ATI AIW 7500 (AGP) vs AIW 7500 VE (PCI)...opinions please

[BrainStorm69]

I'm considering buying one or the other for capturing from VHS. I can get the 7500 AGP OEM version for $100 from Fry's or the 7500 VE from just about anywhere for $129. I know the 7500 VE has the Theater 200 chip. I'm not sure, but I think the 7500 AGP may have the previous version of the Theater chip (Rage Theater).

1. Is the Theater 200 chip really any better than the Rage Theater chip for capturing VHS to MPEG-2? I've seen conflicting reports on whether the Theater 200 chip is really any better for capturing (some indicate it's about the same for video-in and only really better at video-out).

2. Will I need to hack the drivers for either to get rid of Macrovision issues?

3. Anyone have both, and if so, what's your opinion?

4. Lordsmurf?

Thanks in advance for your advice!

[lordsmurf]

Why would the 7500 VE have the Theatre 200 chip? It should have the 100 (Rage) chips. It's an old discontinued card. The only 200 chips are supposed to be the 9800, 9700 and newer 9600.

Anyway, I have an AGP and a PCI. I prefer the AGP. If I had it to do over again, I'd have not gotten the PCI I have, instead spending another $15 or so to get the AGP. I was cheap about it, and now I regret it.

[Rookie64]

Why would the 7500 VE have the Theatre 200 chip? It should have the 100 (Rage) chips. It's an old discontinued card. The only 200 chips are supposed to be the 9800, 9700 and newer 9600.

That's the card I bought a few months ago - mine's a PCI and says right on the box it has the Theatre 200 chip.

Release date on the box is 2002.


I got it for $100 and no regrets.

[BrainStorm69]

Why would the 7500 VE have the Theatre 200 chip? It should have the 100 (Rage) chips. It's an old discontinued card. The only 200 chips are supposed to be the 9800, 9700 and newer 9600.

Lordsmurf...I think you are confused about the VE...here are the specs from ATI's page...

http://www.ati.com/products/radeon7500/aiwve/index.html

That aside, do you have an opinion about Theater 100 vs Theater 200 for capture?

Thanks.

[Karina]

Was going to say the same (but my account was playing up) definently is a Rage Theatre 200 on the AIW VE, also from what I've read the Philips tuner/tv signal processor, is suppose to be a newer (somewhat better) model.

No idea wether the difference from standard rage theatre is that significant as I've had no experience with the 200 chip.

If you're planning on gaming the AGP version is definently going to be of benefit as games will make good use of the extra bandwidth AGP allows. Outside of games the PCI version will have plenty of bandwidth and there wont be any noticable performance impact.

Karina.

[BrainStorm69]

I'm not going to using it for gaming...it would suck whether it was AGP or PCI for gaming

But I do have another idea. I understand that Windows will support >1 video adapter in the same box.

I'm thinking of buying the VE and putting in my box with my AGP Geforce4 (which I will continue to use for gaming).

Also, if that doesn't work because of drvier conflicts, etc., I may try putting the VE in my main rig alongside my 9800 and see if that works.

Anyone been adventuresome enough to try dual video cards?

[BrainStorm69]

Went with the VE and Theater200...I'll let you know how it goes.

[lordsmurf]

Interesting interesting interesting.

I've seen both 9600 and VE cards with both chipsets.

Interesting interesting interesting.

All I have to say on that one.

[BrainStorm69]

Well, after quite a bit of fumbling around with drivers, etc., I at least have the VE running by itself in my 2nd box. Currently using Cat 3.6 with MMC 8.5. Seems to be having Macrovision problems which are not corrected by the driver hacks...but need to do some more testing. Anyone know whether changing OS from WInMe to Win XP might help?

If I can get rid of that problem, looks like it will capture very nicely directly to MPEG2 (352x480) using Lordsmurf's template...although I'm having a little problem with dropped frames. It's not dropping lots, but it's not perfect either (a little over 1% with VBR).

Time for more testing...

[BrainStorm69]

Going to abandon this thread and start a new one since I'm no longer talking about one card vs. the other.