Capturing hardware: AMD Athlon 64 vs. Pentium IV?

[SatStorm]

The original question was about capturing and restoring VHS tapes. SO... (here is the voice of reason, call me SatStorm that is...)

For capturing VHS tapes at any framesize using a typical video-in card, ANY ~1GHz CPU or more is ENOUGH.

For restoring VHS tapes, better buy hardware equipment , like a TBC, a video enchancer / amplifier and good cables. Also go and buy an excellent VHS deck

Encoding / editing / filterning through PC, is a total different beast! In that case, you need the fastest possible CPU you can afford. And one fact is, that overall, AMD offer more for less.

I am an AMD fan myself, use them since 1998. All I can say is that my old trusty duron 1200, running win2k, is an amazing multimedia terminal PC: It can capture realtime to mpeg 2 using software solutions (mainconcept 1.4.2), it is a great multimedia player, an arcade emulation center, a dvb reciever with PVR fuctions, a great dj deck (with virtual dj and a hercules dj console), a TV/Radio unit and many many more things.

[Shocker Milwaukee]

Well, my good old Pentium Pro 180 tucked me into bed last night, then made breakfast for me the next morning!

[SatStorm]

Irony? I'm not in the mood....

[disturbed1]

I'm with SatStorm on this. Eventhough I do perfer Intel CPUs. AMD does offer a good bang for the buck.

If your on a budget, there's nothing wrong with AMD. If time is a big factor, go for a fairly top of the line P4, or the dual core AMD. AMD's weakest link is in the motherboard area. Intel has always had better chipsets, with great MBs available from Asus, Abit, Intel, Gigabyte, and MSI. Amd depends on Nvidia, SIS, and VIA. Which all vary in quality from chipset version to chipset version, and maker to maker. MSI could make a good NForce3 board, but have a horrible KT800, while Asus can have a killer KT800, and a lack luster SIS board.

If you decide to choose AMD, the most research will need to be done on the motherboard, as this is the weakest link.

Running 2 dual core opterons would be about as fast as one get right now. It would be cheaper to build a cluster system though

[nelson133]

While I prefer AMD chips, either one would be fine. If you read the tests, there really isn't that much difference in speed in real world applications between comparable cpus. The real place to make a difference is in speed and amount of memory, speed and size of hard drive, as mentioned above, quality of mother board, etc, etc,etc. There is nothing more pathetic than seeing someone spend top dollar for the latest and greatest cpu and then use 256mb of the cheapest memory they can get or use the cheapest knock-off motherboard they can find at a computer show. The main reason I buy AMD is that they are cheaper and I can then afford better components.
Nyah Levi

[spiderman2k1]

If I was you get your self a Panasonic DVD recorder. They are the best for VHS they can copy any VHS tape that has problems. Then recorder to DVD-RAM or DVD-RW and bring it to the PC to fix up the video. Even if you get a ATI AIW you still might want a Panasonic DVD recorder.

Hook up your VHS to Panasonic DVD recorder then the Panasonic DVD recorder to the ATI AIW. Once the TBC in the Panasonic DVD recorder hit the signal for the VCR you will not have any problems with it.

I lordsurf is a big JVC DVD recorder fan. He hooks up his VCR to the Panasonic DVD recorder then the Panasonic DVD recorder to the JVC DVD recorder and makes very good back up copies.

I have some bad VHS tapes. I had to use a world wide VCR by Samsung to fix the video. I'm in the USA so I'm NTSC. I would have a NTSC VHS tape but tell the Samsug world wide VCR to put out a PAL-N signal then capture with the ATI AIW in PAL-N. If I wanted a NTSC I would use TMPG. Some times if your setting are right MMC will capture PAL-N into NTSC is MMC is not acting buggy.

[Shocker Milwaukee]

Irony? I'm not in the mood....

No, sarcasm.

[vhelp]

Freak the reviews please. Those tests are always performed
by morons, who don't have the video guts in them to begin with.

Somebody do a quick (equivalent) amd vs. pentium (comparitable class)
setup using the following:

* Video Encoding

No 2-pass is necessary in this test either. Just a simple
CBR test encode. Say two tests..

* 1 minute encode
* 1 hour encode

There is absolutely NO need to test capturing. I have an old
AMD XP-1800+ cpu, and I do NOT drop any frames in my captures
which are going out to my USB-2 External HDD enclosure kit.
(if you are, it's on account mainly cause of your audio card
driver support for DX and DS)

To be honest, this is all a waist of time deciding on amd vs. pentium,
when the real issue is money. amd's are cheaper in price, and even if
they prove (based on test run above, if someone dares put-up)
intel the winner, ..by a few seconds or even minutes, makes no difference
in the final purchase, when you think about it in the long run, say,
in a matter of months, when the next bang-for-the-buck arrives, ..will
you be asking the question again, "which one should I get ?" and will
you end up spending yet, more $$$ on something that you will replace
again, and again, and again, and again, ..money'wise, it just don't
make any sense to spend all that much on something that is quickly
replace in a matter of months anyways

Is it worth the spending the extra $500 dollar (ball-park guess)
for the extra 2 mintues faster encodes on a 1 hour encode (based
on test, if someone ever does this) ??
.
Even if you were to encode every week, 2 minutes is minoot on such
a large (huge) scale.

I hope someone does this test above, quickly.

-vhelp 3442

[soundforbjt]

One of my video encoding machine's basic guts;

Used P4 2.6 Hyperthreading 800fsb...$100 w\stock cooler

New Shuttle MB w\Intel 865 chipset $25 + shipping

1 gb of new Corsair PC3200 value ram $85

System overclocks with stock cooler to 3.0ghz

What can you get in AMD that will match up speed-wise and cost-wise?

[Shocker Milwaukee]

[Somebody do a quick (equivalent) amd vs. pentium (comparitable class)
setup using the following:

* Video Encoding

No 2-pass is necessary in this test either. Just a simple
CBR test encode. Say two tests..

* 1 minute encode
* 1 hour encode

I hope someone does this test above, quickly.

-vhelp 3442

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=251737&highlight=encoding+speed