TMGEnc and Capture card question

[rhuala2]

Can someone please tell me how I can know what all the TMGEnc settings do? The website and program itself, don't seem to be very well documented, regarding any of the settings. Stuff such as (but not everything I would like to know) ;
1. The noise reduction settings what they do or numbers to try for certain situations
2. GOP structure, changing this will do...
3. Quantize matrix, changing this will do...
4. When to use some of the advanced options

Also, would someone please explain why the heck SVCD is 480x480 (NTSC). When I encode to this format I get a nice ugly box?? What happened to the aspect ratio here, VCD=352x240, DVD=720x480, and Div~640x480. How do I get my SVCD to display properly on a 4:3 ratio viewing screen, like the rest of the world?

One other thing, is it common for people to have a high performace AGP card for games and other multimedia playback, and a seperate PCI card dedicated for capture. I always assumed people only had one AGP card. I have a MSI Geforce 4 Ti4400 card which I paid $350 us 6 months ago, and am wondering if this card is considered good for capturing or if maybe I should plunk down another $150 and get a dedicated PCI capture card, although I'm fearful of the instability this may add? Would someone please explain their experiences with this. OR would an external capture card be even better, although I really don't want to spend more than $200 more on video card toys...

Thanks in advance!

rhuala

[Tommyknocker]

Newbie, get thee to thy Newbie Guides. The TMPGEnc Explained guide goes through most of the functions, so please read it before you do anything else, okay?

Now, SVCD files. They will be just fine when you burn them, so trust TMPGEnc to encode them properly for your burn.

If your capture card gives you the quality you need, there is no need to upgrade.

[kuranuk]

have a MSI Geforce 4 Ti4400 card which I paid $350 us 6 months ago, and am wondering if this card is considered good for capturing

I have the exact same card, rhuala, and it's quite good. I've been able to tweak it to do s-video caps at 30fps and 720x480 with no frame loss, what more can you want? Most of my captures are from VHS or SVHS, whose resolutions are well below that anyway. Your hard drive is perhaps the greatest limiting factor for the device you currently have.
This is more than enough for most amateurs, but if you're serious (or just a quality nut) many dedicated capture cards have the benefit of hardware encoders, and the quality of the signal may be slightly better. As for external capture cards, their sole purpose in life is to digitize an analog signal, and so naturally their quality is going to tend to be the highest, but you're going to have to shell out the most as well.
My advice is to stick with the G4 and VirtualDub.