Capturing Problems with PCTV

[venky_m]

Hi,

I have PCTV Plus card.

My PC Configuration is:

PIII 800 MHz ; 512 MB RAM ; 120 GB HDD

As per the PCTV documentation, it says, minimum configuration required to capture at VCD resolution is 500 MHz. Earlier, I was able to capture at this resolution. However, now, in the capture settings oiption, All the optios are disabled (ie. VCD, SVCD, DVD, Custom). I gey only one option by default which is some 320 * 230 (or some thing low like that).
I have tried all the options but, I am not able to get the other options enabled ?

How can I capture at VCD resolution using PCTV card ? Please help me.

Thanks,
Venky.

[venky_m]

By the way, I am using Windows XP Pro OS.

[fmctm1sw]

Is that a BT 8x8 based card? Look into the btwincap drivers....

[Supreme2k]

I have one of those cards. I was getting shit captures until I switched to the btwincap drivers.

[deckard8]

I take it you're using the pinnacle capture software that came with the card - Don't bother, it's lousy. There are lots of better free alternatives. I have a pctv card and use FlyDS for capture, btwincap drivers and huffyuv codec.
This setup should be the optimum for you system.

[bigdog660]

I had Pinnacle Studio 9 installed for my PCTV card but it wouldn't sync the audio. What a piece of junk software that won't capture properly to a capture card made by the same company!

I've had good luck with iuVCR with Sync using stream offset check marked and Audio stream offset (set at 0ms) check marked. Works every time.

I suggest checking out Alparysoft Lossless Codec, as I've had excellent results plus smaller files compared to huffyuv. Huffyuv files get pretty big. The only downside is Alparysoft tends to use a lot of CPU power.

[venky_m]

Hi,

Thanks for all your suggestions. I will try with the drivers suggested by you.

Thanks,
Venky

[LSchafroth]

Hi,

Thanks for all your suggestions. I will try with the drivers suggested by you.

Thanks,
Venky

I have that card also. It works great with IuVCR and never has any audio sync issues since I started using IuVCR. I do not use the BTWin cap drivers as they do not work. The latest ones from Pinnacle's website work just fine.

I use VirtualDub, TMPGEnc Plus & DVD-Lab. (thanks to other user's recommendations)

LS

[venky_m]

Hi,

Finally, I was able to capture well with btwincap drivers using Virtual Dub/ Windows Movie maker. Thats all of you for your suggestions.
But, after I have installed these drivers PCTV software supplied by Pinnacle is not working. I get a device not ready error. Is there any other software (preferably freeware) which I can use to watch TV (it would be great if that software supports the remote control provided by pinnacle.

[amitabhbansal]

I am using PCTV PLUS card
My system configuration is
P-IV, 128MB DDR Ram, 40GB HDD, with windows ME and XP installed.

I can capture the video from my vcr in VCD format. But when i start capturing the video in DVD format it doesnt records anything accept voice.
Please tell me what to do.
Thanks in advance
Amitabh

[tipstir]

BTPCI WDM Audio Capture Driver
BTPCI WDM Video Capture Driver

replacement for:

Pinnacle WDM Audio Capture Driver
Pinnacle WDM Video Capture Driver

These two drivers won't work with Pinnacle software. You'll have to use third-party software: WinDVR 3 or Win DVD Recorder Platinum 5.x

I've tried all what you all have said, and I was never happy with the picture output would be grainy no matter what you use. Morgan M-JPEG codecs V3 CPU encoder enhancer. Still when you make the switch to WinTV PVR-150, picture is sharp, clear, rich, vivid on all playback, viewing, recording and more. You can even improve sharpeness tweak method.

[The_Doman]

Still when you make the switch to WinTV PVR-150, picture is sharp, clear, rich, vivid on all playback, viewing, recording and more. You can even improve sharpeness tweak method.

Yes, it would be the perfect capture card, IF only I could change the audio recording volume!!!
The whole card is useless with the much to loud (distorted) audio!

So I am using again my PVCTV-card, Btwincap, Avi_io en Mjpeg codec at the moment. Still works great!

[tipstir]

Oh boy another one, who can't get WinTV PVR-150 to work with audio, hey I don't have that problem with mine. It's still the best and you for get about PCTV Pro Stereo dbx ouch!