AIW 8500DV

[steve_evans]

Hi folks,

I bought a new PC a few months ago and as I had previously done a lot of
video capturing (using a Hauppage USB video capture device), I decided to go
for an Ati All-in-Wonder 8500DV card rather than separate video and capture
cards, and because I had bought Ati products for several years. Three months
later and I still haven't been able to successfully capture a decent video
from VHS....

If I use composite, I get a colour picture but no sound.

If I use S-Video, I get sound but a black & white picture.

No matter which connection I use, the captured video drops frames
continually (this is on a P4 2.4ghz / 1 gig ram system, with the latest Ati
drivers and capturing software, even capturing just 4-5 seconds of footage!)
Basically, the captured footage is terrible.

I have used several other vid capture applications with the same results.

I have tried using other VCR units, to the same effect.

In desperation I even tried dusting off my old Hauppage USB device, but the
Ati card refuses to let the Hauppage device be the primary vid capture
device.

The problem does not appear to be with my system at all. Why? Well, I have
just won a new MSI 256mb FX5600 in a competition and as a test I replaced it
for the Ati card, and bingo, within 5 minutes I could capture high res video
using my 4 year old Hauppage device with no dropped frames at all!

I have spend a lot of hours over the last few months searching the Net for
answers and it seems a lot of other AIW owners have similar problems. Any
ideas what the problem could be? I fail to believe that a new Ati card is
substantially worse than a cheapo ancient Hauppage USB device, so obviously
I would like to get my Ati video capture working. At the moment I'm a
thoroughly disatisfied Ati customer and am on the verge of flogging my AIW
on Ebay for a cut price and steering well clear of Ati products for a while.

Thanks.

 

[Brian]

I am glad I read your post. I was close to getting one and dumping my
Pinnacle AD/DV card because of sync issues. I never drop frames but it has
SYNC issues.

I think I am going to go for a better motherboard and more memory.

 

[Matt]

I have the same card and have none of the problems you are talking about.
I have a couple of questions for you: Can you capture off the air and by
using different compression formats? Have you checked all the connections
of the cables and is the audio connected properly? I have seen problems
with the plug for the I/O dongle where it connects to the back of the card.
You might also check the onboard 1394 connector to see if its driver is
loading properly. You can disable this if you are not using the 1394.

I am hopeful you can get it to work. As I said, mine works fine.

 

[Andre C]

Hi folks,

I bought a new PC a few months ago and as I had previously done a lot of
video capturing (using a Hauppage USB video capture device), I decided to go
for an Ati All-in-Wonder 8500DV card rather than separate video and capture
cards, and because I had bought Ati products for several years. Three months
later and I still haven't been able to successfully capture a decent video
from VHS....

If I use composite, I get a colour picture but no sound.

If I use S-Video, I get sound but a black & white picture.

No matter which connection I use, the captured video drops frames
continually (this is on a P4 2.4ghz / 1 gig ram system, with the latest Ati
drivers and capturing software, even capturing just 4-5 seconds of footage!)
Basically, the captured footage is terrible.

I feel its your setup rther than the card by itself. My system is much
lower powered. 1.3 athlon, 512Mb memory and Nforce2 motherboard.
capturtes fine. Sometimes get <1% frame drop when i chose to do other
things at the same time.

Andre