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HELP! PC Hardware (software?) related question

MelkorMelkor Elite Ranger
Alright folks, I'm tearing my hair out trying to figure out this one.

I'm trying to display an image from a video source on my computer. I've got a GeForce 4 that's got video in/out capability. I downloaded the WDM drivers from nvidea and my system (Windows 2000) recognizes the hardware. But I need to know where/how I tell media player to use that as a video source. Or if that's not possible, what I need to download/purchase in order to display the picture on my monitor.

Long story short, I recently bought a PS2 and I'm trying to pipe it through my computer instead of a TV. I've got the sound coming through my Line In port on my soundcard and I've got a cable that allows me to hook the PS2 up to an S-Video in, which my video card has. Sound works, video in/out hardware appears to be working correctly driver wise, but I need to know what to do to make the picture appear on the screen.

Spec info for this subject
Visiontek Ti4600 GeForce 4
Windows2k OS with latest service pack
Latest nVidia drivers for both the video in/out functionality as well as normal video card opperation.

ANY help on the subject will be greatly appreciated.. If you want to talk to me directly on the matter, my ICQ number is 11889862

Comments

  • Random ChaosRandom Chaos Actually Carefully-selected Order in disguise
    You need a program that will activate and control the video overlay from the Video In to the Video Out.

    I'd expect if your card has Video In as part of it, it would have such a program included, if not, I don't know...
  • AnlaShokAnlaShok Democrat From Hell
    My Ti4600 came with the apps to do that. I have not yet gone ahead and installed them, but I intend to do so eventually.

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    AnlaShok, Captain of the Gray Hand of Fate Squadron
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    Wielder of the Big Heavy Hammer of Obvious Truth
    "FABRICATI DIEM, PVNC!"
  • Umm..yeah, that's gonna be a mess...

    Basically, you'll need some software to take the video in source and put it on the screen, my visiontek gf4 came with a lite version of powerdirector to do that..although, all you get is this like 320x240 "preview" window, I have no idea how to get that to full screen.
  • MelkorMelkor Elite Ranger
    Same as mine Keyan.. but that's video editing software so for just displaying what's on the input, it's....extremely limited.

    My question I guess is this... is there any freewear out there that you guys know of that will allow me to just play video off the input for this without having to go out and spend an arm and a leg for a video editing package that will display full screen? I know it can be done, I've seen it with prior GeForce and other cards.. I just don't know how to do it.. heh.
  • I use a TV Tuner Card (ATI TV Wonder) to pipe in a standard TV Signal into the PC. Its about $50US, and if you hook a coax to it from your cable, you can watch Cable TV or anything else on your screen. It also comes with some video editing features as well. Its not bad...It goes right thru my GeForce card. The software has a few Direct 8.1 and above issues but they are easy to work with.

    Hope that helps..


    [This message has been edited by ZocaloHobo (edited 11-15-2002).]
  • Random ChaosRandom Chaos Actually Carefully-selected Order in disguise
    ATI Cards suck...I have one...ATI TV Wonder VE - the software is good, but memory leak galore. And the drivers are c**p. The card itself is good. Once you get it installed, it generally works well, but you need at least Win2k SP2 to get a good run. Win2k having better memory management then Win9x means you can actually run the tunner for more then 2 hours without rebooting.

    If you have Linux, you can get 3rd party drivers and apps that actually work properly.
  • I hearya that ATI cards do suck, but the TV tuner card works pretty good on my box (PIV 1.8, 768MB RAM, WinXP Pro). It has a few small issues, example, it wont automatically refresh the screen when you start it and you have to change the display settings from 32bit to 16bit and back again for it to work.

