Video Blaster Digital VCR

[lagarto]

Hello,

I am interested in buy this card,
any experiences to comment?
chipsets, specs?
anything will be usefull...

about realtime SVCD encode? quality?

[SHS]

Try checking back later this week or next week this very new card and I don't think any has got one at this time.

[Buck9419]

Ok the Blaster video digital vcr came yesterday. Lots of hard drive activity while the software is running when I first installed it. Installed under Windows XP. XP complained about no Windows certification on the drivers. Installed new XP drivers that seemed to have been release to stop XP from complaining about cerification. Software says 38 meg/minute on highest quality for recording. That may be different if you use the custome settings.

Hard drive activity seems to have been the high settings on the space allocated on the hard drive for recording. Lowered them and the high activity is gone.

Seems to be a problem with the tuner on the one I got. I can only get it to work on channel 5 & 6 for cable or antenna. Sent support request to Creative.

Software isn't very straight forward. Took me awhile to figure out how to find settings and control locations. There is a custom setting for resolution, bit rate of video comprssion and bit rates for sound. Going to try capturing/encoding a video input next.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Buck9419 on 2001-12-18 07:16:15 ]</font>

[SHS]

Buck9419 can sent me small MPEG2 480x480 clip a round 4.5MB in size so I can see just how soild stream are on each frame, send it to shs@advertisnet.com
If you get a change how post a full board screenshot you know pop it in to a scanner and the down size 1280 or 1024.
2000/XP cerification not a big deal in fact I turn this shit off, Want how well here it is Start | Setting | Control Panel | System go to Hardware tab click on Driver Signing button and check Ignore.

[Methanoid]

Does it do full screen 720*480 or just 640*480 as the website says. The latter would be crap, no good for DVDs.

Also, are the drivers NTSC only or is PAL hiding in there as it doesnt seem to be sold in Europe

[Roginator]

Just 640x480 and no provision anywhere to switch to PAL.

From a good signal, the recorded videos are pretty nice. The tuner needs to be replaced with something much better, or they need to let us manually adjust the channel frequencies.

[lagarto]

Roginator:

What do you think: the tuner is bad quality or the problem is the software?

[buecker]

Big question:

Is it worth the $100?

[Anonymous65]

Does the card do solid, clean and block-free 640x480 at high bit rates (>5Mb/sec)using the video input? Does is capture only in Mpeg-2? Can anybody post a test file or a still frame from the captured mpeg file. Also, can it do I-frame only capture? Can you adjust the GOP sequence? Tons of questions...

[Valnar]

How does this product compare to just using Intervideo's WinDVR with a fast PC and another (like BT878) tuner card?

I am thinking of building an HTPC and if I go with a P4, I'd just assume to use software instead of hardware solutions if I have the CPU cycles to spare. Easier to upgrade.

Robert


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Valnar on 2001-12-18 14:49:28 ]</font>

[Buck9419]

Ok I am new at this stuff so still learning. I was expecting it to save stuff in a file or files with an mpg extension. The files are 32,768kb in size and have an extension of "bts" . Mean anything to anyone? If it's not saved in a mpg file but it's using a hardware encoder I don't see how I could use the saved files?

Edit: ok I tried renaming the extension on one of the 37 files it made for 58+ minute show. Tried to play it in Windows media player without success. Media player has played mpg's for me before.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Buck9419 on 2001-12-18 18:55:08 ]</font>

[SHS]

try rename it and see if the DVD Player will play it then you know.

[Buck9419]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
On 2001-12-18 08:43:03, deuteros wrote:
Does it do full screen 720*480 or just 640*480 as the website says. The latter would be crap, no good for DVDs.

Also, are the drivers NTSC only or is PAL hiding in there as it doesnt seem to be sold in Europe
</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>

Highest resolution is 640x480.

