Video Capture under XP

[jayant]

From the various comments I have read in this forum and Newsgroups, it is clear that for users of Windows OS, XP onwards, the Video Capture Device will be a WDM driver.

1) Does this mean that all video capture tools like VirtualDub based only on VFW Drivers will be useless for video capture? Or are there any round-about ways by which VideoDub can still be used under XP?
2) Which of the Video capture cards have WDM drivers provided along with the cards or available in XP which work flawlessly to produce avi or mpg files which can then be used for making VCDs? For example, the WDM Driver placed on the web-site of ATI for AIW-128 Rage card is a total flop, giving non-stop audio distortion with SB Live Value card.
3) Could this Forum provide information in a tabular form on which makes of different cards like ATI Radeon or WinTV work satisfactorily with the WDM driver available from the manufacturer or the one which comes with XP, for video capture under XP?
4) The Article "How to capture" placed on VCD Helper Page needs to be updated for the XP situation. Even for Windows 98 and ME, I fail to understand the complicated procedure described there for video capture with All-In-Wonder cards for making VCD 2 compatible mpg files. Why can't the mpg files produced by ATI or by PowerVCR in mpeg-1 format specifically for making VCDs be directly used for making VCDs?

P. Jayant

[Sulik]

Most audio issues with recording have nothing to do with Windows XP, but with the chipset and sound card compatibility (VIA+SBLive).
Usually, the right combination of sound card drivers and chipset/ide drivers will fix that.

There is nothing that prevents you to burn a VCD 2.0 MPEG file recorded with MMC 7.x on the AIW (Dunno about WinTV).
However, MMC's default VCD preset is not tweaked for best VCD quality.
The main thing is to edit the VCD preset (custom->edit->create copy), up the bitrate to 1.14Mbps (the default is 1.05Mbps in MMC), and set motion estimation to 100% (Default is 70%).

[kinneera]

For example, the WDM Driver placed on the web-site of ATI for AIW-128 Rage card is a total flop, giving non-stop audio distortion with SB Live Value card.

I have had no problems using my AIW128 and SBLive Value in WinXP, including up to resolutions of 720x480.