Finetuning Hercules Smart TV card in PowerVCR II

[martin wingelaar]

Hello,

I'm using XP SP1. I bought a Hercules Smart TV (mono) with PowerVCRII.

My problem is that I cannot finetune channels. Therefore some channels do not appear, or only in black and white.

When I use another application (dscaler or K!TV), I can offset the channel frequency (+/- 0,25 MHZ) and then there's no problem. So essentially there's nothing wrong with my hardware, neither the cable length or quality is an issue.

My question: Can I finetune in PowerVCR, cause I want to use the hardware MPEG-2 encoder on the Smart TV card. Maybe a some registry-editing is needed

Or, alternatively, do you know a free program I can download and use with the Smart TV card.

I've tried without succes:
-alternative WDM drivers
-updating DirectX and applying non-NTSC patch
-all patched/updates from Hercules.com (maker of Card)
-posting my problem with Cyberlink (maker of PowerVCR). No luck. They said some things about signal strength, cable lenth etc. But as I stated, dscaler and k!tv work in the same setup without problem
-using Hauppauge WinPCR
-using Chris TV
-using C!TV
-changing PCI slot

etc


Be advised that I'm from the Netherlands, where PAL B and Pal G are used. Most "problem" channels appear to be in the PAL G range. For info on channels: see http://www.multikabel.nl/freqs.php?gem_id=33&check=check

Please note that I'm not looking for a solution involving AVI capturing (or something like that) and then conversing AVI to MPEG-2.

Any ideas/suggestions. It would make my day...

[tipstir]

Very interesting but you haven't tried Intervideo DVR software.

WinDVR 3

or

Win DVD Recorder Platinum 5

I use both but mostly have the Win DVD Recorder software on always. If you can use Dscaler then you can use Intervideo products. Try it. I've tried PowerVCR II didn't get good results. Dscaler is okay but you know you can't record with it so good. If you find that Intervideo software doesn't work for you try Mainconcept PVR software.

Good luck!

[martin wingelaar]

tipstir,

thx for the suggestion. I will try, but I'm pessemistic. From the intervideo website I gather they are using wdmfiles, just as many other PVRs.
Also: I've only got limited OEM versions of these programs. Already tried these, no luck. Maybe more luck with full versions 8)

Martin

[lordsmurf]

WinDVR (Intervideo products, period) = forced blended deinterlace
PowerVCR II = software only encoder.

If you want to use the hardware, use the software that came with the hardware.

[martin wingelaar]

Lordsmurf,

I appriciate you response. I won't bother with WinDVR. The PowerVCR software I struggling with is the software that came with my card. It is just bogus stuff.

Martin

[tipstir]

Well if you don't want to try WinDVR 3, there is Mainconcept PVR. I don't care for PowerVCR II nor Chris TV Pro. Intervideo I know there a lot of these PVR forget the Home Theater 2 awful program. WinDVD Recorder Platinum 5 is better than WinDVR 3 in picture quality and features and also has AC3 enable. Anyway since getting the new capture card I dumping all of those and staying with the GB-PVR for now to use with my Media MVP 1000.

[lordsmurf]

Need a POWERFUL PC for MainConcept.

[tipstir]

Mainconcept will run on PIII 900 MHz with 512MB of RAM, I know I've tried it.

PIII, P4 or anything higher with the right tweaks will improve performance. I never have any problems with Encoder from Mainconcept current version I am using is 1.04.02.

[lordsmurf]

We're not talking the same thing. I'm talking about CAPTURING video with MC 1.4. Your version does not capture, only encode, and your PC if nowhere near powerful enough. My PC is barely powerful enough.

[tipstir]

Oh okay capturing it gotcha!

I do have a HTPC P4 2.61GHz, 1GB of DDR RAM should be enough right! To capture with MC. But you can capture with ULEAD DVD Workshop and encode the video also.

Btw the PIII 900 MHz I just use that with MC 1.4.2 to just convert PAL VCD to NTSC MPEG2 takes less than 30mins to do 286MB file even for re-encode the picture comes out very good as the original.

[lordsmurf]

Yes, that P4 should have the needed juice.

[tipstir]

Good!