Build-in or separate video card for TV and capturing

[DeafBug]

I bought ATI8500DV a few months after they came out as the reviews were great and such. I still use it a lot (other than the video portion of the card) Mainly, I use the TV and capturing.

That was six years ago. I am in the market to buy a new computer in the next few months. While I am still researching on CPUs. I understand that Core Duo is the hot CPU today. I am waiting on the quad cores that will be released later.

In the meantime, I am trying to decide on the graphics card. Ideally, I want to use dual monitors. I still want the TV and video capturing. I know there are few manufactures that have TV features build-in the graphics card.

The big question I have is which graphic card should I get that still has TV and ability to do video capturing. Mainly as you would know, I am deaf, the capturing must have the ability to work with closed captions (Line 21) OR which set can I buy separately that I can plug in the USB port or a separate card slot that still will have TV and video capturing. I am aware of those products but there are a larger number of them compared to graphics card with build-in TV. I started researching and I find very little information on how it captures closed captions.

With my ATI 8500DV, I found out (several years ago) that I can't do closed captions even with McPoole's wonderful instructions and tools. It is because of the capture chip on the ATI card. So I am still waiting to transfer videos with closed captions. So far I have done lots of videos either home videos or non-caption videos. Now I am getting to the point that technology has to improve by now compared to several years ago. There has to be an easy way to capture closed captions and work with it to for a video.

So to sum it up, what my next computer should have?
1) Graphics card with build-in TV and capturing that must support closed captions.
2) Graphics card with dual monitor support and a separate unit to connect to the computer (via a slot card or USB2.0) that will have TV and capturing that supports closed captions.

I know all TV applications today supports closed captions while watching TV. But my point is to have closed caption included in the mpeg file when capturing and I can work with it editing a video and still retain the closed captions. One such applications does, it is VideoRedo.

I am leaning more on option 2 as it would give me a wider selection of graphics cards and choice of TV/Video capturing products. But the problem I have is I don't know which product does a good job. And to throw some salt to the wounds, I like to have HD support when capturing as there are HD video camcorders. But if none exists, meaning closed captions and HD then since it is a standalone product, I can alway buy a new one in a year or two since it is not part of the graphics card. Do you know any good ones?

[Krispy Kritter]

The most highly recommended cards are from Haupage: http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/data_pvr150.html

They are a stand alone card that handle all of your TV functions. Most of the latest offerings from nVidia and ATI have dual monitor support. Just choose a card based on your budget and use.

If you only want/need a single card solution, you are most likely looking at the ATI AIW cards.

[DeafBug]

Thanks, I did look at the Hauppauge cards but there is little information on if you capture videos (or TV recordings) how is the Closed Caption stored? And what is the ability of burning them to the DVD with closed captions?

I know McPooles guide mentions a very specific chip to allow closed captions to be captured. But then again his information is old. Technology changes. I don't have a problem following his instructions to capture and do the work to make closed captions part of the subtitle. That is the fun part. But it be nice if there was more information on how it is captured to save me trouble.

I am more likely to have separate cards since I do want the dual monitor support. The question is finding a motherboard to support the cards. I know it should just about any boards but I like to keep my options open if I should add more components in the future.

[rallynavvie]

I'm guessing the Hauppauge tuners record the CC data as it's displayed during playback of the TV program on my HTPC when selected (or if I mute the program, which is a handy feature actually). With Windows Media Center I'm assuming it stores the CC data in the DVR-MS file that it records to which has the audio/video as well as program information.

If TV recording/playback with CC is what you mainly want to do with this machine then you may want to go the Media Center route. With Vista I think Media Center is included with Home Premium and Ultimate. I'm using the Hauppauge PVR-250 with my machine, though I'm planning on trying out the new HD dual-tuner they have to see how well it works for OTA HD signals.

As far as video output (your video card) you really only need something that can support the kind of displays you're using. For instance if you want one display to be a 1080p TV and the other an LCD with DVI then you'll want a card with HDMI and DVI (or two DVI). Two LCDs with DVI than just a video card with two DVI ports. Most of the PCI-E cards are like this so you have a lot to choose from. The only other factor would be what you'd be doing on these monitors. If you're gaming across both of them then you'll want a high-end card. If you are using them for video playback and surfing/working on the other monitor then most of the mid-range cards will work.

Quad-core chips are out already, though I don't know what you'll need that processing power for unless you're doing a lot of transcoding or running a database server. A dual-core will work just fine for TV playback while surfing/working.