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PCTV Tuner Troubleshooting FAQ
System
Guidelines
Installation suggestions
VGA Driver Issues
PCI Configuration Problems
Lock-ups when using VGA cards based on the S3 Vision968 or 868
How to get TV to display full screen
Screen errors with STB/Diamond Viper PCI
Windows 98 and S3 card errors
Computer Hangs or Cannot Preview Video in NetMeeting
Motherboard Issues
MM100PCTV Uninstall Procedure
What operating systems can my PCTV board be installed under?
Minimum System Requirements to Install PCTV
PCI
Causes for System Lockups
I get a Black Screen in PCTV,
but I can hear audio OK
I get Mouse lockups with my Nvidia based VGA card.
Fonts get corrupted, or scrambled in PCTV
or other programs when PCTV is running
"Out Of Memory" error when trying to run PCTV
Uninstalling PCTV
Software
"Capture Device Not Detected" or "Unable
to draw this Data Format" or "MMSystem275"error when trying to
capture .AVI files
Black streaks or lines through saved still images OR scrambled
looking saves
The Audio is not recorded when I capture an AVI file using
the PCTV capture program.
"bt848, no suitable Direct Draw provider. Overlay channel
is disabled" or "VGA driver mode incompatibility error
"Drivers Already Loaded, PCTV
shutting down" Error when running PCTV
Cannot get FULL screen TV mode, and have black border around
TV picture in this mode
NetMeeting configuration
Systems
Guidelines
The MM100/200 PCTV card works using
a technique which involves sending the data (corresponding to the moving TV
image) directly into the VGA card's memory over the PCI bus.
This represents a large amount of data, and this volume of data can often result
in problems with the TV card's operation.
The following guidelines can be used to avoid problems with operation of the
TV card:-
* Only have one video source (Window) open at any one time.
* The smaller the picture, the less the demand on PCI bandwidth, so if problems
are being experienced with mixed TV and PC operation, try reducing
the size of the TV window
* TV capture is very CPU and disc-intensive. So while capturing, you will not
be able to carry out any other activities on the PC.
* The TV audio is normally wired to connect as CD audio on a sound card, so
you can have TV or CD Audio, but can't watch TV while listening to CD audio.
System lockups can be caused by a
few things:
If your system locks up the next
time you reboot your PC after the PC TV driver has been installed, you have
an interrupt conflict between the TV Card and either the VGA card or the disk
controller. Look in this section: Clearing interrupts by swapping PCI slots.
Some system lockups are due to a VGA driver update being required.
Installation
suggestions
Disable crash protectors before installing
the PC TV driver. If your PC locks up during the Windows95 boot, you have an
interrupt conflict. Try to put the PC TV in another PCI slot. Also, you might
need to temporarily remove an ISA board such as your Sound Card
VGA Driver Issues
The most common issues that arise
when using PC TV tend to involve VGA card compatibility. Since the DirectDraw
software technology is relatively new, not all VGA cards will support it equally
well.
VGA chips which normally include
Direct Draw drivers and normally DO NOT require updates includes: S3 Trio64V+
and ViRGE, ATI Rage, ET6000 and newer Cirrus Logic based VGA boards.
Problems with older VGA cards based
on the S3 Trio64V+ chip. Some VGA boards based on the S3 Trio64 V+ chip use
an older VGA BIOS, which can occasionally cause a PC to "lock-up",
especially when working with large video windows. Should you encounter such
a condition, you will need to use an update, which is found in the download
section.
There are known good configurations
which the TV card has been tested with, and known bad ones that have problems
with the TV card (or have limitations on settings). A list of the tested configurations
follows, and the 'problem' ones are listed below:-
Cirrus Logic 5464 (Laguna) VGA
Problems due to Cirrus Logic's drivers, Early versions had severely corrupted
TV picture, but latest CL drivers are OK except in full-screen mode.
