Oldfart with hearing problem

[owlfan]

As my father would say, I'm "approaching elderly and have learned that I have some hearing loss in the voice range. Some TV shows with a lot of background noise drive me nuts. I turn up the volume and the background noises drown out the voices. Would Smartstream 3.0 or any of the compatible video cards have the ability to control the audio output on a frequency specific level? I've been considering routing the TV output through a stereo with an equalizer but thought this approach might kill 2 birds with one stone.

On another note I am about to replace my HP Pavillion 8280 and thought I might use the Pavilion with Smartstream. It meets your minimum processor requirements of 350 Mhz but not the recommended 500 Mhz. Over time I've added memory (288 MB RAM). an ATI Expert 128 Video Card and a 40GB ATA 100 HD. How would the 350 Mhz processor impact the Smartstream product?

[V_D_O]

thought I might use the Pavilion with Smartstream

Well, the RAM is certainly adequate, and the video card doesn't much affect the capture, so its basically down to the CPU. I'd say you'd just about be able to get near-VHS quality (with no deinterlacing), assuming minimal load on the CPU from other programs or services. It wouldn't be as good as a VCR, but it should work. How about swapping your processor out for a faster one, the cost would be minimal (for , say, a 500MHz P-II from eBay)

Incidentally, its SnapStream, not Smartstream. In fact, that's technically the name of the company. The product is PVS.