Pinnacle PCTV Deluxe Owners - Share experience here

[Zetti]

Hi Don and all - I think there are only us currently at this topic ?

Thanks for answering, what's your final opinion, to use the original Pinnacle driver (1.6 or beta 1.7) or the emuzed one ?

No problem about the test, please take your time

Thanks,

Zetti

[donpedro]

OK. Here it goes.

I installed Beta from Pinnacle, than I installed Movie Mill TV from last link that I posted. Here is picture of "about"



Here are results of testing

- I was able to capture 15 Mbps. I captured only 1min and than I had some trouble, but it worked.
- I was able capture NTSC from Cable and PAL from Composite.

More info about drivers will come probably later.... Any more questions ?

[Zetti]

Dear Don,

First of all...THANK YOU VERY MUCH,

OK, let's go :

1) You said : "I installed Beta from Pinnacle......." . You had said previously you tried the Emuzed driver, but now you said you have instaled Beta 1.7 from Pinnacle, I am confused....
At the end, what driver exactly are you using, I mean, what's your final choice for driver, emuze (link above on another message from you), Pinnacle 1.6 or Pinnacle beta 1.7 ?

2) You said : "......than I installed Movie Mill TV from last link that I posted....."
you said the "last" link to Movie Mill TV, but the link above refers to "regular" MM, not the "TV" version, right ?
Is it any diferent than the version we currently have ?

I miss a schedular in MM - it's strange that even the TV version doesn't have it....- do you run any software that has a schedule (not vision please :P )

People said about Snapstream, Showshifter, etc;

Actually, I sold my video card and the new one hasn't arrived yet from USA, so I am "computerless" for a while, but of course I'll be "on the front" on the state of the art

As far as I've read so far, the hardware is definitely great, but all bundled software is probably crap - maybe indded the driver....is emuzed better ?

Thanks friend !

Zetti

[donpedro]

1) You said : "I installed Beta from Pinnacle......." . You had said previously you tried the Emuzed driver, but now you said you have instaled Beta 1.7 from Pinnacle, I am confused....

Sorry... it's called 2 computers Last test was on PC with USB2.0 to test 15 Mbps.

2) You said : "......than I installed Movie Mill TV from last link that I posted....."
you said the "last" link to Movie Mill TV, but the link above refers to "regular" MM, not the "TV" version, right ?
Is it any diferent than the version we currently have ?

Yes, it seems to... It has FM Radio build in and it looks better... Just to make sure that you know what I am talking about. These ae the links:
http://www.ftpemuzed.com/SoftwareUpdates/releases/WHQL/Pinnacle_PCTV_Deluxe_USB_(NTSC)1_0_3_105.zip
http://www.ftpemuzed.com/SoftwareUpdates/releases/WHQL/MovieMillApplication.zip

I miss a schedular in MM - it's strange that even the TV version doesn't have it....- do you run any software that has a schedule (not vision please :P )

Nope. I am not using it too much. Remember ? I had to install it to do the test.

[Zetti]

Thanks Don,

When my Computer borns again, I'll uninstall Pinnacle 1.6 driver and install this emuzed one, and will also install "new" MM;

Thanks !

Zetti

[SaSi]

After a month or so with the Pinnacle PCTV Deluxe, I have realized the various issues described in the thread.

Lock-ups while recording or channel surfing, failure to start scheduled recordings were the main issues.

Due to a totaly different problem (internet connection locks-up my PC), I decided to restore a ghost image of the PC setup without any codecs, apps or tools installed. Just the OS (WinXP SP1) with drivers.

I then re-installed the PCTV s/w from the CD.

It's been a week now that the box runs like an angel. No lock-ups, works fine every time. Perhaps it's too soon to tell but previously it was giving me trouble at least once a day.

It appears that the PCTV s/w is sensitive to other stuff installed (whatever that means). Perhaps using a dedicated PC for capturing and encoding is a better approach. I am currently running the PC with PCTV s/w, DVDLab, Tmpgenc and MainConcept as well as the typical tools, like VirtualDUB, DVDShrink, Nero, etc.