SiS5596
Non-compliant PCI implementation in SiS silicon, could be made to work by manipulating
bits in PCI bridge each time application was run; (unsuitable for end-users)
SiS5598
Any VGA settings (resolution, colour depth, refresh rate) other than those defaults
may cause display quality problems in full screen TV mode. Download
latest Bios and Video drivers from www.sis.com.tw
Anything which doesn't support DirectX5 Generally VGA cards
which are more than 2 years old may not be able to support DirectX5
AGP cards
AGP aperture size must be set to at least 64M
Daytona Trident
PC lock
PCI Configuration
Problems
The PC TV Tuner requires two system
resources: one Interrupt and a memory segment. Most installation problems are
related to Interrupt conflicts. While Windows95 Plug-and-Play is very convenient
to use, it is not able to detect Interrupt conflicts in all PC's.
Checking the Plug-and-Play Configuration
After installing the PC TV Tuner,
it is handy to check the Plug-and-Play configuration. Click on the Start button,
then Settings then Control Panel. Then double click on the System icon and then
the Device Manager tab. Double click on "Sound, video and game controllers"
to see the "MM100PCTV". If Plug-and-Play has found a conflict
between it and other device in your system, you'll see a little yellow circle
with an exclamation point or an "X" inside. But remember, Plug-and-Play
will not always be able to find all interrupt conflicts.
Now double click on MM100PCTV. This
brings up the MM100PCTV Properties window. Then click on Resources. Take a look
at the setting for the Interrupt. If there is no Interrupt listed, then Windows95
was not able to find an clear Interrupt. If an Interrupt is listed, you should
check to make sure this interrupt is not also being used by a non-Plug-and-Play
device.
Clearing an Interrupt by swapping
PCI slots
The first way you can try to get
a free interrupt is by swapping PCI slots:
Put the PC TV in another free PCI
slot and then reboot your PC. After rebooting, check in the Windows95 Device
Manager to see if there is an assigned Interrupt for the PC TV. Note: you will
need to reinstall the PC TV driver if Windows 95 gives you the message New Multimedia
Device has been found during the reboot. Have your PC TV Driver disk ready during
the reboot..
Or:
Swap the PC TV with another PCI device.
For example, if you have a VGA card in the first PCI slot and the PC TV in the
second PCI slot, swap them (while the power is off, of course!) and then reboot
Windows95. This often clears up an interrupt conflict because Windows 95 will
reassign the PCI interrupts. Once again, check the Windows95 Device Manager
for a non-conflicting interrupt for PC TV.
Clearing an Interrupt for use by
PC TV by deleted an unused system device
If your PC is pretty well loaded
with devices, you might find that there are no free interrupts available in
your PC. In this case you'll need to find an unused device which has an interrupt
reserved for it and free up its Interrupt.
We have found many sound cards use
3 interrupts, and that the MPU401 interrupt can be freed up for use by the PC
TV. To free up the MPU401 interrupt you need to run the sound card setup program
disable the MPU401.
We have found that many PC's reserve
an interrupt for the PS/2 mouse or the USB port, even though these devices are
not being used. Also we have found that in systems that use SCSI hard disk drives,
the system might still reserve an interrupt for an IDE controller.
To free up an Interrupt by disabling
a system device, you must:
1.Go into the BIOS and disable the
Peripheral not being used (for example: the PS/2 style mouse). You can enter
the BIOS by hitting the DEL key, F1 or the F2 key (depending upon which BIOS
your PC has) while your PC is being rebooted. 2.After rebooting Windows 95,
go into "Device Manager", highlight the device and then click on "Remove".
3.Reboot Windows95 again and check the Device Manager and make sure PC TV has
been given the interrupt freed up by the deleted system device.
Checking the BIOS PCI interrupt settings
While most PCI-based systems configure
interrupts automatically via a Plug-n-Play chip set on your motherboard and
system BIOS, there are occasional problems.
Sometimes you need to tell the BIOS
which interrupt to use for the PC TV. You can do this by going into the BIOS
during the boot up (hit the DEL key or the F1 key during system reboot), and
then finding the PCI configuration menu.
