Locating Catalyst 5.11 Software for AIW 9800 Pro at ATI's Website

[Mark]

Hi ya,

It has been a long time since I upgraded the Cat and MMC versions for my
AIW 9800 Pro card. I currently have 5.1 for the Cat's and MMC 9.03
installed. I think I attempted to install Cat 5.4 and MMC 9.06.1, but
had all sorts of problems eventually giving up and rolling back. FWIW, I
always do the full un-install, reboot, install and reboot anytime I
update the ATI software.

A few minutes ago I looked over at the ATI web site and noticed that the
Cat 5.11 package was available and thought I would download it. But,
upon further inspection the only version that shows in the list is the
Catalyst Control Center .NET version of the software. Location:

ATI Customer Care > Drivers and Software > Windows XP > RADEON >
Catalyst 5.11 Windows XP - Driver Download

Resulting in: https://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&folderID=27

I came in here and did some reading of past articles. I remember in the
past there was firm sentiment against the CCP version and noticed that
no one was voicing any concern. Hmm. So, I went back to ATI's web site
and did a little more looking around.

This time I didn't follow the normal path to the drivers, but went to
the /archive/ section (a path more convoluted then a three eye fish in a
room full of revolving warped mirrors). Location:

ATI Customer Care > Drivers and Software > Windows XP > RADEON >
Previous Drivers and Software > Catalyst 5.11 Windows XP - Driver
Download

Resulting in: https://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&folderID=27

There, to my surprise, is the Control Panel 5.11 version of the
Catalysts driver package.

Earlier, I read in a post in here that "CCC downloads were about 40% of
the total downloads". If ATI continues to hide the CP version, I guess
that percentage will increase through false means justifying dropping of
the CP version entirely.

However, when you compare both of the above URLs for these so-called
different locations they are identical. Don't bother to directly enter
them into your browser, ATI's web site appears to be to stupid to allow
something that simple to work.

What this... My ATI session has timed out? Grrrr.

Maybe it's because it's earlier in the morning, I'm grumpy and need
sleep, but these issues have to be close to the top of the list of the
dumbest things I've seen ATI do in awhile. Perhaps tomorrow will be
better?

 

[Mark]

You wrote in thusly:

However, when you compare both of the above URLs for these so-called
different locations they are identical. Don't bother to directly enter
them into your browser, ATI's web site appears to be to stupid to
allow something that simple to work.

Forget what I said above, it's late and I forgot about the frame.

The correct and direct URLs are:

https://support.ati.com/ics/support/KBAnswer.asp?questionID=640

https://support.ati.com/ics/support/KBAnswer.asp?questionID=20923

 

[The Outsider]

Maybe it's because it's earlier in the morning, I'm grumpy and need
sleep, but these issues have to be close to the top of the list of the
dumbest things I've seen ATI do in awhile. Perhaps tomorrow will be
better?

Go here www.guru3d.com to get the ATI drivers instead. You will find
both CP and CCC versions easily accessible.

 

[stratus46]

Hi ya,

It has been a long time since I upgraded the Cat and MMC versions for my
AIW 9800 Pro card. I currently have 5.1 for the Cat's and MMC 9.03
installed. I think I attempted to install Cat 5.4 and MMC 9.06.1, but
had all sorts of problems eventually giving up and rolling back. FWIW, I
always do the full un-install, reboot, install and reboot anytime I
update the ATI software.

A few minutes ago I looked over at the ATI web site and noticed that the
Cat 5.11 package was available and thought I would download it. But,
upon further inspection the only version that shows in the list is the
Catalyst Control Center .NET version of the software. Location:

ATI Customer Care > Drivers and Software > Windows XP > RADEON >
Catalyst 5.11 Windows XP - Driver Download

Resulting in: https://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&folderID=27

I came in here and did some reading of past articles. I remember in the
past there was firm sentiment against the CCP version and noticed that
no one was voicing any concern. Hmm. So, I went back to ATI's web site
and did a little more looking around.

This time I didn't follow the normal path to the drivers, but went to
the /archive/ section (a path more convoluted then a three eye fish in a
room full of revolving warped mirrors). Location:

ATI Customer Care > Drivers and Software > Windows XP > RADEON >
Previous Drivers and Software > Catalyst 5.11 Windows XP - Driver
Download

Resulting in: https://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&folderID=27

There, to my surprise, is the Control Panel 5.11 version of the
Catalysts driver package.

