HDTV Wonder analog tuning in MCE2005

ArcCoyote

ArcCoyote

New member
This is to Mr. Orr or anyone from ATI, and also to anyone who might have a better answer than I've found: Is there any way, official or otherwise, to get the analog side of the HDTV wonder working in MCE2005?

I just picked one up today, and while the DTV side works great in MCE, the analog tuner appears to be nonfunctional. In fact, it broke analog tuning with my AIW in MCE. As I wrote this I found a way to get the HDTVW analog working: Force the ATI DTV analog capture to use the old Kram 4.10v WDMs. This is an ugly hack as far as I'm concerned as it overwrites the Cat 5.4 WDMs and might break the working AIW.

Mr Orr, if you see this, answer me: Should I have to do that or should the HDTVW analog already be working in MCE? (Cat 5.4, latest HDTV wonder drivers, MMC 9.06.1) If it's not supposed to work, why can I see it in MCE, and why does MCE default to it?

With the latest HDTV Wonder WDMs and MMC 9.06.1 the HDTVW analog tuner is recognized by MCE as the "preferred" analog tuner but gives nothing but a black screen. Eventually I get an error there is no video. This happens even when digital TV hasn't been enabled in MCE, so I know it's not a resource conflict.

I do understand the HDTVW has one tuner and therefore can't tune analog and digital at the same time. I've heard rumors to the contrary, but I would expect to get no analog video on the HDTVW while the DTV side is in use. Still, why is the tuner reported as usable to MCE if it is nonfunctional ALL of the time?

If I tell MCE not to use the "ATI DTV analog tuner" it will go back to using my AIW 9600 Pro and that works fine. I've also found registry settings that make MCE prefer the AIW tuner. This works fine until MCE needs the other tuner and gets no video from it.

1) This behavior breaks MCE configurations that have an existing analog tuner, as MCE seems to always prefer the "ATI DTV analog tuner"

2) It would be nice to be able to use two analog tuners with the understanding that the DTV can't be used at the same time.

3) Some people might want to have just the HDTV Wonder. As it stands, I am looking to swap out my AIW 9600 for something with DVI, and I don't want to get another AIW or TV wonder elite if I don't have to. Even if I did, i'd still like to have the analog tuner on the HDTV Wonder in case there's a schedule overlap.

Hey, us AIW owners begged and nagged and got MCE support! ATI has succeeded quite well in making the AIW MCE compatible. Can we get the same for the HDTVW analog?
 
Mmmkay... I found a solution that works well for me. Installing the MCEE from the Kram set overrides the atimcenc.dll filter included in MMC 9.06. It still uses the Cat 5.4 NSP WDMs, so quality is GOOD and CPU stays low.

Step by step:

Go to http://www.salloway.org.uk/mediacenter/main.htm and get the "MCE Configuration Reset" and "Tuner Priority" tools.

Make sure Media Center is closed and run the MCE Configuration Reset tool. Check the box to make a backup of your recording schedule (if you have one) and select the option to delete ONLY the Tuner Data. (Manual way: Close media center and do a "net stop ehrecvr", and then open regedit. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Service\Video\Tuners. Export this key, then delete it. )

Get the Kram 4.10v hacked drivers, and install ONLY the MCEE. Do not use the old Catalyst drivers or hacked WDMs. Don't reboot.

Do another "net stop ehrecvr", open Media Center, and set up your TV signal and Digital signal again. Under analog TV be sure to choose both "ATI TV Tuner (the AIW)" and "ATI DTV Analog Tuner (the HDTVW)"

After setting up TV, get the Tuner Priority tool from . Run it and set "ATI TV Tuner" to be the preferred tuner for Live TV and Recording.

Manual tuner config:
If the tool will not run or gives an error, open regedit and go back to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Service\Video\Tuners"

You'll see two GUID keys. One key will contain a single GUID subkey: That's the DTV tuner. Leave that alone. The other key contains two subkeys: these are the Analog tuners. Check each subkey to see which one is the AIW. Go to the UserSettings subkey, set RecordOrder and WatchOrder to 0, and set RecordPreferred and WatchPreferred to 0xffffffff.

Go to the HDTVW's UserSettings, set Record/WatchOrder to 1, and Record/WatchPreferred to 0x00000000

Do another "net stop ehrecvr", open Media Center, and verify the AIW will ALWAYS be used to watch/record unless it is already in use.

To test the analog of the HDTVW, start a recording and change the channel. The Analog on the HDTVW will start up and tune to the channel. You can tell the HDTVW is in use when the audio is silent for a couple seconds after the video starts: The AIW doesn't do that.

Limitations
If you use the DTV while the HDTVW analog is in use, the analog will go to a blue screen, UNLESS you are using the video-in. The HDTVW's video-in captue can be used simultaneously with the DTV, so if you have a STB, put it on this card!

