hdtv wonder audio but no video-- plenty of signal

[John Smith]

hi:
I just got the all in wonder hdtv and wow that is good video
no noise
any how a couple of my channels won;t come in but have 5 bars on the signal.
but here is the weird part , audio does come in.
is this posible, I thought it was digiatl all around and the audio went out
the same chaneel as video. ie all or nothing


this seems to be on channels that are 1080, but that could be cause they
never decoded right in the first place.

any Ideas or help is appreciated

 

[Ian]

hi:
I just got the all in wonder hdtv and wow that is good video
no noise
any how a couple of my channels won;t come in but have 5 bars on the
signal. but here is the weird part , audio does come in.
is this posible, I thought it was digiatl all around and the audio
went out the same chaneel as video. ie all or nothing


this seems to be on channels that are 1080, but that could be cause
they never decoded right in the first place.

any Ideas or help is appreciated

Won't come in to what - your PC display or routing to a HDTV.




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[John Smith]

actually both
the pc display and the tv out has no video
some channels I get audio but no video

 

[T Shadow]

actually both
the pc display and the tv out has no video
some channels I get audio but no video

You may be getting too strong of a signal. Are you using the antenna that
came with the HDTV Wonder? Try turning the antenna away from the transmitter
&/or rotating CW/CCW. Or put an attenuator in the line(RS has them).
Could be Multipath which can be much harder to deal with.

 

[T Shadow]

I have the exact same problem on all 1080i channels within my area. I
can see 720p and 480i/p channels fine but not 1080i. I have tried
reseating the card, changing the power supply to the PC, changing PCI
slots, have all the updated drivers for the video and hdtv card,
windows xp pro updated with all available updates,etc.

I even tried WatchHDTV from the following forum and it works on
everything but 1080i. On 1080i it flashes a split-second screen and
then just green background with sound. Signal strength of 1080i
stations varies from 30 to 95% and all work the same...audio, no
picture.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=511835

stations in columbus, OH - stations 4-1, 10-1 and 38-1 specifically.
asus a7v266e mainboard
1GB crucial PC2100 ram
athlon XP 1900+ never overclocked
chaintech Geforce FX5200+ 128MB ddr agp with version 78.X driver
HDTV wonder with 9.08 decoder
windows xp pro sp2 and all patches
seagate 200GB 8mbcache ata drive
Dell 2005FPW display

I have a case open with ATI, but whether that will help or not. Will
an attenuator really help - why? It sounds like a decoder issue to
me.

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OP said he had 5 bars. Other posts I've seen with this problem the xmitters
were very close. If a signal is too strong it can oversaturate the receiver.
Why it would be only 1080i I have no idea. What I suggested is cheap and
easy. Actually rotating the antenna should be more affective. If it's
multipath the purpose would be to get the primary signal and attenuate the
reflected signal. Obviously you wouldn't use an attenuator with any thing
but a very strong signal. I live 33miles from xmitters and do not have that
problem. Never meant to imply it couldn't be something else. BTW I live NW
of Dayton.

 

[PhxGrunge]

OP said he had 5 bars. Other posts I've seen with this problem the
xmitters
were very close. If a signal is too strong it can oversaturate the
receiver.
Why it would be only 1080i I have no idea. What I suggested is cheap and
easy. Actually rotating the antenna should be more affective. If it's
multipath the purpose would be to get the primary signal and attenuate the
reflected signal. Obviously you wouldn't use an attenuator with any thing
but a very strong signal. I live 33miles from xmitters and do not have
that
problem. Never meant to imply it couldn't be something else. BTW I live NW
of Dayton.

The HDTV Wonder does need a BussMaster PCI slot to work correctly.
That's why 1080i is not working, it needs the extra bandwidth and CPU time
you get with BussMastering.

 

[T Shadow]

The HDTV Wonder does need a BussMaster PCI slot to work correctly.
That's why 1080i is not working, it needs the extra bandwidth and CPU time
you get with BussMastering.

