Has anyone had any luck getting this thing to work with vista ultimate media center because I've had absolutly no luck with this. I downloaded the drivers from http://www.aver.com/mpd/support/download/combopcie.html and they install just fine. As soon as I go to use the media center software and click the setup tv button it says that no tv tuner is detected. I've tried Vista 32 and 64 bit software and drivers along with the drivers for the drivers for MCE2005 but nothing seems to work.This is My first time trying to get this whole media center thing working so any help would be great.

I have Vista Home Premium and have been able to get it to work.  I can't imagine Vista Ultimate being that much different.  My suggestion would be to uninstall the drivers and reinstall the appropriate drivers 32-bit or 64-bit drivers depending on which version of Vista Ultimate you have installed.  After you've installed the drivers go to Device Manager -> Sound, video and game controllers and make sure you have all three M780 components (Bridge, Tuner and Video Capture).  If you do, then try the autosetup.  If autosetup still doesn't work, take out your tv tuner card and try a different pci-e slot if you have one.

On a different note, I submitted some questions to Aver's customer service last night regarding the M780.  Here are my questions and Aver's responses:

Your message on Wed, 28th Feb 2007 4:19 am

1. Where can I download the Aver MediaCenter TV for this card? 2. How can I tune into clear QAM channels? I should be able to tune into a few channels, but Vista's Media Center does not recognize any channels beyond 158. 3. The picture and audio stutters when in windowed mode using Vista's Media Center. How can I correct this problem. Thank you.

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Message by johna on Wed, 28th Feb 2007 6:20 pm

The AVer Media Center software is still being developed and will be released in the near future. As for QAM in Media Center, Microsoft is working on an update to support QAM. You will be able to use our software to tune QAM once it is released. The stuttering in windowed mode in MCE is a known problem with the Media Center software. Microsoft should be releasing a Windows Update to address this problem in the near future. -- *NOTE* Please do not reply to this email as it will not be answered. Please login to the website to submit replies or requests. Regards, Customer Care AVerMedia USA

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dabl:

Easton:

...I was awed by the crisp digital channels...

Since the ATSC portion of any such card simply passes an unmodifed data stream to the DVR application to be displayed/written, there's nothing more 'crisp' about one than another.

The real question is how does the NTSC performance compare to the best competitors (ATI 650 for example).

I found the analog perf on the M780 to be weak. The tuner seems good but the level of noise reduction applied is way too agressive IMHO. Alos I found mosquitop noise to be a bit too much. 

I still think the ATI tuners deliver the best analog picture. Again, IMHO.

I recieved my AVerTV combo about 3 weeks ago and have been tweaking, adjusting and comparing things in an attempt to decide if I'll keep it or not. I recieve all of my television via a rooftop UHF antenna and send it to my screen via an ATI X1950 GT.

The install was quick and painless. Took me awhile to realize I needed to split my antenna and connect it to both the coax jacks on the back of the card. MCE recognized the card just fine but I had to manually key in many of the digital channels.

My biggest complaint is that the reception is spotty. The analog is weak, my old ATI all-in-wonder 9600 did a much better job. The atsc is acceptable - image quality on channels I get is fine but there are several channels that the hdtv tuner built into my television gets that the AVerTV Combo doesn't.

In the end I'll probably keep it but it's not as good as I had hoped. Maybe future drivers will help? I realize it's a new product. I really only need the analog tuner to satisfy MCE's requirements and I planned on adding another atsc tuner so hopefully I'll have better reception with the next one. Any suggestions?

deekun:

My biggest complaint is that the reception is spotty. The analog is weak, my old ATI all-in-wonder 9600 did a much better job. The atsc is acceptable - image quality on channels I get is fine but there are several channels that the hdtv tuner built into my television gets that the AVerTV Combo doesn't.

The tuner does seem a bit weak compared to others. For ATSC there will be no image quality difference. Bits are bits. As long as the tuner delivers the bits unmolested it will look the same as any other card.

deekun:

In the end I'll probably keep it but it's not as good as I had hoped. Maybe future drivers will help? I realize it's a new product. I really only need the analog tuner to satisfy MCE's requirements and I planned on adding another atsc tuner so hopefully I'll have better reception with the next one. Any suggestions?

Tweaking your antenna, checking the cable, making sure you have the minimal number of splits, maybe an amp at the antenna (as close to the antenna as possible, if not physically on the antenna). If you're getting SD analog over the antenna then chances are it's not UHF, but VHF. FWIW with Vista you don't need the analog tuner as we support the ATSC only config ( I think, memory is spotty here).

