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

[SHS]

Try using stock resolution like 800x600 not thoses odd ball rez keep in mind that TV encoder that come GF3 only did 640x480, 800x600 and 1024x768 which was not made for custom rez.
Sorry I don't know much about PAL system I'm NTSC user.
Yes if your try play NTSC on PAL system you will have thoses type of problem so yes you should force the XCard to output PAL.
If you sound card has CD S/PDIF input then use it or use Internal MPC2 audio line output on the Xcard it lable LINE OUT to Sound card AUX or CD input then enable in the sound mix bear in mind if have poor made sound chipset like thoses biuld on the motherboard you may have some problem.
Try droping the Core frequency: 200 MHz and Memory: 400 MHz if it still runing to hot try 175 and 350.
Where any video clip being display with in Xmedia?
Run Xmedia
Go to the Setting Config
Under Video Setup
Check only Composite/S-Video
Check PAL
Test a clip now dose it display in windows or is just dark greenish color with in windows mode?.
Dbl check by restarting Xmedia.
First try Hook up the Passthur cable to see that help.
Try older nVidia drivers before 41.09 being nVidia add macrovision protection start with 41.09 drv and up which cuase problem for older GF2 and GF3 that have S-Video/Composite output if that card has a BT868 or CX25870 TV encoder which do not support macrovision.

By thew way you are using the last Xcard drivers?.

[something fishy]

@SHS
Sorry I obviously wasn't being clear.
I was testing using the GF3's VGA out, I have not used the TV out yet. The board has a Conexant Bt869KRF, should I use pre 41.09 drivers?

After a reboot:
a) SageTV will display live TV flawlessly (MPEG files generated from a PAL PVR250 and a PAL PVR350) assuming that the xcard output is also hard switched to PAL (in the xcard config program)
b) the XCard DVD player plays either DVDs directly (my test machine does not have any region free/de-CSS software installed, or ripped to file with no compression using DVD shrink.

If I try to play a DVD (Region 1/NTSC ripped to HDD using DVD shrink with no compression; Xcard still hard switched to PAL output) in Sage:
a) sometimes the DVD menu appears sometimes not. If the menu appears the video freezes at the start of the main program.
b) (Sage is still responsive) If I then try and view live TV the sage program info box (at the top of the screen) and the timeline (at the bottom of the screen) appear but the background is black. I have not checked to see if video is playing on the XCard's S-Video out.
c) If I exit sage after doing this I get a blue screen in the XCards DVD player (and the timing counter doesn't advance).

The Xcard drivers were downloaded last night from Sigma's website. From memory they are dated Dec 2003.

I will use 800*600 to try the GF3's TV out.

Cheers
Eric

[SHS]

Being you said SageTV will display live TV etc, etc flawlessly there no problem
But as for c) That has to do with the XCard being lockup so there for you will not beable to play DVD at all so only thing you can do rip to reg MPEG file or just used XCard DVD player.
Have you test PAL DVD?.

[something fishy]

@SHS
No; I've not tried PAL DVDs. But its not really a deal breaker; virtually all my DVDs are 24fps source and I'd be happy using a software decoder forced to weave - reclock speeds these up nicely to 25fps to sync with my PAL TV. Plus, the box is primarily a PVR. playing video sourced TV is much more important.

However, I've just tried the GF3+XCard in my sage client (normally nVidia DVD decoders and Radeon 9700). The good news is that the picture is appreciably better (less soft) - especially noticeable when reverting back. The bad news is that I get around 1-2 inches of underscan (on a 25inch TV) that I can't adjust away. The nVidia drivers don't allow me to adjust overscan/underscan with the GF3, only move the image vertically and horizontally.

So for me its a non-starter unless I can find a graphics card that has a more configurable TV out and a VIP in (I note that the Via EPIA SP board has VIP in and would be ideally quiet and cool with the MPEG decoding taken off the CPU).

For anyone else doing this, I'd be interested in you opinion if you're using a HDTV; on my test machine I found scaling the XCard output to high resolutions to be quite objectional.

@SHS
just out of interest do you know if the Netstream 2000 would do better in respect of scaling the output above DVD resolution?

