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FusionHDTV7 RT Gold
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all_american9




Joined: 15 Jan 2008
Posts: 7



PostLink    Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 3:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote


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No & if that were the case then I’d pick up the weaker channels. Additionally I tried using my indoor Terk antenna which works fine for picking up my 3 closest stations this didn’t work either for the FusionHDTV7. And of course as stated my outdoor antenna set up works fine for the 3 other tuners.
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JustGreg




Joined: 07 Mar 2006
Posts: 3098
Location: Kenosha, WI


PostLink    Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 4:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think AR might be onto something. Take a read here:

http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/basics.html

If your application conforms to these formulas, you should next request a replacement card as it may be defective. I'm not getting in line to bash you, but you really should rule out all possibilities before making the claim you did. Not because I have any allegiance to any one product but because logic demands it and is intolerable of anything else. A concensus is not one persons opinion or experience but rather a large number of like results.

The amp on the roof is fine as long as the antenna is small and the source far away. If the antenna is big and the source close, and you're adding yet ANOTHER amp downstream closer to the card, (big antenna's don't NEED an amp) you're creating your own problems. Even the cable distance from antena to OTA receiver has to be factored in too. There's a science behind this...even more so with an HD feed.

The distances you say you are from the sources should provide solid HD/SD reception. This is of course assuming good line of sight to the source. If there are terrestrial obstructions such as huge hills or mountains then logic also dictates that it's game over. HD signals travel differently than the 'old' signals too. It's important to have an antenna specifically designed for the HD age. I doubt very much this manufacturer tested their prototype with their own 'tower' sitting in the next room and called it good because it worked. There has to be more to this thread than that.

Greg

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Greg

"Is it ignorance or apathy? Hey, I don't know and I don't care!" --Jimmy Buffett
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JustGreg




Joined: 07 Mar 2006
Posts: 3098
Location: Kenosha, WI


PostLink    Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 4:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

all_american9 wrote:
No & if that were the case then I’d pick up the weaker channels. Additionally I tried using my indoor Terk antenna which works fine for picking up my 3 closest stations this didn’t work either for the FusionHDTV7. And of course as stated my outdoor antenna set up works fine for the 3 other tuners.

You posted while I was preparing mine. Call them. Have them send you another one. Tell them where you're hanging out and who you're talking to (us) and the size of the audience. We're prospective consumers. I'll bet you a keg of Kal's homemade beer that they'll be more than happy to bring you into their loop to resolve this. I have so much to say about this because I'm going to add OTA soon (after Feb 09) as another source for my home theater.

Good luck.

Greg

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"Is it ignorance or apathy? Hey, I don't know and I don't care!" --Jimmy Buffett
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AnalogRocks
Forum Moderator



Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 26690
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

TV/Projector: Sony 1252Q, AMPRO 4000G


PostLink    Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 4:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

JustGreg wrote:
all_american9 wrote:
No & if that were the case then I’d pick up the weaker channels. Additionally I tried using my indoor Terk antenna which works fine for picking up my 3 closest stations this didn’t work either for the FusionHDTV7. And of course as stated my outdoor antenna set up works fine for the 3 other tuners.

You posted while I was preparing mine. Call them. Have them send you another one. Tell them where you're hanging out and who you're talking to (us) and the size of the audience. We're prospective consumers. I'll bet you a keg of Kal's homemade beer that they'll be more than happy to bring you into their loop to resolve this. I have so much to say about this because I'm going to add OTA soon (after Feb 09) as another source for my home theater.

Good luck.

Greg


I STILL don't have an HD tuner in the Green Machine. I need one that can do clear cable and OTA. I was thinking MYHD 130 but it uses pass thorugh and once I get my custom 1080i/96 dialed in from the ATi card I don't want to change.

If the Fusion team is watching this you have a persepctive customer here too. The closer it get's to 2009 the more you will have and us theater geek's are the first to buy and also the first to trash a poorly working product.

Help all_american9 so we can see if he got a bad card or if your card is truly not as good as previous models.

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emdawgz1




Joined: 14 Mar 2006
Posts: 7949



PostLink    Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 4:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

all_american9 wrote:
No & if that were the case then I’d pick up the weaker channels. Additionally I tried using my indoor Terk antenna which works fine for picking up my 3 closest stations this didn’t work either for the FusionHDTV7. And of course as stated my outdoor antenna set up works fine for the 3 other tuners.


Not true.

