NEWS

January 16, 2008-  Sorry for being away so long.  I fell behind replying to tech support requests, but I've just finished out sending messages.  If anyone still needs any help or have any questions, please contact me again.  I also just started a forum HERE so please try to register there to get more help and info.  I would like to move away from avsforum.com since having just one huge thread wasn't working well anymore.  With the new forum, I hope that I can get a good number of supporters who will help out others so we can get better support all around for all the various tuners and software available.  Hopefully we can get a good sized community of WatchHDTV users going.  I've also posted a beta for Vista over at the new forums, so check it out.  I hope to release a final version soon.

Thanks for reading and staying patient with me.

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September 19, 2007-  There was a problem with the scheduler(not the TS version) where a popup box would come up when adding an event, but the events would run fine.  This has been fixed and the WatchHDTVSched has been updated to version 1.671.  Sorry :)

September 17, 2007-  Version 1.960 Released

If you happened to download it in the few minutes it was up, I forgot to add one more thing to the release notes so make sure to read them again.  It's only for new tuners, so just download and read the release notes from the link rather than download the whole package again.  I also forgot to mention that I've included the TS(transport stream) release with the regular release, so now all files are included in one package.  If you don't plan on using TS recording, then you don't have to worry about the extra files.

I wasn't planning on this but time was running out for the beginning of the new TV season.  I know there have been many requests for the newer tuners out there so now I've updated the WatchHDTV Info utility to be able to add support for all current and future tuners.  Hopefully things will work out and all future tuners will work without any updating.  So I welcome all possible new users, and hope you enjoy using WatchHDTV.  Make sure to read the README and RELEASE NOTES for the newest instructions.  I've done very little testing with things so I may have missed some very minor things- if any issues or problems come up, let me know as soon as possible so I can try to fix them before next week.  Either post in avsforum.com or use the contact link above.  I haven't been as quick as replying to emails lately, but I'll try to pick that up since there may be more requests as our HDTV tuners start the new season.

As always, thanks for using WatchHDTV!

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April 23, 2007-  Version 1.950 Released

This release includes added tuner support for the ADS Instant HDTV and the HP/Hauppauge Expresscard HDTV tuner.  Also updated was support for the newest Pinnacle PCTV HD Pro tuner driver.

March 12, 2007-  Version 1.941 Released- I've fixed the problem with the FusionHDTV version 3.60.01 release which changed the name of some of the devices.  I've also fixed the problem with standby and using multiple tuners.  The plug-ins have also been updated to support holding down the volume buttons.  And lastly I've created a new little tool that can replace graphedit to get the names of the tuners and decoders.

February 25, 2007-  I've just finished a review of the Hauppauge HVR-950.  You can read it HERE - I tried to make it short but concise.  If you have any more questions about the tuner, send them to me.

February 23, 2007-  There may be something wrong with the ATI Remote Wonder drivers that I need some help figuring out, so if you have an original Remote Wonder using RW3.04 drivers and an ATI video card using Catalyst 6.0+ try this out- (if you are using RWII/Plus, different RW drivers, or previous Catalyst version you can still report your results, and if you have an NVidia card you can still report them as well but I don't think it would have the problem unless the problem is bigger than I thought)

Purpose is to monitor the CPU usage of ATIRW.exe when playing back HDTV
1. Open task manager
2. Open WMP, WatchHDTV, WatchHDTVPlay, or WatchHDTVPlayTS
3. Play a 1080i channel/recording
4. Keep mouse cursor over the video window first for a while, then move it around anywhere else
5. Monitor CPU usage of ATIRW.exe for about a minute while doing 4
6. Now play a 720p channel/recording
7. Do 4 and 5 again.
8. You don't have to do this step, but it'll just help you see more- check/uncheck Always on top for Task Manager and move mouse over the processes list and see CPU usage of ATIRW.exe between the two settings
9. Report what RW you have, what RW driver, what ATI video card and catalyst version, and what CPU usage you see for 1080i and 720p

With Catalyst 6.5, I've noticed that for 720p video, CPU usage is basically 0%, but for 1080i, it goes from 10-30%.  With Catalyst 4.12CP, 5.12CP, and 5.13CCC, CPU usage for both is basically 0%, which I'm fairly certain that it should be.  I see no reason why CPU usage should be well above 0% for the remote.  It may just be my setup and some strange USB issues with the remote, video card, motherboard, etc., so I'll need more info to figure it out.  Just send the results using the form on my contact page(or email at the address listed) or post your results in the avsforum thread HERE.

