ATI TV Wonder Card recording problem?

[carpets]

I am having a very frustrating problem with recording with the ATI TV Wonder TV Card.

I just got it today and I recorded 3 episodes of Seinfeld. The problem is, that while its recording, next to the recording button it says "_% frames dropped"

Anyway, it never goes all the way to 100%. I didn't think it was a problem until I watched the saved file and it played all glitchy and it was skipping and the audio was not working. Anyway, I was really, really annoyed and I am very confused of what is going on with this thing. Also, it turns out to be about half the length that it is supposed to be.

I want to make my DVD's now and I can't when the files are retarded. I need help. Should I re-install it or is this thing notoriously bad?


Also, on a very off-topic note, you can re-record on DVD+R's, correct?

[non-linear]

It's glitchy because you're dropping frames.

It's hard to say where the source of the problem lies since you didn't provide any shred of information about your system, like processor speed, amount of RAM, operating system, bitrate/resolution you're capturing at, format you're capturing (MPG or AVI). I recommend taking a minute to fill out your computer profile so we can better help you (at the top of the page, click "profile" then scroll down to the "computer profile" section and fill in the info for your computer).

The usual cause of frames dropping is the CPU or hard drive is unable to keep up with the capturing. If you're using anything under a 2GHz processor and at least 256Mb RAM to capture full res video (720x480 NTSC), then that would most likely be your problem. Also, hard drive fragmentation can be an issue. If your drive is heavily fragmented, the hard drive has to keep looking for free space on the drive to write the capture file to. The problem can also be that your tape has glitches or time base errors that can cause the video card to be unable to capture that frame.

[carpets]

Click "profile" at the top of which page?

How would someone go about fixing those problems?

[Coluph]

IMHO I would take it back....I had one of these for a few weeks trying to do the same thing you are and had nothing but problems....don't waste your time, its not worth the headaches. The mpeg2 files it produced were not of the quality that you'd want to burn to a DVD, and any other files you produced with it would have issues in software other than MMC.

Spend the extra couple of dollars if you can, and get an AIW radeon with the rage theatre chipset, for making mpeg2 dvd files. If you are wanting to create files you can edit and encode with a seperate software package, I would go with a Canopus product, (but these cost alot of money) The mpeg2 files the AIW's produce are very good for the price, and if you are like me and have alot of stuff to put to dvd, being able to do it on the fly without having to encode to mpeg2 will save you alot of time.

The TV wonders, other than the software they come with, are completely different as far as capturing goes

These cards do work ok if you are wanting to just make VCD's, or to watch TV/captured files on your computer but not really the best for DVD's.

I'm sure there are ways to make the TV Wonder's work at a somewhat acceptable level, but in my case...it just wasn't worth the stress and time for the $50 or so you might be saving.

[FKrueger]

It doesn't go all the way to 100? You want 2% or less frames dropped, cpu speed the most important, with an amd 900 I couldn't capture at more than 1.53mbps without seeing 3% frames dropped, with the XP 2200 or 1.8 gig and 256 ddr ram, I can capture up to 3.0 mbps and stay at 2% and under, for xvcd's not dvd, mpeg 1. Don't know if that helps you. To change things, open the tv mode up, clik the check mark on the right above the speaker tab, at that point you have many choices, you need to get into your digital vcr, select what format you want or set custom, edit it if you wish, or create your own. I have been capturing with this product for over 300 movies, it's better than tape, not better than a desktop dvd recorder.

[toronto098]

There are many good guides here which have addressed your problems. If you would take a moment to read them, you would have figured it out.

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