# TV Viewing Software



## gxsaurav (Feb 9, 2005)

Ok, some good news & some bad news

I have 2 TVs in my home, one is a 14 years old BPL, & another is a 7 years old LG Golden Eye, yesterday my old BPL TV went off, it's dead, so I baught a Pinnacle PCTV Stereo TV Tuner & gave my family the LG one I got in my room, the hardware is fine, I downloaded new XP SP2 compatible WDM drivers, but the thing is that there PCTV Vision software is really buggy & bad, can't even tune peoperly

So, I need a alternative TV Viewing software, I don't know about many but PowerVCR, WinDVR are some names I have heard, please, those who use a TV Tuner card plz tell me the software they are using, ASAP, royal rumble is on sunday

is the NVIDIA Forceware Multimedia Application available?


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## ShekharPalash (Feb 9, 2005)

Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 [using since version 2002] os very good for watching TVs...  but It's an OS and you need a software ... I used to use Pinnacle... but it's ugly and sux... I have WinDVR other than my Media center OS for watchin TVs... I also wanna know is there some good software for watchin TVs... except WinDVR & Pinnacle [this one is not good]


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## NikhilVerma (Feb 10, 2005)

I have used Honestech TVR and Power VCR II....
I like "Cyberlink PowerVCR II" ... it's really good.......

But the clarity is not as good when compared to my original TV viewing software... It really good....


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## techno_funky (Feb 10, 2005)

GX baby look no further 
*www.tv-cards.com/
have fun 

or get Chris tv 
the best TV tuner proggy 
absolutely good quality this one gives 
what more it even supports( a small tweak) your PC TV remote


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## quad master (Feb 10, 2005)

The Best and the software which i have seen at most of my friends place

"IU Vcr " This software allows you to directly save video in Divx MP3
format or whatever Audio Video Codec's you have installed on your system.It saves the video in Avi & Wmv Format.

And TV Viewing is also gr8 on this software.

Website:- *www.iulabs.com/


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## gxsaurav (Feb 10, 2005)

1) Get PowerVCR from Aman & WinDVR/Sage TV from Rigved. 


Yo guys, one more thing I realised just now, my PC is now a HTPC, take a look at the combination

Pinnacle PCTV Stereo TV Tuner
Audigy LS, with 2.1 speakers not 5.1
Big HD 80 GB
Combo drive, for watching DVD & VCDs
a 17" TV Screen (monitor), although less then my 21" LG TV
PVR recording facility
FX5900XT gfx card

Do I miss something else

Also, ChrisTV isn't working after scanning channels, I have decided to check PowerVCR, & MediaPortal, what do U guys say, which is better, anyone used any one of the above mentioned.

WinDVR & SageTV will be used later if these don't come to be up to the mark


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## Sourabh (Feb 10, 2005)

CHRIS TV !! 

look no further than it

its the best surely

thx techno_funky for makin me aware of this proggy

mebbe gx u are not configuring it the right way

but i m again happy with the PCTV STEREO PRICES

i brot it abt 8-9 months ago for 2300 rs 

and techno_funky brot it abt 2 months back for 2350; gx brot it for 2300 rs

so its good to c tht prices dun fall much  

truely VFM


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## shwetanshu (Feb 10, 2005)

But i think remote dont work in programs other than that in original software, right??


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## gxsaurav (Feb 10, 2005)

Ok, I have been trying a lot of PVR software today, i tried powerVCR & ChrisTV, PowerVCR didn't not worked at all, I could hear the audio only with no Video, maybe it's not compatible with my Philips tuner chip

ChrisTV, with the descaler filter (dl_videoweave.dll) is giving me good quality, & I also like the feature that I can set individual settings for each channel unlike my PCTV vision software I got with the card, but it is strictly a TV Viewer only, when it comes to recording it is useless, Audio is not being recorded only video, also I cannot chose DivX codec for AVI encoding, it requirs a Intervideo 3 mpeg1/2 codec to record in mpeg1 format, but I don't know where to get it, someone using it plz tell me here

Tomorrow I will be trying SageTV, WinDVR & Media Portal, I like Media portal because it is just like Windows XP MCE, intreface wise & is fully controlled by the remote, from about 8 ft far, now only if it can record in DivX or mpeg1/2 by default, also it can be used as a file player like the real MCE


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## svk (Feb 11, 2005)

Cyberlink PowerVCR II


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## gxsaurav (Feb 11, 2005)

@svk

PowerVCR II doesn't give any video in my Tuner chip, do U know Y?

also where can I get the Intervideo mpeg encoder for ChrisTV, pm me


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## gxsaurav (Feb 11, 2005)

Ok, I got the intervideo mpeg encoder for chris TV

Those who got the Pinnacle PCTV Stereo TV uner card, & need Windows XP SP2 compatible drivers can pm me, I will mail them the drivers, the latest version I downloaded from Pinnacle, is 1.3.1.15, so better check in the device manager for the version, remember these drivers are for PCTV Stereo only


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## techno_funky (Feb 11, 2005)

hey gx well power vcr will not work on PCTV Stereo 
because its officiallynot compatible 
i.e the phillips tuner chip is not compatible with that proggy 
this was confirmed at thier website 
about Chris TV 
you might have not being configuring it properly 
for the audio select LINE IN in the audio options


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## elumalai (Feb 12, 2005)

hi,

I use Intex card.  And the software is DScaler.  it's really the best tv viewing software i'll bet.  what a clear, sharp vieo i got?

