ATI 8500DV TV Input Problem. Please Help.

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The Leet Beagle

Hello. I have an ATI 8500DV on an older ASUS MB running an original
Athlon at 1.1GHz. 768MB SDRAM. Win XP Pro.

I have standard analog cable (first 125 chans).

When I watch television on my normal 32" television the reception is
fine (as fine as analog television can be, I guess).

However, when I view television through my computer (coax connected to
my ATI card) it is slightly distorted. Basically, the problem is faint
white horizontal lines. Barely noticeable, but noticeable nonetheless.

Also, my audio is always out of sync by about one quarter of one
second.

My buddy has a very similar setup and has neither of these problems.

Is this a common problem or is there something I am doing wrong?

Thanks!
NJK
 
On 1 Jan 2004 05:55:13 -0800
Hello. I have an ATI 8500DV on an older ASUS MB running an original
Athlon at 1.1GHz. 768MB SDRAM. Win XP Pro.

I have standard analog cable (first 125 chans).

When I watch television on my normal 32" television the reception is
fine (as fine as analog television can be, I guess).

However, when I view television through my computer (coax connected to
my ATI card) it is slightly distorted. Basically, the problem is faint
white horizontal lines. Barely noticeable, but noticeable nonetheless.

Also, my audio is always out of sync by about one quarter of one
second.

My buddy has a very similar setup and has neither of these problems.

Is this a common problem or is there something I am doing wrong?
Click to expand...

First thing--are you running the latest drivers? The out of sync audio
was a driver problem IIRC--somewhere in the tech support docs on the ATI
site there's an article telling what to do about it but they've
rearranged things over there enough times since I dealt with it that I
have no idea how you'd find it now.

On the faint white lines, go down to Rat Shack and pick up one of their
75 ohm adjustable attenuators and put it in the line between the 8500
and the cable box and try turning up the attenuation and you _may_ see
that go away--the 8500DV's tuner has marginal automatic gain control at
best and it's horribly oversensitive and the cable box could just be
overdriving it. If that doesn't help I'm not sure where to go from
there--you might want to pose the question over on the HTPC
 
J Clark,

Two questions: What does IIRC stand for and can you give me a part #
for the rat shack attenuator?

Thanks, man!

NJK
 
On 1 Jan 2004 19:17:18 -0800
J Clark,

Two questions: What does IIRC stand for and can you give me a part #
for the rat shack attenuator?
Click to expand...

"IIRC" = "If I Recall (or Remember) Correctly".

The part number that "Jim in Canada" gave, "15-678" is indeed the item I
had in mind.
 
The said:
Hello. I have an ATI 8500DV on an older ASUS MB running an original
Athlon at 1.1GHz. 768MB SDRAM. Win XP Pro.

I have standard analog cable (first 125 chans).

When I watch television on my normal 32" television the reception is
fine (as fine as analog television can be, I guess).

However, when I view television through my computer (coax connected to
my ATI card) it is slightly distorted. Basically, the problem is faint
white horizontal lines. Barely noticeable, but noticeable nonetheless.

Also, my audio is always out of sync by about one quarter of one
second.

My buddy has a very similar setup and has neither of these problems.

Is this a common problem or is there something I am doing wrong?

Thanks!
NJK
Click to expand...

I think its the older MB, make sure you have the latest bios, and all
video audio drivers.
As well you might want to make sure no irq's are sharing with the video
card. Make sure the coax is tightly fastened every end, and not laying on
any electric cabling.
On the 8500dv you may be sharing the irq with the firewire, if you dont
need the firewire, then disable it on the card, there is a teeny
switchbox, botth switches in the down position for off.

Gordon
 
If it were an IRQ conflict, the card wouldn't work at all, I'd think.
But I guess I could be wrong. I'll try that tonight when I get home
from work. I'll also double check that it isn't resting against any
electrical cabling.

If that doesn't work, I will purchase the attenuator.

Thanks!
NJK
 
Well, I disabled the firewire settings and the results are odd:

Now, the audio is completely in sync. No problems, there.

However, it appears my video is now even worse. I took some screen
shots for examples. Please look at them at

http://weezer.ws/tv

and tell me if you know of a solution. I will try the attenuator later
today.

Thanks!
NJK
 
The said:
Well, I disabled the firewire settings and the results are odd:

Now, the audio is completely in sync. No problems, there.

However, it appears my video is now even worse. I took some screen
shots for examples. Please look at them at

http://weezer.ws/tv

and tell me if you know of a solution. I will try the attenuator later
today.

Thanks!
NJK
Click to expand...

Hi

I see what you mean. The pic is not the sharpest, kinda grainy.
I have one of the original tv tuners for the 8500dv, its digital, I dont
know if yours is, the digital tuner is more compact than the analogue
one, which I think they reverted back to for some reason or another.

Have you tried hooking your card/tuner directly from the wall ie: no
splitters etc?
does the picture quality get better?
Also what version CAT/WDM drivers and MMC are you using?
I found my pic was a bit better with a bit older drivers(forget whether
it was 3.7 or 3.8) than the latest 3.10 CATS
Also were those screen caps from the tuner or from another input source
svideo/composite

Gordon
 
Are you saying that the 8500DV (which I imagine stands for 'digital
video' at one time came with an analog converter? Not being sarcastic
here, just wondering if that is what you mean.

Thanks!
NJK
 
On 5 Jan 2004 18:48:53 -0800
Are you saying that the 8500DV (which I imagine stands for 'digital
video' at one time came with an analog converter? Not being sarcastic
here, just wondering if that is what you mean.
Click to expand...

The 8500 DV has always come with the DVI-I to VGA adapter if that's what
you mean. The tuner has always been based on digital electronics too,
and that particular tuner has some real problems--the reason they went
back to the analog tuners in later models (that don't have "DV" on the
end) is I suspect that they got too many complaints about the digital
tuner.
 
Interesting. So I guess I may be better off selling this card and
buying a 9500 sans "DV?"

Thanks!
NJK
 
On 8 Jan 2004 04:34:24 -0800
Interesting. So I guess I may be better off selling this card and
buying a 9500 sans "DV?"
Click to expand...

Not necessarily--the 9500 is a faster board and has dual-monitor outputs
but no DVI output and no way to put one on without doing some
reverse-engineering and fairly extensive mods to the board--if that's
not an issue then I'd say by all means go for it.
 
My goals:

To play DiVX files from my computer viewed on my TV. 8500DV does this
via RCA composite lines. And it does it well.

To watch/view television on my computer from a coax line drawn into
the back of the video card. Again, 8500DV does this, but does it
poorly.

Ideas/Suggestions?

Thanks!
NJK
 
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