Capture card question

[Wawazat71]

Hi - just need a pointer as to capture cards

I got 2 cards in my PC that can capture - a fairly old Pinnacle PCTV card that has a BT848 (i think) in it. I like to capture at 704*576, and it does this fine, but its noticeable softer than my other card - my LEADTEK GE4200 has a VIVO input. This captures a lot sharper but infuses a lot of wierd colour noise onto thje capture - I can reduce this with avisynth but I'd rather not see it at all. It doesnt appear on the PCTV

Now, if I rock on down to my local PC shop and buy a new TV card, with a nice newer chipset in it, am I likely to see a sharper result than the pinnacle gives me? Or is gonna be pretty much the same as my old one, and I'm better off just using the VIVO and killing the colour noise later.

Just fishing for advice on older vs newer tv tuner cards capture quality really. Anyone able to point me in the right direction?

[SiliconSoul]

if you like the older pinnacle card better why not use that and a sharpen filter?

[Soulhunter]

Hint... (http://www.dvdrhelp.com/capturecards) ;)

Bye

[Wawazat71]

Originally posted by Soulhunter
Hint... (http://www.dvdrhelp.com/capturecards) ;)

Bye

Yeh been there thanks. I'm more after anecdotal experiences from those who have upgraded to a newer chipset though.

As a buyers guide to what to get if I do go and upgrade, that links perfect.

[wongck5]

@Wawazat71

In general, BT878 is a 8-bit decoder chip that produce a soft picture, and so noise become less obvious. For newer capture card like Conexant 238XX (?not sure the number), it is a 10-bit decoder chip and noise will be inevitably more obvious. The Philips 713X decoder is a 9-bit chip.

I think your choice will depends on what kinds of video source you used to capture from. If you often capture from VHS tape, you better stay with your old Pinnacle PCTV; otherwise you still needs the denoise filter even you got a newer capture card.

It's a good idea to try to capture from high quality source (like DV tape, outdoor scene with good light) using your GE4200. If noise still present, getting a newer capture card is a good choice if you often needs to capture from high quality source.

Hope this helps.

[Wawazat71]

Thanks wongck5

I actually decided to buy the leadtek expert card with the cx chip on it. I'm generally happy with that, although on crappy VHS tapes it has a lot of trouble holding colours stable, and has occasionally even wigged out totally and inserted big green globs into the capture. Mind you the tape was atrocious - I was giving it a pretty hard test :)

So for the crappier tapes I go bak to the Nvidia VIVo. The CX chip does the job for better tapes, and stuff I'll capture direct to the PC in the future.

Thanks!