Philips 7134 Software

[Locutus]

Hi!

Can anybody recommend good software for TV capturing? I'm using a TV-capture card with Philips 7134 Chipset. I'd also be glad about any suggestion about how to descaramble TV with this chipset. I'm in germany (PAL).

Thanks in advance!

Locutus

[bb]

I just bought iuVCR (€25,-) giving pleasant results on WinXP (current Aldi PC). I could capture 768x576 without problems. I did not succeed in capturing full PAL resolution using VirtualDub and the VfWWDM wrapper.

Don't know exactly what you mean by "descrambling"; if you're talking about removing the phase shift, I can recommend Avisynth with Telecide() from the Decomb package.

bb

[fellaw]

@bb
Could you please eMail me the driver of your card? I've got the Terratec Cinergy 400(same 7134 chipset), but it's drivers are not very good. I can't get any higher res that 720x576 in iuVCR.

@Locutus
You can only decode with FlyDS, any other Software(FreeTV, MoreTV, BorgTV, ...) doesn't work with that Philips chipset. Und as usual, you are only allowed to decode if you have a legal subscription for the pay tv.

[Locutus]

I got that last Aldi PC (without remote control and DVD-RW). A Software called "PowerCinema" was shipped with that. It doesn't work too good. What software is shipped with the Aldi PC? What capture configuration do you use? Can you recommend me any web pages, as the doom9 capture-guide isn't online yet.

Locutus

[^^-+I4004+-^^]

Originally posted by bb
I just bought iuVCR (€25,-) giving pleasant results on WinXP (current Aldi PC). I could capture 768x576 without problems. I did not succeed in capturing full PAL resolution using VirtualDub and the VfWWDM wrapper.

Don't know exactly what you mean by "descrambling"; if you're talking about removing the phase shift, I can recommend Avisynth with Telecide() from the Decomb package.

bb

quick one:did iuVCR manage to solve segmentation
to work as it should (ie. not to drop anything when
one segment switches to another)?
when i tried it last time it couldn't do this in perfact way
as VDub does......
yeap,FAT32.........
(if you append 2 segments via VDUb you should notice that
few miliseconds are missing....."atv2000" (freeware) also
makes that mistake.....)

[bb]

@fellaw:
I'll see if I can find a driver setup somewhere on my discs. May take a few days...

@Locutus:
PowerCinema was shipped with the PC, and it can be controlled via remote. Maybe a newer version; I wouldn't say it's optimal, but usable at least. Timeshift works, you can capture directly or scheduled to MPEG-2. For the guide you may want to have a look at the German doom9 board.

@^^-+I4004+-^^:
The new Aldi PC comes with WinXP, so I use NTFS, and I capture to a single large file (works). Did not yet try to capture segmented, but well, I'm just starting to collect experience with the new TV card, the Philips chipset, the new programs I never used before...

Folks, I'll be back...

bb

[igor140]

For Philips 7134 drivers without any junk attached and a very good soft that specializes in Philips 7134 go to
http://auzol.narod.ru/download_e.html

For capturing I can also recommend VirtualVCR from www.digtv.ws, which features a very good audio resampling option for keeping synch

Concerning being able to capture only at a maximum of 720x576: that's the maximum the chipset is capable of. If software allows you to capture at a higher resolution then this is done through resizing, i.e. the higher resolution will only cost hard disk space without improving quality.

[fellaw]

For Philips 7134 drivers without any junk attached and a very good soft that specializes in Philips 7134 go to http://auzol.narod.ru/download_e.html

I tried those on my TT Cinergy 400 a while ago. As expected, they didn't work right. TT always differs from defaults. :(
The card is installed correctly, but somehow TT changed the behaviour of both their card and their drivers: With those FLY 2000 drivers, I don't get a picture nor a signal from the card, regardless which source is selected!
The TT drivers are pretty good, although they give me more drops at YUY2 than at Y41P. Don't know why, I got used to it. Y41P looks better anyway IMHO.

I tried VirtualVCR once. As it did worse than iuVCR, I kept iuVCR as my main capture proggie.
Btw, is there an update of that crappy vfw wrapper for Windows XP prof? VDub can't set any resolution higher than 352x288(half PAL). Capturing doesn't work also, not even at < 352x288.


Concerning being able to capture only at a maximum of 720x576: that's the maximum the chipset is capable of.


No, the Philips 7134 is capable of 768x576. I tested that with GraphEdit. I could set the driver itself to this res.

[Shandra]

Hi Folks,

Well, yeah that Aldi PC - got it too ;)
First thing to capture with VFW progs was to simple disable the overlay with a registry entry (Thanks to ? was a link I followed from either this or the VD Forum - the essential part was:

"Run the registry editor, and locate the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E96C-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} and expand it. This will have a series of numbered subkeys. Each time you click on a subkey, the right-hand pane will be updated to display its contents. Take a look at the "DriverDesc" value. One of them will have the value "LifeView FlyVideo WDM Video Capture". Once you've found the appropriate subkey, expand it and find the subkey "Parameters". There should be a DWORD value called "CapPreviewEnabled". Set that to 0. "
The CapPreviewEnabled wasn't there, so I just created it and Bingo ;) (No new driver, etc. needed)

And yes, 768x575 was no problem with it using VirtualDub(sync) or FreeVCR... and along with the AldiPC came not only PowerCinema, but also PowerDirector2.5... not that good after all as an authoring system, but usable for captures and conversions to mpeg2 (even if at first i had some problems to enable VBR)...
VirtualVCR is a nogo on the Aldi PC (haven't done a reinstall of XP up to now (wich is to come if I finally decided how I will setup the HD (partitions) and because I wanna have a clean install with only the Software I need) - as it still just accepts 356x288 - and the install of its filters seem to mess up the whole system (maybe some conflicts with the filters from cyberlink already installed)...

