Win2000 and RR G-Series

[jovenis]

When is Matrox going to deliver Win2k drivers for Rainbow Runner G-Series? The earlier builds of Win2K Beta 3 allowed install of Win98 drivers but not the newer builds (probably neiter will the final build). I hate rebooting into Win98 just to capture. Thanks in advance for any info.

-Young

[coolfish]

don't hold your breath. feb 17 is when win2000 comes out, and i bet it takes matrox several years before they do anything about it.

go ahead, prove me wrong, matrox-people.

[gibverse]

Jovenis,
Are you sure you were using the Win98 video tools to capture under Beta3? And did you also install PowerDesk on Beta3, and if so, which version (98/NT)? I have been trying to get a hybrid capture driver going under Win2K, however, I can't seem to get anything to install, and the few attempts at hacking the drivers into place by hand seem to do nothing but show that Windows 2000 isn't crash proof :-) If you can provide me with some help, I may be able to find a new way to get it working, although I'm still pessimistic at this point.

And I must agree with Coolfish, given Matrox's track record, don't hold your breath for drivers, esp. with the fact that the RT2000 is only for Win98 at this point... they seem to be reserving NT only for the DigiSuite series at this time.... All we can do is try to be as vocal as possible, letting them know there is a demand for Win2K support in the lower end capture boards.

John

[jovenis]

gibverse,

As it has been several months since I had RRG running under Beta3, I don't vividly recall the details but I'll try my best to help you out(and everybody else

I was using a build that was released several weeks before RC1. Since RC1, the Matrox installation programs prevented me from installing in a non-Win9x environment. I figured RC1 had a more definite OS ID tag or something than its earlier builds. My guess is that there aren't any deep-rooted incompatibilities between the Win9x RRG drivers and Win2k kernel -- if there are incompatibilities, they should be relatively superficial.

As for the Matrox driver version, I do not believe I had any NT4 drivers installed. All the drivers I used were then current (latest) Win9x drivers. It must have been mid or late June of '99. I should have written down the version numbers, but it didn't occur to me then that I would need to

Did I use PowerDesk? Ummm ... I think there is a 60% probability that I did install PowerDesk 9x -- 40% that I did not. Sorry I can't be more definite.

If there's anything else I forgot to mention, please email me at jovenis@hotmail.com. Thanks.

[JoakimC]

I can capture with my Marvel G200 under Windows 2000 build 2195. It seems to be nearly the same drivers for Marvel and RR-G. I installed PD 4.13 and Vidtools 1.23. If you want to install PowerDesk under Windows 2000 you can't use the installation program. You must use the "Add/remove hardware" applet in Control panel. If you have installed Matrox PD 5.0 beta drivers for Windows 2000 it is difficult to get back to PD 4.13. I have tried all versions of PowerDesk i could find. I didn't try the Windows 98 drivers because they looked like VXDs not WDMs. PD 4.13 and Vidtools 1.23 is the best for Windows 2000. If I close the capture program Windows 2000 gives me a blue stopscreen. I have to keep AVI_IO open all the time I am use my computer.

[gibverse]

I've known of the stop error on closing using the NT drivers under 2000 since Beta2. Jovenis, can you recall any quirks or errors produced when using the Win98 drivers?

I think it would be more advantageous if I can get the 98 drivers again working (since for one thing, they seem to be released more frequently and aren't limited to 'Beta' level code. I'll try and work on this later after I finish up some stuff I'm working on.

John

[gibverse]

Well, I've been playing around with Win2k, and can't seem to get the latest 9x video tools to work.. even after I got them installed (which is a battle in itself), I simply get an error that they don't work with a 4-bit color pallete (even though I'm using 16/32 under Win2K). So it looks like they're ruled out. I've also given up on the current NT drivers, as they cause blue screens (page fault errors) upon closing video capture applications. I will try and make one last attempt, using the older 9x drivers (Jovenis, do you recall any problems with these), but if that doesn't work, we'll all be waiting for Matrox's driver dept. to get something out...

Unfortuantly, given how 1999 was, I'd say we may see official Win2K drivers around Y2K+1 or so...

John

[jovenis]

gibverse,

I did not have any problems or malfunctions or quirks using the older 98 drivers on older Beta3 build. MJPEG capture and TV Tuner functions performed perfectly. No blue screen upon closing either. If fixing the drivers won't work, I guess one could also try patching the OS? Well, that's of course easier said than done

Matrox, wake up and put out some drivers!

And why don't they go public to pump some more cash into R/D ?

-Young

[gibverse]

Playing around trying to get a 2000 capture driver... Here's the latest:

Using Win9x driver (1.51 or 1.21, same results). Setup won't allow install. If the drivers are forced in, this error comes up:
PC/VCR does not support a 4 bit color palette. Please change your display's color palette settings (a 16-bit color palette is recommended), then start PC/VCR remote.

Using NT Beta2 capture driver: Open anyting (including properties for driver in device manager), touch the thing, and instant freeze (no blue screen though).

Still going to try a few more things, but if anyway can suggest things, it may help.

John

[gibverse]

More playing on my end, learned a few things thus far:

1: I can't for the life of me get PowerDesk 4.13 to install under 2000. If I use add/remove hardware as JoakimC reports, 2 errors occur. 1 is it can't find a file g400icd.dll (but a g200icd.dll is present, rename lets install finish). The second is after it is forced in, 2000 can't boot... Just sits with an ugly purple-tinted startup screen.

2: Windows 2000 does not support Virtual Device Drivers (or VxDs). The PowerDesk 1.51 driver use this extensivly. At this point I plan to look at the older version to see if there is a non-VxD based vid-tools, but I doubt it, so we may have to live with useing the NT4 beta drivers.

More later,
John

[JayZ]

Yeah I tried to install PowerDesk 4.13 in Win2K build 2195 and got the same error as you with the missing g400icd.dll.
But I did install VideoTools 1.23 successfully but couldnt get it to capture. It just froze when I tried to change to TV or Line in PC-VCR. I dont know if this is because PowerDesk 4.13 or what.

I was also wondering. For all the people that have successfully installed and got capturing to work in Win2K, have you tried capturing to a NTFS drive. Because then you will not have the 2GB file limitation that fat32 has.

[gibverse]

I have tried all the VideoTools/PowerDesk combo's of Win9x driver back to version 1.21. They are all VxD based drivers, which doesn't work under the Windows 2000 environment. So at this point, it is not possible to use any of the Win9x drivers under Win2K.
I have played with different combo's of NT drivers under 2000, and at this point, have only had luck with PowerDesk 4.07. PD 4.13 just doesn't work (atleast for a Marvel G200), as stated earlier. I tried using the PowerDesk's for the Millenium G200/G400 under 2000, but they don't allow input (just get a green input signal). So it looks like 4.07 is the best bet.. just have the problem that when the video app closes, you get a BSOD. I'll try and play around with this, may see if the Beta1 drivers are any better.

John

[gibverse]

Jay Z,
I'm almost done trying things, I plan to write up a how-to on getting VideoTools 1.23 under 2000 and the know issues soon.

John

[JayZ]

John
That'd be very helpful. I just tried to install PD4.07 and 4.13 unsuccessfully. After i install them and reboot, it either freezes at at purplish screen or goes to a black screen and freezes. I dont know whats going on.
Have u tried capturing on a ntfs drive? Just wondering if you could do that and get past the 2gb file limitation.
I hope that Matrox will come out with win2k compliant drivers soon.