GB of Ram, and dedicated SCSI U160 10k 4ms access hard drives one for capture and then another for dumbing the file after editing out the commercials.
I currently use Beyond TV to capture my analog TV with another capture card and love it the recording is easy to use (I enter them all manualy) anything similar to be used with the Fusion card to just simply the editing and imputing of the recordings, since this Episode Guide Program with Fusion doesn't work says I don't have any channels.
And how come when I try to do PIP i only have a choice of 3 channels to choose from to watch, when I get a huge long list of digital channels that I can watch normally?
TPeterson
06-21-07, 01:40 PM
squee0--
You have a lot of homework reading to do in this and other AVS Forum threads. All of your questions are already answered.
The unstable channel numbers are most likely on VOD channels that you're not going to want to watch regularly anyway, since they have unpredictable contents. If you have decent OTA feeds from your antenna you'll find that a less confusing situation than cable QAM. Your cable signal to the Fusion unit seems to be marginal, given the large numbers of errors reported. Happy reading!
squee0--
You have a lot of homework reading to do in this and other AVS Forum threads. All of your questions are already answered.
The unstable channel numbers are most likely on VOD channels that you're not going to want to watch regularly anyway, since they have unpredictable contents. If you have decent OTA feeds from your antenna you'll find that a less confusing situation than cable QAM. Your cable signal to the Fusion unit seems to be marginal, given the large numbers of errors reported. Happy reading!
Ha I read about 20 pages before posting and ten realized that there was like 75 pages :( The signal quality on the cable says in the high 90% all the time, yeah there are only three channels which have a name associated with them. Going to attempt OTA, see if that's any better.
Have no idea what VOD Channels, my digital channels basally start at 243 and go up to 9210.
Guess I'll have to try and do some serious reading, one of the things I don't particularly enjoy.
bigpoppa206
06-22-07, 12:41 AM
Also what applications are people using to edit the .tp/.ts files to remove commercials ect... so far the only application that I've been able to get to work is the Womble MPEG editor, its not the most stable/greatest app on the planet, I was really hoping that TMPGenc MPEG Editor v2 would work since it said that it supported .ts streams but when ever I open up the file in it it appears all scrambled and there's no sound. Any ideas on other applications, I really like TMPGEnc and have been using it for ages for my analog captures.
Boy have you some homework to do! But we've all been there...I will help out with one though, VideoRedo. Easiest program there is for editing!
bigpoppa206
06-22-07, 12:45 AM
Ha I read about 20 pages before posting and ten realized that there was like 75 pages :( The signal quality on the cable says in the high 90% all the time, yeah there are only three channels which have a name associated with them. Going to attempt OTA, see if that's any better.
Have no idea what VOD Channels, my digital channels basally start at 243 and go up to 9210.
Guess I'll have to try and do some serious reading, one of the things I don't particularly enjoy.
In order to keep up with the QAM channels, you'll most likely get more information from your own local cable company board. Look for "AVS Forum > HDTV > Local HDTV Info and Reception" and find the one thats closest. Mine is "Seattle, WA - Comcast." Good Luck!
Boy have you some homework to do! But we've all been there...I will help out with one though, VideoRedo. Easiest program there is for editing!
Actually I tired VideoRedo and that program was a POS it couldn't read the files properly they appeared all encrypted and what not, when they arn't.
Ronnie Ferrell
06-22-07, 10:55 AM
Actually I tired VideoRedo and that program was a POS it couldn't read the files properly they appeared all encrypted and what not, when they arn't.
If that's how you feel about VideoRedo, my suggestion is to sell your HTPC and get a TIVO. That or learn to enjoy reading more...
Ronnie
Ktulu_1
06-22-07, 01:35 PM
Need some help with my Fusion 5 Gold. I'm getting no sound over the analog audio inputs that are used with the s-video input. Sound on analog cable channels is fine. The audio is getting to the computer as I can record it with sound recorder but the both the Fusion app and Sage TV won't play audio when switched to the s-video input. At one time I did get audio when on the s-video input.
I have the internal sound cable connected to the "CD" input on the motherboard and the Fusion rat tail harness has the audio connector plugged into the "line in" connector on the back of the motherboard.
Sound card is a Realtek HD Audio integrated into the motherboard.
Audio settings in the Fusion app:
Support PCM Audio without cabling = checked
Connected Internal Sound Cable = checked
Select Internal Sound Cable Input = CD Volume
Analog Audio Attenuation = -10
As far as I can tell I've been through every audio setting in windows, the RealTek software, the Fusion software, and Sage software several times. I've uninstalled Sage, the Fusion drivers, and the Fusion software and reinstalled all of them several times. I've searched the internet over and over for similar problems to no avail. I'm running the current version of all software and drivers. I don't get it!
bigpoppa206
06-22-07, 07:00 PM
Actually I tired VideoRedo and that program was a POS it couldn't read the files properly they appeared all encrypted and what not, when they arn't.
Then the problem might be with your setup or with your installation. I have been using VideoRedo for over a year with the raw TP files directly out of the Fusion software and it works flawlessly. On the other hand, you might have some type of a codec problem too. Way too variables for guessing here though.
bigpoppa206
06-22-07, 07:03 PM
Again, were you able to repeat this glitch? Was it dependent upon using the MPEG-2 patch??
I'll plug that second hard drive back into my system this week end and try it and post here. Wondering if Dvico posted a way to uninstall that Mpeg2 patch though.
TPeterson
06-22-07, 07:48 PM
Jeff--
It seems to me that if you want to get audio via the external analog inputs that you'd need to uncheck that first box, hmm?
Need some help with my Fusion 5 Gold. I'm getting no sound over the analog audio inputs that are used with the s-video input. Sound on analog cable channels is fine. The audio is getting to the computer as I can record it with sound recorder but the both the Fusion app and Sage TV won't play audio when switched to the s-video input. At one time I did get audio when on the s-video input.
I have the internal sound cable connected to the "CD" input on the motherboard and the Fusion rat tail harness has the audio connector plugged into the "line in" connector on the back of the motherboard.
Sound card is a Realtek HD Audio integrated into the motherboard.
Audio settings in the Fusion app:
Support PCM Audio without cabling = checked
Connected Internal Sound Cable = checked
Select Internal Sound Cable Input = CD Volume
Analog Audio Attenuation = -10
As far as I can tell I've been through every audio setting in windows, the RealTek software, the Fusion software, and Sage software several times. I've uninstalled Sage, the Fusion drivers, and the Fusion software and reinstalled all of them several times. I've searched the internet over and over for similar problems to no avail. I'm running the current version of all software and drivers. I don't get it!
i don't own the same card so my "fusion rat tail harness" does not have the "line in" wire you are using, but wouldn't you have to select "line in" for "Select Internal Sound Cable Input " setting, when using the external "line in" connector for the input?
Then the problem might be with your setup or with your installation. I have been using VideoRedo for over a year with the raw TP files directly out of the Fusion software and it works flawlessly. On the other hand, you might have some type of a codec problem too. Way too variables for guessing here though.
Well tonight I connected it to OTA and did some captures and other Video Editing programs that I tired to used with QAM recordings worked now, the image didn't appear encrypted, so I'm guessing that the QAM recordings are using some form of compression/encryption that most of the video editing programs (VideoRedo one of them) can't view the files correctly, but when playing them in Windows Media Player Classic or Video Lan they play perfectly....
I don't know the whole world of HD captures seems to be a lot of headache then it's worth, esp since I've been trying to use HDTVtoMPEG2 to edit out the commercials but find that it doesn't do a very accurate job like Womble MPEG Editor.
If anyone has access to UseNet I uploaded last night in a.b.hdtv Are You Smarter Then a 5th Grader in 720p format, one upload is the file edited with Womble MPEG, another upload I used HDTVtoMPEG2, and then the file upload is the raw uncut capture file. So if anyone wants to dive into that and see if they can notice any differences between using the two different programs, or if there's something wrong with my capture card in the files that it's generating.
Thanks & have a wonderful day.
TPeterson
06-22-07, 11:19 PM
Your guesses are not good so far. Go do some reading instead.
Does anyone know how to convert the HD .ts files into wmv-hd format? My XBox 360 no longer plays .ts files with hdtvpump and I need to encode my football games into wmv-hd so I can archive them and continue to use them on my XBox 360. Does anyone have any suggestion? I've tried DVB Portal TS Converter and have had mixed outcomes it dislikes the codecs I have loaded on my PC. Any advise would be appreciated.
check here http://dcunningham.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=267&sid=b0203540a054f27dc4dfc46034ef897f
and
http://www.videohelp.com/tools/Encode360
also winavi but only in stereo.
Just thought I'd throw my 2 cents in. I recently upgraded my HTPC from a:
P4C 3.0ghz
1 GB PC3500
Geforce 6800GT
Fusion HDTV2
Audigy 2
2x WD 80gb drives in RAID 0
And some giant radioshack antenna.
Windows XP Home
To:
Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4ghz
2GB PC2-800
Geforce 8800GTS
Fusion HDTV5
2x WD 250gb drives in RAID 0
Time warner QAM cable
Windows Vista Ultimate
I didn't know which version of the software to download off dvico's site, DVT8 or ATSC. I think the software is the same though, since it's the same size files and versions and such.
I'm in the Dallas area with Time Warner basic cable.
I ran a channel scan for digital cable, and scanned 400 channels. A lot of which were encrypted. The very first channel that comes up when I close the config window is channel D89. And it's hardcore porn. I can't stop laughing.
So I start clicking through the channels to see what all I can get, and there are lot of channels. I'm suprised. But after about 10 minutes of looking through the channels, I go back to the beginning, and notice that those channels are now just black screens. I guess someone at Time Warner was paying close attention?
