WatchHDTV Version 1.8 [Text View]

Klaatu45

10-11-05, 02:47 PM

Wow, this is great! It seems a bit rough around the edges but timeshifting works spectacularly... :) Thank you so much!

A few quick comments after a few minutes playing around with my HDTV Wonder:

1. It'd be nice to see a cancel button on the Setup menu, just in case I make changes I don't want to keep.

2. Is there any way to have a "live" FF/RW setup, instead of what appears to be a pre-set 15 second (30 second, 1 min, 2 min adjustable) jump? Not a huge deal, it just took me a while to figure out why I wasn't rewinding! (it was set to 1 minute and I only had like 15 seconds in the buffer)

3. I am having trouble playing the resulting timeshift files back in WMP 10; they are choppy and the display is totally wrong (it's only showing like the upper 1/4th of the screen even though it played back fine within WatchHDTV while timeshifting). PowerDVD didn't like it much either, was a tiiiny bit smoother but not much. They play fine in the WatchHDTVPlay app. Is this normal, or is something set up wrong somewhere?

4. The Recording dialog seems really confusing; is there some way to make it only record for "X" number of minutes? I know the wording says "change/add time" but I only see how to add time, no matter if maybe I only want it to record for 5 minutes.

Thank you so much for keeping working on this!! I hope these comments help...

Hey dude, read the instructions that came with version 1.8 before posting. You can find answers to all your questions in there. If not, wait for the FAQ.

You can change your forward/remind if you click on that skip option in the middle of the control panel.

If your time-shift files are not playing correctly, it means your WMP was not setup correctly to connect to the right decoder (video and audio). Uninstalling any third-party codec packs should help. If not, change the decoder yourself using a text file in WatchHDTV folder.

And the record box is easy, just type 5 min, and you will get 5. If you want to record for only five, just stop recording, and start again.

I been a beta tester for a couple weeks now, version 1.8 is better than the ATI package program. So be nice everyone!

jmscott42

10-11-05, 05:09 PM

I did read the instructions, and I don't think any of my questions were answered in them.

I did click on the forward/rewind panel to bring up more options, my question was if it could be used (or added later to function this way) more like a VCR that didn't jump in time-segments, but was just a continuous rewind.

I can watch the recorded HDTV stuff fine in WatchHDTVPlay, as I stated. Other people are mentioning they can view the video in WMP10 which I am having trouble with.

As for the recording, my comment was that it could be made more intuitive; I didn't see how to hit record and make it record for ONLY 5 minutes (or whatever), it was only adding 5 minutes to the hour it defaults to no matter what I tried. I will check again when I get home.

I completely agree that WatchHDTV is now a complete, and entirely more useful, replacement for the ATI MMC.

Hey dude, read the instructions that came with version 1.8 before posting. You can find answers to all your questions in there. If not, wait for the FAQ.

You can change your forward/remind if you click on that skip option in the middle of the control panel.

If your time-shift files are not playing correctly, it means your WMP was not setup correctly to connect to the right decoder (video and audio). Uninstalling any third-party codec packs should help. If not, change the decoder yourself using a text file in WatchHDTV folder.

And the record box is easy, just type 5 min, and you will get 5. If you want to record for only five, just stop recording, and start again.

I been a beta tester for a couple weeks now, version 1.8 is better than the ATI package program. So be nice everyone!

jswclw

10-11-05, 05:26 PM

Glad to announce WatchHDV Version 1.8 is done. Go here- http://mysite.verizon.net/watchhdtv.

Hope everyone enjoys it.
Thanks.

Thanks hdtval21...Great job! :)

I wonder if the fools at ATI know enough to be embarrassed.

ElectricLegs

10-11-05, 11:53 PM

Any way to play a TS file from a Fusion card in this player? Renaming the extension didn't work.
TIA

grogs

10-12-05, 12:29 AM

WatchHDTV player only plays the windows media type "dvr-ms".
WatchHDTV only records in "dvr-ms" format as well.
The "dvr-ms" filetype will work with Windows Media player #10 as well as a host of other media players.

If you want to watch older shows you recorded in ts format then you have a few options.

The best free option is the VLC player.

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

Greg

Any way to play a TS file from a Fusion card in this player? Renaming the extension didn't work.
TIA

Paul33993

10-12-05, 06:55 AM

I don't suppose any of you know of a cheap solution to edit out commercials? I tried using Windows Movie Maker, but it won't let you open .dvr-ms files. Thanks!

clint501

10-12-05, 08:52 AM

Thanks HDTVAL21, 1.8 seems to work great on my system as did 1.6. I haven't tried out all the bells and whistles yet. You have made an excellent program!!! :)

clint501

10-12-05, 09:43 AM

nascar24

10-12-05, 11:53 AM

I get a Windows Media Player shut-down error when I try to run the recorded file from the Windows player. The WatchHDTV player works fine.

This is in the error window

AppName: wmplayer.exe AppVer: 10.0.0.3646 ModName: ivivideo.ax
ModVer: 1.0.0.1 Offset: 00013c67

:(

Just a note I had alot of of codec issues I believe originally with windows media player, I disabled all of them and windows automatically removed them all and all was well again.

Diode1

10-12-05, 12:47 PM

It would be great to find a way for this to work with DVHSCap 1394/Firewire http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=403695

kmp14

10-12-05, 02:44 PM

Bear with me as I lay this out. I have an ATI HDTV Wonder (obviously). I also have a Buffalo Link Theater (a.k.a blt). The blt will stream HD. Here is what I am going for - use the PC to record HD, then stream it via the blt to watch on my HD TV. Using the junk ATI software, I can record HD, then convert it to mpeg, then stream to the blt. This works, but the ATI software is bad, and the conversion step is a pain. I found a software called Meedio TV which will record HD in the dvr-ms format. THe blt will supposedly stream dvr-ms files. The problem is, when streamed to the blt, there is no audio. When I play the dvr-ms file on the PC, it does have audio. I am anxious to try WatchHDTV, which I just found today, and see if its' dvr-ms files stream to the blt with audio.

THe meedio software is nice, it works with the ATI HDTV Wonder, and can record in the backround, no need to have the tv or audio on screen.

Is there any way to configure dvr-ms file recording properties? There is nothing in Meedio other than a general quality setting. Any other ideas would be appreciated.

I will let you know if WatchHDTV dvr-ms files have audio on the blt when I try it tonight.

fmattis

10-12-05, 04:47 PM

Paul33993, it looks like VideoReDo will work as long as you save the edited file as mpg.

Secondly, I've got WatchHDTV set up and everything seems to work great. I have run into 1 problem while trying to watch live HDTV. After a couple of minutes (5-10) the audio starts to stutter and then completely goes quiet then the video becomes very choppy right after that. I was trying to force the PowerDVD 6 (Cyberlink) Audio & Video decoders in the decoders.txt file (they seemed to look the best to me) but that's when I ran into this problem. I have PowerDVD 6 Deluxe installed and activated. I decided to go back to the ATi Cyberlink decoders in the text file. I left it run while I'm at work, so I won't know if that worked until I get home.

Does anyone have any idea why I wouldn't be able to use the PowerDVD 6 decoders? I would really like to use the new nVidia Purevideo decoders (as I have a 7800 GTX) but I couldn't get them to work at all.

Also, if I were to get the PowerDVD 6 decoders to work, where would I make changes to the settings for those decoders. When I specify 4 speakers in PowerDVD 6, does that mean the WatchHDTV will use 4 speakers as well?

Sorry for all of the questions, I am really excited to get this program up and running. From what I've seen so far, it blows ATi MMC right out of the water.

Thanks again,
Frank.

Oh, here is my system...

ASUS A8N-SLI Premium
Athlon 64 X2 4400+
BFG Tech 7800GTX
2 X 1GB Corsair PC3200
3 X 250 GB Hitachi SATA
Soundblaster Audigy 2 Platinum

and of course...
ATi HDTV Wonder

alokeprasad

10-12-05, 05:31 PM

Works wonderfully on XP Pro P4 3GHz, 2 GB RAM, with Radeon 9800 Pro AIW, HDTV Wonder.

Please sub-contract with ATI and help them program !!!

5 minutes recorded on to a .dvr-ms file 92 MB in size (1.1 GB/hr). Is there any way to adjust the compression in recordings?

I'll try a timed recording tonight.

Aloke

jswclw

10-12-05, 06:55 PM

It would seem that you have already outdone ATI. Now I wonder if you have given any though to accessing the program data that is embedded in the stream. It would be pretty cool to see the program information as you surf the channels.

On a different note, I did notice that in the scheduler, if 2 programs run one against the other (1 ends at 9PM, next one starts at 9PM), the schedule considers that a conflict. For now I just sacrafice the first minute of the second program. Since that's almost always a recap of previous episode - no loss there.

jmscott42

10-12-05, 08:55 PM

Any chance of being able to set a max TV-on-demand buffer space, i.e., 30 minutes? Just so you could watch it like Tivo but wouldn't have to worry about running out of HD space?

Just an idea.. :) It's really great as it is..

alokeprasad

10-12-05, 09:08 PM

QMAN71

10-12-05, 09:42 PM

guadalupegrande4

10-13-05, 12:41 AM

I've loved WatchHDTV, and still do. I've used it since version 1.5
Its great watching HDTV without having HDD space taken up just to watch tv.
Just tried 1.8, hoping for a smaller application to watch and record HDTV.
It plays TV fine, switches TV stations fine. It can even record TV fine.
However, everytime I click the "Sched" or "setup" from within 1.8 I get a crash.

(As such, I have to use my channel list from 1.6, but it works fine)

Version 1.5 and 1.6 both work fine, as does ATI's DTV program.

I set up a graph in graphedit per the readme, and I can watch TV.
However, I cannot change channels, or get into the options under Microsoft ATSC Network Provider.

The error from within WatchHDTV is "WatchHDTV MFC Application has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience."
The error pops up and I have to hit "close" on three popups that say the same thing.
AppName: watchhdtv.exe AppVer: 1.8.0.1 ModName: unknown
ModVer: 0.0.0.0 Offset: 00000000

I also ran regmon and filemon, but I can't tell exactly what caused the error.

(Win XP SP2, P4 3.0 GHz, 1.5 GB Ram, ATI Radeon 9600, Driver version "6.14.10.6553", ATI MMC version 9.06)

Can still watch the TV, though.
Oh, and great app! Thanks for all your work! :D

hdtval21

10-13-05, 02:02 AM

Thanks everyone for the comments.

Just updated to version 1.81. Not necessary for everyone- WatchHDTV Play/Plug-in update because I forgot remote volume and go to end. Rest updated for better support for using multiple tuners.

I'll add more support and help to the site soon. I'll try to answer questions later if/when more people respond to see how major/minor the problems are.

For WMP issues- file playback will be dependent solely on if the decoder WMP chooses can correctly play the files. You can control which decoder WMP chooses somewhat using other tools/registry editing- but it isn't recommended as it may mess up other programs. Other video players may work, but the main issue is whether or not the decoder being used is compatible with HD dvr-ms/mpeg video. So don't worry- WMP isn't broken, the files aren't messed up, and your computer isn't busted! Anyways, why would you want to use WMP if WatchHDTV Play works perfectly fine?!!?! :)

Thanks.

Paul33993

10-13-05, 07:08 AM

Paul33993, it looks like VideoReDo will work as long as you save the edited file as mpg.

I'll have to check that out. Thanks!

Works wonderfully on XP Pro P4 3GHz, 2 GB RAM, with Radeon 9800 Pro AIW, HDTV Wonder.

Please sub-contract with ATI and help them program !!!

5 minutes recorded on to a .dvr-ms file 92 MB in size (1.1 GB/hr). Is there any way to adjust the compression in recordings?

I'll try a timed recording tonight.

Aloke

I don't understand this statement. Is there an adjustment setting someplace? My setting is at 8G/hr.

fmattis

10-13-05, 10:12 AM

Hey guys, just doing a quick search of the web to see how to work with these dvr-ms files, I came across this site...

http://www.thegreenbutton.com/downloads.aspx

I tried the DVR 2 WMV and it seems to work pretty well (even on a non-Media Center PC) I haven't tried the others yet though.

As for my playback problem, it gets weirder. The playback still gets choppy after a couple of minutes even with the ATi decoders installed. As a little test, while the playback was choppy, I put it in TIMESHIFT mode. All of the sudden everything was great. But as soon as I went back to LIVE mode, everything became very choppy again. Strange.

Oh well, I still give this program a solid 10 out of 10. Thanks again Al.

alokeprasad

10-13-05, 06:46 PM

I'll have to check that out. Thanks!

I don't understand this statement. Is there an adjustment setting someplace? My setting is at 8G/hr.

I recorded a 2 hr program. It is in a .dvr-ms file 2,230,968 bytes in size.

The quality is very good.

Aloke

Paul33993

10-13-05, 07:58 PM

I recorded a 2 hr program. It is in a .dvr-ms file 2,230,968 bytes in size.

The quality is very good.

Aloke

Weird. I recorded Lost last night and it was just under 8 gigs. Yet, I can see no settings to vary this.

toddscott

10-13-05, 08:51 PM

Great Program - Set up a donation button on your site - It is working good for me so far with my fusion 5 gold. :)

mynym

10-13-05, 09:10 PM

Mine was recording fine earlier but now when I hit the REC button I get the following error and then it GPF's. Version 1.81

Can't setstreamsink

alokeprasad

10-13-05, 09:14 PM

I recorded a 2 hr program. It is in a .dvr-ms file 2,230,968 bytes in size.

The quality is very good.

I just realized that the program was not broadcast in 1080i resolution. Today, I recorded (in a time-shift mode) true 1080i program from a different DTV channel. This one was 3 GB for 45 min (4 GB/hr).

alokeprasad

10-13-05, 09:16 PM

All functions work great on my system (XP Pro, Radeon 9800 Pro AIW, Cat 5.5, MMC 9.08).

Could you please please please add the capability for NTSC tuners (like AIW)? Is there a technical reason not to add such tuners to WatchHDTV (and change the name of the program :-)

Jud

10-14-05, 07:57 AM

WatchHDTV and my Fusion 3 have been playing together quite nicely as of late. Timeshifting / scheduled recording all seem to work great. I'd love to see a lipsync feature for those pesky broadcasts that can never seem to get this right (ABC, I'm looking at you). Keyboard shortcuts for jumping directly to particular channels would also be nice (how about numpad 1-9 jumps to channels 1-9, sorta like speed dial).

Great program hdtval!!

clint501

10-14-05, 08:28 AM

Just a note I had alot of of codec issues I believe originally with windows media player, I disabled all of them and windows automatically removed them all and all was well again.

Where are codecs disabled?

grogs

10-14-05, 09:18 AM

I have covered this subject a few times but the best way to get codec's "filters" under control is with GSPOT.

No need to remove filters that are causing problems.

The trick is to set the filter merit, if a filter is marked as perfered then that is what will be used by the application unless the application is specific about the filter of choice.

A good example is Microsoft Media Player #10 on my system is using the CyberLink video filter and for audio the AC3Filter both of which have the highest merit for the media type selected.

Search here on AVS for my name and the keywork GSPOT for more information.
Be sure to select "advanced search / show posts"

Or you can look here:

http://www.rage3d.com/board/showpost.php?p=1333671980&postcount=23

Greg

Where are codecs disabled?

ttriplett

10-14-05, 10:22 AM

Just found this thread and it made my day. The only reason I haven't tried WatchHDTV before is because it didn't do record/timeshift. Looks like I will be downloading this tonight.

Thanks hdtval21!

cme4oil

10-14-05, 10:51 AM

I get the following error when I try to run WatchHDTV:

WatchHDTV MFC Application has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvience.

I'm running MCE 2005 with a Fusion 5 Lite. Any prerequistes needed to get Watch HDTV running?

I get the same issue. Just Downloaded and tired to run it. I have the Fusion 5 lite too. Anyone have this working with this card?

memikee

10-14-05, 04:50 PM

Its great! It took me a while to figure out how to convert dvr-ms files to mpeg but all is good now. Thank You

fmattis

10-14-05, 05:11 PM

Its great! It took me a while to figure out how to convert dvr-ms files to mpeg but all is good now. Thank You

Memikee, what did you use to convert to mpeg. I have looked all over but can't seem to get anything to work. It seems like everything out there is for MCE and not just plain Windows XP Pro SP2.

Thanks,
Frank.

Haydee

10-14-05, 06:25 PM

I am using it with the a180 and tieshifting worked for a day, but have since stoped working, weird.

Socio

10-14-05, 07:48 PM

Nice program!

I have a request/suggestion:

Is it possible to implement support for ffdshow and live viewing?

I was just thinking it would be real nice, actually freaking awesome to be able to filter and scale analog broadcasts or even enhance HDTV on the fly with ffdshow like we do now with DVD and recorded video in certain programs.

