Just when I thought I couldn't be any happier with my Xcard....

[dbfresh23]

I actually used both, but I'll try again tonight with a bunch of different DVDs and let everyone know how it turns out. I didn't have my remote/girder setup to do dvd commands in Sage, so I basically just put it in and got it running to test it. I'll do some more playing when I get home from work

Is it possible for me to take a screenshot of it actually displaying the dvd? I know media player screenshots don't capture the actual video...

[dbfresh23]

OK, I've not tried a few more DVDs through sage + xcard (ALL original DVDs not Copies):

The Whole Ten Yards - Worked
Any Given Sunday - Worked
Domestic Disturbance - Didn't work but the DVD is also pretty scratched up
Tomb Raider 2 - DID NOT WORK

So I will change my previous Yes to Sometimes - I'm guessing that Tomb Raider isn't the only one that it will not work with.

Anyone wants further proof that it did work with some, I can take a picture with a digital camera being that it doesn't look like I can get a screenshot while using the xcard.

FYI - Tomb Raider did work with the Sonic decoder.

[Jesse]

Ok,

I started reading this thread and got pretty pumped. But.....

According to SHS you cannot even buy a new xcard with the necessary header. Am I also correct in assuming theat there are NO new agp cards for sale today with the appropriate header?

So I will need to find used parts and verify that they have the headers? Is this correct? What about the dll that was mentioned? Will anyone be willing to share this with others?

Just trying to make sure I know what I'm up against before I go ahead with this.

Thanks,
Jesse

[dbfresh23]

SHS is correct, he seems to know what he's talking about when it comes to all things video and audio. If you want to do this and don't already have the xcard and video card, the best place to go is ebay, that's where I got both of mine. Neither are too hard to find. I'll be more then happy to give the dll to anyone who needs it. Just make sure that the xcard has all 26 pins before you buy it, some have zero pins and some have 24 pins - I cannot vouch for the 24 pin one working.

[SHS]

That rigth Jesse you cannot even buy a new xcard with the all necessary header PINs I don't know if soilder them back on will help been nobody has said any thing about and as dbfresh23 said I have also heard the something as well with no pin at all or just 2 pins which are main one needed for ribben cable to work.

But if look on ebay you can get Xcard with all pins like this one
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...sPageName=WDVW
Other then that you need ask them if the PINs are on the card.
Get the dll not a problem just email I be more then happy to give copy of it.

[something fishy]

I tend to rip all the DVDs that I watch with Sage to my media server, so the CSS and region code will have been stripped out (they tend to be TV shows, movies are for my upstairs projection system). But I also have DVD region/CSS free installed on my sage box (we get DVDs from many regions here in Singapore).

Sadly no luck so far with a graphics card - I found an ABIT GF3 which had the header on the board but no pins soldered in (how hard is it to solder them through the PCB?). Amazingly I wasn't able to find anything from nvidia pre-GF3. What's annoying is that in my time I've owned a GF256, a TNT2 and a GF2, and chucked them all away when they were deemed "obselete".

Cheers
Eric

[SHS]

Far I know of when come to graphics card and soldered back on the pin don't work there a bit to then that something fishy I know a few people that try it.
I never thow obselete stuff out heck I still have my 286 system hehe

[Jesse]

Hello,

Thanks to db and SHS for the info. If I can get the cards cheap enough then there will not be much to loose by trying this.

Please forgive my ignorance, but to be clear, with this configuration the xcard is doing all the decoding via its' "hardware decoder" and passing this decoded data in a digital format to the video card for conversion to an analog signal which is passed to my tv. Yes?

After much consideration I had decided to pass on the xcard because the slow osd would be a sure waf killer. I went as far as ordering a new 6600GT from zipzoomfly. When the card arrived it had a pile of crud in the heatsink and on the fan. I sent the card back and they told me that although it looked used, the card was infact brand new. I informed them that I wanted some of whatever they were smoking and another card in exchange. They refused the exchange but did refund my money (minus a restock fee!!!). So here I am still needing to upgrade my low end ati card. So thanks again to dbfresh23 for starting this thread. Looks like I will get great pq, a fast osd, and spend alot less money.

Jesse

[Freegoo]

This thread really got me going on the XCard again, so I started looking into getting a cheap video card to go this route. Just my luck though, I pull my XCard out and I'm missing a couple pins on it. :O

Oh well. Time to box the thing up and move on I think. Too slow using it via the plugin and not interested in spending more $$$ to get another.

Think my next move will be to get an OTA HD card before they get ruined with the broadcast flag and a good video card with decent HD outputs (that don't slow my menus down to a crawl). Then I just got to get my locals to put up some better HD antennas.

[ErsatzTom]

So, anyone out there have an XCard with all 26 pins that is absolutely sure that they are not going to use the VIP header? I'd love to trade one of my two 24 pin cards with someone... I'd be willing to send mine first so you can verify its functional and pay for shipping in both directions. Anyone? Probably not but it can't hurt to ask.

