record settings, mpeg-1/2 errors, and nvidia personal cinema

[GX1327]

first of all, i just want to say how REDICULOUS it is that i have to wait a day after registering in order to post!!! i don't even remember half the stuff i was going to ask and i had to wait 24 painful help-less hours until i could write this.

okay. here goes... my capture card is a ComPRO nVidia Personal Cinema card. capture software is intervideo's WinDVR...

it records in four settings, mpeg-1 ("generic" and "VCD") and mpeg-2 ("generic" and "SVCD"). when recording in either generic modes (mpeg 1 and 2) it works decently enough. captures good quality video and audio. i usually just record in DVD quality so i can compress/convert later. but here is the problem. files recorded in either "generic" mode cannot be opened in either virtualdub, OR TMPG to be converted/compressed. they both get errors relating to the file type not being supported or something.

i switched record modes into "S/VCD" to try it that way. the files can now be opened in v-dub or TMPG, but their qualites are HORRIBLE. mpeg-1 isn't even the right resolution.

does anyone else have any experience with nvidia personal cinema? or intervideo windvr?

can anyone recommend a free, easy, simple, and GOOD video capture software?

and also about codecs... what are some good compression settings? i play around with those things too much. if i want to end up with a 60-80 megabyte .avi file, what codecs and settings should i use to compress it with?

if anyone can help me with any of those i would reall appreciate it, thanks.

[phhoth]

try AVI-IO or Scenalyzer. ou can get the links from this site. They are not free but the author for AVI-IO will let you reload it after the tial is up. :P