10-14-05, 08:04 PM

My favorite new feature is the decoders.txt file. I have the HDTV Wonder and I was never able to get SPDIF with 5.1 passthru working with any of the recent releases. Now with the decoders.txt file I can specifiy an audio decoder and get SPDIF output with all 5.1 channels!

I have been using AC3Filter and Nvidia Audio Decoder with success!

hdtval21

10-14-05, 08:35 PM

WatchHDTV updated again, sorry!

About dvr-ms files- there's no control over compression, you get whatever's being sent. For "full" HD, generally it should be roughly 8 GB/hour(by full I mean 19.2 mbps). Some networks/stations don't utilize the full 19.2 so you will get smaller files. To convert dvr-ms to mpeg, you could use graphedit and if you have the right filters, build a graph with SBSource->a multiplexer->a mpeg dump filter. There may be someone here who will release a program to do so, I'll have to ask them what's going on. I think generally, you need to be careful with converting them and making sure whatever you plan on doing with them you can do, and the software you plan on using will work, consistently. I think more newer versions of editing software are providing better support for dvr-ms, HD, etc, so you may want to wait or at least see what all options are.

And lastly- I barely get this version out and everyone's making all these requests already!?!??!??? Can't I have a break? I gotta watch Lost too, you know.

Thanks, and great weekend to all.

toddscott

10-14-05, 09:09 PM

Ok - I ran into my first trouble tonight - I am using a fusion5 gold card and when I started up WatchHDTVplay and choose my prerecorded file - I get the error that it failed to load ATI audio filter.

I think this could be fixed by putting in the decoders.txt file only I haven't been able to figure out exactly how to do this. I run Graphedit on the file and it shows AC3filter and Mpeg2Dec which I don't think the fusion uses.

Would anyone who is knowledgeable post me a decoders.txt file (or the txt in it is all I need) for the Fusion5?

Dydion

10-14-05, 10:29 PM

Is it possible to build a graph to show closed captioning in WatchHDTV? I've been reading up on it for a while tonight, but all the examples I found were for the analog tuner.

Thanks!

memikee

10-14-05, 10:54 PM

VideoRedo Plus converts dvr-ms. Open the file and use the save as option to mpeg or vob. I had to set a +600 ms delay on the audio to get in synch but it converts quite fast.

hdtval21

10-15-05, 12:55 AM

Once again, another update- this time, the WatchHDTV plug-in needed some fixing. I seriously will try to stop this, seriously!!?!!

Dydion- I think there is a way get closed-captioning, at least I thought there was, but searching just now I didn't find anything. I know others have asked for this as well, but I just haven't had it as a top priority. Sorry.

toddscott- make sure WatchHDTV Play is in the same folder as WatchHDTV and that you setup WatchHDTV first. Once WatchHDTV is setup, WatchHDTV Play will use the config.txt file to know you have a Fusion and will use Fusion decoders. Since you said the error mentioned the ATI audio decoder, I figure that WatchHDTV isn't setup yet, or at least the config file isn't there.
The decoders.txt is easy-
first line- video decoder, second line- audio decoder
So if you wanted to use the decoders you mentioned, it would be this-
Mpeg2Dec
AC3Filter
This is presuming these are the exact names as shown in graphedit.

GoTimothy

10-15-05, 01:57 AM

Just tried version 1.8, so far so good on my old IBM PL300 upgraded with powerleap 1.4gh celeron.

I have the ati allinwonder 7500 and never got HD wonder to work with ati's software.

The only thing I can't get is the Second subchannel of pbs 43.

All the other channels and sub channels work. I have the WinHD in the same system can record HD off of that, but that tuner can't get the signals as well.

I know you don't want to be bothered by new features.

But what I would like is to to do, is write 4.482 megs to my DVD RW on G: and write the rest of the video to hard drive or another DVD RW.

I use Roxio to start format my DVD's, then I am able to write HDTV directly to my 8x DVD recorder on the fly.

However, I can only record a half hour before the disk fills up. I would use the duel lawyer, but those disk are too expensive.

Would be nice to write 4.482 megs to DVD RW on G:\ 4.482 megs to my DVD RW on H:\ and another 4.482 megs to my DVD RW on I:\ Then I could record a whole HD movie on the fly to DVD on three disk.

Tim

clint501

10-15-05, 09:00 AM

This is no biggie but for some reason I get this error when exiting the scheduler window.

WatchHDTVSched MFC Application has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

AppName: watchhdtvsched.exe AppVer: 1.2.0.1 ModName: watchhdtvsched.exe
ModVer: 1.2.0.1 Offset: 0000ad98

Tanspot2001

10-15-05, 12:26 PM

I get the same issue. Just Downloaded and tired to run it. I have the Fusion 5 lite too. Anyone have this working with this card?

I did not have any problems running WatchHDTV with FusionHDTV5 Lite on a WinXP SP2.

hdtval21

10-15-05, 02:45 PM

Version update again- I'm really sorry about this. I really need to focus more and make sure what I do works. This time WatchHDTV is updated and the plug-in is updated as well to fix an issue. Use both new versions together.
Thanks.

guadalupegrande4

10-16-05, 02:48 AM

I checked around the other day for some convertors.

The one that worked for me, is called DVRMSToolbox
thegreenbutton [dot] com
That's a forum about HDTV/MCE, which also includes other apps that could convert dvr-ms files.
They have a "download center" there with 3 programs to convert dvr-ms files.
Well, one edits, so you can trim out commercials, one converts to wmv. The other does something or other. Can't tell, I couldn't get those to really work.

That one app, DVRMStoolbox, is at the above forum (Not in their download center, though) and its in the, er, Developer's Corner » 3rd Party Applications
Thread is called "
DVRMSToolbox (GraphRenderer): Automated commercial removal, ..." and its currently at the top of their page...

That's the one app I got working, that could convert to mpeg-2.
Coulda converted to wmv, but then I couldn't edit it anymore, atleast not easily. :)

Then you can convert the file with virtualdub-mpeg2 or any other editor you have.Or save as mpeg-2.

There is also a whole thread on converting the files here:
(Search on google for "dvrms" and choose result #10 at specialtechforums.
I'd include the links but its blocking me. :)

Hope some of that info helps here. :D

Also, hitting the "setup" and "sched" buttons still crash WatchHDTV for me.
I do have a "config.txt" file, but I have no idea what the #s mean in there.
1.8, 1.81 and 1.82 all exhibit this behavior.
Stil, I can view TV, and record video and timeshift, so its all OK so far.

ernisse

10-16-05, 11:11 AM

I get the following error when I try to run WatchHDTV:

WatchHDTV MFC Application has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvience.

I'm running MCE 2005 with a Fusion 5 Lite. Any prerequistes needed to get Watch HDTV running?

I get the same problem with a Fusion 3-t. I can't run the WatchHDTV app even after following the faq and readme.

cme4oil

10-16-05, 03:00 PM

I get the same problem with a Fusion 3-t. I can't run the WatchHDTV app even after following the faq and readme.

Me too same error .. Windows MCE with FushionHDTV 5 Lite

Error Signature is:

AppName: watchhdtv.exe AppVer: 1.8.2.1 ModName: watchhdtv.exe
ModVer: 1.8.2.1 Offset: 0001da25

DaveRochNY

10-16-05, 06:23 PM

Dvico Fusion II card, WinXPsp2:

Using 1.82: Keystrokes are only ok to the control window, when then viewing window is forground (or full screen), keystrokes are lost. 1.81 was ok.

All versions: I'm guessing you are using a 4:3 monitor. If using a 16:9 one (16:9 mode) , then there are black bars on top/bottom when in full screen, which is what I would expect to see if using a 4:3 monitor and you wanted to put a 16:9 picture on it.

Think about it, draw it on paper and I'm sure the light will go on :)

On another note: Using a Fusion II card I get a blank window upon the first run. I have to run Fusion s/w first, then yours will now show video.

And, I also have sometimes gotten the "Can't setstreamsink" when going into t/s or recording for 1.81.

toddscott

10-16-05, 09:21 PM

Using 1.82: Keystrokes are only ok to the control window, when then viewing window is forground (or full screen), keystrokes are lost. 1.81 was ok.

Same issue here.

I am using 16:9 mode and don't have the black bars problem.

D-Train

10-16-05, 09:55 PM

Thanks for the excellent program! I've been using this for all my recordings lately.

For those who are interested, I've put together a utility to convert the .dvr-ms files into .mpg files. Let me know how it works for you.

Version 1.1 (10/17/05) - Updated utility to fix a bug closing the output file and added a time estimator
Version 1.2 (11/1/05) - Added multiple profiles so that conversion to MPEG program streams or transport streams is possible. See ReadMe.txt for more details. Completely rewritten as native windows app in order to avoid COM object leak issues with .NET RCW.

grogs

10-16-05, 10:38 PM

The conversion program is just what the doctor ordered.

I almost thought I had a bug... But I had an older dump.ax filter loaded that was causing a problem. If you compiled the dump.ax with the DXSDK then you need to unregister it 1st!

Great program!

Greg

Thanks for the excellent program! I've been using this for all my recordings lately.

For those who are interested, I've put together a utility to convert the .dvr-ms files into .mpg files. Let me know how it works for you.

hdtval21

10-17-05, 12:42 AM

I've updated the keyboard shortcuts error mentioned by DaveRochNY.

BTW Dave, is your "I'm sure the light will go on" directed at me? Because, well, the light is always off here!!!(ha ha, don't worry, I'm not offended) I believe you may have a 16:10 display, not 16:9? If you have a 16:10(or something like 1280x768), yes, you will get black bars, very small ones. If you have a 16:9, then you shouldn't have black bars, unless what your watching has put them in. Did you try changing the aspect ratio? I believe you are the first one to say that the aspect ratio isn't working right.

For Fusion owners- you may have to try different DVICO software versions. I never tested will all versions, but I had 3.01, 3.02, and 3.11 working. The latest Fusion decoders may be the problem as well, as they are having problems with them(example- high cpu usage on 720p) Try different decoders other than DVICO's to try to isolate the problem between decoders, drivers, etc. MCE also has issues I believe. And lastly, try WatchHDTV 1.6 if you haven't already.

For other issues- try clean again- delete(or rename) config.txt, channels.txt, scheduler.txt, schedule.txtand registry entries.
I would like to see more responses about possible issues to see how major/minor they are before trying to fix them. So far, the download page has gotten less than 1000 hits, and I haven't got as many "submits" as I think is the number of downloads. I'll wait a little bit longer, maybe a few more weeks until I start more work.

Thanks.

memikee

10-17-05, 12:09 PM

Thanks D-Train for the converter

rchris

10-17-05, 01:19 PM

Thanks for the great program.
The only anomaly I've run into so far is that I always get two sessions of the Scheduler when I boot up. (I've saved a Record-Silent event.)

D-Train

10-17-05, 03:48 PM

Thanks D-Train for the converter
Thanks. I updated the converter with two changes. The first fixes an issue where the output .mpg file doesn't get closed correctly after the conversion. You would have had to shut down the program to get it to close properly. The second change adds a time estimator.

I edited the original post to include the updated version:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6368101#post6368101

chaddle

10-17-05, 08:47 PM

hdtval,

WatchHDTV rocks. You have succeeded where ATI has failed miserably! I have one question, though. Have you implemented command line switches into WatchHDTV? I think it would be great to be able to control initial startup conditions. I hate to asking for more features, but you have a great thing going here and you are very much appreciated.

Thanks

guadalupegrande4

10-18-05, 12:51 AM

So far, the download page has gotten less than 1000 hits, and I haven't got as many "submits" as I think is the number of downloads. I'll wait a little bit longer, maybe a few more weeks until I start more work.

Thanks.

Just as a note, I put in my emaila address, hit submit, and was forwarded to a page saying thank you. But I did not get a window asking me if I wanted to download any file. I had to view the page source and download it by hand.
I just tried again, with Opera 8.5 and Firefox 1.5B2, and neither brought up a download dialog box. Dunno if that would affect anything...

Course, maybe the PC I use is just FUBAR because things don't work right for me. :)

guadalupegrande4

10-18-05, 12:58 AM

roblim

10-18-05, 01:28 AM

This is how I installed WatchHDTV without ATI's multimedia center
1. Starting with a clean installation of Windows XP SP2 and directx 9.0c

2. Install ATI Catalyst driver (5-10_xp-2k_dd_cp_wdm_27256), HDTV Wonder driver (5-04_hdtv_2030_wdm), and DTV Decoder (9.0.333.0 + Requires original CD)

3. Finally, install WatchHDTV by copying to the program files directory and dragging a shortcut for the Scheduler to Startup items

Remarks:
1. WatchHDTV is very reliable. I have a very clean windows installation and yet I had many problems with ATI's scheduler and player. I can't tell you how many times ATI's program either didn't record or crashed in the middle of recording. I never did understand ATI's file library either- it would list duplicates for the same program, hide programs sometimes. it made very little sense. WatchHDTV is very clear about file locations and it hasn't missed a program or crashed on me yet. i've decided to no longer install ATI's multimedia center.

2. playing back recorded material in windows media player takes up a lot of CPU power- my AMD XP 2500+ is pegged at 90% using windows media player. however playing back using the watchhdtv player is a more reasonable 30%. by the way recording takes up about 30% of cpu power as well.

3. Reception strength + Recording results. Anything above 85% gives me perfect recordings, but if a channel is in the 70s or low 80s I experience occasional drops and stutters in the recording.

4. on the "window size" pop up window a small check mark by the current window size would be nice.

5. if you are monkeying around with the HDTV wonder then i recommend norton ghost or an equivalent disk imaging software. i was able to install hdtvwatch without ATI's multimedia software by reverting to a clean image of my C: drive. by using a clean image i didnt have to worry about remnants of ati software in the registry or elsewhere. it took only 10 minutes to restore a clean windows installation- much faster than re-installing windows.

mcdanjw

10-18-05, 08:56 AM

This program is from heaven. For the first time since buying my ATI HDTV tuner card, it actually works properly!

I have also found that by using Nvidia's PureVideo Decoder instead of the ATI one, I get even smoother playback with less hiccups. Go figure.

I'd post a link, but I can't until I have more posts.

Don't know if it will work for anyone else, but it worked for me.

So that combined with the free AC3 filter from sourceforge and a decoders.txt file pointing stuff in the right direction, this program works perfectly!

I have uninstalled Multimedia Center and am HAPPY about it!

Thanks HDTVal21 and you too GROGS!

Andrew Hornfeck

10-18-05, 10:41 AM

I'm rather excited about the Silent-Record option as I can FINALLY watch a previously recorded file (with MMC FilePlayer) while WatchHDTV records a new one 'behind the scenes.' Hell, you can even start watching the Silent-Record file (with WatchHDTV Play) WHILE it's being recorded!

I've had a few issues. Sometimes I get an error opening WatchHDTV. When that happens I open AC3Filter, monkey around with the SPDIF setting and close it. Then WatchHDTV opens just file. It seems I've always had this qwerk w/AC3Filter and I don't know why. BUT it IS nice for WatchHDTV to now be able to pass DD5.1 to my A/V receiver! Hadn't had THAT capability since one of the earliest versions -- or was it an earlier ATi decoder/cyberlink configuration... either way, I'm now passing AC3, recording it and playing it back viw WatchHDTV Play!

On the one-touch record... I know it gives a default 1-hour, but what if I only want to record the next 45 minutes? I can't get the CHANGE to accept anything shorter than 1-hour. (This would be handy if I join a show a few minutes in and want the record to stop at the 1/2 clock hour.) It would seem that as long as the CHANGE is to a value less than the elapsed time it should accept it -- mine rolls over to 23hours.

WHY would one use WMP-10 instead of WatchHDTV? Maybe because double-clicking on the filename only opens the WatchHDTV-Play application without autoplaying the file. I have to use the OPEN box to actually start playback. Is this normal or do I have something setup wrong?

What about this app causes the DirectX9 to go FULL ACCELERATION on the Sound? Until I convert to exclusive use of this for my HDTV-Wonder needs, opening DTV yeilds me stuttery audio -- I'm one who has to use the BASIC sound acceleration to achieve smooth audio. 1) Is there a technical reason why this app bumps the sound acceleration? 2) Could you leave it alone, or 3) could you restore the setting upon exiting the app? 4) Is it something else that is resetting my sound acceleration and I'm misspeaking/misexplaining?

Also -- is PSIP really hard to deal with? I can't figure why I get inconsistant program descriptions from my HDTV-Wonder, Samsung (D*) STB, and my RCA (D*) STB. They almost always have the same program title, but I get a whole multitude of different episode descriptions between them all. USUALLY the HDTV-Wonder will display the more complete info than the STBs. I know PSIP is generated by the locals, and they have to insert these text fields, but why is it such that there is so much inconsistancy in what they display?

