SnapStream vs. PowerVCR 3.0 - sorry to re-hash!

[MJDore]

If you can't tell by my subject line, I am new to this. I recently ordered a computer with the following stats: P4 2.53 ghz, 512 RAM, 120 GB HD, 128 MB Video. My intention is to digitally record programs for burning onto CD and/or DVD pending more information. Am I correct in the understanding that SnapStream does not provide me the necessary file formatting to record on DVD and have my DVD player be able to play the disc? Am I also correct in saying that PowerVCR 3.0 does? I am wanting to use my PC as a PVR and transfer my VHS tapes to disc. I am not interested, necessarily, with watching TV on my PC as it sits right next to my big screen. Any suggestions on which way I should go? What TV Tuner would you suggest?

Thanks for your help. Sorry for the elementary questions.

[V_D_O]

I switched from PowerVCR to SnapStream because of the network capabilities.
With your hardware, manually tweaking the settings should be able to produce great picture and sound with either software. However, PVS does record in .wmv format, which needs to be converted to .mpeg in order to be read by a VCD or DVD player. PowerVCR, however, records in MPEG format, which does not necessarily have to be converted in order to be read by a DVD or VCD player, depending on the MPEG layer (1 or 2) selected.
For a tuner card, I'd recommend a Hauppauge WinTV (a PCI one preferably)

[MJDore]

do they make software that can convert .wmv formats to mpeg-1/2 so I can read the files in my DVD player? I'm at a loss here and I need to make a final decision.

Thanks for your response.

[V_D_O]

Yes, most CD and DVD-authoring programs will be able to convert .wmv to .mpeg and then burn them.

[BankZ]

Nero has a free plug-in that will let you butn it to VCD, but it takes a LONG time.

[MJDore]

The features of SnapStream, given the decent power of my machine and the ability to obtain software to covert from .wmv to MPEG, outweigh what I would get in PowerVCR? Again, I stress that I am not interested in watching TV on my PC, merely digitally recording it and burning it to CD (or DVD if I feel it warrants purchase of a DVD burner). If SnapStream is the way to go, then that's what I will do. But I'd like to hear further opinions, if anyone else has had experiences.

V_D_O, did you experience trouble with PowerVCR? Or were you just switching for networking capabilities as you mentioned below?

[festivalman]

with snapstream.net advanced scheduling, it's going to be much better than the other products. snapstream 3.0 will have built in mpeg-2 encoding in realtime if you choose it, so you won't have to do conversions. Those 2 features combined sound like what you want. Realistically however, it'll probably be another month or so before the final of 3.0 comes out.

[V_D_O]

V_D_O, did you experience trouble with PowerVCR?

Yes, I had a problem with lack of sound in multiple-part recordings in the first recording after a startup. Tech support was unable to fix it, so I just scheduled dummy recordings...
It also seemed to take a lot of CPU time - but produced much higher quality recordings (with my Celeron 1.1)

[mdemeyer]

The PowerVCR II product (current version is 3.0) does not handle burning, although it is a very complete PVR product. As mentioned, it does record in MPEG2 format, which avoids the need to re-encode (costs time and video quality) for DVD burning.

CyberLink offers another product to look at for burning... PowerProducer. It can record directly from a TV tuner (although is not a full-blown PVR), and can also burn DVDs and VCDs with the files from PowerVCR. It is priced at $49 from the CyberLink web site (download) at www.gocyberlink.com.

PowerProducer will also convert the files recorded by other PVR products (like SnapStream) and burn them on DVD.

Download the trial version and check it out.

Michael

[MJDore]

So, what has been your experience with combining PowerVCR and the Leadtek Winfast 2000 XP Deluxe tuner? I understand from your website that it is a supported card and it also comes packaged with ULEAD which I could use for CD and DVD burning and authoring. Would this be a setup that would provide me with good quality and stability, in your opinion?

Thanks for your response....

[festivalman]

Maybe the cyberlink guy could speak to the quality part, as I'm curious too. Whenever I've used it to record vcd quality, even on a very fast P4 with the quality settings set to the maximum, it always turned out very poor quality VCD mpeg-1 files. It didn't come anywhere near what a hardware mpeg board could do, or even other single pass software based mpeg encoders. It's one of the main reasons why I've been using snapstream instead.

[gchiu]

If all you want to do is transfer your tapes to dvd, then I note that the myDVD software that comes with my HP dvd100i has an option to directly record an incoming video stream to dvd. I've not used it.

Fortunately my Casio VK500 is able to play the DVD+RW discs that are exclusively used by the dvd100i as recording dvd media.

Whatever dvd recorder you get, make sure that the output media is playable in your dvd player.

--Graham