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

[krass]

Blade -

Are you running HD? I couldn't seem to get the component out to work without going to any of the HD signals? The problem I have is that I was sold a Vega system about five years ago and was told that it would support HD, unfortunately they were wrong, and I'm stuck with a standard TV, at least for a year or so.

[cmaffia]

OK I got both the Nvidia Quadro and the Asus v8200
I only tested TV-Out with the Asus v8200... as I anticipated, I see the black borders on the top and bottom of TV. I installed the lastest Nvidia Forceware drivers and the output went crazy.. could not get a picture.
I then used the last drivers released in 2003 for the v8200 and I got proper output but with those black borders. The Nvidia utility for this card only supports centering for TV-OUT, not Stretch (to get rid of the black borders).

I tried Powerstrip but could not find anything in there to resolve this and I also Tried TVTOOL which confused the hell out of me.. no luck.

Also I am still experiencing that LOUD AUDIO issue with the Xcard through SAGETV ONLY!!

I testing at the moment using the Xcard in SageClient and I am hoping that when I do recordings on the test box, I will not hear the distortion.

When I connect to either of my SageTV boxes via SageClient on this test box I notice that recordings one one box are not as loud as the other.

When I connect to the box that has a PVR-250 the clipping is not as bad as when I play recordings on the box that has the PVR-150.

Any suggestions on all of these issues is appreciated.
This new project is not going as smoothly as I hoped and I still have not received my VIP 26ribbon yet to test that.
Thanks
cmaffia

[cmaffia]

Does anyone have any suggestions about the sound issue? (as it seems Frey Tech is staying clear of this subject)
My faith in this company is starting to wane.


Question:

I am writing to you for two reasons

1) Native support for the Xcard
2) Can you tell me if there is a fix for Xcard output/distortion issue? I am using the analog audio straight from the card and it is clipping and really loud for all of my recordings. Any tips or clues? Help?

Answer:

Sorry, don't know anything about that stuff.

__________________
Jeffrey Kardatzke
CTO
SageTV, LLC

[Opus4]

I have no idea what is going on with the Xcard's audio either, but did you try running its XMedia Player and setting the volume once there? Maybe it needs to set the Xcard's output level. (This is just a guess and may not help at all; I have never had such an audio problem with my Xcard, so I don't know what would cause or fix it.)

- Andy

[cmaffia]

Yes that was the first thing I tried... however the player has no affect to how it works with sage. Windows Media Player outputs audio to the Xcard fine.. the Xcard player obviously works as well. Therefore it is SageTV that is causing the problem.

Originally Posted by Opus4

I have no idea what is going on with the Xcard's audio either, but did you try running its XMedia Player and setting the volume once there? Maybe it needs to set the Xcard's output level. (This is just a guess and may not help at all; I have never had such an audio problem with my Xcard, so I don't know what would cause or fix it.)

- Andy

[aoehlke]

well darn.
I love the xcard out-put... but dont like the SLOW SLOW UI plugin... now I'm happy there is a plugin at all, but it's not up to snuff.
I'm looking for a gf2 or gf3 card on ebay... and it seems most dont have svideo out... and worse still, the same picture is used over and over again in many auctions. these are reasonably cheap, but i dont want one unless it has svideo out and the 26 pin header required. can anyone suggest an actual board and model number that we can confirm does have both of these?

I'm currently using the 6600GT for output... kinda defeats the purpose of the xcard... but at least the UI is fast and the wife dont complain when the UI is fast.

[fieldeffect]

Originally Posted by aoehlke

well darn.
I love the xcard out-put... but dont like the SLOW SLOW UI plugin... now I'm happy there is a plugin at all, but it's not up to snuff.
I'm looking for a gf2 or gf3 card on ebay... and it seems most dont have svideo out... and worse still, the same picture is used over and over again in many auctions. these are reasonably cheap, but i dont want one unless it has svideo out and the 26 pin header required. can anyone suggest an actual board and model number that we can confirm does have both of these?

I'm currently using the 6600GT for output... kinda defeats the purpose of the xcard... but at least the UI is fast and the wife dont complain when the UI is fast.

As a 6600GT and XCard owner, how would you describe the output quality difference between the two? I was considering getting a 6600GT and comparing it to the XCard, but asking you is much cheaper

Nick.

