Pace TV Card and Windows Xp

[w hole]

Hello All

Just installed Xp.

I have an old Pace TV Card which I use to 'pipe' stuff from the main system to the PC.

Has anyone been able to get this card to work under Xp?

Regards

W.Hole

 

[PoloMint]

Do you know what capture and tuner chips it uses?

Most PC TV cards are based around on of the BT variations for capture. If you look at the actual card there should be some indication of this. (eg BT878 printed on one chip)

For the tuner chip there are more than a few makes used, but it will probably be the only other chip with a name rather than just a number on it. However Phillips are popular.

With these details you should be able to find some generic drivers.

I had the same problem with an old ‘boeder’ branded TV card that officially wasn’t supported in XP. I found some XP drivers for the actual capture chip and with those installed power VCR picked up the card and it worked fine.

 

[w hole]

Hello P.M.

Thanks for the reply.

I have had a look at the card, and as you suggested it has a BT878 KHF Chip, and the Tuner is a Phillips FM1246.

Could you give me a few tips as to what I should do next.

Kind regards

W. Hole

 

[PoloMint]

Hi,

This might be a good place to start http://www.iulab.com/drv/download.shtml
Also there are some Universal WDM Video Capture Driver half way down this page http://www.fgeng.com/drivers.htm

The main problem I had was that once the driver was installed still no viewing app would find the card correctly, in the end I installed PowerVCR2 which didn’t recognize anything until I got the XP patch from the official site, after that it worked fine with generic drivers.

This FAQ http://www.iulab.com/drv/faq.shtml#Q3 might have some hints and tips also.

Also are you just wanting composite (or S Video) input or do you actually want to tune channels?

Hope this helps.

 

[w hole]

Hello P.M.

Last bit first.

I would like to be able to tune the channels as number one priority, as I have set connected to in house TV Network i.e. Video/Sat Tuners etc.

I then want to try to do some Video Capture from VCR so the input for this could be either RF or Composite, as I can take the Audio in directly in Stereo.

I'm afraid I'm not very up on 'Drivers' I understand what they do, but am not all that clear how to install them etc.

I have had a look for PowerVCR, but haven't found a site to download it from yet.

Was your chip Bt878 with a Phillip Tuner, or did you just happen to mention these items by chance.

Sorry to be a bit long winded and 'thick', but I will probably pick it up somewhere as I go along.

Kind regards

W.H.

 

[PoloMint]

Yes my old TV card used the BT878 capture chip and Phillips tuner, but I now have a Hauppauge one (which also uses a BT capture chip)

In XP the easiest way to install drivers is to right click on My Computer, select properties>Hardware>Device Manager.

If the card is not recognised or has the wrong driver installed it will have a yellow question mark, or red cross next to it. It should be listed under the ‘sound and video’ controllers, but may well be under ‘other devices’ until you get some working drivers installed, in which case it will be called simply ‘multimedia video input’ or something to that effect.

To install the driver right click on the device and select ‘update driver’ and select the option to install from a specific location, then select ‘don’t search, I will choose…’ then ‘have disk’. Finally select the folder containing the driver.

You will probably then have to restart your system several times as Windows will find both the audio and video part of the card, normally on separate occasions. If it asks for any more drivers simply point it to the folder with the downloaded drivers.

To get Power VCR 2 Kazza is probably the easiest place, but the XP patch that you can get from the official site it vital, also you should install them after the drivers. A program called ‘showshiter’ should also work; a free trial version is on the official site.

It would be easier if you just wanted to use composite in as then it wouldn’t matter if the driver was incompatible with the tuner, but as the Phillips one is popular hopefully you will be okey.

TV cards can be very fiddly, when I changed mine (my old one didn’t work with PAL-I in the UK) I got a Hauppauge one, not because of the features but because they seemed to have the best support for XP and hopefully any future windows releases.

 

[w hole]

Hello P.M.

Hope I'm not being a PITA, but yu don't happen to have the drivers you used, or a link to them do you.

I am getting a bit confused chasing the various sites and downloading 'corrupt' file etc.

It may be that I will have to get a fresh card, you say you are now using a new one, do you have the model details?

Kind regards

W.H.

 

[PoloMint]

I’m actually on holiday now so can’t check my machine for the drivers, but as I’ve formatted it since I changed cards I doubt I still have them, I don’t think I will have backed them up. I don’t actually remember the site I downloaded them from; I just kept on trying until I got some to work and in the end didn’t remember where they came from.

As for the new card, it’s a Hauppauge WinTV-radio, can be seen half way down this site http://www.hauppauge.com/html/products.htm#pci

It has NICAM stereo, FM radio, Teletext and remote control.

I am very pleased with it, my only complaint is that the remote control can’t control the teletext, but apart from that I would highly recommend it. Also it has S-Video input rather than composite which is both convenient and annoying at times.

If don’t want the radio and teletext, remote etc I have heard good reports of the WinTV Go, which is basically the same card as mine but without the extras.