ATI All In Wonder 9800 Pro still a good choice?

[AmigaFanBoy]

Are the AGP All in wonders still the best choice for affordable quality VHS capture? Any alternatives that are as good and use PCI-E or USB?

[lingyi]

Contact lordsmurf either here or at digitalfaq.com for a ATI USB device. It may be more than you'd find elsewhere, but he guarantees everything the sells. He has has some tested and proven VCRs, TBCs and complete workflows (VCR, TBC and capture device) available. You could probably piece together the components cheaper separately, but with no guarantee of usability and quality. The two VCRs you've asked about are in lordsmurf's Not Recommended list.

Read his http://www.digitalfaq.com/editorials/digital-video/professional-analog-workflow.htm article for an understanding of what is needed for a quality capture and why it's needed.

Who is lordsmurf? One of the oldest and most respected members of this forum, an administrator (possiibly owner) of digitalfaq.com and someone who's been doing video digitization for decades. There's a handful of regulars here that can meet or exceed his credentials and AFAIK, no one within that group is currently parting with their equipment.

[AmigaFanBoy]

I own an AIW 9800 Pro, just wondering if I should continue to use it or buy something new.

[lordsmurf]

Continue using it.

Still excellent video quality, never really outperformed (for SD) by anything from anybody.

Only "problem" is XP only, but capturing is honestly a legacy task now, needing legacy OS and hardware. Building an XP system should be fairly easy.

PCIe version is meh, stick to AGP. USB AIW is fine. There are a few USB cards that can come close to AIW lossless quality, but that's about it. Most USB and PCIe cards are a nightmare in quality or usability, or both.

AIW = Ain't broke, don't fix/replace it.

@lingyi:

[AmigaFanBoy]

Thanks Lordsmurf! Is SATA okay or should I upgrade to a board with SATA II like a 4CoreDual-SATA2? Currently using P4C800-E Deluxe. AGP + PCI + SATA. Got myself a ES10 and a clean XP ISO.

https://www.asrock.com/mb/via/4coredual-sata2/

[lordsmurf]

SATA-I (750) is fine.
Main issue with it is chipsets providing it (VIA sucks), and drive max size limits (750mb?I forget offhand).

SATA-II (1.5) gives you max 2tb limit for the drive, better chipsets.

Yes, an Asrock with SATA2 is excellent, exactly what I use.

[AmigaFanBoy]

Thanks! Have your tried running SATA3 PCI-E card using the PCI Express x16 slot on that board? Wondering if there might be any issues doing so while using AGP at the same time.