Once you are in the PCI Configuration
menu, you can reserve an interrupt, which you know is being used by a another
device in your PC. For example, if you know (by looking in the Windows95 Device
Manager) that IRQ 9 is being used by your LAN card, yet Windows95 insists on
assigning IRQ9 to the PC TV, you can often go into the BIOS and set IRQ 9 as
being used by an ISA device. This reserves IRQ 9 and the next time you reboot
your PC, Windows 95 should find a different (and non-conflicting) interrupt
for the PC TV.
Also, in the PCI Configuration menu,
you can manually assign an interrupt, which you know is not being used to the
PCI slot used by the PC TV. For example, if you know IRQ 10 is not being used,
you can sometimes assign this interrupt to the PCI slot that the PC TV card
is in.
The following PCI interrupt specifications
are needed by the PC TV. These are normally the way most PCs are set at the
factory, but if you are experiencing problems, look in the PCI Configuration
menu to check these settings:
The PCI slot must be configured to
support bus-mastering. The PCI slot must be configured to support INTA (that
is, PCI Interrupt Class A) PCI INTA must be assigned to a free IRQ (interrupt)
number or set to "Auto". Some PC's do not have all PCI slots as bus-master
slots. This will require moving PC TV to another slot, which is a bus-master
slot.
MM100/200 requires two system resources:
one Interrupt (IRQ) and a memory segment. Most installation problems are related
to Interrupt conflicts. While Windows 95 Plug-and-Play is very convenient to
use, it is unable to detect interrupt conflicts issue in all PC.
PC hangs when using SiS chipset
motherboard
You will need to download this
program PCIView.exe. Following that launch the pciview.exe program. When you're
in the program, press F1, and then F2. You'll need to change the value for the
PCI configuration space Register 81. Key in "81". Change the PCI configuration
space Reg. 81 for the SiS chipset from 00 to 01, save the register contents,
and exit PCIview.exe. Run PCTV or Galaxy again. Your PC should no longer have
the hang up problem.
Download
PCIview.exe
You can try to get a free interrupt
by swapping the MM100/200 hardware to a different PCI slot (remember to power
down your PC before this process is carried out). After rebooting, check in
the Windows95 Device Manager to see if there is an assigned non-conflicting
interrupt for the MM100/200. me
Go through this steps to check
for MM100/200 IRQ assignment on your PC:
Click on Start -> Settings
-> Control Panel -> double click on System icon
click on Device Manager
tab -> click on Properties button to reveal Computer Properties.
(Note: you will need to reinstall
MM100/200 device driver if Windows 95/98 gives you a message PCI Multimedia
Device has been found during Windows start-up.)
Or:
Swap MM100/200 hardware with another
PCI device. For example, if you have a VGA card in the first PCI slot and MM100/200
in the second PCI slot, swap them (remember to power down your PC before this
process is carried out) and boot-up your PC. This often clears up an interrupt
conflict because Windows 95 will reassign the PCI interrupts. Once again, check
the Windows95 Device Manager to ensure that there is a non-conflicting interrupt
for MM100/200.
If your PC is well loaded with
hardware devices, you might find that there are no free interrupts available
in your PC. In this case you'll need to find a less frequently used hardware
device which has an interrupt reserved for it and free its interrupt.
We have found many sound cards
use 3 interrupts (IRQ), for example the MPU401 interrupt can be freed up for
use by PCTV. To free up the MPU401 interrupt you need to run the sound card
setup program to disable the MPU401.
We have also found that a number
of PC reserves an interrupt for the PS/2 mouse or the USB port even though these
devices are not being used commonly. In addition, we found that in systems that
use SCSI hard disk drives, the system might still reserve an interrupt for an
IDE controller – in this case you can free up the interrupt for IDE controller.
To disable a system device so that
you can free up an Interrupt, you must:
- Go into your PC BIOS
and disable the Peripheral that is not being used (for example: the PS/2
mouse). You can enter the BIOS by hitting the DEL key, F1 or the F2 key
(depending upon which BIOS your PC has) while your PC is being rebooted.