Cheers

Eric

[dbfresh23]

Something Fishy - You may want to download the tvtool trial and give tvtool a try to further adjust your overscan and other tv settings. http://tvtool.info

[something fishy]

@dbfresh23
Thanks
I'd forgotten all about TV tool

Cheers
Eric

[ErsatzTom]

So I soldered the two pins onto one of my xcards but I'm not sure how to go about getting the video over the vip. How should it be configured? Maybe I have it all setup correctly but I fried something when I was soldering the pins on... Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

t

[something fishy]

You need to download rmvpe32.dll and copy it into the windows system32 diectory. SHS posted a link to the file here: ftp://ftp.sigmadesigns.com/Xcard/Rmvpe32.dll
but I just got timed out from that address. I found it on the xcard forums (I think, hosted by a guy called seemoredigital). Let me know if you can't track it down and I will email it to you.

That done, reboot. Run the realmagic configuration utility to set your TV format (auto doesn't work for me) and while you're at it check that the xcard output is set to s-video (I don't think it will work is the xcard is outputting to vga).

Select sigma designs as the mpeg decoder in Sage and you should be good to go.

BTW I actually gave up. Using the nvidia decoders and overlay gives a picture that is close enough and xcard's audio output was distorted - almost as though the audio had been recorded at too high a level in the mpeg file. I know that you can reduce the volume that the PVR250s record at, but I had 300Gb of recorded files that were painful to listen to.

[fieldeffect]

I haven't tried this yet, but everyone is talking about no modern graphics cards having VIP connectors...

I have an XCard and a Matrox G550 (still a modern...ish card, certainly still for sale and *excellent* for TV output quality).

It has a 26 pin header on it which Matrox call a VIP connector. I assume this will work!

I probably won't have a chance to try it until the weekend, but this seems like at least one video card option which is still for sale.

Also, sorry if I missed this somewhere, but what does a video card do with the incoming VIP input? I'm just wondering how the OSD is going to be written on top of it... Does it just display the incoming video signal full screen and somehow overlay the OSD that is being drawn to the display surface?

Nick.

[something fishy]

@fieldeffect
correctly connected the XCard/VIP combo functions exactly as a software decoder outputting to the overlay - but with lower CPU load and better deinterlacing. I have to say though that the TV outs of the XCard still seem better to my eye than XCard via video card.

Cheers
Eric

[jan smit]

I have tried my Matrox G550 with the VIP header without success. I am not sure that the fault is with the Matrox however.
When I select Xcard as the decoder in Sage detailed setup there is no video showingon either CRT or TV. Both give a black, sometimes datk green screen. At the same time the TV-out of the Xcard gives the video or TV picture that is selected in Sage. I get OSD on both CRT and TV, but not on the Xcard TV-out.
When I try a video file in Windows media player it does not use the Xcard decoder, also not after I have selected this decoder as "preferred" using Windows Media DecoderCheck. (that program tells me that the Xcard decoder is incompatible with WMP10).
XMedia player works correctly.

Some extra information:
Using ErsatzToms plugin does work on my (PAL) system, but is extremely slow on channel changes and sometimes just stops the video. I hope Tom finds a solution for the PAL users!

Can somebody please help me, because I'm stuck and am running in circles with my faultfinding.

Regards, jan

[fieldeffect]

Jan - You have Tom's plugin working in PAL with the full 576 lines????

How? I just get instant Windows bluescreens until I change the OSD size down to 480 lines (which makes it work but means I have nothing displayed on the bottom part of the TV (lines 480 to 576) ).

Did you have to do anything to make it work or did it just work out of the box? If it just worked i'd love to see your sage.properties file to see how mine is different.

If you can help me with this I will owe you a quite significant quantity of beer

Nick.

