ATTN: owners of ASUS TV880 capture card (and maybe others)

[Evander]

I've had this card for about a year (using a p4 1.3, winME). I'm making this post to help other owners with miscellaneous issues, and in hopes that others will post their own advice regarding this card (how to get the best picture quality, captures, etc).
software:

virtual vcr (freeware)- you can capture avi's with this program, but I've read people have problems with not capturing sound with the asus card. however, if you disable preview and hit the record button, both sound and video will be recorded. i haven't used this program much yet

iuvcr (shareware)- similar to virtual vcr, but you can enable preview and the sound still works ok. I've been using this for a while

dscaler (freeware)- older versions of this software didn't work. but I just tried downloading version 4.18 and I'm happy to say it's working now. couple issues i've noticed. 1) I have a geforce4mx. if I use twinview tv out and try to run dscaler, i get some overlay error 2) concerning video in, I only got svideo in to work, not composite. though I assume if you use a composite-2-svideo cable and plug into the svideo-in, it will work 3) tvtuner doesn't work? I haven't this program much yet

powervcr (pack-in)- used for mpeg1/2 recording. user friendly, but I have doubts that I'm getting the highest quality mpegs here, and also can hear the sound clicking of recording videos (noticable with headphones, especially). I had a problem with video "combing", but it went away when I applied the cyberlink patch (even though it makes no mention of combing issues). registry can be hacked to overcome the 600mb chunk limit and up to 800 (or whatever) which is suitable for standard vcd. registry can be hacked to include 480x480 svcd resolution. if you try to run a 480x480 svcd mpeg into Nero, it will bitch. however, you use TMPEGenc (file->mpeg tools...) to remux into a standard svcd mpeg easily without the need for reencoding. I used powerVCR frequently in the past.

powerdirector pro (pack-in)- haven't used this much, though unlike pwrvcr it already has a suitable profile for svcd. can capture to avi, but I can't seem to get compression such as divx working with this software.

windows media encoder (freeware)- can record wdm, however I can't get sound to work on this program

vitualdub (freeware)- in the past I couldn't get this to work (no capture device available error). today I tried it again and it did work. so I haven't really used this yet so I have no comments.

svcdcorder (freeware)- very interested in trying this since you can use the excellent cinemacraft encoder. but only works in XP

I have some more advice for people complaining about low capture volume, and have some questions of my own about various issues, but don't have time right now to post. in the meantime, post your "tricks and techniques" concerning this card.

[Landstander]

Hi Evander

I've had this card for about 6 months. I have used it mostly to transfer videotapes to VCD and CVD. My captures tend to show signs of Macrovision artifacts even on things I know have no Macrovision encoding - my VCR feeding the capture card is a JVC S-VHS deck HR-S4500U.
The pack-in PowerVCR software has been my software of choice so far. I have been able to add a custom resolution for CVD 352x480 with no problems. I cannot do 720x480 recording with PowerVCR to MPEG-2 without dropping frames however. My PC is a P3-933 with Win2K and 384MB mem, so that may be the limiting factor. Because of your post, I've started messing around with Virtual VCR - seems like a nice alternative. I'm hoping I'll be able to capture at higher resolutions by using a less CPU-intensive encoder. Elsewise, I may try adding a second CPU to my capture PC (Gateway 6400) if I can find another P3-933 with the right steppings.
I've noticed Nero 5.5 complains about my mpeg-2/VCD files if I've used the PowerVCR tool to crop or edit my captures before burning. Nero does not complain about Mpeg-2 compliance if I've left my captures untouched. Turning off compliance and burning the files Nero thinks are "non-compliant" still creates a good VCD even in my old crappy DVD player.
I've not used any of the PVR aspects of this card, nor have I tried the PowerDirector Pro software.
I'd love to hear other people's experiences with this card and if they have any tweaks or optimizations to share.

[Evander]

I'm glad someone decided to reply
I've never had any macrovision looking problems like you described- I mostly record using the a/v out of my cable box or vcr of captured tv progs. I tried hooking up a playstation also and used the Dscaler program- it really does look MUCH better than simply using the a/v in of PowerVCR (especially if you up the resolution). Couldn't get the damn sound to work though. Have you had success with virtual vcr? I'm curious if you are able to get the sound to record even if preview is enabled. It seems this ASUS card has problems with the sound of more than a few programs. I'm also curious about the the picture adjustments of the ASUS card and if you have the same problem. It seems that when I adjust the picture settings of PowerVCR or iuVCR, it works fine but if I shut down the program these picture settings are not saved. Only Dscaler appears to save my picture settings.
For the powerVCR trimming tool, if you want vcd compliant mpegs, try feeding the edited mpeg into TMPGEnc as described in my first post. One thing about that trimmer- I wasn't able to cut accurate trims- if was usually off by a couple seconds.
Also in case anyone doesn't know, there are reviews on the asus card available here: https://www.videohelp.com/capturecards.php?CaptureCardRead=Asus%20TV%20Tuner%20Card&Search=Search
One poster mentioned winDVR as a better alternative to pwrVCR. I'm gonna download and give it a shot.

[Landstander]

I just checked - if I enable the preview in Virtual VCR sound is not recorded when making a recording. I still like Virtual VCR better than PowerVCR for its use of other codecs (wish PowerVCR could do something other than MPEG2).

I can't comment on the color settings issue since I've never used those functions.

[Evander]

found another freebie, and it works pretty well with this card: freevcr, available at:
http://freevcr.ifrance.com/freevcr/index-en.html
But like virtualvcr, you have to disable preview if you want to record audio

[jjpslu]

Hi,

I have correctly installed/cabled my Asus TV Tuner Card/Video Capture PCI Card and have successfully installed PowerVCRII 3.0 on my new PC.

Although I am seeing video through my cable connection fine, I am NOT getting any sound through PowerVCRII.

My new PC is a P4 3.0Ghz WinXP Pro / SP1, with an MSI 865PE Neo2 mboard w/onboard sound.

I used this card successfully with no sound issues in my previous PC,
(P4 1.5Ghz emachine w/WinXP Pro, no SP1), with onboard sound as well.

I hear regular Windows sounds and files through my speakers fine, and can see/hear a saved mpeg video when opened directly from my hard drive in PowerVCR, but I receive no sound when watching the TV channels through PowerVCR.

In addition, I have installed the drivers that came with the card directly and performed the same install and settings as with my previous PC, where it had worked.

Might there be a conflict with this "older" card and my newer mboard?

Please assist in troubleshooting this lack of sound issue?


Thanx!

John

[Evander]

Well I'll try the probably obvious response: Is your mixer setting correctly set to record "line in"? You didn't by mistake plug the tv card into the mic jack? And what results do you get by using the other software mentioned in this post? I just got a new pc myself (compaq 2.2 ghz w/ xp pro) and haven't installed powervcr2 yet. I hope I don't run into the same problems.

[jjpslu]

Hi,

Thank you for the response.

Yes, I am certain that the settings are at "Line In," and I'm certain that I have all of the correct cables plugged into the appropriate jacks.

I am going to try to remove and reinstall the tuner card, reformat the PC again - without SP1 and only try loading the necessary mboard drivers and the tuner card only.

Thanx,

John