[SOLVED] The awful ATI TV Wonder 650 USB 2.0

xomp · 03-28-2008, 02:31 PM

Hello,

I'm not sure where this should go. Figured Video Card Support would atleast be a good starting point.

I have purchased an ATI TV Wonder 650 USB 2.0 TV Capture device and have been so unsuccesful in getting it to work as it should when capturing video via Composite.

I have tried using Windows Movie Maker, VirtualDub, Nero Vision 5 etc.. all of which just simply FAIL so hard that I'm near tears. I can't believe that video capture is still a rocket science after all these years. One would think advancements in this field would come, but that's quiet the opposite.

The problem I have with Windows Movie Maker, is when I start to capture (using ANY possible setting for video quality) I get a "wrapped" image of sorts, I have attached a screencap to better explain since I'm not privy with technical jargon.

I have installed the latest Catalyst? ATI Driver for this capture device and it does appear to show up in Windows Movie Maker, just doesn't work worth

I have seriously reached my limit with this thing, and beg anyone here that has experience in this to help me out.

Thank you!

**UncleMacro** · 03-28-2008, 08:00 PM

The TV cards I've used haven't been ATI so I don't have any specific experience here. But I'd look around in ATI's control panels for something to do with horizontal synchronization (often called hsync). Everything's digital these days so horizontal synch problems can result in a fairly visible image which is shifted horizontally. You should also make sure you have the PAL/NTSC switch set properly. It's NTSC in the US and PAL in Europe (and you'll have to fill in other parts of the world). Basically, I'd find the Catalyst Control Center page for that puppy (or it's dedicated application) and fiddle with the switches which control the image synchronization. That seems like the most likely cause of this sort of problem.

xomp · 03-28-2008, 08:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UncleMacro

The TV cards I've used haven't been ATI so I don't have any specific experience here. But I'd look around in ATI's control panels for something to do with horizontal synchronization (often called hsync). Everything's digital these days so horizontal synch problems can result in a fairly visible image which is shifted horizontally. You should also make sure you have the PAL/NTSC switch set properly. It's NTSC in the US and PAL in Europe (and you'll have to fill in other parts of the world). Basically, I'd find the Catalyst Control Center page for that puppy (or it's dedicated application) and fiddle with the switches which control the image synchronization. That seems like the most likely cause of this sort of problem.

Thank you so much for the suggestions. I have searched around on my PC and am unable to locate your typical Catalyst Control Center. When viewing the ATI site and trying to snag a copy for my TV tuner, I'm directed to http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_ca...tvwonder650-xp which is basically there drivers for this (which I already have installed) and yet no configuration software to fine tune it :(

I've also tried poking around Windows Movie Maker 2.1 to try and see if there was anyway to adjust this hsync, but only found an option to change the NTSC settings like you suggested. I live in the US and Windows Movie Maker has "NTSC_M" selected by default. There appears to be no other options to adjust hsync anywhere I can find. Any suggestions?

Cheers!

**UncleMacro** · 03-28-2008, 08:48 PM

I just looked at my TV capture card (just a generic philips PCI card) and I couldn't find much beyond NTSC and PAL either. NTSC-M is the correct value for the US. The only other place I could find any controls for mine (and they were audio only) was in the device manager (double-click "System", select "Hardware" tab, click "Device Manager"). It's probably under "Sound, Video, and game controllers" and it may say "WDM" as part of the name. You could check the properties for that device (and anything else interesting looking) and see if there are any controls.

I haven't ever had to fiddle with my TV hardware at the low level before so I've never had to diddle this stuff. I really expected more options. With video card output you have a lot of options on TV output including all the horizontal sync stuff. But TV input on mine seems largely automatic. If that's the case with yours then I don't know what to do. Bad horizontal sync timing is the only thing I can think of. I'm not sure what other reason would shift the image horizontally. But then, I'm not used to shooting the image over USB. All my cards have been internal cards.

xomp · 03-29-2008, 08:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UncleMacro

I just looked at my TV capture card (just a generic philips PCI card) and I couldn't find much beyond NTSC and PAL either. NTSC-M is the correct value for the US. The only other place I could find any controls for mine (and they were audio only) was in the device manager (double-click "System", select "Hardware" tab, click "Device Manager"). It's probably under "Sound, Video, and game controllers" and it may say "WDM" as part of the name. You could check the properties for that device (and anything else interesting looking) and see if there are any controls.

