what software to use to capture S-video with MSI theater pro 550

[fossil]

I find out so far that the only software that I can use and have a bit of control over the settings for the card is the propietary ATI MultiMedia Center. It is okay to do what I need it to do, but as soon I have MMC installed my computer the TV tuner doesn't work with windows XP MCE anymore.
So can anyone out there can suggest me a software that I can use to record my IPTV from S-video feed? It needs to have a record time frame for example I need it to record for 40 minutes then stop while i'm not physically there.

Thanks for any suggestions

[swiego]

I've had decen luck with VirtualVCR.

[FulciLives]

I've read a lot of threads about the ATI 550 chipset capture cards and those that have one seem to indicate that GB-PVR works well.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[fossil]

GB-pvr looks promising, but i think it doesnt' do what I want it to do. I just have an IPTV setup that feeds through the S-video port to my computer and I want to simply record that feed only, I wouldnt' need a full schedular and time shifting. Is there anything simple and intuitive just like the MMC. Also I wouldn't mind stick with MMC, but as soon I have that installed I loose the tuner with my windowsxp MCE. It's so frustrating.

[swiego]

Like I said, I've had decent luck with virtualvcr.

I don't care about tuners and scheduling and all that jazz, I just want to be able to pick a codec, pick an output destination, click the record button to start recording, and click the stop button to stop. virtualvcr is free, lets me do all that, and actually seems to work okay w/o the bloat of MMC.

[fossil]

does it also have a timed record feature such like the one in MMC, I can tell it to record like 33 minutes or so.

[swiego]

Not that I know of but I downloaded some freeware macro program that simulates the mouse click when I need it to... works great.

[FulciLives]

I've used VirtualVCR in the past when I had a PCI TV tuner type capture card and as I recall it can be set up to auto record using the scheduler that comes built-in to Windows XP

There are instructions on doing this on the VirtualVCR website.

Also if VirtualVCR works with this card then iuVCR should also work and as I recall iuVCR is a bit more friendly when it comes to setting up scheduled recordings than VirtualVCR.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[fossil]

Can Virtualvcr also record in native mpeg2 format?

[swiego]

Give it a try and let us know. It's one of the smallest, simplest downloads and installs out there.

[fossil]

yeah I tried it. I had a few problems with audio capture, but the main problem is that it only captures to AVI, I want to capture it in mpeg2 so I can burn in on dvd.

[cowgoo]

I've had great success with beyondtv, Only problem is you have to buy it

[edDV]

I've had great success with beyondtv, Only problem is you have to buy it

Yes, BeyondTV, Sage and GB-PVR work with the 550. A limitation seems to be hardware MPeg2 encoding is limited to ~8000Kb/s unlike Haupauge cards that are variable.

My ULead Video 9 sees the card and will software encode from it.

MMC 9.13 is stuck in tivo style record always. I hate that. I'm still looking for a way to turn off that "feature"