    Do you know of any other Tuner cards that are better? Expecially in the driver/software department?
  • Random ChaosRandom Chaos Actually Carefully-selected Order in disguise
    Let me give you some ideas on my card:

    First installed on WinME (yeah...that OS sucks). Required WebTV installed for it to work. Tells you that NO WHERE. You have to install WebTV first, otherwise the drivers don't install right. You can't go back and reinstall the drivers to get it to work right. The CD was screwed up...manual provided was for an EARLIER version of the CD. The manual said to not auto-install the drivers but to use their setup program to install them, so you are supposed to cancel the Autoinstall. Their driver didn't install any drivers. Took a half hour of hunting the CD to even find the drivers. Their software in WinME crashes after 2 hours of use and you have to reboot your computer so it doesn't crash sooner first - HUGE memory hole. Not only did the manual not be the right one for that CD, but neither the manual, the CD, nor the website mentioned needing WebTV for it to work. I found that on some 3rd party support site. Nice of ATI to tell you. Apparently some DLLs in WebTV are needed for it to work right under WinME.

    Then I upgraded to Win2k. Base install with no service packs initially. TV Tuner app would crash on ANY window resize function, no mater what. Had to reboot to WinME to watch TV.

    Then I upgraded to Service Pack 3 for Win2k. Tuner works fine now. For the first time EVER!

    POS ATI.
  • You had some real bad luck..... [img]http://216.15.145.59/mainforums/frown.gif[/img]

    On mine, I installed it first in WIN98. After finding the right drivers and installing them...(Had to guess, ATIs instructions were/are a joke) which took me about 3 hours. Worked fine until I went to DX 8.0, then it stopped working. Had to wait for a month until ATI updated their drivers so I download a fix. Worked fine after that. Wiped and Updated to WINME, biggest POS OS I ever laid my eyes on...Got smart and went back to WIN98 until I built my current box, Which I loaded WINXP Pro on (Which is the Best IMO WinOS)...Besides the refresh problems when you start it, its working great. Makes great screenies and Video CDs which play on my PS2.

    It was a headache to setup but it works.
  • MelkorMelkor Elite Ranger
    Don't mean to sound rude, but I'm not looking for a hardware solution. I need software to read the input, that's all, or a way to tell the existing software on my system to use the input. I'm not spending $50 on a TV Tuner card when I dont intend to watch TV in the first place. Any ideas on SOFTWARE, preferably FREEWARE would be greatly appreciated.
  • Random ChaosRandom Chaos Actually Carefully-selected Order in disguise
    Do you have any software to set your hardware overlay to be your TV In port? If so, you can actually watch it in DVDPlayer that's in the Windows directory (at least is on 9x systems).

    DVDPlayer doesn't actually set the overlay source, it only offers a display window for it. It assumes that your only source would be a hardware decoder for DVD input...but systems never come with those anymore [img]http://216.15.145.59/mainforums/smile.gif[/img]

    I know on my laptop (which has a hardware controled hotkey for changing source) I can do this on. I assume if you have software that can chance source it would also work...
  • MelkorMelkor Elite Ranger
    On win9x you can change that in the multimedia properties if memory serves, but that's not present in win2k that I've been able to find..
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    What they all said. [img]http://216.15.145.59/mainforums/smile.gif[/img]

    My card (Asus V6800 deluxe) has similar features. Part of the software package that came with it was the Asus Live utility, which displays the video in signal on screen. You need something like this. Of course, I found that the program quality was crap and it only worked with Asus's drivers (not the detonators) so I went out and got a Leadtek Winfast TV2000XP instead and use that for my PS2.

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  • MelkorMelkor Elite Ranger
    Thanks biggles, what you said is a start..

    Yes, I know it should ahve been included with the card, thank you visiontek for giving me half the software I need.. But what I need from you guys, isn't advice on a hardware solution to my problem. I mean, I just dropped a nice chunk of change on this thing, I dont' want to go spend even more money to do something I should already be able to do as is. Does anyone here know of any freeware software I can download that will allow me to veiw the video in source, or does anyone here know how to tell win2k to use the video in as a source for media player or whatever. As I stated before this could be done in win9x but I can't find how to do it on win2k. Biggles, you've been the closest to answer my question, but it's still not enough to get this working.


    Zocolohobo, how did you get VCDs to play on your PS2? I thought they weren't supposed to be able to? Is it a mod chip or did you use some specific software to make the VCD?
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