Finetuning Hercules Smart TV card in PowerVCR II

[martin wingelaar]

Hello,

I'm using XP SP1. I bought a Hercules Smart TV (mono) with PowerVCRII.

My problem is that I cannot finetune channels. Therefore some channels do not appear, or only in black and white.

When I use another application (dscaler or K!TV), I can offset the channel frequency (+/- o,25 MHZ) and then there's no problem. So essentially there's nothing wrong with my hardware, neither the cable length or quality is an issue.

My question: Can I finetune in PowerVCR, cause I want to use the hardware MPEG-2 encoder on the Smart TV card. Maybe a some registry-editing is needed

Or, alternatively, do you know a free program I can download and use with the Smart TV card.

I've tried without succes:
-alternative WDM drivers
-updating DirectX and applying non-NTSC patch
-all patched/updates from Hercules.com (maker of Card)
-posting my problem with Cyberlink (maker of PowerVCR). No luck. They said some things about signal strength, cable lenth etc. But as I stated, dscaler and k!tv work in the same setup without problem
-using Hauppauge WinPCR
-using Chris TV
-using C!TV
-changing PCI slot

etc


Be advised that I'm from the Netherlands, where PAL B and Pal G are used. Most "problem" channels appear to be in the PAL G range. For info on channels: see http://www.multikabel.nl/freqs.php?gem_id=33&check=check

Please note that I'm not looking for a solution involving AVI capturing (or something like that) and then conversing AVI to MPEG-2.

Any ideas/suggestions. It would make my day...My question: Can I finetune in PowerVCR, cause I want to use the hardware MPEG-2 encoder on the Smart TV card. Maybe a some registry-editing is needed

[Arachnotron]

This (http://www.snapstream.com/Community/articles/customorder/) page gives some info about where in the registry the channel settings reside.

There is a catch though: these settings are valid for applications that use the "official" Directshow tuner interface. Many capping aps use their own tuning settings.

Your milage may vary :)

[edit] This link is interesting too:
http://www.prize.nl/software/freqcopy/

[martin wingelaar]

Arachnotron,

Thx for the suggestion. Very intersting stuff. I was surprised that MS did foresee trouble with their own Western European frequency table(which contains incorrect frequencies!!) and that they produced a workaround!!! Why not do it right rightaway and enable finetuning???

Anyway, the PowerVCR II software apparantly uses its own finetuning, not the standard directx descibed in the workaround. In short: it didn't work.

Thx for the suggestion, it gave me a pleasant evening in trying to beat this beast. Alas, no luck....

Martin

[Arachnotron]

ok, I have a brute-force option:

Go to http://www.sysinternals.com/

and download the regmon tool. This tool monitors all read and writes to the registry. Use it to find out where powerVCR writes when you change/edit/scan the frequency table.

Enable regmon as close as possible to the moment you start editing the table and stop monitoring afterwards. Windows writes continuously to the registry and you may simply drown in the amount of data regmon generates.

By the way, there is a related utility called filemon.

[martin wingelaar]

Ok, I did that. See results from regmon in attached file. I can't make anything with this?

Where are the channel frequencies stored? What values should I change? I don't understand..

Martin

PS verder in het Nederlands?

[Arachnotron]

I can't either. I cannot find any write actions to the registry related to channel settings. You did change a channel value while regmon was running?

From this scan it seems powerVCR stores the values in a file somewhere, not the registry.
PS verder in het Nederlands? If only the rest of the world could be bothered to learn Dutch.:p

Groetjes,

Arachnotron

[tedkunich]

Originally posted by Arachnotron

If only the rest of the world could be bothered to learn Dutch.:p


The only Dutch words I know are the BAD ones... ;)

[Arachnotron]

Ah, the minimalistic approach. Limiting yourself to the bare essentials.... :D

[tedkunich]

Originally posted by Arachnotron
Ah, the minimalistic approach. Limiting yourself to the bare essentials.... :D

Worked with an Engineer from the Netherlands who swore like a sailor, couldn't help but pick up a few ;)

[jggimi]

http://www.gamasutra.com/features/19990903/xvt5.jpg

:)

[Arachnotron]

ok jggimi, back to work it is. :)

I downloaded the trial version of powerVCR-II to try it myself. Unfortunatly, it crashes with an access violation on my system at startup.
I did notice a "channels.dat" file in the powerVCR program folder however. Judging from the date it is an included list with prefab frequencies, but I never had the chance to try what happens when you scan for channels anew.

@Martin: Is the date modified on your machine?

[martin wingelaar]

the clock of my PC is correct, Why??

about the frequencies: I tink that powervcr dumps them somewhere in the registry. Not sure where. I've looked at the dat file, but it is encrypted??

Martin

[Arachnotron]

the clock of my PC is correct, Why??
I was referring to the date of your channels.dat file :)

[smokiespliff]

i've got the same problem (using InnoDV SmartTV capture card - is this the same one as above?) i can't figure how to fine-tune powervcr for clear picture and sound.

can anyone help?