All-In-Wonder Radeon 7500 or Pinnacle PCTV Deluxe ?

[donpedro]

OK. I have in front of me 2 boxes.

All-In-Wonder Radeon 7500 ($149) AGP card
and
Pinnacle PCTV Deluxe ($129) USB 2&1 ext. box (15% open box fee CompUSA)

Now I am not sure which one to open

Which one will have less problems ?

What I am planning to do is capture favorite episodes of TV Shows that I like and burn them on DVD. What I like about AIW 7500 is software that looks very nice on the box. Is it realy good or I will and up with some 3rd party soft. What I like about PCTV deluxe is that it has hardware MPEG2 encoder and it is external (easy to move).

What I dont like on AIW 7500 is that I don't need video card. I have one and it works gret. What I don't like about PCTV Deluxe is that old Bungee DVD had a lot of issues. Will this have too ? Does AIW have sync and driwers problems too ?

So if you have anything to say, please do so. I can't decide now which one to try. And PCTV have that stupid CompUSA 15% restocking fee. In mean time I am doing somre research.

Thank for your help to choose one

[vh5150]

I have the AIW Radeon 7500 and I love it. This is my first capture card I have ever used so I can not comment on any others. All I know is that this baby can capture and give very good visuals in Quake 3 engine games.

[Anonymous65]

I have not seen much information about the new Pinnacle device. But, if you go for the ATI card, get Ulead Videostudio 6 for real-time mpeg captures. It is way better than MMC and all other real-time mpeg software capture programs. (see review on my web page)

[hwoodwar]

I don't have any experience with the Pinnacle PCTV Deluxe.

I have had a ATI AIW Radeon 7500 for over six months now. I find, with a good cable TV signal I can make excellant XCVDs of incoming hour-long TV shows (about 45 minutes after you edit out the commercials) using VirtualDub to capture to avi using the HuffyUV codec, TMPGenc with 2-Pass VBR 1000 min, 2000-2500 avg, 3500-4000 max and motion search precision set to high, and VCDEasy to burn. Additionally I'm doing better than I expected capturing from a VCR to XCVD or XSVCD.

You asked about sync and driver issues. I use Windows XP and for me the WDM WFW Wrapper works great with VirtualDub and the AIW7500. I have also used it with no problems in Windows 2000. As far as audio/video synchronization errors, at times, in the past I had problems with CVDs/SVCDs. Then I came upon a procedure that works every time:

After capture I use VirtualDub to save the audio to a separate wav file. In TMPGenc, I use the original, or edited (if I removed commercials) avi for the video, but use the separate wav file for the audio file. Then after the encoding is done, I use TMPGenc to do a Simple Remux, saving the output to a different filename. Then I use the "different filenamed" file to burn to CD. I have never had a synchronization problem with CVDs or SVCDs since.

[donpedro]

If what is on the box is true... then Ulead VideoStudio 5.0 is included with AIW.

[donpedro]

And also ... I would like to capture in full DVD resolution ... is it possible ?

And what about thos applications included with AIW ? Are they any good ??? Guide Plus+ for example ?

[hwoodwar]

One more thing about the AIW Radeon 7500 the retail one, actually manufactured by ATI comes with the digital video to analog connector (required for "standard" monitors.) The OEM ones "Powered by ATI" may or may not come with it. Be carefull of this.

[donpedro]

I have got it from BestBuy, so I should be OK here.

[hwoodwar]

When I bought my AIW 7500 it came with Ulead VideoStudio 5.0. That was a little over 7 months ago. On my "fast" system I can capture 720 x 480 from a quality source using VirtualDub with few to no dropped frames. Since I have captured at 352 x 480 with few to no dropped frames while encoding another file in TMPGenc. I would think you should be able capture 720 x 480 from a quality source using VirtualDub with few to no dropped frames without TMGGenc running. I mention this because of the difference between the processor speeds of our two systems.