The channel numbering for QAM is a huge pain in the ass. All the channel numbers are in the thousands, like D1080, D8352, and things like that. I seem to have about 100 "radio station" channels.
So I sorted through all of them, and marked the "real" stations as favorites so I could find them more easily. It's worth nothing that all of the local channels appear twice, one is the HD broadcast and one is the standard broadcast. I only made the HD ones my favorites.
I have
Discovery HD Theater
TNT HD
ABC HD
FOX HD
CBS HD
NBC HD
I also have KERA, but haven't observed any HD content on it so far.
It's annoying that I can't use Vista Media Center with QAM, since it seems like such a slick system. I realize that I continue to use an antenna, but I got the fusion hdtv 5 so that I could stop using an antenna, since I can't reliably receive all the locals without repositioning the antenna.
I noticed a lot of people talking about unwatching stuttering and shuddering and such. I started seeing some of this, and it was much more frequent with HD content than SD content. I went and turned off Time Shifting, and the stuttering immediately ceased for all content. I find that very annoying, since time shifting is one of the main HTPC advantages. Also I have a RAID 0 array with 2 SATA 3 gb\s drives, so drive speed should be a problem. Especially considering that I time shifted HD content on my last HTPC with no problem.
My other main problem is that the Fusion remote seems to use the same... frequency or something as my Westinghouse 47" LCD. I can't use the fusion remote without the TV doing crazy things, and I can't use the TV remote without the PC doing crazy things. Any ideas on this one?
extend the wire for the fusion remote to a spot where the fusion remote does not operate the tv. I had to put a box on my coffee table once with just a hole big enough for the front of the remote. This works for inferred, radio frequency requires the box be lined with metal foil. If you wish use a decorative kleanex box or such.
If the fusion remote is properly placed / shielded you can use the tv remote without interfering with the fusion,
If you are in the us use atfc.
TPeterson
06-29-07, 11:52 PM
It's "ATSC" mistyped, like "DVT8" is "DVB-T" mistyped. You both should lay off the sauce before you type AVS postings. :D
sengsational
06-30-07, 03:51 PM
So I start clicking through the channels to see what all I can get, and there are lot of channels. I'm suprised. But after about 10 minutes of looking through the channels, I go back to the beginning, and notice that those channels are now just black screens. I guess someone at Time Warner was paying close attention?No, I doubt it. The pay per view content is just randomly scattered about. It wouldn't be "video on demand" if they didn't have a few "black screens", waiting for the next customer.
--Dale--
No, I doubt it. The pay per view content is just randomly scattered about. It wouldn't be "video on demand" if they didn't have a few "black screens", waiting for the next customer.
--Dale--
and may I add they are worthless to watch.... You'll be in the middle of something and they will switch to another program or rewind or just go away.
...
It sounds as though you don't have a good installation of the sw. Check out The KAXKID Procedure for reinstalling FusionHDTV. If you follow that, you'll likely have better results.
since the old link to the KAXKID Procedure no longer works, i will "park" another copy of the procedure in this thread. maybe this will keep the info alive and useful for a while longer.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
KAXKID Fusion app Install Un-install Procedure
the install procedure is simple.
1. from the start button, run what ever version you are attempting to install.
2. at the welcome screen, pick "Install Fusion HDTV".
3. at the next prompt, pick your country(USA).
4. at the next prompt, pick a system spec that matches your system.
5. at the next prompt, pick how you will receive tv signals.
6. the next prompt may be to install mpeg2 decoder depending on you system, answer yes.
7. at the next prompt, use the drop down menu to pick your fusion tuner.
8. let the install program run its full course. this is where things get messed up. depending on the version you are installing, there may be multiple non-certified driver pop-up errors. answer yes to all, don't search the internet when asked and install automatically for each non-certified driver error. during this process there may be a premature pop-up declaring the drivers are installed. there may be other drivers still not installed. wait for all to be installed, move the windows around on the desktop, check the task bar for minimized install windows, etc. wait for hd activity to stop. then wait some more.
9. after you think everything has been completed let the fusion app restart your system.
10. run the fusion app on you desktop.
11. the first prompt will be "Scan Channels?", i don't bother answering this prompt, because the fusion app automatically defaults to "yes". let the fusion app scan automatically, do not click "no".
12. if your install has been successfull, you will see the config screen pop-up and the channels scanned automatically.
the un-install (repair) procedure is another place that causes problems.
the un-install process is done from within the same fusion install program that was used to install the fusion app.
1. start, run the same fusion install program.
2. at the first prompt, pick "Install Fusion HDTV" again.
3. at the next prompt, pick either "Remove" or "Repair" depending on what you want to do. the remove option will remove almost all of the fusion app.
4. back at the first prompt again, pick "Uninstall Driver". at the next prompt pick "PCI" or "USB" as the case may be, or do both.
5. when this is done, close the fusion install app. goto the dvico folder in the default directory and delete the rest of the fusion app folders. before deleting the "down" folder, save anything you may have recorded and still want to save, to another folder.
6. i also check to see if there is anything associated with the fusion app still left in the root directory of C:\ (timeshift.tp, debug.txt)and delete that also.
6a. with the introduction of a new driver install app with version 3.51.02 and higher, a directory named c:\windows\system32\drvstore\ has been added. this directory holds the driver support files. this directory may need to be removed if you get an "installation failed" message.
7. restart you computer and you should see the prompts about windows finding "new hardware" if your fusion pci card is still installed, when you restart. answer cancel on all of these prompts. at this point you can install a new version.
UPDATE for FusionHDTV3.6(3.51.02) and higher versions:
Dvico has changed the install app and the driver install app with these versions, so we now have a new procedure that seems to work better for the un-install.
the install steps outlined for ealier versions still work but the remove process should be run from the microsoft "install or remove programs" app.
1. in the fusion control panel click on the star and goto edit favorites. in the edit favorite channels menu, clear(remove) all you favorite channels before removing the fusion app. this helps on the installation of the next fusion version.
2. goto "start\settings\control panel\install or remove programs"
3. cursor down to the entry/entries (you will have multiple entries if you have installed drivers for different model Dvico tuners)named "Windows Driver Package - Dvico" and highlite the entry. if you have multiple entries, you will have to go thru the remove process for each entry.
4. click the "change/remove" button and follow the directions in the pop-up windows to remove the Dvico drivers.
5. after you have successfully removed the Dvico drivers, you cursor up the list of installed programs to the entry named "DVICO FusionHDTV 3.51.0x(or higher)" and highlite the entry.
6. click the "remove" button and follow the the pop-up dialog to remove the Fusion app.
7. do not use the fusion installer app to remove the drivers for the 3.6(3.51.02 or above) versions.
8. i have noticed that when using multi tuners the remove process is "buggy" so i have added a few steps after using the above process:
a. run the new upgrade installer to the first screen that has the "Remove Drivers" option.
b. run the "Remove Drivers" option for each tuner you had installed.
c. close the installer app.
d. goto the "MS Add/Remove" module again and find and highlight the "Windows Driver Package - Dvico" again.
e. try to "Remove" again and you should see an error pop-up that says that is "unfound, should it be removed from the programs installed list?" answer "yes".
f. goto the folder "C:\Program Files\DVICO\FusionHDTV" and remove any leftover files.
g. re-start your computer, and cancel all the pop-ups that ask about finding drivers for your Dvico tuners.
h. you should now have a "clean" environment to run the new upgrade installer.
i have posted screen dumps of this procedure in various fusion threads. i don't think i have missed any steps, but if i have i'll edit it.
TROUBLE SECTION for Partial Installs or Failed Un-installls (use the above process first):
1. remove the fusion pci tuner card or usb tuner.
2. boot windows into "SAFE MODE" (depress the F8 key when starting windows)
3. run the fusion install app to remove the app again.
4. use the fusion install app to remove the drivers.
5. use the microsoft "remove programs" to remove the fusion/dvico apps.
6. delete the dvico directory.
7. seek help in the latest avs threads devoted to the fusion software if you still need help.
also look at the DVICO FAQ here:
http://www.fusionhdtv.co.kr/Eng/Support/FAQInstallation.aspx?act=RD&id=250&pg=0&CATID=10&SCATID=54
My FusionHDTV app runs fine when I select the Zulu HDTV Video Decoder. I am able to watch 480i, 720p and 1080i programming with no issues.
In order to boost performance a little, I have tried switching to the Zulu HDTV (DxVA) Video Decoder. It works well on stations that broadcast at 1080i. But on 720p or 480i programming, I get a garbled screen. There is a flicker of clarity as I change channels - it seems to be a single frame.
Screencaps:
480i (http://spaceandastronomystamps.com/whatsit/dxva-480i.png)
720p (http://spaceandastronomystamps.com/whatsit/dxva-720p.png)
1080i (http://spaceandastronomystamps.com/whatsit/dxva-1080i2.png)
I am running Forceware 162.15 on a pair of Asus EN7600GS video cards.
Things I do know already:
(1) Enabling/disabling SLI does not have any effect.
(2) Enabling/disabling VMR has no effect
(3) dscaler is the default MPEG-2 decoder, but no decoder I have installed makes any difference.
Ideas, anyone?
TPeterson
06-30-07, 09:03 PM
Clearly, either the FusionHDTV app or your current video driver is not handling DxVA properly on your video hardware for 720p and 480i. I suggest that you post the details on the DViCo My Q&A forum to alert them to this problem. Otherwise, you can try other versions of your video card driver, if they exist.
AllenDB
07-07-07, 09:49 PM
I've got a Shuttle XPC box that in the past did most of my recording. It had an MYHD MDP-130 card. But at 75 miles with hills and weather OTA the tuner didn't get it done. I put an HDTV 5 RT Lite in the main box, the one connected to the TV, and the tuner did the job. So I got a second 5 RT Lite card, pulled the MDP-130 from the Shuttle box and put the Fusion card in its place. The Shuttle box only has one PCI slot. Installed 3.50.01 and its up and running fine.
