Question for ATI Theater 550 owners

[justinluck]

First of all, I am returning my Sapphire card that I couldn't get to work. I was wondering which card to choose: Powercolor or the more expensive ATI as an alternative?

Also, I am concerned about a problem a user reported in the Sapphire forums. Have any of you experienced this phenomenon?:

" I have replaced my Hauppauge PVR 250 with the Theatrix (PAL). (Have also owned an XFX NVTV in the past)
I am running it through MCE 2005 via the S-video Dongle feeding it with a Satellite Sky UK signal.

I am getting a vertical shift to the right (black bar on the left of the signal) Is there any way to adjust it? maybe through a registry tweak as there is no control over the cards properties?
I have never experienced it with previous tuners and have tried different decoders PowerDVD6, WinDVD6 and the latest Nvidia DVD Decoder.
I have also tried capturing with Windows Movie Maker 2, and again I get the same shifting.
Its really frustrating me.

Oh by the way, I am using the latest ATI Drivers.

Any advise is appreciated.

Cheers,

Sean"

Hopefully, the NTSC version doesn't have this problem!!??

[thecoalman]

I am getting a vertical shift to the right (black bar on the left of the signal) Is there any way to adjust it? maybe through a registry tweak as there is no control over the cards properties?
!!??

It's a good chance what they are refferring too is the overscan area which is normal. There's a certain percentage of the video signal around the edges that is not viewable on TV, what's in that area depends on the source. A digital cam for example fills it with video, VHS on the other hand will usually have the "black bar" or something else, same with a TV signal.

Here's an example from VHS:



AFAIK there is no capture card that will crop this area during capture, if your intended target is a 4:3 TV it won't matter. Other than that you can add black borders to make the edges clean for playback on a computer or 16:9 TV.

[mike909]

Far as I can tell from reading, the saphire theatrix and the ati card are exactly the same (except the remote that they come with).

[justinluck]

I've now ordered the Powercolor since I don't plan to use a remote and I save almost $70.

[mike909]

Powercolor is same price as the one you allready have, and isn't it the same card? Same chipset...probably uses the same drivers, how will it be different? Reason I ask, is I am close to buying the Theatrix (or any 550 pro chipset card that is).
EDIT: also, which pvr software (if any) are you using?

[justinluck]

Well all three boards are basically the same. The ATI one is a reference board. And the other two companies make cards that are very similar, but not exactly identical. For instance, the ATI card uses Samsung 4ns memory, the PowerColor uses Hynix 4ns memory, and Sapphire uses Hynix 3.3ns memory.

I originally went with the Sapphire for the faster memory, cheaper price, and I liked the blue PCB

Unfortunately, the card would not allow my computer to boot. I don't know if it is a defect or a problem with the BIOS. I returned the card to Newegg today and ordered the PowerColor...also from Newegg. They had the cheapest price for the PowerColor with the mail-in rebate for a total of $70. The Sapphire was $69 + ship/tax.

I was thinking about getting the ATI version which is available on Amazon for $140 free shipping (cheapest price I've found), but decided that I would never use the remote anyway, so I am going to risk it once more...getting the PowerColor.

I have a PowerColor Radeon 9600pro, so hopefully these two PowerColor cards will play nice

[hrlslcbr]

If you can't get the theatrix to work you won't get any other company's card to work either. The cards ARE the same; you won't get any 'performance' or quality improvement from faster RAM. The cards even use the same drivers.
I read somewhere that sapphire makes ALL the cards that ATI sells as 'Built by ATI', so if you can't use the theatrix, you won't be able to use the ATI. Besides, the ATI is more expensive because of the remote control. The quality and performance are the same.

I don't get any shift to the right or left, and this capture card captures ALL 720 possible pixels from a DVD (or any other source). I posted in other thread some pictures showing that the card doesn't shift the image to the sides.

You can use GB-PVR. Great software, free, and works ok with this card.
Just don't buy the ATI for almost twice the price only for a 'prettier' remote control, It's not worth it.

[mike909]

That's what I thought Hrlscbr, hope he posts back with his experiences on the new card.