If you have a ATI TV Wonder VE please read.

[simonko]

I have an ATI TV Wonder VE. When I hook a set-top DVD player up to the card and try to watch it I get odd thin colored horizontal lines that go every centimeter down the screen.

One movie that does this is Shrek. But it doesnt happen on Rush Hour 2.

If anyone has experience this problem please give advise how to fix this or verification that it is normal or not.

Thanks.

[ColtWalker]

This is not a definitive answer but I will offer one possible cause. You may be seeing the result of Macrovision copy protection. Yes, I know you are not trying to capture (irrelevant anyway). However, in some instances Macrovision effect can manifest itself where an individual has no intention of dubbing protected video. One example is connecting a new Sony DSS box to a VCR, and then from the VCR to the television. Macrovision will distort a protected movie being viewed even though the VCR is not recording. Simply connecting composite video through an additional device will cause the Macrovision effect in many situations. Another is VCR to VCR and then to TV, with the first VCR in the chain playing a protected video, the second VCR idle.

However, video capture cards work entirely different and the Macrovision affect is not the result of the AGC circuit but rather intentionally and deliberately detected by the ATI Video capture drivers/software resulting in useless capture due to symptoms similar to what you are describing and/or video frame repetition. (Was it not nice of ATI to make sure their product would not capture Macrovision protected DVD and video? *smirk*)

Yet I am skeptical as to whether this is what you are encountering. The Macrovision effect should only manifest itself if you are attempting to capture video. Though I did think it noteworthy to mention this in the event it is useful.

Possibly the Shrek is Macrovision copy protect encoded and Rush Hour 2 is not. There are also different versions of Macrovision now being used on DVD. Maybe the Shrek DVD utilizes a newer version of the anti-copy technology that seems to prevent your viewing in this way also.

ATI Video Capture products and tuner cards are flakey. I own one, however, ATI will not find me to be a return customer.