Want cheapest card w/ locking A/V

[EAO]

That works.

USB or PCI does not matter.

I don't want to spend the $ on a TBC...

Video quality (subjective) should be CLOSE to the source.

It's for old VHS tapes. Want to put them into mpeg 2. Half d1.

Don't care if I have to stop tape every hour to prevent drift due to overheating.

Is ConvertX the cheapest or are there others for less?

I'm ready to buy. Just want to throw the money in the right direction. Use it. Then sell it on ebay.

[hrlslcbr]

ATI TV wonder elite, sapphire theatrix, or any card with the new chip from ATI. It always gives synchronised audio.

[EAO]

Thanks.

I'll check out the prices now.

[hrlslcbr]

Please keep in mind that the card's hardware is good, but the software needs to improve a lot. If you buy it now, you might get some headaches trying to use it.
But I assure you that the quality IS good, and gives you synchronised audio and no dropped frames (in MY system, but haven't heard of anyone having dropped frames).

[EAO]

Capture card section did not indicate audio synch. Contacted ATI support.
Was told this product DOES NOT HAVE any synch tech in it. All system based.

These are old VHS tapes.

Don't want to play the TBC solution nor the 'tune your system' solution.
FWIW I can capture software based in synch from TV no problem.

These are old tapes. There is a minor annoying drift. I think a card with the ability to lock the A/V will work

Anyone else know of any products like the ConvertX that have a built in lock... for cheap?

[hrlslcbr]

One of the 'features' of the card was the perfect synchronisation of audio and video, as stated in the press release, and the demo of the card in ATI's website.
If ATI now decides to say their announcements about the card are fake, I'm not responsible for that.

[Capmaster]

Locking the A to the V may not be enough if the source is messed up enough. Video frames get dropped because of problems with the source. While locking them is always good, and prevents drift, if the video frame gets dropped and the audio doesn't, you'll have a timing error. Keep doing it and the error gets larger as the video progresses.

The only almost-sure way to keep the two sync-ed is with a TBC. There are exceptions that I have experienced, usually with commercial crap-quality VHS, but it almost always works

[devlynh]

You are dealing with two separate problems here. First; getting the analogue video and audio into a computer in sync, last; making sure that the video and audio stay in sync in the digital file.
VHS has bad sync at the best of times. Running it though a Full frame TBC is the only method of correction. A video input board will not correct for sync. In the pro-video world all VTR's are supplied with house sync from a stable sync generator. This fixes most problems. Even then VHS gets run though a full frame TBC.

As for conversion from analogue to digital the best solution is either a good video capture board (ATI) or a Hardware DV codec (Canpous AVDC-100). Don't try a capture and convert to MPEG on the fly. The rule should be "Capture, edit, convert, write" all separate steps. Combining any of the steps will cause problems. We all like to save time and disk space but remember the saying "Good, Fast, Cheap ... pick two"
There will be those who have done it differently and had it work, but shortcutting will generally cause problems.