[shive]

Hi all,


Long-time lurker ... first-time poster. I'm putting together a HTPC with MCE 2005 with the following specs and was hoping if anyone out there had any thoughts:


LGA 775 P4 3.6 ghz

Asus P5AD2 mobo

1 gig ram

Gigabyte x800 xt pci-e x16 card with AC silencer 4

Hauppage 250MCE

ATI HDTV Wonder

Maxtor 250gb SATA


I've hooked my machine up via DVI to my edtv panny plasma and I've been having a hard time with getting the resolution tweaked with powerstrip. Also, after numerous installs and re-installs, I still can't get MCE2005 to recognize my ATI hdtv wonder card. (I know there are other threads on this and I've read them, believe me When I try and install the latest ATI catalyst drivers, it somehow no longer recognizes the rage chipset on my x800. It seems that that chipset is only recognized when I use the gigabyte drivers. I have the feeling that if I could flash the bios with an ATI brand x800 xt then things might work...however, I'm not too keen on experimenting with this card just yet.


Anyone out there with any thoughts? I tried to reflash the bios on my gigabyte card, but it doesn't seem to work and the ATI display driver program lists the BIOS as not recognized. I have only tried flashing from within windows (using gigabyte's flash utility) but perhaps I should try with a boot disk?


Any feedback would be welcome!

 

[Mbai2]

Here is something I posted over at another forum to help with overscan in MCE2005 without using powerstrip. You can just have the timing of the screen set at a standard timing. This trick isn't global so it will only work within MCE.


"I dunno if this has been posted before but I just found a set of registry keys to customize the margin settings in MCE2005 for overscan. It is at HKCU/Software/Micrsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Media Center/Settings/MCE.PerUserSettings.


The keys "marginSaved" and "useDefaultOverscanMargins" need to be set to 1. Now you can tweak the values for marginLeft, marginRight, marginTop, and marginBottom so that you get zero perceivable overscan in MCE2005.


I believe this also works for MCE2004 because it contains the same keys, minus useDefaultOverscanMargins.


Hopefully this is useful to some of you. "


As for the HDTV wonder...do you have the latest HDTV wonder drivers installed? http://ati.com/support/drivers/winxp...=17&submit.y=6


You also need the MCE2005 rollup that can be found at Windows Update to get DTV to work.

 

[shive]

thanks for the swift reply!


I have tried out the latest ati drivers but when I install ATI's latest Catalyst drivers, the rage chipset on my gigabyte x800 xt is no longer recognized?! I'm going to try another re-install after I reflash the bios (if I can since it hasn't worked using gigabyte's utility). could it be my x800 is bad?


shive

 

[Mbai2]

I didn't mean the latest catalyst drivers. I was speaking of the latest ATI HDTV Wonder drivers. I'd try to avoid flashing such an expensive card at all costs.

 

[shive]

I have tried just the HDTV drivers from the ATI site (and not the catalyst drivers) and for some reason when I install those, my pc no longer recognizes the rage chipset on my gigabyte x800xt. I'm going to try and reflash the original bios on gigabytes site using a boot floppy since their utility flasher (within windows) doesn't work and advanced display setup lists my card bios as "unknown"...


shive

 

[PGHammer]

Quote:

Originally posted by shive I have tried just the HDTV drivers from the ATI site (and not the catalyst drivers) and for some reason when I install those, my pc no longer recognizes the rage chipset on my gigabyte x800xt. I'm going to try and reflash the original bios on gigabytes site using a boot floppy since their utility flasher (within windows) doesn't work and advanced display setup lists my card bios as "unknown"... shive

With MCE 2005, you need a *primary* tuner for the HDTV Wonder to work (any MCE 2005-supported analog tuner will work; most AIWs will do).


I'm running MCE 2005 with my AIW 9700 Pro/HDTV Wonder tag-team. I have both sets of channels (analog cable and OTA HDTV) in the same lineup and the EPG that MCE 2005 includes. My HD content looks *utterly flawless*; in fact, I'm gonna try taping game three of the World Series.


Happiness is....watching the Yankees *lose* in HD.

 

[Andrew Hornfeck]

so are you NOT using MMC to run the AIW or the HDTV Wonder? Or is this just for viewing TV? How about timeshifting, recording.... in other words: is MCE worth the $$ ?

 

[shive]

Just to clarify...