(If you’re not sure how to do, you’re advised to check with your
PC dealer). After the change Save and exit from the BIOS to continue the
normal Windows 95 boot-up.
- At Windows 95, click
on Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> double click on
System icon -> click on Device Manager tab -> highlight
the device that you disable at the BIOS and click "Remove" to
remove that particular device. Reboot.
- After reboot, check the Device
Manager in your System and make sure MM100/200 has been given the interrupt
freed up by the deleted system device.
While most PCI-based PC configure
interrupts automatically via a Plug-n-Play chip set on your motherboard and
system BIOS, there are occasional problems.
Sometimes you need to tell the
BIOS which interrupt to use for MM100/200. You can do this by hitting the DEL
key, F1 or the F2 key (depending upon which BIOS your PC has) while your PC
is being rebooted. (If you’re not sure how to do, you’re advised to
check with your PC dealer). Once you’re in the BIOS, find the PCI configuration
menu.
At the PCI Configuration menu,
you can reserve an interrupt, which you know is being used by an another device
in your PC. For example, if you know (by looking in the Windows95 System’s
Device Manager) that IRQ 9 is being used by your LAN card, yet Windows95 insists
on assigning IRQ9 to MM100/200, you can go into the BIOS and set IRQ 9 as being
used by an ISA device. This reserve IRQ 9 and the next time you boot-up your
PC, Windows 95 should find a different (and non-conflicting) interrupt for the
MM100/200.
At the PCI Configuration menu,
you can also manually assign an interrupt, which you know is not being used
by another hardware device, and assigned it for use to the PCI slot used by
MM100/200. For example, if you know IRQ 10 is not being used, you can assign
this interrupt to the PCI slot that MM100/200 is in.
PCTV needs the following PCI interrupt
specifications. These are normally the way most PCs are set at the factory,
but if you are experiencing problems, look in the PCI Configuration menu to
check these settings:
- The PCI slot must be configured
to support bus-mastering
- The PCI slot must be configured
to support INTA (that is, PCI Interrupt Class A)
- PCI INTA must be assigned
to a free IRQ (interrupt) number or set to "Auto"
Some PC does not have all PCI slots
as bus-master slots. This will require moving MM100/200 to another slot that
is a bus-master slot.
System Lock-ups
when using VGA cards based on the S3 Vision968 or 868
When using the PC TV with VGA boards
based on the S3 Vision968 or S3 Vision868, which can be found in the #9 Motion
771 and the Diamond Stealth VRAM, some installations report random system lock-ups
while using PC TV. Lock-up is quick, occurring within seconds of starting the
application.
This problem is related to a Plug-and-Play
memory overlap between the Vision968 and the PC TV. To fix this problem, you
need to manually readjust the Memory Address of the PC TV.
To change the address, click
on the Start button, then Settings then Control Panel. Then double click on
the System icon and then the Device Manager tab.
Double click on Sound, video and game controllers.
Then double click on MM100 PCTV. This brings up the MM100 PCTV Properties window.
Then click on Resources.
Now un-click the Use automatic settings.
Highlight Memory Range
and click on Change Setting:
The Memory Address range of the MM100 PCTV
is a set of two 8 digit hexadecimal number, such as:
FFFA0000-FFFA0FFF
To eliminate the memory overlap, either
increase the second digit by 4, or decrease it by 8 (remember to use hexadecimal
arithmetic!). This changes the memory space between the Vision968 and the MM100
PCTV to 64Mbytes. For example:
original configuration increase by 4decrease
by 880000000-80000FFF84000000-84000FFF78000000-78000FFFFFFA0000-FFFA0FFFcan't
doF7FA0000-F7FA0FFF
How to get TV
to display full screen
Run Regedit (Backup your registry
using export before continuing)
In Path: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Modular Technology\MM100PCTV\Tuner
Change FullScreenStretch from 0 to 1
Screen
errors with STB/Diamond Viper PCI
If you are using an STB TV PCI adapter, you may experience the following symptoms:
•If you move the STB TV window, your screen becomes distorted. •If
you try to change the STB TV window to full-screen mode, you are unable expand
the window larger than 640x480 pixels, and the remaining portion of the screen
turns bright pink. If you restore the window to its original size, your screen
becomes distorted.