[aoehlke]

i can't see any difference... not to say there isnt a difference.
i just cant see it. this is all in terms of picture quality.

however, the UI is really slow using the xcard plugin... this sucks.
it is very fast when using the 6600gt.

so why dont i stick with the 6600gt you ask? cause i like the fact that the pc is not bogged down doing video processing while my wife is watching the TV... when using the xcard... cpu is 0% or not more then 5% anyway. it gets up to 30% when the 6600gt is used. if you dont want to use your pc while using it as a PVR... 6600gt is a sure winner

[aoehlke]

hmmm... now I'd really like a PCI video card... with the VIP header and svideo out.

does it have to be an nvidia chipset? doesnt ati(or other companies) have any older cards with the VIP header?

[aoehlke]

also, if i put a pci video card into my pc... how can i tell sage to use the pci card and windows to use the 6600gt?

[cmaffia]

Well with the Asus v8200 and the VIP header cable to my Xcard... all look beautiful. However I will have to scrap this project from this point on because I have yet to find a fix to why SageTV overloads the Xcard audio. It makes the setup completely unusable. If anyone has a fix or a suggestion it would be much appreciated. I tried everything aside from summoning the gods to find a work around. It seems the problem is tied to SageTV and how it handles the Xcard audio output. Until then, I am shelving this project.

[AWS]

Wouldn't it be possible to set Sage up so that it goes to your sound card as opposed to the XCard or does the XCard hog it all and not allow sound out via the sound card?

[cmaffia]

Not possible. When using Xcard, all audio comes from Xcard.
As I said before, many have complained about this in old threads but no one has a fix. It is distored to the point of unusable. Only happends when using Xcard with SageTV

Originally Posted by AWS

Wouldn't it be possible to set Sage up so that it goes to your sound card as opposed to the XCard or does the XCard hog it all and not allow sound out via the sound card?

[dbfresh23]

I actually have my audio coming out of my SB Live and it sounds perfectly fine to me - Zero Distortion. Though I am not using the external pass through cable that came with the xcard, I actually have a cable running from the internal SPDIF out on the xcard to the SPDIF in on the SB Live and then out my normal pc speakers. I haven't actually tried the output from the xcards audio jack in a long time, I'll give that a try and see if it sounds the same.

[cmaffia]

I tried internal and external outputs of the Xcard.
Same distortion.
Is it possible that the problem would go away if I actually recorded on the PC that I testing the xcard with? I am testing in client mode and attaching to my Sage Server... but still.. the recordings shouldnt be distorted!???
All my other clients play back normal audio.

Originally Posted by dbfresh23

I actually have my audio coming out of my SB Live and it sounds perfectly fine to me - Zero Distortion. Though I am not using the external pass through cable that came with the xcard, I actually have a cable running from the internal SPDIF out on the xcard to the SPDIF in on the SB Live and then out my normal pc speakers. I haven't actually tried the output from the xcards audio jack in a long time, I'll give that a try and see if it sounds the same.

[something fishy]

@ cmaffia
Try installing the xcards DVD player and adjusting its output volume (down) in that. It should remember the setting in Sage. I think by default it's set very loud; this will certainly produce what sounds like clipping on the sp-dif out and from what I recall the analog outs also.

The xcard volume control applies using either its analog outs and sp-dif (of pcm). Unity gain (which allows the sp-dif output to be bit perfect) is around 60%

[cmaffia]

This is one of the first things I did. No dice
NOTE: I am not using SPDIF but analog. I do not have digital audio sound card or external equipment.

Originally Posted by something fishy

@ cmaffia
Try installing the xcards DVD player and adjusting its output volume (down) in that. It should remember the setting in Sage. I think by default it's set very loud; this will certainly produce what sounds like clipping on the sp-dif out and from what I recall the analog outs also.

The xcard volume control applies using either its analog outs and sp-dif (of pcm). Unity gain (which allows the sp-dif output to be bit perfect) is around 60%

[something fishy]

In that case all I can suggest is reducing the volume at which your encoder cards record, though obviously this won't help recordings that you have made already.

Eric

[cmaffia]

How do I do that with the pvr-150 and pvr-250?
Thanks

Originally Posted by something fishy

In that case all I can suggest is reducing the volume at which your encoder cards record, though obviously this won't help recordings that you have made already.

Eric

[gplasky]

Get yourself the handy, dandy Hauppauge Tweak Tool!

Tweak Tool

Download

Several advanced settings can be changed that are not accesible with the normal software.

Gerry