CU,
SHAnDRA

[bb]

Thank you very much, Shandra! Works fine, but on the latest Aldi PC the key is called "MEDION (7134) WDM Video Capture", not "LifeView FlyVideo WDM Video Capture". You won't have an Overlay in VirtualDub's Capture mode, but capturing works fine even at full PAL resolution.

Ah, a last hint: you need to reboot your PC after editing the registry.

bb

[Shandra]

Hi Folks,

bb: The information about the registry key was taken from the web side that was linked from the virtualdub forum... so, the different driver name ;)
Nice to hear that it worked for you too...

[Koepi]

Damn, I have my hands on such a nice capture card and I just can agree: the produced image quality is far superior to that from a bt878a (which I now have in my computer again). The damn card simply seems to be broken - it doesn't do stereo :(

Let's see if I get a working card :) The suggested "patch" is nice btw., I hope I I find the time to make a small tool like BtWinCapSwitcher which does exactly this for you - automatically.

Best regards
Koepi

[fellaw]

it doesn't do stereo
Do you use the tuner as source? If not, you could use the line-in of the sound card. You should have full stereo then.

I agree regarding the quality. But IMHO the quality of the BT878 based cards depends much on the driver, too. With my old card, the btwincap drivers gave me far better quality then the card's own.

[Shandra]

Hi Folks,

No Stereo - sigh - I also noticed that, but since I switched to LineIn/Aux for the audio no problem with that...

CU,
SHAnDRA

[Koepi]

I got a new card and still no stereo :( I use line in in my sound card (I need to use the tuner for reception ;) ) as there are no internal connectors for the sound on my card.

That's the only point which I have against this card - else the quality is amazing. Any other hints?

Best regards
Koepi

[Shandra]

Hi Folks,

Even with cards that have a audio-in, they are then internally to be linked to the audio-card (like a CD/DVD-Rom if you do not use digital extraction) - so you could use the line in on the rear side of the audio card, or the front aux. port (where you - given you have that AldiPC - can also connect to SVHS and composite in)

CU,
SHAnDRA

[Koepi]

Well, the issue remains for capturing. For watching TV, DScaler 4.1.6 is really flexible and able to switch the philips chip into stereo mode. Too bad they don't publish a generic driver like btwincap...

Is there maybe an older driver version out which is capable of doing stereo sound? I had no luck finding one.

Thanks for your help,

best regards
Koepi

[Shandra]

Hi Folks,

Mh - sorry, i don't get to the point - you are using line-in and no stereo - have you -in windows volumes control- enabled the line in as the recording device ?

CU,
SHAnDRA

[Koepi]

Ok, my bad for not being clear enough:

I use the lifeview3000 just as a usual TV card. With a loopback cable from the tv-card into my soundcard.

The drivers I tested (plenty of them) all just produce mono sound except for FM/radio.

With DScaler 4.1.6 it' possible to select a proper matching card and have stereo sound.
With fly2000TV it works like charme as well in stereo, capturing works as well, but the framerate achieved is odd and I don't like that shareware too hot. But those 2 programs don't rely on the driver's tuner.

I want to capture with virtualdub_sync, so I need a driver which enables stereo mode for this setup.

I hope now all the information needed is given.

Thanks for your hints in advance,

best regards
Koepi

[Shandra]

Hi

Yup - understood... so you are using that loopback cable... as I mentioned earlier if I capture through the Signal from the TVCard I also get mono only, so by using line in I actually ment using the line-in or aux of your soundcard and linking that to the source-signal (Scart or AudioOut of your VHS/Reciever) - what confuses me is that with Fly2000TV you get a Stereosignal (haven't tried that prog), so it cannot be that your source signal is mono (or is Fly2000TV just using a stereo-stream even if it captures just a mono signal? Like in VDub(Sync) if you choose Stereo for encoding, but get only one channel displayed in the volume-meter as that reflects the source)) ?

[Koepi]

No no, it's the drivers that are crappy and just pass through mono sound.

Those both other solutions I mentioned produce _real_ stereo - I test it with my ears and don't trust what the software shows. And believe me, my ears are good :)

Philips really should do something about their drivers then IMO, it's a shame that I can't use the full potential of the card because of that :-/

Best regards
Koepi

[Shandra]

Hi Folks,

So - from your observations - I finally can be assured that it is the drivers :/ - Was wondering about the concept that a TV Signal could be broodcast via the antenna line (not sure - was not FBS, but whats the name of that signal?) but it only is stereo if I capture it via scart and line-in/aux.... sigh - nother thing to wonder about (as you may have noticed my thread about calibration) and to take into considerations.....

But to sum it up - does it work for you going over a direct source-LineIn ? or is that also mono?

CU,
SHAnDRA