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Wit's end: computer stupidity
I'm not sure where to even start, so forgive me if this post is just unstructured verbal vomiting. The problems started last night when I finally found a video capture driver that would let me use my ATI Graphics Card to capture video with Windows Vista. I fire up VirtualVCR (a video capture program) and sure enough, video! Hoozah!
Oh, but wait - there's one problem. The video is darkening and lightening. Whenever there's too much white on the screen, the Contrast raises, blowing out all the detail in white areas. If the screen isn't white, the video returns to normal brightness. Sometimes it randomly dips even lower, making things look all dark.
You might be thinking, "aha, that's Macrovision copy protection", but it's not. The symptoms are the exact same - darkening and lightening picture, but the source I'm capturing from is not Macrovision'd - it's a Laser Disc. After a few hours of exasperation, I grab my brother's video card, which also has Video In functionality, and cram it into my computer instead. The cooling fan on the card is pretty big, so it means that I have to temporarily run my small PC with the casing off. No big deal, I'm just trying it out for a while, after all.
Oh. My brothers' card does NOT have the fluctuating brightness/contrast problem, despite using the same video capture chipset. So then, it is fairly safe to assume that the graphics card manufacturer (in this case, Connect3D), have manufactured a card that has faulty video capture functionality (I'm not the only one getting this problem). You know, I'm actually not that surprised, because most of the retailers and manufacturers don't even seem to know what their own products can and can't do as regards to Video In functionality. It's entirely possible to find out that you've accidentally been sent the non-VIVO (Video In Video Out) version of a card, or in my brother's instance, realise that you've got the functionality without even knowing about it!
After experimenting with that, I put my own card in (the one with the darkening and lightening problem), and boot up the PC. OK, the screen resolution is wrong, so everything is stretched on my widescreen monitor, so I'll install the ATI Catalyst drivers. I do so and reset. Except... uh oh. Windows Vista doesn't want to know and tells me:
Don't have permission? Guys!!! NO! This is MY computer! I am GIVING you permission to let me use my computer! I am the master and you are my bitch! You will listen to ME and stop holding my hand through every single meaningless computer-related task with stupid, over-the-top safeguards against myself! Windows Vista? More like Windows straitjacket and padded fucking cell! As for "Contact the Administrator", this is simply the computer equivalent of "Call back later and talk to someone else". I *AM* the Administrator and am logged in as such!
OK, so I can't use Catalyst Control Center to change my resolution. Can I use Windows' own system properties box? No, no I cannot, because that isn't a listed option. After mangling around for a while, I somehow manage to get my widescreen monitor's native resolution working. OK, problem one fixed, no more squashy graphics.
Here is a list of other computing related tasks that need to be completed:
- Convince Windows Vista that I am the supreme being known as the "Administrator", and let it actually start the bloated heap of crap that is Catalyst Control Center so I can configure my monitors.
- Find a new video card that has Video In Video Out functionality and fits in one PCI-Express slot, and doesn't break the bank. This may be difficult because a lot of the time, the stores and manufacturers don't even say if their cards have the feature or not.
- Find the above AND try to ensure that it doesn't have the "darkening and lightening" feature affecting video capture. This will be even more difficult because as of yet, no graphics card manufacturer has advertised this fantastic feature.
And before anyone suggests I try NVidia, they are apparently even more useless when it comes to video bungling. Oh well. I'll get there in the end, right?
Update (10:01pm): all of the advanced glassy "Aero" video effects in Windows Vista have somehow disabled themselves. Enabling them in the performance tab does not actually enable them, nor does re-benchmarking my system.
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MCP
We all know you will win the fight! :D
This is one of those circumstances where one can see the limits of a scenario with two video contenders (well, three, considering Intel for the laptops, but that's a different story) left to dispute the market by giving their technologies to a lot of fast'n'furious manufacturers.
I wonder where Matrox is now, and if they somehow still survive...