Hauppauge WinTV PCI-FM on Win7 64-bit

Some time ago, I had to get a new PC as my old Intel 3.4GHz hyperthreading computer borked out. With a nice new Core i7 I decided to go with Win7 64-bit. Sadly some hardware just didn't work out too well. My old Acer scanner didn't work (no drivers) and now I can only use it when I boot to Linux. Miraculously for my TV card, Win7 detected and downloaded 64-bit drivers from the Internet (i.e. Hauppauge's Website). Excited, I tried the Windows Media Center. Having a set-top box decoder, I had to use Composite video-in as my primary source. Unfortunately, I lost my IR receiver. Without it Windows Media Center refused to play TV! Such a shame.

Thankfully Video LAN Client (VLC) is available for windows. After messing around with the settings I managed to get TV but with blue swapped with red and every human showed up as Na'vi. Note: I have to attempt to set up Windows Media Center first for direct show to be set up properly for VLC.

Blue Aliens

Finally, adjusting the Chroma setting to UYVY did the trick. Put it all into a customized VLC shortcut and I've got TV. I'll still use my scripts with mencoder in Linux to record though.

"C:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe" dshow:// :dshow-vdev="Hauppauge WinTV 88x Video Capture" :dshow-adev= :dshow-video-input=2 :dshow-size=640x480 :dshow-chroma=UYVY

Ahhh.... TV...

China 2009 Day 7 - Tibet, Lhasa - Norbulingka & Potala Palace at Night

View the previous related post here. Return to the trip index here.

04 Jun 2009

After our visit to Drepung Monastery in the morning, our afternoon trip took us to the Nobulingka (Summer Palace). It was built in 1783 under the eighth Dalai Lama and shares UNESCO World Heritage Site status with the Potala Palace. Unfortunately, heavy renovation works were on-going.

Entrance to the Nobulingka


One of the many compounds


Some items of the Dalai Lama are impounded here, e.g. a horse carriage




Nice flowers adorn much of the summer residence


The summer palace even has an in-house zoo!


The New Palace where the 14th Dalai Lama lived before fleeing to India


Very modern furnishing inside


No pictures allowed inside all the buildings


A pavilion


An indigenous Tibetan dog perched on the wall. It is said that these dogs are very loyal and very ferocious, being able to take on wolves on their own.


We left the Summer Palace and took some time to walk around Lhasa before dinner


Dinner was steamboat at this Communist-Revolutionary-PLA themed restaurant


The restaurant was right beside the Lhasa river


Portraits and icons of famous communists decorate the interior


A taste of the local beer that only has an alcohol content of 3.5%. But for some reason, my ears became really red quickly. Perhaps it's the altitude


Steamboat pot full of mushrooms and nice spices

After dinner, we headed over to the Potala Palace. Every night, there is a musical fountain display at the people's square in front of the palace. The palace will also be lit up.

At 9pm, the show is ongoing


A greenish glow as the Potala Palace lights up


The lit up Potala Palace at 9:15pm . Unfortunately, the sky was still too bright when we had to return to our hotel

We came back later at 10:30pm to catch a night shot. Looks like the best time to take pictures is exactly at 9:45pm when the palace is still lit up and the sky is dark. That ends our last night in Lhasa. Tomorrow morning, we will bid the highlands a slow goodbye as we embark on a 24 hour train ride aboard the highest railway in the world -- the Qinghai-Tibet railway.

View the next post here. Return to the trip index here.