Comparison AIW Radeon V AIW128s!!!

[jackieshane]

Can some clever person tell me whether there is any difference in the picture quality between these 2 cards when capturinge from VHS cassetes to avi or mpeg format???????????

[patrickm]

yes and no. all radeon cards use the Rage Theater capture chip. SOME AIW 128/128pro cards also use the Rage Theater chip. The quality of the rage theater picture has not changed in 3yrs, and the new capture drivers can be used on the older cards. however, SOME AIW 128s, predominantly the 16Mb PCI and some 32Mb PCI and 16Mb AGP come with a BT829 or BT878 capture chip, which does vary slightly in quality (it tends to be sharper in some cases, but i find it results in blockier realtime captures for that very reason).

They're relatively easy to distinguish. the Rage Theater will be a small square chip about 3/4" x 3/4" and say ATI Rage Theater across it and have some production codes. the BT chips will have a rockwell logo (similar to the atari symbol...). so even if you can't read it, you can see the graphic vs text difference in pictures on ebay and what not.

[jackieshane]

patrickm, thanx mate for the clarification!