Tom

[mediahome]

Are you sure those 24 pin xcards are not usable? It is my understanding that Sigma only uses 10 of those pins anyway - 8 data lines, clock, and a ground.

Pin Signal

1 DATA00
2 GND
3 DATA01
5 DATA02
7 DATA03
9 DATA04
11 DATA05
13 DATA06
15 DATA07
17 CLOCK

You might try a 26 pin cable to connect to the VIP on the video card and see what happens.

Matt

[dbfresh23]

I am sure that at least one of the pins isn't needed. I am missing a pin on my video card that would line up with one of the missing pins on the 24 pin xcard. Probably wouldn't hurt *too* much to try it. If you want to try it let me know and i'll email you the dll.

[SHS]

Some hardware device used lee have one miss that pin 26 which not use so you don't worry about that.
How ever in case with the xcards miss Pin Signal 1 and 2 the real q that come to mind is the pin them self missing or just be cut off.

[ErsatzTom]

Mine look cut off.

Tom

[ErsatzTom]

Originally Posted by mediahome

Are you sure those 24 pin xcards are not usable? ...
You might try a 26 pin cable to connect to the VIP on the video card and see what happens.

When my video card gets here I'm going to try it but there are a few references on the net to people not having success with the 24 pin variety.

tom

[SHS]

Then you should be able to solder on new pin that should work

[ErsatzTom]

Well... you've never seen me try to solder before. Isn't there a danger of ruining the board if you don't do it quickly enough because of the heat? I mean metal conducts heat pretty well and those pins have got to be connected to some sort of IC...

tom

[mediahome]

SHS,

I just reviewed a conversation thread between you, SeeMoreDigital, and Nagui on the Sigma forum from last summer. You guys were detailing the Xcard layout and VMI header config. At that time Nagui stated:

"The Xcard connector J5 is a regular VMI connector. As I mentioned before the pins 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15 are for the data (they are on the same row marked with the arrow for pin 1. The pin 17 is for clock. (even the pins for synhing are not connected since they are not needed for the VMI connection (656 or 601)."

And... "it's a standard regular VMI header (for 601 and 656 data) where only the data lines and the clock are active."

So did I interpret this correctly that all you need connected are the data lines, the clock, and a ground?

Matt

[blade]

Would it be possible with this setup to use a VGA to RGB breakout cable instead of S-Video to the TV?

[something fishy]

@Blade
I don't see why not, however the nvidia cards can't output composite sync. There are simple circuits that will generate it but the very simple option that I have used; described here:
http://www.idiots.org.uk/vga_rgb_scart/
needs a Radeon card.

@dbfrsh, SHS et al
I finally found a GF3 ti500 with the VIP header and had some ribbon cables made up. I gave it go on my development box yesterday (and set the desktop resolution to 720*576@75Hz as the scaling to greater than SDTV is much worse than with a software decoder).
1) the picture off (PAL) TV is better than using a software decoder - higher resolution and sharper. Different black level but that is easy to adjust in the Xcard config utility.
2) there were no stutters etc – smoother than I’m able to get by anything other than Bob deinterlacing (and with more resolution)
3) I had to force the XCard to output PAL (rather than multi system) or else I got a band of pink hash across the bottom of the screen
4) playing any DVD through sage (all ripped to HDD with CSS and region coding removed) locked the video output. The DVD screen image froze. Sage was still operational and I could exit back to the main menu but then Live TV didn't work. Everything was still responsive but there was no TV picture on screen (menus were OK). A reboot was required to get it back. All the DVDs I have on the server ATM are NTSC/Region 1 I feel that this may be a format switching glitch. BTW the XCard DVD player works flawlessly "clean" but after I've tried and failed to play a DVD in Sage just displays a blue window where the DVD image should be.
5) TV audio is through the XCard analog outs - at present it’s distorted but I think that this is simply a gain issue also easily sorted in the XCard control panel.
6) I'd forgotten that MP3 output is only via a sound card - no problem to patch the xcard output across to my sound card (I can do it from the SP-DIF header) but I only have one free PCI slot. This is next to the video card and therefore obscured by the Zalman passive heatsink that I’ve just fitted to the GF3 (the fan was dying noisily). BTW I hadn’t appreciated how hot the Xcard runs and the GF3 runs ridiculously got. After a few minutes the ramsinks are too hot to touch (this is in an open case). I may try underclocking it. Menu navigation at stock speed is instantaneous.

I think that I will give this a go in my Sage client and use a software decoder for DVDs (that machine has two PCI slots free) to see how the TV out quality stacks up. If its great then I’ll look into freeing up a PCI slot.

Does anyone know of any silent one slot cooling solutions.

As I said before and min other time about DVD playback in Sage with the Xcard this had alway been a pain a@@ and it best not use it sometime works and sometime not work.
Like I said before th problem minelee with the Xcard is old school Media Control Interface = MCI which nothing like DirectShow DVD Navigator which some we don't have with the Xcard and I have felling the problem has to do with BS Movie Industry namely the MPAA.