AIW Capture Comments

[Ron B]

Hello everyone-I've been doing a lot of capturing lately with my ATI AIW and wanted to share some of the things that have made things easier:
Using a time base corrector with analog capture(composite or Svideo) takes care of a lot of problems. I've been using the AVT8710, about $200USD, well worth it.
If you have problems you can't figure out, check your cables. They go bad quicker than you think, especially if you coil them up and store them that way.
Everyone has opinions of capture software. I've tried ATI MMC, after three ATI AIWs, I'm not a fan of this software. I don't use the TV features so that part of the package may be good. I have Ulead VideoStudio6 and Premiere6.0. Premiere is a good editor and Ulead is decent for small jobs, but as far as capturing goes, not that good, especially when it comes to video-audio sync issues. VirtualDub has worked really well for me. No sync issues, hardly any dropped frames. With a P4 3.0C, about 45% of the CPU was used so if you have a CPU that's about 2Ghz, you shouldn't have any problems. 512MB RAM is minimum. While you are capturing, don't plug or unplug USB or firewire devices or use a KVM switch; it will cause dropped frames. Huffyuv seems to be a very reasonable and workable capture format.
My captures are for DVD, so the video captured with Huffyuv is rendered with TMPGEnc. It does a good job, but it is sloooow. I use a batch program so I can do the rendering overnight.
There are many ways to go, lots of hardware and software to use. Sometimes it takes a while to get your system configured with the stuff that works, once you do, usually you're good to go.

[lordsmurf]

The biggest reason to get an ATI AIW card is for it's MPEG abilities. ATI MMC was designed specifically for that hardware, so it will always be the best software for the card. It comes setup poorly out-of-the-box however, so go to www.digitalFAQ.com and read the capture guides, some of which discuss ATI cards.

As long as your PC is 1.5Ghz and has 256 RAM, you will be fine.

[Ron B]

Been to your website many times. Used the TMPGEnc info on cutting MPEG files last night.
I use the AIW for a number of different capturing tasks; from low-quality quickie clips for internet use, bulk capture of old analog tapes to the best quality uncompressed video.
There's a lot to know, I learn something every time.