Capture Quality: ReplayTV vs. ATI All In Wonder 9600/9800PRO

[aznguy]

Out of the 3 devices which produce the best capture quality?

in the highest setting.

I currently have a ReplayTV 5040 and after capturing the show I upload to my pc and burn to DVD. But I have a second computer and was thinking about the 9600 AIW PRO.
I'm not a heavy gamer so I don't really need the 9800 PRO, unless it has a greater capture card.

and if so what other capture device in your opionion is better than the ones listed.

[onetrueday]

just got the radeon9600pro aiw myself yesterday...

VERY impressed so far. I believe the radeon9000(?) aiw uses the same capturing hardware as both the 9600aiw and the 9800aiw. I know there is a lesser and cheaper model, forgot the number though.

if you're not into gaming, that might be something to look into.

[aznguy]

Well I still want a decent card.

And I think 9000 don't have the same software package, not sure of the hardware as far as capturing goes.

[lordsmurf]

7000-9600 has the first generation Theatre Rage chips
9700-9800 has the next generation Theatre 200 chips

All the Theatre chips are good.

[vhelp]

.
.

IMO, I don't think that it really matters which card you got, as long as:

* source is good quality
* source is clean
* your setup is stable (no instabilities)
* interups (IRQ's are I/O unique to ea card)
* CPU is resonable speed XP 1700+ and above (based on my experience)

Maybe some I'm missing here.

These days, they make these cards w/ a little more:

* punch for speed
* driver tuned for a given OS setup

ATI-TV Wonder. . .
My old card (got 3 or 4 years ago) (old generation card) still performs
perfect. My only beaf w/ this (and most other analog cards) is that they all
seem to produce noise (or line noise) in the final captured .avi file.

Some of the newer cards may be crafted better to either eliminate them or
reduce them (noise) to an acceptable level that would surpase your catching
them. You can quite easily do a test (not for newbies) and run a VHS movie
through it. IF it produces those line noise, you have a noisy CPU system.

I've over-heared that this can (or theory has it) that faster systems ie, like
the P4, their timing are faster or better tuned, that the noise is all gone.
As I've said above, the best test is the VHS movie test - (store bought)

But still, even after the above, my ATI-TV Wonder card (main pc) does an
(IMO) excellent job at capturing any source.. be it Satellite or VHS. And,
there are no wiggle/wobbles or tares in the source .avi file.. only line noise.

The above was my .02 cents worth.

From the desk of,
-vhelp 2036

[Metaluna]

just got the radeon9600pro aiw myself yesterday...

VERY impressed so far. I believe the radeon9000(?) aiw uses the same capturing hardware as both the 9600aiw and the 9800aiw. I know there is a lesser and cheaper model, forgot the number though.

if you're not into gaming, that might be something to look into.

I believe all the 9x00's as well as the AIW VE use the Theater 200 chip which is the latest and greatest (I have both a 9000 and 9800 and they both use it). The AIW VE is the cheapest...it has a PCI interface and, I think, a Radeon 7500 graphics chip on it. I believe they should all perform the similarly for video capture.

[aznguy]

really...

I got the ATI PCI VE Capture Card awhile back and the picture quality sucked. Does the VideoSoap really work that good?

The Source:
Digital Cable Box.

[frogster]

I'd stick with the 5040 and use womble for any editing

[aznguy]

I know I love my ReplayTV, but I need a second recorder.
I sometime want to record another show on the same time frame.

[frogster]

I have the same problem with my replay. I use my ATI AIW 8500 with avi_io and record with mjpeg codec. Then I cut commercials with vdub and reencode into divx or mpeg format.

also, if i miss a show, i've had good luck on forums like planet replay. people tend to be quite accomodating.

[aznguy]

@frogster - how is the quality between the Replay and AIW?

I know the new AIW have something called VideoSoup, don't know how that will improve picture tho.

[frogster]

i think the videosoap feature cleans up the video a little.

usually, the biggest problem you have in getting good picture quality is the signal quality.

i think both devices are capable of capturing nice video. it's all a matter of compression and ease of use.

[jdizzy40]

I own every ATI AIW card made. Yes I too bought the new 9600 yesterday, but mainly wanted the FM Radio feature. The best all around card for MPEG-2 capture is the WIN PVR 250. I know I own 2 now. The hard ware on the card (and of course this is just a TV Tuner) does the work, not your CPU.

[onetrueday]

I have the 9600pro aiw and am impressed as stated...

however, the best capturing device for the dollar is a miniDV camcorder. nothing else compares in my opinion and I have tried a advc1394, which was a tad bit below my camcorder in my opinion.

the best is using one of those external devices and capturing to it's native codec. Then you can capture with the aiw AT THE SAME TIME to mpeg2 or mpeg1.