Tuner not recognized

[natman2]

Hi guys. I am attempting to use snap stream trial version with a WinTV PVR USB and the hardware wizard is not seeing the device.

According to the site this tuner is supported. What may I be doing wrong.

[mrphil]

Is it this one by any chance?

[natman2]

Thats it. Should I return it for something that works better while I still have time?

[mrphil]

Look at it like this when it comes to capture cards:

USB = bad
PCI = good

A lot of people struggle with getting USB capture working. and are then dissappointed with the results. If you have the option to return, definately do that, and get a PCI capture card.

[natman2]

Actually I had tried two different PCI cards but they kept locking up my system. Tried everything I could think of to get them to work (change pci slot, update drivers etc.) but PC would not get along with either. (ATI wonderve, Haupwang PCI, pvr)

Sys specs
AMD 2100XP (VIA drivers are up to date)
512 PC 2100 DDR
Win XP
Radeon 9700 Pro

My next move was going to be a Pinnacle PCTV Deluxe USB.

If you have any suggestions on what PCI card would be best for my system let me know. I am willing to try anything at this point.

The main goal here is find the product that is compatable with my system and gives me the best quality when captureing TV and burning the capture to DVD

[mrphil]

Its kinda difficult to recommend right now, because; (And this only applies if your going to be using PVS 3.0)

1) The WINTV PVR 250 is probably the best card around at the moment for capture, and its pretty well priced too

2) PVS 3.0 does not currently support it, but work is in progress. Therefore if you bought one you couldnt actually capture anything right now in PVS, but when it does get supported in PVS you will have a card that is 10 times better than any standard anlogue card.

So its your call. I would find it hard to recommend any standrad capture card at this point in time, because of the above reasons.

[James]

There are some experimental drivers that we had distributed to our beta users to support the 250 that many of our testers are having great success with--the problem is that we can't legally distribute those drivers to the public at large.

I've heard there are some beta drivers from Hauppauge themselves now that work well with Personal Video Station 3, but don't quote me on that.

I personally am leaning toward a 250 myself to build out a dedicated HTPC machine for my living room.

[natman2]

Actually after a littel more research I am now leaning toward a Radion 9700 pro all in wonder.

My hope is that going through the AGP bus slot my lockups that occured with the PCI cards will not be a problem.

[PBMax]

I can tell you that that USB card is supported by SS PVS 3.0. I'm unsure of 2.0 at the moment. But there isn't a trial version of 3.0 as of yet. If you buy 2.0 you get 3.0 as a free upgrade. I can tell you the USB tuner works well with 3.0. (we have it in the lab).

[TheFreeman]

Hi,

I read your info but if we have the drivers how can we configure Snapstream 3.0 to work with a PVR 250 ?

[PBMax]

you need the beta 1.7 drivers. I can tell you that the drivers for MCE seem to work with our app and the PVR250. Then you install snapsteam as you would any other card. Live TV won't be smooth and is really unwatchable. All your recordings will look great! We are currently ALPHA testing it. It isn't a supported card yet so unless you have the time to play around with it tech support can't help you. But if you just want to use snapstream to record shows (currently streaming and recording in wmv don't work either) then you can experiment with it.

[James]

Just an addendum--festivalman has a post up on getting good results w/ the 250 and live tv--it seems rather setting dependent. Other users seem to have some success following his advice as well.

[festivalman]

I'm using these drivers, the 1.17 and they work great. I didn't need the ones in the beta section to get it to work.

http://www.shspvr.com/download/mce_1.17.110.21050.zip

[TheFreeman]

same problem with these drivers...when i run the setup wizard i can see the Tuner card, i choose PAL_B for belgium,after i choose "do you want to scan your channels" -> Yes, i can see an error message "could not render the video capture".
If i click next, i can hear the sound during 1 sec with non image and the application crash

Do i have to proceed in another way ????

[festivalman]

I'm wondering if it's a PAL issue. I know it'll probably show bad stuff on the screen, see if it works when selecting NTSC.