Capturing Dilemma with MSI Tv@nywhere card

[stretch]

Hello all,

I have a two-pronged topic.

1) I recently purchased msi tv@nywhere tv tuner card. I know that it is a new chipset and I was aware that third party support could be an issue for awhile.
Anyway I would like to capture the tv in avi format so that I can encode with more control.
The encoding offerings with the included intervideo WinDVR stink.
I bought this card cause they said you could capture avi files. However with Intervideo dvr I see no way. What am I missing and what to I need to do this.

2) OK, without going to into too much detail My scenario is this-
The card comes with OEM Intervideo WinDVR, as I mentioned.
The Program only captures in MPEG no AVI.
Because this card is a based on the CX881 Decoder chipset, Third party support is nearly nonexistent.
So to capture in avi One is stuck with capturing AVI in 320x240 using Composite or s-video with all third party programs including virtual dub.
However, One program shines here VirtualVCR will allow me to capture in AVI up to 720x480 But again I am limited to composite or svideo capture, no tuning available.

So this leaves me in a dilemma. Which will yield better results capturing 640x480 avi off of a composite source (~200 lines resolution), and then encode SVCD or let the WINDVD capture an MPEG off of a direct Coax Cable hookup (presumably 525 lines resolution) at 640x480 6400 kbps and then encode this mpeg as an svcd through TMPGENC (essentially this would be double encoding)

Cause if the coax from cable gives me full 525 lines of resolution then perhaps capturing to mpeg at a high bit rate then reencoding might yield better results.

Now that I have gone on enough I ask you all.
TIA
Stretch

[Marco33]

I feel your pain.

I have the same card and same problems.

I don't recal it saying it captures to AVI on the box.

[pixel8or]

I have the Prolink Xcapture card... same chip. I love it! I was giddy when I saw the quality of the captures.

I prefer cards with no TV tuner. The tuners can introduce noise into the signal. I have digital cable and use the s-video out from the cable box. I think this is the best setup. If you can use a cable box for tuning, then composite is usually quite good. I noticed better color using s-video.

An alternative would be to use a VCR as a tuner and composite out to your capture card. This may introduce noise, though, depending on the quality of the VCR. I bought a JVC VCR at Sears on clearance for $70 US, and used it like that before getting digital cable. I also capture VHS using that. With Virtualdub filtering I can get respectable caps from VHS using that 'economy' model.

I also use VirtualVCR. It's the best I've found. I capture 704x480 using the Huffyuv codec. This captures as .avi, and yes, makes big files... I have 50 gig second HD dedicated to capture. I then use VirtulDub for filtering/resizing, and TMPGenc to make mpeg-1/2. I think you will always get better quality capping .avi, then converting post capture.

I've just started playing around with Avisynth and Cinemacraft.

[Marco33]

Stretch

What GOP & Sub GOP settings are you using?