Which card should I buy?
 

I want to install a resonably priced card to capture cable tv. Could I get some recommendations? I have a 750mhz P3.

Re: Which card should I buy?
 

Get the Haupagge WinTV Go. It's a very cheap card and has excelent video quality :)
Then you can either capture to AVI using Huffy CODEC (need large disk space!), or use WinDVR and capture directly to MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 :wink:

-kwag

Re: Which card should I buy?
 

OK, just bought one (model 401) on Ebay. Does the thing come with any software for capture? I will probably have a few questions after I receive it. My first target is the new Dune on SCIFI channel on 6 March.

How much disk space for Huffy are we talking about?

Re: Which card should I buy?
 

Huffy CODEC is a lossless CODEC that compresses 2:1 compared to RAW AVI. You'll need at least a 40GB hard for a ~2 hour capture. However, you can also use WinDVD and capture directly to MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 at a very high bit rate, and then you won't have any space issues :D

-kwag

Re: Which card should I buy?
 

NickSteel,

Good choice with the WINTVGo card! However, when you put the card in don't let any of the provided software within 10 meters of your pc - it really stinks big time! Instead, install the btwincap drivers from http://btwincap.sourceforge.net/ . These are much better drivers for cards with that chipset. Then you need a program to capture. I've tried windvr and don't like the results personally - but give it a try yourself. My personal preference is VirtualVCR - an excellent freeware app, get it from www.digtv.ws . This program allows you to capture to any avi codec installed on your pc and has some specific code to handle audio sync - make sure you tick 'Resample audio dynamically' in preferences although this is explained in the website help section.

Kwag quite rightly said captuing to huffyuv gives best overall quality. However, this gives you huge filesizes. I have found that using the Picvideo MJPEG on setting 18 or 19 gives excellent results when encoded using tmpeg using the PixieDust avisynth filter. The filesize savings are enormous.

If you have any quetions feel free to ask, i primarily use KDVD to encode tv captures made this way and some times the results look just like the tv broadcast. I usually fit about 4-6 hours widescreen capture to one dvd.

Jim

I'm using Virtual VCR and capturing to Divx5 @3000kbps and I'm getting good results- or at least I think it's good :roll: I really like this Virtual VCR proggy though- thanks for that link 8) One problem though is when I capture at anything above 320x240 the preview window disappears :?:

i just bought an ati tv wonder ve for $40. works beautiful. i get great quality captures on it. using powervcr ii i can capture straight to high quality mpeg2.

Try WinDVR. I think you'll like the MPEG-2 quality produced much better :wink:

-kwag

Have you enabled 'smart tee for preview'.. Go to the virtual vcr site as they have a forum. Also, beware when capturing using Divx when the source is interlaced, Divx doesn't support interlaced video.

Jim

Hi jamesp,

Have you tried the MGI MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 Video CODECs with VirtualVCR :?:
I would like to know if they work ok, and how about quality :!:

Thanks,
-kwag

yeah, I forgot about that :oops: I captured a small interlaced sample with divx5 at 352x480 and did deinterlaced it and encoded with 528x480 mpeg-1 and I don't see any combing at all :?:

Kwag,

Where can i get these?

Jim

I think they are included in Darim's DVMpeg package. Not sure though :?

Re: Which card should I buy?
 

Could you post a step-by-step for capturing tv cable with WINTVGO card to MPEG2 with VirtualVCR? This is my first try.

Re: Which card should I buy?
 

[quote="nicksteel"]I've downloaded the drivers and virtualvcr you recommend.

1. How do I install the board using the downloaded driver set?
2. Where do I get the MJPEG and how do I configure virtualvcd for it?
3. What settings do you use with virtualvcd?

Would really appreciate guidence and would like to parallel the exact methods you are using for a beginning.

when I capture via vdub I get flickering lines in the preview box, but when I view the outputted avi file the flickering is not there, anyone know whats going on there?

What you are seeing are retrace/blanking lines in your screen, because your capture program can't keep up the display in sync with the real external video. You should disable preview ALWAYS when you are capturing, so that the program doesn't have to keep updating the video memory. This way you also keep dropped frames to a minimum, because your capture program doesn't need to refresh the screen at the same time it's capturing video.

-kwag

cheers kwag for that tip, never knew that. I only seem to get flickering lines when I capture from digital satalite.

Help with Windvd Go
 

My system:

750 P3
Windows98se
ATI Radeon 32DDR
WinTV GO 190

So far, I've uninstalled/installed my wintv go card numerous times, using their uninstall program. I also reinstalled WIndows98se to detect hardware. I've so far experienced three problems:

Message upon installation that IRQ 10 had compatibility problems. This problem went away when I downloaded and installed from the wintv site:

VIA 4-in-1 driver
WinTV driver version 4.2 wtvdrv42.exe
WinTV2000 application version 3.39 wintv2k339_20112.exe

Failure of other programs (Virtualdvd, Windvd) to recognize the wintv go card.

They all say no tuner found.
Wintv go is not listed in Control panel/system/hardware. The video drivers and audio drivers are listed.

WinTV2000 operates ok. Capture misses audio.

Hi nicksteel,

Get this driver: http://btwincap.sf.net

-kwag