drivers? *newbie alert*

[inphoenix]

Folks,

I bought ATI HDTV *blunder* card for my PC. ATI's software would not work on my PC (DELL PE400SC). I tried installing different versions from ATIs website but nothing works. Their support is as bad as their software.

I am still waiting for upgrade of my BTV software to version 4. Now I have only a few days left before I can return the card. I would've loved to try installing BTV 4 to try it out but seems like it will take some more time to get the upgrade.

The question here is, will BTV install its own drivers for this card and make it work? OR am I better off returning the card rightnow and getting KWorld or MyHD or something else?

Thanks.

[queonda]

I don't have the answer to your question but you can try to download the BTV4 trial version.

[Burner_00]

BTV4 will not work with MyHD 100,120,130

[EL_]

my guide and it works like a charm.


http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.p...highlight=hdtv

lmk if you still can't get the ati htdv wonder working.

[inphoenix]

I will try this today. Let me ask you a question before I try it. Your guide says to install a few things before PCI card. I already have XP SP2 Direct X 9c etc. and also a Diamond Stealth S120 (based on ATI Radeon chip) in the system. The setup was working fine with a widescreen LCD monitor.

Do I need to uninstall the existing ATI software from the computer before I start ATI HDTV *blunder's* installation?

At this time it returns ATI multimedia center not installed error. The device manager shows that 'media' is not working. I try to update the driver for it and it says access is denied. I can try the enviroment variable before I do anything else and see if that helps.

Thanks.

[Rich A]

Originally Posted by inphoenix

I will try this today. Let me ask you a question before I try it. Your guide says to install a few things before PCI card. I already have XP SP2 Direct X 9c etc. and also a Diamond Stealth S120 (based on ATI Radeon chip) in the system. The setup was working fine with a widescreen LCD monitor.

Do I need to uninstall the existing ATI software from the computer before I start ATI HDTV *blunder's* installation?

At this time it returns ATI multimedia center not installed error. The device manager shows that 'media' is not working. I try to update the driver for it and it says access is denied. I can try the enviroment variable before I do anything else and see if that helps.

Thanks.

I have the ATI HDTV card also. In my case my video card is an Nvidia card not a Radeon but I have run it with both.

First make sure your Radeon chip is a 9500 or better series. (I'm not familiar with the card you mentioned) Everything else you have is okay.

The way I did mine, was to install all the ATI HDTV Wonder files but NOT their MMC. You must install the stuff in the order they list on their support/drivers page. They must be installed in a certain sequence. And as I mentioned I did not install the MMC. I had no intentions of using the ATI with it's own PVR software, just the BTV.

If you've already installed it, and need to re-install it, that's where the problems can arise. Search and find the ATI dedicated uninstall utility. A normal uninstall might leave bits and pieces of the former ATI install, that will create problems with the new install. ATI has always had a poor driver setup etc. Their new "uninstall" utility does a better job of removing everything. WARNING ! It's been a while, but it may be that the ATI Uninstall utility was made primarily to uninstall your video card's drivers. (which you probably don't want to do) I would try using the regular Add/Remove programs Windows application and find and remove any previous installs involving the ATI HDTV Wonder only. If that doesn't work you may have to do what I did, which was to use the ATI Uninstall utility to remove everything. Then I re-installed the video drivers .. followed by the HDTV Wonder install. If you need to go that route, remove the ATI HDTV Wonder card from the system, install the video drivers. Put the ATI HDTV Wonder card back in the system. Cancel / Ignore any Windows attempts to install it's own drivers. Then install the "wonder" files in their proper sequence.

Here is the ULR for all the stuff you need from the ATI web site:

https://support.ati.com/ics/support/...e&folderID=367

On that page you should download and install (in that order)

1. DAO/MDAC
2. HDTV Wonder Drivers
3. DTV Decoder
4. Encoder

5. MMC (optional - I didn't download or install it)

When you download each one, notate it's file name and which # it is in the install order. That's because the actual file names may not be clear as to which file name goes with which actual program. Download #1 and make a note that THAT file is the DAO/MDAC file which is to be installed first. Sorry I don't have the actual file names at hand.

Note that the MMC (the last in the list) is the only one that is NOT required.
Also note that for #3 you will be required to produce the original ATI install CD that came with your product.

Note also that during my testing I tried installing the MMC but using the BTV. I always had some minor problems when the ATI MMC was also in the PC software environment. So I re-did everything.

Sorry I couldn't remember (I'm at work) or find the ATI uninstall utility. But you'd only want to use that as a last resort. I'm not sure if it will show both the HDTV and the Video card separately or only one of them during the install. It "might" just remove everything that's linked to ATI or JUST the Video drivers. I started from scratch myself and removed the video drivers and then installed them and then the HDTV stuff. Good luck.

[inphoenix]

Thanks for your help guys. I uninstalled EVERYTHING ATI from the box and started installation from scratch. Followed your suggestions but it still does not work.

[Rich A]

I checked that version of the video card you have and it's supposed to be using the Radeon 9550 chip set. I believe that would be the minimum but should work. (I'd be happier if you had a 9600 or better) But the video card "should" work. There must be something else amiss.

When I was testing earlier I had a Radeon 9600 that I was using for video and of course the ATI HDTV wonder. The system worked fine in that configuration.

What exactly is the error when you try to run BTV4 ?? Or have you not gotten that far?

[inphoenix]

BTV is not a problem. After I install the HDTV card, it shows exclamation sign next to two items (in device manager). One the Digital and Analog Tuner and the Multimedia. I try to update the drivers for these two and it says Access is denied. For this reason BTV won't even recognize my Digital antenna for HD recording.

I have tried putting the HD card in different slots. I have tried removing all extra cards from computer (5.1 sound, Firewire etc.).

Thanks.

[EL_]

that is strange. I ran the wizard again and added the digital source can you add the catv tuner or are both tuners not availible?

[inphoenix]

Both the tuners were not available.

I appreciate you guys helping me with this issue but I think I have spent enough time on this card. The card is going back today and I am buying a KWorld card. Will post my experience with that one.