I'm using a Hauppage 250MCE as my primary tuner and MCE2005 has not problem finding and using that but does not detect any OTA signal from the ati antenna I have hooked up. I ran MMC and tried to see if I could get a HD signal OTA from within the ATI software...no go


As far as MCE2005 goes, I really like the layout and the integration (although I'll save my final review when I get the HDTV Wonder working). For some reason, when I run the setup utility from ATI MMC it lists the following "tuners":

- ATI Rage

- ATI ANALOG decoder

- Hauppage analog tuner


There doesn't seem to be any recognition of the HD tuner from the wonder card. I removed the card reinstalled the software and in particular the 2nd of the 4 files on the ati site (the HDTV drivers) and it still isn't working. Also, for some reason when I run Windows Update, I don't get the HDTV rollout update. When I check the device manager there are two Microsoft drivers listed under the DTV card (which does have drivers listed in device manager and are "working properly"). I'm wondering if I should just return the Wonder card and get a Fusion?


Oh yeah, when I'm in the ATI MMC setup utility there is a compatibility utility that when run lists that I don't have DirectX9 installed (but I have of course installed it).


I had figured that by going with an ATI card (ok, it's powered by ATI and not ATI-ATI) and their HD card, I would be golden...guess not.


Thanks for all the input thus far!


BTW- I'm in Boston and did relish seeing the Yankees lose in HD

 

[mike_orst]

Have you tried checking WindowsUpdate and downloading the HDTV Update for MCE2005?


There should also be drivers on Windows Update for the ATI HDTV Wonder. You need to use the drivers that appear on Windows Update otherwise you won't get HDTV working in MCE.


A good site for MCE questions is www.thegreenbutton.com (It can be very slow though).

 

[BLS]

This may or may not help. When researching the purchase of an ATI X800 XT Platnum, I noticed that the Gigabyte card was supported by Gigabyte drivers.


I chose to buy the "Built by ATI" because to me, they seem to have more robust support.


From your post it seems you are trying to use ATI drivers for your ATI X800 that is branded Gigabyte.


Is this supposed to work, or are you supposed to stick with drivers from Gigabyte?


I'm sure someone has a definitive answer, but that's where I'd look.


Brad

 

[vailr]

Update Rollup 1 for Media Center Edition 2005 with HDTV Support:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

 

[shive]

vailr,


thanks for the link to the update (I looked but couldn't seem to find it)...as for my dilemma I'm going to try and reinstall everything. But before I do I was considering reflashing the vga bios again with gigabyte's flash from their site (since my machine under the advanced display panel lists the bios as "unknown"). Now, I've been reading the ATI HDTV Wonder thread (boy, is that one big) and it seems as though people are having some luck by ordering their installations in a particular way. My only problem is that if I do a fresh install, when I try to install the 1st drivers on the ATI page for the wonder card (the catalyst drivers for the wonder card), that typically gives me the problem where my x800's rage chipset is no longer recognized.


mike_orst,

thanks for the link to thegreenbutton.com...i've been looking around there as well and yes...that site is like molasses...


BLS,

I'm assuming that ATI drivers for a "powered-by-ATI" Gigabyte x800 should work...I mean are the cards really all that different? maybe somewhat in layout? There's a thread on Anandtech where people have been flashing their x800 pros to x800 xts to open up the additional pipelines. I'm wondering if I should consider flashing my card with the ATI x800 xt bios (which is linked on that site). I know, I know...it's a big gamble on such a pricey card...then again, I could just return it.

 

[vailr]

The ATI drivers (found on the ATI website) should work for any brand of video card which uses the ATI Radeon chip. For example, my Sapphire Radeon card is automatically, correctly identified in Device Manager as a "Sapphire Radeon 9600 Atlantis" card (actually: 2 instances: one for primary[VGA port] and one for secondary[DVI port]), after running the ATI driver installer.

So, there shouldn't be any real need to use the specific Gigabyte driver, for proper operation.

 

[vailr]

Quote:

Originally posted by shive My only problem is that if I do a fresh install, when I try to install the 1st drivers on the ATI page for the wonder card (the catalyst drivers for the wonder card), that typically gives me the problem where my x800's rage chipset is no longer recognized.

You seem to be confused: the Catalyst driver is a video card driver, NOT an HDTV Wonder driver. Don't confuse the "All in Wonder" (video card with an on-board TV tuner) with the "HDTV Wonder". Also note that: all 4 items on the HDTV Wonder driver page must be installed: http://www.ati.com/support/drivers/w...x=7&submit.y=2

1. DAO / MDAC

2. HDTV WONDER Drivers

3. DTV Decoder

4. Multimedia Center

 

[mike_orst]

Quote:

Originally posted by vailr You seem to be confused: the Catalyst driver is a video card driver, NOT an HDTV Wonder driver. Don't confuse the "All in Wonder" (video card with an on-board TV tuner) with the "HDTV Wonder". Also note that: all 4 items on the HDTV Wonder driver page must be installed: http://www.ati.com/support/drivers/w...x=7&submit.y=2 1. DAO / MDAC 2. HDTV WONDER Drivers 3. DTV Decoder 4. Multimedia Center

I don't believe you want to install any of the HDTV wonder drivers that came with the card or available from ATI's website to get this to work with Microsoft. You really want to get the SW from Microsoft.

