About to buy an ATI TV Wonder HD 600...

[SixFiftyThree]

Wanting to follow through on my long overdue VHS transfer project, and I've read the ATI 600 USB device is a good all-round solution. Apparently it does particularly well capturing to MPEG-2, but unfortunately only NTSC. As all my tapes are PAL, I'll need to capture to lossless AVI, and also to DV for tapes of lesser importance.

So - I'd like some info on how to set up the lossles PAL capture through VirtualDub, and how to set up the DV capture. A while back I did do lossless with a similar USB device, will it be just as easy with the ATI 600 or should I expect more work? I have no experience with capture to DV however.
Also, is the bundled ATI software completely useless for my purposes?

Lastly...I need a PAL S-VHS deck with Line TBC, and a standalone TBC; would like to know some decent models in good availability. I should mention I need to transfer some commercial tapes, and from what I understand the TBC should also remove any Macrovision. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Any and all help is appreciated, thanks in advance.

[lacywest]

Since your messing with PAL ... I cannot help you ... in that area.

I use the ATI 650 PCI card and the PCI Express card. The software that comes with it ... I dont use it.

I use my ATI cards to work with the Media Center in XP and WIN 7.

Something to think about ... How about a Panasonic DVD Recorder from BH Photo

Link is here >> http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/659769-REG/Panasonic_DMR_EH59GA_K_DMR_EH59GA_K_M...B_HDD_DVD.html

You would use it to capture from your VHS Player.

There are at least 3 other guys here that can help you out ... Lordsmurf ... being one of them.

Well ... I've got this thread started ... the other guys here will help you more ...

[DB83]

I would have thought that the refernce to NTSC is due to the tuner in the unit which is for HD.

You will be capturing SD so would use the composite connector and not the HD connector.

If you want to capture direct to mpeg-2 with an Ati then better to consider a UK based model rather than an US based model.

And you have not stated your OS as I do believe you could have issues with Ati beyond WinXp and captruring with vdub.

But if you are using vdub then forget about DV and just capture lossless.

[usually_quiet]

ATSC is the HD/digital system in use in North America, NTSC is SD analog.

The ATI Catalyst Media Center software packaged with the ATI 600 USB should allow you to capture PAL in MPEG2, assuming the source is PAL. I have used Catalyst Media Center. I will agree that the interface is clumsy and hard to set up properly. I can't test this since I nave no PAL video to use as a source, but I think you need to run the Setup Wizard (under "Settings"), then set your tuner type to "Analog" plus "Antenna" as the source, and the region to "United Kingdom" instead of "USA" to change the analog TV system from NTSC to PAL. You can do something similar under "TV" using "Signal Settings". I know the custom recording profiles allow PAL resolutions, but I couldn't find a setting for framerate, so I suppose the source and region setting determines that.


I made some notes regarding the settings for Virtualdub Capture mode ("Capture AVI") for my ATI Theater 650 card. I'm not sure all are correct, for your device but perhaps it will provide some clues.

File->Device->"ATI Avstream Analog Capture (Direct Show)"

Video->"Overlay is" checked
Video->Video Source = "Video SVideo" (first SVideo options) or "Video Composite" (first Composite option) depending on which connection is used
Video->Capture Filters->Filters Properties->Volume Level=254 (If this is 0, audio is muted)
Video->Capture Filters->Video Decoders->NTSC_M or Pal_B, etc. depending on the video system to be captured. (After setting this up Video->Capture Pin should now show correct properties for your region.)
Video->Crossbar->Input->"1: SVideo Video In" or "3:Video Composite In" depending on which one is used
Video->Crossbar->Output->"0: Video Decoder Out"

Audio->"Enable audio capture" is checked
Audio->"Enable audio playback" is checked
Audio->"Audio Input"= no audio input
Audio->"Audio source"="Audio Line" (first Audio Line option)
Audio->"0 Capture device" is selected

Capture->"Hide display on capture" is checked (Display will be discontinued during capture)

[DB83]

Thnx for the correction re NTSC and ATSC.

Over this side of the pond I thought that PAL was PAL whether it was HD or SD. But I am probably confused with Video standards rather than Broadcast standards.

Now I know that NTSC usually stands for 'Never Twice Same Color' so does ATSC stand for 'Any Time Some Color' ?

[Brad]

Always The Same Color? Being digital and all. I also came across this list of joke expansions from 1998 made by people with the technical knowledge to make far geekier observations. One stand-out is "Always Truncated by Seven-o-nine Colorimetry."

I have the ATI 600 USB and some PAL DVDs but I don't think I have a player that sends out PAL, so I can't test either..

[sanlyn]

ATSC is the HD/digital system in use in North America, NTSC is SD analog.

ATSC is a type of tuner. It can detect both SD and HD. The broadcast a/v standards for video, audio, players, recorders, Dvd/BluRay, and TV's in North America is NTSC, whether SD, HD, analog or digital.

[edDV]

ATSC is the HD/digital system in use in North America, NTSC is SD analog.

ATSC is a type of tuner and transmission technology. It can detect both SD and HD. The a/v standards for video, audio, players, recorders, Dvd/BluRay, and TV's in North America is NTSC, whether SD, HD, analog or digital. NTSC has set different standards for digital,analog,.SD,HD, colorspace, etc. But it's still just good ol' NTSC, whether old or new.

The only overlap from analog NTSC to digital ATSC or MPeg is interlace 480 lines and 29.97 frame rate (59.94 fields per sec). Many incorrectly apply the term "NTSC" to component Rec-601 based frame rates and digital rasters (e.g. 704 or 720x480).

[sanlyn]

Thanks for the clarification, edDV.