Dazzle DVC Parallel Port - Faster Port

[Dman65]

Is anyone out there using a Dazzle DVC parallel port version with an add on parallel port?

My on-board parallel port will only transfer 444KBytes/sec and only allows for a reliable capture at about 300kbytes/sec.

So far I have tried two different add on PCI parallel ports and the DVC software has not been able to recognize the hardware through either of them.

Tech support was not much help. I asked if the parallel port had to be at a particular IRQ (5 or 7) and/or a particular I/O address (278,378,etc) and the guy said he didn't know. It was a technical question that needed to be asked of an engineer. It took me a while to get an e-mail address for an engineer. Of course, I still have not received an answer back.

If someone has used an add-on board for this I would really like to find out which one you used so I can give one a try. I am getting tired of picking up and returning boards to CompUSA.

[Psycho_Dad_Rules]

hi,

If you're talking about the Dazzle DVC 1 (Not 2). I happen to own the parallel version aswell. I never had any of the problems you describe. Only problems i had was recognition on my Abit BX6 motherboard. But once it detected it works like a charm.
Nowadays i connect it to my notebook to capture tv programs i like to keep on VCD. Even with the laptop i can capture at full audio and video bitrate.

What are your PC specs and what OS do you use.

Greetz,

pSyChO dAd

[Dman65]

I am using the DVC first version (MPEG-1). It is the parallel port version.

I have a Jaymark J-542B motherboard with AMD K6 2-500 processor and 128mb ram. I have three hard drives. A 4 gig and two 30gig.

I have no problem capturing at 300KBytes or below, but I would like to be able to capture some items at a higher quality since I am pretty disappointed with the quality of the lower capture rates.

When I run the DVC Setup Wizard it reports that my speed reading from the device is 444Kilobytes/sec. But in capturing I seem to be limited to 300kilobytes/sec (2.4mbits/sec) to be certain that sound and video stay in synch.

[Dman65]

PsychoDad,

Can you tell me what kinds of settings you use to get quality captures?

[Psycho_Dad_Rules]

Hi,

what i do is :
When in the Dazzle software just select custom settings for capturing and set everything to max ! This works for me. I never keep those files because a mere 40 minutes of video becomes about 1,3 gig !!! But since this is the best it can capture, it give me a better "Source" to convert them to DivX. I never burn VCD's with material captured from TV because of the bad quality movies it creates.

Greetz,

pSyChO dAd