Best Capture Hardware / Software Out There

[4Ryan6]

I've tried a few capturing methods trying to capture from my satellite dish and VCR outputs S-video and RCA L & R Audio outputs, I have the Converting software, but what I'm looking for is the fastest way(no dropped frames if possible) to capture, the Video and Audio, in perfect sink. Available options are ATI AIW(PCI card which I can't use because it won't share with another Video card and I have a high performance AGP graphics card for gaming that I'm not giving up) Pinacle capture card with a 1394 firewire input( but I can't seem to locate an adapter to convert the VCR and Satellite Dish outputs to firewire input to be able to use the Pinacle card) Some capture devices with USB 1.1 (which results in dropped frames) Some capture devices with USB 2( which probably will work, but I need to know for sure, I'm tired of buying things spending hours messing with them and ending up taking them back to the store) Anyone out there found what definitely works for this situation??? Thank You! Ryan

Related possible need to know
I have a 1/8" stereo jack input on my soundcard
Tried WinTV happauge(mono sound only and no S-video input)
ATI AIW PCI( would not share with my ATI 9800 Pro AGP)
Dazzle Fusion( could not get the sound to merge through USB 1 and dropped frames through USB 1)



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[FallOutBoyTonto]

I'm using ATI TV Wonder PCI card for capturing. Its old and no longer supported by ATI but it still works; also using a high end AGP card at same time (9700 Pro). Maybe the ATI TV Wonder VE will do a better job. I capture using VirtualDub 1.5.1 with real time Xvid compression (leaving audio PCM and compressing afterwards). I get very few dropped frames (about 45 frames dropped in 95 mins of capturing /w 29.97FPS).

But one thing I'm wondering about is that I'm only able to capture in 320x240, nothing higher. I get the error message "Format not supported" whenever I try to go higher. I probably didn't answer any of your questions, just wanted to put in my two cents.

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[4Ryan6]

Well I checked out your system rig, that ain't holding you back, its got to be the capture hardware, limiting your resolution to 352 x 240.

<b><font color=purple>Details, Details, Its all in the Details, If you need help, Don't leave out the Details.</font color=purple></b>

 

[FallOutBoyTonto]

Yeah, that's what I figured too. My next upgrade will be getting the 9800 Pro, I'll probably get the AIW when it becomes available up here in Canada. Hopefully that'll be able to capture in at least 640x480.

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[4Ryan6]

An AIW 9800Pro, I wonder how much that bad boy is going to cost.

<b><font color=purple>Details, Details, Its all in the Details, If you need help, Don't leave out the Details.</font color=purple></b>

 

[FallOutBoyTonto]

Honestly, I don't care how much it'll cost. It'll definately be worth it. But I'm sure it'll cost just about an arm and a leg.

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[NurseMSIC]

I wish i had an answer for you, i don't. But i can tell you that i'd be surprised if you had an 'adapter' to allow you to use your firewire in (the IEEE 1394).
Basically, this only supports DV in, so the data has to be already be in DV format (usually from a camcorder). You can buy a seperate DV convertor which would do the job you want, but i think these cost a few hundred pounds.

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[FallOutBoyTonto]

I've done some searching to see if anyone else using the ATI TV Wonder PCI card can capture at higher resolutions. What I came up with is the problem is the drivers provided by ATI and using Windows XP. There were some people who got 640x480 using the same card that I have, but they didn't use the drivers provided by ATI (which apparently suck). They were using generic drivers, <A HREF="http/btwincap.sourceforge.net/" target="_new">available from here</A>. I haven't tried it yet, will do some testing tonight. Hopefully I can get passed my ???x240 resolution restriction using those drivers.

<A HREF="http/www.dvdrhelp.com/capturecards.php?CaptureCardRead=ATI%20TV%20Wonder&Search=Search" target="_new">Here is where I found the info</A>

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[FallOutBoyTonto]

SUCCESS! I've been able to capture using 640x480. But there is one drawback; while capturing I don't hear any audio. The audio is being captured, I just can't hear it while its recording; only afterwards. Yay! Another thing I noticed is after switching drivers, I am no longer able to get closed captioning while watching TV. Doesn't really matter since I'm not deaf, but just something I noticed.

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[4Ryan6]

Using different drivers gave you that ability with the same hardware? Thats a big improvement, just from drivers.

<b><font color=purple>Details, Details, Its all in the Details, If you need help, Don't leave out the Details.</font color=purple></b>

 

[FallOutBoyTonto]

No kidding! That is one big improvement; twice the maximum resolution. I was so happy I even sent a thank you e-mail to the person that programmed that driver; got the address from the website.

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