All in all I find this latest version (1.8) is one FANTASTIC little app! I LOVE the Record-Silent feature... although I did get a MMC pop-up when I was silent-recording and then opened DVD... something about what to do... both or close... but I was able to answer the popup and continue to watch a DVD WHILE recording a HDTV program! JUST what I'd been wanting to do -- what's the point in having a nice HTPC if you can only do 1 function at a time?!? ATi -- are you listening here? Do you see what this man has done?

BTW, WinXP-SP2, AMD 3100+, 1GB, HUGE HDDs (>2TB available), Cat 5.4, MMC 9.06.1, AIW 9600XT, HDTV-Wonder, Abit KD7-Raid and Yamaha 995 A/V receiver.

Oh, and THANKS :-)

toddscott

10-18-05, 11:17 AM

@mcdanjw
I'd post a link, but I can't until I have more posts.

Any chance you could just post the text out of your decoder.txt file?

kmp14

10-18-05, 04:46 PM

THANKS, THanks Thanks for giving us WatchHDTV. Now I will look a gift horse in the mouth and ask for another feature. When scheduling a recording, how about a text box where we can enter a description for the show. Ok, tell me to bug off, you have done enough already!!!! Thanks again hdtval21.

jarbain

10-18-05, 06:01 PM

hdtval21 - Thank you very much for an excellent program. I finally have a program that lets me watch HDTV with my ATI HDTV Wonder card. To bad ATI couldn't have providied a program with the card :-). I've tested the live, record and timeshifting and all is working great so far. Thanks again

thadsaab

10-18-05, 10:29 PM

OMG, this program rocks! Thanks!
(Not as much as WatchHDTV, mind you, but its still up there!)
:)

I second that opinion.

I tried a couple other more complicated utilities without much luck. This worked perfect on the first try and I was able to play the new file with the MyHD.

memikee

10-19-05, 03:20 PM

I recorded a 1080i broadcast, converted it, put in on DVD and am blown away by the quality!
Absolutely the best image I've ever seen on my plasma.

Thanks to all of you

Suntan

10-19-05, 03:54 PM

I second that opinion.

I tried a couple other more complicated utilities without much luck. This worked perfect on the first try and I was able to play the new file with the MyHD.

Ok, so if I follow the gist of this thread, I could get a Fusion card, add it to my pc with the supplied drivers and use WatchHDTV for stable second channel recording (MyHD does primary channel recording). Then use D-Train's converter to convert the dvr-ms files into something the MyHD card would play back?

Am I correct in this assumption?

Thanks.

-Suntan

thadsaab

10-19-05, 04:12 PM

Ok, so if I follow the gist of this thread, I could get a Fusion card, add it to my pc with the supplied drivers and use WatchHDTV for stable second channel recording (MyHD does primary channel recording). Then use D-Train's converter to convert the dvr-ms files into something the MyHD card would play back?

I think so, but I haven't done much testing. The WatchHDTV recording started without issues while I had a previous MyHD recording paused. WatchHDTV can actually record silently from the system tray (unlike the Fusion software).

On thegreenbutton.com there is a utility that is supposed to watch a directory for DVR-MS files and automatically convert them. Or, perhaps a scheduled event could run a script that searches for DVR-MS file and converts them with D-Train's program. Then by scheduling AllenDB's MYHDPlayListMgr to run regularly (assuming it can recognize .mpg files) the files could be added to the MyHD playlist automatically. The only think missing is some sort of unified recording scheduler.

Suntan

10-19-05, 05:48 PM

@thadsaab

Yes, this was the thought process I have thought about (inlcuding the possibility of Allen's list updater).

The non unified record setup interface isn't too big for me as there is only a few shows a week that I would like to record while the MyHD is busy.

Would like to hear more success stories though. Adding another recorder isn't worth it if it comes with hassles. If I could just setup the recording, then get around to watching them (via the MyHD) on the weekend without adding hassles and, above all without compromising the stability of the MyHD operation, then it would be compelling.

-Suntan

bx_

10-19-05, 07:34 PM

74.1 is NBC HD on my Digital Provider, how do I tune to this channel in WatchHDTV... I am clueless.

alokeprasad

10-19-05, 08:51 PM

I recorded 2.5 hrs in scheduled live recording (watch and record at the same time). After about 1 hr, the video became jerky and eventually stopped (froze). I noticed that the hard drive light was continuing to flash intermittently .. so I let the recording continue and went to bed.

In the morning, for the 1st time ever, there was a new Windows error message on the screen, that a Data Execution Protection (DEP) Error had ocurred in Windows Explorer. The recording did finish (9.7 BG).

When playing back the file using WatchHDTVPlay, the video was fine until about where the stuttering had ocurred. Then, every few minutes (but not at regular intervals), there are many frames skipped in the playback. The skipped frames are in the recording, because the jerkiness etc happens at the same spot when played back (it is not an artifact of the playback process).

I have no idea what happened during recording, or why. Just reporting what happened. The signal levek for this channel (1080i: 1920x1080) is veru good, so it was not caused by drop-outs in the OTA signal ...

Aloke

KlingonScum

10-20-05, 09:22 PM

First time WatchHDTV "trier outer". 1.83. Downloaded and installed it tonight in my rig: A64 2800+, 512MB, A180 HDTV card, Radeon 9800Pro card, WinXP. I've also got the AverTV software (Aver codecs), PowerDVD (Cyberlink codecs) and DScaler 5 on there.

Since I always feel guilty when I launch into "here are my problems", some kudos: this software actually brings in Fox without stuttering, something no other software I've tried has managed. Channels flip very quickly, and just watching LiveTV, no lockups. AND I get Dolby Digital 5.1 on LiveTV, something that I simply wasn't able to do with the other software I've tried - whoop!

Now, here are my issues - again, I'm excited about this app because I've been banging my head against the wall on the AverTV 6.0 and GB-PVR software with that A180 card... I'll put some polite suggestions at the end for the software as well...

Issues:
1) Some channels have the wrong aspect ratio - usually it says 1280x1080 (it's definitely source 16:9 on these channels).

2) LiveTV works superlatively. But I can't timeshift or record - each time I try, I instantly get "A Windows error occured - push this button to send a report to Microsoft, blah blah blah". I did notice the ".sbe" files are getting created in the directories I configured to save my HD files in...

3) I'm trying to "force" the app to use either the DScaler 5 video decoder or the PowerDVD video decoder. So I created the decoders.txt file. Unfortunately, whenever that file simply EXISTS, the app instantly locks up when I start it. I've tried putting the path\filename to the Decoder in it, and just the filename (eg: C:\blah\blah\blah\clvsd.ax or just clsvd.ax) to no effect. Yes, I am putting the audio decoder in underneath it, not just the video decoder.

4) While I was setting up the channels, one of them needed a "1" for the subchannel instead of the default "-1" and when I hit "Tune", I'd get another one of those "Hit button to send error report to Microsoft" dialogs before getting booted out. No biggie - except I had just laboriously tuned 5 other channels and had to do it all over again. :)

5) Signal Strength doesn't work, but I noted in the documentation you mention the A180 card may have issues with that, so it doesn't bug me too much - as I said, ALL my channels are coming in great.

So that's basically it for me so far - haven't played with the scheduler yet because I can't get simply timeshifting or recording to work yet. I'm a GraphEdit newbie so I'm not sure how I might go about creating a custom graph to get it to use that or any of that other stuff :(

Suggestions:
1) Is there any way you can pop up a dialog on demand to show what DirectShow filters are being used? For some reason, when in GraphEdit I hit "Connect to a running graph in another application", it doesn't "see" WatchHDTV.

2) Is there any way to force the app to switch to a different aspect ratio on a given channel? For example, some of the shows broadcast are in 4:3 (so there's letterboxing on the sides) - being able to "zoom" to 4:3 is nice. Also cool would be the ability to save that setting (Most of the Fox shows are in 4:3).

Again, I'm psyched about this app if I can get the recording and timeshifting to work...

--KS

guadalupegrande4

10-21-05, 05:10 PM

74.1 is NBC HD on my Digital Provider, how do I tune to this channel in WatchHDTV... I am clueless.

Head to http://antennaweb.org/ and put in your zip code.
That'll come up with a list of stations, channel (& Sub channel) #, distance from, and Frequency assignment (what you're looking for).

So, for instance, in my case, if I want channel 54.1, I use frequency 40 and it shows up for me. Sub channels use the same frequency, as I found out, so 54.3 would be frequency 40 as well. I can't open watchhdtv here, so that's about all I can remember now.

bx_

10-21-05, 05:39 PM

why would it be 40 ?

rchris

10-21-05, 05:55 PM

why would it be 40 ?

I don't know... but I use TitanTV.com to get the frequencies and available channels.

guadalupegrande4

10-21-05, 07:51 PM

why would it be 40 ?

Because my zip code is 21211. When I put that into http://antennaweb.org/ that's the result I get.

If your zipcode is, say, 90210, well, there are no digital tv stations there, according to antennaweb.

Lets say your zipcode is, oh, 12411, well, apparently no digital tv there either.

OK, let's try 32312.
OK, now, channel WTXL-DT comes up as channel # 27.1 but frequency 22

OK, now, go to http://antennaweb.org/
Put in your zipcode and check. :)

I've tried titantv but I just get a tv listing there, no other info.

(So you see, when I said "So, for instance, in my case, if I want channel 54.1, I use frequency 40 and it shows up for me." well, it works for me.
IN MY CASE it works, because its just true. Unless you live in baltimore and get the same channels, it won't work for you. If you live in Missouri, or Kansas, or Texas, it'll most likely be different. Here, can I spell it out any clearer?) :\

CLICK ME ---> http://antennaweb.org/ <--- CLICK ME
And once you click, put in your zip code and get your digital frequency!

bx_

10-21-05, 08:08 PM

I understand that.

But in WatchHDTV it asks for channel, sub channel and RF channel or something.

KlingonScum

10-21-05, 08:56 PM

I understand that.

But in WatchHDTV it asks for channel, sub channel and RF channel or something.

It's sort of complicated. Just go to www.antennaweb.org, hit "Select Antenna" (which is sort of misleading), enter in your address, and go. Eventually a screen will pop up with all the stations in your area along with their frequencies. Typically, the channel is what you'd normally tune to with your ANALOG TV - for example, in my area, Fox is channel 26 - so 26 would be the "channel", and 1 is usually the sub channel. However, the DIGITAL frequency in my area for Fox (as shown on that grid) is 27.

So, in WatchHDTV, for that station, I'd put in RF Channel: 27, Channel: 26, SubChannel: 1 (or -1).

--KS

guadalupegrande4

10-21-05, 10:12 PM

2) Is there any way to force the app to switch to a different aspect ratio on a given channel? For example, some of the shows broadcast are in 4:3 (so there's letterboxing on the sides) - being able to "zoom" to 4:3 is nice. Also cool would be the ability to save that setting (Most of the Fox shows are in 4:3).

Again, I'm psyched about this app if I can get the recording and timeshifting to work...

--KS

Can't help you with any other, but for the one I quoted...
Say you open up the channel, and its 4:3m go to teh window menu, and click "4:3" and you get a 4:3 window, with cut off sides. Also cuts off hdtv broadcasts too.
Atleast thats how it works for me. :)

guadalupegrande4

10-21-05, 10:18 PM

It's sort of complicated. Just go to www.antennaweb.org, hit "Select Antenna" (which is sort of misleading), enter in your address, and go. Eventually a screen will pop up with all the stations in your area along with their frequencies. Typically, the channel is what you'd normally tune to with your ANALOG TV - for example, in my area, Fox is channel 26 - so 26 would be the "channel", and 1 is usually the sub channel. However, the DIGITAL frequency in my area for Fox (as shown on that grid) is 27.

So, in WatchHDTV, for that station, I'd put in RF Channel: 27, Channel: 26, SubChannel: 1 (or -1).

--KS

Yup.
That's what I meant. :)

Was kinda hard to explain without the app open or a screenshot.
So, yeah, "RF Channel" would be the "Frequency Assignment" on the AntennaWeb page.
the Sub Channel is the, er, subchannel. The .1 stations you see on that page. You can also try for a .2 or .3 sub channel as well, to see if there are extra channels.
I can't tell you why -1 is the default, or works, though.
Channel is the channel you'd tune to on your TV. So, say, if you have ABC, and its channel 2 on your TV downstairs without cable, then set it to "2"
I think mostly "channel" is for your own reference to know which station it is.

Much easier to type that with watchhdtv open :)

QMAN71

10-21-05, 10:31 PM

guadalupegrande4

10-22-05, 01:16 AM

I still don't know how to go about finding out what is the problem with my setup.
I told someone else I used a file monitor and registry monitor (from sysinternals) and the guy said those wouldn't be of any use.
I viewed to view the "Error Report Contents" but I can't copy them, and in the file it saves it doesn't include as much info with it.
There are 70 modules (files) it lists, guessing it might be one of those thats the problem.
Thread 1 looks to be relating to doctor watson (dwwin.exe), as is memory range 1. The rest of the "threads" look unimportant, nothing much data there. As are most of the rest of the memory ranges. Up to memory range 47, there I start seeing things like "B.p.B.\.B.D.R.M._.L.e.v.e.l...D.R.M._.F.l.a.g.s...U.s.e._.D. R.M...WATCHHDTVSCHED CHANGE CHANNEL...WATCHHDTVSCHED START RECORD.%i..%i-%i and down through what looks like a calender piece, and a decoder chooser option...
The appcompat file that was created I uploaded, in hopes maybe something's there.
http://www.uploadraid.com/uploads/3623a50a76.txt
And I tried to debug it, but again I can't make heads or tails of it.
(ffc.b4c): Access violation - code c0000005 (first chance)
First chance exceptions are reported before any exception handling.
This exception may be expected and handled.
eax=0015d5b8 ebx=001449e8 ecx=00fa1680 edx=003e3ce4 esi=00001100 edi=00fa1680
eip=00000000 esp=0012d748 ebp=0012d7a4 iopl=0 nv up ei pl nz na po nc
cs=001b ss=0023 ds=0023 es=0023 fs=003b gs=0000 efl=00010206
00000000 ?? ???

After that, the app froze, and I had to release it from debugging, and no other debugging output was captured. But the above occured right when I hit the "setup" button. I tried to load it up without channels.txt but it crashed the same way. I tried deleting everything and changign directories, same problem.
I searched the registry for "watchhdtv" and removed what traces I found, and same problems. I'm at a loss. But its irking me why it aint working. :mad:

Hrm²
When I debug, it freezes. I can then hit, er, "go unhandled exception" and the app closes like it would if I hadn't debugged and just hit "close" after it came up with the error.
0:000> gh
(c5c.5c8): Access violation - code c0000005 (first chance)
First chance exceptions are reported before any exception handling.
This exception may be expected and handled.
eax=0015e588 ebx=001449e8 ecx=00fa6810 edx=003e3ce4 esi=00001100 edi=00fa6810
eip=00310087 esp=0012d748 ebp=0012d7a4 iopl=0 ov up ei pl nz na pe cy
cs=001b ss=0023 ds=0023 es=0023 fs=003b gs=0000 efl=00010a03
00310087 00040c add [esp+ecx],al ss:0023:010d3f58=??
0:000> gn
(c5c.5c8): Access violation - code c0000005 (!!! second chance !!!)
eax=0015e588 ebx=001449e8 ecx=00fa6810 edx=003e3ce4 esi=00001100 edi=00fa6810
eip=00310087 esp=0012d748 ebp=0012d7a4 iopl=0 ov up ei pl nz na pe cy
cs=001b ss=0023 ds=0023 es=0023 fs=003b gs=0000 efl=00000a03
00310087 00040c add [esp+ecx],al ss:0023:010d3f58=??
0:000> gn
eax=00000000 ebx=00f09730 ecx=0285fe20 edx=7c90eb94 esi=00000000 edi=0285fe50
eip=7c90eb94 esp=0285fe20 ebp=0285fe78 iopl=0 nv up ei pl nz na po nc
cs=001b ss=0023 ds=0023 es=0023 fs=003b gs=0000 efl=00000206
ntdll!KiFastSystemCallRet:
7c90eb94 c3 ret

I colored in the part after I hit "go unhandled exception" thinking maybe that'll help.
Or maybe I'm just clogging up the thread and I should stop. :)