[jan smit]

Nick,
My Sage menue on the TV is (I think) 480 lines. Video and TV are full screen however.
When I change channel or do anything with my remote, I get a short jump from 480 to full screen, after that the picture returns to normal.
My real problem is that it sometimes takes up to 20 seconds to change channel; it differs and sometimes the screen becomes black and I have to go back to the Sage menue.
At the moment I am experimenting with the Matrox card to get the thing working without the plugin, so that I can use the graphics card's s-video and (hopefully) can also see the desktop on the TV (in clone mode). Reason: I don't know how much time it will take for Tom to find a PAL-solution.
During the experiment it does not make sense to send my properties file, but within a couple of days that should be possible. Please mail me and I'll return that with the attachment (for some reason I could earlier not attach files in this message-program).

Do you know how I can get video to show in Sage when I just select xcard as decoder?

Regards, jan

[jan smit]

@SHS,
Could you as the Xcard-expert please shine some light on this problem.
By removing my NVIDIA DVD decoder Windows media player finally accepts Sigma as its decoder (like Sage does), but all I get on my CRT and TV is a dark green screen (also like Sage does). The Xcard's TV-out (s-video) keeps on showing the correct video, but I want it on my graphics card to be able to use the VIP header.

Regards, jan

[dbfresh23]

I have a few suggestions for you here. First make sure you have the cable on right, pin1 on the xcard lining up with pin1 on the video card vip port. Second, make sure that you aren't using the internal "Line out" audio port on the xcard, I actually lost video when I tried hooking this up. Maybe try a different cable? What kind of cable are you actually using - Is it a 26pin cable or IDE or FDD Cable?

[jan smit]

Thanks for your suggestions. The cable I am using is a 40-pin IDE and I have tried a second one (same type) with the same results. I use the external Line out for audio, disconnecting that also gives no video. At the moment I have gone back to using my FX5200 (without header) because I want to watch TV from time to time.
I assume that in that configuration, when I select in Sage the Sigma decoder, I should see video coming out of the FX5200 (shouldn't I???). I also assume that I "only" need the header cable to bring OSD+video to my TV. Correct or not?
When I play a mpeg file in WMP I expect it to use the Sigma decoder. It doesn't until I remove my NVIDIA DVD decoder, but then it still does not show video on my CRT or on the TV-out of the FX5200, just darkgreen screens. In all these cases I do get video from the TV-out of the Xcard.
I have after this played with all kind of settings in the Xcard configuration and filters-control utilities, renaming quartz to xxx etc. Nothing seems to change however.

Are my assumptions wrong and can I never get an output from the hardware decoder on my CRT and TV-out? I can hardly believe that.
Somewhere in all the discussions I have read that SHS was asking someone if Windows Media PLayer showed video or only a darkgreen or black screen; that gives me the impression that this sort of symptom has been seen before and that there should be a solution for these problems (?)

Thanks again and regards, jan

[dbfresh23]

Originally Posted by jan smit

I assume that in that configuration, when I select in Sage the Sigma decoder, I should see video coming out of the FX5200 (shouldn't I???). I also assume that I "only" need the header cable to bring OSD+video to my TV. Correct or not?

NO. The VIP port brings the video to the monitor out. Without the VIP installed correctly, you will not see any picture on your monitor or video out on your video card.

When I play a mpeg file in WMP I expect it to use the Sigma decoder. It doesn't until I remove my NVIDIA DVD decoder, but then it still does not show video on my CRT or on the TV-out of the FX5200, just darkgreen screens.

This isn't a problem, this should be like that, your FX5200 doesn't have VIP, so you aren't going to see a display on the monitor. The green box is probably an "empty" overlay, driver is trying to load but nothing is being sent to it because no VIP.

Are my assumptions wrong and can I never get an output from the hardware decoder on my CRT and TV-out? I can hardly believe that.

It will work once it's setup correctly, it sounds like a cable problem, either it's backwards on one end or if it's an IDE cable meant for 2 hdds I'd bet it will not work. Should really be trying this with a cable w/ only 2 ends and can't be a floppy.

[jan smit]

Thank you very much! That's a big help.
I'll try to find the right cable.
Should I do anything in the Sigma FiltersControl utility?

[dbfresh23]

I didn't need to modify anything in the sigma settings to get it working, just copied the dll, attached the cable and it started working. Towards the begining of this thread is a link i posted for where I ordered my VIP cables from.

[jan smit]

Thanks, I am trying to find out if they ship to Europe.

Thanks again, jan