A question about ATI Radeon AIW cards

[DNICE_ONE]

After reading an article about video capture on DigtalFAQ.com I am a bit inclined to go the ATI AIW way. But can someone tell me which models and version of software work best for capping analogue video?

Thansk in advance.

[lordsmurf]

Any "RADEON" class card.
The ATI MMC 8.7 and 9.02 are the most stable.

A 9000 series (9000-9800) card would be fine.
Those are the current models, found all over.

[mstone321]

My Radeaon AIW 7500 still captures GREAT video. The card is three and a half years young! Try and find one with a passive heat sink.

Stay away from the 8500DV however.

[anitract]

I second the passive heatsink...my AIW 9600 is passive, which means no NOISE.

[payton34]

Lordsmurf,

What about the "TV wonder elite PCI" card from ATI? Here is the link:

http://shop.ati.com/product.asp?sku=2608261

I think this is a new card.
I do not know if this is a "Radeon" card. Will it still work to capture uncompressed video using the HUFFyuv codec?

I talked with a ATI rep and he said this card would offer the best capture of analog to raw digital of all their products.

If you look at their site it says this card captures at a depth of 12 bits. Sounds like the specs on this card might be better than the others.

Thanks,

[LOWTECH]

Beware that ATI Radeon cards can detect Macrovision that may not be present on some anologue tapes as I found to my cost.... and proved to be a bad buy and a waste of money!

[freebird73717]

I have an All in Wonder Radeon 32 mb (which i think is an oem of the AIW 7200) and it captures great. It even works well with the macrovision hacks (newer ati cards don't like the macrovision hacks) so no problems there. I found it on eBay for like $30

[cooel]

I bought an all in wonder card, biggest waist of money ever, it was just poor quality. Bought a Canopus Lets Edit card, it,s just the biz, great quality, stable, and since is encodes to DV Codec, edits in Adobe Premiere with frame acuracy. Try doing that with MPEG.

[payton34]

Lowtech,

I wonder if your problems with the ATI card would have been solved with a TBC?

I as of yet do not own an ATI product. I am debating between a Canopus 110 or capture uncompressed with an ATI card.

This is why I am very curious about ATI's
"TV Wonder Elite card."

Does anyone have any info on this card and whether or not it is any better at capturing HUFFYUV than the other ATI cards?

Here is the link:

http://shop.ati.com/product.asp?sku=2608261

[DNICE_ONE]

Any "RADEON" class card.
The ATI MMC 8.7 and 9.02 are the most stable.

A 9000 series (9000-9800) card would be fine.
Those are the current models, found all over.

Thanks for the feedback! I found an "ATI ALL-IN-WONDER RADEON 9800 PRO *** w/TV IN" but it is an AGP card. Do you think a PCI card would be better and does ATI AIW come in PCI models?

Secondly, the video input connector is proprietory with a supplied adapter for S-Video and RCA input, will it cause any video quality issues?

[lordsmurf]

AGP cards, not been a PCI in years.
You want AGP anyway.

The purple breakout box allows input of s-video or composite, as well as audio RCA input. Nothing proprietary about that.

[LOWTECH]

payton34.... I purchased my AIW Radeon card and it would not capture my old anologue movies ...... Getting a TBC should never be required if the AIW card was up to the job.

So I ditched the AIW card and now use a DV pass through and a firewire card...... Every anologue capture is now perfect old or new, and I have never looked back.... No more false Radeon Macrovision detection ....best move I ever made.

[DNICE_ONE]

AGP cards, not been a PCI in years.
You want AGP anyway.

The purple breakout box allows input of s-video or composite, as well as audio RCA input. Nothing proprietary about that.

Thanks LS for your feedback. I have read some reviews of these cards and almost everyone says that it is quite a difficult job to install and specially upgrade the drivers.

And secondly, I read on this forum somewhere you said that using the a/d converters which capture to DV format (eg; ADVC110, DAC 100) is not recommended, can you please elaborate on why and what is the difference between DV and uncompressed AVI? Further does the ATI AIW capture in uncompressed AVI? Thanks.

[vhelp]

That new Elite card is strickly an Hardware MPEG card. You can not
capture to AVI, should you desgire later down the road.

As much as it sounds good.. ie, 12bit; etc etc (I forget the specs)
it is not as flexible down the road. But, if a hardware mpeg type
card/device you want is in your plans, then do give it a try.

According to that webpage, it seems to be XP only, and not w2k or
win98se etc.

-vhelp 3572

[payton34]

Hi vhelp,

I did a little digging on the ATI site and while they do talk about the Elite's ability to capture MPEG they also mention capturing and converting analog to raw digital. By the way it also has their new 550 theater chip set.

Here are some quotes off the site regarding the ELite card.

"12-bit video decoder delivers high-performance analog-to-digital conversion during video capture."

"12-bit analog-to-digital conversion optimizes analog video reception from TV channels or external video sources."

"An advanced motion-adaptive 3D comb filter delivers true color and fine picture detail from cable and antenna TV broadcasts, VCRs, and other video sources."

Maybe I am just being hopeful. After reading those quotes, do you think there is a chance it will capture HUFFYUV?

Thanks