I'll also need to update the scheduler for standby support as I forgot to consider systems with two or more tuners.  Hopefully I should be able to fix it by next weekend.

Thanks.

February 11, 2007-  Version 1.94 is finally done.  Things took a little longer than I hoped as testing standby wasn't very fun.  If you don't have standby(s3) working, please do not try using that feature until you do.  As always, please read the release notes for all the additions, changes, and fixes.

October 24, 2006-  I've posted a new version that fixes a couple of small bugs. 

October 18, 2006-  If you are a first time visitor, please take time to look at the support page if you need help.  There is information there that is actually useful, unlike many other websites.
     I've updated the watchhdtvsource.ax filter to fix a minor bug.  This filter deals with playback and the fix may not be noticeable.  Everything else remains the same.  I've also added the ability to play the recordings back while they are still recording, so they are no longer "locked" as it was in the previous release.

October 15, 2006-  If you want to try the transport stream package, don't use it for anything important yet.  This is an early preview of it and there are plenty of things to add/fix still.  All I really need is for it to be tested for basic functionality- that recordings are coming out correct and can be played back.  After more testing, I've noticed some behavior with playback that may slightly slow down your system.  I haven't had any crashes or really bad behavior though, so it's still safe to do simple testing.
Thanks.

October 11, 2006-
I've put an updated WatchHDTVPlayPlugin in the package so you'll have to download again to get it.
If WatchHDTV crashes and you haven't setup a decoders.txt file, you'll need to do so.  It's not hard and very simple.  Instructions are on my support page.

October 10, 2006-
I've released support for transport stream recording/playback.  Testing has been very, very limited so some issues may popup.  Please let me know of any problems.  As always, read the readme FIRST!

October 7, 2006-
I've added support for the KWorld ATSC 310U and ATI TV Wonder 650.  Nothing else has changed yet.

September 23, 2006-
For tuners other than the HDTV Wonder and FusionHDTV, a decoders.txt file is required for live recording and timeshifting.  It will not work without the decoders.txt. 

September 20, 2006-
I've uploaded a newer "version"(although the version number hasn't changed) that fixes these two issues-
    - WatchHDTV crashing upon exiting
    - setting up multiple tuners-  Previously, if you selected a new tuner and exited without setting up your channels, the new tuner wouldn't be selected yet.  Now you can select a tuner, exit, and upon restarting it should recognize the new tuner to use.

September 17, 2006-
I forgot something- channel names can't have spaces and are limited to 6 characters.  If you've already downloaded, you don't have to download again as I've only updated the release notes.

September 16, 2006-
I've released a new version-  you can check the release notes to see the additions.  Some problems for some people may be fixed as a result from some minor changes, but nothing done on purpose.

As more people are interested in watching HDTV on their computer, I've been reading many questions where they are wondering how powerful a computer they need to watch HDTV.  And people aren't giving the right recommendations, at least based on my own experience and knowledge.  So I'm going to try to give a little information(based on my own opinions and knowledge) on what you need.  First, you don't need as powerful a computer as you think(depending on how high a CPU usage you want).  I'll start with the CPU-  I originally used a Pentium 3 1GHz with the FusionHDTV 2- that's right, a "lowly" PIII @ 1GHz.  Now CPU usage was near 90% all the time, but it worked just fine.  What does that mean?  Any Pentium 4, Celeron D, Core 2 Duo, Sempron, Athlon, etc. will do just fine.  Especially if you are trying to spend as little as possible, don't worry so much about trying to get something "fast enough."  Anything you get today is fast enough, and even what you already have is likely fast enough.  After the CPU, the video card is the next item to consider.  Again, you don't need the fastest card around.  Any $100 NVIDIA or ATI card should be fine.  Once you have those two figured out, the last thing to consider is software.  Not all software is the same, so don't judge your computer's ability based on using one program and one video decoder.  All programs use various amounts of CPU and video card power- the same goes for video decoders.  If you aren't sure you're getting the best performance you should be, try other programs and video decoders.  Ultimately, you should be able to find a balance between what software works well with your system and what hardware you can get by with.  So when someone tells you your CPU isn't fast enough or your video card is too weak, take the time to make sure that's the case before spending money you don't need to.