CAUSE
This behaviour can occur if you are using a Riva 128-based video adapter with
Windows 98 drivers.
RESOLUTION
To resolve this behaviour, obtain the latest Windows 98 drivers for your Riva
128-based video adapter from the manufacturer.
To work around this behaviour, use one of the following methods:
Refresh the Desktop
To refresh the desktop, follow these steps:
1.Click the Minimise button (the first button in the upper-right corner
of the STB TV window).
• Click a blank area of the desktop, and then press the F5 key to refresh
the desktop.
• Click each desktop icon to refresh it.
• Right-click STB TV on the taskbar, and then click Restore.
Use the Microsoft Windows 95 Drivers for Your Video Adapter
To replace the Windows 98 drivers with the Windows 95 drivers included with
your video adapter, follow these steps:
1.Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
2.Double-click Display, click the Settings tab, and then click Advanced.
3.On the Adapter tab, click Change, click Next, click "Display a list of
all the drivers in a specific location, so you can select the driver you want,"
and then click Next.
4.Click Have Disk, click Browse, navigate to the folder containing the Windows
95 drivers, and then click OK.
NOTE: If your video adapter does not include Windows 95 drivers, obtain the
drivers from the manufacturer.
5.Click Next, click Finish, click Apply, and then click Close.
6.Click Yes when you are prompted to restart your computer.
Windows 98 and
S3 card errors
SYMPTOMS
If your computer has a TV card installed, your computer may stop responding
(hang) with an "Unrecoverable page fault" error message when you start
Windows.
CAUSE
This behaviour can occur if older S3 video adapter drivers are installed on
your computer. Some older versions of the drivers for S3-based chip sets have
compatibility problems with the drivers for the TV hardware.
RESOLUTION
To resolve this issue, install the Windows 98 S3 drivers, or the most current
drivers provided by the display adapter's manufacturer. To install the Windows
98 drivers, follow these steps:
1.Restart your computer. Press and hold down the CTRL key until the Windows
98 Startup menu appears, and then choose Safe Mode.
2.Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
3.Double-click Display, click the Settings tab, and then click OK.
4.Restart the computer normally.
5.Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
6.Double-click Display, click the Settings tab, and then click Advanced.
7.Click the Adapter tab, and then click Change.
8.Click Next, click "Display a list of all the drivers in a specific location,
so you can select the driver you want," and then click Next.
9.Click Show All Devices.
10.In the Manufacturers box, click S3.
11.In the Models box, click the appropriate model, click OK, and then click
Next.
12.Click Next, click Next, and then click Finish.
13.Click Close, click Close, and then click Yes to restart your computer.
Computer
Hangs or Cannot Preview Video in NetMeeting
When you configure video camera properties or use the video functions in NetMeeting,
you may experience any of the following symptoms:
•Your computer may stop responding (hang). You may also see a "fatal
exception 6" error message on a blue screen. •You may see a grey or
black screen when you view the My Video window in Microsoft NetMeeting.
RESOLUTION
WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may
require you to reinstall Windows 95. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems
resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry
Editor at your own risk.
NOTE: For information about how to edit the registry, view the Changing Keys
And Values online Help topic in Registry Editor (REGEDIT.EXE). Note that you
should make a backup copy of the registry files (SYSTEM.DAT and USER.DAT) before
you edit the registry.
Use Registry Editor to verify that the key listed below has the values listed,
and if needed, edit the values to match the values listed:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Conferencing\CaptureDevices\
MSVIDEO:Brooktree Bt848
dwImageSize 00 01 40 00
dwNumColors 0C 00 00 00
dwStreamingMode 01 00 00 00
MotherBoard Issues
If you have a motherboard with onboard video, it is advisable to get latest
BIOS/driver update from the manufacturer. Main boards with problems is SIS/Chaintech.
