Is this the best capture I can get?

[GLE3]

I have an older Winfast Leadtek Tv Capture card I got off ebay awhile ago. I have recently downloaded drivers and am using the PVR2 software package.

I have a 866 P3 with 512 of RAM. I have an older hard drive and I'm pretty sure it is only 5400 RPM.

Problem is I can only use the capture at half of what it is able to. I am able to go up to 740 X 480 but can can't capture with any compression without losing many frames. I only have a 40 gig HD so I don't have room for something like AVI.This is what I have to do to capture without dropping frames.

Res: 340 X 240
Bitrate: ~ 3000 (constant bitrate)
Mpeg 2 codec
compression level 7 out of 10

Replaying these captures on the computer doesn't look too bad but when I play them on my 35" TV flaws are obvious. Honestly, I think using a VHS recorder would give better quality. So, my question is..., is there something I could do differently to get better results(without spending big cash)? Use different software? Or will I have to suck it up and buy another HD? Just get another PC? Thanks in advance for any help.

[olyteddy]

Well, with those computer specs, I doubt you'll get much better without dropping frames. Encoding takes a lot of processing power.

[hech54]

IMO....you are asking MUCH of that computer.....TOO much.

[GLE3]

Thanks for the replies! I guess I'll just be happy with what I have for now. It was just kind of a bummer because Leadtek doesn't list any significant minimum requirements......

[jagabo]

HuffYUV is probably fast enough. But you won't get much compression. PicVideo MJPEG may work too. Divx at its fastest settings, 1-pass quality based, and no b frames might work.

[prouton]

You could always spend a little money on a TV tuner card with hardware MPEG2 encoding, like the Hauppauge PVR-150.

[Nelson37]

You should be able to significantly upgrade your hardware with little to no money, your PC is just too ancient for this kind of work. Two hard drives is preferable, double the RAM and double the CPU speed is really necessary. $50 to $100 bucks should do it in used hardware.

If you have a local PC repair guy, he probably has something similar taken in trade or disposed of. You don't happen to live in Southwest Florida, by any chance?

[gshelley61]

You can probably get a real nice used desktop PC on eBay (or at a local computer shop that takes in trades) for $50-$100 that would have at least a 2.0GHz processor, 1GB of RAM or more, and a 80GB hard drive (or larger)

Time to retire the old box.