Any card better then PVR 250 for capturing even if it costs

[davy19]

$500+


This card is the biggest buggiest piece of hardware I have ever worked in the history of PC's and been working on pc's ever since 80286

I have never gotten so many problems, and the card stop working for no reasons wahtasover, then after 5-6 uninstalls and reinstalls works again.


Not sure if I can return this but is there any capture card similar to what the pvr-250 does, but much more stable, and produce better results?

There has to be a better card even if it costs $500 or so.

I am mainly using this to caputre from VHS to SVCD. Trying to archive my 400 tapes, but the rate at which this device works I will be dead by then.


Thanks

[bbb]

Yes, I agree, the PVR 250 (MPEG capture card) software and installation is very problematic, even after using the new drivers/software from SHS's site. Also, I hear that editting MPEG2 (e.g., cutting out commericals, etc) is not very precise and can create more problems.

If I needed a capture device today (currently, I'm pretty happy with my $50 Pinnacle DC10+) it would unquestionably be the Canopus ADVC-100-- top rated card on this site by far. This device requires a compatible firewire card (non-TI type). Read the great reviews here: http://www.vcdhelp.com/capturecards.php?CaptureCardRead=Canopus%20ADVC-100&Search=Search.

This device captures in DV format so you will have to use Tmpgenc or CCE to convert to MPEG2. This is probably for the best since Tmpgenc/CCE encodes much better (especially at multi-pass VBR) than any consumer model real time MPEG card (i.e., PVR 250). Tmpgenc's cutting function is also wonderfully accurate and easy.

400 tapes is a lot of work. So, I would first get a stable system running with all the software and hardware installed and free from bugs. Next, back up your system drive with Ghost or another HD imager. Then, I would start backing up the tapes. It would also help if you have a quiet computer powersupply and a spare computer system to browse the internet and to work with while you main computer is encoding.

[Jester700]

Of course, a sony camcorder with DV passthru and a $50 generic firewire card will do the same thing, and you get a camcorder...

I've never had problems capping with this method. It's the realtime MPEG that caused problems for me. Of course, YMMV.

[davy19]

I know nothing about DV, or Firewire


I dont have a firewarie slot. I assume I can just buy a fireware pci card?


So how does it work? VCR goes into the canopus, then it goes into my firewire?

[next]

I bit at the price on the pvr-250 about a week ago - $99 net from Circuit city. I couldn't pass up the potential for harware encoding at that price (this from somebody who has been sold on sw realtime encoding ala AIW's). My intention was to install it in an underpowered box and see what would happen (900mhz athlon).

I installed it into a box that had a ati aiw 128pro 32 meg already installed and was suprised to find out there were no real problems. It took a bit of screwing around to get it right but no problems. i think the key is that I installed it into a box set up as a standard pc (under xp pro). This allowed me to set the irq's manually in the bios. The card needs its own irq but can coexist with the aiw.

The install disk was version 1.2. The drivers left alot to be desired. The response was slow - took like 6 seconds to initialize the wintv2000 program - but for capturing it was acceptable. I got the card for capturing and am less interested in the pvr functions. BUT after installing the new beta drivers I was really suprised at how much things improved. Significantly better. Vast improvement. Down right snappy now.

Capture quality is excellent for SVCD. Really outstanding. I did notice some slight macro blocking in fast motion scenes. Minor but they are there. The fix for me was to capture at 1/2 dvd resolution and set a custom profile up at the max bitrate of the svcd limit. The macro blocks are no more. XSVCD true but at 1/2 dvd resolution and 48khz I'm set up for my eventual move to dvd burning. Using 1/2 dvd resolution really cleaned things up. I was always hesitant to give up the 480x480 resolution in the past but the results at 1/2 dvd on this card are superb. Better than anything I got on the aiw at 480x480. Significantly better.

For editing I'm using mpeg2vcr. No problems. No a/v sync problems so far. Editing using mpeg2vcr is simple and it saves the cuts in the svcd format (actually xsvcd because of the resolution). Everything burns fine in Nero with compliancy off. No problems on an Apex 703 and a JVC 900bk. The quality on the JVC is stunning.

Some quirks -

You really have to play around with the initial install. Find the right pci slot and set the irq in the bios. This requires a standard pc setup under xp pro which might turn some people off.

I could not capture to a drive installed on an ide add on card without things crashing. i pulled the card and installed a 60 gig drive as a slave on the primary and that fixed things. I think a pci bus conflict was the cause.

Using the scheduler wintv2000 always crashed at the end of a timed capture. The fix was to set up the capture in the scheduler and then close both the scheduler program and wintv2000. When its time to capture wintv2000 starts up and ends the capture with no crashing. This was a problem for me but may not be a universal fix for those with similiar problems.

Upgrade to the beta drivers. If you get the harware install right the beta drivers really fix most if not all of the software quirks.

[Bondiablo]

I have the Canopus ADVC-100 and would certainly recommend it. It'll cost you about half what the DV Cam option would cost. You can add a PCI firewire card to you system for $15 (only reason to spend more than that on a firewire card is if you want a better software package). You definitely won't beat the quality in that price range. The only downside is the size of the files it creates (about 24GB for 2 hours) and the time it will take to convert them to MPEG.