Hrm, having just checked another appcompat, it referenced older versions I saved in subdirectories. Removed those, and still the same crash.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-16"?>
<DATABASE>
<EXE NAME="WatchHDTV.exe" FILTER="GRABMI_FILTER_PRIVACY">
<MATCHING_FILE NAME="WatchHDTV.exe" SIZE="233472" CHECKSUM="0x846AA4BD" BIN_FILE_VERSION="1.8.2.1" BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="1.8.2.1" PRODUCT_VERSION="1, 8, 2, 1" FILE_DESCRIPTION="WatchHDTV MFC Application" COMPANY_NAME="" PRODUCT_NAME="WatchHDTV Application" FILE_VERSION="1, 8, 2, 1" ORIGINAL_FILENAME="WatchHDTV.EXE" INTERNAL_NAME="WatchHDTV" LEGAL_COPYRIGHT="Copyright (C) 2005" VERFILEDATEHI="0x0" VERFILEDATELO="0x0" VERFILEOS="0x4" VERFILETYPE="0x1" MODULE_TYPE="WIN32" PE_CHECKSUM="0x0" LINKER_VERSION="0x0" UPTO_BIN_FILE_VERSION="1.8.2.1" UPTO_BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="1.8.2.1" LINK_DATE="10/15/2005 19:27:58" UPTO_LINK_DATE="10/15/2005 19:27:58" VER_LANGUAGE="English (United States) [0x409]" />
<MATCHING_FILE NAME="WatchHDTVPlayPlugin.dll" SIZE="49152" CHECKSUM="0x64BED4AB" BIN_FILE_VERSION="1.1.0.1" BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="1.1.0.1" PRODUCT_VERSION="1, 1, 0, 1" FILE_DESCRIPTION="WatchHDTVPlayPlugin" COMPANY_NAME=" " PRODUCT_NAME="WatchHDTVPlayPlugin" FILE_VERSION="1, 1, 0, 1" ORIGINAL_FILENAME="WatchHDTVPlayPlugin.dll" INTERNAL_NAME="WatchHDTVPlayPlugin" LEGAL_COPYRIGHT="Copyright © 2005" VERFILEDATEHI="0x0" VERFILEDATELO="0x0" VERFILEOS="0x40004" VERFILETYPE="0x2" MODULE_TYPE="WIN32" PE_CHECKSUM="0x0" LINKER_VERSION="0x0" UPTO_BIN_FILE_VERSION="1.1.0.1" UPTO_BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="1.1.0.1" LINK_DATE="10/13/2005 05:33:12" UPTO_LINK_DATE="10/13/2005 05:33:12" VER_LANGUAGE="English (United States) [0x409]" />
<MATCHING_FILE NAME="WatchHDTVSched.exe" SIZE="102400" CHECKSUM="0x1F111090" BIN_FILE_VERSION="1.2.0.1" BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="1.2.0.1" PRODUCT_VERSION="1, 2, 0, 1" FILE_DESCRIPTION="WatchHDTVSched MFC Application" COMPANY_NAME="" PRODUCT_NAME="WatchHDTVSched Application" FILE_VERSION="1, 2, 0, 1" ORIGINAL_FILENAME="WatchHDTVSched.EXE" INTERNAL_NAME="WatchHDTVSched" LEGAL_COPYRIGHT="Copyright (C) 2005" VERFILEDATEHI="0x0" VERFILEDATELO="0x0" VERFILEOS="0x4" VERFILETYPE="0x1" MODULE_TYPE="WIN32" PE_CHECKSUM="0x0" LINKER_VERSION="0x0" UPTO_BIN_FILE_VERSION="1.2.0.1" UPTO_BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="1.2.0.1" LINK_DATE="10/15/2005 00:49:24" UPTO_LINK_DATE="10/15/2005 00:49:24" VER_LANGUAGE="English (United States) [0x409]" />
<MATCHING_FILE NAME="WatchHDTVPlugIn.dll" SIZE="49152" CHECKSUM="0x609B9F91" BIN_FILE_VERSION="1.8.3.1" BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="1.8.3.1" PRODUCT_VERSION="1, 8, 3, 1" FILE_DESCRIPTION="WatchHDTVPlugIn" COMPANY_NAME=" " PRODUCT_NAME="WatchHDTV Plug-In" FILE_VERSION="1, 8, 3, 1" ORIGINAL_FILENAME="WatchHDTVPlugIn.dll" INTERNAL_NAME="WatchHDTVPlugIn" LEGAL_COPYRIGHT="Copyright © 2005" VERFILEDATEHI="0x0" VERFILEDATELO="0x0" VERFILEOS="0x40004" VERFILETYPE="0x2" MODULE_TYPE="WIN32" PE_CHECKSUM="0x0" LINKER_VERSION="0x0" UPTO_BIN_FILE_VERSION="1.8.3.1" UPTO_BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="1.8.3.1" LINK_DATE="10/15/2005 19:27:37" UPTO_LINK_DATE="10/15/2005 19:27:37" VER_LANGUAGE="English (United States) [0x409]" />
<MATCHING_FILE NAME="WatchHDTVPlay.exe" SIZE="77824" CHECKSUM="0x8C01179E" BIN_FILE_VERSION="1.1.0.1" BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="1.1.0.1" PRODUCT_VERSION="1, 1, 0, 1" FILE_DESCRIPTION="WatchHDTVPlay MFC Application" COMPANY_NAME="" PRODUCT_NAME="WatchHDTVPlay Application" FILE_VERSION="1, 1, 0, 1" ORIGINAL_FILENAME="WatchHDTVPlay.EXE" INTERNAL_NAME="WatchHDTVPlay" LEGAL_COPYRIGHT="Copyright (C) 2005" VERFILEDATEHI="0x0" VERFILEDATELO="0x0" VERFILEOS="0x4" VERFILETYPE="0x1" MODULE_TYPE="WIN32" PE_CHECKSUM="0x0" LINKER_VERSION="0x0" UPTO_BIN_FILE_VERSION="1.1.0.1" UPTO_BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="1.1.0.1" LINK_DATE="10/13/2005 05:29:45" UPTO_LINK_DATE="10/13/2005 05:29:45" VER_LANGUAGE="English (United States) [0x409]" />
</EXE>
<EXE NAME="kernel32.dll" FILTER="GRABMI_FILTER_THISFILEONLY">
<MATCHING_FILE NAME="kernel32.dll" SIZE="983552" CHECKSUM="0x4CE79457" BIN_FILE_VERSION="5.1.2600.2180" BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="5.1.2600.2180" PRODUCT_VERSION="5.1.2600.2180" FILE_DESCRIPTION="Windows NT BASE API Client DLL" COMPANY_NAME="Microsoft Corporation" PRODUCT_NAME="Microsoft® Windows® Operating System" FILE_VERSION="5.1.2600.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158)" ORIGINAL_FILENAME="kernel32" INTERNAL_NAME="kernel32" LEGAL_COPYRIGHT="© Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved." VERFILEDATEHI="0x0" VERFILEDATELO="0x0" VERFILEOS="0x40004" VERFILETYPE="0x2" MODULE_TYPE="WIN32" PE_CHECKSUM="0xFF848" LINKER_VERSION="0x50001" UPTO_BIN_FILE_VERSION="5.1.2600.2180" UPTO_BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="5.1.2600.2180" LINK_DATE="08/04/2004 07:56:36" UPTO_LINK_DATE="08/04/2004 07:56:36" VER_LANGUAGE="English (United States) [0x409]" />
</EXE>
</DATABASE>

talon95

10-22-05, 05:06 AM

Just wanted to chime in on my success with WatchHDTV. I've been fighting the POS ATI software for almost as long as the HDTVWonder has been out. WatchHDTV works perfectly as far as I can tell. Huge thanks to author.

One question though, is there any preferred version of the ATI drivers for WatchHDTV? I've got older drivers that go with MMC 9.02 installed right now since 9.02 is the only version that has ever worked at all for me. Obviously since it's working, I probably won't monkey with it, but just curious.

Thanks,
Dave G.

bx_

10-23-05, 12:01 PM

I still have no idea how to tune into a channel on WatchHDTV. Nothing works.

O2C

10-23-05, 04:19 PM

I hate to troubleshoot in this thread, but you might find it helpful to post in the hardware thread for your capture card.

I don't know how it works if you're running through cable, but for OTA in your area (11702), for WABC you'd have RF Channel: 45, Channel: 7, Subchannel: 1. The Garden City PBS (WLIW) would use the subchannel, with HDTV settings for RF Channel: 22, Channel: 21, Subchannel: 2.

If you think that 74.1 is right, try RF Channel: 74, Channel: 4, Subchannel: 1.

rchris

10-23-05, 08:13 PM

I've tried titantv but I just get a tv listing there, no other info.

If you click on the "Digital" channels listing, you'll see the channel number with the frequency below it for each available channel.

cme4oil

10-23-05, 08:57 PM

Well I was unable to run WatchHDTV on my media center PC, so I took my Fusion 5 Lite card and put it in a PC running xp home and WatchHDTV ran fine on that PC, so I'm not sure what the issue is but it is not hardware related, at least as far as the fusion card is concerned.

Well, I happen to have a dual boot with Windows MCE / Windows XP Pro. Just for fun I booted into Windows XP PRO and tired WatchHDTV 1.82 and it came up fine. I have the FushionHDTV 5 lite card too.. Don't know what the difference is yet but it does appear it will work in XP PRO.

Off to actually read the readme now. One question though, does this work if I get my HDTV signal via Comcast Cable or does it have to be Over the Air HD.

waitinthefire

10-23-05, 10:21 PM

absolutely fantastic. I can now get AC3 output to my speakers using the decoders.txt file. the only thing i would add would be secondary monitor support. thank you.

ralph_sinclair

10-23-05, 10:21 PM

hdval21 this program is outstanding!!!! I was using 1.5 and almost fell off my chair when I saw what you cooked up for 1.8.

Some issues though:

1. The dvr-ms files recorded by the silent record don't seem to have any sound when I play them in WMP and MCE. When I look at the files in graphedit, they output the video and one other pin to "mpeg2 sections and tables". No audio pin. My tuner is HDTV wonder using the Microsoft windows update drivers (from March/2005 I think) on MCE rollup2. I have the ATI decoder and MMC 9.08 installed but no other codec-y stuff. MCE will record dvr-ms files with audio.

2. As soon as I pause a live broadcast, attempt a live recording, or load a file in WatchHDTVPlay, I get a windows error:

WatchHDTVPlay error:
AppName: watchhdtvplay.exe AppVer: 1.0.0.1 ModName: watchhdtvplay.exe
ModVer: 1.0.0.1 Offset: 000070ad

WatchHDTV error when pausing:
AppName: watchhdtv.exe AppVer: 1.8.0.1 ModName: watchhdtv.exe
ModVer: 1.8.0.1 Offset: 0001dd75

3. The Decoders.txt file doesn't work. I specify Nvidia decoders using the Graphedit names (NVIDIA Video Decoder and NVIDIA Audio Decoder) but the regular ATI decoders are still used. Decoders.txt worked fine for me on XPSP1 but after I reformatted to MCE2005rollup2, it doesn't work anymore. Weird.

I'll add one cool thing: WatchHDTV handles a weak signal better than MCE. Less choppy, audio doesn't bounce around as much.

ArcCoyote

10-23-05, 11:46 PM

I'll add one cool thing: WatchHDTV handles a weak signal better than MCE. Less choppy, audio doesn't bounce around as much.

THANK YOU for being the first person to confirm my suspicions that MCE has a very annoying bug.

If you lose the DTV signal, MCE goes to a "Sginal Loss" screen and picks it back up without a problem. However, if there's a brief dropout, MCE often gets out of sync with the transport stream and stutters for minutes on end (even when the signal is mostly good!)

If you are watching live TV, you can stop the stuttering by pressing stop and then resume. Of course, this is no good when MCE decides to fubar a recording!

Slikkster

10-24-05, 10:19 AM

Using the latest version of WatchHDTV on a non-MCE XP SP2 system with Avermedia A180 card.

Hats off to the author for the application. The Avermedia HDTV application will NOT work without stuttering on my system. WatchHDTV, with its ability to specify decoders, allows me to watch the local Digital OTA channels. Gotta be embarrassing for Avermedia that some guy writing a third party app can get their card to work when they can't get it to work on some systems (seems like other nforce 2 users like me have issues with the A180).

Issues:

No signal strength reading from A180 card on WatchHDTV

One channel, channel 5.1 (Fox 5 Digital) has trouble locking in on the WatchHDTV app. Toggles between 1080i and 720p, with lots of digital hits/breakup.
I'm going to try naming it "1" vs. "-1" in the channels list to see if that makes a difference.

I'm still playing with various decoders to see what works best. So far, it's Nvidia's PureVideo decoder, but I can tell its still not totally smooth. For example, when a station has a crawl on the bottom of the screen during newscasts, it always has an ever-so-slight pause every few seconds. Not sure if it's polling interrupts or not.

KlingonScum

10-24-05, 01:47 PM

I'm stuck - not making any headway getting Timeshifting or Recording to work with my A180 card (Windows XP Pro, SP2). Every time I try to enter Timeshifting mode or hit the Record button, I immediately get the "A windows error has occured, blah blah-no useful information-blah blah, do you want to send an error report to Microsoft?" dialog box, and it exits out of the app.

Live TV works fine, however - in fact, better than fine in that I can get DD 5.1 on live broadcasts, something the native Aver software is incapable of.

--KS

hdtval21

10-24-05, 03:23 PM

WatchHDTV update- I fixed a very small issue with scheduler.
I also added some more support to help with channel setup and decoder setup. There is also a screenshot added of dual silent recording.

For those with issues- there's not much I can help with other than what' s already been said. Make sure you have all the latest XP updates, directx9, etc. Try different HDTV Wonder drivers, or other cards drivers. Again, for MCE, support was never really fully supported, as it always had trouble working to begin with. Try version 1.6 first, if it works, than at least live viewing should work with 1.83. I can only test with the HDTV Wonder and FusionHDTV 2, so you would have to get some help from others for other cards who have it working. You may have to PM others from other threads to get their help. I think some people aren't responding in this thread when they have things working, so you have to look at other threads. I know there are some who have posted in FusionHDTV, Avermedia, and HDTV Wonder threads who haven't done so here- don't know why though. I also know there are still people who haven't tried my program, or at least I haven' t seen them mention it yet, yet they still complain about other software not working and the lack of other available software. The more people respond, the more involvement we can get on trying to figure out what works, what doesn't, etc. And please click the submit button on my site so I know you downloaded it- you only need to click once(don't click everytime you download). If I don't have a good idea of how many have downloaded, then I don't know what kind of user base I have. I don't want to have to change how it can be downloaded.
Hopefully no one thinks I'm not trying to help, as I've shown and others can vouch for me that I'll try as much as I can, but I think we still need more involvment from others. Remember- we all need to help each other, I can only do so much. And as always, please respond, good or bad, so I know and others know how things are.

Thanks.

Inundated

10-24-05, 05:34 PM

This sounds interesting. Do you have any idea if it'll work with the new FusionHDTV USB box, that's just being shipped out this week? I have one on the way...

hdtval21

10-25-05, 01:36 AM

Inundated- I assume it should, or at least can. I presume the software will be the same, so it should work. I may(probably) need to add the names of the tuner and receiver, as I think they won't be named the same as the regular cards. If you try it, let me know if it works/doesn't work, and if not, if you want to help, I'll tell you what I need. I see a few people have already got it in the main Fusion USB thread, so you can ask them to try it out.

aiwnow

10-25-05, 02:38 AM

I was using 1.6 and just upgraded to 1.8. Timeshifting and being able to specify decoders is great. I've got two questions though.
1. The channel indicator in the video window comes up with a big ugly gray rectangle background. I remember in some previous version the background was transparent and the video showed through. Was this changed?
2. Is there a way to control the length and/or size of the timeshift buffer?

Thanks

talon95

10-25-05, 04:59 AM

Well, I'm certainly willing to help in any way I can. My setup is pretty basic though. I think most of the people having problems, have other hardware/software.

WinXP SP2
ATI HDTV Wonder (9.02 drivers)
P4 3.2 Gig

WatchHDTV seems to work 100% for me. I simply added channels and specified a file location and everything worked (and much better than the ATI software).

hdtval21, I can't hardly express in words how happy it made me when I first got WatchHDTV setup and working. I've been fighting ATI's software for over a year now.

Dave G.

Andrew Hornfeck

10-25-05, 09:48 AM

I've had reasonably GOOD use of my HDTV-Wonder in the past year, but I'm only using it to timeshift shows for the most part. I DO have the blackout bug with MMC 9.06.1 which WatchHDTV does not. I have observed an interlacing issue with the WatchHDTV-PLAY function that I am NOT seeing if I use WMP. Any ideas? Maybe I need to experiment with a config.txt for the PLAY, or is that not an option?

BTW, Earlier I'd stated several options/issues that I was hoping you'd respond to...

Inundated

10-25-05, 02:05 PM

If you try it, let me know if it works/doesn't work, and if not, if you want to help, I'll tell you what I need. I see a few people have already got it in the main Fusion USB thread, so you can ask them to try it out.

