Video Advantage PCI: Interlaced Video/No Live Audio Preview/Other Questions

[acid_burn]

I just bought the Turtle Beach Video Advantage PCI video capture card with front panel connectors (because I needed a card with a front panel for ease-of-use). For the record, the card uses a Conexant CX23881-19 chipset, which you can find the details for here and here. The card came with several piece of software, most of which is crap (the included CyberLink PowerDirector closes itself when I switch to the Capture tab, and its companion CyberLink PowerProducer Express won't load past the splash screen). However, all is not lost as not only do the drivers install without a problem and can be used most (all?) other capture programs, but the bundled AD FullCap capture program works great (captures in AVI and DV only). I can also use Nero Vision (came with the Nero suite bundled with my DVD burner) to capture several formats (DVD, SVCD, Nero Digital/MPEG-4, AVI, MPEG-2/Custom). (I tried VirtualDub, and it showed the preview video, but video captures didn't come out properly.)

For the most part, the card works and captures flawlessly. I read so many bad reviews about the Video Advantage that I was a bit fearful to purchase it, but since they related to the software and/or Vista which isn't an issue for me (I'm using Windows 2000, may move to XP by the end of the year), I'm glad that I did buy it. However there are two issues that I'm having, one of which I know ISN'T the fault of the card, and I suspect the other one isn't either. I've also included two questions I have that relate to capturing (see 1A & 1B) that I hope someone could give a quick answer to.

1. I'm capturing at either 640x480 or 720x480 from VHS, the latter for eventual burning to DVD. (If I'm going to do something solely for the web I'll capture at 320x240, but I haven't tested out capturing at that size yet.) The recordings have the horrible interlace artifacts (the comb-line horizontal lines, though I doubt that I needed to explain that to all of you), which of course make the recordings look bad - though picture quality is otherwise fantastic (as good as the source). I suspect the card isn't at fault for the interlacing artifacts as I would bet that other cards do this as well.

Do I need to deinterlace the captured video if it's going to be edited (commercials removed) and then put onto DVD? If I choose NOT to deinterlace, will that DVD display differently on different types of televisions, such as standard and digital? At some point in the future I'll probably upgrade from a CRT (cathode ray tube) TV to one of those new digital/HDTV models, so I'd hate to have the DVDs look great now, only to look like crap later on.

1A. Nero's MPEG-2/custom capturing mode is the only one (in Nero AND Ad FullCap) that has options for interlacing: Progressive, Interlaced (top field first), and Interlaced (bottom field first) - but I haven't tried that mode yet. From what I've read, top field first is for NTSC (my region) and the other is for PAL. Anyway, if I don't use that mode, and thus have interlaced video, what would be the best method/program to use to deinterlace it? Preferably something simple and/or idiot-proof :-)

1B. In both Nero Vision and Ad FullCap the capture card supports the following Color Space options: YUY2 and I420 (Nero also gives me RGB24 and RGB555 options as well). I don't have a clue what the difference between any of them are. Which is the best to use?

2. This issue I know for a fact ISN'T the fault of the video capture card (its front panel is a pass-through to the audio card) because I get the same results without it. My motherboard has a built-in audio card, which uses the Realtek HD Audio drivers (ALC888). The audio inputted into the Line In jack is recorded properly (whether in an audio recorder by itself or together with inputted video), but it doesn't play live through my speakers. My old computer, which had a Aureal Audio PCI card, would give me a live audio preview of anything I had running through Line In. Does anyone know if I can get a live audio preview or do the Realtek drivers simply not allow it?

[2Bdecided]

1. You leave it interlaced for DVD. It will be fine, unless you mess it up (you do need to set top field first or bottom field first correctly, the wrong one will mess up the motion and make it really stuttery and forwards/backwards rapid - you'll know if you get it wrong on the final DVD). Progressive TVs have built in deinterlacers, since most SD and HD content is interlaced!

You can watch interlaced content perfectly well on a PC if you use player software that understands and deinterlaces on-the-fly.

2. They'll be a fader on the sound card control panel which allows you to listen to the input. In WinXP it's Control Panel, Sounds and Audio devices, Audio, Sound playback, volume - and then slide up the fader marked "line in" - if line in isn't shown, click Options, properties - and put a tick in it's box to show it on playback. If it's not there either, I have no idea!

Cheers,
David.

[acid_burn]

David

Thanks a million for telling me about leaving the video interlaced. I was so scared when I first saw the interlace artifacts, thinking that the card was defective. But after doing research online, I learned that it was due to interlacing, and thus not a fault of the card. I'm sure that all cards do it, so thankfully I didn't buy a bad card.

Your suggestion about the audio was correct, though Realtek has things named by COLOR(!), so it's "Rear Blue In" instead of the more sensible "Line In". Not very user-friendly if you ask me.

By the way, I'd still love it if someone could answer question 1B for me, regarding which color space option is the best to use. Thanks.