APEX 500-W(GOOD/BAD/COMMENTS/QUESTIONS)ATI Radeon

[rrolsbe]

Here are my experiences with the 500W so far.

1. Everything plays as listed on the vcdhelp hardware page.
Nero 5.5 almost always reports that my captured clips are not standard; however, when I override the setting, they still play on the 500W. ??
2. Captured an MPEG1 2.4Mb/Sec VBR clip 252x240 using an AIW AGP Radeon card with the MMC7.1 drivers. Burned a non-standard VCD using Nero 5.5. This played on computer but NOT on the 500W.
3. Captured same as above but with CBR same results.

I read a thread on this forum about some hack that would allow non-standard MPEG1 VBR VCD's ,burned via Nero 5.5, to play on the 500W. Any futher details on this hack would be appreciated. ????

The following has happen to me twice. Writing viewing then erasing a VCD image to the same CDRW works fine until about the fourth iteration; thereafter, the 500W has trouble reading the CDRW; however, both the DVD and CDRW in my computer read it just fine. Even failed after a full erase using Nero 5.5. On both occasions I used the same low cost Compusa CDRWs. Anyone else experience this? Has anyone fould a CDRW brand that will allow maybe a hundred+ Write/Erase cycles and still be readable on the 500W? Could slowing down the burn speed help?
I would like to use a CDRW as I would a video tape on recordings I do not plan to keep.

I have also read about a registry setting that will increase the motion estimation from 3 to 14Hex on an ATI AIW direct VCD capture using the MMC7.1 drivers, not sure about the details. I have an ATI AIW AGP Radeon card running on a Windows 2000 service pack 2 1.1G Athlon machine. Can anyone give further details on upping the ME registry setting. What I have read indicated that increasing the ME setting(s) to 14h greatly improves the MMC7.1 standard VCD realtime captures. I know that capturing to AVI then converting gives the best results; however, If I could improve the ATI MMC realtime VCD captures, they would be OK for non-archival timeshifting videos.

Any insights/comments on any of the above would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[homerpez]

Unfortunately I can't offer much help in the CDRW area, but I can tell you that it may be a fruitless effort to try to capture direct to MPEG-1 from the ATI card (I have one). Concensus is that it's best to capture as high quality a source capture as you can (MPEG-2, 3-4MB/sec or more, VBR if needed, very high motion estimation quality), then re-encode down in resolution/bitrate from there.

I personally go from 4.08 MB/sec MPEG-2 640x480 source capture on Radeon, to DVD2AVI (this helps TMPGEnc see the MPEG-2 stream properly), and a separate audio program to extract a WAV from my original capture. It's a pain, but this is what the Radeon's making me do (the MPEG-2 streams are strange).

Luckily, if I go from 29.97 frames capture to 29.97 frames encoded, it works well. Actually, if you compare the method of capuring high res vs. capturing directly on the ATI card with LO res, you should see the difference. Plus I notice less blockiness on my Radeon when I capture MPEG-2 vs. MPEG-1, even at the same bitrate.

[Steve_h]

Check out:
http://www.vcdhelp.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?topic=46625&forum=2

Also you can download Stinkys tool from:
Tools->Capture->ATI AIW MMC REG Tool

[rrolsberg]

Just a quick update on the CDRW problem. I updated the DVD ROM drive firmware and now I have no problems with the same CDRW discs. After upgrading the firmware, the APEX AD-500W additionally plays my CompUSA 99Min CDR media quite well also.

Note: I have quick erased and rewritten the same cheap 4X CompUSA CDRW many times and it still plays fine.

Hope this will help others with the same problem.

I found the firmware and instructions on this site.

Later

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
On 2001-07-11 09:13:59, rrolsbe wrote:
Here are my experiences with the 500W so far.

1. Everything plays as listed on the vcdhelp hardware page.
Nero 5.5 almost always reports that my captured clips are not standard; however, when I override the setting, they still play on the 500W. ??
2. Captured an MPEG1 2.4Mb/Sec VBR clip 252x240 using an AIW AGP Radeon card with the MMC7.1 drivers. Burned a non-standard VCD using Nero 5.5. This played on computer but NOT on the 500W.
3. Captured same as above but with CBR same results.

I read a thread on this forum about some hack that would allow non-standard MPEG1 VBR VCD's ,burned via Nero 5.5, to play on the 500W. Any futher details on this hack would be appreciated. ????

The following has happen to me twice. Writing viewing then erasing a VCD image to the same CDRW works fine until about the fourth iteration; thereafter, the 500W has trouble reading the CDRW; however, both the DVD and CDRW in my computer read it just fine. Even failed after a full erase using Nero 5.5. On both occasions I used the same low cost Compusa CDRWs. Anyone else experience this? Has anyone fould a CDRW brand that will allow maybe a hundred+ Write/Erase cycles and still be readable on the 500W? Could slowing down the burn speed help?
I would like to use a CDRW as I would a video tape on recordings I do not plan to keep.

I have also read about a registry setting that will increase the motion estimation from 3 to 14Hex on an ATI AIW direct VCD capture using the MMC7.1 drivers, not sure about the details. I have an ATI AIW AGP Radeon card running on a Windows 2000 service pack 2 1.1G Athlon machine. Can anyone give further details on upping the ME registry setting. What I have read indicated that increasing the ME setting(s) to 14h greatly improves the MMC7.1 standard VCD realtime captures. I know that capturing to AVI then converting gives the best results; however, If I could improve the ATI MMC realtime VCD captures, they would be OK for non-archival timeshifting videos.

Any insights/comments on any of the above would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>