The interesting thing is that if DVDShrink is running, PCTV deluxe vision will not even start. If I unload DVDShrink, PCTV Deluxe Vision loads and runs fine.

[Zetti]

Hi all again,

Movie Mill says - at its about tab - that my connection is USB 1.1 and not 2.0;

I instaled the alternative Emuzed driver posted above by Don Pedro, but with either driver (Original Pinnacle 1.6 or Emuzed), MM says that my connection is 1.1.

I guess the problem lies on my Windows instalation, cause at the driver (either one) instalation step, it advises me that my connection is 1.1 and the Pinnacle unit is 2.0;

I have SP1 instaled, which is supposed to install 2.0 support, I have onboard USB connectors (no PCI card);

ANY GUESS ??

Don, what driver have you decided to use ? Any particular reason ?

Thanks,

Zetti

[johns0]

Zetti,have you gone into bios and checked to see if usb 2.0 is enabled?What motherboard do you have?

[Zetti]

Yes, it's enabled at BIOS

I have an ASUS A7N8X Deluxe;

Thanks,

Zetti

[donpedro]

Try SiSoftware Sandra to see what kind of port it realy is.

Did you connected it directly to motherboard or are you using some kind of HUB ?

Is thsi the MOBO that you have ? ASUS A7N8X Deluxe

[donpedro]

Don, what driver have you decided to use ? Any particular reason ?

Non. It's freezing after while so It is unpluged as it was before.....

[Zetti]

Thanks to all, fixed that through anothert tip;

Thanks again, always for helping,

Zetti

[General Mortars]

Well, my Pinnacle PCTV Deluxe finally arrived from Amazon.com.

I started installing the software and doing the tests and whatnot and on the final stages, my computer INSISTS that there is no Pinnacle PCTV Deluxe device connected to my USB ports.
(Yes, I´ve checked my connections. Tenfold.)


There´s some well spent 300 euros... .
What is going on in here and why do machines hate me so?


Pentium 4
ASUS P4/P800/GD-EAY
Windows XP Pro.

[Zetti]

First of all, uninstall everything,

When reinstaling, make sure to connect both the power and USB cables ONLY when asked to do so;

If there's no stage like that, something went wrong on the very beggining, you HAVE to be asked to connect it DURING the driver instalation - I have driver 1.6

Zetti

[donpedro]

Thanks to all, fixed that through anothert tip

Please... let us know what was wrong. We all learn from mistakes

[Zetti]

Please... let us know what was wrong. We all learn from mistakes

Cool, here it is :


https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=845038#845038

Thanks,

Zetti

[SaSi]

Downloaded and tried MovieMill TV.

Been two days now. No lockups.

It even has much better control over the encoding parameters (e.g. audio bitrate and Average / Peak Video bitrate).

Excellent !

[Zetti]

Hi boys,

What sw have you been using as schedular ?

Is Vision the only sw that has a schedular that works wit the board ?

I am satisfied with it and MM sw, but I miss a good schedular that should also allow me full control over everything, like MM does;

What bitrate have you guys been using to achieve good quality when capturing from VHS ? Please, don't tell me you use 15 Mbps cause I know the higher - the best :P :P ; I'd like to find a "proper" bitrate, as low as possible, that should allow me to capture from VHS without video artefacts;

Thanks,

Zetti

[General Mortars]

First of all, uninstall everything,

When reinstaling, make sure to connect both the power and USB cables ONLY when asked to do so;

If there's no stage like that, something went wrong on the very beggining, you HAVE to be asked to connect it DURING the driver instalation - I have driver 1.6

Zetti

Nope, it doesn´t work.

I´ve tried that tenfold by now and the computer simply cannot/will not detect its presence.

I tried switching the cables between the 4 USB ports (scanner, printer, Wacom tablet) and it gives a "no presence of a Pinnacle PCTV Deluxe detected" at every turn.