I haven't seen anyone in that thread who says they use this program, yet...and I'll be getting my own tomorrow. I'm sure it'll be one of the first things I'll try!

I'll definitely let you know.

gkfad3

10-26-05, 01:17 AM

Excellent work hdtval.

FYI, I'm an ATI employee, and I too am happy to be rid of MMC at home. :D

Commodore 64

10-26-05, 07:11 AM

Got it set up with my Avermedia a180 last night. I only tried it for watching live TV, and it works very well.

I've got a mild audio sync issue though, the audio is slightly ahead of the video. I Use the NVIDIA Audio Decoder, and I think this is the issue. It seems to me like the Soundstorm NVIDIA Audio decoder is decoding the DD stream because the sound isn't quite right.

I tried AC3Filter but the WatchHDTV app would error out, like someone else mentioned.

In any case, I'll have more time to play with it tonight.

hdtval21: Here is a something of a pipedream for me. I really like the Media Portal HTPC front end, but they are having terrible issues with their ATSC tuning (and some other TV issues). Have you ever considered contacting the devs there and working on that project?

mikkim

10-26-05, 03:08 PM

BenCJedi

10-26-05, 04:55 PM

Great software with my Fusion 5 Lite!

D-Train where can I get just the ATI MPG Multiplexor for your converter? The converter doesn't work for me because I don't have an ATI HDWonder. Also would it be possible to make the converter also convert to TS files, so quick commercial editing could be done with HDTVtoMPEG2?

mynym

10-26-05, 05:32 PM

I figured out why it was crashing on me when I went to record or timeshift. This may solve other peoples crashing problem as well.

The "timeshift folder" and "Record folder" directories specified did not exist. In my case they were pointing to c:\watchHDTV1.6 which I later renamed to C:\watchHDTV.

You can change this by loading WatchHDTV and clicking the "SCHED" button. Once the dialog is presented click on the "Timeshift/Record Setup" tab and confirm that the Timeshift folder and Record folder exist.

And as a note for the developer. Perhaps you can do a FileSystemInfo.Exists(strDIR) and if the target directories (Timeshift folder and record folder) don't exist either prompt the user or default to the application path root directory.

D-Train

10-26-05, 05:37 PM

@BenCJedi

Unfortunately I'm sure sure how to get this filter outside of the ATI decoder software. I've been thinking about updating the converter to work with other mux filters. Do you know how to use Graphedit? Maybe the Fusion comes with a mux filter that will work. If so I can update the program to work with it. I've actually been thinking about allowing the mux filter to be configurable. I experimented with a filter that comes with the Elecard XMuxer Pro software and it seemed to work but that software is pricey (comes with 21-day evaluation). Warning: don't install XMuxer Pro without "ghosting" your system partition because it will change your filter preferences in a way that uninstalling will not reverse.

Let me know if you'd like to investigate what filters are available w/ the fusion software and I can possibly work with you to make sure the converter works with it.

Same goes with TS - If someone finds a filter combination that can convert to TS I may be able to incorporate it into the converter. I haven't found any DirectShow filters on my system that can convert to transport streams though.

@hdtval21

Let me know if you'd like me to take the converter discussion elsewhere. The main reason I've kept it here is that I only made this program so far to work with the WatchHDTV dvr-ms files. The converter will probably choke on dvr-ms files that are DRM'd or have different pin configurations than what is produced by WatchHDTV.

BobSalita

10-26-05, 08:21 PM

I just installed WatchHDTV 1.83a hoping it would work with my new FusionHDTV5 USB. Alas, it doesn't on my system. The WatchHDTV.exe application aborts immediately after displaying the WatchHDTV splash screen.

This is likely a bug in WatchHDTV albeit perhaps only occuring on a bad install. I'm thinking I must be missing something on the install process. Perhaps I haven't registered plugins correctly? Not knowing what to do, I installed ATI Remote software and registered the two WatchHDTV plugins. Am I suppose to do that? Am I suppose to do something with any config files such as decoders.txt?

Inundated

10-26-05, 08:39 PM

I just installed WatchHDTV 1.83a hoping it would work with my new FusionHDTV5 USB. Alas, it doesn't on my system. The WatchHDTV.exe application aborts immediately after displaying the WatchHDTV splash screen.

Same here with my new FusionHDTV5 USB, same result.

I downloaded from the author's site, unzipped everything into one folder, and ran the WatchHDTV main application with the Fusion plugged in. I don't know if there's anything else I'm supposed to do. The WatchHDTVPlay application worked fine, but that's, of course, just to play stuff, not to use the Fusion with.

talon95

10-26-05, 08:58 PM

Well, I have run in to a problem. On a couple of silent recordings, WatchHDTV has crashed. The last time I was here and saw what was going on. It appears WatchHDTV starts using an excessive amount of memory and eventually crashes. It doesn't do this every time though.

Anyone else seen this happen? This only seems to happen for timed recordings. I've been using silent each time also.

Dave G.

creakndale

10-26-05, 11:28 PM

hdtval21

10-27-05, 01:01 AM

mynym- that would be a problem! I mentioned in the readme making sure you setup the folder locations first, right? I guess I should mention that you need to make sure your folder locations always match up with what's been setup. There is always room for better error correction, it's just I tried to do things as quickly as possible, and assume that for the most part people here are computer savvy enough to figure things out- like you.

D-Train- it's alright for now!(j/k) I have no problem keeping it here. It might be better if you have a separate thread though so it could keep things separate(!)- but it would help here since it can be mainly used here, and people wouldn't have to look in different places. Whatever you want. I'd say keep it here for now so at least people don't have to look too far for it.

Inundated- you've got a PM. I guess you'll be the only thing holding up Fusion 5 USB support!??!!

A few have mentioned Media Portal- I haven't looked into it, and don't plan on it for now. Friendly competition is always good, isn't it?

Thanks again everyone for the comments.

talon95

10-27-05, 04:51 AM

Dave G.,
The only problem I have with WatchHDTV is with the occasional Record - Silent crash that you describe. Everything else is perfect. I'm using an ATI HDTV Wonder card. Hdtval21 knows that a very few of us have this problem but he has not able to reproduce it. The workaround for maximum reliability is to Schedule using Record - Live instead. I'm using these drivers which I believe are the latest versions:
HDTV_Wonder_Drivers_6-9-05
DTV_Decoder_5-17-05

Someday I plan to try different versions of the the above 2 drivers any maybe the Record - Silent problem will go away.

creakndale

Thanks creakndale,

Here's what I found the last time it had problems (I was sitting at the computer when WatchHDTV started the silent record):

1. Silent record started, no apparent problem.
2. Within about a minute my computer starts thrashing on the hardrive.
3. I pull up task manager and see that the total mem usage has shot up a lot (about 900 meg total)
4. Task manager does not show WatchHDTV using 700+ meg, but when I kill WatchHDTV, everything returns to normal.

I don't know if that's helpful or not, but I feel certain this is happening each time it crashes on my machine. My machine only has 512meg ram right now, so I may try simply adding another 512 to see if a possible workaround is to simply have enough available memory to keep the crash from happening. Probably won't work, but worth a try. I'll report back with what I find.

Dave G.

Inundated

10-27-05, 08:48 AM

Inundated- you've got a PM. I guess you'll be the only thing holding up Fusion 5 USB support!??!!

Hah, that's a lot of pressure! :D

I've already replied, and E-Mailed. I hope I can get you the information you need.

This is in another thread - does it make any sense to you?

From a comment in the ver 3.11 thread about updates in 3.12, I gather that MCE doesn't work with the DVB-USB model (in 3.11 anyway). This suggests that the 3.11 BDA driver for the DVB (and F5?) USB is buggy. Perhaps WatchHDTV will work with the 3.12 sw.

Inundated

10-27-05, 10:30 PM

Fusion5 USB folk - I've given the author the information he needed, and hopefully we'll see an update in a few days that'll work with the USB Fusion5. :)

scousens

10-28-05, 07:53 AM

Any chance of native ts recording? It'd make editing more direct.

ttriplett

10-28-05, 09:40 AM

Do you have to do anything to get the RemoteWonder to work with WatchHDTV or should it just work??

hdtval21

10-28-05, 05:21 PM

As I think I might have said before(if not, here it is)- the reason why I went with DVR-MS first is because it was the easiest to do and it's already built-in for everyone. Now, since I have pretty much everything working, I may add support for .TS or MPEG. There is a tool provided here though that will convert the DVR-MS to MPEG, so MPEG isn't as needed now as .TS. There is better support for DVR-MS files now than before, so editing isn't as big an issue as before. So for now, all you get is DVR-MS.

ttriplett- I've included Remote Wonder plugins for WatchHDTV and WatchHDTV Play. Read the readme to set them up if you don't know how.

Andrew Hornfeck- sorry for not answering earlier- I just overlooked things. (THIS IS FOR EVERYONE ELSE AS WELL) You can record for any amount of time by clicking the "OFF" above the record button and selecting "RECORD...". Clicking "OFF" brings up other recording options for those that don't know. For DVR-MS playback- you could change the file settings for DVR-MS so that the default app is WatchHDTV Play, but I'm not sure if they will open and start playing or not. I've thought about file associating DVR-MS with WatchHDTV Play, but haven't looked into it yet. Sound acceleration- I tried looking at it myself and my setting always stays the same. I think it may be a decoder issue, but I'm not doing anything on purpose to change it to full acceleration. PSIP- from what I've read previously, it's not the easiest thing to do. I remember some saying it seemed like it was rocket science or something(I may be mixing up what I read about that). For stations that have been transmitting for a while, I think most of them got their PSIP issues fixed by now. But for those still relatively early in HD, PSIP problems still exist. Subchannel issues I believe is one effect related to PSIP. Thanks for the comments.

If I've overlooked, missed, or haven't answered your questions, ask again. I'll try to answer as much as I can.

Now sort of off topic- but does anyone else get "tired" or "bored" the way forums work and look? I know most formats have been around a while now, and sort have become "standard", but I guess maybe I'm just getting to used to the way things are and having the same thing over and over is getting tiring. That's why sometimes I'll miss things because I would have to read back all the previous posts, try to find certain people, etc. Maybe I'm the only one... that wouldn't surprise me.

Thanks.

Suntan

10-28-05, 07:33 PM

FWIW, another request for .ts support please. :)

And yeah, forums can get monotonus, but what else is there to do while you are sitting at work? :rolleyes:

-Suntan

guadalupegrande4

10-28-05, 09:02 PM

I've seen some forums alternate the background for each post. And I've found that easier to read than here, where each post background is teh same color, and a border between each post, albeit a fairly colorful and thick border.

Guess people, if they want to stand out, can post in color, but it has to be a good color and not compete with the background or be too obnoxious. :)

eejones

10-29-05, 01:34 AM

ttriplett- I've included Remote Wonder plugins for WatchHDTV and WatchHDTV Play. Read the readme to set them up if you don't know how.

Anything else you need to do after you import the .DLL's?
My Remote Wonder doesn't seem to want to work although it is/was
working fine with the ATI software.

GREAT PROGRAM. I was about ready to give up on the Wonder because
of the constant stuttering.

Inundated

10-29-05, 10:48 AM

KAXKID

10-29-05, 12:09 PM

Good news for Fusion5USB owners - it appears the software is working, and it'll likely be released on his site sometime this weekend.

I even managed to figure out how to get it working up here on the laptop, with the non-DVxA encoding.

I can't guarantee anything due to the flaky nature of the Fusion drivers, but my experience testing it has generally been blue screen free, even on the laptop. So far, at least. :)

Thanks to the author for allowing me to test it out!
hey, nice job if this works as well as the version for the pci cards.
i'm still waiting for my f5usb to be delivered by ups(it's re-scheduled for monday delivery), they had some sort of problem getting the package across country!!! but as i originally said in the f5usb thread, i expect a lot of the "kinks" will have been found and discussed before mine arrives.

Inundated

10-29-05, 12:24 PM

hey, nice job if this works as well as the version for the pci cards.
i'm still waiting for mu f5usb to be delivered by ups(it's re-scheduled for monday delivery), they had some sort of problem getting the package across country!!! but as i originally said in the f5usb thread, i expect a lot of the "kinks" will have been found and discussed before mine arrives.

I hope at least some of 'em will be! :D

As far as I can see, WatchHDTV 1.8.4 will work fine with the USB unit. It's been doing well for me up here on the laptop. Keep watching the page, for our author here is likely to put it up sometime this weekend.

FYI, on my laptop, since it doesn't have a DVxA video card, I had to manually add the decoders.txt file. It contains the following entries for my system:

Zulu HDTV Video Decoder(BDA)
Dvico AC3 Decoder

To create it, open up Notepad, add these entries EXACTLY as written (you can just copy and paste it from here) and save the Notepad file as "decoders.txt" in the WatchHDTV directory. Before I did that, it was having video decoding problems, as it was trying to use the DVxA decoders my system does not support.

You have to have that audio decoder (Dvico AC3 Decoder) as well.

If your system has a DVxA-capable card, you probably won't have to do the text file above.

hdtval21

10-29-05, 08:03 PM

aiwnow- sorry for not answering- if you get a gray box with the channel, you probably are getting it with the vol also? Those shouldn't be there- might you have changed some windows visual settings or something? Timeshifting will go on forever- I didn't implement any type of buffer yet- I know some may be low on space so a buffer would help, but I'm not sure if I will fix this or not.

I've just posted version 1.84 to add support for the Fusion5 USB. That and a minor change for Fusion users are the only changes. If you use a Fusion and setup your decoders to use the Fusion DXVA one and a non-Fusion audio one, you should download this(as you might actually need it for things to work reliably).

Thanks.

Inundated

10-29-05, 09:54 PM

See above for how I set it up on a non-DVxA system. It's my understanding that WatchHDTV comes up looking for the DVxA driver, so I had to add that decoders.txt file as above. :)

Thanks, hdtval, for adding this!

BCCISProf

10-29-05, 09:58 PM

Does anyone have any fixes for the silent-record issue? Its not a major big deal as record-live seems to work well.

I don't think it is a memory problem as I have 2G installed...

Even without the silent-record feature, this program is excellent!

chaddle

10-29-05, 10:04 PM

hdtval,

I could not find anything in the documentation about this, but have you implemented command line switches into WatchHDTV? I think it would be great to be able to control initial startup conditions (screen size, channel, volume, etc.). I think this would be useful for launching from a media center environment.

Thanks

P.S. Could you do for the REMOTE WONDER what you did for the HDTV WONDER...give us something that just works with no B.S. I've tried everything to get mine working and have given up on it.

BobSalita

10-29-05, 11:52 PM

Inundated

10-30-05, 01:12 AM

Channel changing via the form's buttons isn't working for me. The on screen channel indicator is always correct but the actual channel displayed is seemingly randomly chosen. I've repeatedly tried erasing channels.txt, re-adding, editing by hand, nothing seems to make it sync up displayed channel with on screen channel.

Can you click on the channel number indicator, and choose the channel correctly from the menu that pops up? (I didn't even know it HAD that until I stumbled on it!)

Or, when you change, does the channel seem "locked"?

If you get that, exit WatchHDTV, unplug the H5USB box and plug it back in again, waiting until it lights up before rerunning WatchHDTV. As near as I can figure, if the F5's drivers get funky, it can "lock" on a channel. In the regular Fusion software, this well could cause a BSOD or a software crash. (This is just a guess on my part, with no actual evidence to back it up...)

BobSalita

10-30-05, 07:30 AM

Inundated, I was skeptical but you were absolutely right on perhaps three counts.

First, I didn't know that clicking in the channel indicator box would popup a channel menu.

Second, your suggestion of unplugging/plugging in the box fixed the problem with locking/choosing wrong display channel even though the OSD channel was correct.

Third, I think the unplug/plug idea may have fixed the program abort in FusionHDTVUSB application too. It no longer aborts when I select channel 11 WTTW 1080i.

BobSalita

10-30-05, 07:31 AM

hdtval21,

If the USB box isn't plugged in when WatchHDTV app is opened, the program aborts. An error check is missing.

BobSalita

10-30-05, 07:33 AM

hdtval21, any chance we can get an open source code or at least an API spec for WatchHDTV? I'd like to integrate the core functionality with my own GUI or HTPC app.

Inundated

10-30-05, 09:10 AM

Inundated, I was skeptical but you were absolutely right on perhaps three counts.

Trust me, I've banged on this thing for some time... :D

First, I didn't know that clicking in the channel indicator box would popup a channel menu.

Yeah, and that's even in the documentation. I was too busy plugging in the box and hoping the software would work, to go digging in the documentation. ;)

Second, your suggestion of unplugging/plugging in the box fixed the problem with locking/choosing wrong display channel even though the OSD channel was correct.