That's news to me. Could you point me to some documentation on that. None of
my motherboard manuals mention it. You do want to set it so it's on an
interrupt by itself.
I also don't think it's a bandwidth problem. While it’s true that 1080i has
a greater number of pixels (1920 x 1080 vs. 1280 x 720). First, 720p is a
progressive signal. Second, 720p is 60 fps (frames per second). 1080i, on
the other hand, is interlaced and 30 fps (60 fields per second).
1,920X1,080X30=62,208,000
1,280 X 720X60=55,296,000
720p has a high enough bandwidth it seems unlikely it could do one and not
the other.

 

[PhxGrunge]

That's news to me. Could you point me to some documentation on that. None
of
my motherboard manuals mention it. You do want to set it so it's on an
interrupt by itself.
I also don't think it's a bandwidth problem. While it’s true that 1080i
has
a greater number of pixels (1920 x 1080 vs. 1280 x 720). First, 720p is a
progressive signal. Second, 720p is 60 fps (frames per second). 1080i, on
the other hand, is interlaced and 30 fps (60 fields per second).
1,920X1,080X30=62,208,000
1,280 X 720X60=55,296,000
720p has a high enough bandwidth it seems unlikely it could do one and not
the other.

Tested on two computers. Had to try every PCI slot to find the correct one
since my motherboard documentation is a joke. Found the info on the web
after days of searching, but found a obscure site that had one of my
motherboard PCI layouts including which slots were the BussMaster slots.
Moved HDTV Wonder to that slot, and performance went way up, with none to
very few hiccups in recording and all resolutions working fine.

 

[T Shadow]

Tested on two computers. Had to try every PCI slot to find the correct one
since my motherboard documentation is a joke. Found the info on the web
after days of searching, but found a obscure site that had one of my
motherboard PCI layouts including which slots were the BussMaster slots.
Moved HDTV Wonder to that slot, and performance went way up, with none to
very few hiccups in recording and all resolutions working fine.

Changing PCI slots changes the interrupts(IRQ). I have an AIW, HDTV Wonder,
and an Audigy2 on a MATX M/B(3 PCI slots) with on board LAN. I was lucky and
got the HDTV Wonder on it's own IRQ just by leaving the slot beside the AGP
slot empty. Sometimes they share an IRQ. Anyway this worked well for several
months then I installed the Remote Wonder II that came with the AIW. It
wouldn't work. After some checking around I found that the USB port I had
plugged it into was on the same IRQ as the display adapter(IIRC) so I moved
it to another USB port that uses a different IRQ and now it's all working
well again.

 

[jalex]

 > >
 > > "PhxGrunge" <[email protected]> wrote in
message
 > >   > >> >
  > >> > OP said he had 5 bars. Other posts I've
seen with this problem the
  > >> > xmitters
  > >> > were very close. If a signal is too strong
it can oversaturate the
  > >> > receiver.
  > >> > Why it would be only 1080i I have no idea.
What I suggested is cheap
  > >> > and
  > >> > easy. Actually rotating the antenna should
be more affective. If it's
  > >> > multipath the purpose would be to get the
primary signal and
attenuate
 > > the
  > >> > reflected signal. Obviously you wouldn't
use an attenuator with any
 > > thing
  > >> > but a very strong signal. I live 33miles
from xmitters and do not
have
  > >> > that
  > >> > problem. Never meant to imply it couldn't
be something else. BTW I
live
 > > NW
  > >> > of Dayton.
  > >> >
  > >> >
  > >>
  > >> The HDTV Wonder does need a BussMaster PCI
slot to work correctly.
  > >> That's why 1080i is not working, it needs the
extra bandwidth and CPU
  > >> time
  > >> you get with BussMastering.
  > >>
  > >>
 > > That's news to me. Could you point me to some
documentation on that.
None
 > > of
 > > my motherboard manuals mention it. You do want to
set it so it's on an
 > > interrupt by itself.
 > > I also don't think it's a bandwidth problem. While
it’s true that 1080i
 > > has
 > > a greater number of pixels (1920 x 1080 vs. 1280 x
720). First, 720p is
a
 > > progressive signal. Second, 720p is 60 fps (frames
per second). 1080i,
on
 > > the other hand, is interlaced and 30 fps (60 fields
per second).
 > > 1,920X1,080X30=62,208,000
 > > 1,280 X 720X60=55,296,000
 > > 720p has a high enough bandwidth it seems unlikely
it could do one and
not
 > > the other.
 > >
the correct
one
Changing PCI slots changes the interrupts(IRQ). I have an AIW,
HDTV Wonder,
and an Audigy2 on a MATX M/B(3 PCI slots) with on board LAN. I
was lucky and
got the HDTV Wonder on it's own IRQ just by leaving the slot
beside the AGP
slot empty. Sometimes they share an IRQ. Anyway this worked
well for several
months then I installed the Remote Wonder II that came with
the AIW. It
wouldn't work. After some checking around I found that the USB
port I had
plugged it into was on the same IRQ as the display
adapter(IIRC) so I moved
it to another USB port that uses a different IRQ and now it's
all working
well again.