[ronbo613]

Hello-I have had the AIW 7500 since it first came out, I have no complaints. ATI has done a good job providing drivers that are functional and stable. I have not had a problem dropping frames in analog capture, but I have not tried to cap at full resoolution, I usually go 360x480 or 480x480 uncompressed and work from there. I have tried to capture directly to MPEG2 with the AIW, but my computer doesn't have enough juice and drops frames there. I have not tried to capture in MPEG2 for some time, perhaps the newer ATI drivers would do better. I usually use Ulead VS6 to capture, I use VirtualDub to work with analog files, but for some reason I have not had much luck capturing with VirtualDub. Speaking of Ulead Video Studio, I thought VS5 was not that hot, Ulead offered a upgrade to VS6 for about $40, as I recall. VS6 is a huge improvement over VS5. With VS6 and TMPGEnc, I can make pretty good DVD-compliant files. I don't use Pinnacle stuff, but friends of mine who have tried to mix Pinnacle and ATI gear have had problems. Their advice would be; if you go Pinnacle, go all Pinnacle. Also, ATI AIW cards before the 8500DV were never known for their performance, but the 7500 is not bad. With a little tweaking, I can run Combat Flight Simulator 2 at a good frame rate, no studdering and a fairly high graphics display setting. Since the card is primarily for video capture, this was a nice bonus. When I get frustrated with the endless video mumbo jumbo, I can let the .50 cals fly.

[donpedro]

OK. I opened both.

AIW : Looks good. I like it a lot, but I am having truble with full DVD capture. I will try more. I tried SVCD capture. I have not chance to see it on DVD player yet. Inside was actualy Ulead VideoStudio 6 disc (+drivers+Rage=3cd) Remote controle is nice. Changing chanels very fast.

PCTV Deluxe : Installed (AIW still in OC). Doesn't work yet. At all... Let's see if I can make it. Worth of mention, I have only USB 1.1 port so that might be problem but it should at least work somehow, right ? Hmm... what could be wrong

[ronbo613]

MPEG2 capture with the AIW really taxes the computer's resources. Try turning off the capture preview window if you can, shut down background progs.

[donpedro]

Finaly PCTV Deluxe works too. It creates very nice DVD quality MPE2 files. No blockiness at all (at least I don't see any). They need to work on their sofware since it have some problems but hardware is great. I heared that new version should be available soon. So I am going to keep it since I can move with this MPEG2 hardware encoder around. It is USB 2.0 device but I was able to handle DVD capture with USB 1.1 port on my PC.

On the other hand AIW 7500 is packed with very nice software. TV picture can be displayed in a lot of different ways. I liked one that is blended with your actual working window. GUIDE PLUS+ is also very, very good. Ulead Video Studio 6 is bundled too. But I was not able to get some good DVD quality capture with my PC. True... I was not tweaking everything so maybe it can look better, but.... no good there. I tested SVCD MPEG2 capture too but I didn't like result too much. Remote control is very nice too. It can be used like mouse too.

Since I can't get MPEG2 quality of PCTV Deluxe and software from AIW 7500, and DVD capture quality is more important to me, Pinnacle's PCTV Deluxe is my latest $129 toy. Let's hope that they will fix their software soon.

[CubDukat]

DO NOT, I say again, DO NOT get the PCTV Deluxe, or anything Pinnacle for that matter.

The company's products are buggy, their customer service nonexistent at best, and they refuse to admit to their tremendous audio sync problems.

I was hesitant about considering an ATI product, considering their past history, but given the alternatives, I think they would be the best way to go.

Besides, ATI now makes a PCI version of the 7500 called the All-In-Wonder VE. I haven't heard what the card is like, but I would think that if you're just using it for video capture and not for gaming, it sholdn't be a problem.

As soon as I round up the bucks, I'm going for an 8500DV myself--unless they come up with a 9000 Pro All-In-Wonder. I suspect the 7500 version will be discontinued soon, since it's outdated.