Here's the problem. Somehow the networking got all screwed up. Now I can usually fix most any problem given time. Its been 24 hours and I cannot get the on board NVIDIA Networking Controller to talk on the lan. It comes up and sends a few bytes but nothing. It even had some 169.x.y.z IP address even with the "Obtain Auto" set. Of Its suppose to get it from the router. This has been working for 2 or 3 years but not anymore. Its crazy.
Before I either "Restore" back to before the installation or just whack the box I thought I'd drop this entry in to see if I missed some trick. I pulled the lan cable and plugged it back in. Besides, if the cable was not plugged in there would be "cable not plugged in" message.
Thanks, Allen
TPeterson
07-07-07, 10:10 PM
Allen, you didn't say what all you did that failed to get the NIC to work. Did you try reinstalling its driver after putting in the Fusion hw and sw? That's one of the first things that I'd do....
AllenDB
07-07-07, 10:38 PM
Allen, you didn't say what all you did that failed to get the NIC to work. Did you try reinstalling its driver after putting in the Fusion hw and sw? That's one of the first things that I'd do....
After a bit I clicked uninstall and scan hardware. It got reinstalled to no avail. I ran IPConfig /release and /renew. I can't remember the resultant failure. I think there was a useless message but I can't remember. The machine is off right now. I even turned off "obtain ip address auto" and assigned one with no luck. I'll sleep on it one more night. The machine has nearly all my tp files. At least their OK, just can't watch 'em.
TPeterson
07-07-07, 11:01 PM
I think I'd try an uninstall and then restart Windows before letting it re-install.
Bob7145
07-08-07, 03:56 AM
162.15 was recalled as defective. 162.18 beta has replaced it.
Happy viewing
AllenDB
07-08-07, 07:08 PM
I think I'd try an uninstall and then restart Windows before letting it re-install.
Nope. Just not sure a reinstall or a complete whack of the box will fix this. Hmmmm.
TPeterson
07-08-07, 07:32 PM
Allen, it has to be a configuration problem. You aren't the only one with Fusion card and NF chipset mobo! (I have one myself and the two are muy simpaticos)
AllenDB
07-08-07, 08:30 PM
Allen, it has to be a configuration problem. You aren't the only one with Fusion card and NF chipset mobo! (I have one myself and the two are muy simpaticos)
I'll see after reinstalling a fresh copy of XP.
AllenDB
07-09-07, 02:14 PM
I'll see after reinstalling a fresh copy of XP.
Just for reference I thought I should explain what the problem was. The on board Nvidia nForce Network Controller chip has some problems. Sometimes when power is removed from the mb and then restored the chip comes up in a screwed up state. The solution is to repeat the mb power off, wait and power back on. Most of the time it will correctly come back up which it did.
I suspected that a reinstall would not solve the problem so I put it off. Poked around and thankfully others have had the same problem and recorded it.
TPeterson
07-09-07, 02:59 PM
Is there a BIOS update to fix it?
AllenDB
07-09-07, 03:52 PM
Is there a BIOS update to fix it?
Not knowing any better I was concentrating on a more current driver. Got jerked around and frustrated by the web site DriverUpdate I just looked for similar problems and found the solution. But as you point out I should look to see if there is an update to the mb bios.
jetcobra
07-10-07, 05:01 PM
I have used my USB GOLD tuner for over a year now for OTA viewing and it generally works great (it does have periods of stuttering even with 100% reception sometimes). I just tried the cable tuner for the first time by attaching my cable coax to the input and I received nothing - 0% reception on any channel. This coax has been attached to my plasma with a cable tuner and there it receives all of the local cable channels, but I get nothing on the Fusion.
Am I missing something? What should I try to resolve this? I'm in the South Bay area near the ocean in a suburb of L.A., CA - Time Warner is now the cable company here.
Thanks
TPeterson
07-10-07, 05:17 PM
If you're using exactly the same connection as was going to the DTV, rather than another piece of coax with perhaps more splitters between it and the cableco's line drop, you should find at least as many digital signals in a FusionHDTV channel scan. Did you set the scan to "cable" from "ant"? You are connecting directly to the cable and not to the output of a cable tuner box, right?
jetcobra
07-10-07, 11:55 PM
If you're using exactly the same connection as was going to the DTV, rather than another piece of coax with perhaps more splitters between it and the cableco's line drop, you should find at least as many digital signals in a FusionHDTV channel scan. Did you set the scan to "cable" from "ant"? You are connecting directly to the cable and not to the output of a cable tuner box, right?
There is no cable box - the coax is the same one connected to my plasma where I'm getting all of the cable channels. I set the scan to "cable" and "digital+analog". Could the cable portion of the tuner be bad?
TPeterson
07-11-07, 01:38 AM
I suppose anything is possible, but it's certainly not a common problem. Did you try re-installing the sw (ahem, using the KAXKID Procedure)?
pc-tech
07-11-07, 01:52 PM
I see they have a new Dvico FusionHDTV5 express.
Is it me or do they make it sound like it can do QAM in MCE? Does any one know if this does QAM on MCE?
Thanks,
PC-Tech
TPeterson
07-11-07, 02:26 PM
The PCI-express card version uses the same sw as all other DViCo PC tuner units, and therefore has the same capabilities. I don't know what you read, exactly, but perhaps there is a reference to WinV's MCE and its ability to tune QAM?
where da heck is that new multi card crash proof software? new season isn't that far away.
pc-tech
07-12-07, 10:22 AM
The PCI-express card version uses the same sw as all other DViCo PC tuner units, and therefore has the same capabilities. I don't know what you read, exactly, but perhaps there is a reference to WinV's MCE and its ability to tune QAM?
I guess there description on there product page is too vague:
"user-friendly Media Center for watching digital TV"
I guess my hopes where up for nothing.
I would post the URL, but I'm new and AVS will not allow me until I make 5 posts.
TPeterson
07-12-07, 11:09 AM
where da heck is that new multi card crash proof software? new season isn't that far away.It's an acknowledged general problem but I expect that it will get more attention if people post in the My Q&A DViCo forum about it and it will get faster correction if you can include a specific recipe for provoking a crash.
It's an acknowledged general problem but I expect that it will get more attention if people post in the My Q&A DViCo forum about it and it will get faster correction if you can include a specific recipe for provoking a crash.
I think I did but I'll do it again as it has been a while.
Ok I have Fusion5USBTV from a little over a year ago that I purchased.
I pulled it out, and plugged it into a USB port on a new dual core intel 6600 xp machine with an Nvidia 7800gtx.
I downloaded 3.62.01 and ran the install, then let it reboot the pc.
When I go to load it I get Authentication EP 45 failed.
I searched to find other folks got this error code on all kinds of hardware. The best advice seemed to be to completely uninstall it , reboot and start over.
So I ran the uninstall, and rebooted. First thing I notice, the shortcuts to the Fusion software are still on my desktop. So I go check and the fusion directories are still all there from before and one of the subdirectories named Remote contains files all set with the -A attribute.
All the other empty folders, and the above files in the Remote subdir are also forced to file setting archive (+A) on them so I can not delete them. Using the command line
attrib -a does not clear it either.
So now I have a machine that the Fusion software could not install or uninstall itself with messy pieces of shortcuts and file folders that are now all but impossible to delete.
I am am VERY unimpressed and the software has left my pc a mess... total amount of my time wasted 2 hours trying to clean it out after the install.
The worst part about this is when this product was new people complained about the drivers having lots of problems and here it is a year later and their software seems to be a small disaster.
I really need help cleaning this crappy install off my pc, so I am posting this message with a plea for help.
I am sure the product works for some of you and maybe you can advise me on how to deal with this.
Ok, got my new 500g USB drive set up so now I can finally determine if my two-hour limit (before extreme freezing and stutter) was because of a shrinking boot drive volume (down to about 66g).
waverider
07-20-07, 07:47 AM
What are the interface problems and favored solutions when using a QAM card (DVICO or other) with Media Center? Please don't shun me when I reveal that I have not read every single post on this thread yet. I am hoping someone will be so kind as to fact check me or refer me to a post or thread that covers these statements:
MCE2005 and Vista (the designation of top-of-the line software eludes me at moment) do not support or provide an interface with QAM decoders.
If you want to use a QAM decoder alongside an ATSC decoder in an HTPC two cards are necessary.
To access QAM program content you have to open up software outside of the Media Center interface.
Do I have this right? I have not had time to really dig into this thread as I have been exploring the BLURay HD DVD HTPC thread. Replying with a quote from a previous thread would be fine as it would give me a place to start other than going back to the beginning of this thread (2005) and reading the history of all DVICO HDTV tuner card releases.
Thanks in advance. :)
I have been trying all morning to download the software with no luck.
Would anyone know of a alternative site with the latest reliable working
version.
I have the fusionHDTV USB Gold. Looking for the ATSC download
thanks
Ken
TPeterson
07-22-07, 11:26 AM
Ken--
What does "no luck" mean? The best source of the latest release that I know of is the official site: http://www.fusionhdtv.co.kr/Eng/Download/Software.aspx
That's the site but it keeps timing out. They must have a problem.
Ken
Ken--
What does "no luck" mean? The best source of the latest release that I know of is the official site: http://www.fusionhdtv.co.kr/Eng/Download/Software.aspx
TPeterson
07-22-07, 11:49 AM
In that case, I suggest that you wait until 9 p.m. EDT or so and try again when the DViCo folks will be back at work on their Monday morning.
HE_Net_Guy
07-23-07, 02:40 PM
I am setting up a MythTV setup using Dvico Fusion 5 Gold RT card. I have Time Warner Cable in LA area. I was able to scan both QAM256 and Analog channels on MythBackend. Unfortunately, I can not view any channels (system keeps crashing) in almost all QAM 256 channels.