Earlier, I read in a post in here that "CCC downloads were about 40% of
the total downloads". If ATI continues to hide the CP version, I guess
that percentage will increase through false means justifying dropping of
the CP version entirely.

However, when you compare both of the above URLs for these so-called
different locations they are identical. Don't bother to directly enter
them into your browser, ATI's web site appears to be to stupid to allow
something that simple to work.

What this... My ATI session has timed out? Grrrr.

Maybe it's because it's earlier in the morning, I'm grumpy and need
sleep, but these issues have to be close to the top of the list of the
dumbest things I've seen ATI do in awhile. Perhaps tomorrow will be
better?

FWIW, when I tried CCC5.10 with MMC 9.08 last month, I had all sorts of
problems trying to record with HDTV Wonder. Problem was mainly crashing
of scheduler so no recording. CCC 5.9 had similar issues. For laughs, I
tried CCC5.5 because it had the same release date as MMC 9.08. Its not
perfect but dramatically better. Scheduler has only crashed once and
that was after a record from 7:59 to 8:59. The seond record scheduled
9:00 to 10:00 did not run. It showed the first frame and then froze.
Its possible I didn't check the 'close DTV after record' on the first
event.

GG

 

[Mark]

You wrote in thusly:

Go here www.guru3d.com to get the ATI drivers instead. You will find
both CP and CCC versions easily accessible.

Yeah, that's a lot better. Although, my point about the CP version being
phased out through obscurity at the ATI web site is troubling.

As far as upgrading, I think I'll just stick with Catalyst 5.01 and MMC
9.03. It works, and I would hate to have to go through all the work of
upgrading only to find out that I have to roll back again. Hell, I don't
even know which version of these two is considered minimum.

Speaking of which. Another complaint I have with ATI is not being able
to save my MMC settings before upgrading. I create several standard
encoding profiles, some of which replace the included incorrect default
profiles, and after upgrading the MMC all these encoding profiles have
to be recreated from scratch each time. ATI knows that the software
should be completely un-installed before upgrading and yet doesn't
include an Export/Import option. Maybe that's something new in 9.08?

And then I just found out that you have to install the Remote Wonder for
the damn MMC to work properly. What the hell is that about? I've always
done a minimal install as I don't need the Remote Wonder, their silly
DVD player and all the other crap they want you to install.

I'm getting to the point that the next GFX card I purchase won't be from
ATI.

Grrrr.

Another early morning, still grumpy, post.

 

[Mark]

You wrote in thusly:

FWIW, when I tried CCC5.10 with MMC 9.08 last month, I had all sorts
of problems trying to record with HDTV Wonder. Problem was mainly
crashing of scheduler so no recording. CCC 5.9 had similar issues. For
laughs, I tried CCC5.5 because it had the same release date as MMC
9.08. Its not perfect but dramatically better. Scheduler has only
crashed once and that was after a record from 7:59 to 8:59. The seond
record scheduled 9:00 to 10:00 did not run. It showed the first frame
and then froze. Its possible I didn't check the 'close DTV after
record' on the first event.

I don't use the PVR function of the MMC, as I let my satellite DVR
handle unattended recordings. But, you mentioned a minute break between
your recordings, is it necessary to leave a minute between the schedule
recordings?

It would seem to me that 7:59 to 9:00 and 9:00 to 10:00 would work. I'm
not suggesting that by removing the break would solve anything, just
wondering why there's a minute break between the recording.

I've stayed away from the CCC version as I don't want to install .NET
and the overhead that the CCC version brings to a system.

And like you, I couldn't decide on which versions want to work together
without causing problems. I helped a buddy of mine with his AIW and
ultimately we decided to install the same old versions I use. I think we
attempted Catalyst 5.7 and MMC 9.06 and we had nothing but problems. And
this was on a freshly built machine. This was the first ATI software
installed on that machine, so there wasn't or shouldn't have been any
conflicts of any kind.

I think if I was to do it all over again and could roll back the clock,
I would get a Hauppauge capture card. I've heard that the software is
much better, as well as their hardware. That way I wouldn't have to deal
with anything other than the ATI video card driver.

Today, I hardly ever use the MMC software. If I'm working with analog I
pipe the video in using very short jumpers via firewire and use other
capture software. Software that supports something greater than 704x480
(NTSC).

Good luck with the problem. Sounds like you found a balance.