HDTV software

What I hoped would be a moderately difficult install is proving to be more difficult.

I didn't want to use the ATI HDTV software because it was very buggy. So, I'm going to attempt to use other tuner software.

GBPVR

Seems to be very popular. However, it's interface is something only the author could love. Then again, it is free. It goes through a complex setup for getting the tuner selected, and also the EPG (electronic program guide). That EPG required registering for an XML download of tv programs. Even so, it turns out that the ATI Wonder isn't compatible with GBPVR for channel information. For some reason, the ATI HDTV card doesn't send all the tuner information, so you have to enter it manually using some crazy software which decodes HDTV streams.

I'm putting this aside for now while I figure out how to do these manual TV channel configuration

WatchHDTV

Unlike GBPVR, this is meant to be just a tuner and recorder for HDTV. It has a tiny download, and just selects the first tuner in the list. It supports the ATI HDTV wonder directly.

But it didn't work. It wants me to use some crazy released-by-microsoft, but not officially released tool called GraphEdit to try to decipher the Directplay stream.

Update: loading the ATI drivers (up to the encoder part) allowed me to tune channels. I still had to manually put in the channel numbers, but then I can tune HDTV. So I know the board is good, anyway.

Got All Media

Claims to work with the HDTV-Wonder(if it works). Downloading now.

Beyond TV

It is nice! It costs money. :-(

Media Portal

An open source media portal device; claims ATI HDTV ability too.

ATI HDTV Wonder

This software is ass. But, considering the game starts in a few hours, I'm going to give it a try. I've made a post entry just on it- and all the versions I've tried.

ATI software releases

Apparently, I'm not the only one who is having problems with ATI's HDTV Wonder- or any of their multimedia products (All-in-Wonder, etc.) In fact, I'm not sure I could find anything favorable about them online.

Unlike most software, the fix seems to be to use old(er) software. From ATI's own technical support, they wanted me to downgrade from the latest and greatest. I suspect software outsourcing which would explain their going backwards in quality (I see it firsthand every day).

* 9.16 The latest release but has a 'known bug' of not working with any non-ATI video card. It works on the Shuttle (well, sort of).
* 9.14 The release that ATI wanted me to try. It has a 'can't find language' bogus error. There's a Microsoft bulletin on it, but that didn't work either.
* 9.08 What I'm testing now. Nope, new error, "DSCPR language resource file was not found"

Conclusion: stay away from ATI products

ATI is crap

I'm serious. I wanted to get this setup ready for superbowl- the PC was together, all the components were here, and the crappy ATI software wouldn't work.

I spent EIGHT HOURS installing drivers, googling error messages, restoring the system, reinstalling drivers, downloading drivers. And ended up having to borrow an HDTV tuner. This was a brand-new installation, no other software interfered with it. And it wouldn't work- out of the box. Installation step (four hundred and) three had me install an encoder- which claimed I didn't have any hardware the software supported. So I suppose the fact that it worked with other software, and was in the device list (no error) and even ATI's own other software saw it as an ATI HDTV tuner, didn't really matter.

I had it working for a little using ATI's drivers and an 'WatchHDTV' software. But come gametime... that channel wouldn't tune. So one of my neighbors had to run home and grab his tuner. Everything else was perfect- the sound, the picture, but ATI's software was a disaster.

I'll say it again- ATI is crap. I will avoid it at all costs in the future. And considering that my favorite processor company just bought ATI, I have to question their wisdom. This HDTV tuner is going in the garbage.

Update: Tuner is fine; software is horrible

HTPC setup

I chose a board that had about everything you could want- but I don't know that I would recommend it. There's an Abit board- the NF-M2- that has everything this one does- It has both VGA and DVI on the motherboard, 4 DDR2 slots, SATA, RAID, etc. The potential advantage is that it has optical in- and out- on the motherboard. My Asus supports SPDIF-out only- and that's with an add-on bracket (I happened to have it already). An the Abit the chipset is by RealTek- instead of the very flaky SoundMax junk on the Asus. The Abit doesn't have component output, which I wanted in my setup. If you don't need this, then I'd recommend it over the Asus N2MPV-VM. From what I can tell, the driver support is much higher for Abit- many LINUX users run it. My Asus also had a burned out CPU fan header (the board is made in China, not Taiwan), so I had to disable CPU fan speed monitoring and run the CPU fan off one of the case headers. I may send it back, I dunno.

