Newbie Problems With MyGica A680B on Win XP

[Reddwarf]

Attached is a report from my computer using Everest to give the low-down... Basically, it is a P4 at 2.8GHZ with 2G RAM and a 256M nVidia video card.

Thanks, I'v looked at your report, and there is nothing that indicates that it should not run W7 just fine. However, I would invest in a better videocard, I'v never had any luck getting good HD performance from the lowend nvidia cards, but ASUS/ATI cards gives good HD with the Cyberlink decoders. Your audio stuttering may very well be a result of that the cpu is very busy handling the video.

[whitedavidp]

Thanks. It did seem to run Win7 just fine. I guess I wasn't clear enough... What did not run fine was Win7 Media Center. Actually that was the whole reason I bothered with Win7 at all. I saw it on a friend's new computer, tried my HDTV Stick in it, and it seemed to work great. I did not test extensively on the friend's computer. But when I did on my computer, there just seems inadequate horsepower to do the job. I would throw more RAM at this except that the system is at max capacity already. I may have to break down and build/buy a dedicated PC for this that is newer in all respects.

[mikeh49]

I don't think you'll be able to get acceptable HD from a FX5200. I could not with a Geforce 6200, the minimum for me was an ATI 9600Pro. The Geforce 6200 was OK for SD however. You're only hope is VMR9 FSE. For Nvidia, most people recommended a Geforce 6600 as a minimum for HD.

The 9600Pro does work OK on Win7 with the EVR renderer and MS decoder, however. See my lounge system in the sig.

[whitedavidp]

Thanks, It is interesting that things seem to work ok in ArcSoft Total Media. Even in HD both recorded and live. I do have to disable Avast's real time scanners however. I don't like that but... My real issue with Total Media is its lack of configuration control and the fact that if a show is to be recorded only once a week, it wakes up the computer every night at that time and does nothing (including putting/letting the computer go back to sleep). I hate the idea of putting more money into this computer but maybe I can find a better card to fit on the used market. The 5200 is way better than the onboard video I started out with. Yikes!

[mikeh49]

I got the 9600Pro on ebay for $25 or so. It seems that Dell used a lot of them, so they were quite available. Mine is an OEM for Dell, I think. I assume you need an AGP card - most new cards are PCIe, so your pretty limited if you want to buy new.

Arcsoft might be running in Overlay which I think NPVR cannot use because of the on-screen displays. Could be all wet on this though.

[steeb]

Maybe a keyboard shortcut? Pressing Escape doesn't do anything (but return me to the main menu). Is there a list of keyboard commands for NPVR such as channel up/down, volume up/down, pause, start? I am sure there must be but I haven't found them yet.

Thanks for all the time and help!

Time is always a premium.

Help is always at hand.

But I am so tired myself of helping people to use the wiki!

thanks to skippy_nz who at least bothered referring to the wiki in this thread.

It must just be me. How can we make it more clear that there is a wiki that refers to a load of this stuff here:

http://www.nextpvr.com/nwiki/pmwiki.php?n=Main.HomePage

and why has whitedavidp not found this page in referring to shortcuts on the keyboard etc:

http://www.nextpvr.com/nwiki/pmwiki.php?...dReference

If it is a case of the wiki not up to scratch then ideas/improvements forthcoming please perhaps on the wiki threads.

But what is the point of having a manual that sooo few people bother reading? And even when it is in their face, still ignore it?

Either people do not want to bother with a manual. That does not surprise me! Or just very few people realise that there actually is one.

cheers

steeb

[whitedavidp]

To give you an idea just how old my computer is, there is no AGP slot. This is a plain old PCI card. Not sure I can find anything better than this for the configuration. Thanks.

[whitedavidp]

Steeb,

I did check the home page of the wiki and especially the FAQ. I appreciate the pointer to the help. Not sure, however, with my current audio problems this will matter much.

[steeb]

To give you an idea just how old my computer is, there is no AGP slot. This is a plain old PCI card. Not sure I can find anything better than this for the configuration. Thanks.

An AGP slot would mean your motherboard would/may be far older. The later generation Motherboards begun to replace AGP Graphics with PCI.

[steeb]

Steeb,

I did check the home page of the wiki and especially the FAQ. I appreciate the pointer to the help. Not sure, however, with my current audio problems this will matter much.

Thanks whitedavidp I am trying to help. I have a feeling that you are trying to do everything all in one go, and rushing. Just my HO!

We are all here to try to resolve, but that is a 2 way thing. Please do not be angry with me, I do not have the time for that.

Research, get the questions right, you will have a great HTPC set up But it may take weeks not a few hours. It is like keeping tropical fish... have you done that? The fish that is!

cheers

steeb