Setting up - looking for advice

[charliegrey]

Hi,

I'm new, so go easy on me
I've spent about the past 30 hours scouring this site for all sorts of information (which, has been incredibly helpful). Now I need some sleep, so I figured I'd post this, take a nap, and come back to collect the replies tonight.

I'm getting ready to set up, and need to buy some gear. I'm looking for some advice from you folks that have been doing this for a while.

Here's what I want to do:
Basically, 'archive' most of my VHS tapes to VCD. I'll probably want to capture some TV shows (looking for a card with a tuner, see below). Quality is my #1 concern (of course, within my budget). I want the 'final product' (the VCDs) to be as 'clean' as possible (realizing, of course, that the final product will never be better than the original source).

Here's the system I have (which I'll be adding to):
AMD Athlon T-Bird 750Mhz
Asus A7V M/B
224MB PC-100 RAM
Windows ME (will be upgrading to XP soon)
Will be adding a (second) ATA-100 HD

Here's what I need help with:
I've narrowed my choice in a tuner/capture card down to the Pinnacle PCTV Pro, Happauge WinTV (there seem to be a few different 'WinTV' cards, so advice here is needed as well), or the ATI AIW (again, need advice between the RADEON or the Pro 128 ). Obviously, the 'TV Guide +' features of the ATI cards is nice, but agaun, QUALITY is my #1 concern, so having the 'guide' would be a bonus, but not mandatory.

The bottom line is, I don't care about capturing directly to VCD. I can take the time to 'convert' in the interest of getting the highest quality possible. Of course, some recommendations on software to use for all this would be helpful too.

So, fire away with your suggestions for the hardware and software I'll need to produce the best possible quality VCDs. The 'core' system itself will need to stay the same (I can't afford an entirely new system for this task), but add-ons (like additional RAM, HD, etc.., withing reason) are possible. Please base your replies on your experience, compatibility with my existing system, and cost (as much as I'd like to, I can't afford a $500 capture card). This system will be dedicated to this task, so OS really doesn't matter - it currently has ME installed, but I can install any OS (95/93, NT, 2000, ME, XP when it's out..) that would work best with the other components.

Any and all feedback will be greatly appreciated.

THANKS!!

...Charlie


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: charliegrey on 2001-08-26 06:55:06 ]</font>

[T-rad]

I've had nothing but problems with the ati-aiw & windows me so i trashed it
personally i like the dazzle video creator II but thats out of your budget
I've talked to some people who love the ati but they use windows 2000
hope this helps some,....

i'm running a PIII 750 w/ 576mb ram

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: T-rad on 2001-08-26 22:20:06 ]</font>

[thxkid]

I have since jumped up to the hamppauge win PVR MPEG2 SVCD card but its $249. But before that I was using the $49 Hapmpauge PCI WINTV card for 2 years, capuring at 352x240 in BTYUV AVI, then mixing down to my own VCD setting at 2520, looks alot better than the 1150 setting, which I use TMPGE beta B(freeware) version to encode from AVI to XVCD or the standard VCD. Then use and only use NERO 5.0 or 5.5 to burn to a VCD. at the 1150 setting you will get about 75min. on a 80min. CD-R. At the 2520 setting you get about 38min. on a 80min. CD-R. I have since jumped up also to the 99min. CD-R's, thats about at the 1150 setting 97min. and 48min. at the 2520.

[charliegrey]

Thank you both for the replies.. I've been reading some bad things about the ATIs. I guess I'm still on the fence between the Hauppauge (WinTV) and Pinnacle (PCTV) cards. I'm currently researching the Pinnacle DC10+, and am liking what I see so far..