Here´s what I get:



Basically, it says in english:

"The moment has come to connect the PCTV Deluxe hardware. Connect one of the USB extremities to the PCVT Deluxe and the other to the USB port in your computer. Next, connect the power cable (see image above).
If the USB and power cables are already connected, disconnect them and connect them again now.
As soon as you connect the hardware, Winblows will automatically detect the PCTV and will install the apropriate drivers. Click "next" when the driver instalation is finished."


And the instalation stops at this point because the computer can´t detect the presence of a PCTV Deluxe connected to its UBS port.
I can press "next", but it´s useless because it´ll bomb later on anyway since the computer can´t detect the presence of a PCTV Deluxe connected to its UBS port.

I´m really starting to hate this gizmo and a voice in the back of my head keeps asking me:
"- Did you actually pay over $250 for this?"

Sweet Mother of NTSC/PAL, I just want to do captures of the FMVs in my PS2´s videogames.
C´mon, come clean: have I ever done anything bad to Pinnacle in a former life? Why does it treats me so badly?

I´m this close to throwing it off the window or giving it away for free, I can´t stand the sight of its worthless $250 presence in my room.

<- Cardiac Arrest

[Zetti]

Basically, it says in english:

Bom, uma das tentativas seria instalar o drive alternativo da Emuzed que o Don Pedro publicou antes, dê uma olhada nos links acima;

Also, Pinnacle has released a "beta" version of the driver numbered 1.7, it's available I think at Pinnacle site, my CD came with version 1.6 and as I have no problems so far, I'll keep sticked to it;
But considering your headaches, I'd try anything else; including a full reformat of drive C.....and start from scratch again

I might say the device runs as perfectly as heaven for me, no problems so far, no sync issues, no hang ups, etc, etc; I don't use Vision, only MM, fantastic; have captured HOURS of VHS movies in good quality,

On a side note, where have you bought your device ? We know that in Brazil there are refurbished things coming from Paraguay / Parana, I don't wanna be the "Devil's advocate", but considering the fact that your device just can't be detected, we might think about extra possibilities....

I think that you either have a driver problem - hence try version 1.7 beta or, maybe better, the alternate Emuzed driver - or your hw is defective;
Also, maybe you should quit the Portuguese driver and try the original in english ?

Boa sorte !

Zetti

[General Mortars]

Well, I just assumed that whether you chose the english or portuguese language, the software is still the same.

I purchased my Pinnacle PCTV Deluxe through the internet from Amazon.co.uk a couple months ago, but it´s basically been sitting there on the shelf all this time collecting dust since I can´t get it to work.

Swear to God I´m almost willing to give it away for free to anyone who gives me a good alternative on capturing stuff from my TV, what´s the point of having a state-of-the-art paperweight?

[Zetti]

In my opinion, your card is DEFECTIVE, since the driver can't even find it at the USB port, your card is broken, maybe it has been damaged in transit or whatever else, but I think it's defective, so it simply won't work;

One thing is to have problems regarding its performance, for example, although I have never had any kind of problems, at Pinnacle Forum you can notice people claiming about many functional problems, mainly sync problems and Vision crashes after many minutes of working;
I think this is more annoying than your problem, because the device works, but works badly;

In your issue, I think it's broken, just it, it's pointless to discuss the quality of the device, being it a refurbished false Paraguay product, or a truly Japanese made high-quality board, makes no diference - what is broken doesn't work.


Suggestions :

1) Pinnacle has oficial assistance in Brazil, there's a Company here that is an authorized dealer and repair center, you can buy spare parts and have the card "oficially" inspected by Pinnacle themselves (oficial afiliated technical support). I guess you'd have to pay for it, as it's very likely they won't accept your International warranty card, but I don't think you have many choices....
Did you try the Emuzed driver ?
On a side note, buying the European version won't stuck you in PAL-G format ?

2) In case you'd give it to someone else and look for an alternative, ATI All in Wonder cards also make real time MPEG2 compression with very good quality (I have it), and also support PAL-M, but as it's only a video card, you'll also need a high quality audio card; ATI MMC sw is horrible, etc, etc; I mean, you'd find problems as well;
Anyway, if it arrives broken at your hands too, it won't work either...

