Which ATSC capture card for this system? DVB card? Noob to ATSC and DVB.

[Morse2]

Hi everyone and thanks in advance for any help or advice!

Since it looks like the "broadcast flag" may happen after all, due to congressional action, I'd might as well get a HDTV capture card now (assuming the current crop don't support the "broadcast flag" technology).

After reading through forum posts and list of digital capture cards, I'm a bit embarrassed to admit confusion on the subject of which HDTV tuner card is stable, well made, doesn't support "broadcast flag", and will last a long long time. I guess the whole field is too new for there to be significant numbers of reviews just yet....

So which one? Currently I'm looking at the Kworld ATSC-110, and the MSI Digital@nywhere cards, since they're available from Newegg (my usual hardware source). If there's another card that's significantly better, can you recommend a reputable supplier?

The system it's going on has XP Pro (32 bit) with an AMD 3800+, 3GB RAM (DDR400 at 2-3-2-5), Leadtek PVR2000 analog tuner card, Nvidia 6600 vid card and dedicated capture drives. If I decide to get both ATSC and DVBS capture cards, I'll probably build a new dedicated capture box around an AMD 3700+ San Diego core, Nvidia 6600 and XP Pro (or 2000 Pro) since I have spares available to build around.

Also interested in eventually branching out into DVB - any suggestions there? Again, Kworld makes one that's affordable (DVBS 100) but to say the least the reviews are mixed.

Thanks again for helping to clear up the confusion and for having patience!!
All the best,
Morse

[yoda313]

I have the fusion 3 hdtv gold t capture card. I like it a lot. I've had no probs recording the transport stream. Demuxing to dvd takes awhile but it looks very good after the downconversion.

Just fyi an hour of hdtv can be as much as 9 gb. Though that's only at full quality output from the station. Sometimes it can be 4gb for an hour.

[Morse2]

Thanks Yoda313;

Can you recommend a reliable online sales site for that card? I'm still reading up on the subject - looks like HDTV capture is a whole new ballgame from the NTSC captures I'm used to (9GB/hour! I'll probably have to invest in a pair of raptors just for HD captures...).

What software package are you using for the editing and demuxing, btw - I just realized that I may need a whole new software suite for HD editing too....yikes!

Thanks again and all the best,
Morse

[yoda313]

I think I did it at digital connectioncom.

To convert to dvd I use Project X to convert to .mpg and then mpg2cut2 to edit out commercials. After that I use projectx to demux the audio and video.

I use tmpgenc to convert the video to dvd standard and to remux with the audio after conversion. Then I use a standard dvd authoring program to make the dvd.

The 9gb an hour is only a maximum. Not every show goes to 9gb - some are only 4gb. But you need to plan for 9gb plus all the space to demux and author (two to three times the space at least).