Get latest drivers from their web site. www.sis.com.tw
or www.chaintech.com.tw.
The Chaintech Sim SIS motherboard
have an update that adds the BIOS option "Peer to peer concurrency"
Some PCI devices, for example PCI TV cards, need to have the PCI peer-to-peer
function enabled. This BIOS update adds the "Peer to peer concurrency"
option to the "Chipset Features Setup". Please note that the default
setting for this option is still disabled, so don't forget to enable it if your
PCI device requires this function.
MM100PCTV Uninstall
Procedure
Removal of the MM100PCTV series
of cards.
06/Jan/97
WARNING: Backup (Export) your Registry before making any changes
General:
1.In settings/control panel/system/device manager/sound video and game
controllers and remove the MM100PCTV device.
2.Place the PCTV icon from the desktop into the recycle bin.
Teletext Application: (if applicable)
3.Go into settings/control panel/add remove programs and remove the Cebra Teletext
Application.
Drivers:
4.Remove all the BT848*.* drivers from C:\Windows\System
5.Remove the file MM100TV.INF from C:\Windows\Inf or C:\Windows\Inf\other.
6.Remove the file G&IMM100TV.INF from C:\Windows\Inf\Other. If you have
version
A of windows-95, you will need to examine all oem*.inf files in the windows\inf
folder
and delete all which refer to Bt848 or MM100PCTV
Registry:
7.Go into the registry editor (Start - RUN - The type: Regedit) and conduct
a find for MM100 and delete the file/s or
folder/s as necessary.
8.Go into the registry editor and conduct a find for BT848 and delete the file/s
or folder/s
as necessary.
9.Go into the registry editor and conduct a find for BTV and delete the file/s
or folder/s
as necessary.
What operating systems
can my TV board be installed under?
The PCTV PCI boards will function
on WINDOWS 98, WINDOWS 95
3rd party Developers have also written
drivers for both Linux for the TV PCI boards. These drivers, information, and
their support may be found on their respective websites - See Drivers
Minimum System Requirements
to Install TV PCI:
A Pentium 90Mhz or faster is recommended,
as well as a motherboard with an INTEL PCI controller chipset for optimum performance.
Also, a VGA card that fully supports all aspects of Direct Draw would be required.
A Complete VGA card compatibility list can be found below.
Causes for System
Lockups:
- A non-INTEL PCI controller
chipset on the motherboard. We recommend using an INTEL based PCI controller
chipset on the motherboard, or one that would be compliant to Intel's 2.1
PCI specifications.
Known chipsets that will cause lockups are certain SIS, VIA, UMC, ALI, and
some OPTI. The VIASIS.EXE fix can be applied in these cases which may address
the problem. If the problem persists, sometimes the motherboard manufacturer
may provide an updated BIOS which can help the problem. Also, if the board
is based on a VIA chipset, some updates available at VIA's website may also
address the issue (http://www.viatech.com)
- Certain incompatible VGA cards
like: S3 964, 864, Trident and Cirrus Logic.
- S3 Trio 64 V+ (as per README)
- S3 Vision 868 and 968 (as per
README)
- VGA cards based on the Nvidia
TNT chipsets (STB Velocity 4400) - These VGA cards claim not to be able to
share their IRQ with any other device on the system. If they share with PCTV,
this may cause a lockup. The VGA card must be moved to a different IRQ setting.
- Direct X is not enabled.
- Direct X 4 - If this is the version
of Direct X on the system, it would be best to update to Direct X 5 (From
the PCTV CD - Run DXSETUP, or Direct X 6, which can be downloaded from Microsoft
(http://www.microsoft.com)
- Be sure the VGA colour settings
are set to greater than 256 colours. PCTV will not function properly in 256
colour mode.
