Hauppage PCI TV Cards and Full Screen Mode Problem!!!

ThunderStorm

Hi all,

I have asked this question before and didnt get a satisfactory reply, thats why i have decided to start a new thread, in hope of getting a help from some expert in the field.

I have used/seen different brands of Hauppage's TV cards, they have better picture quality than rest of its competitors but there is an inherrent problem in them and it is "switching to lower resolution(800*600) in full screen mode". I dont know if any one of you have noticed that or its just me.

Now i am planning to purschse a new DVB-S card. I already have pinnacle pcsat tv card and i am happy with its performance. The only problem with it is, no CI, hence, no pay tv. Now that pinnacle has released another card with CI interface, i still want to give TT DVB-s/WINDVB-S a try(after hearing all the praises). I am little apprehensive in purchasing this card, and the reason is Techno Trend is developing cards for Huappage (correct me if i am wrong) , and i have seen that inherent problem(switching resolution) in huappage cards. So i will be more than thankful if someone will clear or confirm this doubt for me. This will go a long way in making up my mind.

ps: whats the difference between TT DVB-S 1.6 and WinDVB-s 1.6 cards ?

thanks in advance
TS

watty

I have the Hauppauge WinTV analog
(Works on Win98, NT4.0 and XP, but Xp with 3rd party apps such as Descaler, IVU labs, Virtual Dub, etc etc. I don't like showshifter though. Works best on XP)

Also
Hauppauge DVBs PIC Digital
(No problem on Win 98, Nt4.0 and XP)

In SAME PC.

They don't remotely work the same way. Even if technotrend did make the analog one (I doubt). Technotrend make most of the Digital Cable, Satellite and DTT card. Everyone else prints badges.

ThunderStorm

thanks watty,

as far as the performance of the huappage cards are concerned, i agree its good, i am only suspicious about this resolution shifting. i had used huappage pci analogue card (xp and with its supplied software). Initially xp windows was running on 1024*768 with 24 bit color scheme. It was working fine until i switched to full screen mode. After switching, it automatically switched to 800*600 resolution (no matter what is ur initial resolution, it switched to 800*600). My monitor switches to different resolution with a blank screen and a loud sound, and if u r switching to max and normal modes many times its kinda annoying. Thats why i am little apprehensive about using hauppage/TT. I havnt tried it with 3rd party tool as u suggested, maybe there is some compatibility issue with xp and the original software provided(which i doubt).
I have tried pinnacle anlague pci tv card. This porblem wasnt there at all, rather there is an overlay test in which the pic is magnified (without the change of resolution) to cover the whole screen.


regards
TS

Greenpiece

I asked a similar question from a German site when I bought mine a few months back. here is the reply I got back.


Difference between Nexus and 1.6:

Hauppauge DVB-S Nexus Rev 2.1

-Phillips SAA - 7146

- Texas Instruments TLC320AD80C Audio DAC

- ALPS BSRU6-502à (without LNB loop Through) or BSRU6-701a (with LNB loop Through)

(less high requirements of electric current, symbol rates of 1 - 45 Mbaud)

- J2-Pinblock not available

Cable whip with the following connections :

Similar to stereo LINE Out -3,5 mm of jack plugs

Digitally stereo LINE Out - black Chinch

Composite TV Out - yellow Chinch

Similar to audio Out right channel of red Chinch

Similar to audio Out left channel - white Chinch


Hauppauge DVB-S Nexus Rev 2.2

Philips SAA 7146 AH MPEG-2 Hardware-Decoder They all can work in Hard (Less CPU-Time) or software mode
Chrystal CY7C024AV Audio
Tuner BSRU6-502A with STV0299B (without LNB loop Through) (less high requirements of electric current, symbol rates of 1 - 45 Mbaud)

DSP TMX320AV 7111 GFN
Bustyp: PCI
High Performance Multimedia PCI bridge (PCI rev. 2.1 compliant)
Onboard Satellite Tuner QPSK Demodulator:
Band: C/Ku (11 GHz + 12 GHz)
Input Frequency : 950/2150 MHz
RF-Pegel: - 65/-25 dBm
LNB Power: 14 / 18 V / OFF, max. 400 mA
DiSEqc: Mini DiSEqc (Tone Burst), DiSEqc 1.0 - 22 kHz switch control
Composite Video Out + Audio Line Out (Right/Left)
IR-Reciever Input
J2-Pinblock not available


Revision 1.6

-Phillips SAA - 7146

- Crystal CS4341 audio DAC

- Grundig grundig-Tuner (without LNB loop Through /SCPC signals with symbol rates under 12.000 Mbaud cannot be recieved)

Patched ttdvbacc.dll for DVB rev. 1.6 to allow symbol rate bellow than 12000 (8000 is min. now). Included dll for TT and ProgDVB - read included how-to.txt

- J2-Pinblock available

- connections: Are, 3,5 mm of jack plugs, Composite TV Out

They alll can work in Hard (Less CPU-Time) or software mode

Greenpiece

Don't know if this answers your original or ps question but I get very good full screen resolution using TT software and ProgDVB.

Took a while to fiddle with the settings but I am happy with my card so far.

watty

Your problem might actually not be the TV card at all but the Graphics card.

In any case none of the Digital TV cards work the same as analog TV cards.