To recieve a good hd signal you need a signal 20db above the noise floor.

Your amp might be boosting both the signal AND the noise. In which case you'd get a strong signal but it still wouldnt be useful. Try taking out the amp and see what happens.

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AnalogRocks
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Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 26690
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

TV/Projector: Sony 1252Q, AMPRO 4000G


PostLink    Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 5:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ask a ham radio operator you boost the incomming signal you boost the noise along with it. I'm just wondering if the new 7 series tuner is more sensitive to an overley 'hot' signal. I know my Ati HDTV Wonder wouldn't work at all on any chanel's with the 18db amp I tried. Meanwhile that same amp did wonder's to fix my analog cable signal.

Also I have a Samsung indoor HDTV antenna and it has an amp. Doens't work at all with my ATi card. Worked great with my OTA analog tuner, and yes it's specifically designed for HDTV.

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JustGreg




Joined: 07 Mar 2006
Posts: 3098
Location: Kenosha, WI


PostLink    Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 5:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

AnalogRocks wrote:
Ask a ham radio operator you boost the incomming signal you boost the noise along with it. I'm just wondering if the new 7 series tuner is more sensitive to an overley 'hot' signal. I know my Ati HDTV Wonder wouldn't work at all on any chanel's with the 18db amp I tried. Meanwhile that same amp did wonder's to fix my analog cable signal.

Also I have a Samsung indoor HDTV antenna and it has an amp. Doens't work at all with my ATi card. Worked great with my OTA analog tuner, and yes it's specifically designed for HDTV.

Yeah I'm in a tough spot also what with being equidistant from Chicago and Milwaukee. I'm in a Steven King-esque dead zone. As luck would have it, every single house around me that was built the same time in the late 70's has an antenna tower concreted into the ground. My house only had a little mini tower on the roof which I've long since yanked out. (I had the antenna, a DishNetwork dish, a DirectTV dish, and it was looking like a Russian spy trawler up there). My initial OTA attempts were with the ancient antenna that was already up there, and a couple variable gain AGC amps down in the basement near the Motorola OTA receiver so I have nothing anywhere near a good history to base my abilities to get HD OTA signals on. I have since done alot of research on antennas and decided that anything In-Attic wouldn't work for me due to the distance between sources. I also think the OTA receivers have come a long way since my first attempts 3 years ago.

But I'm off topic in a way. This thread is discussing PC card tuners not what I'm talking about. My apologies to the OP for that.

However, for the life of me I can't see why anybody would want an HDTV PC tuner card and all the BS that goes with keeping a Winblows system stable enough to make it work. Especially when you factor in all the drivers and codecs already banging heads in an HTPC machine.
I haven't done any research but I'll bet that card and all it's do-dads cost as much as a standalone HDTV OTA tuner. <shrug>
We'll see how it plays out. I may change my tune, or at least my attitude, but I doubt it. BD PC ROM drive prices would have to come way down below the price of a standalone BD player and OTA HDTV tuner for me to even consider depending on an HTPC. For me it goes back to the old "All your eggs in one basket" thing.

Fun topic tho. Very pre-emptive of the 09 switchover.

Greg

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AnalogRocks
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Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 26690
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

TV/Projector: Sony 1252Q, AMPRO 4000G


PostLink    Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 6:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

You know what's funny Greg? ( besides me in a tu tu ) I have been to CirCity, Best Buy, Sears, Radio Shack, The Source and numerous other stores and I always get the same answer on an OTA tunner. Sorry we don't cary any. Or we had 1 in stock and it's gone.

Now I know someone's going to link to a whole bunch of NIB OTA tuners, but I haven't seen the availability. I know at least 15 people with 'HD Ready' TV's with componet or DVI input's but no way to get a tunner.

I did get a slighty better answer from the CC guys on superbowl weekend. Yes they cary one model, in stock? On superbowl weekend? Are you kidding?

He did tell me the US government is offering two $40 rebates per houshold on about 8 different models of stand alone tuners.

So maybe there's hope yet to find a stand alone. Hell I'd throw one on a spare CRT monitor and get a better picture than most LCD's( and don't we all have spare CRT monitors laying about? )

Next time im stateside I'll ask again at all the usual suspects stores and see what they have for me if anything.

