Help choosing Video/capture card combo.

[SCM]

I´m read several topics in the capture cards section, to decide wich capture card to buy.

Since I have to buy a new video card (My GF2 is givin me some problems lately). and My carture card is kinda old, I decided to buy a combo card (video + capture).

In the end, my choice come down to basically 2 cards:

Ati radeon all-in-wonder (7500 or 8500).
Geforce familly cards (MSI GF4MX460VTD up to GF4Ti4400VTD)

On the video side I already have a good amount of knowledge about those cards, My main concern is the capture mode of each one.

So, to you guys could tell me wich one is better? or wich one is a better cost X benefit purchase?

Another thing is, I know that Radeon have macrovision protection againts video input, but was not able to find if MSI cards have this problem as well.

My problem with macrovision is that I wish to copy My tapes (I have close to 200...) to SVCDs, and if Im blocked due macrovision this would be a problem.

My actual capture cards is a modest Pineacle Studio PCTV, and while it does a fairly good jog whit VCDs, the SVCDS aren´t as good as they should be, at least I think not.

[dun4cheap]

Well I have used the ATI capture cards for years. I just retired my ATI PCI Tv Wonder for the ATI AIW 7500 and really have no complaints. The resolution is better on the 7500 with the Rage Theater chip to capture with. As for the macrovision, your best option would probably purchasing one of those video stabalizer units so you would not have to worry about macrovision on any of the units. The AIW 7500 also comes with a cool wireless RF remote and has theater mode for tv out and duel display support. These are nice features that I use on a regular basis. The AIW 7500 will capture in vcd, svcd and dvd in realtime at good quality as long as you have a fast hd, processor and plenty of memory. Lastly ATI as been putting out updated drivers at an accelerated rate with the Catalyst drivers giving these cards more performance as they mature. No I do know that the new AIW 9700 will be here soon and it actually does 20% hardware compression on the card. Which has been un heard of in the past. This should in the end give really good quality and results. Down fall is this card will be costly, leaving the 7500 an economical solution that offers a superior GPU.

[SCM]

Thank you for the info

and about the 9700 All-in-wonder, I read About this card, but US$850 (us$ 450,00 + import tax) is a bit to expensive for me...

[videojoe]

I bought an MSI GF44400 VTD and was quite dissapointed with the results. Anytime a bright scene comes up the picture becomes washed out, very annoying. I sent it back to MSI for testing and they said it was working within spec. They also told me it is designed to work only with camcorders which have an adjustable whitebalance control as there is no driver support for this option on the card. Basically I cannot capture broadcast television or my VCR tapes. In most scenes the picture did look exceptionally good, just bright scenes with lots of white or bright yellows or neonish colors all shift to white. My card may be defective but I just wanted to pass along my experiance.

Comparing the MSI card to my BT878 based card (when working properly) the capture did look sharper.

If you plan to do lots of videos I recomend buying a analog to digital converter such as the Canopus AVDC-50, (I bought a digital camcorder with passthrough which does the same conversion), The ease of use and time saved using these devices is worth the extra cost. Plus the video looks better (IMO) and there are NO audio sync issues.

[SCM]

Thanks for the info videojoe, I will look at that analog to digital converter, but in the meantime, I think Radeon is a better choice, even if it have macrovision issues...

[ya_jai]

I have some experience with 8500DV which is my taste I would say this is the best video/capture card I've ever bought. The thing is all ATI AIW is hard to install and might have some complatible issues. When I first install this card I use only new driver from ATI website never use one from CD and that give me touble free. But unfortunately, my mobo come with C-media onboard sound which is not perfect for capturing (get hiss sound when capture with TV and/or composite mode but not DV mode but there is a workaound for this). Due to the price decrease AIW 7500 for about $79.00-99.00 and AIW 8500DV $149.00-179.00 I'd suggest you go for one of these. And if you already have firewire card in your system then you don't need this 8500DV. Another suggestion you should visit Rage3d website to get a new driver for AIW. I, myself use MMC 7.6 (no DVD) Catalyst 2.3 and WDM60xx with Remote wonder 1.2. I have tried to upgrade to Catalyst 2.4 with MMC7.7 once but that gave me problems.

[SCM]

I have some experience with 8500DV which is my taste I would say this is the best video/capture card I've ever bought. The thing is all ATI AIW is hard to install and might have some complatible issues. When I first install this card I use only new driver from ATI website never use one from CD and that give me touble free. But unfortunately, my mobo come with C-media onboard sound which is not perfect for capturing (get hiss sound when capture with TV and/or composite mode but not DV mode but there is a workaound for this). Due to the price decrease AIW 7500 for about $79.00-99.00 and AIW 8500DV $149.00-179.00 I'd suggest you go for one of these. And if you already have firewire card in your system then you don't need this 8500DV. Another suggestion you should visit Rage3d website to get a new driver for AIW. I, myself use MMC 7.6 (no DVD) Catalyst 2.3 and WDM60xx with Remote wonder 1.2. I have tried to upgrade to Catalyst 2.4 with MMC7.7 once but that gave me problems.

Did you ever disabled the macrovision protection for input?

[videojoe]

The macrovision of any tape can be defeated with a stabilizer box. They usually cost around $20us. It is simply a black box which goes between the VCR and the computer. once connected it automatically removes the protection and enables you to backup your tapes. There are no settings or anything to worry about.

[SCM]

Thanks, Ill try to find this stabilizer box as well...

[dj619gior]

Hey does anyone have a good place that sells them?
I tryed google for video stabilizer unit and only 3 things came up

[MikeV]

Try simacorp.com Best Buy sells their products.

[dj619gior]

Thank you verry much will try thoes;

[dj619gior]

I tried the websites no luck eheh I will keep trying I am determined!@

[dj619gior]

Ahhh all I need to search for is
"Sima Video CopyMaster"
is that what I need?
I tyed typeing sima video stabelizer

[MikeV]

Just checked the Sima home page (www.simacorp.com) and they are not listing the items anymore (last time I checked was over 6 months ago). You need to search for the SED-CM Video Copymaster found it listed at www.MCMelectronics.com but they are out of stock. Best Buy sold them for $39.95 Just search the web for SED-CM alot of sites have them but prices range from $40.00 to $90.00, check your Best Buy they may still have some.