Media Center Edition 2005 and ATI AIW: Works Fine.

Hi, ArcCoyote, thanks for all the great info.

I have a MCE2005 system, with one HDTV Wonder, but no AIW (I'm using ATI X300). The system is working fine with both DTV and Analog tuner since I installed Kram's driver a few months ago. Now, I'd like to upgrade WDM drivers for the analog tuner to the latest one from ATI (but keep the Kram's MCEE) for better picture quality. Has anyone tried this? Can I just manually upgrade the driver by going to device manager? I looked the ATI WDM bundle, one is NSP, the other SP, so which one shall I install for HDTV Wonder? Also, which device to select under Device Manager for upgrade? Could someone post the HDTVW's device list and associated driver version/date?
thanks a lot for any help
 
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The HDTV wonder doesn't use the AIW WDMs. It has its own WDM drivers and they are part of the HDTV wonder driver package.

The analog picture quality of the HDTV wonder isn't as good as an AIW because it uses a Conexant chip for capture, and that chip doesn't have the Rage Theatre's signal processing.
 
Any comments on my previous post ArcCoyote? You seem to be the expert in this field. Have I in fact missed something, like MCE won't run with just an AIW tuner and no hardware tuner, or is there something else that hasn't been mentioned before?
 
ArcCoyote said:
The AIW VE (7500) PCI has the RT200 and will use NSP. However, it is a DX7 PCI card, so it may not be MCE compatible.
SciDoctor said:
The AIW VE and the AIW 9000 do not use NSP but SP drivers and hence do not work in MCE . These are both PAL cards , I do not have NTSC cards so can not confirm.

This is even though they both use the Theatre 200 chipset .
I was able to run the AIW VE PCI (NTSC version) with both NSP and SP WDMs. MCE still does not work, however, I don't have ATI's DVD decoder installed. I will need to try that once I get my hands on an installation disk and the DVD decoder download. I ain't giving up on it being MCE incompatible just yet. Plus, an earlier roguegamer_2000 post suggests that MCE with AIW VE is possbile. Am I a little :nuts: to be thinking this?

roguegamer_2000 said:
These new drivers (5.3) work great with a Radeon 9700 and an AIW VE (7500) on MCE 2005. Thanks for suggesting it ArcCoyote.

I had a few problems installing the WDM NSP drivers but extracting the CAB file and installing the drivers manually worked great.

Another great feature in these drivers is that both MCE and the MMC (version 9.06) work but the "Media Center Receiver Service" must be stopped to use the MMC. Also, when using the MMC, there is no 2 second delay in the signal like in MCE.
 
rottenrhyma said:
Any comments on my previous post ArcCoyote? You seem to be the expert in this field. Have I in fact missed something, like MCE won't run with just an AIW tuner and no hardware tuner, or is there something else that hasn't been mentioned before?

Well, from what you describe, MCE uses your AIW, but freezes when changing channels. MCE should be fine with just an AIW. The problem is somewhere else in your system. I've had infrequent application errors and the occasional VPU recover in MCE, but complete system freezes when changing channels sounds like a motherboard-level problem. You could have a hardware (RAM Timing, fast writes, etc..) or driver problem. Are you overclocking? If so, go back to stock speeds and see if it clears up.

Make sure you're using the latest drivers for your chipset. If you are using Cat 5.4 or 5.5, it has some issues with MCE. You might want to go back to the Cat 5.3 display driver. Keep the 5.5 WDMs and CCC/Control Panel.

In MCE, if the ehrecvr or ehshell hangs it will cause the whole system to become unresponsive as those processes run with above-normal priority. I had a problem where MCE was hanging while playing certain movies: My divx decoder wasn't compatible.

If MCE can see the AIW tuner and you can get video at all your MCE Encoder is working OK. The decoder could be the problem as well: Are you using the latest ATI Decoder? Do you have any other MPEG2 decoder installed on your system? WinDVD, PowerDVD, Roxio or Nero suites, DVD authoring software, especially older versions, can cause problems with MCE. If so, eliminate them one-by-one until the problem goes away or you are down to just the ATI Decoder.
 