If ur card is bt series, then DScaler is good enough.

One prob...  I could not configure my remote to Dscaler.

I tried uICE, iRman, Btremote and many other software...  nothing seems to be worked.  I think the plugin for intex remote is not available.

DO neone have intex card and configured the remote for DScaler.  

pls     help  me.


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## vijaythefool (Feb 12, 2005)

I am trying to configure my pctv remote to play mp3 files


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## gxsaurav (Feb 18, 2005)

After using so many softwares, I can say that for my card & usage Media Portal works perfectly, it detected & configured my TV Tuner automatically, even my remote works, I can use DivX 5.21 Pro for Recording of TV & configured it to record at 640X480 with 4 mbps bitrate, so no need of a mpeg2 encoder & mp3 (LAME) for Audio encoding, it can play DVDs with the intervideo DVD decoder installed, it uses the Windowns Media Player engine to play files, but has it's own TV engine

Looks just like Windows XP MCE 2005, & even works like that, however I can also change the names of My TV etc, in total, a compleate replacement of MCE 2005, highly recomended

However it is slow, even with 512 MB RAM, but faster then Home theator 2 & also, less buggy


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## neerajvohra (Feb 19, 2005)

NikhilVerma said:
			
		

> I have used Honestech TVR and Power VCR II....
> I like "Cyberlink PowerVCR II" ... it's really good.......
> 
> But the clarity is not as good when compared to my original TV viewing software... It really good....




have you ever tried external tv tuner 
works the same like the tv 
clearty100%


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## enoonmai (Feb 19, 2005)

I was using the PCTV Vision software at first before migrating to BeyondTV, but I think I will give Media Portal a go, especially if it looks and handles like MCE.


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## swatkat (Feb 19, 2005)

neerajvohra said:
			
		

> NikhilVerma said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



hey, follow the topic....they r talking abt *TV Viewing Softwares* and not *Hardware*....


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## enoonmai (Feb 21, 2005)

gxsaurav said:
			
		

> it detected & configured my TV Tuner automatically,



I got Media Portal and I run PCTV Stereo, and while the tuner works just fine and it autodetected and tuned all the channels, the remote just doesn't work. I obviously cannot enable the MCE remotes, and when I turn off the PCTV Remote Tool and enable the COM1 receiver in MediaPortal and click Learn Selected Commands, it times out waiting for a signal. Help.


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## dIgItaL_BrAt (Feb 27, 2005)

DScaler (with the right settings) is the best!


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## Charley (Feb 27, 2005)

My ATI TVWonder works fine with my GeForce FX and the new MultiMediaCentre 9.
Any vid card with video-in can watch TV - you just need a VCR to tune the stations and decode the MTS audio. Something like NeroVision Express can then display the signal from your video-in, but there is no freeware replacement for your ATI, which runs both the channel-changing and the audio.
Sort it out, get it working - it will work.

Then you can play games too (bonus).

L8R


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## lywyre (Mar 2, 2005)

gxsaurav said:
			
		

> However it is slow, even with 512 MB RAM, but faster then Home theator 2 & also, less buggy



Try Dscaler. It is free. *deinterlace.sourceforge.net/

Dscaler 4 supports Pinnacle PCTV Cards, but PCTV USB is not supported


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## prashantrana (Mar 7, 2005)

The ticker which runs in CNBC goes very fast when I watch it with pinnacle vision. 

Will changing MEdia Portal help?


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## Sourabh (Mar 7, 2005)

yea dude even my bro having a pixelview tvtuner in the next room has the same probs

this is very irritating when he wants to find the price of a particular share fast

i guess theres no prob with the soft but due to the limitation of the card

wht say??

fps,eh?


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## prashantrana (Mar 7, 2005)

while reveiwing no one mentions or mentioned about this limitation, which is really bad. Any solution anyone.


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## trivisingh (Mar 8, 2005)

You can try FLY TV 2000. it has all the features you need with a simple user interface. To use your existing remote with other software try a program called Girder.


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## sreevirus (Mar 11, 2005)

ok, since this thread is still alive, i'll just chip in...
i dloaded MainConcept PVR (Personal Video Recorder) while i stumbled across the website 
*www.mainconcept.com/products.shtml

i must say it packs in some pretty good features...it detected my TV card (LifeView FlyTV Prime 30) without any glitches, autodetected the country codes and after a few dabbling around, i was ready to watch TV.
here r some screenies:
*img36.exs.cx/img36/5307/pvrmain3gj.th.png
*img77.exs.cx/img77/695/pvrtimer4wk.th.png
*img212.exs.cx/img212/6837/pvrstartup1tc.th.png
*img212.exs.cx/img212/511/pvrconf2oh.th.png

Multi-channel preview:
*img229.exs.cx/img229/7404/pvrmultipreview8io.th.png


well, its definitely light on the resources (PowerVCR had frozen my pc when i tried it). it allows u to edit recorded shows and burn cds and dvds too.
however, the picture quality isnt as good as it is when i use the lifeview software, its very grainy in full screen mode. and i'm finding the keyboard shortcuts a tad difficult, or maybe its coz i'm used to the usual keys.


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