Asus Ps3-100: Image Is Grey

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r0lZ
Member
Posts: 3
https://ask.fm/kuchniewarszawa
Joined: 27 Oct 2010, 10:46

Post by r0lZ »

Hi,

I have used ChrisTV pro (registered) in the past with a medion tuner, under XP, and it worked correctly.
Under Win7 x64, and a new computer with the same card, ChrisTV displayed systematically a grey window instead of the TV image. Since that TV card is now very old and the drivers are difficult to find and install under Win7, I have bought a new TV card: Asus My Cinema PS3-100/PTS/FM/AV/RC. It works well with all softwares I've checked so far, except with ChrisTV.

The problem is strange: the card is recognized, and the channels scan works well. But as soon as ChrisTV displays a channel, the output window is black for a short time (less than 1 second), and then it turns grey (an uniform medium grey), for all channels. The recordings are grey too. Strangely, it seems that the grey is a layer displayed on top of the video, as sometimes, a black border is visible in the bottom of the image.

I have tried all rendering modes, without success.

Furthermore, after the problem, all other TV programs I have on my computer (Windows Media Center, ArcSoft Total Media and K!TV) have exactly the same problem: the sound is OK, but the image is grey. Rebooting is not sufficient to fix the problem, and I have to use System Restore to get those programs working correctly again. So, KrisTV changes something globally, in the system or in the TV card, that affects all programs. Of course, I can't use ChrisTV any more.

I have searched the forum and doc for a similar problem, but I've found nothing. Is it a known problem or bug? Is it a workaround?

Thanks!

Here is the last log:

