Native Resolution?

[Sulaco]

I am using this http://www.digitalfaq.com/capture/software-resolution.htm guide to teach myself about video capture and it talks about knowing your capture device's native resolution. I found out that my capture device is a Philips SAA7108AE chip and I found the spec sheet on it here http://www.semiconductors.philips.com/pip/SAA7108AE_V1.html , but I don't know how to figure out the native resolution.

Also, is it really important that I know what the res. is?

Thanks.

[trevlac]

Resolution (although commonly used this way) is not the proper term.

LS is kida mixing a few concepts together. There is frame size (like 720x480) and resolution (which is the amount of detail in a picture). A big blurry picture does not have more resolution than a small sharp one.

Bottom line ... Just run some tests on your equipement, with a sample of sources (like TV or VHS or even DVD). And see what looks good to you. Source with Text is a reasonable test. As you decrease the frame size, a capture card generally decrease the resolution. This is ok if the original source did not have that much resolution to begin with.

Another issue is the aspect ratio of the frame. Some cards (it's really the drivers) capture a weird frame size and resize this to what you ask. This will skew the picture. A ball will not be round. The problem can be really minor and not woth the effort to correct for. Then again, if you notice, it might bug you (once you know).

See this guide for a long list of terribly boring details ...

http://www.doom9.org/index.html?/capture/start.html

PS: The doom9 authors are a bit anti ATI (they are mostly europeans). LordSmurf is very pro ATI. The 2 might balance each other out.