THis goes out to both Arc Coyote and Rottenrhyma



1. Arc thanks for all your Hard work figuring out this

2. Rotten thanks for the guide it was fantastic.



In a nutshell IT WORKS, THANK YOU
 
Almost Successfull AIW 9800- Cat 5.5 - Mmc 9.06 - Media Center 2005

Almost Successfull AIW 9800- Cat 5.5 - Mmc 9.06 - Media Center 2005

Hi Everyone,
Everything works great with AIW 9800 Pro.

This is what I have installed.

- Media Center 2005 - SP2
- Cat 5.5
- Mmc 9.06
- Ati Media Center Extension 1.6
- Ati DVD Decoder

I've had many different problems before with different drivers. I re-installed everyhting listed above on a fresh XP system (same order) and so far everything has been working great.

So, I do recommend all the latest drivers from ATI.

!!!! Make sure the Ati DVD Decoder is installed otherwise the TV tuner doesn't work. It took me a while to figure that one out.

One little problem.
The ATI Tv Tuner is unable to start. This occured after I configured Media Center 2005. Everything else works great. The error occured after configuring Media Center...not after installing the drivers. I couldn't figure why! It's not a major issue for me because I only use Media Center! But I would like, if possible, to fix the issue.

So any help on this matter would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Greg.
 
There is a service that needs to be stopped that otherwise takes full control of the TV tuner, making ATi's MMC unable to use it.

When you want to use MMC TV or FM, run a "net stop ehrecvr" to free up the AIW tuner. This is the best way to use the Composite and S-video inputs
 
ArcCoyote said:
Well, from what you describe, MCE uses your AIW, but freezes when changing channels. MCE should be fine with just an AIW. The problem is somewhere else in your system...

Thanks for the suggestions Arc - I'm looking into it as we speak and I'll get back here with my findings. In the mean time..
---
If there is anyone out there with an nForce4 motherboard and an All-In-Wonder video card using Media Center 2005, I would greatly appreciate to hear whether MCE has been working for you.
---
It would help me to rule out any fundamental incompatibility with nVidia's nForce IDE drivers, or any other motherboard resources that are required and possibly not working properly.
 
Findings after Arc's suggestions

Findings after Arc's suggestions

Well ArcCoyote,

I built a brand new system using an entirely different nForce4 motherboard (DFI LanParty UT Ultra-D instead of Asus A8N-SLi), with an identical, but different cpu, and different memory, on a different hard drive, in a different case, with a different psu (ocz powerstream instead of modstream), and the exact same x600 Pro AIW video card.

Once again, I installed fresh exactly as prescribed in my guide, by installing mce2k5, then installing the latest motherboard drivers (nForce Stand-alone 6.53 with the realtek audio drivers separate), then installing the mce rollup update 1, then installing the cat 5.3 dd, the 5.5 cc, the cat 5.5 wdm, then the latest ati decoder, the 9.08 uci, and finally the 9.08 enu.

To summarize, the only things in common between these two otherwise completely disparate systems are the
1) Video card and drivers (ATI x600 Pro AIW)
2) Motherboard chipset and drivers (nVidia nForce4)
3) OS with rollup update 1 (mce 2k5)
4) Process I am following to install the whole system


And once again, I have the exact same problem of freezing when changing channels while within MCE, but NOT while within ATI TV!!!


I have no idea where to turn. Your assertion that overclocking or lower level hardware problems with the motherboard or RAM have been essentially proven false, unless somehow these two completely working systems from completely separate manufacturers are both failing in the exact same way - highly unlikely. I wonder if anyone else with an x600 Pro and an nForce4 motherboard has ever been able to get this to work...

I have wasted over two weeks straight of 9-5 trying to get this tempermental piece of s#*% working, and I am almost ready to give up. Someone give me hope.
 
If I were you, I would try the kram 4.10 drivers, and the ATi encode CD. I'm on a 20kb connection, so I don't think I'd be the ideal person to send them to you as it's about 90MB, but if you can't find them elsewhere, let me know and we can work something out. This is the system I currently use and it's stable and the picture is nice. I play current games without any problem too, which might be a concern for you, since these drivers are from last year.

If you look through this thread, you should find what you're looking for.
 
