Need a capture card for an AMD system

[spiffy]

Hi everyone,

I hope I don't seem rediculous for asking these questions... I was given an AMD Athlon 1400+ CPU, so I am in the process of having a system put together for it, dedicating to DVD backup and converting only.

I have no money.

Having said that, I will most likely use a low-end Asus motherboard (A7V8X series, because that is what my local computer shop offers, and probably the only models still able to support Athlon 1400), which utilizes VIA chipsets. I will have the options of whether to use onboard video, but I'm leaning toward getting a separate card for better performance. I was debating about getting an All-In-Wonder when I read somewhere that AIWs don't seem to work well with non-Intel based motherboards. (Is this true?)

Coincidently, I just bought an OEM Radeon 7500 AIW for a PII-400 system, because its old video card died and it was almost impossible to still find AGP 2X cards. I can either stick this AIW into the AMD system, but that means I would still need to find a video card for the PII, or I get the MB with onboard video, and buy a different capture card that is more compatible with AMD/VIA. Any thoughts?

I do watch TV on my computer, even with the PII-400 (using Studio PCTV); but because the source is S-video-out from Tivo, technically I do not need a TV tuner. I would very much like to be able to capture shows from Tivo onto DVD using the AMD system though.

I have the CPU and the hard drive; I barely have enough for the motherboard, case and memories; now I just need the video solution... I would really appreciate it if anyone can give me some advice on the most economical ways of going about doing all this. Thanks in advance!

[SallyDog]

I have an AMD 1700 and AIW 7200. Works fine for me with either capturing or watching TV

SallyDog

[teegee420]

I have an AMD 2000 with an ATI AIW 7500 and a VIA chipset based motherboard. I've had no problems with this configuration at all.

[freebird73717]

I also have and amd with a via chipset and a very old AIW 32mb radeon. works great. you can get older ati cards on ebay for reasonable prices. just make sure to get an AIW radeon

[dphirschler]

I have an AMD 1600xp (1.4 GHz) on an ASUS mobo with VIA chipset. I do have problems capturing. I am not sure though it if is related to the VIA chipset. Now and then I see "glitches" in the frame. The glitch looks like data from a previous frame, usually in horizontal lines. Check out a sample image here.

http://pigseye.kennesaw.edu/~dhirschl/starwars/glitch.jpg

I hope to try updating the VIA drivers tonight and give it a try again. The glitches don't happen all the time, only every minute or so, and only in 640x480 or above resolutions.

Again, I don't know if it is related to the VIA chipset or not at this point.


Darryl

[spiffy]

Please post your findings when you have a chance, thanks...

Spiffy

[Mr. Orange Pants]

I haven't had a pentium based system since my pentium 60. With 3 different AMD processors I've used an ati all in wonder and never had problems. My current setup:
AMD Athlon 1400+
630mb DDR RAM
200GB hard drive space
ATI All in Wonder 7500

I can capture in pretty much DVD quality off my DirectTV satellite receiver, capture off my VCR at high quality, and have never had any problems capture related. Their software can be screwy sometimes (screw you EZ Look, I hate you) but have been extremely happy with any flavor of ATI card I've ever had.

[glockjs]

I have no money.

join the club buddy.


i have a $30 tuner card that works pretty good. pretty much you get what you pay for though. AIW might just work the best though, older version for your(dont worry, im on the same) budget

[spiffy]

The AIW 7500 was meant for another computer originally... I would love to get a newer AIW card for this system, but the price jump is just out of the question... Plus a friend of mine who does a lot of capture and conversions assured me that AIW 7500 would do the job plenty well, so we shall see... Because the CPU is "slow" (compared to the current top-of-the-line) the guy at the computer shop wouldn't even sell me more than 512MB of RAM, saying I don't need it... I hope he's right.

[dphirschler]

New VIA drivers improved performance, but did not eliminate the horizontal garbage. I am thinking it is related to the capture card driver. I was clinging onto Win98 in order to stay with VFW driver which Vdub requires. However, I am now taking the plunge into Win XP. I believe the WDM driver will solve the problem. I also think that it comes with a built-in VFW wrapper so I can still use Vdub. We will see. I'll post again with my results.


Darryl

[gitreel]

I have no money.

join the club buddy.


i have a $30 tuner card that works pretty good. pretty much you get what you pay for though. AIW might just work the best though, older version for your(dont worry, im on the same) budget

is it the tvwonder ve? Cheer up, at least your former employer didn't write you hot checks.

[teegee420]

I am now taking the plunge into Win XP.

Godspeed.

Updating my OS always makes me nervous as hell.

[mohammedomer1]

Hi,
I also have abandoned the intels a long time ago too. I have AMD's 1.0, 1.3, 2400+ and 3200+. I use 2 mobo's with VIA and 2 with Nvidia chipsets. I have had no problems whatsoever. I have ATI All-In-Wonders 7500/9000/9600 and 9700 for the four AMD's. I use WINXP PRO and INTERVIDEO WINDVD and RECORDER. It allows me to directly convert to SVCD or DVD SP without post-processing. I hate the ATI MMC partly because the skins are shitty. for my 3200+ I have a KWORLD crap capture card, and thats the only time I use MMC for the dual tuner ability. I expected that ATI would have some problems with their rivals Nvidia's chipsets; but its all smooth sailing so far.
In my case, I use plenty of good RAM like crucial or Kingmax either SDRAM or DDRAM
Sure, the quality of the TV tuner is important to reduce noise and better picture, but, a good adequate system plays a important role in clear captures as well
my teeny input

[US Guy]

I have no money.

I have no money too, therefore I go with the cheapest affordable route and items that satisfy my needs - used 8mb video card.

[dphirschler]

Well, the XP install went fine. But the WDM drivers have not changed anything for me. I still get the horizontal lines of garbage in the image. I will try faster RAM tonight. I borrowed some from work to test out.


Darryl