Windows 2000 amd WDM
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Video Jump Discussion Board: Video Jump Discussions: Windows 2000 amd WDM
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By Dave Clark on Monday, March 25, 2002 - 06:55 am:
Now this is getting really squirrelly, guys.
First tries at running this stuff under Windows 2000. First off, I tried the USB devices that I've found to work OK with Windows 98. The USB Instant Video installed and worked fine, runs just like it does under Win98 -- seemingly identical installation and operation. Great news there.
Then I tried the Avermedia AverTV USB. Wouldn't install -- couldn't find a compatible driver. The box and installation instructions doesn't say anything about Windows 2000 -- just Windows 98. Checking back to the USB Instant Video, it explicitly claims compatibility with Win 98, ME, 2000 and XP -- while the AverTV USB only cites Windows 98.
So the basic point is that there's nothing foreign about Windows 2000 and Bob's code -- they seem to peacefully coexist.
Then the next step was to try some of the PCI cards. My first attempt was the ATI TV Wonder -- the little darling that gave me all the fits last weekend, in fact. I have since determined, by the way, that the new cards themselves appear to be completely compatible with the old software, and will work under Windows 98 with the earlier versions of the drivers that shipped with the TV Wonder cards last year.
Anyways, when I attempt to install the TV Wonder in Windows 2000 using that older CD, the install program doesn't offer driver installation like it does when run under Window 98 -- just offers "Browse" and "Exit" -- the install option isn't shown. Looks like that earlier software doesn't like windows 2000.
But the box in which the latest ATI TV Wonder VE ships explicitly lists Windows 2000, so for kicks, I tried installing this with the new CD -- the one which under Windows 98 eventually results in a "Unable to Connect" message from the capture programs. Install worked OK, and then the VJ Capture program works fine too. Go figure. Ditto for the Trick Timer program. So the combination of VJ capture plus WDM plus ATI drivers plus Windows 2000 is evidently all happy. But not under windows 98 -- that only works OK with the older drivers.
So the issue with WDM and this card and it's software, is evidently a problem only with Windows 98 (SE) -- Win2000 appears to like it just fine.
Now anybody out there try XP yet -- aside from our buddy Elgin?
Dave Clark
Posted by Bob Corson
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By Jim Thompson on Monday, May 27, 2002 - 08:00 pm:
Dave, I'm just getting started on trying to
build a VJ machine.
Could you tell me which cards you have working
with Win 2K?
I'm assuming that the ATI TV Wonder VE you mention
is in addition to a monitor card. If so, could
you detail what monitor card you are using.
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By Dave Clark on Thursday, June 27, 2002 - 11:29 pm:
Well, Merle, turns out the AverTV "TV PVR" (personal video recorder) is another exactly same situation as the ATI TV Wonder is. The 2002 version of this software contains WDM drivers, which when installed under windows 98 (se) yields an "Unable to Connect" message from the VJ Capture or Trick timer application, despite the ability of the device and drivers to function correctly with it's own supplied application(s).
Further, when installed under either Windows 2000 Pro or Windows XP Home, while this does connect properly, the video image size attributes appear to be limited to 320x240 resolution -- choose anything higher than that and you get 320x240 anyways. Exactly the same phenomenon as observed with the ATI TV wonder under all three windows versions using the supplied software CD. None of these are workable with the current versions of the video applications we have.
So just for laughs I tried a clean scrub and then installed this device using the device driver CD supplied with the Aver TV 98 which I got last year, under windows 98 se. Went in and then worked properly with the VJ VidCap and timer applications -- evidently the MCI drivers supplied with the TV 98 work just peachy with this card. Again, the same deal as with the ATI TV Wonder. I suspect these are just about identical devices -- both are based on the Conexant BT878 video chip, and evidently the software drivers supplied by both are actually derived from Conexant software stuff -- that's who's cited in the driver listings once installed.
So put both the AverTV "TV PVR" and the ATI cards on the "please don't" list for 2002, unless the user is able to obtain a copy of the earlier MCI driver CD somewhere for use with Windows 98 se. The 320x240 limitation under win2k or winxp makes this unsuitable for VJ capture until we can find a workaround on that limitation.
I've written to both ATI and Avermedia software support about this resolution limitation issue -- I'd tried installing my older TV 98 card with the new win2k/xp drivers available for download off their website and had run into this 320x240 limitation at that time -- but neither has deigned to reply yet despite several entreaties.
Merle, send me your street address and I'll burn you a copy of the TV 98 CD so you can install this and use it under win98se at least.
Posted by Bob Corson