All 5 of the PCI slots on the ASUS A7V266E mainboard are supposed to
be Bus Mastering PCI slots (V2.2 compliant). Only PCI slot 4 is IRQ
independent. All of the other slots share an IRQ with USB, the AGP
slot, or IDE controllers.

I moved the HDTV Wonder card to pci slot 4, device manager in windows
confirms is has IRQ 10 all by itself, and I see no difference in
performance or behaviour in any of the slots on this computer. The
highest CPU usage is 50% on an athlon 1900+.

1080i channels are still audio only. Could it be an issue with AMD
chips or a VIA chipset?

I think it’s related to driver or encoder issues. Even the WatchHDTV
program I downloaded shows 1080i channels to have no picture, not just
with DTV.

 

[T Shadow]

All 5 of the PCI slots on the ASUS A7V266E mainboard are supposed to
be Bus Mastering PCI slots (V2.2 compliant). Only PCI slot 4 is IRQ
independent. All of the other slots share an IRQ with USB, the AGP
slot, or IDE controllers.

I moved the HDTV Wonder card to pci slot 4, device manager in windows
confirms is has IRQ 10 all by itself, and I see no difference in
performance or behaviour in any of the slots on this computer. The
highest CPU usage is 50% on an athlon 1900+.

1080i channels are still audio only. Could it be an issue with AMD
chips or a VIA chipset?

I think it’s related to driver or encoder issues. Even the WatchHDTV
program I downloaded shows 1080i channels to have no picture, not just
with DTV.

Thats the way I think PCI and Bus mastering works on modern boards. My P4
2.4 runs about 35% so 50% sounds about right. 32 bit AMDs lack some of the
instructions for encoding but AFAIK it only means they have to work a little
harder. I don't know of any specific problems with the VIA chipset but they
seem to have had more than thier share of problems in the past. I'll assume
you have the latest VIA drivers.
New HDTV drivers available today! Good luck.

 

[Froot_Loop]

All 5 of the PCI slots on the ASUS A7V266E mainboard are
supposed to be Bus Mastering PCI slots (V2.2 compliant). Only
PCI slot 4 is IRQ independent. All of the other slots share
an IRQ with USB, the AGP slot, or IDE controllers.

I moved the HDTV Wonder card to pci slot 4, device manager in
windows confirms is has IRQ 10 all by itself, and I see no
difference in performance or behaviour in any of the slots on
this computer. The highest CPU usage is 50% on an athlon
1900+.

1080i channels are still audio only. Could it be an issue
with AMD chips or a VIA chipset?

I think it's related to driver or encoder issues. Even the
WatchHDTV program I downloaded shows 1080i channels to have no
picture, not just with DTV.