Alternatively, you could also reset the box. There's a small hole next to the S-Video input just for that purpose. You'll hear the Windows remove USB device sound, the light will go off, then it'll come back on and you'll hear the sound going on.

Third, I think the unplug/plug idea may have fixed the program abort in FusionHDTVUSB application too. It no longer aborts when I select channel 11 WTTW 1080i.

Here's my guess (only a guess at this point): When the WatchHDTV program acts funny like that (locking on channel, aborting prematurely), it's because there's some sort of error condition in the box itself (i.e. the low-level drivers). I'm *guessing* that similar problems are among those which cause the Fusion tuner software to error or do a BSOD (Blue Screen of Death, which forces a reboot of the entire computer). If that's indeed the case, I'm very, very glad that WatchHDTV reacts like that, because it's fairly trivial to kill a hung software app, and reload it, than to reboot the entire computer.

One problem I ran into today is probably not directly related to WatchHDTV per se, even though it only happened in it: It kept locking up trying to decode FOX this morning ("FOX News Sunday"). I think I know why - FOX News Sunday, a widescreen program upconverted to 720p, has DD 5.1 sound. When the local FOX affiliate went to local programming (infomercials, ugh) at 10 AM, WatchHDTV had no problem, and even did it OK a couple of times earlier.

I don't remember if I had this problem on FOX prime time yet, but I have manually included the DVICO AC3 audio decoder in that decoders.txt file. And I wonder if that's why you'd hear FOX for about 3 seconds, and the WatchHDTV app would lock up. I'm gonna play with it for a while, maybe swap out another audio decoder during FOX 5.1 programming and see if that works. I also suspect that the non-modified WatchHDTV install downstairs on the faster, DVxA-equipped PC won't have this same problem.

It's the ONE instance where the Fusion tuner software had a leg up on WatchHDTV. :D

Mike_Stuewe

10-30-05, 09:25 AM

Upon opening the lastest version and version 1.6, I get an error message which of course asks if I want to send it to MS. I can fiddle around a little bit while the error message is open but of course I have to close.

It just says the typical something screwed up and needs to close saying of:

WatchHDTV MFC Application has encountered a problem and needs to close.

Any thoughts, I skimmed through the readme and didnt find much.

Heres my setup:

XP Pro
Athlon 64 3000+
512 MB Ram
ATI x800 128mb
ATI HDTV Wonder
On board audio

I dont know much technical stuff, I just got the card yesterday. The ATI software works ok at best.

Mikef5

10-30-05, 10:49 AM

Upon opening the lastest version and version 1.6, I get an error message which of course asks if I want to send it to MS. I can fiddle around a little bit while the error message is open but of course I have to close.

It just says the typical something screwed up and needs to close saying of:

WatchHDTV MFC Application has encountered a problem and needs to close.

Any thoughts, I skimmed through the readme and didnt find much.

Heres my setup:

XP Pro
Athlon 64 3000+
512 MB Ram
ATI All in Wonder with latest drivers
On board audio

I dont know much technical stuff, I just got the card yesterday. The ATI software works ok at best.

You do realize that this software is for HD tuners and the ATI All in Wonder is not an HD tuner. They do make a HD tuner but not in the All in Wonder series.

valkyrie

10-30-05, 12:08 PM

hdtval21, thank you! The WatchHDTV software seems to be working great on the Fusion HDTV-USB. It's already working far better than Dvico's own software.

If you're ever up for feature requests, a few nice ones would be the following:
1) Ability to minimize the control without dismissing the TV windows
2) An "always on top" toggle so I can watch TV while doing work :)

Thank you, you are a credit to this forum!

Regards,

Valk

Inundated

10-30-05, 12:47 PM

Another feature request - if you're even interested at this point in development:

Can you add picture adjustments (brightness, contrast, etc.) like the Fusion software has in its configuration menus? My laptop's screen sometimes displays overlay video a bit dark, and I'd like to adjust this if possible. If it's a big deal to work on, then forget it...

And I'm still trying to find the proper decoder that will handle 5.1 audio. The AC3 won't. Any time FOX sends 5.1 down (which is basically their entire HDTV schedule), it locks up trying to decode...but I know that's because of whatever audio decoder I have in there now. I just haven't had the time to fish through the list for a replacement.

Inundated

10-30-05, 12:51 PM

Just tried Dvico AC3 Decoder2, and it crashes WatchHDTV, so that's not it. :D

Any ideas of other audio decoders that will work, but aren't necessarily the DVICO ones? I just subbed the InterVideo Audio Decoder, and it works just as well as the DVICO one on regular 2.0 material, but locks up just like the DVICO one at 5.1.

Mike_Stuewe

10-30-05, 07:57 PM

You do realize that this software is for HD tuners and the ATI All in Wonder is not an HD tuner. They do make a HD tuner but not in the All in Wonder series.

Yea I made a mistake, I used to have an all in wonder and wrote that out of habit. I corrected it. See above.

KAXKID

10-30-05, 08:40 PM

Inundated

10-30-05, 11:23 PM

have you tried to make the overlay adjustment in the video card adjustments?

Huh?

:D

Mikef5

10-30-05, 11:51 PM

Yea I made a mistake, I used to have an all in wonder and wrote that out of habit. I corrected it. See above.
I see you have the ATI HDTV card, did they ever get it to do cable QAM or is it still only OTA ?? ATI makes good cards, it's just the software is not as good as it could be but this new software seems to be getting good reviews.

Laters,
Mikef5

Mike_Stuewe

10-31-05, 05:34 AM

Seems like it is still over the air.

I was able to get the programming going for a little bit before it crashes and must close. I got through the setup and tried to tune in a channel. It came up 85% signal strength but no picture or sound came up and then the error message showed saying I must close the program.

The ATI programs crashed on me 3 times yesterday while I was trying to record something. This card is being a headache, and Id love to get this program to work. I dont want fancy features, just the ability to watch and record HDTV on my comp.

Thanks in advance for your guys help.

KAXKID

10-31-05, 05:52 AM

Huh?

:D
most video adapters have a software suite or at least some way to make adjustments to the color etc. for example my nvidia based card has the ability to make all different adjustments to either the desktop or the overlay in a menu found in the device manager. you may have to go to the video adapter's website to get the software suite if it's not already in device manager.

Mike_Stuewe

10-31-05, 06:57 AM

I got it, dont have time to play with it as I have to go to work. But I went through the torubleshooting faq now on the website and that did the trick.

Booyah

Commodore 64

10-31-05, 07:45 AM

hdtval21, any chance we can get an open source code or at least an API spec for WatchHDTV? I'd like to integrate the core functionality with my own GUI or HTPC app.

I'm interested in this as well.

joewmaki

10-31-05, 08:00 AM

I think more newer versions of editing software are providing better support for dvr-ms, HD, etc, so you may want to wait or at least see what all options are.

I can edit the dvr.ms files without any problem in the current version of video-redo. Unfortunately it won't save back to dvr.ms. It wil save to mpg (and .ts I believe).

D-Train

10-31-05, 08:29 AM

I can edit the dvr.ms files without any problem in the current version of video-redo. Unfortunately it won't save back to dvr.ms. It wil save to mpg (and .ts I believe).
Do you retain A/V sync when doing this? That has always been my problem with VideoRedo and dvr-ms, hence my reason for converting to mpeg program stream first. I also get "video re-sync frames removed" shown on output and I can clearly tell that video frames do get dropped.

Xesdeeni

10-31-05, 09:19 AM

Here's another vote for .TS support.

Xesdeeni

Inundated

10-31-05, 11:22 AM

most video adapters have a software suite or at least some way to make adjustments to the color etc. for example my nvidia based card has the ability to make all different adjustments to either the desktop or the overlay in a menu found in the device manager. you may have to go to the video adapter's website to get the software suite if it's not already in device manager.

Wow! Found this indeed, but it's not all that "obvious"...it's in the video card software under Color > Gamma Correction, then you click the "Overlay" button. Not exactly intuitive, unless you're a video professional. :D

isparhawk

10-31-05, 02:15 PM

HDTVAL21, Great Job!! I have a Fusion 3 Gold card and your software works wonders. I could never get all the features working on the DVico software that I wanted to use. I even tried a fresh install of XP2SP2 with just the DVico software without any luck. I love the ability to specify decoders on WatchHDTV. Your software suite works great for my media server environment. My media server records shows and I stream the file to a second computer in my media room.

One request...please don't add too many features and sacrifice quality :) ATI and DVico are already have the market cornered on sacrificing core features for fluff (skins, large UIs, etc). There is no way to compete with the resources they put into developing software like they do.

Mike_Stuewe

10-31-05, 05:32 PM

nsx20120

10-31-05, 05:49 PM

This program is much more stable then I have found Dvico to be, thanks.

I am having an audio sync problem where the audio is progressively getting ahead of the video. If a change channels it re-syncs for a while but then progressively gets worse again. I am using SPDIF output for audio.

I am using the Dvico decoders for both video and audio, I tried chaning to Nvidia decoders in combinations of video and audio matches to see if it helped but no luck.

Has anyone found a solution? I thought about getting AC3Filter decoder to try playing with the delay settings but since the problem is progressive I didn't think a fixed delay would help.

Thanks.

KAXKID

10-31-05, 05:59 PM

Wow! Found this indeed, but it's not all that "obvious"...it's in the video card software under Color > Gamma Correction, then you click the "Overlay" button. Not exactly intuitive, unless you're a video professional. :D
no "video professional" here, but glad i was able to help you.

BCCISProf

11-01-05, 08:09 AM

The Scheduler does not let you schedule two back to back shows. Thus if one show ends at 9pm and the other show starts at 9pm, you must decide whether to lose the 1st minute of the 9pm show or the last minute of the 8pm show.

It should be possible for the program to detect that these do not overlap.

Great program!

BobSalita

11-01-05, 09:50 AM

Regarding discussions about adjusting color, I see that Microsoft has released a control panel applet that supports profiles. Maybe its an answer.

http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/Microsoft_Color_Control_Panel_Applet/1130779200/1

D-Train

11-01-05, 02:01 PM

I uploaded a new version of the DVR-MS to MPG File Converter program. The big feature change is that different profiles are supported, one of which can convert to transport streams. Unfortunately all the profiles still rely on third-party software. One profile uses the ATI software and the other uses Elecard software.

Non-HDTV WONDER WatchHDTV users: PM me if you're interested in investigating what filters are available for mux'ing MPEG files. It would be great to have the converter support everyone who uses WatchHDTV.

DVR-MS to MPG File Converter (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6368101#post6368101)

Inundated

11-01-05, 03:57 PM

i love this program this is great.

i have a question though. i have a bunch of channels here in cleveland that stretch their SD programming. is there anyway to take the 16:9 wide image, compress it so it all fits in a 4:3 frame, and make it full screen on my 4:3 display? under the window drop down menu, you can select 4:3 but that just zooms, which crops the edges and still provides the stretched picture, just in a 4:3 frame.

Hi, neighbor!

I'd love to see it, too. That's one of the few things that the Fusion software does, that WatchHDTV does not.

As to other questions, I still get lockup on 5.1 shows (NBC and FOX here, prime-time and some sports). I have to put a manual decoders.txt file in to use the non-DVxA decoder for the Fusion unit. What audio decoder will support 5.1? WatchHDTV hangs when using the Dvico AC3 Decoder and doesn't work at all with Dvico AC3 Decoder2.

bullgates

11-01-05, 09:49 PM

maxum

11-02-05, 04:13 PM

I was interested in installing HDTV Wonder,, should I just install the hardware, then install the software provided by HDTVAL21? System is: xp pro sp2
pentium 4 3.0ghz.
1024 mb Ram
ati x800SE 128mb
audigy 2

kmp14

11-02-05, 04:32 PM

I think HDTVAL21's software requires that the HD Wonder drivers, etc are in place.....??

mcdanjw

11-02-05, 04:35 PM

Or you can use the NVIDIA Pure Video decoder with the AC3 Filter... I don't think you need the ATI ones in that case as long as the decoders.txt file points WatchHDTV to them.

maxum

11-02-05, 05:22 PM

so basically I could screw up my system by downloading ati,s software, then correct the problem with Als ? That Al knows his stuff. Thanks guys

KlingonScum

11-03-05, 11:04 AM

Played around with WatchHDTV and my A180 card some more, found out some good stuff:

1) That resolution problem I was having where it was reporting "1280x1080" and squishing everything vertically on some channels? Turns out the cause was the DScaler5 Mpeg2 Video Decoder I was using - when I switched it to the AverMedia Video Decoder, the problem went away. I tried to get the Cyberlink SP/Video Decoder (PowerDVD, version 4) working, but all I'd get was a blank screen. I believe the resolution issue was only occuring on 1280x720p content; the 1920x1080i channels were working perfectly.

2) The problem with timeshifting/recording causing it to crash was solved by pointing the directories to the root of the drive where I wanted to store them, then back to the original directory. I have no idea why this fixed it because the directories were correctly set up the first time, but it did.

3) DScaler 5's Audio Decoder has an issue where the first time you bring up the app, you get no audio - if you change channels, the audio comes on. I forgot to test yesterday to see if it actually RECORDS the audio, so I need to do that.

I'm starting to really like this app; I may buy the nVideo PureVideo decoders and see how it works with them because I see a lot of people are having good luck with them - maybe that will solve my "horizontal banding in 1024x768 desktop mode" problem.

--KS

fdisker

11-03-05, 12:27 PM

You don't have to buy them to try them. Nvidia has a 30 day free trial.

http://nvidia.com/object/dvd_decoder.html

Rick Guynn

11-03-05, 09:53 PM

OK, I am sucessfully using the NVidia video decoder with the Cyberlink audio decoder. But how do I access the decoder properties? I tried going to properties using the icon in the tray for the video decoder, but the applet wouldn't come up.

It seems to be working beautifully, I would just like to be able to access the decoder properties in case I want to change the settings.

RG

fdisker

11-03-05, 11:22 PM

Yeah, I had that same problem of not being able to view the decoder properties while WatchHDTV was running. I got around this by recording a minute or two of HDTV and playing it back from within Windows Media Player. For some reason I can then open up the Nvidia app while WMP is playing the .dvr-ms file.

On a side note I did a bit of testing this evening using quite a few segments of the ABC HDTV broadcast of Pirates of the Caribbean, both recorded and live. The vast majority of the time I'm completely unable to differentiate between the MMC installed CyberLink video decoder and the Nvidia decoder. I know everyone seems to rave about the Nvidia decoder but I can't see an appreciable difference between the two.

Being able to switch between decoders by using decoders.txt is very nice.

icore

11-03-05, 11:42 PM

- Downloaded v1.8
- Installed under MCE2k5
- Had every error anyone here wrote about - in using it with ATI HDTV Wonder. :|
- Dumped MCE2k5 and installed XPsp2
- RECORD/TS/SCHED all working fine now. * Thumbsup *

Excellent program. Thank you.

icore

11-03-05, 11:46 PM

Xesdeeni

11-04-05, 09:16 AM

You don't have to buy them to try them. Nvidia has a 30 day free trial.

http://nvidia.com/object/dvd_decoder.htmlThis was worth the try, but it failed for me:

1. 1080i sync was hit/miss. When a source is 1080i and the desktop is set up for 1080i, the two need to be sync'd. Otherwise, you get the odd field being shown at the even field time. Sometimes this happened, and sometimes not. Usually, by restarting the video, I could fix it. But eventually, while watching, the phase reversed, and it looked bad again. The FusionHDTV playback has the same issue, which very well might be the nVidia VGA card rather than the codec itself, but the ATI card this replaced had worse issues.

2. CPU utilization crept up. Initially, CPU use was something in the 40-45% range (although it's funny that the FusionHDTV playback only used 25-35% CPU, and they didn't make the VGA chip!). But as I watched, it crept upwards. Eventually it maxed out and the video started skipping frames. I thought this might have to do with the placement in the file, because I could stop playback and restart, move 40 minutes or so into a file, and still see the problem. But sometimes the CPU use went back down to normal. I just couldn't find a pattern.

3. System overhead was too much. After the above CPU use hit max, and frames started skipping, the system overhead was so great that simultaneous recordings would be adversely affected. They would lose data, so the would be corrupted. Since the very reason for using the nVidia codec in the first place was so I could watch one show while recording another (well, in my case, I have a MyHD and a FusionHDTV in my HTPC, and I use the MyHD to watch when I am not
using it to record, so I would use the codec to play back one show while recording two others...), this doesn't make it too useful.