- If there is/was a different video
capture card in the system, there may be drivers or system files related to
this device which will cause conflicts with the PCTV and lockup the system.
These drivers will need to be removed or replaced. (See "Drivers
already loaded"
below)
I get a Black Screen
in PCTV, but I can hear audio OK:
Black screens are generally
VGA driver related. Make sure that you are running the VGA colour settings in
High colour 16bit or better. If you are running in 256 colour mode, PCTV will
not work properly. Also, if you go to Control Panel - System - Performance Tab,
on the bottom you should have a button for Graphics. Click on this and you will
get a Hardware Acceleration slider for the Graphics card. Try moving the slider
up or down a notch. The 3/4 notch would usually make it work. Click on OK and
restart the system. Then try the PCTV again.
I get Mouse lockups
with my Nvidia based VGA card. (Common on some Dell XPS and Gateway systems)
While in Windows, go to your Device
Manager by right clicking you’re mouse on you’re My Computer icon
and then go down to Properties.
Click the Device Manager Tab and
then double click on the word Computer that is at the top.
Scroll through the window and take
a look to see what IRQ your VGA card is on. These machines are usually equipped
with an STB or Diamond graphics card. More than likely the graphics card is
sharing the same IRQ with the PCTV.
After this is noted you can restart
Windows. But before entering Windows again enter your Bios settings by hitting
the delete key on your keyboard when you have a black background with a Dell
logo in the upper right hand corner of the screen or a black background with
a Dell logo covering the whole screen.
Once you’re in the BIOS, go
to the Advanced Menu and then down to Resource Configuration. You can do this
by using your arrow keys on your keyboard.
Bring the cursor down to the setting
for the IRQ that the Graphics card and PCTV card are sharing. Change it from
Available to Reserved by hitting the enter key on your keyboard.
Once this is done, move the cursor
over to the Exit setting and Exit the BIOS, saving your changes.
Once you are back in Windows run
the PCTV. The mouse cursor should now keep from locking up.
Fonts get corrupted,
or scrambled in PCTV or other programs
when PCTV is running:
Generally, this is seen with Incompatible
VGA cards (i.e. Trident & some Cirrus Logic). In some cases this will be
caused by a Compatible VGA card as well, and updating to the latest VGA drivers
may be necessary, as well as updating to Direct X 6. VGA cards with only 1MB
RAM on the board may also cause this. At least 2MB is needed to run with the
PCTV 4MB or more is recommended. If you have a VGA card based on the S3 Virge
Chipset, try the following: Click on Start - Settings - Control Panel - System
- Performance Tab, on the bottom you should have a button for Graphics. Click
on this and you will get a Hardware Acceleration slider for the Graphics card.
Try moving the slider up or down a notch. The 3/4 notch would usually make it
work.
"Out Of Memory"
error when trying to run PCTV
This generally indicates a conflict
of software, or corrupted driver files. The best solution is completely un-installing
the PCTV software and drivers, and doing a fresh install.
Uninstalling PCTV
Software:
See our Support pages for Instructions
Error message
when trying to initialise PCTV "Runtime Error 53 - File not found":
Generally indicates the drivers did
not install correctly. Be sure that the latest available PCTV driver and application
software is installed. It may also be necessary to first completely uninstall
the PCTV software before re-installing.
"Capture
Device Not Detected" or "Unable to draw this Data Format" or
"MMSystem275"error when trying to capture .AVI files:
In the Video capture application, try setting the ‘Image Dimension’
to 160x120 or 320 X 240 and the ‘Image Format’ to BTYUV. These settings
are found under Options - Video Format. Make sure that the image dimension is
not set to 160x112 which sometimes defaults when BTYUV is selected. These settings
are found under Options - Video Format. Also under ‘Capture’ from
the Menu Bar, make sure that the Brooktree: BT848 Capture driver is checked.
Black streaks or
lines through saved still images OR scrambled looking saves:
This is usually caused by a
bandwidth problem with certain in-compatible motherboard chipsets. (OPTI, VIA,
SIS, etc.), or possibly an incompatible VGA card (Trident, etc.) This will also
happen if you have an older VGA card dated Pre 1996.
