I have looked through many of the forums at videohelp.com and haven't found a definative answer. I was wondering what the optimum resolution for capture is through a digital cable receiver. I normally capture regular cable channels at half-D1 and am happy with the quality. I just got digital cable and have been trying to get the settings down for capture. Should I just stick with half D1 or should I go with something more along the lines of 640x480?

For AVI capture, I prefer to stick to 4:3 ratio 640x480 just because it's easier to edit that way, and it's higher than the source res anyway.

For direct MPEG capture, depends on the channel. They all vary. From Cartoon Network, SciFi or a local, I can grab 352x480 and not miss anything. On a PPV channel, I can sometimes see a slight loss of definition (but not much) when doing Half D1. For those, it's better to go Full D1 to capture every detail. However, I'm not that picky too often.

I suggest test captures, and then see what you like. Most people cannot see the difference between Half D1 and Full D1 unless they have perfect vision, a huge tv, and stand 6 inches from the screen.