I got a new computer system recently which mean a whole lot of new setup. And one of the biggest problems one can have is with TV tuner cards. My first TV tuner card was an ATI All-In-Wonder which I got with my old computer

The TV tuner card I originally got with the computer was giving me a lot of trouble. Mainly it wouldn’t synchronize properly with the video and it wasn’t picking up ATSC at all. So I returned it and got a Hauppauge WinTV 1250. The 1250 worked well, although I had trouble with the video going dark. It turned out to be an XP compatibility issue with the drivers that came with the card. Since I was using composite input through the S-Video it wasn’t reading the signal properly. I found the latest copy of WinTV7, version 1.2, and after installing that it worked fine. No more underbright screens. I found the link for WinTV7 v1.2 in a forum post which I ran across while searching for the problem. The main page still gives the outdated software. (http://download.cnet.com/Hauppauge-WinTV-PVR-USB/3000-2110_4-130941.html)

WinTV7 is a good program, when it’s working. It almost emulates all of what Windows Media Center does. And it doesn’t require special equipment as Media Center does. However, I don’t know if it works with cards other than the Hauppauge cards. And the 1.1E version which came with the card wouldn’t work properly. It often displayed the image as too dark (which seemed to be a card driver issue) and in full screen mode it would also freeze the image when it reached either the end of the buffer or it started to synchronize with the broadcast. WinTV7 v1.2 fixed those issues although it doesn’t always block the desktop properly, allowing some distracting garbage on the black bars at the side of the screen.

I also ran into two other major problems. One was the screen resolution. I have a widescreen monitor but a standard definition input from the satellite tuner. So the picture was stretched out. I managed to figure out a work-around by setting the Windows resolution to 1280x720. It can make things a little hard to read but it adjusts all video, including webpages, to display as if I was using a SD monitor. Unfortunately it seems to be the only resolution in Windows that allows for this. Although I haven’t looked into customizing the resolution yet. Still, at least the TV looks normal.

Another problem I had was with synchronization of the audio and video. This showed up on both the former TV card and the new Hauppauge. The problem apparently has to do with the built in video recording and is likely an issue with all PVR cards. But I managed to resolve this by reconfiguring the connection with A/V system. Before I had the TV tuner and a couple of VCRs running through my amplifier then onto the computer. This was to allow the amplifier to be used for the sound. What I had to do was to use a TV selector switch box, which I picked up a while back for use on the amplifier, and run the output of the switch box into the computer. I then take the audio output of the computer and run it back to the amplifier. This works well, and I tend to leave the switch on the VCR since it’s also getting a TV input. Although the delay makes it difficult to change channels with the tuner since there’s a delay between when I press a button and when I see the results.

Windows 7

I downloaded a copy of Windows 7 RC 7100 some time back, although my machine at the time didn’t support it. But with the new machine I had to try it out. The new Quad Core machine came with 32-bit XP Home, which is like putting a speed limit on a sports car. It works, but it doesn’t really show it’s full potential.

I tried it with Virtual PC 2007, although it wouldn’t recognize most of my hardware, including the TV card, so I couldn’t assess it properly. The only way to truly tell how it would work would be to install it. Since my XP setup is working and the Windows 7 RC expires in March (effectively), I decided to set up a dual boot system with Windows XP left where it was and Windows 7 in a second partition. This meant partitioning off part of the HD which I did with EASUS Partition Master. (They also produce a version called Partition Manager which one can download for free http://www.partition-tool.com/download.htm)

With the dual boot system I can now switch between XP and Win7 on startup. And since Win7 is a fully installed OS, I can figure out all the problems I’m going to encounter while still being able to go back to the working XP system if needed.

One of the biggest reasons I wanted to try out Windows 7 was to be able to run Windows Media Center. Unfortunately, the program is designed to INSIST that you have an Infrared Blaster connected to your computer if you wish to use the composite or S-video input. It will not allow you to finish the TV setup otherwise. You can still use the antenna input, but the picture quality isn’t as good. There is a workaround for Vista, but because of the way Windows 7 finds new hardware this doesn’t work. And what’s worse is that this is a problem which has been going on for years yet Microsoft’s attitude has been openly to insist that there’s nothing wrong and that you need to buy more hardware rather than to fix the software. This is exactly what’s wrong with Microsoft; taking a know-it-all attitude rather than listening to the customers.

I can’t say whether I’ll upgrade the OS or not. For now I’ll keep Windows 7 on the machine and play with it until it expires. After that I’ll decide what to do. Since I can’t properly run Media Center I’m less inclined to switch, although I do like the improved performance. Going to a 64-bit system does mean that my old webcam won’t work, but I didn’t expect to be able to use that anyways. And I don’t want to spend a couple hundred on a new OS. Of course there’s Linux, which I might install in the partition after Windows 7 expires, but that has it’s limitations, particularly when it comes to games.

I only installed Windows 7 yesterday so I have some playing around to do. Right now I’m finding that I can’t run WinTV7 and Media Player because they both are responding to the remote so I have to choose between the two. Assuming there’s a way to shut down Media Player I’ll just use WinTV7 for now.

There are also some alternative free programs to choose from. Since I have something that works, I don’t want to buy another program. On my last machine I started using Dscaler because it allows for resolution adjustments. (http://www.dscaler.org/) That has a lot of adjustments and works for most cards, but it doesn’t currently allow for the remote or ATSC. It will allow for recording. I tried installing MediaPortal but I couldn’t get it to startup in XP. And it seems to require a lot of pre-configuring. MythTV appears to require pre-compiling and is more work than what I want to do right now. I’m checking out GB-PVR although I haven’t got it working yet. I[‘m also checking out TVersity, although that appears to be more for video sharing than live TV.

So far the leader is WinTV7 v1.2. If I can get Windows Media Player working I’ll use that, and I would like to try and get Media Portal to work since it so closely resembles Windows Media Player.