ATI Tv-Wonder Coax-RF Quality = crap... any fixes?

[Mithrandir]

I'm getting some kind of interference on my ATI Tv-wonder whenever I grab coaxial-RF (I connected the TV to the same line, and I don't get the interference there), and this is very aggrivating; are all TV-Wonders this shitty, or is this a driver problem or what?

I'm looking over the board, and I don't see any complains of the quality yet, so I'm guess this is my fault or something.

help? heh.

[keifir]

hi there, i got tv wonder too - i split the cable in two: one for cable modem the other into tv wonder.

So i do notice that i get some interference too- like grey diagonal lines every 20-30 secs. I found out it's static caused by my cable modem. So when i capture i make sure i disconnect the modem.

Does that sound like smthg u get on your card? I also gonna try to use the composite connector on the tv wonder for capturing and use the vcr to tune into the channel.

There's one thing i suspect about tv wonders: i know some people have said that they get terrific quality out of them, well not me. And i think the reason is different components: my white box tv wonder has Temic 4036(FY5) tuner, while other people generally get Phillips MK2 tuners (here in Canada anyway). So that might be the reason quality is so different, and it's a reason i will never buy another Ati product

if u find a way to make quality better - lemme know.

hope u didn't fall asleep reading this

keifir

[crahak]

I fear that your best bet is not to use this coax-RF, as it's the worse way to go. Try composite at least if you can. ATI's seem to be blurry too... Your best bet just might be one of these generic bt8x8 tv tuners, unless you want to spend more... and still, depends on the source too.

[tomreedtoon]

I had the TV Wonder VE, and I also had noise problems. Part of it was cured by using an amplifier/splitter off the cable instead of just using a splitter. The tuner in these things aren't very sensitive, and by boosting the RF into them, you drop some of the noise.

The real problem is that the tuner, on the card, is inside a computer case. This is a horrible environment for a TV tuner. It's full of RF. (Did you know that 2 GhZ is the frequency band used to transmit from TV microwave trucks? And your processor may be running close to that, and spitting that all throughout your computer case!)

When I bought an Xtasy Everything, with its tuner module set on a little "dongle" outside the computer case, my cable captures were much cleaner. Haven't tried any capture from video, and since I'm not a rich Republican I don't have anything Firewire, but the captures from cable are clean.

(The only disadvantage is that the capture and edit software for the Xtasy are terrible. I ended up having to capture with VirtualDub, which means I have to be there while the beastie records. No timer or programming in VDub.)