The Audio is not
recorded when I capture an AVI file using the PCTV
capture program.
It is actually the Sound Card that
will capture the Audio portion of the AVI files. The PCTV capture application
will allow you to capture both by syncing the Audio and Video together. But
the sound card will actually capture the sound.
If you do not record the Audio when you are capturing Video Clips, you want
to make sure that the sound card's Line In mixer is setup to Record audio. Sometimes
they are set for Playback only. To Check this, click on Start - Accessories
- Entertainment (or Multimedia), in the Windows Volume Control, go to Options
then Properties. In here click on the Recording Bullet. Below you should see
the Mixers that are set to record make sure that the Line In is checked and
click on OK. Then make sure that it is not muted. Try to record some audio through
the Line In jack using Windows' Sound Recorder. This program is found in the
Multimedia group.
If you can record audio using the Sound Recorder, then you should be able to
capture audio with the capture program.
"bt848, no
suitable Direct Draw provider. Overlay channel is disabled" or "VGA
driver mode incompatibility error:
This would indicate either that an
incompatible VGA card is being used, or updated Direct Draw VGA drivers would
need to be installed if it is a known compatible VGA card.
This will also occur if you have a VGA card based on the S3 Virge chip and the
3D Hardware Acceleration was not turned on in DirectX. This can be turned on
the the DXtool option of DirectX.
Also check the Hardware Acceleration through Windows. Go to Control Panel -
System - Performance Tab, on the bottom you should have a button for Graphics.
Click on this and you will get a Hardware Acceleration slider for the Graphics
card. Try moving the slider up or down a notch. The 3/4 notch would usually
make it work. Click on OK and restart the system. Then try the PCTV again.
"Drivers Already
Loaded, PCTV shutting down" Error
when running PCTV:
Try rebooting the system. If the
error is still present, it would indicate some type of Driver conflict. Check
under CONTROL PANEL- Multimedia - Advanced (or Devices) - Video Capture devices.
There should be an MSVIDEO: Brooktree BT848 Capture driver listed here. If there
are any others, try disabling them for testing purposes to see if you can get
the PCTV to work.
If another capture device was once installed in the system, make sure that the
driver for that device is no longer listed here. It would also be best to assure
that any registry entries, .INF files, and drivers are removed from the previous
device.
If wavetop is running you must stop Wavetop before using the PCTV card. To do
this right-click on the Wavetop Icon and click on Stop.
Cannot get FULL screen
TV mode, and have black border around TV picture in this mode:
For the most part the PCTV will display
at a maximum image dimension of 640x480 in any resolution. If your VGA card
supports Overlay mode, you should be able to see full screen in resolutions
up to 1024 x 768. If your VGA card does not support overlay mode, this would
be a hardware limitation of that VGA chipset. In this case, running in a higher
resolution than 640 x 480, will not allow a true full screen TV picture. A work
around for this is provided in the PCTV program. Click on DISPLAY- Preferences,
and set the TV Mode size for 640 x 480 (800 x 600 for the PAL Video format).
This will default the VGA display to 640 x 480 resolution when going to full
screen mode - allowing a true full screen.
NetMeeting configuration:
In NetMeeting, go to the Current
Call section of the program. You should see 2 small windows: "My Video"
and "Remote Video". Click on the arrow in the "My Video"
window to change it from "Not sending" to "Previewing".
A screen will appear with either video, a blue screen, or the NetMeeting logo.
Next, on the menu bar, choose Tools - Options - Video, and be sure that "Video
Camera Properties" indicates the MSVIDEO:Brooktree Bt848 Capture driver.
Click the Source button, which will allow you to select your Video source. (COMPOSITE
for a camera or VCR input into the PCTV, Camera (with S video selected) for
an S-Video input and Tuner for the PCTV tuner picture.
For more information on NetMeeting
click here: http://www.microsoft.com/netmeeting
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