You can't extrapolate ANY experience with ANY analog TV card to ANY Digital card. In fact applications or drivers for TV that use VFW or Direct Show or Video APIs won't see any kind of Digital Card, not the SW mode only Skystar2 / Basic / Nova kind nor the Premium/HighEnd/Nexus (HW or SW mode) kind.

Iv'e tested the the Hauppauge WinTV DVBs PCI card (old Premium) on Intel P120, K6-1 AMD 233 , AMD K6-2 3D 366, Pentium Pro 200 (AST Iceberg Server board), and Dell Precision 220 (XP).

I'm using the latest version SW off www.technotrend.de for "new card" on my card fine.

It's better than any other SW unless you want "hacking".

But ALL the versions (2 older TT, Hauppauge, various 3rd party shareware etc and even my own done with TT free programmers SDK worked). With correct memory and graphics, Win98, NT4.0 and XP all flawless. Over a year and half.

ThunderStorm

Your problem might actually not be the TV card at all but the Graphics card.

I would have agreed to that, if i am facing the same problem with different cards. Besides i think nVidia Geforce4 420 MX is a graphics card which is most widely used (correct me if i am wrong).

In fact applications or drivers for TV that use VFW or Direct Show or Video APIs won't see any kind of Digital Card

i 100% agree with you and this line is supporting my argument that if there is a problem with analogue card, there is a "fairly" good chance that it will be there for digital card too. This problem is with the way they have used the graphics API.

You can't extrapolate ANY experience with ANY analog TV card to ANY Digital card

Yes, you cannot extrpolate the picture/sound quality, recording experience with an analogue card to a digital card. But when it comes to the comparison of full screen mode and how they are using the cards builtin graphics API, i think one can.

btw, Can anyone give me one good reason for switching to lower resolution for any TV card ?

ps: i have checked this resolution switching problem with the branch of PC WORLD (this is from where i purchased my card) and believe it or not it was also there for the system on which they have installed the same Hauppage card for displaying purpose.

lastly, i have Dell DimensionTM 8300, just to clear the doubt (if anyone has one) that i have slow system.

regards and thanks

TS

watty

Originally posted by ThunderStorm

i 100% agree with you and this line is supporting my argument that if there is a problem with analogue card, there is a "fairly" good chance that it will be there for digital card too. This problem is with the way they have used the graphics API.

>>> NO NO NO
The API is totally different.


btw, Can anyone give me one good reason for switching to lower resolution for any TV card ?

>>>
PAL is 720 x 576 and NTSC is 720 x 480
BUT Computers use SQUARE pixels (mostly, some modes don't)
SQUARE pixel, i.e. correct asapect 4:3 is 768 x 576 PAL and 640 x 480 NTSC.

At 16:9 the 720 pixels per line need to use several PC screen pixels.

The best quality is an insert window in a 1024 x 768 or higher screen. For full screen the closest map is 800 x 600 for PAL

A good TV always gives a better biture as the rescaling of pixels to get correct size and aspect causes artifacts and loses detail. Also the PC screen is "Progressive Scan" and most transmissions are Interlaced. Also PAL is 25 fps / 50Hz and NTSC 30fps /60Hz. TV screens are 56fps/56Hz to 85fps/85Hz. This causes motion artifacts.

All PC analog TV cards are poorer than a PAL monitor or good TV on the PC screen

The Digital TV PC cards are all much better, but still, NO MATTER how well it is implemented the "highEnd" card TV out connector gives a better TV picture.

You can't make a 720 x 576 pixel 4:3 or 16:9 picture scale perfectly to ANY resolution / mode of PC monitor. 800x 600 is best compromise for 4:3 PAL Fullscreen.

Use a window or get decent TV set or Projector.

The GeForce is optimised for Games not TV pictures.

All I can say is the TNT64 and Creative GB0030 are fine

The ATI Rage 128 is OK but only one HW overlay Window

zepp

im thinking of geting a digital card .
so what can i pick up
and what else do i need (ie satillte dish etc etc)
and what is the likly cost and where can i get more info on it

watty

www.lyngsat.com

look at 19E, 13E and 28E "MPEG2 Clear"

You need minmum
80cm or 90 cm dish
Universal LNB
CT100 canble from Dsih/LNB to PC

A £60 Skystar2 or £130 "highend/premium" Satellite card (read above posts).

The premium card min spec is Win98, P120CPu and 64M RAM.
Ideal is XP with 512M RAM and TNT64, Rage128 or better graphics

The basic card min spec is about 1GHz PC or faster, 128MRAM (Win98) or 512MRAM (XP) .

The basic card can't directly drive TV, Video Projector, HiFi, Cinema system etc. Even on fast PC it can't give features and perforamce/quality of the Hardware based "premium/Highend" cards.

www.satellite.ie and www.satcure.co.uk for dish, lnb, cable etc.

various places inc Compustore for PC Card (Hauppage Nexus PCI DVBs recommended with download SW from www.technotrend.de, who make the card, if the site download is newer)

Ask the above satellite online shops too.

Recommended upgrade options to automatically get three satellites on one dish:
A "global" 4 way Diseqc switch
two extra Universal LNBs
two mounting brackets "offset" arms to mount the extra LNBs either side of existing LNB