Xesdeeni

KAXKID

11-04-05, 11:44 AM

ok, maybe i'm not doing something right. using 1.84 for fusionf5usb i have two options for tuners because i have a fusion3goldt pci card and a f5usb installed on the same computer. in the watchHDTV steup menu in the change tuner menu, one is fusion HDTV, BDA Tuner, the second is Bluebird, BDA Tuner. i set the tuner to the Bluebird, BDA tuner(that's the f5usb) and close the program as directed. when i re-start as directed i'm still using the fusion HDTV, BDA tuner(the pci fusiongoldt card). i can't seem to make the change take hold.
a little guidance, please. thanks.

bullgates

11-04-05, 12:28 PM

When I record w/ Fusion5 the live picture is "scrambled" but the recorded file looks fine. If I stop the recording the live picture is still is scrambled until I restart the application. Any ideas on this?

Thanks.

knnirs

11-05-05, 10:42 AM

I am new to this technology, and I have a FusionHDTV 5USB. I am using watchHDTV with good success on OTA, but I find nothing about QAM. Is it possible for someone to add the QAM decoding?

Inundated

11-05-05, 02:25 PM

I am new to this technology, and I have a FusionHDTV 5USB. I am using watchHDTV with good success on OTA, but I find nothing about QAM. Is it possible for someone to add the QAM decoding?

WatchHDTV doesn't support QAM on any box or card...the author would have to add support for it.

NickSteel

11-06-05, 10:15 AM

Using WatchHDTV with Wonder HDTV card. Since dvr-ms formats will not go into Media Library, what is best way to convert 720x480 or 704x480 Mpeg2?

By the way, love WatchHDTV. It even displays at 1080 using my onboard graphics, unlike MMC. What would be best cheap add-on graphics board?

HP 794n Pavilion 2.53, 64Mb DDR SDram onboard graphics.

Rick Guynn

11-06-05, 11:11 AM

I have one other thing to report. Using this application in fullscreen mode on my 2005FPW (16:10) it does not retain the proper aspect ratio, instead stretch vertically to fill the entire screen.

*edit*
nm, I fixed it by going into the dcoder and changing the aspect ratio option.

RG

guadalupegrande4

11-06-05, 10:35 PM

Using WatchHDTV with Wonder HDTV card. Since dvr-ms formats will not go into Media Library, what is best way to convert 720x480 or 704x480 Mpeg2?

DVR-MS to MPG File Converter (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6368101#post6368101)
Grab that, it was made by another member of the board.
That'll strip off the MS stuff, and it'll be a plain mpg2 file.
The converted file will be imported by media library (drag and drop rules). And it'll convert it from there. Just tried it here, and its a go. :)

KlingonScum

11-07-05, 01:37 PM

You don't have to buy them to try them. Nvidia has a 30 day free trial.

http://nvidia.com/object/dvd_decoder.html

I'm using the PureVideo trial now; it doesn't appear to solve the banding problem in 1024x768. *sigh*.

On the other hand, I can probably live with keeping my desktop at 1280x1024 and having my projector downscale it to its native 1024x768. Yes, it makes the desktop a bit blurry, but movies and media files playback really nice.

I'm just wondering what the cause of the banding is - video card, CPU, or system memory? I'll steal some memory from my main PC to bring the box up to a Gig and see if that does the trick, but I really don't want to swap out video cards to test that - that'd be a major pain...

--KS

Inundated

11-07-05, 11:26 PM

VERY occasionally, WatchHDTV locks up after trying to decode a channel, right after loading the application for the first time. You hear about 2 seconds of audio, and then it'll stop, with no video, then the app doesn't respond. (Thankfully, unlike the Fusion tuner software, the lockup is simply resolved and does not blue screen or force a reboot!)

I've mentioned this before, but thought it was due to 5.1 audio. It doesn't seem to be the cause, though I could be wrong. At least one channel was running a show that has 5.1 audio, but the local affiliate does not pass it down.

So, I found a workaround.

If I tune to a channel that DOES decode, then tune back to the one that locks up, it's OK. In other words, if it can get a picture, it'll get a picture on the next channel.

I'm suspecting this is mostly related to the buggy Fusion drivers (Fusion5HDTV USB version). I'm just wondering if anyone else noticed this sort of behavior. I'm now using the InterVideo Audio Decoder, which seems to work well otherwise - this behavior also happened using the Fusion AC3 Audio Decoder before.

waitinthefire

11-08-05, 07:55 PM

I'm currently using WatchHDTV for my HDTV viewing but what about regular NTSC reception? I tried using Intervideo WinDVR but I just get a black picture. Must i install ATI's bloated program to work on analog cable?

KlingonScum

11-09-05, 10:12 AM

Ok, add me to the "effusive praise for hdtval21 and his WatchHDTV app" list. This thing just rocks. Hdtval21 (you got a name?) - do you have a Paypal account?

Finally messed with the Scheduler and Playback applets last night. They just WORK. That's all there is to it, they just work. And the best part was my resource utilization - I never even saw 10% when in Silent Record, or 20% when playing back (nVidia PureVideo decoders). Contrast that to the AverTV app (40-60% utilization, even when silent recording). And the skip forward/back rocks too - closest thing to my TiVo's I've seen yet.

Very respectful suggestions for future features:
1) The ability to designate filenames for the scheduled programs - for example, let's say I schedule "Smallville" to record Thursdays from 7-8pm. If there was a box where I could enter in "Smallville" and have that put in the front of the filename when it saved the file, that would seriously boost the WAF on the app. This capability ought to be pretty easy add in.

2) TitanTV hookup for EPG. I don't know if this would be easier than implementing a full-on-boogie EPG or not with XMLTV.

3) Multiple "save as" formats instead of just .dvr-ms. I still have Win2K boxes on my network at home that can't playback the recorded files. I know (and plan to mess with) that I can convert the files fairly easily into .mpg format. I of course have no clue how difficult it would be to have it just save into the different formats like .mpg, .ts, or even native DVD .ifo/.vob (I don't think anybody's doing that latter one).

4) (I know you're on this already) Signal Strength meter for A180 cards.

5) This is going to sound odd, but hear me out - the ability to place the video against the top or bottom of the screen when zoomed out to fullscreen rather than right in the middle of the monitor would be great. Here's why - I have a 4:3 LCD front projector. My Letterboxing on 16:9 material is "grayish bar" instead of "black bar" and it robs the images of contrast. By sticking the video against the bottom of the screen instead of in the middle, I get a single double wide black bar across the top of the image (which I easily mask with a pull down curtain on the wall) and the perceived contrast is much better.

Great app, absolutely great. Obviously, takes a bit of tinkering to get it going (having to look up the frequencies on AntennaWeb/no "autoscan", having to set up the decoders.txt file properly, somewhat ungraceful crashing if the setup directories don't exist, homely "control panel") but the darn thing is fantastic. I have absolutely no idea why playback has such a low CPU utilization when, using the exact same decoders, even Zoomplayer tacks on an extra 10-15%, but I LIKE it.

--KS

D-Train

11-09-05, 10:28 AM

2) TitanTV hookup for EPG. I don't know if this would be easier than implementing a full-on-boogie EPG or not with XMLTV.I've looked into TitanTV's guide stuff and my understanding is that they started encrypting the program info a couple years ago. Only designated partners get the encryption key.

3) Multiple "save as" formats instead of just .dvr-ms. I still have Win2K boxes on my network at home that can't playback the recorded files. I know (and plan to mess with) that I can convert the files fairly easily into .mpg format. I of course have no clue how difficult it would be to have it just save into the different formats like .mpg, .ts, or even native DVD .ifo/.vob (I don't think anybody's doing that latter one).I run a 2003 Server desktop at home and have gotten dvr-ms files to play there. Try this site (http://www.salloway.org.uk/mceblog/default,date,2005-07-30.aspx) for a description. I think this technique works on W2K, too. Give it a try.

mikkim

11-09-05, 10:43 AM

Great piece of software!!! I installed it and it worked perfect the first time. But, now I can only watch live TV, any time I try to timeshift or record I get an error saying "can't setstreamsink". I read here that a couple of people had the same error. I was just wondering if anybody knew what this error is or how to correct it.

I don't know what the heck I did but it works now. I can't think of any changes I made except for uninstalling ffdshow. Like everyone says, this software "just works". And works perfectly!!!

I'd still like to know what might have caused that error if anyone has any idea. Ya know, so I don't do it again.

KlingonScum

11-09-05, 10:42 PM

I've looked into TitanTV's guide stuff and my understanding is that they started encrypting the program info a couple years ago. Only designated partners get the encryption key.

I run a 2003 Server desktop at home and have gotten dvr-ms files to play there. Try this site (http://www.salloway.org.uk/mceblog/default,date,2005-07-30.aspx) for a description. I think this technique works on W2K, too. Give it a try.

Wonder if Zap2It's output is encrypted...

As for playing back dvr-ms files on a Win2K box, I couldn't get it to work on my Win2K box, but it may be my fault - GraphEdit, when I tell it to render the dvr-ms files, doesn't throw up, but it defaults to "FFDShow Audio Decoder" and "DScaler Mpeg2 Video Decoder" - which plays back very messed up and stuttery. If I switch it to the "DScaler Audio Decoder" and/or either the "CyberLink Video/SP Decoder" or AVerMedia Video Decoder" (the only other decoders on that box) and try to play from within GraphEdit, I just get a black screen, no sound.

Hey D-Train, question for you on that DVR2MPG applet you made (works pretty good, btw). Know where I can get a decent freeware MPEG2 Muxer to use with it? I tried it with the AverMedia MPEG Multiplexer and it worked, but the resulting files don't seem quite...right, and I'd like to try another one. There doesn't seem to be any other ones on my system. Is there an open source one out there anywhere?

Also, something a little odd - for some reason in the MPG files that get created, I get a very thin vertical red line up against the left edge of the video, and a very thin grey line across the bottom edge of the video. Very unobtrusive, but there; wondering if it has anything to do with the fact WatchHDTV reports that channel as having an aspect ratio of "1920x1088" for some reason...

KlingonScum

11-09-05, 10:47 PM

Oh, one more WatchHDTV question. When I've got a silent record going, I noticed I was able to open up the "PlayHDTV" applet and open up the file being recorded to (which rocks), but it only goes up to the exact point it had recorded to at the time I opened the file up. Is there no way to get it to treat the recording being created as if it's being "Timeshifted" so I could play it/FFW up to the CURRENT endpoint of the file rather than just endpoint the file was at when I opened it up?

Commodore 64

11-10-05, 06:41 AM

Is there any hope of getting support for the Vbox DTA 150/151 cards in WatchHDTV?

Andrew Hornfeck

11-10-05, 10:42 AM

I don't know what the heck I did but it works now. I can't think of any changes I made except for uninstalling ffdshow. Like everyone says, this software "just works". And works perfectly!!!

I'd still like to know what might have caused that error if anyone has any idea. Ya know, so I don't do it again.

I use AC3Filter (for DD 5.1 audio) and a decoders.txt file to utilize it. Whenever WatchHDTV fails to open and I get the popup error box I: OPEN the AC3Filter, select some other output than SPDIF, select SPDIF and close it. THEN, WatchHDTV will open correctly!

Are you using a decoders.txt file, do you need DD5.1, or are you simply running the default configuration/decoders?

D-Train

11-10-05, 11:13 AM

Wonder if Zap2It's output is encrypted...

As for playing back dvr-ms files on a Win2K box, I couldn't get it to work on my Win2K box, but it may be my fault - GraphEdit, when I tell it to render the dvr-ms files, doesn't throw up, but it defaults to "FFDShow Audio Decoder" and "DScaler Mpeg2 Video Decoder" - which plays back very messed up and stuttery. If I switch it to the "DScaler Audio Decoder" and/or either the "CyberLink Video/SP Decoder" or AVerMedia Video Decoder" (the only other decoders on that box) and try to play from within GraphEdit, I just get a black screen, no sound.

Hey D-Train, question for you on that DVR2MPG applet you made (works pretty good, btw). Know where I can get a decent freeware MPEG2 Muxer to use with it? I tried it with the AverMedia MPEG Multiplexer and it worked, but the resulting files don't seem quite...right, and I'd like to try another one. There doesn't seem to be any other ones on my system. Is there an open source one out there anywhere?

Also, something a little odd - for some reason in the MPG files that get created, I get a very thin vertical red line up against the left edge of the video, and a very thin grey line across the bottom edge of the video. Very unobtrusive, but there; wondering if it has anything to do with the fact WatchHDTV reports that channel as having an aspect ratio of "1920x1088" for some reason...

Zap2it has a system-to-system interface which is very cool. Check it out at Zap2it Labs (http://labs.zap2it.com). The challenge is that a full-on guide would have to be implemented in WatchHDTV using the Zap2it data. TitanTV integration is cool because their online guide is used.

It sounds like you have dvr-ms playback working. The combination of decoding filters is giving you problems though. This is often the case when trying to use a video filter from one product and an audio filter from another. This also happens when decoders from older DVD software are used since they don't seem to handle ATSC very well. Figure out which filter combination works in your XP box. Usually you can copy the .ax or .dll files for the filters to another machine and then register them.

For DVR2MPG muxing, the only mux filters I've gotten to work right are the ones that come with the default profiles. I'm not sure what the deal is with the AverMedia one, but it sounds encouraging. Unfortunately I can't seem to find a single freeware or open source mux filter. I have been working on trying to create one based on code from an older version of HDTVtoMPEG2. I may have something ready in a couple of weeks if it works how I hope it does.

Lastly, I also have the same issue with 1080i files and the grey bar. What I do is use Zoomplayer. It has a cool masking feature to cover them up with black. Also ABC has an annoying problem with a green bar on the right side. Zoomplayer's masking works great for this, too.

knuckhead

11-10-05, 12:19 PM

Shimon Hirschorn

11-10-05, 01:22 PM

Commodore,

Who makes WatchHDTV? If they need help working with us they should let us know. Our BDA drivers usually just work.

As you may know, we are bundling our hardware with BeyondTV-SE. It is a full working version of BTV. Currently it comes with a 30 day EPG, but we are working on a more expensive bundle that has lifetime EPG. In any case the 30 EPG can be upgraded to lifetime EPG.

Shimon Hirschhorn
VBox Communications

shimon_h@vboxcomm.com

Commodore 64

11-10-05, 02:10 PM

It is probably just a matter of adding the device moniker to a definition file in the WatchHDTV app. The original poster of this thread is also the creator of WatchHDTV.

isparhawk

11-10-05, 02:34 PM

I am having problems with scheduled recordings. I have a Fusion3 Gold PCI card, XPPROSP2 and WatchHDTV 1.84. All channels work correctly in the WatchHDTV app.
I can schedule a recording to happen the first time but I am having problems getting it to record the show weekly. One case is if I leave the computer off when the show is supposed to record, the schedule won't get updated to record next weeks show when I finally do turn it on. (I don't like leaving my computer on all day to record on show at night, and leave it off when there is a re-run.).

One feature request, the ability to edit the settings for a scheduled recording instead of having to re-enter it.

Thanks again HDTVAL21! I will keep testing and trying stuff.

CountFloyd

11-10-05, 06:11 PM

I have the Dvico Fusion 5 USB tuner on a Toshiba Qosmio laptop. I loaded WatchHDTV and when I try to run WatchHDTV I get an error message. Upon further investigation, it has something to do with 'zulu_ac3dec.ax'. What am I doing wrong?

Thanks

I too am unable to get it to load due to zulu_ac3dec.ax with FusionHDTV USB. I believe it is the audio codec installed by DVICO. What version drivers are you running? I have the 3.14 installed and they may be incompatible since 3.11 is the latest official release...

Inundated

11-10-05, 07:27 PM

I too am unable to get it to load due to zulu_ac3dec.ax with FusionHDTV USB. I believe it is the audio codec installed by DVICO. What version drivers are you running? I have the 3.14 installed and they may be incompatible since 3.11 is the latest official release...

Both of you:

Have you tried building a decoders.txt file?

Create a new text file, then put the following two lines, EXACTLY, and nothing else.

For a video card without DVxA acceleration, put in these lines ONLY
===============================================

Zulu HDTV Video Decoder(BDA)
Dvico AC3 Decoder

For a video card WITH DVxA acceleration, put in these lines ONLY
==============================================

Zulu DVxA Video Decoder(BDA)
Dvico AC3 Decoder

Once you've put in those two lines, save the text file under the name "decoders.txt" and put it in the same folder as WatchHDTV.

EXACT SPELLING AND SPACING IS IMPORTANT! In the above example, there's no space between "Decoder" and "(BDA)", for example. And "Dvico" only has a capital D.

If it still doesn't work, try another audio decoder in this file. I have:

InterVideo Audio Decoder

which you may or may not have on your system. I'm not sure where it came from on mine.

knuckhead

11-10-05, 08:57 PM

Inundated,

Thanks for your help and advice. I can't get it to work yet but I'll keep trying to get WatchHDTV to work. Thanks again!