There will be no more ATI hardware when I upgrade in June, if
they don't figure this out soon.

Hate to bring up a dead topic... but did anyone ever resolve the
problem of no video, just audio with 1080i sources? I am having the
exact same problem as jalex.

 

[Roger]

Hate to bring up a dead topic... but did anyone ever resolve the
problem of no video, just audio with 1080i sources? I am having the
exact same problem as jalex.

Not sure, but I think the bus-mastering is an issue only for old PCs,
maybe 4 years?

If all 1080i signals fail, read the specs for the graphics card, you
must have 64 MB of memory. The ATI packaging doc pushes ATI cards
(obsolete ones) and refers to the ATI website. The only thing I could
find on the website said 64 MB minimum.

I had the same symptoms and fixed the problem by moving from a 32 MB to
a 128 MB card. I went to a Saphire 9600SE.

Note HDTV is not perfect, I get stutter-step reception in small bursts
-- things work fine for 3 minutes and then I get a flurry for a few
seconds.

Also Easylook software sucks, I can't find a way to turn off the
parental control unlock icon that overlays the image in the upper right.

I am running an AMD 2200 on W/XP pro. My max CPU hits the low 40% range
when watching 1080i, with lots of readings in the 20s, 30s, and a low of
15% (I look at the total rather than the ATI task).

Roger

 

[PhxGrunge]

Not sure, but I think the bus-mastering is an issue only for old PCs,
maybe 4 years?

If all 1080i signals fail, read the specs for the graphics card, you must
have 64 MB of memory. The ATI packaging doc pushes ATI cards (obsolete
ones) and refers to the ATI website. The only thing I could find on the
website said 64 MB minimum.

I had the same symptoms and fixed the problem by moving from a 32 MB to a
128 MB card. I went to a Saphire 9600SE.

Note HDTV is not perfect, I get stutter-step reception in small bursts --
things work fine for 3 minutes and then I get a flurry for a few seconds.

Also Easylook software sucks, I can't find a way to turn off the parental
control unlock icon that overlays the image in the upper right.

The check boxes for Easylook are in the Remote Wonder's property page. Just
right click on Remote Wonder icon on the task bar.

 

[J. Clarke]

Hate to bring up a dead topic... but did anyone ever resolve the
problem of no video, just audio with 1080i sources? I am having the
exact same problem as jalex.

Are you sure the problem is at your end? I've noticed that sometimes on HD
broadcasts the voice track is missing. This will go for a while and all of
a sudden 15 or 20 minutes into the show the image will change from HD to
transcoded SD and the voice is back--don't know if the feed gets switched
at the station or the network but the problem was clearly at the broadcast
end.

 

[Froot_Loop]

Hate to bring up a dead topic... but did anyone ever resolve
the problem of no video, just audio with 1080i sources? I am
having the exact same problem as jalex.

I finally was able to resolve the problem...

I found that I could receive 1080i signals if I turned off video
hardware acceleration (UIUseHVA) in the registry. However, this
resulted in poor performance because of the load placed on the cpu.

Clearly, this was a problem with the decoder. Although I had another
decoder installed on the system, the tv application would only use the
one installed as part of of the ATI installation process. So I had to
find a way to get rid of the dvd decoder while keeping the dtv
decoder.

So, I simply deleted the clvsd.ax file for the dvd decoder, and now I
have no problems. Granted, this doesn’t really "uninstall" the
decoder, just cripple it so that my secondary decoder is used. But I
don’t care... it works! The windvd decoder that it uses now doesn’t
give me any of the problems that the cyberlink one did.

 

[Roger]

The check boxes for Easylook are in the Remote Wonder's property page. Just
right click on Remote Wonder icon on the task bar.

Thanks, I looked harder and found the checkbox under Start Programs, ATI
Multimedia Center, Configuration, Easylook tab, and unchecked Display
Permanent Indicators in the Options section.

Roger