Any tips??
TPeterson
07-23-07, 03:49 PM
Suggest that you post to a MythTV thread someplace, as most folks here are using Windows.
try here
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=76
[QUOTE=HE_Net_Guy]I am setting up a MythTV setup using Dvico Fusion 5 Gold RT
I need help guys. I am trying to get video /audio from my camcorder into my computer. The camcorder outputs RCA (composite) video (yellow) and composite audio ( just white). I can get the HDTV Dvico software to show the video but I do not get any audio. When I try to record I get "connecting audio capture source filter and mpeg encoder failed" and no file is outputted...
I need help as I need this video by thursday...please advise...i am using 3.60.01
Ken--
What does "no luck" mean? The best source of the latest release that I know of is the official site: http://www.fusionhdtv.co.kr/Eng/Download/Software.aspx
The download from this site is still slow...after an hour I've got 9% of it downloaded. I just installed Windows XP and thought I would use the latest drivers, but I'm wondering if 3.62 is really needed. I've 3.61 and 3.50 on my hard drive already.
Edit: OK, I did a little searching and see that 3.62 doesn't really add much. I'll forget the download.
Falcon_77
07-29-07, 03:05 PM
That's the site but it keeps timing out. They must have a problem.
Ken
I'm not having any luck downloading from their website today. I should have brought an old version from home.
I have to wonder if it is worth fussing with this tuner anymore. (Fusion USB 5). The tuner on it is considerably less effective than digital tuners built into various newer TV's I've tried.
It has worked better on ATSC (QAM was a joke), but analog reception tends to vanish at will.
What generation is in the Fusion USB 5. It certainly can't be 5th.
I use the Fusion 5 Gold and I must agree with you on analog reception. No question, this is not the tuner to use for analog. This is a HDTV/digital TV tuner so I doubt anyone bothers using it for analog signals.
However, both QAM and OTA reception is excellent for me. I'm thinking your problem might be signal strength. What are you using for an antenna? I've got a big sucker on top of my roof.
How strong is your signal for QAM reception? Do you have a lot of splitters on your line? All of my QAM stations are at 100% strength if I use the cable wire that comes into the house. However, by the time it goes through the splitters and cabling in my house the strength drops to 88%. A friend of mine could not get any QAM stations until he removed a (cheap) signal amp that he'd added in the bacement.
I use the Fusion 5 Gold and I must agree with you on analog reception. No question, this is not the tuner to use for analog. This is a HDTV/digital TV tuner so I doubt anyone bothers using it for analog signals.
However, both QAM and OTA reception is excellent for me. I'm thinking your problem might be signal strength. What are you using for an antenna? I've got a big sucker on top of my roof.
How strong is your signal for QAM reception? Do you have a lot of splitters on your line? All of my QAM stations are at 100% strength if I use the cable wire that comes into the house. However, by the time it goes through the splitters and cabling in my house the strength drops to 88%. A friend of mine could not get any QAM stations until he removed a (cheap) signal amp that he'd added in the bacement.
I always thought the HD tuning was excellent. Whats analog?
I always thought the HD tuning was excellent. Whats analog?
Exactly!
I just checked again, my QAM reception is consistently stronger and better than my OTA reception. Scheduling a QAM recording is a PITA, but the signal is great.
TPeterson
07-30-07, 07:15 PM
Scheduling a QAM recording is a PITA....You must not be using CW_EPG (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=659993) to schedule Fusion recordings. <tsk, tsk, tsk>
You must not be using CW_EPG (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=659993) to schedule Fusion recordings. <tsk, tsk, tsk>
lol! I've been using BTV-Externinator and it once I got it working it seemed OK. However, I just split the cable from my roof-top antenna and run it to my computer so BTV works like a charm.
TPeterson
07-30-07, 09:07 PM
Then whence the "PITA"?
(I should also point out for other readers of this thread that Record_This (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=591195) is another option for simpler QAM scheduling of FusionHDTV. CW_EPG and RT, unlike BTV-Externinator (which is, I'm sure, a fine program), do not require any commercial 3rd-party sw to work with FusionHDTV)
I started using Snapstream years before I got my Fusion card, so I'm partial to it. However, getting BTV-Exterminator working was an incredible PITA for me. I spent hours and hours (and hours) trying to get it working. If I'd known about CW_EPG, I would have tried it first...
I just got a HDHR tuner, and and am about to set it up with RT. I didn't even bother to look to see if CW_EPG works with it <off I go to check it out>.
<Edit: I may wait a month to see what happens with Zap2it before I run with RT or CW_EPG>
AllenDB
07-31-07, 04:15 PM
I started using Snapstream years before I got my Fusion card, so I'm partial to it. However, getting BTV-Exterminator working was an incredible PITA for me. I spent hours and hours (and hours) trying to get it working. If I'd known about CW_EPG, I would have tried it first...
I just got a HDHR tuner, and and am about to set it up with RT. I didn't even bother to look to see if CW_EPG works with it <off I go to check it out>.
<Edit: I may wait a month to see what happens with Zap2it before I run with RT or CW_EPG>
At least one replacement has been found and used or is in use for Zap2It. Its an interface to Yahoo TV. I was about to try it myself when I lost my machine. Now I'm trying to resurrect it. I'll check out the Yahoo TV thing then.
Allen
DPlettner
07-31-07, 04:51 PM
At least one replacement has been found and used or is in use for Zap2It. Its an interface to Yahoo TV. I was about to try it myself when I lost my machine. Now I'm trying to resurrect it. I'll check out the Yahoo TV thing then.
AllenHi Allen,
Here is another program (http://forums.gbpvr.com/showthread.php?t=27800) that generates an XML file from Yahoo. By default, Yahoo does not have OTA listings. However, this programs (which uses a GUI) pulls your local OTA stations from an FCC database, let's you select the stations you want, scans the Yahoo lineups to look from your stations, and then generates the XML from all the lineups required. While I have tested the output from Vladd's program with RT (it worked great), I have not tested the output from this program. Also I have not tried the MCE XML programs yet, but I hear they work well too.
Right now, CW_EPG is tightly coupled to Zap2It. However, I think it would be useful if CW_EPG could accept XMLTV format files. It seems like a lot of people are developing programs that provide schedule data in XMLTV format. Also, the Schedules Direct solution will hopefully be good, but it probably won't be free. If somebody with MCE can produce XML files from the MCE data for free, they might not want to sign up for Schedules Direct.
-Dave
I just wanted to be sure that the DVICO can record a 720p show in 720p and then I can play it back at 720p and not scaled to 1080i
sengsational
08-05-07, 07:35 PM
I just wanted to be sure that the DVICO can record a 720p show in 720p and then I can play it back at 720p and not scaled to 1080iBasically when a digital show is recorded, it just takes whatever bytes are sent, and lays it down on your hard drive. A transformation, like the one you mention, would be pretty "expensive" in terms of cpu cycles, so, no, there's no such change by any digital tuner I know of to get the video to the hard disk. The playback is more "interesting" because what you see depends on what you use to render the program, including your display driver/settings and your display itself. But even there, I doubt it would go from 720p to 1080i because like I said, it's "expensive", and nothing is gained.
--Dale--
Okay this ought to be an easy one for you guys but it sure has me baffled. I moved my recording target folder over to my new 500g external, and everything is going great, except I'm trying to record the 4 hour golf match, and Fusion keeps busting what should be one simple 4-hour file into little 22-minute and 37-minute subfiles.
They are continuous and well recorded and all, but what would make Fusion chop recording files up into smaller ones as it's recording? I use the manual record mode and set it for 240 minutes and my file size is set to unlimited. This must have happened to somebody else!
<< Changes in Rev 3.62.04 >>
---------------------------------------------------------------
1. New 'Unified Video Decoder' has been added.
- You can change the DxVA or non DxVA decoder on the configuration-Video tab.
- With DxVA function, Digital deinterlacing can be changed internally.
- With DxVA setting, Supports secondary monitor under VISTA (Recommend the Magnetic Main Controller)
- Intel onboard DxVA function has improved.(Recommend intel VGA driver)
- With this version, there is also old video decoder.
2. Changed the analog wave out to direct sound.
- CD-in, Line-in or Lite(878) model is same with previous version.
3. The default of Analog Audio Attenuation has been changed.
- Default value is 0 level.
4. You can adjust the video parameter for analog TV regardless of VMR renderer.
- With DTV mode and VMR option, you cannot adjust the video parameter.
5. You can use the converter and FusionHDTV program at the same time.
- If you have some jerky issue while converting, we don't recommend to use simultaneously.
6. Fixed other minor bugs.
Download link (http://demod.dvico.com/down/FusionHDTV3.62.04Beta_Web.exe)
=====
Has anyone tried this yet? I am hoping it addresses some DxVA quirks I have noticed.
The new 3.62.04 beta unified driver seems to be using a lot of cpu for me otherwise it seems to work.
Hard to figure out what any of the above means--is there anything in there that will improve plain vanilla functionality or efficiency?
I always seem right on the edge of jitter and freeze and usually win the battle, but it would be nice if they figured out how to add more stability and robustness to the basic image. The instant anything tasks my CPU like an email server action my PQ goes to Hades in a handcart.
You'd think after all this time and graphics card enhancements and CPU advances they could get the picture locked better in real world environments rather than having to shut everything else down and pray your CPU doesn't burp as Tiger putts on 18 to win the PGA. All this fancy crap is great for Mad Scientists but I just want a non-jittery picture in the real world fellas!
BTW this new Tivo 2.5 release--I see it does file conversion, but that doesn't work as a program scheduler with Fusion does it?
