TV Tuner/video capture card

[Robotnik]

Hi, I was wanting some advice/opinions on any tv tuner cards and/or video
capture cards that anyone might use or own.

I have one made by Phoebe that I ordered some where. it's a PCI, supports
busmastering, has remote control, also FM tuner, and supposedly supports up
to 640X480 capture. I have never gotten it to capture that hight. I use
windows movie maker to caputre most of my video, But when I recently bought
Ulead Video Studio 7, It wont caputre hardly anything. Only a few specific
modes that work. I can't get it to capture decent quality MPEG 1 or 2
video. I only paid like 40 bucks for it. Also it was a pain in the ass to
install (I had to manually configure it's memory usage....uhhhhg. and quite
often I think it causes my system to hang. PRobably because of how I had to
configure it.

Basically, I'm looking for a good brand name, that will capture MPEG1 & 2,
remote isn't really neccesarry, neither is the FM tuner.

If anyone has some suggestions/opions, they would be appricated. Oh yeah,
I'm not going to pay for one of thse like 2000 dollar ones. Too much for
me.

Thanks

Nic

 

[Some One]

What kind of computer is it going into?

What are you capturing?

 

[Robotnik]

Well, the one I plan to put it in is a Dell PC, Pentium 4 1400Mhz, 128MB
RAM.....but I may throw some parts together and make a different one,
possibly a pentium III, not real sure, but it'll be a fairly hi-end system.
Not going to be any peice of crap machine.

I capture TV shows sometimes, like the simpsons, on occasion I'll record
some good stuff from the news that I want to keep, and sometimes for school
(or just for the heck of it) I'll capture some stuff I recorded from my
analog video camera and edit it (for example, a friend and I made a music
video for our calculus class to get extra credit.....called e-It, referring
to natural logarithms, and to the tune of Michael Jackson's "beat it"). I
like at least 320X240, but I'd kinda like to be able to capture MPEG2,
(which I can't remember the exact standard demensions for that, but it's a
little higher than that I"m sure) so I can put it on DVDs or Video cd's and
share with friends.

I hope I answered your questions, so I can get some input! YAY!

PS, I'm not really looking for a Video card/capture combo, like the all in
wonder....I'm set with a decent video card, with TV out in case I need to
distribute on VHS, which I have done.

Nic

 

[John]

Well, the one I plan to put it in is a Dell PC, Pentium 4 1400Mhz, 128MB
RAM.....but I may throw some parts together and make a different one,
possibly a pentium III, not real sure, but it'll be a fairly hi-end system.
Not going to be any peice of crap machine.

I capture TV shows sometimes, like the simpsons, on occasion I'll record
some good stuff from the news that I want to keep, and sometimes for school
(or just for the heck of it) I'll capture some stuff I recorded from my
analog video camera and edit it (for example, a friend and I made a music
video for our calculus class to get extra credit.....called e-It, referring
to natural logarithms, and to the tune of Michael Jackson's "beat it"). I
like at least 320X240, but I'd kinda like to be able to capture MPEG2,
(which I can't remember the exact standard demensions for that, but it's a
little higher than that I"m sure) so I can put it on DVDs or Video cd's and
share with friends.

I hope I answered your questions, so I can get some input! YAY!

frankly I think almost any card can do it.

I used a cheapo i/O MAGIC CARD which probably was identical to a
repackaged low end Pinnacle rave card . mono souund and it could
capture at higher res than that.

It worked perfectly well since it used the generic drivers and came
with a crippled version of power vcr , it disabled the s-VIDEO in
unless you bought the full version.

Ive been using an older Pinnacle Studio Pro card which has the works -
STEREO/DBX and radio with remote control.

They all use a few common chips. Depending on the chip used - you can
get generic drivers for them on the net - wdm. By using them and if
there are no problems with your card , you can use the large number of
thjird party software - Power VCR, WINPVR, Snapstream. Showshifter
etc.

The cheaper cards have mono sound. As you move up you can get other
non-essential features like remotes etc.

You can start getting stereo sound around the $50 RANGE.
I got my Pinnacle deluxe rebatge special a while back for $25 and the
I/o magic card twice - once for $15 and later for $5 .

Pinnacle, Hauppage, Avermedia , ati PLUS a ton of generic cards which
are branded under everything from MSI to ASUS you see online and at
smaller shops.

I think avermedia had the lowest stereo card at $49 sold at large
places like COMPUSA. Its gotten OK reviews but last time I checked
they said it wasnt compaitble with the radeon.

Also when you get a TV card you never know if youll have massive
probvlems or not. It might be wise to get it from a COMPUSA so you
can return it easily if you have big problems.

 

[Robotnik]

Thanks, I also forgot, I think the one I use now actually has stereo
sound....but not sure (the audio cable has two rca connectors on it, but
they might just be there to capture both channels and combine them). Also
it has S-Video in, and composite video which is pretty cool. It's own built
in view application sucks, except for just watching TV....in overlay mode,
looks great because It streams directly to the graphics frame buffer, and is
as hi res as my desktop is set at (sometimes the PC crashes, and locks up,
but the tv part still shows due to that). So that's cool. But the crashing
I just can't stand, and the low resoloution I can't stand. (and the pain in
the ass configuration).

I figure CompUSA is a good place to go. I'm not sure how long they give you
for returns though.

Oh well, thanks again.

Nic

 

[John]

Thanks, I also forgot, I think the one I use now actually has stereo
sound....but not sure (the audio cable has two rca connectors on it, but
they might just be there to capture both channels and combine them). Also
it has S-Video in, and composite video which is pretty cool. It's own built
in view application sucks, except for just watching TV....in overlay mode,
looks great because It streams directly to the graphics frame buffer, and is
as hi res as my desktop is set at (sometimes the PC crashes, and locks up,
but the tv part still shows due to that). So that's cool. But the crashing
I just can't stand, and the low resoloution I can't stand. (and the pain in
the ass configuration).

I figure CompUSA is a good place to go. I'm not sure how long they give you
for returns though.

About two weeks.

Unfortunately they havent had any tv cards in their sales every two
weeks. About two months ago suddenly they rebated the avermedia card
down to $29 but they havent had the reallybig rebate sales on generic
type cards like IO magic down to $15-$5 for a long time now.

they had a hauppage down to around $30 a few weeks ago thats about it.

I think Offixe max was running a rebate on hauppages , you might want
to check their rebate book which you can get at any store.

its hell typing on a non-ergo keyboard when you are used to an ergo.
the keys seem like they are all in the wrong position and your hands
are all scrunched up.

..