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all_american9




Joined: 15 Jan 2008
Posts: 7



PostLink    Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 8:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I am already well aware of the antenna basics. I read this link a long time ago as I am sure others have on here as well. Any amplification is used to overcome signal loss. In fact I already calculated the amount of RG6 I would be running & what amount of amplification would be needed prior to buying anything. In my situation, only UHF channels in my area are broadcast in HD/SD & therefore I only have a UHF antenna & preamp that is specifically UHF only; furthermore I haven’t watched any analog broadcasts since 2005. For the last two years I have had such good performance from my Air GT using the LG 5th chipset on my HTPC I was hoping there would be a 6th by LG available in a PC card; however I haven’t seen anything yet. Also I would have preferred an internal rather than external USB card but this unit had the best reviews and it has performed up to its reviews.

Reading about the chipset used by the FusionHDTV7 I was very interested in trying it plus the fact that it had PIP. In addition I wanted to replace my ATI 650 in my desktop PC with a card that has QAM capabilities & I was hoping the HDTV7 would be it. Possibly the card is bad and or it’s a bad design by Dvico & the chipset itself works well? I don’t believe I will replace FusionHDTV7 because it takes me 3 hrs to disconnect/reconnect & re-set Windows Media Center. So for now I’ll go for refund on this unit. I would be glad to hear about anyone that tries this card though & it certainly is inexpensive @ $100 bucks especially after paying $170 and $140 for my last two cards.

Cheers
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AnalogRocks
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Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 26690
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

TV/Projector: Sony 1252Q, AMPRO 4000G


PostLink    Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 5:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

all_american9 wrote:
I am already well aware of the antenna basics. I read this link a long time ago as I am sure others have on here as well. Any amplification is used to overcome signal loss. In fact I already calculated the amount of RG6 I would be running & what amount of amplification would be needed prior to buying anything. In my situation, only UHF channels in my area are broadcast in HD/SD & therefore I only have a UHF antenna & preamp that is specifically UHF only; furthermore I haven’t watched any analog broadcasts since 2005. For the last two years I have had such good performance from my Air GT using the LG 5th chipset on my HTPC I was hoping there would be a 6th by LG available in a PC card; however I haven’t seen anything yet. Also I would have preferred an internal rather than external USB card but this unit had the best reviews and it has performed up to its reviews.

Reading about the chipset used by the FusionHDTV7 I was very interested in trying it plus the fact that it had PIP. In addition I wanted to replace my ATI 650 in my desktop PC with a card that has QAM capabilities & I was hoping the HDTV7 would be it. Possibly the card is bad and or it’s a bad design by Dvico & the chipset itself works well? I don’t believe I will replace FusionHDTV7 because it takes me 3 hrs to disconnect/reconnect & re-set Windows Media Center. So for now I’ll go for refund on this unit. I would be glad to hear about anyone that tries this card though & it certainly is inexpensive @ $100 bucks especially after paying $170 and $140 for my last two cards.

Cheers


Thumbs Up glad to hear you did your homework. I hope someone else takes a chance on this card too. I'd like to see another review.

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AFryia




Joined: 09 Mar 2006
Posts: 956
Location: S.E. Michigan VPH-G70Q


PostLink    Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 1:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just installed this card last night and so far so good. It's just a little thing isn't it.



Problems encountered:

I followed the instructions and downloaded the latest FUSIONHD software. The PC struggled with recognizing the hardware. Thumbs Down

Install from the CD that came with it hardware recognized and all drivers loaded automatically. Thumbs Up

I got MCE2005 to tune both tuners. Thumbs Up

This card found a couple more stations that my STB OTA HD box did not. Smile

Aspect ratio control could use better explanation either on screen or in the manual. Sad

PME On/Off Thumbs Up

Remote, got to learn another GD remote Sad


I don't know how the image quality compares to my STB yet, I only watched 10 minutes of TV.

Next step time shifting and recording.
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AnalogRocks
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Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

TV/Projector: Sony 1252Q, AMPRO 4000G


PostLink    Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 6:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Excellent. Keep us posted.
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AvgOrdinaryGuy




Joined: 03 Dec 2006
Posts: 123
Location: Northeast Arkansas USA


PostLink    Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 2:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

AFryia wrote:
I don't know how the image quality compares to my STB yet, I only watched 10 minutes of TV.
A TV tuner card has no affect on image quality. It just captures the digital transport stream. Your graphics adapter (video card) and associated drivers, is where image quality is determined. Still, there may be differences between your computer and your STB.
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AFryia




Joined: 09 Mar 2006
Posts: 956
Location: S.E. Michigan VPH-G70Q


PostLink    Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 5:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

AvgOrdinaryGuy wrote:
A TV tuner card has no affect on image quality. It just captures the digital transport stream. Your graphics adapter (video card) and associated drivers, is where image quality is determined. Still, there may be differences between your computer and your STB.

