TV Tuner Cards

[Chuck Engels]

Wow, that sounds very cool. I am going to check it out.
The tuner card comes with software that is supposed to be pretty good for scheduling and recording.

[Chuck Engels]

Ok, got the card this week and installed. Found out after opening the box that this is an OEM version which comes with everything but SOFTWARE !!!

How can they sell something like this without software???

Downloaded the drivers and got the card installed but still have no software to use it with.
I did check the capture in Windows Movie Maker and have a picture but no sound, not sure what that problem is yet.

I have emailed Diamond and ATI to try and get the Catalyst Media Center which was supposed to have come with the card, we will see what kind of response I get. So far I am not too happy with having a $100+ TV Tuner card and no way to use it.

The BeyondTV software looks great but they don't have a free trial and they only recommend Hauppauge cards. For $100 I am not sure if I want to take the chance. I downloaded and gave GB-PVR a try, it is free and supposed to be pretty good but I couldn't get it to work. I don't think it was the software, just that I didn't know how to get it working and it was not very easy to figure out.

If anyone has any suggestions I will be listening while I wait on Diamond and ATI to respond

[Chuck Engels]

Here is my first response

Dear Customer,

Your service request : SR #{ticketno:[8200198533]} has been reviewed and updated.

Response and Service Request History:

You can purchase the software from http://shop.ati.com.

With the driver installed, you can use any compatible 3rd party software such as GB-PVR, PowerCinema, BeyondTV, SageTV, etc.

In order to update this service request, please respond, leaving the service request reference intact.

Best regards,

AMD Global Customer Care

I still am not sure where on that site the software is located however. Not a lot of help so far.

[rfjg]

Is this it ? http://shop.ati.com/product.asp?sku=3231394

[Chuck Engels]

It doesn't say if the Catalyst Media Center is part of the installation disc, that is what I would like them to verify.
If it is on that disc then I guess $12 isn't too bad. But I still think the card should have come with the disc, what a rip off that is.

[Chuck Engels]

I did find a trial for BeyondTV so I am downloading that now along with a trial of SageTV.

[Chuck Engels]

Wow, BeyondTV is amazing. Installed quick and easy, setup was pretty simple and it worked first time - very cool !!

Captures in mpeg format but in good quality and the files open in Premiere Elements without any problems.
So far so good, the only thing I don't like is the price

[Chuck Engels]

Just to keep everyone informed of the progress

Dell has offered to pay for return shipping and refund the full purchase price. They are again out of stock on this unit so that means I would have to find something else to replace it with. I like the card and will not return it, I did ask them for a $20 refund to cover the cost of getting the installation disc from ATI. We will see what they have to say about that, I think it is reasonable.

I did order the installation CD from ATI, still don't know if it includes the Catalyst Media Center or not. If worse comes to worse I will buy BeyondTV as I really do like the software and my trial period only has another couple weeks left.

[Chuck Engels]

Latest update;
Dell refused to refund the $20, told them I would be happy purchasing future items from HP

Just got the ATI disc delivered by FedEx a short time ago, it costs $12 plus shipping.
Installed the Catalyst Media Center, simple, easy and was recording from my Satellite receiver in a few minutes. Also captures MPEG format, like BeyondTV, and the files work just fine in Premiere Elements with very good quality.

I am happy for now and only out about $20 more than expected. ATI and Diamond (AMD) customer support leaves lots to be desired. Dell was by far the best at communication even if they didn't refund any of my money. But no one can compete with the greatness of the Muvipix Community

[Chuck Engels]

I have used this a little bit lately but really missed my old software that came with my Winfast TV2000 Deluxe, so I started playing around.
Had to get a different Firewire card (PCI-Express) to free up a PCI port to install the old TV2000 card, but got it done.
Tried installing the software from the old disc, no luck there. Found everything, drivers and software, on the LeadTek website, downloaded and installed with only a minor issue at one point. New version of the software is great, now I have two tuner cards installed. I can actually open the ATI card in the LeadTek software, Winfast PVR2, but I can't get sound. I do get sound when I open the ATI Catalyst software. Also get sound and everything works fine with the TV2000 card. Now all I need is more time to play with the setup to see what I want to keep and what can go.

[JohnnyO]

Just for the record Chuck, I purchased MAGIX Movie Edit Pro 15 + in April. While playing around with it I found it had a really nice PVR built in. If you ever want t to try that software, keep this in mind.

[Chuck Engels]

That sounds very cool Johnny, I wish Adobe would put a PVR in Premiere Elements