I haven't ever had to fiddle with my TV hardware at the low level before so I've never had to diddle this stuff. I really expected more options. With video card output you have a lot of options on TV output including all the horizontal sync stuff. But TV input on mine seems largely automatic. If that's the case with yours then I don't know what to do. Bad horizontal sync timing is the only thing I can think of. I'm not sure what other reason would shift the image horizontally. But then, I'm not used to shooting the image over USB. All my cards have been internal cards.

Thanks, I have googled until I can no longer explain the situation haha. I have found out one oddity though. In a fit of desperation, I was just choosing all the different quality settings in WMM and some would trigger the hsync problem, and others would not.. If I go back to the settings that would cause problems a second, or third time, they too would be fine. I think WMM is just all around a buggy program (but the best of what I've tested thusfar e.g. Nero Vision 5, VirtualDub etc..).

Thanks for all your help :)

03-28-2008, 02:31 PM	#1 (permalink)
xomp Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 3 OS: Windows XP Pro	[SOLVED] The awful ATI TV Wonder 650 USB 2.0 Hello, I'm not sure where this should go. Figured Video Card Support would atleast be a good starting point. I have purchased an ATI TV Wonder 650 USB 2.0 TV Capture device and have been so unsuccesful in getting it to work as it should when capturing video via Composite. I have tried using Windows Movie Maker, VirtualDub, Nero Vision 5 etc.. all of which just simply FAIL so hard that I'm near tears. I can't believe that video capture is still a rocket science after all these years. One would think advancements in this field would come, but that's quiet the opposite. The problem I have with Windows Movie Maker, is when I start to capture (using ANY possible setting for video quality) I get a "wrapped" image of sorts, I have attached a screencap to better explain since I'm not privy with technical jargon. I have installed the latest Catalyst? ATI Driver for this capture device and it does appear to show up in Windows Movie Maker, just doesn't work worth I have seriously reached my limit with this thing, and beg anyone here that has experience in this to help me out. Thank you! Last edited by dai; 03-28-2008 at 05:19 PM. Reason: language

03-28-2008, 08:00 PM	#2 (permalink)
UncleMacro TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: San Diego Posts: 2,133 OS: Vista SP1 My System	Re: The awful ATI TV Wonder 650 USB 2.0 The TV cards I've used haven't been ATI so I don't have any specific experience here. But I'd look around in ATI's control panels for something to do with horizontal synchronization (often called hsync). Everything's digital these days so horizontal synch problems can result in a fairly visible image which is shifted horizontally. You should also make sure you have the PAL/NTSC switch set properly. It's NTSC in the US and PAL in Europe (and you'll have to fill in other parts of the world). Basically, I'd find the Catalyst Control Center page for that puppy (or it's dedicated application) and fiddle with the switches which control the image synchronization. That seems like the most likely cause of this sort of problem. Last edited by UncleMacro; 03-28-2008 at 08:05 PM.

03-28-2008, 08:48 PM	#4 (permalink)
UncleMacro TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: San Diego Posts: 2,133 OS: Vista SP1 My System	Re: The awful ATI TV Wonder 650 USB 2.0 I just looked at my TV capture card (just a generic philips PCI card) and I couldn't find much beyond NTSC and PAL either. NTSC-M is the correct value for the US. The only other place I could find any controls for mine (and they were audio only) was in the device manager (double-click "System", select "Hardware" tab, click "Device Manager"). It's probably under "Sound, Video, and game controllers" and it may say "WDM" as part of the name. You could check the properties for that device (and anything else interesting looking) and see if there are any controls. I haven't ever had to fiddle with my TV hardware at the low level before so I've never had to diddle this stuff. I really expected more options. With video card output you have a lot of options on TV output including all the horizontal sync stuff. But TV input on mine seems largely automatic. If that's the case with yours then I don't know what to do. Bad horizontal sync timing is the only thing I can think of. I'm not sure what other reason would shift the image horizontally. But then, I'm not used to shooting the image over USB. All my cards have been internal cards.