On my Asus board, I had to completely reinstall Windows because I updated drivers and then the audio was no longer recognized. A total reload.. of everything. I'm in the middle of it now, taking system restore checkpoints with every successful install of a driver.

If you want to follow along, I'll describe the steps.

After installing the components, set the following BIOS options.

• S3 Suspend. This needs to be turned on if you want to use suspend to RAM *before* you load windows.
• Enable HD Audio.

Then you can install Windows. I decided against Vista obviously, and I don't think there's anything I want in MCE, so I'm using XP with Service Pack 2.

After you load up windows, stick in the Asus disk and do an install all of the drivers. This seems to be the critical step, as that HD Audio needs to be enabled.

Once it works, then we need to get updated video drives. The updated nVidia drivers give the option to adjust the TV output correctly. It gives you a new option in the control panel. It also allows me to set the resolution to be 1360x768, which is almost the native resolution of the projector so that scaling need not be done.

Since I went dual core, there are some special optimizations to let windows really use it properly. Dual-Core X2 Optimizer driver and Microsoft Windows HotFix #KB896256 for Cool 'n' Quiet was recommended by BruceK. The latter patch allows the PC to lower its CPU multiplier if it doesn't need it (runs slower and cooler). There are a zillion 'Hotfixes' listed which could apply. I don't recommend loading anything because of the stability of this board. One of them is a fix for Windows HD Audio driver. I think this is the reason my sound was trashed. Apparently, Microsoft shipped a 'time bomb' code by accident- some binary component of their high definition audio crashes after 2004, or some junk like that. I think it is the precursor to the poop that is Vista 'protected' content. There's a patch to undo the patch, etc., but it's better not to mess with any of it.

Do a system checkpoint so you can get back to this point. For me, right now, I have 5.1 sound and component output.

The next step is to install the ATI drivers for the HDTV wonder. There are *many* pieces of software for the ATI setup, but ATI's software isn't very good. In fact, it is bad, which is why we're going to use a 3rd party PVR (personal video recorder) software.

• Install HDTV Wonder driver (only)
• Install HDTV Card

Load the ATI HDTV wonder driver. And that's it. Then, shut down, insert the card, and reboot. You should see everything recognized in the device manager properties.

My next post will be about HDTV tuner software. It is proving to be painful.

Don't use Vista for HTPC

It appears that Microsoft has intentionally crippled their new OS so that 'content providers' can decide what you can and can't watch.

Unfortunately- this means that if you have 'high quality' output, Microsoft will intentionally degrade your signal. Yep. Even though you own it, they're going to introduce noise and static. Everything end-to-end has to be 'certified' and 'revokable'. Your sound card, video card, peripherals, everything. The only things supported for this is HDCP. Unfortunately, I'm not aware of any video cards that support it. Even those that claim to will have to have a built-in encryption key- and those aren't even set yet- so they won't work.

The worst part is that people just don't know this. They assume that everything will work- but instead of having more content, they may end up with less. I thought this was pretty well known, but in my day job, I'm an engineer and read this stuff constantly. For over a year now, it has been the online buzz. I guess average Joe just assumes things are peachy. After all, who would assume that you'd go backwards?

I had a hilarious online conversation with a Microsoft employee (I didn't know it until he said so) about this:

Quote:

me>I'm trying to decide if I should use Windows XP or MCE for my HT. I'm going to stay way from Vista because it won't play certain protected content. fanboy>Where did you hear that Vista will disable protected content??? I haven't heard anything like that. Are you certain about that? me>(sent links to those sites above) fanboy>Well, you can buy an HDCP video card. me>I don't have time to educate you on this. I won't be using Vista. fanboy>I work at Microsoft in the Windows division. Not sure you could educate me on Vista. me>Apparently I already did educate you (since you didn't know that Vista won't play protected content). Were you just 'playing' dumb?

According to Microsoft themselves, all the interfaces are going to be protected. Do you hook up your PC to your 5.1 speaker system? You might not be allowed to in Vista if you play 'protected' content- like.. music CDs. Or watch DVDs.

From the Vista Team Blog:

What about S/PDIF audio connections?

Windows Vista does not require S/PDIF to be turned off, but Windows Vista continues to support the ability to turn it off for certain content

Will Component (YPbPr) video outputs be disabled by Windows Vista's content protection?

Similar to S/PDIF, Windows Vista does not require component video outputs to be disabled, but rather enables the enforcement of the usage policy set by content owners or service providers, including with respect to output restrictions and image constraint.

So- don't get Vista thinking it'll have more features for you- until the hardware is 'approved', may end up with less.