Code: Select all


14:46:43.376: --------------------------------------------------------------
14:46:43.404: --- ChrisTV PVR Professional version 5.61 ---
14:46:43.405: --- Today : 05-Feb-11 ---
14:46:43.405: --- ChrisTV is initializing ... ---
14:46:43.405: --- Checking System ... ---
14:46:43.406: --- Operating System Found :  Windows 7  Build(7600) with DirectX 4.09.00.0904
14:46:43.406: --- ChrisTV is begining the graph filter ---
14:46:43.518: --- Video Window is rendered using VMR ---
14:46:43.518: Inf - Searching for DirectShow filters...
14:46:43.533: Err - LoadFilter Error : Class not registered 
14:46:43.537: Err - LoadFilter Error : Class not registered 
14:46:43.612: Inf - Deinterlace Filter NOT Found.
14:46:43.612: Inf - FFDShow Filter NOT Found.
14:46:43.612: Inf - Search Done.
14:46:43.613: Inf - Sound Playback Mixer 0: Speakers (Realtek High Definiti
14:46:43.613: Inf - Sound Recording Mixer 0: Speakers (Realtek High Definiti
14:46:43.684: Inf - Video Capture Sources : Found : 713x BDA Analog Capture
14:46:43.750: Inf - Video Capture Sources : Using : 713x BDA Analog Capture
14:46:43.857: Inf - Creating the graph...
14:46:43.858: Inf - VMR9 AspectRatioMode: Stretched
14:46:43.858: Inf - Setting Video Standard : 3
14:46:43.859: Inf - Done.
14:46:43.859: Inf - "Capture" : Capture Video Pin Found.
14:46:43.860: Inf - "Audio" :  Audio Pin Found.
14:46:43.862: Inf - Capture Device - NO MPEG Hardware Encoder.
14:46:43.991: Inf - Rendering audio pin OK
14:46:45.349: Inf - capture_pin_forced 1.
14:46:45.349: Inf1 - The Graph has been created.
14:46:45.354: Inf - Preview Graph :
14:46:45.354: Inf - Filter : Audio Renderer
14:46:45.355: Inf - Filter : VideoWindow1
14:46:45.355: Inf - Filter : Color Space Converter
14:46:45.355: Inf - Filter : AVI Decompressor
14:46:45.356: Inf - Filter : Smart Tee
14:46:45.356: Inf - Filter : TV Capture Filter
14:46:45.356: Inf - Filter : 713x BDA Analog Xbar
14:46:45.357: Inf - Filter : 713x BDA Analog TV Audio
14:46:45.357: Inf - Filter : 713x BDA Analog TV Tuner
14:46:45.358: Inf - TVAudio search.
14:46:45.358: Inf - Crossbar search.
14:46:45.358: Inf - Done.
14:46:45.358: Err - Could not find IID_IAMCrossbar2 - required for some combo cards
14:46:45.359: Inf - Checking Overlay...
14:46:45.359: Inf - VMR9 AspectRatioMode: Stretched
14:46:45.359: Inf - Done.
14:46:45.360: Inf - Crossbar : 713x BDA Analog Xbar
14:46:45.360: Inf - Crossbar : Audio Tuner In : Pin : 3
14:46:45.360: Inf - Crossbar : Audio Line In 3 : Pin : 4
14:46:45.360: Inf - Crossbar : Audio Decoder Out : Pin : 1
14:46:45.361: Inf - Crossbar : 713x BDA Analog Xbar
14:46:45.361: Inf - Using Crossbar Pin Video Tuner In : 0
14:46:45.361: Inf - Using Crossbar Pin Video Composite In : 1
14:46:45.362: Inf - Using Crossbar Pin S-Video In : 2
14:46:45.362: Inf - Crossbar Pin Video Decoder Out : 0
14:46:45.362: --- ChrisTV is disabling MSP ---
14:46:45.362: --- ChrisTV is OK ---
14:46:45.365: Inf - Channels.ini file is present
14:46:45.365: Inf - Preparing Crossbar...
14:46:45.470: Inf - Prepare graph...
14:46:46.926: Inf - Graph Playing.
14:46:47.814: Inf - Loading settings...
14:46:47.821: Inf - Creating Video Settings Window  ...
14:46:48.009: Inf - Video Window - 7
14:46:48.127: Inf - View Change - Preview Resolution : 640x480
14:46:48.270: Inf - Video Window - 8
14:46:48.274: Inf - Video Window - 9
14:46:48.280: Inf - Video Window - 10
14:46:48.280: Inf - Video Window - 11
14:46:48.319: Inf - TV Card with MPEG Hardware Encoder : Generic TV Card with MPEG HW Encoder
14:46:48.331: Inf - Video Window - 12
14:46:48.339: Inf - Video Window - 13
14:46:48.350: Inf - Video Window - 14
14:46:48.467: Inf - Video Window - 15
14:46:48.599: Err - No sound device or input
14:46:48.601: Inf - Loading done.
14:46:48.601: Inf - Recreating graph - VMR9+Advanced.
14:46:48.602: Inf - Recreating graph.
14:46:48.645: Inf - Start NukeDownStream...
14:46:48.680: Inf - NukeDown Completed.
14:46:48.680: Inf - Recreate_render_radio : 0
14:46:48.703: Inf - Rendering audio pin OK
14:46:48.735: Inf - Video Renderer: VMR
14:46:48.833: Inf - capture_pin_forced : active
14:46:48.833: Inf - Creating filters list.
14:46:48.834: Inf - Rendering filter list...
14:46:48.834: Inf - Rendering CaptureFilter Video Pin.
14:46:48.920: Inf - Rendering filter list done.
14:46:48.920: Inf1 - The Graph has been created.
14:46:49.067: Inf - VMR9 AspectRatioMode: Stretched
14:46:49.067: Inf - Preview Graph :
14:46:49.069: Inf - Filter : VideoWindow1
14:46:49.069: Inf - Filter : Audio Renderer
14:46:49.070: Inf - Filter : Color Space Converter
14:46:49.070: Inf - Filter : AVI Decompressor
14:46:49.070: Inf - Filter : Smart Tee
14:46:49.071: Inf - Filter : TV Capture Filter
14:46:49.071: Inf - Filter : 713x BDA Analog Xbar
14:46:49.071: Inf - Filter : 713x BDA Analog TV Audio
14:46:49.072: Inf - Filter : 713x BDA Analog TV Tuner
14:46:49.072: Inf - END Preview Graph.
14:46:49.072: Inf - Done.
14:46:49.315: Inf - Creating Channel Settings Window.
14:46:49.316: Inf - Detecting modes available...
14:46:49.323: Inf - Done.
14:46:49.323: Inf - Loading TV Icons...
14:46:49.323: Inf - Searching for available TV Icons ...
14:46:49.525: Inf - TV Icons added : 232
14:46:49.525: Inf - Done.
14:46:49.526: Inf - Loading channels ...
14:46:49.526: Inf - Channels Count : 31
14:46:49.600: Inf - Done1.
14:46:49.601: Inf - Done2.
14:46:50.328: Inf - Tunning last channel...
14:46:50.960: Inf - Last channel TV
14:46:50.960: Inf - Done.
14:46:50.961: Inf - Load channel settings...
14:46:51.588: Inf - Done.
14:46:51.588: Inf - Audio Crossbar
14:46:51.590: Inf - Done.
14:46:51.591: Inf - Country list...
14:46:51.702: Inf - Done.
14:46:51.704: Inf - Show Main Form...
14:46:51.705: Inf - Loading last settings.
14:46:51.705: Inf - The Channels Menu is being created now ...
14:46:51.772: Inf - Done.
14:46:51.774: Inf - Done.
14:46:51.774: Inf - Searching for available language files ...
14:46:51.775: Inf - Loading language ...
14:46:51.989: Inf - Done.
14:46:51.989: Inf - English language loaded.
14:46:52.000: Inf - ShowMainForm Ended.
14:46:52.033: Inf - MPEG Filters NOT Found.
14:46:52.036: Inf - Create SkinPanel.
14:46:52.175: Inf - SkinPanel created.
14:46:52.183: Inf - Agent inform christv_mainform_opened.
14:46:52.183: Inf - Sound Timer.
14:46:52.185: Inf - Sound Timer done.
14:48:23.897: Inf - Clearing graph....
14:48:23.983: Inf - Graph Stopped.
14:48:23.992: Inf - Filters disconnect.
14:48:23.994: Inf - Graph Cleared.
14:48:23.995: Inf - Done.
14:48:23.995: Inf - Saving ChrisTV settings & channels ...
14:48:24.051: Inf - Done.
14:48:24.054: --- ChrisTV is closing now ---

