ok, had a quick look in PCWorld at a couple of TV cards:
-WinTV Go ! model 607, had a look at the chip which had a number I didnt recognise, so I didnt take it
-PCTV Rave from Pinnacle, which the box says has a CN878. Is this the same as a BT878 ? I feel a quick google coming on !

should be able to make a decision either tomorrow, or in the week.

-edit-
yup the CN is compatible with the BT 878, its a Connexant job - as was the chip in the Hauppauge WinTV go card, but I didnt recognise the number on that. its 8 quid more, anyway !

Last edited by Agafaster on 29-Jan-2005 at 04:45 PM.

_________________
XH558 - the worlds last flying Vulcan.
ok, its actually XL426 in the picture but you know what I mean.

@Agafaster

You have a choice then:
The WinTV card is more likely to work with my program straight away as it's pretty much what I'm using.
The Pinnacle is likely to require a bit more work - the Bt878 is the same but the tuner and the sound won't be. I don't think it'll be a problem but I don't have a Pinnacle card to test with.

The problem with all these cards is that while the Bt8x8 chip is the same, the other chips like the tuner and sound are not, so you need funky code to work out what the heck to do. That's all coming, in due course. :)

@Spirantho

Great job !

But i was wondering, yout software allows watching TV via a TV card, doesn't it ?

So is it also possible to 'grab' images or video sequences ?

That would be great

Thanks

Martin

_________________
Theres a time to live and a time to die
When its time to meet the maker
Theres a time to live but isnt it strange
That as soon as you're born you're dying

@Spirantho

I was plugging the A600 into the composite jack, and using cursor up/down to try and change between inputs..

Heres my output. Note, this crashed very quickly:


AmiTV 27/01/05.
Found Bt878-based WinTV card 0x109e 0x36e!
Configured Bt878.
Locked OK!
Device capabilities: 3.
Device initialised OK!
Interrupt status is 0xc3000226.
Locating EEPROM on Bt878....I2C returned 0xff.
Not found at 0xa0.
Locating EEPROM on Bt878....I2C returned 0xff.
Not found at 0xa2.
Locating EEPROM on Bt878....I2C returned 0xff.
Not found at 0xa4.
Locating EEPROM on Bt878....I2C returned 0xff.
Not found at 0xa6.
Locating EEPROM on Bt878....I2C returned 0xff.
Not found at 0xa8.
Locating EEPROM on Bt878....I2C returned 0xff.
Not found at 0xaa.
Locating EEPROM on Bt878....I2C returned 0xff.
Not found at 0xac.
Locating EEPROM on Bt878....I2C returned 0xff.
Not found at 0xae.
Interrupt status is 0xc1000326.
Locating tuner on Bt878....I2C returned 0xff.
Not found at 0xc0.
Locating tuner on Bt878....I2C returned 0xbc.
Tuner Found at 0xc2!
Added interrupt 16 with result 1.
Interrupt status is 0xc3000326.
Vendor ID is 0x0.
Setting Bt878 input.
Current Status is 0xb4.
Input device: 0x1b.
Width: 768. Height: 576.
HDelay: 0x78 VDelay: 0x16,
Program being created at 0x0x201aac0.
Created 3468 instructions.
Sent I2C command 0xc21fe28f.
I2C done! i=0x7d
I2C bytes 0x1fe2 written.
Sent I2C command 0xc28e308f.
I2C done! i=0x416
I2C bytes 0x8e30 written.


Can you see any obvious problems there?

@Spirantho

As luck would have it I just bought a WinTV - the Express PCI version wich has a bT878 on it.

I happened to be in Wolvo, so I picked one up from Maplin for 30 quid.
your proggy picks up the card nicely, and configures the BT878 no problem. no aerial connection ATM, but all in good time !

where do I find the latest executable from ? I tried the one from os4depot.

do you have a makefile for that source you sent ?

