best ATI AllInWonder Card for VHS Cap / SVCD?

[x_lights]

Hello All,
I just want to get some opinnions on which capture card is best for what
my needs. (at this point i have an ATI All In Wonder pro , which has
worked just fine for what i've needed in the past ... but its max capture
res is 320x240 .. and its own ATI-VCR format with 12-bit colour )

Anyway my uses for this will be:

*mostly converting the commerical VHS tapes i have (for backup to CD or DVD)
*also some recording from camcorder - 8mm tape (not digital)

Of course i need a Macrovision-free card for the VHS tapes (i know some
ATI's are Macro-free, but which ones?)

Although i'd prefer to go with ATI but i'm not set on it.. if there is
another brand does a equal/better job i'd consider it too

basically the must haves are:
* needs to be an AGP card
* absolutly must work in win98 (or 3.11 as a 2nd option) .. i need network
connectivity on the computer and thus will not downgrade to Win XP
* macrovision free
* be able to capture at least SVCD res. (but still be able to do lower ones like VCD)
* 'all-in-one' video/capture card with not only a RCA & Coax in, but also a RCA video-out - for connecting to TV
* also really need to stay in the sub $100 range

I do not need high-powered 3-D graphics as this system will not be used
for games, but do need at least 1024x768 x 24bit for windows


I think i covered everything there & hopefully it made sense :)

-Thanks for any help

[x_lights]

ok so:
no replies...i probably posted this in the wrong place?
so before i del this post, anyone know of a forum/website
that would be a better/correct place to post??

[Kairo]

Well for all your wanting to do all you realy need would probly be an ATI 128 AIW Pro. It can do all you mention above and it has all the connections you want. I used to own one of those back in the day and it worked great for the time that I had it. There is no such thing as an ATI card without macrovision but they all can be easily patched (the software) to disable it. BTW capturing and encoding are CPU intensive and have little to do with the card its self. If I were you I would invest my money in a better processor and more system ram before I bought a new card. BTW what moddle AIW are you using now and what software are you using to capture with? MCC? I know that with my ATI 128 Rage AIW Pro, 2200+ AMD Athlon, and 256mb of system ram I could capture full frame 720 X 480 uncompressed AVI with few dropped frames.

[Nelson37]

I do not know of an AIW card with the resolution limitations you are referring to, EXACTLY what model do you have? Even the pre-AIW ATI capture cards could exceed this resolution. Only the early TV wonder series, with original drivers, had such a limitation and these can use upgraded drivers.

There are around a DOZEN or so AIW models, need to know which one you are dealing with.

Macrovision is easily circumvented UNTIL you get to the 9000 series cards, these require a TBC.

While capture is indeed CPU intensive, the ATI cards do contain a hardware assist, next to a dedicated MPG encoder such as Hauppage, and using ATI software, they take a significant amount of load off the CPU.

[thecoalman]

UNTIL you get to the 9000 series cards, these require a TBC.

100% correeeeeeeeect... The 9000 series can't be hacked to my knowledge. There's a few floating around but I haven't seen anyone that I trust state they work..maybe they do but on the other hand I have heard a few posters state the hacks screwed there card up.

If your home tapes are older, been played a lot or you are trying to backup coammercial tapes be prepared to probably have to get a TBC or some other device to remove MV...

[x_lights]

Well for all your wanting to do all you realy need would probly be an ATI 128 AIW Pro. It can do all you mention above ...
There is no such thing as an ATI card without macrovision but they all can be easily patched (the software) to disable it.

The card i have seemes to be macrovision-free .. have not had any
macrovision-type problems show up, but i also have not done a whole lot
of cap's with it

BTW capturing and encoding are CPU intensive and have little to do with the card its self. If I were you I would invest my money in a better processor and more system ram before I bought a new card.

I do plan to upgrade the CPU to whatever the max my motherboard
will handle .. the system actually has more ram than what the 'computer
details' button shows (i forgot about having done that upgrade)

I do not know of an AIW card with the resolution limitations you are referring to, EXACTLY what model do you have?

