hands on experience; current capture card king ???

[DaveQB]

it seems i have fried my Capture card so now i can spend the money on a good one.

i currently capture games for my team off 8mm tapes, but also capture off VHS tapes for ppl and edit them and then put them on CD (at a small charge)

i also want to invest in a DVD-RW and convert VHS to DVD etc and make a little business on the side out of this...

but anyway,
i am looking at the

LEADTEK WINFAST TV2000
FLYVIDEO TV/TUNER
PIXEL VIEW PLAY TV HD

what have been prove to be the best bang for buck??

any other cards i should be aware of ?

suggestions, ideas, experiences and thoughts all welcome

thanx

[dar1us]

Erm, i heard the ATI TVWonder VE was the best...

... only joking:D ..

But seriously, i heard good things about the FLYCap series, looking at one myself, if you get one, besure to give us a shout, i'd love to know from ANYONE who has had a go with them.


dar1us

[DaveQB]

i went with the Winfast.
Great software, great viewing qualtiy, but capturing (which is my primary concern) isnt up to scratch :(

been talking on the www.tv-card.com website and people are liking the flyvideo 3000 (with the phillips saa7138 chip). So i am thinking i will buy that and sell my Winfast off.

the MSI with the new 10-bit chip intrigues me, but i read the software for it so far sux!

and dunno how well a new works with 3rd oparty apps (ie VD)

any news on that card???

[dar1us]

For a card to work in VDub, it needs to have its own WDM drivers, WindowsDriverManagement(?). This will allow thirdparty applications like vdub to play with whatever you want.

I am currently capping with a Winfast A280LE and works ok sofar (8x-4200) but want a stand-alone capture card because I am not that chuffed with it (totally).

SAA7138 - heh, i am on 7108:)

have you actually had a go with this winfast card, if so, u wouldn't mind sending some small samples, attachment, e-mail... however


dar1us

[cjv]

Originally posted by DaveQB

the MSI with the new 10-bit chip intrigues me, but i read the software for it so far sux!

and dunno how well a new works with 3rd oparty apps (ie VD)


Well, the included software may suck (only needed if you want to use the TV tuner), but the capture quality (S-Video/composite) is out of this world! If you are willing to give up capturing in VDub and move to a true WDM app, like iuVCR, this card is excellent.

Check out my post in "high quality capture hardware..."

cjv

[dar1us]

i cant find anywhere to buy that card (Fly Video 3000) in the UK!!?!

Someone help me out, all i keep finding is places in AUS. grr


dar1us

[igor140]

For a list of TV-cards based on the Philips saa 713x-chip (like flyvideo3000) go have a look at http://auzol.narod.ru/index_e.html. This is also the home site of the most sophisticated software written for this chip. Great for watching TV, but for capture I recommend VirtualVCR, because its audio resampling function solves all synch problems.
I have a flyvideo3000 and I am very happy with it. Here in Germany you can find cards with the philips chipset mainly as special offers in discount supermarkets like Aldi and Plus. Contrary to what you might expect, elta, the German importer of Flyvideo cards, offers decent driver support.

[dar1us]

@igor, how much did you pay for it

That website is down

oh, and one thing, thats the only truely important thing i learnt on my week in germany, u can pick things like that up at the supermarkt:) - not here, but u can buy crappy clothes, kids stuff mainly, and music..


dar1us#


thx anyhow

[DaveQB]

Originally posted by dar1us
For a card to work in VDub, it needs to have its own WDM drivers, WindowsDriverManagement(?). This will allow thirdparty applications like vdub to play with whatever you want.

I am currently capping with a Winfast A280LE and works ok sofar (8x-4200) but want a stand-alone capture card because I am not that chuffed with it (totally).

SAA7138 - heh, i am on 7108:)

have you actually had a go with this winfast card, if so, u wouldn't mind sending some small samples, attachment, e-mail... however


dar1us

ok heres a link to a small clip.
http://DavidWard.myvnc.com/OverTheMiddle.divx

the problem i have is the colour waving in and out.

the huffy file it captures isnt too bad, but colour isnt very rich, even after playing with the colour settings, but then after encoding it goes all wavey, as you can see.

and i ment SAA7134 oops! :D

update, it might indeed be the software that comes with this card,
experimenting with iuVCR now, nice proggy ;)

[igor140]

@dar1us

sorry for the website being down. I had tested it and it was still working then. Try http://auzol.by.ru/index_e.html instead.

About the price of those cards here:
Aldi has got one on offer (starting this Wednesday) for 49,99 Euros.

Edit: Try the old address again! It's up again. The url from this post contains an older version of the software.

[tuco]

Originally posted by DaveQB
i went with the Winfast.
Great software, great viewing qualtiy, but capturing (which is my primary concern) isnt up to scratch :(

been talking on the www.tv-card.com website and people are liking the flyvideo 3000 (with the phillips saa7138 chip). So i am thinking i will buy that and sell my Winfast off.

the MSI with the new 10-bit chip intrigues me, but i read the software for it so far sux!

and dunno how well a new works with 3rd oparty apps (ie VD)

any news on that card???

You can also use btwincap drivers from sourcforge and a wdm to vfw wrapper from arstechnica.com A/V FAQ. I have a winTV card and it is pretty good. You should go for a card that can use the btwincap drivers because you don't need any driver support from the company of the card.

