Poor image with Winfast TV2000XP - Best Mpeg2 configuration

[kadzbiz]

Now I admit I'm a bit slow and dumb, but I've read lots in the forums, but can't find a solution for my problem. I've just installed a Winfast TV2000XP capture card on my brand new Pentium D 3Ghz Dual Core Duo 2 PC which has an NVidia GeForce 6200 graphic card and the picture quality of the VHS I'm watching (even the TV channels, but not as bad) is terrible. I've checked the VHS tape and made sure the VCR heads are clean. The VHS works beautifully thru my TV, but on the PC it's awful. The monitor is an LG 19" wide LCD. Can anyone help me get a clearer picture please? And talking about the TV2000XP, I'd like to capture into mpeg 2 format, but what configuration in the PVR should I make sure I have set up for best DVD results? Am I asking too much. I bought this new PC specifically for video editing etc, it stands alone and not internet linked to keep the number of processes to a minimum, and bought the TV2000XP to keep things simple - but it never is, is it! Thankyou in advance.

[thecoalman]

You monitor is a progressive display, Made for TV video will never look as goos as it would if displayed on a TV. Before you go trying to fix it make sure it's broke, capture a short clip of about 5 minutes. Preferably something with some fast motion in it and author a disc. You can't judge made for TV video on a computer monitor.

The card you have picked isn't the greatest either but it's not a piece of junk either. As far as MPEG capture it should be avaided for video you are going to edit, capture to AVI using HuffUV . If you want to go directly to MPEG look into either a DVD recorder or one of the Hauppage cards for capture.

[kadzbiz]

Thankyou very much for your reply.

Firstly, even when I tried to capture in Mpeg2 format, the program would shutdown for some reason that I don't know why. If you know why it might, please let me know.

Secondly, you said to capture in AVI format with HuffUV, but I don't think I have that encoder. How do I get it? When I tried to capture in uncompressed AVI format, the image had bad pixallations and other white streaky lines. And boy was the file large. About 1 Gig for 5 mins of tape!

Thirdly, you mentioned the quality of my capture card. What would you suggest I upgrade to for better capture?

Appreciate your time.

[Bjs]

If you not using :

Rca video out from vcr to video input on capture device , and audio from vcr to line-in on pc (throw any cross over audio cable's out the window) ... then the quality will not be as clear as it should be ... the tuner's are complete crap ... separating the signal improves picture quality .

Setup =

Install software for device , some also install the driver's .
Turn pc off , remove power cord , install card , repower , xp pick's it up from there .

Agp onboard + agp slot + pci1 = shared resources (only one may be in use)
Pci2 / pci3 = shared resources (only one slot may have a device installed)
Pci4 / pci5 = same as above .

Get this wrong and the card's will not perform .

To reset =

Unistall all software and device driver's .
Shut down pc , remove power cord , remove pci device , restart pc .
Reinstall software , driver's .
Shutdown pc , remove power cord , reinstall pci device , repower system ... xp again pick's up from there .

Yes it is possible to have to repeat step's in order to determine which pci slot the device will perform best in as not all motherboards are the same .

============

There's a couple of avi compressor's that work well ... check a few over here after checking those here in the tool's section .

http://www.free-codecs.com/Video_Codecs.htm

============

The card you have is a good basic starting out point , but before jumping into more expensive device's that simply may not deliver the good's .

I personally , considering your current system status would recommend you take a look at avermedia's dvd ezymaker pci unit .

http://www.aver.com/2005home/product/videocapture/ezmakerpci/ezmakerpci.shtml

The specs

http://www.aver.com/2005home/product/videocapture/ezmakerpci/ezmakerpci_spec.shtml

Top notch ... capture quality is beaten when compared to the avertv usb2 (no longer produced) , but superior to the winfast tv2000xp unit .
Supports most modern os's , including linux .
Supplied software dose well , but only the most basic's .
The rest can be made up with using freeware tool's available here .

The device dose not have the same issue's as experienced by other card type's made from other manufacturer's .

[thecoalman]

Secondly, you said to capture in AVI format with HuffUV, but I don't think I have that encoder. How do I get it?

Sorry I spelled it wrong.... HuffyUV , It's a lossless codec like using uncompressed but much smaller file sizes, If I remeber correctly something like 25GB per hour. Once captured ou can convert it to whatever you want.

[kadzbiz]

Thanks Bjs for your comments. So far I've tried the RCA video out for a better image picture, but it didn't improve it. I might follow your re-installing steps next, but I wondered what you meant when you said:

Agp onboard + agp slot + pci1 = shared resources (only one may be in use)
Pci2 / pci3 = shared resources (only one slot may have a device installed)
Pci4 / pci5 = same as above
Get this wrong and the card's will not perform

Can you explain this a little more clearly please?

The Coalman - you didn't say how I can get the HuffyUV codec. And how did you add that little part of my question back into your post?

Thanks guys.

[thecoalman]

The Coalman - you didn't say how I can get the HuffyUV codec.

Click the word HuffyUV .

And how did you add that little part of my question back into your post?

The quote button in the upper right of every post.

[kadzbiz]

Too easy. Thanks Coalman.

Do you know much about TMPEG Video Wizard DVD? I am wondering why when I export a project it results in quiet spots where a transition was placed in the video?

[Bjs]

What is meant by :

Agp onboard / agp slot / pci1

If your motherboard is using either onboard video , or an addon agp card , or even an installed pci graphics card then only one is used .
The remainder's are disabled by default in the system bios .

On most modern system's , this mean's pci1 under the agp slot can not have a pci card installed if onboard / agp card is being used , as it would cause conflict with shared resource's .

All pci slot's from this point on , are paired off ... in pair's , they share resource's as well ... so

You installed capture card in pci2 ... then do not install any other device in pci3

The same applies to pci4 / pci5 ... only one of these pci slot's can have a device installed .

---------------------

In a system with 5 pci slots , you can install a pci card into :

2 / 4 without conflict ... 1 / 3 / 5 cannot be used
or
2 / 5 without conflict ... 1 / 3 / 4 "same as above"
or
3 / 4 without conflict ... 1 / 2 / 5 "ditto" ... but may simply be too tight for tuner's
or
3 / 5 without conflict ... 1 / 2 / 4 "ditto"



----------------------

Failing to observe the correct install procedure's can result in either poor quality and / or device fault .

[kadzbiz]

Again thanks guys.

Bjs, as my computer is not connected to the net, I've taken out the the associated pci cards and slotted the winfast caputure into pci slot 3 so it doesn't conflict with anything else. I've made sure that I've got the RCA video out to the PC and the audios to my soundcard and the a/v to the capture card's a/v. I did all the uninstalling and reinstalling of all the software and drivers as you suggested, but no better results.

I will say that the image captured appears as good as the image that is displayed in the PVR, but that image is not very good. Why isn't it I wonder? The tape is almost new and an original. When played thru a TV, the image is perfect. I'm stumped.

(Added later) I've installed the HuffyUV encoder and also tweaked my VCR a little to get a better picture, but the final DVD result was pretty poor still. Maybe it's just the capture card after all? Maybe I just should've paid the $200 as suggested by the PC seller and got the external capture box they said instead of the $65 Winfast card........

By the way guys, I did my first VHS to DVD transfer of a wedding for a client this week with great results. I recorded from VCR to DVD player HDD to DVD disc to PC then edited/authored with Tmpeg DVD wizard and burned with Nero. I don't mind doing it this way, but if I can use the capture card I'm obviously saving hours.

Bjs, I'm looking into avermedia's dvd ezymaker pci unit.