_________________
XH558 - the worlds last flying Vulcan.
ok, its actually XL426 in the picture but you know what I mean.

@Spirantho

> Hmm... let's see... one person from Oz, one from NZ, and one from the US.
> Any Europeans or Brits please? :)

Here's a one from the Netherlands:

AmiTV 27/01/05.
Found Bt878-based WinTV card 0x109e 0x36e!
Configured Bt878.
Locked OK!
Device capabilities: 3.
Device initialised OK!
Interrupt status is 0xe1000237.
Locating EEPROM on Bt878....I2C returned 0xff.
Not found at 0xa0.
Locating EEPROM on Bt878....I2C returned 0xff.
Not found at 0xa2.
Locating EEPROM on Bt878....I2C returned 0xff.
Not found at 0xa4.
Locating EEPROM on Bt878....I2C returned 0xff.
Not found at 0xa6.
Locating EEPROM on Bt878....I2C returned 0xff.
Not found at 0xa8.
Locating EEPROM on Bt878....I2C returned 0xff.
Not found at 0xaa.
Locating EEPROM on Bt878....I2C returned 0xff.
Not found at 0xac.
Locating EEPROM on Bt878....I2C returned 0xff.
Not found at 0xae.
Interrupt status is 0xe1000337.
Locating tuner on Bt878....I2C returned 0xff.
Not found at 0xc0.
Locating tuner on Bt878....I2C returned 0x6c.
Tuner Found at 0xc2!
Added interrupt 16 with result 1.
Interrupt status is 0xe3000206.
Vendor ID is 0x0.
Setting Bt878 input.
Current Status is 0xb4.
Input device: 0x1b.
Width: 768. Height: 576.
HDelay: 0x78 VDelay: 0x16,
Program being created at 0x0x23353c0.
Created 3468 instructions.
Sent I2C command 0xc21fe28f.
I2C done! i=0x0
I2C bytes 0x1fe2 written.
Sent I2C command 0xc28e308f.
I2C done! i=0x9
I2C bytes 0x8e30 written.
Sent I2C command 0xc220628f.
I2C done! i=0x0
I2C bytes 0x2062 written.
Sent I2C command 0xc28e308f.
I2C done! i=0x23
I2C bytes 0x8e30 written.
Frequency set to 479.
Interrupt shows a FIFO overrun - dropping DWORDS.

It works reasonably well, but it sometimes freezes and on most channels I can see some strange distortions that look like dots and horizontal lines.

Is there an option to save the output to disk (as mpeg) instead of displaying it on the screen?

Kind regards,

Dennis

@jahc

It's random whether it crashes or not -something to do with the interrupts but for the life of me I can't see why it's happening, it seems to be beyond my control. It's *possible* that the problem will go away when we have overlay support (is it in the Radeon driver yet?) but I don't know.

@AGAFaster:
The latest version is always pointed to in this thread - read backwards from the end till you come across it! Generally it's at:
www.retroreview.com/iang/AmiTV_2005mmdd.lha
where mmdd are month and day. I think the last one was on the 28th, maybe 27th.

I do have a makefile, but you don't really need it:
gcc WinTV.cpp -oAmiTV -g -lauto
is the command you need.

@A3000T

The signal should settle down after a time to an acceptable display, but occasionally it will take a few seconds, in which time it may well crash! :)

As you can probably all see, this crash is a very annoying one. No-one yet has been able to advise me why it's happening or what I can do about it..... I'm not sure at present I can do anything about it.

@Spirantho

Quote:

@AGAFaster: The latest version is always pointed to in this thread - read backwards from the end till you come across it! Generally it's at: www.retroreview.com/iang/AmiTV_2005mmdd.lha where mmdd are month and day. I think the last one was on the 28th, maybe 27th. I do have a makefile, but you don't really need it: gcc WinTV.cpp -oAmiTV -g -lauto is the command you need.

ta muchly like. I was having problems with gcc going t1ts up - might be due to the wrong SDK - I havent upgraded that yet !

I did just as you said (before you said ) on the offy that might be the case. definite improvement - still locks the beast (sometimes beyond the help of Ctrl-A-A !) occasionally though. that reminds me, must get a video source for the card...

PS: you'll never get your posts count up that way ! send 3 seperate replies...

_________________
XH558 - the worlds last flying Vulcan.
ok, its actually XL426 in the picture but you know what I mean.

Scientific Progress goes 'Boink' ?

Sorted ! Hooked my Speccy up through the RF lead, blue screen, but found out what the cursur up/down keys do !

Woohoo ! berrrilliaant ! I'm so made up I managed to get a TV source on me workbench ! eats CPU time though (but without hogging). any reason its gotta be so high ? maybe my system needs a few tweaks before code gets optimised
The picture was rather dark, though, and also b/w. any way to tweak the 'TV knobs' type controls ?


Chuffed to bits ! my only downer is Forest selling Reidy and Dawson to Spurs for 8 million quid

I'll try me A1200 via the composite port tomorrow !!