 

[vailr]

Quote:

Originally posted by mike_orst I don't believe you want to install any of the HDTV wonder drivers that came with the card or available from ATI's website to get this to work with Microsoft. You really want to get the SW from Microsoft.

In the case of WinXP-MCE, the video card drivers (that are supposed to be used) are apparently different than the "regular XP" drivers. So, you'll need to obtain special MCE drivers for the x800 video card, as well as for the HDTV card. The ATI web site does not yet show a download location for "special MCE drivers" for the x800 card. Only shows MCE video card drivers for the 9200, 9600, 9700, & 9800.

Maybe: installing the "regular XP" drivers first, then doing the Windows Update, would then allow obtaining all of the "special MCE" drivers from Microsoft??

 

[shive]

vailr,


thanks for the input...when i say "catalyst" I didn't mean to imply video card drivers. when i installed my hdtv wonder card, the disc had drivers and during the setup it loaded a catalyst background, so I assumed they were "catalyst" drivers...oh well, i guess not.


as for my gigabyte card, when i install the drivers, it only lists my card as an ATI x800xt primary DVI and secondary VGA (there's no mention of gigabyte, and this is when I load their drivers).


So before I embark on a complete rehaul of my installation, here's what I plan on trying:

1) Reinstall MCE2005 fresh install

2) Load gigabyte x800 drivers (or should I just try ATIs catalyst drivers here?) and then Hauppage drivers + card

3) Install HDTV wonder card

4) Install ATI files 1-4

5) Install Windows HDTV rollout update


That seems to be what others have done on the HDTV wonder thread...so I guess I'll try it from scratch.


Any thoughts?

 

[mike_orst]

I question the need for you number 4 (Installing ATI 1-4), before the HDTV Roll Up. I believe you should do the HDTV Roll up then look on Windows Update for ATI Drivers for the HDTV wonder. I don't believe you can use the ADI drivers for the HDTV wonder directly from the ATI web site, only thru windows update. But I haven't tried it so I wish you the best.

 

[mike_orst]

I question the need for you number 4 (Installing ATI 1-4), before the HDTV Roll Up. I believe you should do the HDTV Roll up then look on Windows Update for ATI Drivers for the HDTV wonder. I don't believe you can use the ADI drivers for the HDTV wonder directly from the ATI web site, only thru windows update. But I haven't tried it so I wish you the best.


(Note: My questions regarding the items listed 1-4....

Maybe installing Item 1 in the list would work. You will also need to install some MPEG2 decoder on the system, the most popular decoder is the new NVIDIA DVD Decoder. Once you install this I don't see a need for the DTV Decoder mentioned from ATI. that decoder might not work with MCE. Also why would you install ATI's Multimedia Center App aren't you planning to use MCE?)

 

[vailr]

I think you may be correct: the HDTV drivers may also be referred to as "Catalyst".

Suggest this sequence:

1. A fresh install of XP-MCE 2005, with the Hauppauge card removed.

2. The Microsoft MCE HDTV update.

3. Sound card, Intel chipset, lan, etc. drivers. Install latest ATI Catalyst 4.10 for the X800 (only the non-MCE version is available). Or else: try the "MCE Radeon9800" drivers, and see if the X800 card is also supported.

4. A software firewall: Sygate, or Kerio, or ZoneAlarm, etc; also disable the Windows Firewall.

5. Windows Update. Hopefully a "special MCE" version of the Catalyst 4.10 video driver will be offered.

6. Install "regular XP" HDTV Wonder (device drivers only).

7. Windows Update. Again, hopefully "special MCE" HDTV Wonder drivers will be offered.

8. Continue with the other 3 HDTV items: DAO/MDAC, DTV Decoder, etc.

9. Double-check Device Manager for any "yellowed" devices.

10. Install the Hauppauge card, and it's "special MCE" drivers.



Unless Microsoft and/or ATI is ready with the above-mentioned "special MCE" versions of the ATI device drivers, then you may be better off using just "regular" WinXP, for now.