I always seem right on the edge of jitter and freeze and usually win the battle, but it would be nice if they figured out how to add more stability and robustness to the basic image. The instant anything tasks my CPU like an email server action my PQ goes to Hades in a handcart....All this fancy crap is great for Mad Scientists but I just want a non-jittery picture in the real world fellas!
My FusionHD never gives me a problem. I record, get email, play WOW, and do whatever all at the same time. I just upgraded my computer, so I may be cheating. But I don't remember having a problem on my old single core Athalon. Anyway, it runs fine on a dual core CPU and a NVidia GeForce 8600GT video card in Windows XP.
I'm having a minor problem installing the Fusion card along with my HDHomerun tuner, but when I do, I expect I'll be able to record 3 stations at once without a glitch.
Hard to figure out what any of the above means--is there anything in there that will improve plain vanilla functionality or efficiency?
What I meant that I have a dual core AMD FX-60 + EVGA-7900GT and when I use the new unified driver (it is one of the new option under display/video), one of my cpu use 75% of cpu and the other one use 10%.
If I switch back to use the Zulu DVxa driver, both cpu drop down around 10% usage.
This is while watching tv HD channel on my monitor at 2560x1600.
So the new unified driver does not seem to be using all the hardware acceleration that it could be using.
Well Im running an Athlon 3200+ single-core with an X1300 Radeon but I have a Fusion Lite. Would that make any difference? If I'm careful and shut everything else down, it's clean. But email fetching clobbers the picture, though just for a few seconds. It's very much on the edge.
I suspect if I tried that unified driver it'd crash my whole system.
TPeterson
08-09-07, 12:20 AM
The unified driver doesn't support the F5Lite card, so you won't have that "problem".
From your problem description I suspect that you actually have a resource conflict on your PC, perhaps a shared IRQ with a BIOS that doesn't properly support such. You could try moving the PCI card(s) to different slots (and reinstalling FusionHDTV, and maybe your video card's driver) to see if you don't find a more stable setup.
The new beta did nothing to solve the issues I mentioned in this post (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10921360#post10921360).
I have been in an ongoing Q/A exchange with Dvico for about a month and was hoping this would address my problem.
EDIT - I have found that disabling Asus Splendid Video Enhancement Technology did solve my problem.
DxVA works for me now with 480i, 720p and 1080i programming. Hurrah!
What I meant that I have a dual core AMD FX-60 + EVGA-7900GT and when I use the new unified driver (it is one of the new option under display/video), one of my cpu use 75% of cpu and the other one use 10%.
If I switch back to use the Zulu DVxa driver, both cpu drop down around 10% usage.
This is while watching tv HD channel on my monitor at 2560x1600.
So the new unified driver does not seem to be using all the hardware acceleration that it could be using.
after reading the few posts after your post, i think a clarification is necessary. the 3.62.04beta has a new "unified video decoder" option in the video configuration. i think this opens a new discussion different from the discussion about the "unified driver" for the tuner hardware.
see screen cap:
Interesting, when I moved the target over to the external USB drive (standard 7200 data rate), resolution dropped noticeably on file playback. Completely unnacceptable. You guys were saying an external USB used for file storage should have no effect on throughput/resolution, but I can guarantee you, it does! At least at 1650 X 1050. The resolution has dropped to 720P or below. Looks like crap compared to live.
I'll try your idea TP of moving the card. Something's gotta work here. Fusion is just one long miserable struggle, kind of like marriage without the sex.
Shouldn't any IRQ conflicts be apparent in the device manager info (via the warning sign next to the device name)? Are there such things as hidden IRQ conflicts that don't show up there?
Isn't there some new HD product that just came out very similar to these Fusion cards? I have to believe they have less hassle than this nonsense.
TPeterson
08-11-07, 09:18 PM
Maruuk--
I don't follow you on what happened with your USB HDD recording. DTV recordings are simply bit-for-bit copies of the transmitted MPEG2-encoded video stream and have whatever resolution was sent by the station. You can introduce errors into the recording with a bad data path but you can't get a "lower resolution". The reason that the files are chopped at 4 GB is that your USB HDD is evidently not NTFS formatted. FAT32-formatted HDD cannot have bigger files than 4 GB.
I think the HD recording product that suits your needs is called TiVo-HD.
Yeah the dipwad HD company ships these things with FAT32--duh! Great for PCs in...1997! I'm reformatting to NSTC or whatever the rational format is called now.
Well that's interesting! So you're sure that there's no way the throughput speed of the USB port could be responsible for any loss of resolution of the image on file playback? What would happen if the data rate got reduced too low, just huge picture tears and crashing? You can't have any reduced resolution via USB because the data is the data and can't result in any actual PQ loss? I mean, that is the rep of digital video, it's there, or it ain't.
Well I'll double check to see if my local station is feeding me some crap lowered resolution to begin with. I wouldn't put it past em! Normally my local DT stations produce a gorgeous, crisp image--perhaps the CBS station here has cut its bandwidth lately. It looks right between HD and SD in terms of its clarity. Much better than when the non-HD field golf cameras produce an image (hellooo NBC!), but nowhere near true 1080i.
Yeah, well, when I get an extra $2k for the DTV HD rig and the 1080P monitor I'll let you know. In the meantime it's fight the good fight against haphazard and kluged hobbyist/non-consumer-grade hardware/software.
Maruuk-
I've used a USB drive to play files I recorded with the Fusion5 and they look great. NTFS formatted disks can only be used by recent Windows operating systems, whereas FAT32 can be read by many others. It makes more sense to ship them with FAT32 than NTFS.
The fact that you seem to think the Fusion5 package is 'haphazard and kludged hobbyist/non-consumer-grade hardware/software', is a pretty good indicator that you would do better with something like a Tivo-HD.
If you want to try something instead of the Fusion5, check out the HDHomerun. However, my HDHR came in a box without one word of what to do with it; you need to go to their web page to get instructions (www.silicondust.com). It is a very cool product (you can record two programs at once with it), but I'm not sure it is actually much easier to use than the Fusion5.
USB is adequate for current hdtv though 1394 (firewire) has higher sustained throughput. This is assuming assuming you are using straight through usb and not have a usb hub which will reduce throughput when other devices are active on it.
uriah
[QUOTE=Maruuk]Y
Well that's interesting! So you're sure that there's no way the throughput speed of the USB port could be responsible for any loss of resolution of the image on file playback? What would happen if the data rate got reduced too low, just huge picture tears and crashing? You can't have any reduced resolution via USB because the data is the data and can't result in any actual PQ loss? I mean, that is the rep of digital video, it's there, or it ain't.
Well thanks, guys, from what you're all saying, the data rate via a standard USB 2.0 at 7200 cannot be simply reducing the playback resolution. Then I must not have checked out the source signal carefully enough. Man, it's really scary to think my local station has started to chisel bandwidth/resolution off its signal! But I know what 1080i golf is supposed to look like and that wasn't it!
Okay, got my ext HD reformatted to non-buggy whip era standards. I'll try some pure sources tonight and check for any resolution loss.
You guys seem to think I'm made out of money. I already bought this Lite Card and a damned good antenna, got my X1300, and I'm gonna make it work one way or another! It's Fusiondome: Two go in, only one comes out. I'm gonna whip this sucker good.
I guess it was that HDHomerun I had read about as the new kid on the block. Any idea what that costs? The ability to record 2 at a time (and presumably watch a recorded file at the same time) is pretty compelling.
I guess it was that HDHomerun I had read about as the new kid on the block. Any idea what that costs? The ability to record 2 at a time (and presumably watch a recorded file at the same time) is pretty compelling.
The HDHR is way better than the Fusion 5.. in pretty much every way.
TPeterson
08-12-07, 02:19 AM
Hyperbole. Each has strengths and weaknesses. There is no PC tuner product yet, AFAICT, that can get high marks across the board...and, IMO, the one that still has the highest average mark is the now over 2 year-old MyHD, despite its suffering from behind-the-times tuner hw.
rogerssa
08-13-07, 01:02 PM
I recently upgraded to Vista MCE. I have the Fusion 5 Lite card. I have the fusion software working fine.
Out of curiosity I tried to to use MCE. It found the card and then searched for channels. It only found 12 Digital channels no analog at all. Any ideas why this is? It can't tune the Digital changes (QAM) which I expected.
TPeterson
08-13-07, 01:09 PM
Suggest that you post in the Vista and Fusion thread, since most of us here don't use it.
For the past couple of months my Fusion card has had a hard time picking up my QAM cable channels. It will usually pick up only one of the locals well or if two are on one channel (my NBC and CBS are 108-1 and 108-2) it'll pick those both up but have below 80% signal on the other channels and it won't even show video.
But my Westinghouse TV will pick up all the QAM channels fine. So it's not the cable side. Any ways I can fix this? I am on 3.41 software so I'll update that tonight but are there anymore tweaks that I can do to get all the channels.
For instance my ABC channel (98-1) and TBS (98-2) work well at 97% signal but all my other locals FOX (92-1), CBS (108-1), NBC (108-2) and CW (101-1) all come in at about 79% and show no video and have choppy audio and some of my other digital channels not in HD work well and others are choppy w/ bad audio and video.
TPeterson
08-13-07, 05:54 PM
tikyle--
Bad splitter in your Fusion's signal path?
A few months ago I suddenly lost my QAM stations at my PC, but it was OK in my TV room. After a lot of head scratching, I discovered it was the cable from where it was split to my computer. Actually, the cable was OK, I just needed to change the connectors.
I found the problem by swapping the connections at the splitter.
DPlettner
08-14-07, 12:11 AM
I agree with Terry and Hyrax. If your Westinghouse is close to your Fusion, just try connecting the cable going to the Westinghouse to the Fusion, or disconnect the cable feeding into the splitter and plug it into the Fusion. That should give you an answer very quickly.