CountFloyd

11-10-05, 11:00 PM

Yes thanks go to you Innundated for your help. Unfortunately it still crashes. With the non-DvXA enabled version of the lines saved into decoders.txt, the error message is the same. With the other bottom two lines you gave, the error message changes and has something to do with WatchHDTV.exe instead.

I tried the Intervideo as well (and is installed on my system) but it still crashes with an error about WatchHDTV.exe.

Cheers,

John

Xesdeeni

11-11-05, 10:02 AM

I would LOVE it if WatchHDTV could replace this !#%$ Fusion software. It crashed while recording between programs again last night (there's just no pattern that would tell me why)!

But I really need:

1. Recording in TS format. Playback will be with the MyHD, and I would rather not have to convert.
2. Recordings with program names (and date).
3. Recording back to back programs (i.e. no 1 minute gap between).

Are these issues important enough for others that they might be addressed soon?

Xesdeeni

Inundated

11-11-05, 01:23 PM

I tried the Intervideo as well (and is installed on my system) but it still crashes with an error about WatchHDTV.exe.

One note that's VERY important - the decoder names have to be EXACTLY as they are actually named. That includes, I believe, capital letters, spelling and spacing. If you typed "Intervideo" without the capital V, that may have been a problem.

Directly copy and paste the names from my post above.

If that doesn't work for ya, I'm not sure what's going on. (I do know using the DVxA decoder may likely crash the system on a system without accelerated video...)

knuckhead

11-11-05, 03:21 PM

Inundated,
Thank you, thank you, and thank you. I did, in fact. not have the 'V' in InterVideo capitalized. I changed it to 'V' and Watch HDTV now works for me.

Thanks!

KlingonScum

11-11-05, 03:45 PM

Well, I entrusted my wife's beloved "Smallville" to WatchHDTV last night and it worked perfectly.

At first, I was a little worried something had gone wrong - I had pillarboxing as well as letterboxing, and the audio was Dolby Pro Logic. However, after the second commercial break it flipped back to filling the screen and giving me Dolby Digital - apparently, somebody at the WB forgot to flip the "broadcast in HD" switch. I've noticed them doing this before, but usually they correct it after a few seconds into the first part of the show.

One thing that's kind of odd - I bound the "X" command (WatchHDTVPlay applet) to my remote, but when I hit it in fullscreen mode, it doesn't exit the application, it just stops playback and goes to a black screen.

Another thing - if you position the "control panel" window low on the screen in a high res (say, 1280x1024), then switch to a lower res (1024x768), you won't be able to see it or get to it - that took me a minute to figure out what was going on, might want to set it up to make sure it's always visible on the screen depending on what the desktop res is.

I have another suggestion for the app, btw: Command Line interface. Set up some switches we can use so we can fire WatchHDTV up from another application (say, a media center front end). So, if I wanted to fire up WatchHDTV on channel 39.1 in full screen, maybe something like "WatchHDTV /c:39.1 /fullscreen" etc. And a command line interface to the scheduler would be pretty cool as well - being able to add recordings from an external app, for example.

Paul33993

11-11-05, 04:43 PM

Woo-hoo! Just reinstalled Windows XP (Been over a year... yikes) and only loaded the HDTV drivers and DTV decoder. None of ATI's useless bloat. I feel so clean:)

Inundated

11-11-05, 07:25 PM

Thank you, thank you, and thank you. I did, in fact. not have the 'V' in InterVideo capitalized. I changed it to 'V' and Watch HDTV now works for me.

Good to hear!!! :D

Yeah, when I set up mine, the author was very clear about it...the filenames have to EXACTLY match the filter names...including capital letters and spacing.

phildaant

11-12-05, 10:16 AM

Does this program support Air2PC-ATSC-PCI HDTV tuner (http://www.bbti.us/products_air2pc_atsc_pci.htm) fully? There is an eBay auction for $49.99 (U.S.) for its unused revision 2 cards. Also, can I use this program has a PVR like ATI's MultiMedia Center (MMC) with scheduled recordings, TV guide, closed caption recording, etc.?

Thank you in advance. :)

memikee

11-14-05, 01:52 PM

isparhawk

11-14-05, 09:30 PM

Does anyone have a problem with the scheduler? I can record w/the one-touch button, or timeshift, but I can't get the scheduler to record. Other than setting channel, time, and adding it, what else? Does it matter if WatcHDTV is open/closed? I do get some *.tmp files in the hidden subfolder - nothing that looks like stub#.

Any ideas will be appreciated?

I am having similar problems. I was able to get a scheduled recording to happen last night but not tonight. I had turned off my computer between but I have the scheduler in the STARTUP folder. I don't have WatchHDTV.exe in the STARTUP folder but I didn't think you needed to since the scheduler can record silently. I have double checked the date/time on my computer and the date/time of each scheduled event. I am not sure what to check next.

hdtval21

11-15-05, 01:25 AM

The sheduler needs to remain in the same folder with WatchHDTV. Copy/create a SHORTCUT to WatchHDTVSched and put that in your startup folder. You should be able to open the programs by right-clicking the icons in the system tray- if the programs don't open, then you don't have the scheduler in the same folder with WatchHDTV.

I've read the various issues and requests as of late. As for now, I haven't decided how much more I'm going to work on this. I may try to work out the few remaining bugs, but don't hold me to it. Please don't ask why- I'll just say I'm kind of in a holding pattern.

Thanks.

KlingonScum

11-15-05, 10:31 AM

fdisker

11-15-05, 10:34 AM

No worries, Al! Although a few folks are still having issues it sounds like most of us aren't having any problems. Thanks to your software I've been able to enjoy 10 weeks of the NFL season with at least 2 games in HD every Sunday, numerous HD college games and many, many HD prime time shows on the big networks. Timeshifting, recording, playback and live viewing JUST WORKS. Thanks so much for your time and effort.

Andrew Hornfeck

11-15-05, 12:58 PM

I had an interesting thing happen when recording NBC the other night. I attempted to play the file that was being recorded and when it opened there was only the top 1/5 of the image and the audio was all messed up, giving me the -3 subchannel's audio stream. I closed the app, WatchHDTV, and even rebooted -- all to no avail. This condition was there even during the Watch application but only for my NBC station. I couldn't figure out why, so I edited the channels.txt file where I was using 2 & 3 for the subchannels but had -1 for the primary subchannel. I edited that to 1, saved and WatchHDTV was fixed! I don't know whether it was the negative sign itself, or whether changing it FORCED the app to remap/reinitialize its channel mappings, or what.

I thought I'd share this with you -- just in case it sounds familiar. (BTW, ATi HDTV-Wonder)

memikee

11-15-05, 08:28 PM

Thanks, got the scheduler working. I used the SCHED option to set the show and times but did not run the seperate scheduler app. After I did, it works. Thanks again HDTVal21

isparhawk

11-15-05, 08:28 PM

I am still having scheduled recording failures and, to let you know, confirmed that I have all of the Watchhdtv*.exe executables in the same directory and have only created a shortcut to the scheduler for the STARTUP folder. Maybe it is because I have all files in the C:\PROGRAM FILES\watchhdtv directory (I have seen the space in long directory names goof up programs). Does anyone else have it here and have scheduled recordings working? Any help would be appreciated. (Fusion Gold 3, XPSP2, 1.84).

I had WatchHDTV.exe running tonight with the scheduler running in the system tray and both scheduled recordings failed to start.

HDTVAL21, whether you continue with this program or not, thanks for the initial effort.

KevinLS

11-16-05, 11:46 AM

I've read the various issues and requests as of late. As for now, I haven't decided how much more I'm going to work on this. I may try to work out the few remaining bugs, but don't hold me to it. Please don't ask why- I'll just say I'm kind of in a holding pattern.

Thanks.
Well, I want to thank you for your contributions to the HDTV genre and this forum. If you are taking donations I would like to donate something for your efforts. Also, I hope you and your family are well.

CoCoII

11-16-05, 08:56 PM

@hdtval21, I as well appreciate your achievement. I’ve owned bunches of cap cards over the years and your app has been the easiest and highest performance capture software I’ve ever had the opportunity to use.
Thanks so much!

KevinLS

11-16-05, 11:20 PM

I recorded Monday Night Football the other night. I re-played it last night and I must say the picture quality was absolutely stunning. So I am watching the game and I notice it seems a little quiet and un-exciting. Then I noticed I couldn't hear the announcers with the play-by-play action! I could hear the crowd, the audio coming from the field and other background audio but nothing else. I am using the Chaintech 7.0 PCI audio card with SPDIF pass-through. When I watch live TV the audio is great and I see the 5.1 audio lights come on. It seems when I record the front channel is missing from the audio stream.
Am I crazy or is there something I am missing?

GoTimothy

11-17-05, 07:43 PM

I can not get the DVR2MPG converter to work.

I select MPEG Program Stream - ATI Filter, but when I try to convert it says "Unable to Create Filter Dump!"

I can convert the dvr-ms files to mpg with DVRMSTool, but that is really slow.

I have the ATI HDTV tuner and latest drivers installed and the decoder with MMC 9.8.

It might be my video card as its only a 7500 Radion.

Is there something else i need to install to get DVR2MPG converter to work.

WatchHDTV works great with my slow 1.4 gh machine.

BCCISProf

11-18-05, 10:33 AM

The program has been working fine. This is really a great program.

However, suddenly while doing a scheduled recording I received an error "can't set streamsink". I can not reproduce the error, so I do not know what exactly causes it. I deleted all the txt files in the WatchHDTV directory (except for the Channels.txt file) and reinstalled all the WatchHDTV 1.83a files. I then setup again the directories into which the recorded files should be saved, and everything works fine again.

Any ideas about what may have caused the error and what should be done to avoid it?

O2C

11-18-05, 10:57 AM

Finally did an upgrade and still working out the kinks.

AMD 64 3200+
MSI RS482M4-ILD (Using onboard XPress 200 IGP for now.)
2 GB RAM
MCE 2005, Rollup 2
Cats 5.11

I installed NVidia, ATI decoders, and AC3 Filter. It seems happiest with ATI's video and AC3 audio decoders. Watching is fine still, comparable to my Win2K setup. And I'm really impressed at the 2D ability of the IGP, who would have thunk it could could show 1080i on my 1920x1200 LCD and 1024x768 on my CRT at the same time. Too bad the 3D ability is so poor.

But back to my HDTV issues. My two problems are the signal strength meter seems to be out of 32,768 or something instead of 100, and recording doesn't work. Anyone using Al's app under MCE and have those two things work properly?

D-Train

11-18-05, 11:37 AM

rbq

11-18-05, 08:55 PM

First, I want to say that this is an awesome program! It has always worked even if the ati mmc didn't.
Recently I lost the ability to watch a couple of channels here in Toronto. I lost 40-1 CFTO and 39-1 CBS. The signal comes in at over 80% in watchHDTV and mmc as well. I get no audio or video in either channel. As an experiment I fired up graphedit and ran the graph for watchHDTV. I was able to get CFTO (40-1) on 40-4 with no problems, I had no luck with 39-1 though. So I changed the value from 40-1 to 40-4 in the channel list but it doesn't work even though the signal is strong. Does anyone have any ideas as to why this is happening?
thanks,
rbq

GoTimothy

11-19-05, 07:26 PM

Make sure you've extracted all the files to the same directory, navigate to the directory, and then double-click on the RegisterDumpFilter.cmd file. Now try again.

Great, that worked.

That program is fast. It will do a one hour video in about ten minutes on my slow machine.

SixIron

11-20-05, 11:01 AM

I'm new to this prog and the ATI HDTV Wonder (just installed it yesterday). I want to record a full NFL game (720P broadcast) to a 7200rpm drive in an external USB 2.0 enclosure that has 46 gigs of free space. Is the disk space sufficient and will the USB 2.0 transfer stand up over that amount of time? The couple of minute or two long test recordings I did worked fine.

fdisker

11-20-05, 01:40 PM

Sixiron,

Should be no problem recording to an external drive as long as you're plugged into a USB 2.0 interface. Firewire would also work if your external enclosure supports it. You're looking at about 9 gigs per hour when recording HD. Most of my NFL recordings are right around 30 gigs.

SixIron

11-20-05, 03:39 PM

Thanks fdisker. I'm happy to report it worked fine. It was barely over 19 gigs for nearly 3.5 hours.

Dydion

11-20-05, 05:15 PM

Has anyone successfully used Graphedit to get closed captioning in HDTV with WatchHDTV?

grogs

11-21-05, 12:12 AM

I don't think you can do this.

When the "Cyberlink Video/SP Decoder (ATI)" is used the WatchHDTV application owns the handle to the video decoder "Cyberlink Video/SP Decoder (ATI)".
It is not possible to connect to the CC pin after the device is rendered by another application.

WatchHDTV would need to connect the CC pin of the "Cyberlink Video/SP Decoder (ATI)" to the "ATI Line21 CC Decoder/Render" and listen for text via the property page. Any text found would then need to be rendered to the surface being used.

Here is an example of using GraphEdit to produce CC with the HDTV card.

http://img500.imageshack.us/img500/9117/dtvcc0011cl.th.jpg (http://img500.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dtvcc0011cl.jpg)

Direct link to image:
http://img500.imageshack.us/img500/9117/dtvcc0011cl.jpg

Greg

Has anyone successfully used Graphedit to get closed captioning in HDTV with WatchHDTV?

GoTimothy

11-21-05, 01:53 AM

I am new to Graphedit. I am not a programer but would like to see what this program can do. Is there a way to download a free trial copy of it?

grogs

11-21-05, 09:11 AM

GraphEdit is part of the of DirectX SDK from Microsoft. You can download the entire SDK for free from Microsoft but if you just want GraphEdit you can get it from here.

http://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=GraphEdit

GraphEdit Tips and Tricks <= Good place to learn and share
http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33792569

Greg

I am new to Graphedit. I am not a programer but would like to see what this program can do. Is there a way to download a free trial copy of it?

NickSteel

11-21-05, 09:18 AM

Is there way to use WatchHDTV with ATI HDTV Wonder in MCE computer?

O2C

11-21-05, 10:14 AM

NickSteel

11-21-05, 10:58 AM

It depends on what you mean by "use" and what you're starting from.

Once you successfully install the HDTV Wonder in MCE, you can use it to watch HD with WatchHDTV fairly painlessly. There seem to be a couple of outstanding issues with it though, that I mentioned on the previous page.

Issues aside, I still use it for the majority of my HD viewing and will avoid MMC until there's an update (supposedly 9.10 ships with the AIW X1800XL).

I installed NVidia, ATI decoders, and AC3 Filter. It seems happiest with ATI's video and AC3 audio decoders.

I assume the above is what you are referring to. I have the HDTV Wonder in MCE-2005 Roll-up2. It is stand-alone (no other tuner card) and I have NVidia installed. My problems must be due to lack of ATI decoders.

How do I install these? I installed the card as follows:

Originally Posted by nailbender
Bob, Hein's procedure on page 25 of MCE 2005 Faq worked for me. I have no analog tuner, nor do I have An ATI video card.

ATI HDTV Wonder working with Nvidia 6600GT
Hi folk,

I was able consistently setup MCE 2005 and ATI HDTV tuner stand alone. (I did it on 3 machines, two have Radeon X300, and one has NVIDIA 6600GT).
Here's a step by step from scratch

1. Install MCE -

2. Install MCE rollup1 - windowsxpmediacenter2005-kb873369-enu.exe

3. Install Nvidia DVD decoder - Download nvdvd v1.00.67

4. Install ATI HDTV wonder MCE driver (download from ATI site, install this driver before inserting the ATI HDTV card)

5. Insert the ATI HDTV card, let windows detects the card (reboot)

Below is the hack that allows ATI HDTV works with MCE as a stand alone
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

6. Obtain KRAM driver, and unzip. Go to ATI_KRAM\MCE4.10kv\MCEE - then run setup.exe, reboot.

7. Go to ATI_KRAM\MCE4.10kv\eHomeAIW - then run setup.exe, reboot.

8. Open Device Manager and look for "ATI HDTV Wonder Digital and Analog Tuner Device"

right click then select Update Driver... select "No at this time" click next...select "Install from a specific locaction (Advance)" click next....select "Don't search, I will chose..." click next.... click "Have disk" then point to ATI_KRAM\MCE4.10kv\eHomeAIW\WDM_XP

Now select "ATI WDM Rage Theater Video".... and install this when prompt hit OK. Reboot.

9. Now go back to Device Manager, under "ATI WDM Rage Theater Video" there is an yellow exclaimation, righ click -> properties -> Driver then click "Roll Back Driver" button. Reboot.

10. Now start MCE, and begin the TV set up procedure.

That's it, the procedure works for me every time. Try it and post the result back here.

Cheers, Hien. .