That's my understanding too, but...

I'm running DVI out from the graphics card direct to an IFB-DVI input on my PJ. The image seems slightly softer which is surprising because my STB is running component YPbPr in and the HTPC is DVI. Confused

I don't like the Recording Scheduler from the remote. Not intuitive at all, not even sure it works to be honest. Also There were two recorded show on the HD that I could not find using the FussionHD interface. Sad

I could only set up a scheduled recording using the keyboard and mouse.Thumbs Down
That ran OK. The PC started up on time, recorded then shut down automatically. Thumbs Up

The show recored in Windows movie format 1980x1080 2Ch Sad What file formats record in 5.1 sound ?
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AvgOrdinaryGuy




Joined: 03 Dec 2006
Posts: 123
Location: Northeast Arkansas USA


PostLink    Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 11:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

AFryia wrote:
What file formats record in 5.1 sound ?
Transport stream is what you want to record. I'd have go fire up the HTPC to be sure, but I think the fusion software makes .tp files. I'm thinkin' that is the only format that records everything with no conversion.
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all_american9




Joined: 15 Jan 2008
Posts: 7



PostLink    Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 3:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I did send mine back to Cyberstore right away & they stated mine was defective. For now I am back to using my old reliable OnAir GT. I understand through reading several sites that there has been a number of these that are defective. However I would really like to give it a try at some point because I really like the idea of the PIP and possible improved tuner performance. Cyberstore charges a restocking fee so if anyone decides to purchase this card I’d ask them to negate the restocking fee if they receive a defective unit. One thing I noticed about the card right away is how incredibly small it was compared to my ATI 650.

“Hi,
I received your card back today and tested it. It is indeed defective. I just wanted to check with you one last time to see if you wanted to try the card again? If you do I'll personally test one before we send it out. If you don’t that’s no problem. I'll issue you a refund right away.

Regards,
Brian Simpson”
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AFryia




Joined: 09 Mar 2006
Posts: 956
Location: S.E. Michigan VPH-G70Q


PostLink    Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 4:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well,

The DVico web site leaves much to be desired.

From the standard download page the latest software release is listed as V3.63.01

Poking around the product page I find a link to a different download page with a V3.66.01. I haven't had time to test it fully but so far so good, no PC crashes or lockups.

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frankiev




Joined: 26 Mar 2008
Posts: 2



PostLink    Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 3:49 pm    Post subject: problems with FusionHDTV7 USB Reply with quote

I'm not a techie, so hopefulyl someone can help with this in plain English. Thanks in advance for any help:

I installed the software for the FusionHDTV 7 USB, but when I attached the USB drive, I got this error message on Windows Vista:

Windows encountered a problem installing the driver software for your device.

Windows found driver software but encountered an error while attempting to install it.

Fusion HDTV7 USB, Audio Capture (XC5000)

A service installation section in this INF is invalid.



When I pull up the Devices list on my computer, it lists the Fusion USB at "Unknown Device."

I ran the the program anyway. It SORT OF works, but there are many problems:
- Program locks up frequently, so I have to reboot. Then it works again.
- Digital tuner will work for awhile, then suddenly stop and all channels go to black. (The display says the signal strength is -0.1%.) I reboot, and it works again.
- No audio at all on analog channels at all. Digital channels are fine.

The program also causes problems with my Sprint Mobile Broadband card.


What can I do to fix this? I un-installed the program and the drivers, and re-installed them, and it did not good.
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frankiev




Joined: 26 Mar 2008
Posts: 2



PostLink    Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 5:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

UPDATE: I just downloaded the newest version 3.66.01 off DViCO's website and am having the same problems.

Installation goes fine until I try to run the Stream Capture Driver Setup. After a minute, it says: Cannot complete the Device Driver Installation Wizard. Errors were encountered installing the software for your devices. See the status column (where is that??) for more details.

Maybe something's wrong with my computer?
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AFryia




Joined: 09 Mar 2006
Posts: 956
Location: S.E. Michigan VPH-G70Q


PostLink    Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 10:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Before installing the latest software did you uninstall everything and re-boot? Also did you run the cleanup utility (can't remember what it is called) from the installation menu after the re-boot?
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