IIRC, They released it final, and shortly after ATI released their latest driver set for their top of the line card that has some 'advertized' optimizations for the Dx9 spec. Problem is there isn't a huge performance improvement yet.

But there are a number of people that nibbled on the hook, installed Dx9 and the 3.0 cats, and now are having some 'issues'...

I've had no problems with Dx9. My guess is from past experience with ATI (Believe me no wonder card.) and SF it was an endless nightmare. Dropped the ATI NGW (No Great Wonder) for geForce and since then it's been a pleasure using SF. Frankly if you are going to stay with ATI stick to the bundle package .... probably ULead. Best of luck.

ATI turned out a truly hideous chip in the Rage 128 (Xpert 128, AIW 128, etc). It was never competitive performance wise and for the longest time had horrible drivers.

However, if you haven't tried ATI lately (as in within the last year) you are missing something. ATI now has the best driver development program out there (IMHO). WHQL drivers are released at shorter intervals than even the infamous Nvidia. ATI now has a direct link to developers through their Catalyst Crew program (similar to Sonic Foundry's excellent Product Suggestion form). ATI developers hang out at popular forums like Rage3D, Avsforum, etc. They listen to people's requests! I can play ever game I have without problems, I can view every video I have without problem and I can capture without problems. I really only have one issue with my Radeon 8500 now.

So, this "old wives tale" about ATI having bad drivers is simply not true anymore (and quite frankly was always exaggerated). ATI drivers may not be perfect (they do have some quirks regarding video capture - two crossbars?) but don't dismiss any problem as ATI's sucky drivers.

jrstueve,

Here are some hints regarding the AIW 8500DV.
1) For your card, ATI releases the driver in 3 parts:
a) The display driver.
b) The WDM capture driver.
c) The control panel.
Always uninstall the previous drivers before installing the latest drivers. Note: ATI released a new drivers on Jan 10th.

2) There is a floppy drive power connector on the rear on the AIW 8500DV. Make sure you actually attach a power connector there.

3) The silicon tuner on the AIW 8500DV is strange compared to the analog Philips tuner every other AIW uses. While most other AIW's like to have the TV/cable signal boosted, you have to attenuate the signal for the 8500DV for best picture quality.

I would be glad to help but I need more info on your system. All I really know about your computer is that you are running an AIW 8500DV with Windows XP. I don't even know if you are capturing analog video (RCA jacks) or digital video (Firewire).

Great... thanks diskdude!

My system:
Iwill Vx133 (the dreaded VIA chipset) latest VIA Hperion 4.45 drivers
IDE Samsung DVD/CDRW combo drive (in DMA mode)
2 Western Digital HD 40mb (7200) 10mb (5400 - I want to upgrade this...)
Soundblaster Live! 5.1 latest drivers
ATI 8500DV with Cat 3.0a's (WHQL)
Dx9

Trying to capture using the composite inputs with my old Sony 8mm videocam.
Or even capture from the TV source... just to get a capture.

I don't have a firewire camera, but want to someday upgrade.

The Problem: Open VF, no problems... open Capture... opens, blue screen in the video window, sometimes I hear the sound of the default channel 4, and then BING... an error is reported (have to wait to get home to report the actual error, and Capture quits, and unloads.

I checked in the dxdaig, and I see no errors, but there are a number of files with old dates (some with a 1998 date)

I can capture fine using the MMC DV player (oh yeah, MMC 7.7.0.1 (after installing 7.6noDVD, and 7.6 DVD)

Thinking of going with an entirely new reinstall (it has been a few years... might be worth it to clean things out... but really don't want to spend the emotional capital in trying to convince my wife that this is a good idea... she already hates that she has been a widow while I've been installing playing with the DV card... fun doing the two monitor thing...

as an aside, prior to this I had an ATI Xpert98 (Rage3d) and the TV Wonder as my capture combination, and never had a problem with capture. Also, since I upgraded to WinXP I haven't any capturing with SF so don't know if it truly was working since that upgrade.

TIA for any help!

sent the following to customer support:

When trying to capture from the video capture program I get an access violation error.

I have an ATI 8500DV video card, running the latest driver set (Catalyst 3,0a WHQL certified) trying to capture from the composite ports.

The program halts, displays the message below and exits, Sometime I can hear the sound cming through before it halts, I can capture fine using MMC 7.7.01 TV program.

