PV-356 lets clarify the situation

[asprinwizard]

It seems that USB encoders have been a topic of some debate in recent weeks. I am anxious to clarify a few points. Firstly everyone knows about the DVD limitations (5Mb/s), but how does VCD capture compare to the PV-256. I have this card at the moment and while the results are impressive, it seems to not want to work in my system. I was therefore thinking about changing it for the PV-356. Am I being naive in thinking that because of the lower bitate and the fact that it uses the same chip as the PV-256, that it should perform VCD captures just as well?

Also can anyone tell me how much it costs? Is it any more than the PV-256 which I bought direct from the company.

Yours thoughts on these issues would be appreciated.

[fravel]

Hello, asprinwizard!
If you just want to capture for VCD, why don't you try the PV233 from ProVideo? You can get it for $115.00 at Akira Computers. You can find all the info and fixes at skittelsen's site:

http://steve.kittelsen.com/pv231/

The PV233 is the same as PV231 with the addition of a tuner.
Good Luck!

[asprinwizard]

The thing is that I deliberately did not buy the PV-233 because I wanted something that would be useful in the future (when we all have DVD Burners instead of CD Burners). Hence I went for the PV-256. DVD quality is not so important to me. I can survive as long as I can get better than VHS. I believe the PV-356 will be capable of this, but how do its VCD captures compare with the PV-256? I am hoping for something similar, can I expect this? And while we're at it how do its SVCD captures compare with the PV-256?

[fravel]

Hi, asprinwizard!
I don't have too much info about the PV256. Maybe if you e-mail skittelsen he can give you some orientation and comparisons. He's video's top gun.
Cheers!

[Anonymous65]

Thanks for the nice words.
I just received the PV256C, and I'll test it during next week, and might make a web page with the info I find out about it. The web page is not online now, but check next week for http://steve.kittelsen.com/pv256c

[norm]

The PV356 is a bit more than the PV256.
The drivers for the PV356 are in early stages and it is not performing as well as it could. That's why I have not reviewed it yet. http://www.iln.com.au
Also the Audio is captured by the sound card. A recipe for problems if you have a sound card that is not real good.
Are you sure you can't find the whats causing the problems in your machine

Cheers