Capturing with Hauppauge card and Win XP Media Center 2005

[cwbyup]

I recently purchased a Hewlett Packard M7170N computer running Windows XP Media Center 2005. Installed when I received the computer from Hewlett Packard was a (Hauppauge, Amity 2) WinTV PVR PCI capture card 26552, 260000-02.

I’ve had nothing but trouble trying to capture with this new computer. The capture/editing software that was installed on the computer, (Sonic’s MyDVD) doesn’t seem to want to capture from my VCR (Toshiba, a couple of years old) through the RCA connections. I also tried the RCA connections in the front of the computer but got even less results than with the WinTV PVR PCI card.

Eventually, I purchased Pinnacle’s Studio Plus Version 9 software and found that it will only capture in AVI format and the Hauppauge card will only capture in MPEG. My next purchase was Cyberlink PowerDirector 4 software. The software seemed to be compatible with the card because I got an image and began to capture but when I stopped the capture the program locked up and gave the “This program must shut down, Notify Microsoft” message.

The drivers are all current according to the HP web site.

My question is: Do you have a recommendation for a particular software that I can capture and edit VCR tapes and burn them onto a DVD, which is the reason I purchased the computer in the first place?

Thank You

[slacker]

If your PC purchase was recent, why aren't you going to HP for help? They actually do have some very qualified techs, and your issue should be covered.

[cwbyup]

I've been in contact with HP and they've been helpful in most every question I've had except this one. To date they want me to send the computer back to them so they can reinstall the Operating System and programs the computer originally came with.

I'm up for about anything at this point and have had limited success with some programs but not with the two programs I bought.

Again, is there a piece of software that someone could recommend that they know to be compatible with my particular capature card that will allow me to also edit the VHS tapes that I can hopefully get onto my hard drive?

[harley2ride]

Pinnacle studio and Powerdirector are both very buggy programs, especially on certain systems and with certain hardware. Try looking at some of the freeware capture software like VirtualVCR, or Huffyuv. If I was going to buy one, it would be either Adobe Premiere Elements, or Sony's Movie (can't remember exact name), but is based on Vegas Video, only a lite version..

[The_Doman]

The biggest problem is the whole MCE itself!
It is preventing other applications from using the TVcard.

MCE is not really designed to record from a VCR.
You still can't select a external source normally!

Best option would be to install the Hauppauge WINTV2000 application and disable the whole MCE application temporarily.

Here you find an example to do so:
http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/board/showthread.php?t=1296