Its an older one - All In Wonder Pro (Rage Pro Turbo / 8MB / AGP)
I'm using the included software for capturing (have tried 3 or 4 freeware
programs from this site, but ATI's program works best & allows editing
of the video before saving it)

With all programs max capture size is 320x240.. i believe thats a
limitation of the card... if i set the software to something higher it
eather goes back to 320x240 or captures a highly distorted vid at
something like 640?x240

but the 'new' card will not be a replacement - it will be going in a difrent
system

Macrovision is easily circumvented UNTIL you get to the 9000 series cards, these require a TBC.

While capture is indeed CPU intensive, the ATI cards do contain a hardware assist, next to a dedicated MPG encoder such as Hauppage, and using ATI software, they take a significant amount of load off the CPU.

I don't need anything as powerfull as the 9000 series ... would actually
prefer to stay well below that due to cost, plus i'm using Win98

A Hauppage card is something i'd consider.. am i correct in believeing
that it is a separate card (you still need a video-card) and that some
will cap VCD/SVCD/DVD compliant MPEG 1/2 with hardware encoding right
on the card??

From the few i've seen, at this point a TBC is beyond my budget


Also thanks for all the replies!

[thecoalman]

A Hauppage card is something i'd consider..

The Hauupage crads get excellent reviews here and for a machine that is sorely lacking in CPU power it's an ideal choice since the card does all the encoding. If I was workng with a slow machine that would be my choice from the many reviews I've read here. Another option is just get a DVD recorder, rip the video to your comp to edit. I't essentially the same thing.

am i correct in believeing
that it is a separate card (you still need a video-card) and that some
will cap VCD/SVCD/DVD compliant MPEG 1/2 with hardware encoding right
on the card??

Yes, it does it on the fly, the second you stop encoding you can author it if you wanted. The Hauupages BTW are completely MV free.

----------------

Anyway my uses for this will be:

*mostly converting the commerical VHS tapes i have (for backup to CD or DVD)

One last thing, beside the Hauppage there are very few high quality devices that are going to allow you to copy commercial tapes including DVD Recorders. The older crads like yours didn't have this, nearly every new device does....

You either have to remove the MV signal (TBC does this) before it gets to the capture device or buy a capture device that is MV free or one that can be hacked.

[Nelson37]

The card you already have will capture full resolution. I know this, I have not one but two of those, I actually started with the card before that one (3d expression plus PC2tv).

What version MMC are you using? That is probably the issue. Upgrading MMC and drivers is not exactly a good time, but doable. Got up to version 7.7 or 7.8. Somebody around here has claimed to get it to run with 8.0 but never verified this, unless you want to pay for it.

Newer cards essentially unchanged in terms of capture, since you are budget conscious (I can relate) I would concentrate on driver and MMC updates to use what you already have. The software Macrovision hacks do work with that card.

[x_lights]

What version MMC are you using? That is probably the issue. Upgrading MMC and drivers is not exactly a good time, but doable. Got up to version 7.7 or 7.8. Somebody around here has claimed to get it to run with 8.0 but never verified this, unless you want to pay for it.

I have 2 versions of MMC - 5.2 and 7.1 (5.2 came with the card...
personally i prefer the it better because it allows some editing before
saving)
I remember reading somewhere that 7.1 is the highest ver that will
work with the model card i have ... thats why i went with it

I also remember reading that this card uses the 'BT829' capture chip? and
it (the chip) is limited to 240 lines max

Its been probably since last summer/fall since i last did any research
on that tho..

anyway part of the reason for wanting a new/diffrent card is i have an
extra computer sitting around (& a new spare harddrive too) that i want
to use just for vid-capture
In the long run, after i get everything working right for VCR, etc i plan
to start converting some old 'Super-8' films to SVCD (but that is a whole
diff thing that will require special hardware...but thats a subject for some
other time


Anyway i like the reviews i've seen here for Hauppauge WinTV 250 and the
fact that it does hardware MPEG... but looking at a few of them on eBay i
only see a Coax jack - nobody has an image of the back of it, so a question
for someone with this card: does it have RCA or 1/8" audio & video jacks
as well or just the Coax?
note: i'm not interested in the MMC version of this card since it won't
work in win98

The Hauppauge WinTV 350 didnt do as well in reviews but the Hardware
MPEG decoder would be nice to have.