[ItsMe]

I bought a PVR 250 but took it back. I now own a Vidac VMagic TV Plus card which works really well for VCD, SVCD and (half) D1 DVD captures.
There was no messing around trying different PCI slots and no need to go online and update drivers etc. The card doesn't have IRQ sharing problems on my Windows XP Pro box.

The card also transcodes AVI, MPEG and VOB files using hardware.

A bit expensive bit worth every penny when compared to other 'affordable' hardware mpeg solutions.

[Bondiablo]

I saw that card when I was considering a TV tuner card for my system but it doesn't appear to be sold in the US. Just out of curiosity where are you located?

[ItsMe]

I'm a Brit living in the Netherlands. The Vidac cards aren't sold here either. I ordered mine directly from Vidac after using altavisa's translation site to translate the German web site etc.

[Jester700]

I have the Canopus ADVC-100 and would certainly recommend it. It'll cost you about half what the DV Cam option would cost. You can add a PCI firewire card to you system for $15 (only reason to spend more than that on a firewire card is if you want a better software package). You definitely won't beat the quality in that price range. The only downside is the size of the files it creates (about 24GB for 2 hours) and the time it will take to convert them to MPEG.

Sounds like a good option if you don't want (or already have) a good cam.

[rhegedus]

I too am looking for a capture card after my Hauppauge WinTV PCI card (do you get a sense of deja vu with Hauppauge....) decided to throw in the towel.
After much research, I'm going to go for the Canopus ADVc 100 because of the functions it offers and because of the trusted opinions of people on this site.
It gets an average of 9.2 - that's a whole point more than it's nearest rival!

Good luck,

Rob

[SHS]

You what would be really cool is use 2 system.
System 1 with Canopus ADVC 100 for capture thoses pain a@@ vcr tape clip or anything eles that need to be edited on system 1 then output it thur SVideo output to the 2nd system with PVR 250 to cap rigth to MPEG2 then runing thur the DVD Authoring Software.

I like point to mr bbb that multi-pass VBR can't be in hardware at this time

[bbb]

mr. shs,

All the more reason not to get the PVR 250.

[SHS]

why that bbb
As far multi-pass VBR gose it not going make any better looking then then 1 pass VBR from what I have scene it multi-pass VBR has bad a H of make it more burr then anything eles.
I scene people say the some thing but DivX and from what I have scene ekk trash it to burr.

[VideoMann]

The cheapest way is using a DigitalDV camera with a pass through:

Hook your VCR to the DV camera then from the DV Camera to the PC that has a firewire card.

The most reliable way is using the Canopus ADVC 100 and placing a Firewire card in your computer.

There is one problem with old VHS tapes. The sound may go out of sync or the picture may experience a couple of glitches on capture. This is because of tape stretch and wrinkles over the years.

The Canopus is your best shot.

VHS Player/Recorder-->CanopusADVC ---> Firewire Card placed on computer --> Capture with any program (but I like VegasVideo3 will encode to SVCD and DVD with an added activation fee) ---> Burn using Nero or other.

If you are doing DVD then I recommend an additional program Ulead DVD Workshop.

The best bet for trouble free capture with sync-audio is:
CanopusADVC............CanopusADVC............Cano pusADVC

CanopusADVC............CanopusADVC............Cano pusADVC

CanopusADVC............CanopusADVC............Cano pusADVC

[pharlap]

save your dollars and if recording analog just look for video cards or tv cards with connexant chipsets you will be amazed how clear recording with this type are

[Jester700]

Actually, the PVR250 IS a Conexant chipset! They now own what was once icompression's iTVC15 chip, which is in the 250...

[davy19]

Truthfully main reason I went for the pvr-250 is because I thought it would save me a step of not having to using TMPGEnc, and save time, especailly because my machine is only a P3 866, going to upgrade but not till next year.


If I go with canpus, I sitll have use tmpgenc, not only that running win98se, and catn have any files bigger then 4gb (yes I know win98 is probably not the best option, but I am not a big fan of XP right now)


If anything I might just go back to my old WinTV PCI Go card, I had absolutely no problems, and was able to make great AVI's then convert using TMPGEnc. (of course who knows what happen now that I had a pvr 250 card in there)

I was really hoping for another great hardware MPEG1/MPEG2 card, but I guess there really is nt any.

[Anonymous65]

For real-time mpeg capture cards the price really doesn't matter that much. What matters is what encoding chip is used. There is only a handful of encoder chips made for this purpose. The chip used by the PVR-250 makes the best looking video, at least to my eyes. Unfortunately, Hauppauge is the only user of the chip found on the PVR-250.

For high bit rate DVD video, you can use almost anything, even real-time software encoding on a powerful PC. Also, most of the real-time hardware encoders looks the same. It's when recording VCD and SVCD the quality differs from encoder to encoder.

For the highest quality in any format, only AVI captures and then software encode will work. A time consuming and hardware intensive process, and there is NO way around it.

