ATI AIW capture quality problem AFTER reading lordsmurf.com

[Grit]

Hi all, just found the sight not too long ago, and I'm new to this. My goal is to capture recorded material from my Time Warner DVR via s-video / RCA audio onto my computer, and burn it to DVD.

I tried the ATI AIW 9800 Pro, and had no problems getting it all to work after following lordsmurf.com's directions. I also used a Pinnacle MovieBox USB external MPEG capture device.

The color from ATI seems more accurate, and the image appears a tad more sharp. However, ATI capture quality has a problem, where the Pinnacle does not.

I used the "It's not TV, it's H2O" commercial from HBO as 2 min test video. There are some areas with a blue/green background (door/wall behind actor) that flickers rapidly to a darker color. There are some shots with a blue sky in the background where the sky flickers to a darker color. There's also a close-up of a person's face, and the face flickers.

I turned VideoSoap on to "heavy", and the flickering went away. However, this also brougt out another problem, which I had not seen as prodominantly before VideoSoap. There are about 2-3 horizontal bands that crawl vertically up the screen. The bands are just a lighter version of what should be on the screen, and are most easily viewed on a black background. I went back and viewed the original source video, and found the bands were present there also, just more faint prior when videosoap was not being used. I used the ATI MMC to capture as well as Pinnacle Studio 8 for the ATI AIW, and just used Pinnacle Studio 8 for the MovieBox.

When capturing this same clip from the same input cables using the Pinnacle USB MovieBox, there are no discolorations (neither the bars nor the flickering). As the problem doesn't occur when using the MovieBox, I figure the problem is in the ATI hardware; but since everyone here praises the ATI AIW, I believe the problem must be me or something I'm doing.

I would prefer the ATI device because it's internal, more flexable, and compatible with more software.

The cables are Monster Video / Audio cables running from the DVR into a Denon A/V system, and out to the ATI AIW card OR the MovieBox. I disconnected all other connections to the computer other than power, mouse, keyboard, and the video input. All drivers are up to date, and the system shows no other signs of problems (no crashes, lock-ups, etc.). I've searched through the forums manually, and can found some possible solutions, but none of them worked.

My system info is in my profile. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[lordsmurf]

It's the wiring, I'd bet. Remove unneeded things, run source direct to ATI card, see what happens.