Recomend Capture Card

[MR_WHODAT]

New to SnapStream and Vid Capture. I installed a 'TV Wonder VE PCI' and downloaded PVS 2 lite. Got the system configured sans any help! Generally like the app and plan on purchasing full version. Was even able to configure it so I could access through my firewall and schedule recordings from work.

Given it is a trial version and a new version is on the way my only major disappointment the quality of the video. I attribute this to the cheapness of the card. (For trial, I kept expenses low) I've only had the card for 2 weeks and want to exchange it. So far I cannot get PVS to record in anything greater than 320x240. (what do you expect for $39)

I've reviewed the list of supported cards. Can someone, everyone, recommend a good card to get my quality up. I don't necessarily need stereo or an external tuner. Quality of picture is what I'm looking for.

Thx

1.5 P4
ABIT BL7 Motherboard
ABIT GeForece4 4200 Video
1 Gig Ram

[mrphil]

Actually, the card you already have, TV Wonder VE, can capture up to 768x576, as it uses the standard BT878 capture chip. The ATI drivers supplied with the card are limited to 240 lines. You can download the latest drivers for the card from ATI which supports the higher resolutions, or better still get the BTWinCap drivers from http://btwincap.sourceforge.net/ which are free of crappy ATI code.

[MR_WHODAT]

Thx MrPHil
I won't ask why they supplied drivers that limited me to 240. I had already gone to ATI several times and downloaded what I thought were updated drivers. I will try the link you supplied tonight and see what I get.

Thx Again.

[SMulder]

MrPhil,

Do you have any info / experience on how these drivers might improve performance (cpu util) when using this card (TV Wonder VE)

-S

[mrphil]

BTWincap drivers have the following benefits;

1) Use *all* resolutions the card is capable of capturing at, not just xxx by 240.

2) channel scanning is ~ 3 times faster than ATI drivers

3) uses slightly less CPU time than ati drivers during capture

Note that you cannot use ATI utilities (TV app etc) with non-Ati drivers.

[dan100]

has anybody used the ati tv wonder usb, what are max capibilities of device and what kind of results have more experienced used been able to get with it. i have used it with power vcr, not to good results, have also tried use it with pinicle studio 7, but it crashes system everytime try to capture. HELP

[MR_WHODAT]

Finally, (but one more problem)
Had to back out all the ATI drivers and uninstall delivered software. After 2 hrs of screwing around with amcap and reinstalling the drivers several times I finally got rid of the haze and received the higher resolution.

Then tried SnapStream at 'Near DVD', but it kept reverting to VHS. I noticed the degraded picture, and the dimensions on the saved WMV file were 320x240.

Thus I set up a custom quality I called it 'Test Near DVD'. I set:

Compression/Format: Windows Media Audio 7
Parameters: 64 kbps 44 kHz, Stereo
Compression Format Windows Media Video 7
Dimensions Custom 720 x 480
Frames per second 30
Video Bitrates 2136000

Quality is good: But it does get choppy. I guess one refers to this as dropping a frame.

Question: What would be a good custom format for my card???? I'm almost there!! Need to stop dropping frames.

PS: all 3 advantages mentioned in mrphils note were realized.

Thx

[mrphil]

Its more about your CPU. If you want to capture at 720x480, you will want at least a P4 2ghz or better. What CPU and RAM do you have?

[MR_WHODAT]

mmhhh.. bout what I thought. I have a 1.5 P4 with 1 gig of Ram. ABIT did come out with a BIOS update for my Motherboard that lets me upgrade to 2.4 ghz if I wish. This may be my justification.
Thx