Mainboard choices?

[oldster]

By way of introduction, I'm a newbie (uh-oh) trying to set up a low-budget video capture system (uh-oh), using bits I have in the computer junkbox (uh-oh). This mostly to DVD-ify older VHS tapes. I'm really not too fussy, and I don't expect perfection - no HDTV here. (Actually I don't own a TV at all - my DVD player is hooked up to an SVideo converter driving a 17" SVGA monitor.) But I'd like it to at least be watchable ...

I'm planning to use an ATI TV-Wonder that's a few years old (I know it's not the best available, but it's what I have) and the open-source BT848 drivers.

I want to do this under Win98SE - again, not the best, but available. For that reason, presumably I'll need capture software which will know enough to break up AVI files into 4gb or smaller chunks. I've tried Virtual VCR, Virtual Dub, and one other I've forgotten, but haven't yet gotten far enough with any to determine whether they will take care of this. (Thoughts?)

Please feel free to discuss any of the above, but this post is actually mainly to ask for opinions on my mainboard options. Given what's on the shelf (I have a lot of old and middle-aged stuff hanging about ;-), here are the choices:

1. Asus P5S-B
SiS530 chipset
100 mHz FSB
onboard AGP video (1x, I think, or possibly 2x)
Promise Ultra 100 card
384m SDRAM
K6-III Plus/450 processor overclocked to 600 mHz

2. Asus P5A
ALI Alladin V chipset
100 mHz FSB
Jaton Video 87 AGP card (1x?)
Promise Ultra 100 IDE card
384m SDRAM
K6-III/400 processor overclocked to 450 mHz (darn P5A won't play nice with the K6-III Plus)

3. MSI K7T-Turbo
VIA KT133A chipset
133 mHz FSB
Jaton Video 87 AGP card as above
Onboard ATA/100 IDE
512m SDRAM (not DDR)
Duron 1000 processor overclocked to 1200 mHz

From what I've read here, I suspect that the KT133A chipset will knock the MSI board out of the running. Still, it does have the fastest processor and fastest bus of the bunch. Hard to believe that a K6-III+ processor with half the clock speed might do better. Will it?

Does any of these boards stand out as being Most Likely to Succeed? (Please note that this is hardware for capture only, I'll most likely carry out the authoring and burning on another machine.)

In case it matters, I also have the usual low-end 40g, 60g, and 80g Western Digital IDE drives (the 40 actually benchmarks fastest).

A little history on this project may help. I also have a Soltek SL54U5 board (VIA Apollo MVP3 chipset) that I tried a few months ago, using the K6-III+ at 560 mHz. It was an absolute bust. As I said above, I'm not too fussy, but the results really stank. I had glitches (horizontal tearing) through the captured video, even when I dedicated an IRQ to the capture card. I tried countless combinations of IRQs, 3 different sound cards, and different capture software as mentioned above. Virtual VCR minimized the problem, but didn't eliminate it. After doing some reading here, I concluded that the tearing was probably caused by the Soltek's VIA chipset, which seems to be a class A loser.

After the many hours lost on that fiasco, I figured I'd better come to the folks who know better than I what works and what doesn't. I hope you'll go easy on this new guy in the neighborhood, and share your knowledge and thoughts on this. Thanks!

[proxyx99]

K6-III has very low floating point calc. performance. Almost unusable for video. Duron 1000 is about PIII 750 performance and may do the job. PIII 500 is usually lowest recommended for MPEG2 video capture (hardware based). If you use external USB capture dev. like ADS DVD Express and capture to MPEG2 via USB at 6Mbps you will have no problem with Duron and good quality. No need for overclocking I think.

[reboot]

Definitely the Duron.
VirtualVCR does allow breaking up of captures into any size you like.
Vritualdub has a built in max of 2 gig, but then it usually craps out trying to cap after that.
Virtualdubmod goes beyond the 2 gig limit, but doesn't have the option to break files up (that I'm aware of).
No specific issues arise with the Via chipset, as long as you keep the 4-in-1's updated.
Stoik Video capture should also work, however it doesn't seem to retain any settings between sessions (capture path, etc).

[SatStorm]

Choice 3


With my Duron 1200, I'm able to capture realtime to mpeg 2 using mainconcept 1.4.2 (input 768 x 576, output 352 x 576) without framedrops & lipsynch issues. I use for this a bt878 card (Hauppauge win tv primio fm) with btwincap latest drivers. Of course, I de-activate any kind of filters etc to succeed such performance.

I use w2k but I believe you won't have any problems with win98SE

IMO, download MC 1.4.2 demo and try it. You'll be suprised with the results (plus, you can split your files to whatever size you wish)

If you wish to go the classic avi root, you need picvideo mjpeg codec for best results. Huffyuv can also be used (with little frame drops)

Remember: Only install to that PC the things you really need

[musher70]

what is that point anyway???

capturing video w/less than a
p4 era chip, jesus, an athlon
2500 is only $75 bucks
a via600 based MB only $50
cheap DDR400mhz memory
at $50 now also....damn dude..

[SatStorm]

With the same logic, what is the point of overclocking too. Or what is the point to make that old thing work (and you don't get a new one, even if costs nothing and you have the money to spent)

The answer is very simply my friend:
Sometimes, you do things because you can do them.
Also, why not use what you already have?

[pfh]

Duron for sure but even that is pushing it. Also the Via133 cchipset will struggle.
Satstorm makes some good points.
IMO Win98 and overclocking will give you fits that's not worth it.

[nic2k4]

I was capturing analog video with an Athlon 900 on an Asus A7V133A (KT133A) and a ATI Rage Fury Pro. It would capture un-compressed AVI without dropping frames. The board's RAID controller and two Seagate drives capable of 25Mb/s transfer, made it possible. So, I think your Duron setup should handle the job. All your missing is a RAID controller, just hack your Ultra 100 into a fastrack 100, the guide is here:

http://www.tweakhardware.com/guide/raid100/

Under Win98, you should limit the file size to 2Gb, something to do with the FAT32 file system. Win98 may have problems with more than 512Mb of RAM, depending on your video card. Check out the un-official service pack to fix this:

http://exuberant.ms11.net/98sesp.html

[oldster]

Wow, thanks for all the ideas. I knew that the K6 processor range had pitiful floating point performance, but didn't know that would stomp down video performance. Duron it is.

I expect to have some chipset hassles with the MSI board, based on what I've read here. I have several different versions of the Via 4 in one drivers; something oughta work eventually. ;-)

The RAID sounds like a good idea. I actually have a slightly used Promise ATA/66 RAID card in another box. I could stuff it into the video capture machine, but I may try hacking the Ultra 100 since it's apt to be faster.

As for the Win98SE OS, I thought it was 4mb file size where things started getting squirrely, but if it's 2mb so be it. Finances are a factor in both hardware and software (SatStorm has it right I think). I also just don't want to give Uncle Bill any more of my money nor do I want to do the XP dance. So if Win98 won't do the job it'll have to be Linux, which definitely limits the capture software options.

Thanks again for all the help!

[pfh]

Fat32 files systems have a 4gig file size limit but if you find yourself with a win2k OS available then you could format the drives in NTFS. This would give you unlimited file sizes and remove that problem from the equation.