-Dave
jdelo24
08-19-07, 12:08 PM
I have the FusionHDTV5 USB and 3.62.01 drivers installed. I keep getting this error: Connect deinterlacer to video renderer failed. Any ideas why I'm getting this and how to fix it? Thanks
TPeterson
08-19-07, 04:00 PM
Try installing FusionHDTV again. If you still see the error, then try reinstalling your video card driver. If that doesn't work then post some more details of your setup, e.g., what OS, PC model, and video card, and a solution may appear to someone.
SFischer1
08-21-07, 03:24 AM
Hi,
Fusion 3.61
I started getting errors on startup and "menu index out of range" or something like that when right clicking. A repair did not help.
I had not changed anything but then I remembered MS installed some updates I did not look at the description. (Bad, Very Bad).
I then realized that Fusion uses Net 2.0 which is in bad updating shape currently. (I could not even UN-install it on another machine.)
So I UN-installed Net 2.0 and Fusion including deleting the Fusion program file folder. I suspect the driver was not UN-installed even though I tried.
Reinstalling Net 2.0 from the MSDN disk and then installing Fusion worked. The errors went away.
So, MS automatic updates is possibly the source of some new problems.
------------------------------------------------------------
Question: What are the threads to watch for 3.61?
Stephen H. Fischer
Hi,
Fusion 3.61
I started getting errors on startup and "menu index out of range" or something like that when right clicking. A repair did not help.
I had not changed anything but then I remembered MS installed some updates I did not look at the description. (Bad, Very Bad).
I then realized that Fusion uses Net 2.0 which is in bad updating shape currently. (I could not even UN-install it on another machine.)
So I UN-installed Net 2.0 and Fusion including deleting the Fusion program file folder. I suspect the driver was not UN-installed even though I tried.
Reinstalling Net 2.0 from the MSDN disk and then installing Fusion worked. The errors went away.
So, MS automatic updates is possibly the source of some new problems.
------------------------------------------------------------
Question: What are the threads to watch for 3.61?
Stephen H. Fischer
it's been said before that auto updates from MS are not a good thing when using fusion software/hardware.
SFischer1
08-21-07, 09:37 PM
it's been said before that auto updates from MS are not a good thing when using fusion software/hardware.
In the case of Net 2.0 I agree. For now anyway, until it is agreed that the problems with Net 2.0 updating are really fixed.
When I started from scratch with a Win XP clean install there were about 130 updates installed before I started to install the HTPC software.
As the HTPC must be connected to the Internet for CW_EPG, is it best to continue installing the MS updates to have your computer protected from the bad stuff on the Internet?
---------------------------------------------
I lost the use of the remote during this process. It was working just fine.
It was working with two different physical remotes both of which will bring the HTPC out of Hibernation so both remotes and the Fusion card are working.
The remote test fails. No buttons work except the Hibernate in out buttons.
I have the Fusion MCE Remote connected directly to the Fusion Card.
I did another complete un-install with two driver removal runs.
Then another Install of 3.61. No Joy.
--------------------------------------------------
I also no longer see the ASUS "Superb" logo which kept popping up before when everything was working including the remote.
I did note a post saying to turn the ASUS "Superb" off but I cannot find where to do this.
ASUS EAX1600XT Silent, drivers from my new ASUS EAX1600XT PRO Silent CD in my new Video Processor Computer.
-----------------------------------------------
I noted: Fusion HDTV 3.63.01 official version has been released.
I will try this tomorrow to try and see if the remote problem has been fixed If it appears it might help.
Stephen H. Fischer
...
As the HTPC must be connected to the Internet for CW_EPG, is it best to continue installing the MS updates to have your computer protected from the bad stuff on the Internet? ...
I noted: Fusion HDTV 3.63.01 official version has been released.
I will try this tomorrow to try and see if the remote problem has been fixed If it appears it might help.
Stephen H. Fischer
CW_EPG is coded to goto only one specific web site for a data download, hardly a reason to let MS continually update/change the software environment of a HTPC that is working.
3.63.01 has some changes from 3.61, but as you have already noted, the fusion software/hardware don't seem to be the cause of your problems. as you are familiar with the 3.61 version, i would suggest you get the HTPC working properly using that version again before attempting the new 3.63.01 version which has no user history yet.
SFischer1
08-23-07, 08:37 AM
CW_EPG is coded to goto only one specific web site for a data download, hardly a reason to let MS continually update/change the software environment of a HTPC that is working.
3.63.01 has some changes from 3.61, but as you have already noted, the fusion software/hardware don't seem to be the cause of your problems. as you are familiar with the 3.61 version, i would suggest you get the HTPC working properly using that version again before attempting the new 3.63.01 version which has no user history yet.
Hi,
Remote problem fixed by removing all power from the HTPC for 30 seconds.
http://www.fusionhdtv.co.kr/Eng/Support/FAQRemote.aspx?act=RD&id=316&pg=0&CATID=13
My HTPC has the DSL connection to the Internet and provides it wirelessly to my other three computers. Thus it must be up to date with security fixes and also because I am not running any Virus software on it.
I am going to capture an image of it quickly.
Stephen H. Fischer
SFischer1
08-23-07, 08:45 AM
I have the FusionHDTV5 USB and 3.62.01 drivers installed. I keep getting this error: Connect deinterlacer to video renderer failed. Any ideas why I'm getting this and how to fix it? Thanks
Hi,
This message appears when I try to start Fusion when I am using "Remote Desktop".
Fusion is appearently not happy with some Video drivers, the one for "Remote Desktop" being just one. Look at your Video Card Driver for any problems.
Stephen H. Fischer
Brimstone311
08-23-07, 12:59 PM
Hi everyone, im new to this forum and ive been trying to read up on as much of this thread as i can, but as you can see by the 79 pages of this thread i can only intake so much at once. I have one question, all of you speak of how you take the signal straight from the wall and into the tuner card, why cant you just take the HDMI out such as with the comcast motorola STB to a HDMI or DIV input on a video card and then output it to your HDTV. I know this is kind of a huge vague question but im wondering where the problem lies, i am just looking to view the content on my desktop, i really dont care about recording.
Thanks in advance for your input
i really dont care about recording.rhetorical question: Then why don't you simply:
just take the HDMI out such as with the comcast motorola STB to a HDMI or DIV input on ...your HDTV.
the 79 pages of this threadare about specific products & software, and not about general, "huge vague question(s)" as you have just raised....let alone questions that have been raised in the forums 99 million previous times.
why cant you just take the HDMI out such as with the comcast motorola STB to a HDMI or DIV input on a video card and then output it to your HDTV... im wondering where the problem lies- there are no video cards configured as you describe, as its illogical (see first comment).
- given that what you are really after is information on capture devices, there are indeed such devices that input such signals
- there are a number of technical reasons why this is not a plug-n-play activity ... all of which have been covered a number of times previously.
- newcomers are almost always shocked by the sticker prices and complexity ... newcomers almost always think "it should easily be possible" ... newcomers are almost always ignorant of or discount the wee little technical details that mark the complexity of the operation .... this last comment was added to cut the discussion off at the pass, cause its invariably always the route it takes.
...why cant you just take the HDMI out such as with the comcast motorola STB to a HDMI or DIV input on a video card and then output it to your HDTV....
CityK's response hit the nail right on the head, but a wee bit more of an answer might help you. There is no such thing as a video card with a HDMI or DIV input.
If you do not want a Fusion or other tuner card, I believe what you may want is to buy a new PC with one of those ATI cablecard tuners. Because you can only get that tuner with a new PC, it will cost at least $1000 more than a Fusion 5 card, and you'll need to run Vista. The HP m8100y series PC is the cheapest option that I know about along those lines.
SFischer1
08-23-07, 05:45 PM
- there are a number of technical reasons why this is not a plug-n-play activity ... all of which have been covered a number of times previously.
- newcomers are almost always shocked by the sticker prices and complexity ... newcomers almost always think "it should easily be possible" ... newcomers are almost always ignorant of or discount the wee little technical details that mark the complexity of the operation .... this last comment was added to cut the discussion off at the pass, cause its invariably always the route it takes.
Hi,
I have rounded up the gang and am waiting for you at the pass. Be prepared to protect your strong box and women.
We are not in the stone age of computing any more. Expecting that products will work and do what we expect is a reasonable expectation.
This is a goal that we must hold mfg.'s to and Microsoft also.
Microsoft is on a path requiring all drivers to be tested and signed.
They also are working on standards so all software will work and be compatible. This started with Windows 95 and is continuing.
Soon we no longer will be required to bow our heads in shame for purchasing a product that will not work without a Masters degree and click on the box that allows bad drivers to be installed.
That so many "technical reasons" exist MUST be removed and cannot be allowed to continue.
This will take more time but must be a goal that we work toward.
-----------------------------------------------------
I spent a huge amount of time on a new problem that appeared with Fusion 3.61. The solution was very unexpected and puzzling. I am very experienced and did a very large amount of reading AVS posts and other sources.
-----------------------------------------------------
Some persons have lost track of why AVS exists.
The purpose is to help others, not browbeat them.
As "technical reasons" include the inability of humans to spend so much time reading enormous numbers of posts looking for an answer to their problems, we must help each other by answering them politely and usefully when we have the answers.
Yes there is a minimum amount of knowledge needed to build and use a HTPC. That may take more time than some persons have to spend. We must help them learn.
Reducing that time must be our goal, not enjoying putting people down.
Stephen H. Fischer
Stephen-
Unfortunately, free HDTV on a computer is still a fringe pursuit. The price you pay to be a hobbyist [lol, my spell checker suggested hobbit when i misspelled hobbyist] is that there will always be a steep learning curve and glitches. I sure wish it were as easy as a Tivo, while I hope it never becomes as boring as Windows. Actually for me, my Fusion5 is almost as easy as a Tivo.
