Sale at CompUSA

[Anonymous65]

If you're looking for a capture card and capture software, CompUSA have rebates on 3 devices, a Pinnacle PCTV tuner card with real-time meg capture software for $35, a AVerDVD capture card with NeoDVD real-time mpeg capture software for $30 (both cards use the common BT8x8 chip for 720x480 AVI captures). Also, there is an Adaptec USB2 capture box with a hardware mpeg 2 encoder for $150. All good prices for some good capture devices.

[aubrey_q]

And Circuit City has the Hauppauge WinTV PVR 250 for $100 after $50 mail-in rebate. I'm about to install it.

[Anonymous65]

$100 for the Hauppauge card is a good deal! It's one of the best hardware mpeg cards available.

http://steve.kittelsen.com/pvr250

[aubrey_q]

Okay, Steve. I finally installed the card, but Murphy's Law says I can get the software to run. I installed the IR, but I can't get the WinTV software to run at all. Do I need the IR? Where is the program file that executes WinTV? I'm looking all over the place and double-clicking everything.

By the way, one thing the IR does do is turn off my bedroom TV. It figures.

I'm going to uninstall the software apps and just leave the drivers to start from scratch...

[Anonymous65]

I never tried the remote control. About the card, keep installing it from the hardware list, and from the CD-ROM. Eventually it should install. Also try to install the programs manually (driver, mpeg decoder and WinTV2000).

[aubrey_q]

The card drivers' installed perfectly. The WinTV2000 application does not show video and cannot even go to "Stereo" audio mode. I installed the latest version too. Let me keep hacking at it.

[kitty]

When you get the WinTV software to run don't forget to get the latest updates at www.shspvr.com

[aubrey_q]

Kitty:

I'm confused. The drivers on that came with my PVR-250 CD are:

1.14.20310.704

The drivers on the Hauppauge website are:

1.5.20310

Your website has VFM and WDM drivers. Do I need to install those also? Do they work without messing up Hauppauge's drivers?

How about your MPEG decoder driver? It seems older than the one on Hauppauge's Web site.

????

[bbb]

I've been told: To get the PVR-250 app to work, you need an antenna with a strong signal or a cable TV coaxial connection to help detect channels. Once your cable is attached to the card, you have to let it scan through the channels, even if you just want to use Composite/S-Video inputs to capture from a VCR tape.

Some users recommend downloading the latest drivers to avoid immense pain.

Of course, there are people who can never get this card to work regardless of the version of drivers without experiencing major problems (freezes, crashes, system meltdown). This group includes myself (which is a shame since I can usually troubleshoot myself out of any problematic hardware/software). In any case, this card is picky on which systems to work.

I wish you luck with the latest drivers and software.

[kitty]

Yes, make sure you have some signal on the card during setup.

the www.shspvr site belongs to user shs - you can PM him to ask your questions.

[Anonymous65]

You might also want to remove other PCI cards if you have them, or move the PVR to another PCI slot. If you get no video when you open WinTV2000, then there is no communication with the card. Check PCI slot, IRQ or driver installation. Keep at it

[aubrey_q]

Okay. I ran the HWCLEAR command to clean everything. I rebooted my computer and the board was re-discovered. I installed the drivers according to the manual from the CD-ROM. Now I'm ready to run Setup from the CD-ROM but I believe all the programs have newer versions on the Web, I hope.

Now, I'll be patient for your response. Can someone answer me if the list below is what I need to operate everything properly?

WinTV200 app - for watching TV
SW Encoder - for viewing the MPEG-2 you encoded, I guess
Scheduler - For scheduling TV viewing, I guess, or maybe recording? Not too interested at the time
Nanocosmos MPEG video editor. VERY interested. Can this edit MPEG-2 encoded elsewhere, like TMPGEnc?

My CD installed a driver that is newer than the one on the Web site. The CD driver is 1.14.23010.704 with a driver date of 11/6/02. The Web site's is 1.5.23010 updated 10/1/02. What gives? Now I'm not sure whether to go with my CD or with the Web.

Standing by for your response...

[kitty]

SHS will chime in.

If you think you have newer drivers then start to play. They probably have included a newer CD in later production boards.

You are right on the programs except I haven't seen SW Encoder.

If you can pull cable or off the antenna signals that is a good start. You can set up the composite/svid input as a channel like 200. I have that conected to my Video8 cam right now pulling 12 year old video off to go to DVD.

[Anonymous65]

Don't know about the driver numbers (I currently don't have the card), but you need 3 programs to make the card work, the WinTV2000 capture program, the mpeg decoder, and the PCI card driver.

I install the card driver from the hardware list, select the card, update driver, and then point to the folder where the driver for your version of Windows is located. Atomatically installing the card driver might not work, also don't let Windows find the driver, point to the correct folder (.inf file) yourself.

Ti install the mpeg decoder and WinTV2000, simply run the exe setup file for each program.

[aubrey_q]

Tried the SW Encoder and WinTV app from the CD. I was able to scan channels because I connected my satellite receiver's coax output to the card. Channels 3 and 6 locked in. However, even after adding the S-Video as an external source, I got no video on channels 3, 6, nor on my S-Video. I plugged my satellite's receiver S-Video to my camcorder just to be sure, and the receiver is putting out S-video.

My only choices now are to install the SW Encoder and WinTV app from the versions found on the Web...

[SHS]

1.14.23010.704 = 1.5.23010 web down the CD should be label ver 1.5

aubrey_q read my FAQ all of it

Like this one
Q: I have no picture or screen freeze or 5min freeze after install on my pvr 250 but I can record and I do have a video come it.
A: There min thing that can cuase this problem.
1: You are using Default Monitor change it to Plug & Play or Set up with rigth monitor profiles.
2: You own WinDVD it can cuase problem the best thing is to uninstall it and use a different Soft DVD Player like PowerDVD or some other player.
3: Do you have Nimo Codec pack if so uninstall it and re-install the reinstall the hauppauge software decoder.

Try rec off Channel 3 then play back the MPEG in the Windows Media Player dose anything show up in the video?.

[aubrey_q]

Success!

This is what I did.

1. I uninstalled an Intervideo codec that was in my Add/Remove Programs.

2. I reinstalled the SW Decoder.

3. I removed all WinTV folders and reinstalled the WinTV app from TV.

Now, finally time to play with capture.

One question:

Under properties of the capture feature of the app, I get Configuration, Video and Audio tabs. The Configuration tab gives me some choices, and I believe some choices were from Steve's .reg file.

Configuration has some MPEG-2 choices with 2.0Mbits/sec, but the Video tab gives me some choices as well. Do my Video tab choices override the configuration choices, or are the configuration tab choices something else?

[SHS]

Being jschefdog all ready did a How to to that you should check it out.
http://jschefdog.home.attbi.com/wintv_pvr_250.html