compared philips saa713x chip with Bt87X!

[birdy]

Hi guys,
I had an Avermedia TV Capture card with bt878 chip and was using it to capture true composite from digital satelite reciver for years now and I was very happy with the quality. I always captured at 768X576 and mostly directly to Xvid with real great quality.

Few days ago I borrowed a Card called DGMAX from a friend and it has the saa7130 philips chip. I captured with the same settings I used with my bt card and I realized that the image is so much sharper! Also it could capture easy at 800X600, 1024X768 and even 1440X1080!!!!

I wanted to ask if anyone here has experience with this chip?
If you think its better compared to 878?????
if there is any kind of tweaked or better driver for it???

[Elic]

Yes, I have tested about a dozen "noname" and "brand" cap-cards and noticed that SAA713x gives much more sharp and stable pictures on PAL and SECAM channels (in my country, there is no NTSC at all :) ). Average difference between "noname" and "brand" cards is not so significant as between 713x and 8x8. Finally, I choose Avermedia 305 with SAA7130. The only imperfection I seen that Aver-305 distorts picture when input level (from antenna) exceeds 60 dB, whereas 8x8-based cards and regular TV set work OK at 75-80 dB.

About a driver: I use Windows 2000 and hacked driver (http://auzol.narod.ru/files/drivers/saa713x_2310.zip) together with Fly2000TV (http://auzol.narod.ru/files/beta/flysetup.exe) from Andrey Zolotaryov (http://auzol.narod.ru/index_e.html). This driver seems to be much more stable than "native" driver shipped with Aver-305.

[birdy]

thanks Elic. this was so good that I needed someone else to confirm! this chip really rocks :)