Various Problems - Drivers, Compatibility (Windows) etc.

[kpm]

I have recently bought a TBS6981 Dual Tuner card, and I've been experiencing various issues with it, detailed as follows:


1) The card only seems to be 'work' when placed in the PCI-E x16 slot in my motherboard (Abit Fat@l1ty F-190HD), but not in either of the 2 PCI-E x1 slots (in this case, Windows Device Manager reports that 'This device cannot start (Code 10)). Is this correct/expected behaviour?


2) Even when the card is installed correctly and Device Manager is happy with it (and I can watch TV in TBS Viewer application), the card is not recognised by Windows Media Center (Vista). I have a horrible feeling that this card is not compatible with Windows Vista Media Center, but I cannot find this stated explicitly on your website.

I'd be pretty disappointed if this were the case, as it's not made clear at all (as far as I can see) and it will result in me having to buy Windows 7 at yet more expense. The website states the card is compatible with Windows Vista, and Windows Media Centre, so my natural conclusion was that it was compatible with Windows Vista Media Center (not an entirely unexpected conclusion), but I fear it is not.

Please can someone clarify this?


3) On at least one occasion now, despite the card being recognised by Windows, and functioning happily, after a reboot, the card was once again 'not recognised' (i.e. 'This Device Cannot Start (Code 10)' message in Device Manager). A subsequent reboot 'fixed' this, but how can I prevent this from happenning? (the PC the device lives in is intended for use by my wife and child in the living room - they don't want to fix PC problems, they want to watch TV!).


4) At times (seemingly random, I've deteced no obvious pattern), the picture (within TBS Viewer) 'stutters' - i.e. it pauses, for a fraction of a second, every 3-4 seconds. This occurs even long after Windows has 'settled down' after a reboot, and looking in task manager, I can see that it's not because the PC resources (CPU Usage / Memory) are being overloaded. Is this a known issue, and can it be resolved? It makes TV unwatchable.


5) The latest driver download (that I can see) contains two sets of drivers for Windows XP (Vista) - one marked 'VHID', one not. Which is the correct one to use please...or...what is the difference between them?


6) Whenever I select a 'HD' channel, all I see is a still image of a piece of musical notation...is there any reason I can't view the channel itself?


For your information, my full PC specs are as follows:

- Motherboard: Abit Fatal1ty F-I90HD (BIOS fully up to date)
- 4GB DDR2 RAM
- Windows Vista Home Premium (running Windows Media Center)

I would appreciate help from the manufacturer, or any other users that have experienced the same issues as I'm experiencing.

Thank you.

[kpm]

Please could one of the TBSDTV staff respond to my issues, before all the spam here clogs up this thread?

Thank you.

[bob]

Hi,
1) Please try to update your mainboard's BIOS,the PCIE solt issue alwasy relate with BIOS's hardware compatible ability.
2) Windows Media Center for Vista do not support DVB-S device. If you want to play with WMC,you should update to Windows 7.
Regards!

[kpm]

Hi Bob,

Thanks for your response. I'm receiving support by email, but just to add that I'm now able to use the TBS6981 card in Windows Vista Media Centre, by acquiring the Windows Vista TV Media Pack 2008.

Thanks,

Kevin

[dwalk]

New build WMC pc using windows 7 professional 64 bit. Same problem with the Asus maximus iv genz/gen 3 new motherboard with latest bios. Placing the card in the pci-e x1 slot results in the pc failing to post and indicatiing cpu fault. Moved card to x16 slot then would boot. TBS should look into the problem

[bob]

Hi,
If x16 could work with 6981 ,x1 couldn't .So it must be related with the main board.
We had seemed such cases before.