Once this hobby becomes mainstream, HTPCs will probably be easy to setup and use, but will also probably be completely crippled by DRM, broadcast flags, Copy Never, and Vista. I'm usually not a Microsoft basher, but I bristle at the thought of DRM heavy solutions.
SFischer1
08-24-07, 05:28 AM
Stephen-
Unfortunately, free HDTV on a computer is still a fringe pursuit. The price you pay to be a hobbyist [lol, my spell checker suggested hobbit when i misspelled hobbyist] is that there will always be a steep learning curve and glitches. I sure wish it were as easy as a Tivo, while I hope it never becomes as boring as Windows. Actually for me, my Fusion5 is almost as easy as a Tivo.
Once this hobby becomes mainstream, HTPCs will probably be easy to setup and use, but will also probably be completely crippled by DRM, broadcast flags, Copy Never, and Vista. I'm usually not a Microsoft basher, but I bristle at the thought of DRM heavy solutions.
Your vision of the future may be right on, the movie industry has so much money and so many lawyers. This may change as their model of the new world fails as someday it will. Tech advances will always continue and I still see no method ever possible they can ever use to protect their products like they wish to.
I may not live to see how it plays out as they will have great staying power.
----------------------------------------
Actually during my research I found out that Fusion un-install is now doing a proper job and not leaving anything around to hinder reinstalls. They even clean up the mess left around from earlier versions.
I saw a lot of problems with Vista talked about but Fusion is working on them along with Microsoft. I think that there are some very basic design problems that MS is still working on for Vista and later. The graphics changed radically for Vista, perhaps that will just be a part of their very basic restructuring to make Video and HTPC's much better soon.
We here are on the cutting edge of this new tech knowledge and so what many of want to do and are doing will be difficult, impossible for some. I will help those who I can, I hope others will do the same no matter what help persons need.
But it will get better. I agree that Fusion is now or soon will be as easy to use as a Tivo, whatever that is (Just kidding).
With the "MyHD", "Fusion5 RT Gold" and "CW_EPG" my HTPC is working quite well. Too well as I am still trying to watch what is being recorded and not fall behind even though CW_EPG is not capturing what I have seen before.
Perhaps I can sum up my problems with the "Pass" message.
I think that we should treat anyone asking a question as if they were walking into a public library looking for information.
There they are always treated well and a real effort is made to help them find the information they wish regardless of how much they know about the subject beforehand.
-----------------------------------------------------------
I have been working with computers now for ~ 37 years and I still have a desire to find out how things work and can be used. And to help those who I can. Even with so many years working with computers it is very hard to find out answers.
We here at the AVS forum have a very large number of the most powerful computers produced to date (Maybe, they do not tell us about everything), the human mind.
We can help people find things much faster as some of us may have seen the problem before, may be better able to do a search (I am Google challenged), may under stand things quickly, explain better and have other traits that allow us to help others easily.
Building a HTPC may be a mainstream effort for a while but I do not think it will last. The companies building stand alone boxes will someday dominate like they did in the past by producing what we on the cutting edge are exploring.
Then we will move on to other things. Ever hear of "Ham Radio"? Those persons have moved on to computers, some using their radios. What is next, I do not expect to learn.
Stephen H. Fischer - always trying to learn more until I cannot.
Brimstone311
08-24-07, 10:08 AM
Ok, so i sort of expected a response like the one from CityK cause god knows there are plent of elitest in the crowd who belive everone else should go throught the same painstaking process they endured to collect the knowledge they have before they are worthy of a kind response. That being said, the reason i ask this question is, i esentially envision running a computer through my HDTV and having HDTV running through my computer. I have already ran video from my computer to my HDTV through a DVI connection, so in my mind i know the computer can "communicate" with the TV and i know the cable can communicate with the TV through the STB. I guess my question is, if the signal coming out of the STB allows the TV to display encrypted channels, what is holding back connecting it to a computer and then running it from the computer to the TV? in my mind there is nothing left to decrypt. Yes i am new at this, but im not a moron, im just inexperienced.
TPeterson
08-24-07, 10:17 AM
Brimstone311--
There is still the fact that you have inappropriately hijacked this thread off topic. Your questions do not pertain to use of the FusionHDTV tuner beyond where you asked if it could do the sort of thing you wish. The answer to that is, "no". Feel free to post your questions to the HTPC Forum at large, where they are germane. Then you, Stephen, and others, I'm sure, can discuss them without annoying the folks who only want to talk about FusionHDTV stuff.
Brimstone311
08-24-07, 10:35 AM
sounds good, thanks for the advice. This hijack is officially over.
Well thanks to TP's advice the switching of the PCI slots does seem to be giving me a more stable pic which even survives email fetching, even though there was no apparent IRQ conflict popping up in the device manager. And switching record target to my new 500g USB drive solved my 2 hour PQ limit. And switching that to non-Fat-32 solved the ridiculous 4 gig limit file problem.
So now I just have to ascertain that the PQ I'm getting back from the USB drive is the same going in.
bigpoppa206
08-25-07, 04:40 AM
Anyone else having problems with 3.63 forgetting its preferences? I set the software exactly the same as I always have and it can't remember the path for recorded shows, asks to do a channel scan and a few other oddities. New install on a fresh hardware (with no XP updates, thanks for that tip!!!)
TPeterson
08-25-07, 11:34 AM
bp206--
Are you running (and installing) using an account with Admin privileges? It sounds suspiciously as though FusionHDTV is not able to write to the Windows Registry. (I've not encountered such problems, so this is a wild guess) Otherwise...could you have a virus or a failing HDD?
SFischer1
08-25-07, 05:49 PM
Anyone else having problems with 3.63 forgetting its preferences? I set the software exactly the same as I always have and it can't remember the path for recorded shows, asks to do a channel scan and a few other oddities. New install on a fresh hardware (with no XP updates, thanks for that tip!!!)
With 3.61 I noted during my numerous reinstalls that to have preferences remembered I needed to click OK to close the configuration. Then I could reopen configuration and do a save.
If you click save with not first closing with OK, configuration changes are not saved.
Strange.
Stephen H. Fischer
TPeterson
08-25-07, 06:31 PM
That may explain it. I very rarely use the "save" option, which is provided simply to make a copy of the FusionHDTV Registry branch in the Program Files folder, and only use the "OK" button. (The "save" option was added many versions ago when there was a problem with finding settings and channels sometimes AWOL, but that's not been an issue for a long time)
Question: why in my widescreen monitor does the Fusion image not fill the monitor??? It leaves a small margin top and bottom as if it is a format wider than the screen format and therefore has to shrink down slightly for me to see the full width of it. Then if I double-click on the screen, it jumps to fill the screen fine, but overscans losing some of the sides of the image. I don't get it, my resolution is set to best 1650X1050--and I see no pic distortion at this setting. Is this the way it's supposed to be on a WS monitor? Or do I need to reset my resolution to a slightly lower setting to get the Fusion format to match the actual screen format?
DPlettner
08-26-07, 02:32 PM
That's normal. HDTV has an aspect ratio of 16:9, or 1.78. At 1650X1050, you display has an aspect ratio of 1.57, so the Fusion is leaving bars at the top and bottom to maintain the original aspect ratio.
You can right-click on the image, select Aspect Ratio, and select Stretched if you want the image to fill the screen.
-Dave
Thanks! But "stretched" mode would distort the image slightly expanding it vertically, right? Why isn't there a native screen resolution available that would match 16X9 exactly? I mean, isn't that kind of why the screen is 16:9 to begin with? Didn't Fusion anticipate this? Or Radeon/ATI when they set the various default resolutions?
TPeterson
08-26-07, 03:23 PM
The point is: your screen isn't 16:9, it's 16:10 because it's a computer monitor not an HDTV.
Oh the monitor ISN'T 16:9! Uhhhhh...why not??? Isn't 16:9 the new standard? Why would manufacturers go, "Dig this, let's NOT make our screens fit HD video, that would be too easy. Let's make them just a tiny bit narrower so none of the HD video will fit and everyone will have to sacrifice size and resolution! Cool, eh?" The world has, if fact, gone stark raving bonkers.
Ok, now we've established all WS monitors are the wrong size, two more questions:
1) My reception strength meter is gone again even though it's selected to be on. This happens on all my revs of Fusion, the strength meter is on for a while after install, then a few months later gone forever. Anybody else experience this? Fixes?
2) I'm still getting a picture jitter/jump about once a minute or two even after switching PCI slots and eliminating email fetches and any other active process. I've only got 1 gig of resident RAM--might going up to 2 gigs correct this? I'm running 1650X1050 with DivX on and the time shift on. Athlon 3200+ single-core with a Radeon X1300 AGP card. Running a Lite Fusion5 card.
I've carefully KAXKIDDED the install, changed PCI slots, upgraded to a 1300 card. Man, does Dvico put ANYTHING on their card to assist PQ??? What does it take to pull this pos Dvico card out of the Jitter Swamp, a friggin BATTLESHIP???
Oh the monitor ISN'T 16:9! Uhhhhh...why not??? Isn't 16:9 the new standard? Why would manufacturers go, "Dig this, let's NOT make our screens fit HD video, that would be too easy. Let's make them just a tiny bit narrower so none of the HD video will fit and everyone will have to sacrifice size and resolution! Cool, eh?" The world has, if fact, gone stark raving bonkers.
did you try the different settings in the fusion config pages? there is a 16x10 and a 16x9 setting. also you can try re-adjusting the cropping from the default setting to something more to your liking.
see pic below:
Ok, now we've established all WS monitors are the wrong size, two more questions:
1) My reception strength meter is gone again even though it's selected to be on. This happens on all my revs of Fusion, the strength meter is on for a while after install, then a few months later gone forever. Anybody else experience this? Fixes?
