confused kate
01-08-2002, 12:36 PM
Hi! Maybe someone out there will have pity on a tech-handicapped housewife!
I just got the ati tv wonder ve pci card and have a couple of questions.
I have a Compaq desktop (mod#5360) amd k-6, approx 350 mhz proc., 192 memory, 10 gb HD. My OS is win 2000.
1) The picture is kind of grainy - like digital pixels,especially when its on full screen,(any small words on the pc tv are impossible to read!) quite unlike the quality on my tv screen. Is there anything I can do to fix that, such as upgrade the pci card , or is this the way it works with these cards?
2)The picture freezes slightly every couple of seconds, the video stream is just not seamless.
3)I keep getting a pop up message every time I load the tv that says, "video capture and tv-on demand performance will be degraded on this system as DMA for the hard disk is not enabled. Please check the system settings in the windows control panel for this device-ST310231A." I checked my hard disk and the DMA box is checked and it says it is enabled. any ideas what it means and how to correct it?
4) I see that saving an hour of tv uses over a full GB of my hard disk! Is this normal? I thought I would be able to store dozens of programs like tivo?! are there other versions of the card that can compress better?
5)I dont use speakers. I connect my headphones directly to the sound card. However, the sound can barely be heard even when the volume is on the highest. can better headphones fix that or what?
6)I see a lot of talk about different kinds of graphic and video cards. I have no idea what kind I have or how to find out if I need a better model that will solve any of the above problems.
7) will the ati pro 128 or other model be better in picture quality etc. or is it just that they have additional features?
8) I just installed a dvd drive. I noticed that the noise it makes is much louder than the cd rom I had before. Is this normal?
9)Will any screen / picture quality problems Im having with the tv be the same with dvd picture quality due to my system, video card etc., or is the dvd picture a separate story.( my picture quality with games was pretty good).
Sorry for going on like this but Im at my wits end with all this tech stuff and would appreciate any help.
please post any or all of your thoughts or email me at kaputki@yahoo.com
Thanks loads, Kate:confused: :)
I just got the ati tv wonder ve pci card and have a couple of questions.
I have a Compaq desktop (mod#5360) amd k-6, approx 350 mhz proc., 192 memory, 10 gb HD. My OS is win 2000.
1) The picture is kind of grainy - like digital pixels,especially when its on full screen,(any small words on the pc tv are impossible to read!) quite unlike the quality on my tv screen. Is there anything I can do to fix that, such as upgrade the pci card , or is this the way it works with these cards?
2)The picture freezes slightly every couple of seconds, the video stream is just not seamless.
3)I keep getting a pop up message every time I load the tv that says, "video capture and tv-on demand performance will be degraded on this system as DMA for the hard disk is not enabled. Please check the system settings in the windows control panel for this device-ST310231A." I checked my hard disk and the DMA box is checked and it says it is enabled. any ideas what it means and how to correct it?
4) I see that saving an hour of tv uses over a full GB of my hard disk! Is this normal? I thought I would be able to store dozens of programs like tivo?! are there other versions of the card that can compress better?
5)I dont use speakers. I connect my headphones directly to the sound card. However, the sound can barely be heard even when the volume is on the highest. can better headphones fix that or what?
6)I see a lot of talk about different kinds of graphic and video cards. I have no idea what kind I have or how to find out if I need a better model that will solve any of the above problems.
7) will the ati pro 128 or other model be better in picture quality etc. or is it just that they have additional features?
8) I just installed a dvd drive. I noticed that the noise it makes is much louder than the cd rom I had before. Is this normal?
9)Will any screen / picture quality problems Im having with the tv be the same with dvd picture quality due to my system, video card etc., or is the dvd picture a separate story.( my picture quality with games was pretty good).
Sorry for going on like this but Im at my wits end with all this tech stuff and would appreciate any help.
please post any or all of your thoughts or email me at kaputki@yahoo.com
Thanks loads, Kate:confused: :)