Minimum Spec for Capturing 720x576?

[zilog_jones]

I was wondering would a Pentium III 933 (w/ 512MB RAM, Win2k) be enough for capturing PAL video at 720x576 (or something with 576 lines) @ 25fps (Huffyuv encoding - I have the space, of course) with 44.1KHz PCM audio without dropping any frames? Oh yeah, I'm using a Hauppauge WinTV-PCI FM (Conexant 881 chip). I've only tried it so far on a 2.6GHz P4, which - of course - had no problems (using WinTV2000).

Also, what other decent capturing programs are there which support this chip? I tried DScaler and it looked great (even has PAL 60 support!), but its recorder didn't seem too great - frames were dropped all over the place (and this was on the P4!). I also tried VirtualDub, but it refuses to work at any resolution except for 352x288 (comes up with some error saying it's "not supported" or something). All I'm looking for is something that'll record at some 576-line resolution (for PAL of course) with audio as above with good results.

[yoda313]

Hello,
YES! I'm using the wintv pvr250 on a AMD 850MHZ! It works just fine. I have a 40gb hard drive so I can't capture at top quality but long play yields excellent results.

I can't say for certain on your particular card but instincts tell my yours should work as well as mine

Kevin

[trossin]

I use a PVR-250 on a 600 MHz PIII. No problem but I use NTSC.

[SatStorm]

Of course and you can.

Since you are using WinTV-PCI FM, you need the btwincap drivers. Download and install them, but forget the tuner support.
Now, you are able to capture 768 x 576 with your card.

For capturing, VirtualVCR is suggested in your case.
To use Virtualdub you need to install a wrapper and use another program, like virtualvcr for example first to activate the driver. Search for the "win tv trojan method" in our forum

Huffyuv is an excellent codec, but if you can use picvideo mjpeg.

[fmctm1sw]

I'll offer a bit of advice. I maxed out at about 600x480 on my old box. It was a Celeron 366 and I was capturing to the same drive I had my O/S on. I think it had an ATA-66 motherboard. I'd recommend a dedicated capture drive. I performed the virtualdub benchmark test on my new rig and had a huge difference in through put to the dedicated drive. Something like 45MB vs. about 30MB if memoery serves me. Capturing at full res has a lot to do with your hard drive throughput as well, not just CPU....

[ulapines]

Btwincap is for Bt848 / Bt849 / Bt878 & Bt879 chipsets, not Bt881 so it will probably not work.
I have tried many programs, including virtualvcr, and so far i got the best results with iuVCR and Picvideo MJPEG Quality 19 in 720x576.
But this is with P4, 1.7 GHz and dedicated hardisk 7200 rpm and
Bt878 chipset on my WinTV PCI card.
I regret to say that your computer configuration probably will not work in 720x576, (many dropped frames).
BTW iuVCR only works with Bt848/878.

[zilog_jones]

Hmm, I'll try VirtualVCR and see if it gets me anywhere.

I forgot to mention I have a new Seagate 7200 RPM 80 gig hard drive (and things like Nero and Sandra say it can do around 30MB/s with the crappy old ATA 66 on-board controller), so I wouldn't think that would be a problem.

I'm not really bothered with 768x576 vs 720x576 - I'm going to be converting the video to 480x576 (in MPEG2 for an SVCD) anyway.

So it seems actually hopeful that it will work on my P3? I might as well try it out then.

[RoopeT]

also tried VirtualDub, but it refuses to work at any resolution except for 352x288 (comes up with some error saying it's "not supported" or something)

Turn preview off and try again.

[zilog_jones]

OK. Didn't think of trying that!