r0lZ
Member
Posts: 3
Joined: 27 Oct 2010, 10:46

Post by r0lZ »

Sorry, I've found the problem. The ChrisTV default settings for the contrast and the saturation are completely wrong! With my TV card (as well as with the other cards I have used recently), they need to be 203 and 173 respectively, in the ChrisTV GUI. (In the registry, they are stored differently: contrast = 76 and saturation = 70. I've found that adding 127 to these values in the ChrisTV GUI restores the settings to the correct default values in the registry.)

If I understand correctly, ChrisTV assumes that the correct values are the middle ones (128 anywhere), but with many TV cards, that values correspond to 0. A contrast of 0 produces a monochrome image. Similarly, the default saturation of 0 produces a black and white image. Combining the two produces the uniform gray image. Note that with my TV cards, it is possible to force negative contrast and saturations values. Not really useful, but it's a fact! I suppose that many cards do not allow negative values, hence the defaults for ChrisTV.

Anyway, I think there are still two bugs in ChrisTV:

1. ChrisTV forces the contrast and the saturation to 127 by default, and the result is the grey image. IMO, it should use the values stored in the registry when the program is installed or when it is run for the first time, instead of forcing wrong values. And BTW, it does the same thing for the other view options: the brightness is forced to 127 instead of the original value 128 (but this has no visible effect), and the other settings are modified as well globally if the user changes them in the GUI.

2. IMO, even when the user changes the view settings, the program should not modify the view options globally, or it should restore them when the program is closed.

Chris, can you do something to fix those problems? I'm sure many users decide to not buy ChrisTV just because it cannot display the image correctly.
Thanks in advance.

Oh, BTW, there are also several problems with the default paths to store the settings and the recordings: under Vista and Win7, you CANNOT write in the root of C:\, and in Program Files. So, IMO, a better default for the recordings is the My Video folder, and the settings should be stored in the %APPDATA% folder.
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