OK, here is the problem. All I want to do is to be able to capture video or DVD with my capture device, XTASY 5564 AGP 64 card. I have been at it a long time now and still I am not satisfied. First of all, with WINDVR which came with the device, I have had a few problems. First off, out of synch audio and video. I though I licked that, but there is another problem. No matter what settings I use (VCD capture), NTSC, 2048 bit rate, mpeg1, audio is the problem. Once I burn the VCD and play it on a stand alone DVD player, there is a popping sound. The only way I minimized that was when I turned the capture speed of the audio all the way up to 320 and use dual channel which wastes space for a vcd. The video in my opinion is quite good for a vcd. I usually can fit around 45 min on a 80min cd. I used ULEAD DVD movie factory and the sound is fine, but even at 2000 for the bit rate for video, it is blocky and not good. I use the ulead to author the vcd. I also used nero and it is the same. I am at a loss. Any suggestions? I have win xp, 1.5gig pentium 4.

It also seems that the captures I do with windvr, mpeg1 are being seen as vbr by ulead when I go to author it. I wonder if that is causing the problem with the popping audio sound? There are no controls to change cbr and vbr on windvr.

Hi haymes:

I know what you mean

I had the XTASY card with the nice little green external pod.
There were several issues that made me return it back to the store a couple of days after I bought it.

(1) Every time I tried to capture something with MacroVision, I got a horizontal bar across my screen.

(2) The quality of WinDVR is so so. The problem is that the mpeg files produced, are not VCD compliant.

I reported this to InterVideo, because I am a registered owner of WinCoder, and the files produced ( by WinCoder AND WinDVR ) have sync issues and some "flicker" on the top part of the video in some scenes. I only noticed this capturing at standard VCD resolution and standard 1,150Kbps bit rate.


So I returned the card and got myself a WinTV GO ( the model that has S-Video and Composite inputs ).

Coupled with these drivers: http://btwincap.sourceforge.net

The drivers say "bye bye" to MacroSplat, and you get a perfect capture from any source ( any source )

And, end of story! I am very happy now capturing at 352x480 ( to always capture both fields ) to AVI via Huffy CODEC and encoding with KVCD template in TMPEG.

I can't ask for more ( for now! )

kwag

kwag, im sure glad I read your post because I have been using WinDVR with the little green pod too and have been having these same problems all along (especially the audio sync prob). Will the Win tv-Go work with the Nvidia GEforce2? or is it a tv turner/ video card all in one?

Also I'm still a little bit confused about why you use the AviSynth IVTC filter versus the one built into DVD2AVI or TMPge. Is that because it's much faster? Also if you IVTC twice will it shrink the video again and screw it up?

thanx
ren

Hi ren:

The WinTV GO is a tuner/capture board. It's not a video card.

I use AviSynth to IVTC because it is so much faster than TMPEG's internal IVTC. I only use the IVTC in AviSynth for captures. If it's a DVD conversion, and it's +95% FILM, I use the DVD2AVI built-in "Force Film" and then I don't have to IVTC.

You can only use IVTC one. If you do it twice, you will get a screwed up mpeg file

kwag

My neighbor wants to trade straight across his brand new GeForce4 Xtasy for my GeForce2 mx400 with the external capture box (the green pod) and I've been all over the net reading reviews about the GF4 and most say that its better than the GF2 ti but most of the reviewers are suspicious of the lack of a fan on the heat sink and me too.

He wants to trade because it wouldn't work with his new SOYO motherboard and I installed it into my Asus P4B and it works fine. The graphics seem to be just as good but I haven't really tested it yet with heavy gaming.

Just wanted to see if you've heard anything about this and if you think I should take this deal.

thanks alot Kwag
ren

@rendalunit:

Unfortunately, I haven't heard anything about that card, so I can't give you any feedback.

Maybe someone reading this post can comment.

kwag

YEAH I ALSO HAD TO RETURN PERSONAL CINEMA the one you are using now it has a lot of problems however mines werent like yours. i return it but before i made a copy of the software it comes with it

Now i have AverTV Studio Deluxe ITS CHEAPER and its great THE ONLY THING IS THAT I AM NOT USING THE SOFTWARE THAT COMES WITH AVER because I LL BE HONEST IS NOT AS GOOD AS WinDVR so what i do is USE WinDVR with AVER hardware and it works MORE THAN GREAT i get better quality than with AVER software and better formats on recording so if you have a chance return that product and get another one

hey PToN,

I traded my PERSONAL CINEMA package for a GeForce4 mx420 and I bought a WintTv GO capture card.

Man, if you're able to store large file sizes (like about 30 gig) then I highly recomend using Virtual Dub- it totally blows away WinDVR! but if you have to capture straight to Mpeg then I think WinDVR is the way to go- but forget about capturing a macrovisioned DVD via the S-video cable- WinDVR blocks out the screen!

yeah, the thing is that Virtualdub gives me some problems so i dont want to spent too much time on that.

what i am looking now is a way to convert those MPEG2 i am capturing to AVI or Divx ( the same ) any comments ???

http://btwincap.sourceforge.net ( And say Bye Bye to Macrosplat! )

kwag

Thanks man i am giving it a shot right now

I never saw this before. Is it because of macrovision? It never did it before, now it does it. Should I downgrade from windvr 1.8 to the original 1.5 that came with this package?

yeah, pretty sure that's because you're trying to capture macrovisioned source through the s-video or rca connections- try the coaxial cable connection (if there is one)- and see if that works-

Here is what I did. I uninstalled the whole windvr, windvd, wdm suite that came with the card. I reinstalled the suite, minus the display driver. I installed the wdm update OVER the current WDM that came with the suite. The WDM update was from nvidia's site, dated 3/22/02 I believe. It no longer has the macrovision problem!

This maybe a silly question, but can i have my regular Ati Tv wonder drivers installed as well as btwincap drivers? I havent tried it yet...


tks