Sonic Foundry Video Capture
Version 2.5c (Build 98)
Exception 0xC0000005 (access violation) READ:0x0 IP:0x0
In Module 'VidCap25.EXE' at Address 0x0 + 0x0
Thread: GUI ID=0x690 Stack=0x12F000-0x130000
Registers:
EAX=001abb98 CS=001b EIP=00000000 EFLGS=00010202
EBX=015395e0 SS=0023 ESP=0012fc1c EBP=00000000
ECX=5102d71f DS=0023 ESI=01539710 FS=0038
EDX=00193ac8 ES=0023 EDI=00000000 GS=0000
Bytes at CS:EIP:
00000000: .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ........
00000008: .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ........
Stack Dump:
0012FC1C: 1D14554B 1D140000 + 554B (AVBISurf.ax)
0012FC20: 001ABB98 00140000 + 6BB98
0012FC24: 01539720 014B0000 + 89720
0012FC28: 1D143921 1D140000 + 3921 (AVBISurf.ax)
0012FC2C: 015395E0 014B0000 + 895E0
0012FC30: 01539610 014B0000 + 89610
0012FC34: 00000000
0012FC38: 0032BCD8 00320000 + BCD8
0012FC3C: 0012FC5C 00030000 + FFC5C
0012FC40: 1D14E1B8 1D140000 + E1B8 (AVBISurf.ax)
0012FC44: 00000000
0012FC48: 1D141C7F 1D140000 + 1C7F (AVBISurf.ax)
0012FC4C: 015395E0 014B0000 + 895E0
0012FC50: 015395E0 014B0000 + 895E0
0012FC54: 0153961C 014B0000 + 8961C
0012FC58: 015395E0 014B0000 + 895E0
> 0012FC60: 1D14DE38 1D140000 + DE38 (AVBISurf.ax)
> 0012FC68: 1D1476AF 1D140000 + 76AF (AVBISurf.ax)
> 0012FC74: 1D147CC8 1D140000 + 7CC8 (AVBISurf.ax)
> 0012FC88: 3556B6CF 35500000 + 6B6CF (QUARTZ.dll)
> 0012FC9C: 0041FF9C 00400000 + 1FF9C (VidCap25.EXE)
0012FCA0: 0032BCD8 00320000 + BCD8
0012FCA4: 0153961C 014B0000 + 8961C
0012FCA8: 00000000
0012FCAC: 00174B18 00140000 + 34B18
> 0012FCCC: 00690056 00400000 + 290056 (VidCap25.EXE)
> 0012FCD0: 00650064 00400000 + 250064 (VidCap25.EXE)
0012FCD4: 0020006F 00140000 + C006F
0012FCD8: 006F004E 006A0000 + 5004E
> 0012FCDC: 00690074 00400000 + 290074 (VidCap25.EXE)
0012FCE0: 00790066 00770000 + 20066
0012FCE4: 00200000 00140000 + C0000
0012FCE8: 00720054 006A0000 + 80054
0012FCEC: 006E0061 006A0000 + 40061
> 0012FCF0: 00660073 00400000 + 260073 (VidCap25.EXE)
0012FCF4: 0072006F 006A0000 + 8006F
0012FCF8: 0000006D
0012FCFC: 008E6CCC 00880000 + 66CCC
> 0012FD00: 77D445C8 77D40000 + 45C8 (USER32.dll)
> 0012FD10: 77D41940 77D40000 + 1940 (USER32.dll)
> 0012FD1C: 77D46363 77D40000 + 6363 (USER32.dll)
> 0012FD24: 77D8D610 77D40000 + 4D610 (USER32.dll)
> 0012FD28: 77D41940 77D40000 + 1940 (USER32.dll)
> 0012FD30: 77D445C8 77D40000 + 45C8 (USER32.dll)
> 0012FD34: 77D447D4 77D40000 + 47D4 (USER32.dll)
> 0012FD44: 77D447E4 77D40000 + 47E4 (USER32.dll)
> 0012FD5C: 77FB4DA6 77F50000 + 64DA6 (ntdll.dll)
> 0012FD74: 77D45826 77D40000 + 5826 (USER32.dll)
> 0012FD78: 35556736 35500000 + 56736 (QUARTZ.dll)
> 0012FD84: 3554E1B6 35500000 + 4E1B6 (QUARTZ.dll)
> 0012FD94: 3554C8AD 35500000 + 4C8AD (QUARTZ.dll)
> 0012FD9C: 355501BC 35500000 + 501BC (QUARTZ.dll)
> 0012FDB0: 35556D17 35500000 + 56D17 (QUARTZ.dll)
> 0012FDB8: 3554E1B6 35500000 + 4E1B6 (QUARTZ.dll)
> 0012FDC8: 3554C8AD 35500000 + 4C8AD (QUARTZ.dll)
> 0012FDCC: 0041FC18 00400000 + 1FC18 (VidCap25.EXE)
- - -
0012FFF0: 00000000
0012FFF4: 00000000
0012FFF8: 0055455C 00400000 + 15455C (VidCap25.EXE)
0012FFFC: 00000000

Found this from a Google search:

Why does my PC crash when switching from the TV module or closing ShowShifter?

If you have recently upgraded the latest Catalyst drivers and DirectX 9 this may be the cause of your problem.
After some investigation we found that ATI's "VBI Surface Allocator" is incompatible with DirectX 9. This is likely due to the fact that ATI have raised the priority of their filter above the priority of the one built-into DirectX. This problem affects both Catalyst 2.5 and 3.0 drivers.

If you have been experiencing crashes when switching from the TV module to another module, or when closing ShowShifter; there is a solution:

Ensure neither ShowShifter nor any other TV application is running
Navigate to ATI's TV filter directory (normally C:\Program Files\ATI Multimedia\TV\ )
Locate the file named "AVBISurf.ax"
Rename this file to "AVBISurf.bak"
This prevents ATI's "VBI Surface Allocator" from loading, and instead uses the one built into DirectX 9.
Unfortunately, this may affect closed captioning and teletext within ATI's Multimedia Centre; though nothing else should be affected.

If you experience any problems after disabling this filter, you may re-enable it by simply renaming the file back to it's original state.

I'll give it a try and report back...

what is your source for this, and have you posted it at rage3d?


TaM!

Yipeeee!

IT works like a champ, thanks...

Glad to hear your problems are solved. I have to say that this is the first DirectX 9 related problem I have run into thus far.

Am I to assume that ATI still hasn't fixed this in their brand spankin' new (as of Jan 10th) 6178v1 WDM drivers?