2) I'm still getting a picture jitter/jump about once a minute or two even after switching PCI slots and eliminating email fetches and any other active process. I've only got 1 gig of resident RAM--might going up to 2 gigs correct this? I'm running 1650X1050 with DivX on and the time shift on. Athlon 3200+ single-core with a Radeon X1300 AGP card. Running a Lite Fusion5 card.
I've carefully KAXKIDDED the install, changed PCI slots, upgraded to a 1300 card. Man, does Dvico put ANYTHING on their card to assist PQ??? What does it take to pull this pos Dvico card out of the Jitter Swamp, a friggin BATTLESHIP???
you can't get the signal strength and timeshift at the same time. switch off timeshift and you will get the signal strength indicator back if you have it set in the config page.
try putting a 10 second lag in the timeshift setting, that might help the stutter and also make sure you have enough buffer set-up to accept your total time shift anticipated because you will get stutter when the buffer fills to it's limit and begins erasing as it continues. hope that helps.
DPlettner
08-26-07, 04:59 PM
Just out of curiousity, does turning off timeshift fix the problem?
With the MyHD card, having the timeshift directory on the main system drive caused problems for some people.
The ideal solution is to have the timeshift directory on a second hard drive in its own partition formatted with 64K clusters, but that solution is not practical for everyone.
-Dave
Wow, thanks for the info. A lot to process! Let me see what I can do here...
Ok, the 16:10 fixed is the same thing I get when I double-click the image. It just blows up the image and loses the sides off screen. Makes sense. Can't fit the two shapes together.
I have the replay set to 10 seconds and the pause buffer at 30 min. Is that bad or good? When I try to fast forward in a recorded file it just freezes after a few seconds and stops--weird. Something's screwed up.
Yeah, I think I'm doing better with the timeshift OFF. My system gets rattled by the slightest demand. With the timeshift off I do seem to have better stability.
Maruuk-
You mentioned DivX in an earlier post. Try saving the transport stream without encoding it in Divx and see if that improves your playback. I assume that the Fusion software is chugging along in the background trying to encode the transport stream while it is recording. This could be causing some of the problem you've had. Also, saving in the transport stream in its native MPEG format will probably improve the picture quality.
Give it a try and see if things improve.
Maruuk -
To answer an earlier question... No, the Fusion cards do not have anything in hardware to help you decode the transport stream. This means that it depends on the muscle in your computer to do everything. On newer, dual core CPUs this is rarely an issue, but on an older, single core system like yours it could be. Increasing your memory would probably help Windows XP (which likes as much memory as it can get) deal with the load.
I had an Athalon 2800+ system with an AIW 9700 and 2 GB of memory and it had no problems with playback. But I never encoded in DivX , never used the timeshift option, and never ran anything else while I was recording. Basically, that computer was a dedicated HTPC. I usually 'timeshift' by recording one day and watching the next.
The MyHD MDP-130 HD tuner cards do have hardware decoders and will put less of a strain on your system.
Thanks, Hyrax! Yes, after banging away on this Lite card for lo these many months I'm convinced the problems are mostly an overtaxed hardware set. I thought by upgrading to the X1300 gpu all my problems would vanish but I also jumped up to 1650X1050 at the same time which added stress and I had the same intermittent glitching. I guess Fusion continues to rely on the CPU more than the graphics card.
So I should de-select DivX AND DxVA wherever? And record files in MPEG? Why does Fusion encode in .tp anyways if MPEG is the native format? Wouldn't that just cause additional stress on the CPU with zero gain in PQ? I'll kick in another gig to RAM. What about the VMR renderer? Does that tax the system?
TPeterson
08-27-07, 02:06 PM
Sheesh. You aren't really recording DTV shows in DVIX are you? If so, that totally explains why you're having such problems. Record DTV in either TP or MPG and FusionHDTV only has to copy the bits to HDD as they arrive, but if you re-encode (to DVIX or some other codec) it has to perform the translation from the MPEG-2 in the transmitted stream to the other encoding--an enormously harder job.
Why does Fusion encode in .tp anyways if MPEG is the native format?
Someone else can probably describe this better than I, but my understanding is the all OTA HD and clear QAM sources are in a MPEG-2 format. The transport stream (.TP) files are how the broadcasters deliver the MPEG files to us. Therefore, .TP files are a sort of container for MPEG-2 files. Save the files to your disk as .TP files and your computer will do the minimal amount of work.
I get confused by the difference between .TP formats and .TS formats, but I believe they're just variations on a theme.
Oh ok, yeah, I've always recorded to .tp. But these other settings are totally confusing. What are the least-CPU intensive settings since I have an X1300 which is supposedly very friendly to DxVA or something like that?
One at a time: Select the "Use VMR Renderer" or not?
Which of the 3 decoder options?
Select "Use VMR Renderer" to the right of the Decoder Options or not?
Instant Replay: 30 sec
Record Buffer: 30 min
Timeshift: ON
Or of course I can turn timeshift off if it degrades the PQ.
Oh ok, yeah, I've always recorded to .tp. But these other settings are totally confusing. What are the least-CPU intensive settings since I have an X1300 which is supposedly very friendly to DxVA or something like that?
One at a time: Select the "Use VMR Renderer" or not?
Which of the 3 decoder options?
Select "Use VMR Renderer" to the right of the Decoder Options or not?
Instant Replay: 30 sec
Record Buffer: 30 min
Timeshift: ON
Or of course I can turn timeshift off if it degrades the PQ.
first, set the time shift buffer up to more than the longest time you will time shift. if you will time shift a 30 minute show set the buffer to longer than 30 minutes so you don't fill the buffer while watching the 30 minute show. 150 minutes should give you a reasonable timeshift buffer if you watch normal 60 minute shows and pause the show while you go do something else and then want to come back and continue watching. the timeshift buffer will continue recording the show while you are gone even if you are gone an hour.
second, timeshift and recording at the same time is only possible if you have multiple tuners, one tuner records while you watch/timeshift using the other tuner. with one tuner, timeshift is disabled while recording takes place.
DxVA uses the video card hardware more depending on the video card used and what fusionhdtv version you have installed. which video encoder combination to use is a matter of personal preference determined by testing the various combinations on your set-up. each recent new version of fusionhdtv seems to have changes in the video codecs.
my video settings, shown below, allow fullscreen timeshift on one tuner and recording on the second tuner using a MX440 video card and an amd sempron 3000+ cpu, my set-up.
Right, never let the buffer overflow while watching the show. I get it, the overlap causes glitches.
Oh ya, I have a Lite Card so no timeshift during record.
I believe the X1300 technology loves DxVA so I'll select that.
What's with this VMR thing? I read the wiki on it and I still can't figure out what it does or why we might want to use it.
jimmsch
08-28-07, 07:22 AM
I am looking for a card that will record unencrypted digital channels through a cable source...not an antenna. This Fusion Lite seems to be the card for me, but I have a few questions. My cable company broadcasts unencrypted HD channels through cable...not antenna.
I do not plan on using this to watch anything...just to DVR things when I have two shows on at the same time, so I can watch one using my set top box and record the other, using this card, for watching at a later date from the HDD. I will basically record my show...watch it...and then either burn it to disc and delete it, or just delete it.
1: Will it work in my HTPC? (specs below)
2: Will it record to HD format? The specs on it say it plays and records HDTV, but doesn't mention what format it saves in.
The Gold series mentions a software HD2MPG converter that converts to MPEG2 or DivX, but I would rather have it saved as RAW AVI or some sort of REAL HD format. I do not need the remote that comes with Gold, so if I can get just the recording capabilities and save a few bucks I would rather get the Lite version, but I will spend the extra if I really need to.
3: I would like to be able to play back the files using MPC with core avc & haali media splitter doing the video filtering and ffdshow doing audio, but if I need some other software just let me know and I will get it.
4: Will it record the DD 5.1 audio from the HD source?
My HTPC Specs:
Asus P5B Dlx...Intel E6600...2x1gb Corsair DDR2800...MSI build of ATI HD2600XT (512mb DDR3)...Auzentech X-Plosion using SPDIF out to decoder...Maxtor 320gb SATA-2 HDD (I will add more HDD room when needed)...WinXP Home
I don't have the Ultra-DMA66 IDE controller-HDD for recording mentioned in system requirements.
I also have PowerDVD Ultra if that will help in playing back the files recorded by this card. If I might need other software like Beyond TV or SAage TV or something then let me know and I will get it.
Thanks -Jim
Jim-
I was on the DivCo site last night reading their FAQs and I noticed that the Lite card is not supported in either 64-bit XP or 64-bit Vista. You might want to factor this into your thinking.
The broadcast HD format is MPEG2. That is what is broadcasted, that is what the cable company passes on for your local stations. It is a 'REAL HD' format; it just takes more space to store than .h264.
I am looking for a card that will record unencrypted digital channels through a cable source...not an antenna. This Fusion Lite seems to be the card for me, but I have a few questions. My cable company broadcasts unencrypted HD channels through cable...not antenna.
I do not plan on using this to watch anything...just to DVR things when I have two shows on at the same time, so I can watch one using my set top box and record the other, using this card, for watching at a later date from the HDD. I will basically record my show...watch it...and then either burn it to disc and delete it, or just delete it.
1: Will it work in my HTPC? (specs below)
2: Will it record to HD format? The specs on it say it plays and records HDTV, but doesn't mention what format it saves in.
The Gold series mentions a software HD2MPG converter that converts to MPEG2 or DivX, but I would rather have it saved as RAW AVI or some sort of REAL HD format. I do not need the remote that comes with Gold, so if I can get just the recording capabilities and save a few bucks I would rather get the Lite version, but I will spend the extra if I really need to.
3: I would like to be able to play back the files using MPC with core avc & haali media splitter doing the video filtering and ffdshow doing audio, but if I need some other software just let me know and I will get it.
4: Will it record the DD 5