If you have patience (I think that's not the case though....), I might say that running a FUNCTIONAL PCTV Deluxe board with MM software seems a very good option; I remember that some years ago a good MPEG2 hardware board, like the Sigma one, used to cost around $ 1000; it's good that prices have quickly fallen down, specially for us, Brazilians, that always have to pay high importation taxes - or playing the game at the black market.....

Good luck,

Zetti

[donpedro]

This may sound stupid but I saw on Pinnacle Forum two sugestions that help some users.

1. Chage power adapter. Try new one with same specification

2. Overheating. Some users made some kind of "cooling" like the one that you jave on PC to cool down chip.

I am not using this device now, so my knowledge is limited.

[Zetti]

I am not using this device now, so my knowledge is limited.

Don,

Did you give up definitely ? Any specific reason ?


It's been working well for me........1.6 Driver version, MM sw;

Zetti

[donpedro]

Did you give up definitely ? Any specific reason ?

Not that it is related to device .... but I am too busy recently. Work+planing to move back to Europe (big headache ). Probably sometime by end of the year I will be able to post experience of how US version works in EU

[SaSi]

Overheating is certainly an issue. I noticed that removing it from the top of the monitor (where it was handy) reduced lockups.

Second thing is that I notice the problem is related to the USB port to some extent. Capturing at 352x576 @ 5Mbps can go on for hours with no problems. 720x576@10Mbps will probably lock up the preview display in 15 minutes or so or will go on for an hour and then lock. Recording will probably continue in the background.

Minimizing the application will greately improve the probability of a correct recording.

And, finally, under Win 2000 and XP Pro, do this:

Create a new administrator level user, and log in as that user when capturing. The fresh, little used user works much better and records with much better chance of success. Also I've found that the new user runs most applications (like VirtualDUB) much faster...

I will try the power adapter and cooling things and report back.

[SaSi]

I don't know if this thread is dead yet, but:

I finally got around to play with cooling the device. I totally removed it from the enclosure and what remained was a bare board.

I placed an 8cm fan directly above the encoding ICs. They really get VERY hot during operation. I've been using the device like that for over 2 weeks now.

There is a very big improvement in some areas:
While the capture program would lock up after 2-3 minutes if I kept changing channels, it now doesn't.
While the application would lock up while recording (typicaly after 20-25 minutes or if not, after 2h30min or so, it now doesn't. The preview may lock up after a while, but recording still continues. And If I stop recording, the program recovers almost all the time.

The next thing to try is checking the PSU. I need a good quality 6V supply with plenty of power.

[donpedro]

Good to know that there is an hope

[SaSi]

I got around to investigate further.

Still was unable to get hold of a proper PSU (6V with lot's of power), but!

I found out that:

When capturing from the SVIDEO or Composite inputs, the PCTV will never lock-up. No matter what the bitrate is. I have been capturing the Euro games from my VCR tuner plus other shows (leaving the capture overnight and stopping it in the morning) without any problems.

When using the built-in tuner, then if the capture settings are set at User Defined, and the bitrate is higher than 4Mbps, changing channels will lock up the device. To recover, the PCTV-Vision s/w needs to be killed and the device powered off and on again.

If however, before changing channels, you reconfigure for 4Mbps or less bitrate, you can change channels and not have a lock up. Once you want to capture, you can increase the bitrate and capture without problems. (This final issue is still under validation, while keeping the cooling fan on).

Also, if you use Windows XP SP1 (not SP1a) then it is good to install the USB2.0 patch from Microsoft mentioned in KB822603. The relevant URL is
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;822603

Are others having the same problems when changing stations?

[Zetti]

Hi all;

Got it by luck, the site hasn't sent me an automated message saying someone posted here..

I haven't been using it too much lately,

Is there an updated driver version (maybe v1.7) ?

Is there a Movie Mill version that includes a scheduler ?

THat would help;

Regards,

Zetti