This is a litany of the problems I have had trying to use a Hauppauge WinTV FM (Nicam) video capture card in a ASUS A7V266EX MB with CMedia sound chip under Windows XP.

Card installed okay - great picture and sound using the latest WDM drivers from Hauppauge. However when trying to capture any video using any shareware capture app that uses Directshow (iuVCR, Virtual VCR, Showshifter, nanoDVR) as soon as the recording starts, the right channel sound cuts out and doesn't return (or record) until the capture is stopped, and the channel changed.

Capturing with PowerVCR records both channels but there is a distinct background hiss and low recording level in the sound (from previous posts in the BBS and others this is apparently due to inadequacies in the CMedia sound chip on the MB).

Switching to the universal BT8x8 drivers presented different problems. No right channel cut out but the same sound quality problem and in PVCR no stereo anymore (I live in an area with Nicam stereo broadcasts).

Finally went out and purchased a new SB Live 5.1 to use instead of the CMedia chip. Still the same right channel cutout using Hauppauge's WDM drivers. With the universal drivers, no cutout but no stereo but while the hiss and low sound level has gone, now there is sporadic video noise (faint streaks of thin horizontal interference) accompanied by bursts of low level static
sound.

Using PVCR the bursts of video noise and static are relatively infrequent but really they should not occur and don't occur during live viewing, only when recording.

Even more interesting is, if I have both sound chips enabled and select one for recording and one for playback (e.g. CMedia default for recording and SB Live default for playback or vice versa) the picture has the aforementioned video noise. If I use CMedia for record/playback the video noise still occurs. If I disable the SB live in Control Panel, then the video noise disappears but I have to live with the hiss and low sound level of the card.

Should it be this hard? Should I have bought a different BT8x8 card? I bought the Hauppauge presuming it was a good brand and should provide quality - clearly in my situation it doesn't. I think now for high quality recordings of TV programs I am going to have to record on SVHS tape first and then capture via the s-video connector on the card and avoid the tuner. Maybe I should have bought a Tivo instead

Larry