For hardware encoding, VCD ONLY, I would get the PV-231, for DVD, any of the hardware encoders will do, for SVCD, I would still suggest the PVR-250, for all mode captures, still the PVR-250. Lets hope Hauppauge can come up with some solid software for their card.

[vhelp]

Evening peoples.

Well, I now have an ADVC-100, and to be quite honest with you and
it's quality ... ... it's amazing!! I admit, I had a little bit
of problems with it at first, (color) but, after I figure out how
to fix that, it's ben ADVC heaven since. I have it working on
my 2nd pc setup (my capture pc) and got my Satalite and both my
VCRs (Sharp rca plugs, and JVC SVHS w/ s-video) and both are proving
very werthy.

As you all know, I've ben plauged by the "color washout" with my DV
cam, and I've complained and argued this with the majority of you all
here. Insisting that DV is just plain lousy and color'less. Well,
I'm here to say that I was wrong, well, at least for the ADVC-100. I
was wrong there, but I'm still right when it comes to my DV cam. It
STILL produces "color washout". So, basically, it's probably something
to do with my DV cam. Could be defective in the DV chip or something
like that. Anyways, The final DV avi quality is amazing. As good as my
AVI captures, well, its as good as I can tell w/out squinting. Ok, so
I haven't done any major serious comparison w/ the ADVC-100 vs. an
analog AVI capture. I'm soon do such but not right now, unless some
one wants, i'll see if I can squeeze it.

I have a 60gig harddrive, though partitioned as C, D and E, I use my
E partition, at 54gig leaves me with plenty of room for a two hour
capture (DV transfer/convert) and then some. So, I'm ready for just
about anything. I'm still testing this baby out, but so far, I love
it. It has some minor bugs like shutting my PC off if I pull out the
firewire plug. I haven't figured out why though. I though you were
suppose to unplug at will. Maybe it's the plug, i don't know. I'm
not actually using their supplied plug, cause I already had one laying
around.

bbb,

If I needed a capture device today (currently, I'm pretty happy with my $50 Pinnacle DC10+) it would unquestionably be the Canopus ADVC-100-- top rated card on this site by far. This device requires a compatible firewire card (non-TI type). Read the great reviews here: http://www.vcdhelp.com/capturecards.php?CaptureCardRead=Canopus%20ADVC-100&Search=Search.

Looks like I beat ya to it, he, he... You and I go way back, with our
DC10+ card. And, I STILL wouldn't give it away, and it's saying right
there in my 2nd pc where it is perfectly happy there.
Now, don't get me wrong. I STILL have my WTVGO and DC10+ cards in this
2nd pc. And, everything is working rather smoothly. I haven't had an
issue with ANY of the three capture device since.

bbb,
I just posted MY Comments of this ADVC-100, in the comments
section here: VHELPs ADVC-100 Comments

I could go on and on, but I'll stop here. I just wanted you all to know
that I went and splurged on an ADVC-100, and have not regretted it since!

I'm using the ADVC-100 under Windows 98, and all is working well.
-vhelp

[Bondiablo]

As for the win98 4GB issue, you just need capture software that can split the file at 4GB or less and continue capturing to a new file, which many can do.

[vhelp]

bondiablo,
Yes, I agree. I know that there are apps as such, but I'm talking about
freeware. DVIO and RSDVCAP.exe are good examples of freeware, but
they both don't support "segmented" DV processing, as AVI_IO and
VDUB do.

The reason, besides the freeware part, that I use DVIO is because I can
see right away what is going on, ie, shows frames, drops and finally,
the actual size of curret DV transfer/convert, and all in a small window.
It's not a huge application, with may busy boxes and controls and butons
and so forth, that would take me a moment to visually see where I am.
I can quickly scan as a glimpths where I'm at, so I can stop the DV and
start another. May it's wishful thinking, but, perhaps DVIO will expan into
"segmentation" - who knows.

Course, if you know of such other freeware apps for DV, not hungrey,
memory hogging, and busy windowing apps..
-vhelp

[Bondiablo]

don't know of a free one but scenalyzer live ($33) is about as small a program as dvio and it supports file splitting.

www.scenalyzer.com

it's free to download and fully functional, just adds a logo to your capture every few seconds.

[tuco1979]

Truthfully main reason I went for the pvr-250 is because I thought it would save me a step of not having to using TMPGEnc, and save time, especailly because my machine is only a P3 866, going to upgrade but not till next year.


If I go with canpus, I sitll have use tmpgenc, not only that running win98se, and catn have any files bigger then 4gb (yes I know win98 is probably not the best option, but I am not a big fan of XP right now)


If anything I might just go back to my old WinTV PCI Go card, I had absolutely no problems, and was able to make great AVI's then convert using TMPGEnc. (of course who knows what happen now that I had a pvr 250 card in there)

I was really hoping for another great hardware MPEG1/MPEG2 card, but I guess there really is nt any.

I don't know how much the canopus card cost but if you are will to spend 500 bucks or more to get a hardware mpeg encoder, you might as well stick to your winTV card and upgrade the motherboard and processor. Also if you don't like winXP, then get win2k. win98 is really crappy to capture under since it is not really stable for most people. I am willing to bet that most of your problems with the PVR card is because you are in win98.