Which card will do TV to s/w MPEG-2 realtime in PAL SVCD ?

[sharebear]

I had a Leadtek WinFast TV2000 XP and was disapointed to find that it could not record TV in MPEG-2 realtime software encoding at (480*576) which is PAL SVCD. I want this so I can copy direct to CDR without having to re-encode. I returned the card.

I contacted Avermedia as they have a number of capture cards and asked if they had a card that could do this. They sent me a table which you can see says that their card can not do what I need.

Does anyone know of a cheap (software MPEG-2 encoding, not hardware)card that can record TV at 480*576 realtime?

Thanks in advance.

PRODUCTS: AVER TV 203 Compression Technology MPEG II

Capture Resolution Capture Quality Compression Time
176*144 Best quality 9.72 Mb per Min
Good Quality 6.56 Mb per Min
Long Quality 4.1 Mb per Min

240*176 Best Quality 13.00 Mb per Min
Good Quality 11.16 Mb per Min
Long Quality 8.00 Mb per Min

352*288 Best Quality 29.11 Mb per Min
Good Quality 26.96 Mb per Min
Long Quality 14.32 Mb per Min

384*288 Best Quality 33 Mb per Min
Good Quality 29.11 Mb per Min
Long 14.32 Mb per Min

704*576 Best Quality 48.80 Mb per Min
Good Quality 47.8 Mb per Min
Long Quality 33 Mb per Min

720*576 Best Quality 51.90 Mb per Min
Good Quality 48.80 Mb per Min
Long Quality 39.32 Mb per Min[/b]

[sharebear]

I couldn't post an image of the avermedia product so I just pasted the contents in the post above.

[MrKGB]

Cheap card can do mpeg2 only in software.
So you should find 3rd party SOFTWARE which will do SVCD and will be compatible with your card.
AFAIK Ulead VideoStudio and WinDVD recorder can do SVCD.
You must just check whether your card will be supported by those programs.

[DereX888]

Get any cheapest (oldest) model of ATI All-In-Wonder Radeon series card.
They all do real-time MPEG encoding/capturing, however quality depends on your CPU's power mostly (at least P4 1.4 or AMD XP1800 from what I've tested).
I still keep my oldest AIW Radeon first model in one of the boxes, because there is no difference in capture quality between this card (7200 model) and any newer ones (8500 or 9500), altough few people claim to see some differences

You can get some capture samples (SVCD 480x480 only, since Im in NTSC country ) on my trading page here:
http://derex888.dvdripz.org/

[SatStorm]

The cheapest PCI Hauppauge win tv can do this job well.

[Fozzee]

I have an AverTv Studio Card.

I find that capturing to mpeg2 SVCD resolution and bitrate does not yield good results. I often get pixelation.

I always encode to 720 x 576 6000-8000 bitrate (depending on source) then encode down to SVCD or VCD.
This always provides much better results.

Fozzee

[mats.hogberg]

Problem with software encoding is that it relies so heavily on what's in your box. (Your computer specs.) H/W encoders might be pricier, but there's a great advantage that you can stick them in "any" box and get exactly the same result regardless of computer specs.

/Mats

[lchiu7]

I have never found realtime MPEG encoding that good. This is on my Athlon XP 2400+. The best I have seen is on a DC10+ card which does hardware MJPEG encoding. I usually do as another poster said - capture in 720x480 or 720x576 depending on the video source, huffyuv compression and then encode later to MPEG2. This works pretty well for me. If I just want to to timeshifting I can just watch the humungous avi file that comes out - usually about 30G/60 minutes!

[sharebear]

I have now purchased and taken back two cards. The Leadtek XP2000 deluxe and the Hercules Smart TV. Both have the same issue in that you cannot record in PAL SVCD (480*576) format. I believe it must be hardware disabled or an issue with conexant 878 chipset.

When I use NANOdvr, which is the only software I have found with preset PAL SVCD format as a choice, it returns an error saying "option not available. Disabled on card or hardware issue".

I have found a reference to the Pinaccle PCTV which suggests it can record in PAL SVCD. I'll try it and hopefully have some hair and money left.

I don't want an ATI ALL IN WONDER because I allready have a video card.

[txpharoah]

I don't want an ATI ALL IN WONDER because I allready have a video card.

If that's you're only reason, consider it a little longer. I ditched a GX4 card like yours, and I don't regret it. I actually sold it to somebody else to get a few bucks back. Was worth it.

I have 1 GX4 card left, and it's paired with an Aver. I hate them both.

[Ego_Shredder]

I have gone from doing only VCD to then finding how great SVCD can be, but unfortunately like you...I don't have enough CPU power to achieve this in realtime with software because the crap motion quality makes for uncomfortable viewing!