[Anonymous65]

Windows media player does not play mpeg-2 without installing a mpeg-2 codec. There are several free mpeg-2 players/encoders listed in the Tools section. I just ordered the card, so I'll give it a good test when I get it...

[Buck9419]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
On 2001-12-18 19:16:35, skittelsen wrote:
Windows media player does not play mpeg-2 without installing a mpeg-2 codec. There are several free mpeg-2 players/encoders listed in the Tools section. I just ordered the card, so I'll give it a good test when I get it...

</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>

Ok I renamed the extension on one of the files to mpg and used Sasami2k to play it. It played the file. So I am assuming they are mpeg-2 files. So how would I be able to use the 37 files that make up the recording of the 58+ minute show?

Edit: ok I just asked Sasami2k to play one of the files without renaming it and it's playing it now while I am typing this.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Buck9419 on 2001-12-18 19:52:55 ]</font>

I have screen shots showing the software. I can email them to anyone who wants to see them.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Buck9419 on 2001-12-18 20:23:28 ]</font>

[Roginator]

If you go to the start menu, select programs. then creative, then vb digital VCR, you'll find a program to convert to "MPEG-2" files. Some of these files in multi-file conversions seem to be non-standard MPEG-2 files.

[lagarto]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>

I have screen shots showing the software. I can email them to anyone who wants to see them.

</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>

could you email me the pictures ?
lagarto@directo.cl

[Buck9419]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
On 2001-12-18 21:15:24, Roginator wrote:
If you go to the start menu, select programs. then creative, then vb digital VCR, you'll find a program to convert to "MPEG-2" files. Some of these files in multi-file conversions seem to be non-standard MPEG-2 files.
</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>

I'll look for it. I must have missed it.

[lagarto]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
On 2001-12-18 21:15:24, Roginator wrote:
If you go to the start menu, select programs. then creative, then vb digital VCR, you'll find a program to convert to "MPEG-2" files. Some of these files in multi-file conversions seem to be non-standard MPEG-2 files.
</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>

how much time take to convert the files?

[Buck9419]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
On 2001-12-19 13:08:19, lagarto wrote:
<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
On 2001-12-18 21:15:24, Roginator wrote:
If you go to the start menu, select programs. then creative, then vb digital VCR, you'll find a program to convert to "MPEG-2" files. Some of these files in multi-file conversions seem to be non-standard MPEG-2 files.
</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>

how much time take to convert the files?
</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>

Ok I had not loaded the conversion program. Loaded it and converted the 58+ minute program. It created two files. Apparantly it takes into account keeping them small enough for writing to a CD. First one is 655,278kb and the other is 559,849kb. It didn't take long. I can do it again and time it.

Edit: It took 9 minutes to convert to MPEG2.

Edit: You can choose what media you are exporting the mpeg2 to and it will size the files accordingly. CD,DVD,zip disk, etc.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Buck9419 on 2001-12-19 20:22:17 ]</font>

[Anonymous65]

OK, I have tried the card for 15 minutes, and unless I'm missing something major, don't waste your money on this card! The video in 640x480 mode looks like 320x240 captured video upconverted and smoothed out so there is no detail what so ever. No controls for brightness, contrast and so on, and the default settings are totally wrong. Audio sampling ONLY at 32KHz! No 352x option for video capture. I can't belive Creative is releasing a new card with this kind of quality! Hardware encoding...complete waste of a chip.

[lagarto]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
On 2001-12-20 12:16:42, skittelsen wrote:
OK, I have tried the card for 15 minutes, and unless I'm missing something major, don't waste your money on this card! The video in 640x480 mode looks like 320x240 captured video upconverted and smoothed out so there is no detail what so ever. No controls for brightness, contrast and so on, and the default settings are totally wrong. Audio sampling ONLY at 32KHz! No 352x option for video capture. I can't belive Creative is releasing a new card with this kind of quality! Hardware encoding...complete waste of a chip.
</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>

so bad?

which others capture resolutions it support, could you list them?
480x480 for svcd?

are you sure it does not support audio sampling other than 32Khz?, so why it does appears like an option in the custom quality settings? (thanks to randy for the screenshots)

do you have troubles with the tuner? could you tune all channels?

does the card worth the $100 bucks? or is worse?

