DVD-ROM or TV Tuner?

[mcorpse]

I was wondering whether I should buy a DVD-ROM drive, or a TV tuner card? I'm not sure whether a TV tuner card is really worth the trouble, but maybe it would be nice to encode old tapes, etc. Please, somebody knock some sense into my head...

[Mirror_Image]

Well with the budget amount you specified...

Budget?

[mcorpse]

The most I'm willing to pay is around 200, since I can get a fast DVD-ROM for about 80 Canadian...

[AmeliaK]

Shame you can't have both. I have both and I couldn't live without either. I guess its really going to depend on what you want to do. I love being able to copy from TV and burn to VCD and I have also started converting my old VHS tapes to VCD and SVHS tapes to SVCD.

I have also converted most of my DVDs to VCD so I can play them in my humble Laptop (266 pentium).

If I were in your shoes I would buy the one I think I am going to use most first and then save up for the other.

Best Regards
Amelia

[Big_Jit]

For 200 you should be able to get both. And they'd be decent!...

[mcorpse]

I just am not really sure about TV ripping, as I'm the kind of guy who prefers ripping a CD to ripping vinyl/cassettes, and I actually find ripping from analogue an extremely boring process...

Aaaaagh! I have no idea what I want!!!

[Ostaf]

Boring?
Taking time to cut commercials, ensuring that multiple parts are spliced properly without desynch, cleaning static, smoothing audio, restoring bad frames, not to mention the pleasure of watching old shows that you haven't seen years. The nostalgia factor alone makes a video capture card well worth it.
Not to mention that it takes me 40 minutes total (minus the aforementioned restoring of lost frames) to turn a 30 minute video into a high quality div-x, as opposed to an hour and a half to do the same for 30 minutes of a DVD. You wanna tell me again which is more boring?
If you already have a DVD player, then I'd suggest the Capture card, and for the time being capture DVDs via that until you can get both. If you don't have a DVD player, get the ROM so you can watch newer movies as well.
Ultimately, get both. $80 CND for each should be the standard rate. ($160 * 1.15 = $184 < $200 including tax)

[AmeliaK]

I just am not really sure about TV ripping

When I got my Capture TV card, it was purely intended to convert some of our old SVCD tapes to a Digital format and that was it. Now that I have it I use it to tape the shows I like on TV. Its really cool.

I guess its one of those things you don't know your missing untill you get it.

Let me assure capturing TV from your PC is much better than the crap quality you get on Tape.

By the way it is legal to copy from TV in Australia so long as its for personal use.

In any case I wish you luck with it

Best Regards
Amelia

[mcorpse]

Ok, I've decided upon a capture card, as I already do have a DVD player. Which type should I buy? I've looked at some ATI, some WinTV, and a few more brands, but I get mixed messages as to which are better...

[mcorpse]

Also, should I get USB or PCI? I know PCI is likely faster, but the USB ones seem to have more features, and seem like there's less that could go wrong...

[Big_Jit]

DON'T get USB...

[thekourier]

Also, should I get USB or PCI? I know PCI is likely faster, but the USB ones seem to have more features, and seem like there's less that could go wrong...

Don't get a USB tuner, go for the PCI one. Yes, USB tuners are easier to hook up, but the performance (from what I hear) is bad. There is a lot of support for PCI tuners, get one that has a Conextant BT878 chipset on it, almost all of them do.

I don't know Canadian prices, but here in the US, you can get a 16x DVD-ROM drive for $40 US, and a PCI capture card for $30 - $50 US. They are pretty cheap.

Most USB tuners can only capture 320x240 at 30 frames a second if you're lucky. The PCI ones can get 640x480 at 30 fps with a good CPU. I have a Duron 900 and can capture 640x480 at 30fps using MPEG1.
What card you get depends on what O/S you're planning on running it under. I would recommend Win2k, you can pretty much get any BT878 tuner. I'd suggest you get one that has both TV and FM radio in, as well as composite and SVIDEO inputs. Also I'd find one that has a build-in remote control (IR) received on the card, not one with a serial port receiver. If you are using Linux you will have to be much more choosy. I'm building a PVR and it's a pain in the butt. Check the drivers first and get a card that definitely has support. You will have to do a lot of custom work to get things running well under Linux.

Anyway, that's my suggestion. No matter what you do the software around for video capture is pretty immature. Be prepared to do a lot of learning about codecs, conversion, etc. I still have to deal with audio lag in my captures and no one seems to know why. I think the PowerVCR software I use is just buggy. But there's not a lot to choose from. Good luck!

[mcorpse]

I'm running Win 98 (first edition, second edition makes my hard drive screw up...), so compatibility shouldn't be an issue. Can anybody reccommend a good brand name? Are the Hauppage ones good, or is there a better brand that doesn't cost an arm and a leg?

[AmeliaK]

Have you tried 98SE update or did you try 98SE new install?

The reason I ask, is a friend of mine was have all sorts of problems with 98SE new install. He tried the update and it worked like a charm. Just a thought.

Best Regards
Amelia

[mcorpse]

I had used new install...I'll look into seeing if I can burn a copy of the upgrade, seeing as I have a perfectly legit copy of the full install...

[mcorpse]

I'm gonna go tonight and buy a card @ Future Shop. I'm trying to decide between three cards. There's the WinTV GO-FM, ATI TV Wonder, and ATI TV Wonder VE. I read that the TV Wonder VE is a great card, but under XP it blows huge chunks... Which one should I get???

[thxkid]

Well.... I have the Happauage WINPVR card which is 2 cards in one, it has the MPEG 1/2 encoder chips and the chips from the WINTV GO for AVI, I use both with no probs under WIN98 and WIN98SE. I can capture at 352x240 with overlay on using Vdub and 480x480 with preview on using Vdub with no frame loss, I capture useing Uncompressed AVI, Huffy, Divx 4, Divx 5, MPEG4 without any problems. The Divx 5 at 6000 bitrate is just stunning quality, for the size I mean, there is nothing like the capture of uncompressed AVI, but they are HUGE! I have been using this card for over a year and I am very happy with it, just don't use the capture software that comes with the card, make sure to download the free Vituraldub program its really great to use for capturing AVI's. Make sure to download and install the free NIMO codec pack so you have a wide range of different codec to choose from for capturing and playback.

[Ostaf]

I've got a Hauppauge WinTV 401. It's a few years old, they changed the name to WinTV-radio. Anywho, I've been using it with great success for years now, as I said, but it only supports 320X240 res in overlay (higher in preview, but frame rate is lousy). Can anyone tell me if their newer models support higher overlay res?

[man_friday]

If you are running XP don't get the ATI VE card, still not a good bet, the WinTV cards seem popular consequently you could get good help from those who have experince with them. For $200 you can get both DVD-ROM and card.