skittelson and others... pv233 help

[delicious]

At least I think it's a pv-233! I ordered this tv tuner card based on recommendations from users on this board and bad experiences with creative digital vcr (which I returned).

I ordered it from Akida computers, as most people recommended. They sent me something called TV@MPG made by a company called VVMER. The chip on it is a winbond and the driver has the same name and rev as the latest driver for PV-233, so it is the same thing, yes?

I tried to install the provideo software and it wouldnt take though.

Anwyay, I'd like some help.

My goal is to capture 30 min - 2 hour tv shows, cut out the commercials and burn them to vcd. I've tried cutting with tmpgenc and get unwanted frames. i've tried virtual dub but got synch errors. Ifilm gave bad results, so did ulead 4.

I've read all the posts I can to find info but would like to know if anyone out there has a foolproof solution to doing what I want to do.

What is WDM when it comes to drivers? What does it mean?

Can I use any other software to capture with this card other than what came with it?

Appreciate any insight.

[delicious]

Also, is there any way to capture to AVI with this card? Would this prevent synch issues?

Again, if anyone just has a process down that always works, i'd love to hear it.

[delicious]

anyone at all?

[Anonymous65]

First, you cannot capture AVI with this card, it's a mpeg only card.

As for cutting a mpeg stream, that is always difficult. The best cutters are the ones that cut on the I-frame, which means that you will not be able to cut on whatever frame you want, but it will make the cut +/-15 frames, depending on how long the GOP is. There are very few mpeg cutters that will cut on the frame, but there are a few.

Cineplayer Editor, or the old iFilm Editor is an I-frame cutter that will cut the mpeg file without messing with the audio sync and maintain the VCD file stucture. Check the Tools list on this page for a list of mpeg editors.

WDM is the new type of drivers used in XP, and is the software interface with the capture hardware. However, this card, the PV-233, has a real-time hardware mpeg compressor, and does not have AVI capture capabilities.