Navis Pro Capture Card does any one have this card?

[Richum]

A while back, I played with capturing using my ATI Rage Fury Pro and the latest Multimedia Center Software 7.6.

The problem is that you have to use a registry hack to modify the MMC to capture a compliant SVCD. My thinking was if the quailty was good enough I could backup my DVDs by recording from my De-Macrovisioned stand alone DVD-player and save a ton of encoding time.

Had a lot of dropped frames which I feel was a result of a slow hard drive and if I remember correctly I had to capture Constant Bit Rate. I can fix the hard drive issue, but the other problems are the quality and the size of the finished product. So now comes the question!

The Navis Pro is supposedly capable of SVCD capture and variable bit rate. How good is the quality, does it approach a 3 pass Cinema Craft encoding? Last time I checked the card cost $280 US from BenClare in Canada. I have read 5 reviews at VCDhelp.com and four of the 5 have been very good. If you have one what are your feelings?

Thanks,

Rich

[Milkman Dan]

I'd be wary of any piece of equipment that does the job for half the price of similar equipment. I'm a strong believer in "you get what you pay for."

If you do decide to buy it, make sure to come back here and post about your experiences.

[Richum]

I'd be wary of any piece of equipment that does the job for half the price of similar equipment. I'm a strong believer in "you get what you pay for."

That's good advice Dan, and it is why I ask this question. The Navis Pro is of Korean manufacture. As it is not widely distributed in the US I can't run down to the local computer store and even read the box it comes in, but still it intrigues me that I might be able to save so much time and effort by a simple capture.

Still it is hard to beat the quality of an encoder like CCE. The sample captures I have downloaded looked inferior compared to a movie sample encoded by CCE or TMPGenc. I wonder if you can get decent backups unless you spend mega bucks?

[Milkman Dan]

The card I was looking at purchasing was the Vitec DCM card. I forget the exact model number (which is kinda sad), but it's a 'hybrid' encoder that does some of the work itself, and offloads some of it to the host CPU. I have an AXP1800+, so I doubt I'll feel it much.

However, it looks like the full hardware implementations only start at $1200 and up. Check out Ebay for used ones that go for less. I saw a 2000$ card go for $650 the other day. That's not a bad deal!

[Richum]

I sure will look at those other options. Currently I am in the learning stages. The backing up of DVD Movies is just a fun hobby, but I do have a business reason for wanting to do some capture and encoding.

I teach prepratory courses for a national certification examination unrelated to the computer industry. I would like to turn my courses into multimedia presentations, which will run from a notebook into a projector. I would need a mix of captured video, some 3D modeling, and power point slides. My idea is to use a cam to record parts of classroom presentations and do a mix of the other media.

Thanks for your suggestions.

Rich