PowerVcr II Mpeg2 question

[csaag]

I have an AverMedia Ultra 500 pci card for capturing analog VHS tapes.
With the software they provide (Ultra TV) I get Mpeg2 files that have lots of blocks of artifacts.

I downloaded the free trial version of PowerVCR II, and the HQ Mpeg2 captures I did came out fine. Is PowerVcr II using their own software to do the captures or does it use the card's hardware Mpeg2?

AVI captures using IuVCR also come out fine. I'm trying to figure out whether I have a hardware problem with the card.

thanks

[daamon]

Hi csaag,

I'm guessing it's either a failing of the Ultra TV software in that the default bitrate is too low for the resolution you're capturing to, or (if it can be set by you) the bitrate needs to be increased.

I don't know PowerVCR II, so can't comment why captures with that were OK.

Capturing to AVI (I'm guessing it's either uncompressed or DV AVI) will be fine because it's either uncompressed (so no errors due to no encoding) or not compressed too much (as per the DV codec).

Hope that helps...

[SatStorm]

Power VCR do software realtime mpeg 2 convertion from analogue sources.

Other programs that can do this: WinDVR and - my favorite choice - mainconcept 1.4.2

[csaag]

Thanks for the info.
I was using the default High Quality Mpeg2 mode in Aver's software which is a bitrate of 8100kbits/sec for full mode recording and 3960 for half-mode.
The AVI captures were done using the Huffy codec

So I guess this means that the problem is with their supplied software.
I'm not thrilled having to pay for another program after buying the card & expecting their software to work. I'll pass that info on to their tech support.

thanks again

[daamon]

Hi csaag,

The bitrates for full and half-mode should be OK so, as you say, could be a failing of their software.

"Capturing" AVI is actually just a transfer from one media (the tape in a DV cam for example) to another (your hard drive) - so not too much hard work for your card / machine.

Capturing to MPEG is different - the card and PC are taking in the info and having to convert it "on the fly" to MPEG - that is the PCs reading the signal (usually at a very fast rate), encoding and writing to disk all while more info is coming at it really quickly.

Some cards / software packages are better than others at doing this.

That said, I would imagine (no expert on this) that having sufficient memory / CPU / HDD spin speed would also help. Maybe someone else can expand / clarify this a little...

[csaag]

Actually I initially misread Satstorm's reply. PowerVCR II is using software to do the encoding & it comes out fine. It seems only when the hardware on the card is being used that problems happen.

I know one other person whose going thru the same issue with the card & is running into the same weak tech support. He's RMA'd the card & gotten a replacement. If his replacement works then I'll inform tech support I'm doing a RMA on mine.