Matrox Marvel G200 or Marvel G450?

[Benn_Black]

For capturing soccer goals from video to avi with sound. I'm looking for something that will give me good quality and also want TV Out so I can watch VCD and Divx movies on a TV.

After reading through the reviews on this site I'm interested in the Matrox Marvel G200 but I think the card is discontinued? I've seen The Matrox Marvel G450 eTV 32MB DDR for sale at £190 at Dabs. Does this card have the same features as the G200? According to the specs there is no video in or video out.

[CNT]

The Marvel G200-TV and the Marvel G400-TV are both same thing (speaking of video capturing), e.g., HARDWARE MJPEG decoder. The G450-TVe (or something like that) is a SOFTWARE decoder. If your looking for something off the ebay, the Marvel G400-TV may be the way to go. Those G200/G400 is dated (16MB is the highest), even reviews still says it's a good card.

I have it and still not understanding how to export it back to VCR (instead of another AVI). I may end up selling it (I am getting a new replacement from RMA). FWIW, the Pinnacle Studio Deluxe looks neat (although I am still watching it since I do not know much about digital thing), which I MAY buy...

Chuck

[Benn_Black]

Thanks. There seem to be compatibility issues with the Pinnacle cards on MSI motherboards so I want to steer clear of those. My friend has a Matrox G200 and I played around with it and was very impressed. I would prefer a hardware based decoder. Anyone know of UK retailers that still stock the G400?

[mickle]

http://shopmatrox.com/europe/products/categories.asp?CategoryID=19&Column=2

[Benn_Black]

Thanks. I don't suppose you know if there are any compatibility problems with the G400 and Windows ME or MSI Motherboards?

[mickle]

I use a G400 with Windows ME without any problem at all.

Mickle

[Benn_Black]

Thanks Mickle for all your help. I'll order one next month. Do I need to bother with other softwate (apart from Virtual Dub) or is the software that comes with the card good enough?

[tom28]

I believe the G200/400 needs to be on the 16bits inorder to run their applications. If you can settle with 16bits of color and also, their applications are a little old. So if you just want to do capture in MJPEG then the quality is supert.....but it will be outdated very soon. So if you intend to run it on a win98 and winME, I guess it is alright. If you look beyond win2K I would think you should go for a newer card.

Also, conversion from MJPEG to MPEG/MPEG2 is not very good, MPEG/MPEG2 is sensitive to noise; thus convert your MJPEG AVI to VCD you will loss quality. If you are using it for just doing high quality archives that MJPEG is good, say keeping it as the AVI and put on the CD.

[Benn_Black]

I'm sticking to WinME for now. I don't like changing OS. I want to compress the AVI with Virtua Dub to keep the size down. That should be possible without loosing too much noise and picture quality?

[mickle]

A I said bfore, I use WinME and the g400. I capture with AVI_IO, found here.

http://www.nct.ch/multimedia/avi_io/

I capture for vcd at 704x576 or 352x288 and convert with TmpgEnc, here

http://www.tmpgenc.net/e_main.html

I get very good results when played through my Dansai 852 dvd player on my wide screen tv.

Mickle

[Benn_Black]

What are the main differences between TMPGEnc and Virtua Dub? I've played around with Virtua Dub and think it's excellent and very easy to use.

[tom28]

TMPGEnc is just an encoder to MPG1 and MPG2, Virtual Dub will capture and compress (or non-compress) your capture using whatever compression CODEC in your system and create an AVI file. Thus your have to encode your output AVI file from Virtual Dub's capture (or frame serve) and use TMPGEnc to encode it to VCD format and burn it onto your CD.

Again, if your AVI file capture from Virtual Dub is MJPEG AVI (using Matrox's MJPEG CODEC), your still have to use TMPGEnc to encode it to VCD. Virtual Dub doesn't encode it to Mpeg for you.

MJPEG is a lossy format (JPEG compression on each frame) and MPEG1/2 is using IPB (for short: forward and backward prediction based on the advanced and previous frames); Thus, will produce degraded MPG Video since it is comparing two lossy JPEG frames (and MPEG is very sensitive to the JPEG compression noise).

So, the best is do a comparation, run your AVI and run your encoded MPG(VCD or SVCD or MPEG2) and see the different. If the VCD mpeg looks fine that you can burn it onto your CD and make a VCD you can view on the Player. If you want quality and just for archive, save your AVI on the CD and of course the intend is to view it on the computer.

If you need more info, please let me know.

[mickle]

VDub is a great program. I use it at times to framesere to TmpgEnc.

and it looks a though tom28 has answered your question as I type this....



Mickle

[tom28]

Thanks Mickle :P , I was waiting for you to answer this but I guess I rushed.

[Benn_Black]

Thanks Tom and Mickle. I'll be back for help once I get the card!

[mickle]

@Tom
No prob Tom, it's nice to see people willing to help. That's why I like these forums so much. 8)

@Benn
Looking forward to hearing from you again.

Mickle