I use a WinTV FM PCI (BT878 chipset) card and I like it a lot. I'm not sure what problem the other person had above, but I can capture to SVCD no problem...it just looks crap due to lack of CPU power that's all. I don't think even the fastest CPU on the market could do MPEG-2 at best quality in realtime with software, so I would recommend getting a hardware MPEG based card like the WinTV-PVR 250. Various people on this forum have let me download sample clips made with this card and the quality is great.

I've managed to find a compromise solution to high quality realtime MPEG-2 software capture. Using a program called WinVCR I can capture to MPEG-1 at 704 x 576 PAL resolution, 2097200 (2xCD template) video bitrate, 224 audio bitrate, high quality and this can be easily edited and burned straight to X-VCD. I get 49mins on an 80min CDR and 58mins on a 99min CDR. Not all DVD players can play discs made in this way but the quality is very good, i.e. the clarity of MPEG-2 but without the glossy smooth look.

I'm going to buy the WinTV-PVR 250 next year though because I will be making DVD's by then and I want the BEST quality I can.


Ego

[lchiu7]

I use a WinTV FM PCI (BT878 chipset) card and I like it a lot. I'm not sure what problem the other person had above, but I can capture to SVCD no problem...it just looks crap due to lack of CPU power that's all. I don't think even the fastest CPU on the market could do MPEG-2 at best quality in realtime with software, so I would recommend getting a hardware MPEG based card like the WinTV-PVR 250. Various people on this forum have let me download sample clips made with this card and the quality is great.

I...
I'm going to buy the WinTV-PVR 250 next year though because I will be making DVD's by then and I want the BEST quality I can.


Ego

I have the WinTV FM PCI card and it works fine. I am not sure what additional quality you would gain by getting the PVC 250 unless that card has a better capture chipset. I capture uncompressed with the WinTV card (720x480 or 720x576 Huffyuv and 48Kz sound) and then compress to DVD mpeg2 quality (VBR usually) with tmpgenc which I am sure would give better quality than any realtime mpeg2 conversion, hardware or software. But I am willing to be proven wrong here

So unless time is of the essence (on an Athlon 2400+ it takes me 1.8x realtime to convert the avi file), save the money and get a faster cpu

[SHS]

The thing is lchiu7 not every body can capture both fields no matter how bad there system is only a few lucky like folks like you and other can cap 480 or 576 where other get drop frames left and rigth no matter how hard they try but min folks want Tivo box type setup and beable burn to VCD/SVCD/CVD/DVD disk without blowing half the day just do one DVD disk it only take me on avg 3hour to do one 2hour clip with some lite editing depend weather not it has ad's in it and Author and burning it, Pettey soon folks can do this in REALtime mode all one take but with no editing.
I have min clip on shspvr.com and min more even steve has some on his web site.

[lchiu7]

Well I was only reporting my experience. With an Athlon XP 1700+ and a 80G 7200 drive as the master on the secondary IDE channel, I can capture both frames 720x480 with no frame drops using the WinTV PCI card. I upgraded only to a 2400+ (the capture process is not CPU limited) because of the crappy VIA based chipset causing problems with static on sound (moved to a SIS based MB).

I guess if you want to do realtime MPEG2 encoding then the PVR would be a good choice? Just read a review of the new Panasonic(?) HD camcorder which records 720p on DV tapes. Does it by encoding MPEG2 in realtime and the review said it was hard if not impossible to see any MPEG2 encoding artifacts so I guess with a good hardware encoder, it can be done

Larry

[Ego_Shredder]

I have the WinTV FM PCI card and it works fine. I am not sure what additional quality you would gain by getting the PVC 250 unless that card has a better capture chipset. I capture uncompressed with the WinTV card (720x480 or 720x576 Huffyuv and 48Kz sound) and then compress to DVD mpeg2 quality (VBR usually) with tmpgenc which I am sure would give better quality than any realtime mpeg2 conversion, hardware or software. But I am willing to be proven wrong here

So unless time is of the essence (on an Athlon 2400+ it takes me 1.8x realtime to convert the avi file), save the money and get a faster cpu

Quality is not the issue for me with my WinTV FM PCI card. The issue is the enormous amount of time it takes to encode offline and the sheer amount of hard drive space needed for a few hours of uncompressed avi capture is enormous too. That is what I meant when I said even the fastest CPU on the market could not achieve the same quality as uncompressed avi in realtime, so this makes the WinTV-PVR 250 a very attractive compromise.


Ego

[FOO]

I capture movies constantly with real-time MPEG2 encoding
VBR at 5000K/s with a ATI AIW 8500.
I then cut commercials with Womble and blast to a DVD.
I can't tell the difference between the movie and the DVD
on a Televison.