AIW Radeon can't tell time

[a1anp]

What happens is that when I run the scheduler in MMC for timed recordings, it makes the Windows clock run slow (one minute on the clock = approx 66 real seconds).
When the recording starts, one minute = approx 63 sec. (If I cancel the timer recording and reboot, it goes back to the proper time) This is consistent, so if I really need to record something in the middle of the night, I get out the calculator and do the appropriate adjustments to start time and duration. But it doesn't really inspire confidence.

My system:

Win ME
A7A266
AIW Radeon MMC 7.1
onboard sound (C-Media)

BTW I use ctrl-alt-del to remove everything except explorer and systray before starting up MMC to do any timer recordings. Also, I'm sticking with MMC 7.1 because 7.5 and 7.6 gave me terrible lip sync and dropped frame problems.

Any ideas???

[tjdmobile]

Actually, I have to agree with you about 7.5 - 7.7 versions of MMC with lip sync issues. Simply terrible. I have given up on MMC altogether. I never really noticed the timing issue however.

Currently I am settling for PowerVCR II as my choice for my Radeon 32DDR board. It's overall quality is lower than MMC 7.6, but considering you would be comparing it to 7.1 it would be considered better. I picked it up for $39 at Comp-usa (it was packaged with a useless Pinnacle vid cap card). It actually cost $10 less with the card than Cyberlink wants for it alone on their website.

I share your frustration with the general difficulty of setting up a nice "maintenance-free" timed capture setup. All I am wanting to do is supplement my Tivo by recording things on the computer that I actually plan to archive.

In any event, $39 is not much for a solution to the MMC delema. If this is a lousy attempt at a solution, I appologize. Basically, scrap the MMC for timer recording...

[a1anp]

The PowerVCR II route might be worth thinking about if I can find it cheap... Can it co-exist with MMC? I'd just use it for timer recordings then... as long as I don't have probs with that too!!!

My "final solution" (still a year off probably) will be to get a DVD recorder, and upgrade my PC's DVD drive to one that reads DVD-RAM. Shouldn't have any problems with the timer then, or lip sync, and hopefully it would be an easy job to get the recordings onto the PC for mucking about with.

Cheers,
Alan

[tjdmobile]

Yes - They co-exist just fine. In fact, PowerVCR will work fine even without all the WDM drivers installed. In fact, it works by simply having the display driver installed (at least in XP).

Head off to gocyberlink.com and download the trial. I think it might be VERY limited because of the trial however, something like a 5 minute capture, I can't remember. At any rate, be prepared... There is a learning curve to this software, as it operates a tad differently, however it has some neat features that MMC hasn't (such as adjustable audio bitrate)

Once I get all my settings working, I am going to make some downloadable registry keys which will help everyone set up their MMC / PVCR to overcome some volume issues...

[a1anp]

Thanks - I'll download the trial and give it a try. Who knows, this may be the answer to ALL my problems

[a1anp]

tjdmobile,

I gave PowerVCR II a try last night. It works fine for timer recordings - i.e. it gets the start time spot on. On the other hand, there were a few problems that mean I probably won't go for the full version - the picture was very shaky in the preview window (but it steadied up during capture). The quality of mpeg-1 captures was poorer than I get now with MMC 7.1, and the options for capture screen size were a bit limited. Also, the demo only lets you have 2 mins recording - not enough to test for gradual lip sync problems (I usually get about 100ms drift per hour with my current set up).

So thanks, but I'll stick to the setup I've got at the mo which gives good results but makes me work for them. Still, if it was easy, I'd probably have got bored with it by now