Noobie user just looking for help.

[koul_jackson]

Hi guys. I got a new TV card for 25$ of ebay, it has no identifiying marks on the card but the box says "Super TV Tuner Card" on it. This is the exact product i bought. http://shop.store.yahoo.com/cableson...asandfmpc.html

The software that came with it is great for just watching tv, but the capture sucks. Beyond TV 3.5.1 is working well as i would expect, but the picture qaulity sucks. Infact it's way worse then the cards viewing software. Being as how i know nothing, is there anything simple I'm missing? I tried capture a still image of whats going on, but hold alt-crt-Prnscrn doesn't seem to work. every channel looks like fuz and static, like when your old tv antenna's broke. It's wierd. BTW, i'm using the deme of BTV 3.5.1 not full version.

Koul Jackson
P4s800
P4 - 1.6Ghz 400Mhz FSB
512MB DDR2700
40GB 7200 RPM
Geforce 5600 256MB AGP
Crappy little Sound Card
WinXP Pro w/ SP2
350W Power Supply


thanks for your help....

[koul_jackson]

what i really have is

Philips TTOM878A Conexant 878A

[nanook105]

I don't believe that tuner is on the list of supported cards:

http://kb.snapstream.com/?kbid=47

You can try adjusting some of the settings to try and get a better picture, but you may not be able to get a great picture. I am guessing that you have a software tuner, so getting a better quality picture is at some point a trade off with preformance.

[koul_jackson]

well, somone brought up the idea of having too little power, so i might try a radio shack type signal booster...what could it hurt...i also tried a shorter cable and disconnecting all other TV"s in my house.

How do i take a screenshot of what i'm viewing? Maybe i can SHOW you what i'm looking at as a problem...I just wanna record Simpson's while i'm at work...

[nanook105]

The software that came with it is great for just watching tv, but the capture sucks

This statement made it sound like you do get a good picture with the software that it came with and you are only having issues when using BTV. If that is not the case, then it is a good idea to start with the source.

How is the picture if you connet the cable directly to a TV ?

[koul_jackson]

normal TV picture is great. Same with all tv's hooked up and watching on my CPU using the Easy TV, which came with the video card. So yeah, BTV3.5.1 is the only thing not getting a good picture...

[wxboy]

I think the card would be supported. My card is an old WinTV (also Connexant 878 processor) and it works great with BTV. Although, I use 3.5.0, due to issues I have with 3.5.1, not related to the card.

[nanook105]

Originally Posted by wxboy

I think the card would be supported. My card is an old WinTV (also Connexant 878 processor) and it works great with BTV. Although, I use 3.5.0, due to issues I have with 3.5.1, not related to the card.

What recording/decoder/encoder settings are you using ?

[koul_jackson]

Easy TV is the only encoder that works with it, it's a cheap program, i can record up to 30Minutes of TV at a time, no program option. I'm trying to use BTv because Easy Tv sucks. I recently(like 10 minutes ago) used a TV coaxal signal amp, it did nothing.

[wxboy]

What recording/decoder/encoder settings are you using ?

I am using DVD Ready (Best), the Snapstream Basic Decoder with software detinerlacing, 3D Accellerated, and Default for the encoder.

[koul_jackson]

for software I have tried every permunation but with LIVE viewing it still looks like crap.

[wxboy]

sorry. can't help ya anymore. except, buy a better card.

[BenH]

Sorry 1.6GHZ is just enough to software encode 352x480 . "DVD ready" is to high resolution. Did you know you can customize the encodeing profiles in the Web Admin ? Try http://localhost and custom the profiles .

Live TV will look better with wmv profiles but then you can not pause live tv .

Try checking CPU use while watching live tv and recording . Hit CTRL-ALT-DEL and got to perfomance . Anything over 96% while probabley be losing frames while recording . Lowering the capture resolution lowers the live tv resolution and cuts down cpu use a lot .

I hope those BTwincap drivers work . They are better than some drivers but not as good as Hauppauges drivers .

[Jodean]

I have this same $20 Super TV Tuner you are talking about. It works fine until i record then less than a minute it locks up my computer.

I just did a fresh install of Win XP Pro with no other software installed and it does the same thing.

Just wondering if u ever got it to work.

Im going to try it in my work computer next and see what happens. Just annoys me that it works and then locks up, cause it seems to work just fine otherwise.

[Jodean]

My specs are as below so i dont have junk other than this card, LOL.