 

Thanks for the feedback Iank. I'm assuming you know a bit more about tv tuners than I so let me know where I'm completely off track.

iank:

For ATSC there will be no image quality difference. Bits are bits. As long as the tuner delivers the bits unmolested it will look the same as any other card.

I'm comparing the AVerTV ATSC tuner to the hdtv tuner built into my Toshiba lcd tv. I'm also assuming that I'm comparing apples to apples. :) Using exactly the same antenna rig, the Toshiba gets a better HD reception than the AVerTV.

iank:

Tweaking your antenna, checking the cable, making sure you have the minimal number of splits, maybe an amp at the antenna (as close to the antenna as possible, if not physically on the antenna). If you're getting SD analog over the antenna then chances are it's not UHF, but VHF. FWIW with Vista you don't need the analog tuner as we support the ATSC only config ( I think, memory is spotty here)..

I'm using a DB2 on my roof. As I explained in my earlier post, all of my comparisons were based on exactly the same antenna/cable/split/amp setup. I'm 12-15 mi from most of the transmission towers and 90% of them are in a 90 degree cone. Only 3 of the 38 available channels are VHF so I haven't really worried about that. Is this a mistake? And what is "SD Analog"?

Nice to know Vista doesn't need the analog. Maybe I should just return the AVerTV and put the money towards Vista and a better HD card.
 

Does anyone have this card?  I'd like to know how well it works, and what channels it reveives  VIA QAM.  Charter Cable especially.

I have this card. I like it a lot. Other than the benefits of having two tuners on one PCIe card, the HDTV tuner is the same as the Fusion 5. So I find that I can get all the locals where I live without any problems. I haven't tested the QAM tuning. The SDTV tuner is fine. I don't think it's as good as the Nvidia DualTV card was, but it's good quality.

The card is very small and also runs much cooler than the Nvidia or the Fusion tuners.

Just my 2c.

I too like this card, I've been tinkering with it for a week now. It's been working great without a hitch. I do notice a slight loss of cripness on the ATSC side compared to my Fusion5. Keep in mind I'm using a projector with a 92" image so I've been comparing recordings, past and present. On a 70" XBR950, I see no difference. I and my wife both see better PQ in the NTSC, however, over the recent 550Pro PCIe. I had the Dual TV awhile ago but still preferred the 550Pro on this image size. And now this Aver card does a few points better in repect to NTSC IMO. The big impact to me using this card is CPU usage, which I believe is a result of PCIe. I can record both an NTSC & ATSC channel plus watch a recorded HD program and the usage averages ~34%. That's about 15% less than my previous two card setup. When just recording on both tuners and closing out the MCE UI, usage is about 11%. So far I'm impressed.

Whoops, posted this question in another thread before I found this one - does anyone know if 2 of these will play nice in one machine?  Or better yet, actually have 2 of them and can verify this from personal experience?

Trying to figure out if that's the way to go, or use 2 VBox 164e's, or 1 VBox and 1 VistaView Saber.

End result I'm looking for is 2 analog and 2 atsc tuners using 2 pci-e 1x slots.  The analogs run off of two Bell Expressvu STB's, the atsc's run off of an attic-mounted antenna with a splitter/small amp.  Currently I'm using an Adaptec external dual tuner for the analog, an A180, and HDTV Wonder.  Hopefully clean the setup up a bit, fewer external pieces, fewer cards, less heat, fewer drivers, etc.

Stability and quality would be nice too

Running Vista Ultimate 32.

g.

 

I spoke with a technical contact I have at avermedia and they say with media center (vista x86, x64 or mce2005) it works 2 cards perfectly and offically supported by them in that configurations.   some other apps they are not sure but will test them out to verify.

Ok, thanks for the info!  Now, is this a good idea?  I mean, should I choose:

1. 2x Aver Combo Cards
2. 2x VBox 164e cards
3. 1x VBox 164e + 1x VistaView Saber 2020

I suppose I could be the guinea pig on one of these choices, but maybe someone has some advice?

g.

 

Just by looking at the prices of the cards, I would go with the 2 Aver Combo Cards. Sounds like a really good deal for what you get!

http://www.pcalchemy.com/index.php/cName/hdtv-tuner-cards?osCsid=839d5d10c912d2b3af46a19a2bd7d256

 

I would not recommend the 164e cards. They still have driver issues. They also run really hot. On mine, the heatsinks are held on with double sided sticky tape and when they get hot, the tape softens and the heatsiks fall off.

-dickm

 

Couple quick questions....

This is a PCI-E x1 slot... I only have PCI-E 16 slots on my Intel board. Will this work in the 16x slot?

Also has anyone tried this through Comcast cable?

Thanks! Dave