Watch TV as you work on your PC, but don't get carried away

Watch TV as you work on your PC, but don't get carried away

By Zatni Arbi

JAKARTA (JP): As there has never been a dull moment in this
country, wouldn't it be nice if we could follow the latest news
on TV without having to leave our PC?

Well, that's not difficult to do. Quite a few stores at
Computer City in Glodok Plaza can show you TV tuner cards for
installation on your PC.

They will instantly add TV functionality to it. Prices are not
so bad, either. They vary based on sophistication: Do you want a
remote control? Video capture capability?

In general, Rp 400.000 will give you a decent TV tuner,
although for a little bit more money you can buy a 14" TV set.

Anyway, courtesy of Siemens Nixdorf Information System (SNI),
I was able to play around with a TV tuner device and see for
myself how good a TV on PC could be.

This TV tuner was actually one of the features in SCENIC
multimedia expansion system designed by SNI's Multimedia Group.

This German-made multimedia expansion system had been stowed
for several months in the corner of my study, waiting for me to
get the right PC to explore it with.

It works with the SCENIC PCs from SNI, of course, but it will
also work with other PCs provided a certain requirement is met.

The center of SNI's multimedia extension system is a full
length, full size PCI card named Multimedia eXtension Board
(MXB).

The MXB didn't fit any of my own PCs because of its full size.
The card has the same depth from the rear to the front, therefore
it requires a motherboard that has virtually nothing on its
surface, at least next to one of its PCI slots.

Needless to say, such a motherboard is not easy to find.
Normally, motherboards are populated by chips, connectors, ICs
and other modules that you simply cannot fix a full size
expansion card on them.

Luckily, at last I found the right match for this card, a new
Brio from HP. The reason Brio is perfect for the MXB is that this
PC uses a riser card to accommodate all its expansion cards.

Installing

A riser card is usually found in PCs with slim casing; the
individual cards are not attached to the motherboard but to the
riser card. This will then be inserted in a slot on the
motherboard.

The requirement for MXB is that either your motherboard has
enough space for it or uses a riser card.

Needless to say, with the riser card, installing MXB was a
snap.

However, installing the software turned out to be a slightly
different affair. I installed the software driver that came in
the package and started SNI's MXB Video, but the program refused
to load.

After hours of changing IRQs and memory addresses, it still
didn't work. I read the manual once again and I found out that
MXB required a graphics card with at least 2 MB of RAM. So much
for not reading the manual thoroughly before I started.

The Brio came with only one MB installed. The next day I ran
over to Glodok to buy more RAM for Brio's graphics subsystem.

Still, the system didn't want to load after I installed the
additional video memory. I installed the software once again,
hoping that this time everything would work.

Still there was no luck. I kept tweaking the IRQ and memory
addresses of the driver, and I still couldn't get it to work.

Then I downloaded the latest version of the drivers from SNI's
Web site (how I thanked the Internet for this). I erased the old
files from the hard disk and installed the new ones, but it still
refused to work. As it was already very late, I just went to
sleep.

The next morning, after a little more tweaking with not much
hope, I suddenly had the MXB Video window on the screen and the
system didn't crash.

There was some video noise inside the window, a sign that the
system was functioning. Elated, I ran the automatic station
search and, voila!, I had RCTI. Perfect!

Features

The MXB can be combined with a special digital sound processor
(DSP) called Sound Arena. This module would enhance the sound
reproduction by adding echoes and sound delays.

You could use one of the presets to simulate the sound effect
of a room or a hall. There is also an 8-band parametric equalizer
if you prefer manual settings.

Frankly, the picture quality is finer than I had expected.

It can be displayed at a high resolution of 1024 x 768. To
ensure optimum off-the-air signal pickup, I used an active
antenna from DX Antenna, Japan, which I had bought earlier.

It is a very powerful portable antenna that people usually buy
for their car TVs. With this antenna, I was able to get perfect
reception.

As you can see in the accompanying picture, I change the
station by choosing from the drop down list found in the toolbar.

Changing stations automatically mutes the sound card, however,
so each time I have to go to the sound card's mixer to cancel the
mute. I could also adjust the brightness and colors of the TV
display.

The MXB can also be used in conjunction with an MPEG card,
also made by SNI. Unfortunately, as the audio and video cable
connecting this card with the MXB was missing, I wasn't able to
test this module.

MXB has a slew of other options, too. You could order a front
panel connector set so that you won't have to go to the back of
the CPU to find the right cables for your video camera.

You can even buy an optional remote control that will allow
you to change TV programs, control the playback of audio CD, and
set the volume level.

Connecting the MXB to the sound card is easy. SNI supplies a
cable that connects it to the audio CD port of the sound card.

There is also another cable that connects the card to the
audio-out port of the CD-ROM drive. It's simple, but it does
require some patience to set it up correctly.

Final word

The MXB will give you endless hours of TV news and
entertainment. The display is superb, and the sound is good.

Installing it may not be for the faint of heart, though. I
literally spent hours trying to make it work. Once it worked,
however, it continued to work fine and it has never failed to do
so.

This system has more capabilities than just showing TV
broadcasts. It also allows us to capture video.

A camera can be directly connected to the MXB via an S-VHS
connector and the captured video can be stored on the hard disk.

Theoretically, it can also be used for video conferencing,
although I still have to test it.

The MXB can also output audio and video signals to a TV, VCR
or video camera. In short, it is a full-featured multimedia
extension device, and it is an excellent one. Just remember,
don't get stuck with those James Bond movies on RCTI if you still
have a deadline to meet, though.