Well, this raises some interesting questions: The old atimcenc.dll from MCEE can use this tuner. The newer atimcenc from MMC can't, but thinks it can. Was the analog intentionally disabled or is it just a bug? I'm betting on bug, because if ATI wanted to disable it, they would exclude it as a tuner so media center wouldn't even see it.
 
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I've recently got MCE 2005 working with my ATI 9600 AIW, and I've been very happy with the set up, however, I also have an HD Wonder that I would like to use.

I was wondering if anyone knows if the newer ATI HD wonder drivers work with MCE, and does MCE support HD contect?
 
Still need MCEE

Still need MCEE

thirdlife said:
I've recently got MCE 2005 working with my ATI 9600 AIW, and I've been very happy with the set up, however, I also have an HD Wonder that I would like to use.

I was wondering if anyone knows if the newer ATI HD wonder drivers work with MCE, and does MCE support HD contect?
Click to expand...

The HDTV wonder is supported in MCE as a DTV tuner with the latest drivers. The newest drivers seem to offer a bit of improvement (HDTV stutters less, reception is a bit better)

To use the analog tuner in MCE, you will still need to install the MCEE from Kram's package.
 
Ok, so I got my AIW 9600 and the HDWonder's DTV working...now I want to use the MCEE from Kram's driver package to get the HDWonder's analog to work.

So if I get it working, and nothing is recording, will I be able to switch from the HD/DTV channels to the analog channels seemlessly?
 
Yep. Actually, if you follow the instructions above, the AIW will always be used for analog unless it is busy, in which case the analog on the HDTVW will be used. This is important because you just get a much better picture and more stable operation from the AIW.
 
I am having the opposite problem here. In MCE 2005, my only options for signal are ATI DTV Wonder Analog TV Tuner and the AVStream Analog Tuner (which I don't care about at this point). What I'm concerned about is that MCE doesn't seem to want to tune any HD signals through the HDTVW. Shouldn't there be an option in MCE for ATI DTV Wonder Digital TV Tuner?

What am I missing?

also, if anyone can point me in the direction of a better indoor antennae than the one shipped with the HDTVW or a way to increase reception, that would be great!

TIA.
 
I know this is a really old thread, i'm trying a couple of these older threads before I post elsewhere. But I'm looking to set up a system much like the OP had set up. Lots of time has gone by though since this thread was started. I'm wondering what the best combination is to set up an
ALL-IN-Wonder 9800 Pro/or\ All-In-Wonder X800XT with an
HDTV Wonder.

I'd like it to be functional under both MMC 9.08 /or\ 9.06.1 as well as MCE 2005.
The reason for selection MMC 9.08 or newer is due to the issues with the Digital T200 Unified Drivers. I don't like MMC 9.13-9.16. I've tried the registry hack to turn off TV-on-Demand all the time and it works until I have to switch Inputs, then it turns it self back on each and everytime. Plus, I like being able to pause recordings and edit out the commercials etc. on the fly. I wasn't able to do that with MMC 9.13-9.16 (come to think of it that may be the result of the format I had it saving in not 100% sure...b/c sometimes that happens in MMC9.08 on some format recording types but anyway)...

I'm looking for the improved steps that people have gained over several years since this information was posted. I'd like to use both the analog tuner of the A-I-W, and also the analog tuner from the HDTV wonder.

I was thinking about using Catalyst 6.1 or something in the high Catalyst 5's, but then I'm not sure if I should install the Catalyst 6.1 WDM drivers at that time.... or do I skip that and install the KRAM drivers I got from http://www.hdtvtunerinfo.com/krammcehdtv2.html

I read there instructions as well but they leave out all the information that i'm uncertain about.... like which version of Catalyst should I use? Do I install everything normally onto the MCE 2005 SP2/? setup that I would on a regular XP pro system... 1) Display drivers, 2) CCC or Control Panel 3) WDM reboot then 4) DAO 5) Encoder (update from website) 6) MMC 7)Remote Wonder. Then go back and do the KRAM Driver part or ??? when do I do that?
Do I ever install the HDTV WDM drivers (there version 6.1 or before, but it's not the same as the WDM file that comes with Catalyst 6.1 so again i'm confused which of them do i install and when?

Is there a better version of Catalyst to use than Catalyst 6.1 for MCE 2005?
I mean if I wasn't going to use MMC any more (other than b/c I think it still has to be installed for MCE 2005 to work)and/or I didn't need to get the analog part of the HDTV wonder working; so no need for the KRAM drivers either (so it would be just MCE 2005 and an All-In-Wonder 9800 Pro) would it be better to use the newest Catalyst Display 9.1 out today and latest WDM drivers for MCE 2005? Or is it really no better than the older drivers?
 
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