[DaveQB]

found a supplier in Sydney that will be selling the Polink Xcapture card thats based on the new Conexant CX23881 10-bit chip for only AU$105

thats cheaper then the Winfast and same as the FlyVideo.

i know software support will be limited, but it will get there and i can get high quality captures using something like iuVCR

anyone know more bout this new card ???

[\AX]

(DaveQB read this...)

To cjv...who ever thinks that the MSI TV@nywhere is...uh "OK" is out of this world. I have been, and still battling the compatibility issue's of this card. MANY MANY people have. If you have a excellent experience with it...then you should play the lottery because your a exceptiong. I hope you are, truely do, a exception...because many are soooooooooo disappointed with this card. Nothing on you, but if it work's like you want it to...then realize you are EXTREMELY LUCKY!!!

i have been beating up a thread i started at the MSI forum in the VGA section that is something like "Can the MSI TV@nywhere..". My handle there is AXX.

The MSI tv@nywhere is a HUGE disappointment. Luckily us user's at that board have been posting ALL the various problems with that card (there is many) and just today seem to help a user "tywen" decide to go with another card.

tv@nywhere...like the thread i start here months ago...produce's excellent quality. I have seen the new phillips now and the tv@nywhere produce's better image's. However the support for it is just down right HORRIBLE.

capturing in WDM??? well ok but don't think that will solve too many issue's for you. The card also use's the CX881 which has a mono chip on it so you will have to use your sound card if you want stereo. Nobody know's why they chose that chip since the CX880 and CX882 support stereo..it is still a mystery.

The thread here i started and many contriuted to is about this card in the light of trial and error across several different application's. The thread i started over there is will clearly show you that support for this card is horrible. In one instance a user, "FAM", has not gotten the correct card so he sent it back, the one he got back in return was also not correct and he sent it back, and now he still has not got the card in his possesion.

If you want to make a bold journey, and see the quality of this card by buying it...well ok. The image quality you will see is down right beautiful. However, you will quicly find yourself in a HUGE pool of bug's and thing's that happen that should not happen even under the most typical situations.

For the money, and card, the best card i have see so far in image quality is the TV@nywhere..but dont get it. It's horribly supported.
I have see the phillips chip now..it is extremely close. I have just recently see what the board by prolink can do. It has the same 10bit chip (although it might be steroe...dont know for sure) and it looks the same as the tv@nywhere. Now the tv@nywhere can use the prolink dirvers, which is recommended unless you want to use the tuner. If you want to use the tuner...pfff..good luck. The prolink Xcapture is the same card as this tv@nywhere but without a tuner. But on the up side it's driver's are DIRECTLY made by Conexant...however i image SOME of the issue's with this card do not exist that do in the tv@ny. However VFW support is still the same...limited to 320x240.

What im waiting to see quality on, is the new AIW. I hear it is going to be 12bit's.

However, brought to my attention by the creator of the btwincap, he said that windows can only actually handel 8 out of the xx bits. The quality will however look better since the routine's have been improved.


I suggest waiting to everyone until summer. At that point there should be enough new 9bit+ chip boards out there to really take a overall comparision with.

Right now, as 8bit goes, the bt8x8 is obviously no longer the king for consumer based analogue tv tuner/capture cards. These 9bit, 10bit, 12bit, wtf ever...have truely shown that technology does evolve on...and evolve on for the better.

I only suggest waiting because the support for all these new 9bit+ boards seems to be "shaky" from all the threads i have seen. I would hope to expect to see a "stable" 9bit+ board out there by summer. When it comes to finally...i will get one.

For now i will stick with my bt8x8 board's and this clunky Tv@nywhere.

[cjv]

@\AX:

I read your previous thread about the MSI card, even before I bought it, and I understand you are very unhappy with it. You have every right to be, but everyone has a right to their own opinion. It appears you want to cap in VDub (which it cannot do)..you want to use the tuner _without_ the included WinDVR (which it cannot do)..you want the (mis)advertised MPEG-4 features to work (which they don't)...and you want the NTSC stereo support (MSI has no excuse for this one).

I knew all this going into it, yet I am still very happy with my purchase...because it does the one thing I wanted it to do, and it does this very well. I'm talking about VERY HIGH quality 720x480 captures from S-Video to HuffYUV via the WDM interface. And the mono chip is no big deal because I use RCA/SPDIF directly to my sound card anyways.

Considering the amazing quality, and considering this card cost me the equivalent of $50 USD (practically pocket change), I can't really complain. A lot of people are just looking for high quality S-Video capture, and have no need for the tuner, or crappy audio passthrough. You'll have to agree that for this purpose, the MSI card great.

I have not had one bug/crash/incompatibility/problem since installing this card (and I still have my ATI AIW installed and working)..and even the analog cable capture via WinDVR is not really that bad..in fact it's much better than ATI's MMC. I even installed the DScaler alpha today, and the image quality from pure analog cable is stunning.

As long as someone knows the facts before buying this card, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone.

cjv
EDIT: Ha, just read your edit. Maybe I am very lucky..hmmm..I should go buy a lotto ticket tonight :)

[DaveQB]

hmmm i leaning towards the FlyVideo 3000 Phillips SAA7134 chip (9-bit i believe)

but i am waiting for an email fromProlink bout there PixelView PlayTV HD card that uses the CX23881 chip. I want to know it if captures in native PAL res (768x576)