PVR150MCE (no FM) picture quality

[roy]

I just added a PVR150MCE (no FM) to my PC that already had a PVR150 retail. The picture from the new card has a slight amount of 'snow' or noise, on all channels, while the picture from the old card is still clear. I've split the analog cable for the two cards, but I've checked straight into each and result is the same.

Is this a signal strength issue for just the MCE card? Has anyone seen a difference in picture quality from these two cards with the same source?

[nubious]

Is there a non MCE edition of this card? I just bought it tonight because it came with the remote and everything, but I'm running XP and I haven't obtained a copy of MCE yet.. is it possible to get it to work in windows XP PRo? Also, have you tried MythTV? I was thinking of dualbooting to Ubuntu to see how that worked, but I'm not sure where to look for drivers..

[zed]

The 150MCE's work fine in an XP machine. I have three of them in my XP Pro system, two with FM and one without. MCE is just XP with added stuff. I used PVR150 drivers from the Hauppauge site (don't remember which version).

[roy]

I installed the 150MCE (no FM) card in the PC, and it took right off using the same driver as the 150 retail already installed, without any action by me. I'll have to check tonite on the driver version, but I am hesitant to mess with the drivers as the version I'm using has been working fine.

However, the picture quality from the new MCE card is not as good. There is 'snow' or 'noise' on the whole picture, but visible primarily in black or white areas. Would a different driver for the MCE card possibly resolve this? Should I try using the driver from the disk that came with the card? Are there different drivers for MCE and non-MCE? :confused:

[Chris.Day]

Can you post a screenshot of the poor quality you're getting?

[roy]

Can you post a screenshot of the poor quality you're getting?

Attached are screen shots of the same scene with the pvr150 and the 150MCE showing the difference, and also another shot of the 150MCE with the noise.

Driver used by both is 2.0.35.23258, which looks like the exact one on the disk that came with the MCE card (Version 2.9).

[roy]

Can you post a screenshot of the poor quality you're getting?

Chris, Any chance to look at these? Suggestions?

Thanks

[Chris.Day]

Yes, that card looks like crap. Are you using the same physical cable with both cards (and have you tried swapping the cables over)?

Have you tried putting the MCE card in the other card's PCI slot?

Is the MCE board screwed into the case properly?

Does it have a little gasket between the tuner and PCI bracket (like a little silver sponge thing)?

If yes to all of those, I'd RMA it because it looks like it's faulty. There's no way that amount of interference is acceptable if you have ruled out your cables.

[groover km]

Not limited to this problem (or thread) specifically, but you may find the attached handbook useful as a reference.

[roy]

Yes, that card looks like crap. Are you using the same physical cable with both cards (and have you tried swapping the cables over)?

Have you tried putting the MCE card in the other card's PCI slot?

Is the MCE board screwed into the case properly?

Does it have a little gasket between the tuner and PCI bracket (like a little silver sponge thing)?

If yes to all of those, I'd RMA it because it looks like it's faulty. There's no way that amount of interference is acceptable if you have ruled out your cables.

I've tried switching the cables (no change), but I haven't yet tried different slots. Guess that's the task for tonite. Thanks for the help.