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rotten - At this point I'd say it's either your X600 card or an incompatibility with the nForce4 chipset.

Try changing channels with MCE in a window so the mouse is always visible... when the system freezes, is it a complete freeze or can you still move the mouse pointer? There's a big difference there: one is probably software (the ehrecvr or ehshell service) and the other is drivers or hardware.

Also, knowing ATI, try with only one monitor enabled. ATI has always had problems with dualhead, and I don't think MCE was ever designed to be run that way.
 
guste: I considered using kram drivers, although I really wasn't sure the proper procedure for their use. I mean, that thread you linked to from xpmce was over 45 pages long! I imagine I could find what I need to know, but at what cost time-wise? So, you say that you have the same setup as me and yours is working well? Does that mean you have an ati x600 pro video card and an nforce4 motherboard? if so, which motherboard, and in what order did you install the drivers for it? I ask because now there's cat 5.5 cc and 5.5 wdm, and 9.08 mmc, not to mention the cat 5.3 display drivers which ArcCoyote recommends using, so which drivers are included in the kram pack, and what parts from the most recently available drivers should be installed overtop of it, and in what order? I read a few pages from that link you gave and I saw a lot of references to "upgrading this" or "replacing that" - if you have this same hardware config, I'd love to know what you've done and in what order you did it in order to get it working. I feel like I'm getting close to solving this.

to ArcCoyote: yet again more excellent suggestions, thank you. As per your suggestion I ran MCE in non-full-screen mode, and sure enough, the freeze also froze the mouse and keyboard, so as you asserted, it would appear more likely to be a hardware or driver issue rather than software. To further pursue that notion, I attempted to lower the process priority of ehrecvr from taskman but it was protected and would not let me alter it.

From my experience, freezing consistently while doing the same action is usually software or driver related, as opposed to the quantum fluctuations known to aflict RAM while being overclocked, causing completely random blue-screens. That being said, perhaps this problem is more along the lines of there being a fundamental problem with my particular video card that lays dormant until a particular command is issued, this command being issued by the driver, which is managed by the operating system, and called by MCE itself, and since MCE has such high priority, when it bocks waiting for a reply that never comes, the whole system blocks too, but that's just a for instance. I guess the only way we'll ever know this for sure is if I can manage to get those kram drivers working, or if tjpse don't work, then if I manage to get an identical replacement x600 video card in order to remove the video card itself as the source of the problem, but that last one will take some time, so for the immediate future, I'll await guste's response as to how to install the kram drivers and we'll see from there. I think i have a friend with the exact same x600 aiw as me, so I definately have the resources to pursue this thing to the bitter, bitter end if the kram installation doesn't go. thanks for the continued assistance guys. we'll get to the bottom of this.
 
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Is ATI DVD Decoder required?

Is ATI DVD Decoder required?

Hello All,

My machine works fine with the ATI TV disabled. But as usual I am a gluten for punishment - so why not try to make my life a bit cooler, and more miserable at the same time:D

I will try the steps outlined here - but I wanted to know if the ATI decoder is a must? I have normally used (and paid for) PowerDVD 6 (which has very good de-interlacing software built-in). Is the 4.0 decoder really required and does it also de-interlace?

Thanks!
 
Hello

I have tried so many times to get my 9000 aiw (UK PAL, but can also do NTSC) to work in mce 2005, but have been unsuccessfull, i have followed the instructions in this sticky thread to the letter with the exception of the dvd decoder as i use powerdvd. the only thing i have not done is update mce yet.

I have tried to find the hacked kram drivers, but couldnt. Tried 5.5 and 5.3 cats have installed all necessary mmc tools and remote wonder drivers. mmc will work with my card, but i would like to use mce as thats what i bought it for.

Can anything be done with my current setup to get mce to work with my 9000 aiw ???

Will i have to replace the 9000?
 
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I finally got MCE2005 working with my HTPC, and I love it!

Now, i'm wondering, can I use my ATI HD Wonder as a second tuner with MCE?

Also, is there a channel guide built into MCE2005, one that would allow me to schedule what I want to record at a specific time/date?

Thanks for all the suggestions!
 
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