[lagarto]

another question for skittelsen
are the drivers WDM compatibles?

[Anonymous65]

Basically, the VCD captures with my PV231 OUTPERFORMS the Creative in 640x480 mode at 4Mb/sec! Do I need to say more. Yes, it does have a mode for 480x480. Also, my guess is that it only captures one field because there is no interlace artifacts at 480x480 and 640x480 mode. The audio is 32Khz and 16Khz. You might be able to upconvert the audio to 44.1 and 48 Khz. However, the video quality is so bad that it's not even woth it. I did not try the tuner, only the composite video input. A WinTV card with a software encoder will look better.

[whiterabbit]

I own one of these crappy creative tv cards and its going back to them.

1. The card has been crippled. The sound is limited to 32khz and tech support is a bunch of idiots.

Response from Creative: 12/20/01 11:12:04 AM

[-name deleted-],

The 32kHz audio recording is going to be a limitation of the hardware / software. The only other option I have seen is 16kHz when all options are set to 'low' or 'minimal.' There is no way to actually change this within the software.

It is possible that this would be changed in an update, but technical support does not have any information on this. Information about future updates is not made available until they are released.

Chad
Creative Labs Technical Support


Response from Customer: 12/19/01 11:13:25 PM


I understand the need to keep the filesize down, but
in todays age where can buy a 60 gigabyte hard drive
for $125, creative labs decided to cripple this
product instead of making it default to 32k and just
allow the rest of us who have large hard drives the
ability to set it as an option.

Will there be a patch sometime to allow us to upgrade
the software? (either from creative labs, or perhaps a
3rd party hack).

If there isnt, i see no reason to keep the product I
jsut paid for and would like to know how to return it
since i cant get the functionality that I need from it.

recording audio at 44khz is possible with the
hardware. My only choice now is whether or not to find
a patch for the software or return the package and
become a very unhappy customer.


Response from Creative: 12/17/01 8:26:16 PM

[-name deleted-],

The maximum sampling rate is 32k.
The software doing the encoding limits the rate. This will be done to keep the size down.

Scott
Creative Labs Technical Support


Original Support Request from Customer on 12/17/01 7:10:10 PM

Problem Description:

I am having a problem making a vcd/svcd complaint CD.
I can set the recording speed to LP which produces the
required 480x480 size, but the system only seems to want
to record as high as 32K audio sampling.
Given creatives soundblaster heritage and its years of
experience making top of the line sound cards, why was
the new product i just purchased deliberatly crippled to
only record audio no higher than 32K when it obviously
could have allowed 44K sampling? If there is some way
that I can get a higher sampling rate?


2. Its limited to the following rates:
320x480,480x480,640x480

3. It does not record in mpeg2. it records in some new format and includes a utility to translate it into mpeg.

4. It chops up the mpeg files. A 30 minute test recording of seinfield was chopped in half.

5. You can only change the gamma, contrast, and brightness in the playback. not the recording.

6. You can play the recording in either "fastest" or "best" modes. You cannot adjust this in the recording.

7. Channel setup SUCKS. Dont expect the names of the channels to be anything except the channel number. Want a program guide? forget it.

8. The whole interface is awkward to work with, kludgly, and the only decent way to work it is to use the remote control they have. (Which may just be the only decent thing in the package!)

Theres NO printed documentation. I've had it for a week and i still dont know what some of the buttons on the control do.

I've tested the tuner, but not the composit input. I didnt want to waste the time doing so after the poor performance of the above features.

[lagarto]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
recording audio at 44khz is possible with the
hardware.
</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>

why are you so sure? do you have tech specs about the chipsets?