_________________
XH558 - the worlds last flying Vulcan.
ok, its actually XL426 in the picture but you know what I mean.

@Agafaster

its slow because it uses rastport functions isntead of overlay.. theres no overlay in the current gfx card drivers.. thats coming soon though. possibly in an update? maybe Rogue could fill us in. :)

does amitv run okay for you? does it crash? its very crash happy here. Hmm, I wonder if its worth mentioning that I use an XE G3@800Mhz... hmmmmmmmmmmmmm..........

@Agafaster

Hehe.. great way to test the tuner. :)

I think I mentioned before what the keys do, but here goes again:

Cursor keys Up/Down: change channel source
Left/Right: Change TV channel (might crash! :) )
+/- on keypad: Fine tuning.

If you're using a Speccy, the chances are you'll have trouble getting a good colour signal just because the modulators are so old! If it's an Issue 2 Speccy though you can twiddle the knobs inside to get a better picture, or you can upgrade the ULA (the 5C112 in Issue 2s is worse than the standard 6C001s). A signal amplifier like you get in Argos is a good helper too!

@jahc
It crashes more for you because you've not got a good signal, probably. The crash problem is related to the card not having a clean signal - the card complains by sending an interrupt which promptly crashes the A1 long before I get chance to do anything about it. If the card gets a good signal it'll probably stay happy for quite a while (I've had it run for hours).

There may be a way round it but there shouldn't need to be - there shouldn't be a condition whereby a card can freeze an entire system solid just by setting the interrupt pin.... I'm hoping this is fixed for the full release of AmigaOS4.

@jahc

aahh - well its still bloody quick even so...

it has been known to crash, but once I figured what the cursor up/down keys did, and had a signal it was rock. I have the same CPU/mobo as you.

@Spirantho
I'll try the keypad+/- tonight - I was fiddling with the left/right keys, and wandered onto BBC ! it was Newsnight, but the picture was bloody good considering I had a speccy (original 128 btw) churning out UHF ch.36 at the other end !

I just put the dark speccy screen down to a dodgy UHF lead...

I did notice that once I'd got a decent signal it didnt lock - it used to completely frag the system up if I tried to drag the AmiTV window across the wb.

actually, if you switch to the UHF without a signal, you get static - that is pretty stable too, but not much fun to watch !

PS: the 29/1/05 version works quite nicely too - any chance of contrast / brightness / colour controls, and what is the best way to get sound ?

_________________
XH558 - the worlds last flying Vulcan.
ok, its actually XL426 in the picture but you know what I mean.

@Agafaster

Ah, sound, yes....

I can try and upload a version with sound if you like but it's very preliminary, as each card maps the sound channels differently!

I'm going to start on a proper program (the version you have now is just a development program) soon which should be much better.

It'll still crash, of course. Grrr.

@Spirantho

any plans to have it as a driver for vhi studio?

Mark

_________________
IceStar Media Ltd.

@Mark

Maybe.. one step at a time, though.

I do have VHI Studio fully registered so it's quite possible.

@Spirantho

does VHI studio work reasonably on an A1 ? I guess it'll be emulated...

re: sound - my TV card came with a lead - it had a pair of stereo jack plugs on either end to use with the sound card - one way to do it I'spose !
have you tried AHI to map the sound, or do you mean from the TVcard end ? as I said earlier I have a WinTV-Express (hauppauge card cheapie job), I can test for you if you want...

Last edited by Agafaster on 01-Feb-2005 at 11:43 AM.

_________________
XH558 - the worlds last flying Vulcan.
ok, its actually XL426 in the picture but you know what I mean.

@Agafaster

To be quite honest I've not tried. It will be emulated AFAIK.

I'm hoping to get the TV card to work on a classic Amiga too, you see (I have a Prometheus in my A4000). Just need OS4 for it really, though I may try and make a OS3.9 version too. Have to get my Prommy flashed though!

@Spirantho

Just had a quick google - VHI studio will work on OS4 - user tested and confirmed to work.

it goes on to say it supports WarpUp so when OS4 gets this, VHI studio will use the PPC side, as opposed to emulation.

_________________
XH558 - the worlds last flying Vulcan.
ok, its actually XL426 in the picture but you know what I mean.

@Agafaster

yes i use VHI STUDIO on my a1 with os4..

_________________
See my blog and collection website! . https://www.blog.amigaguru.com

@Toaks

Quote:

@Agafaster yes i use VHI STUDIO on my a1 with os4..

For what - capturing pics and video from TV picture?

_________________
"Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others." (Groucho Marx)