Hi,

many people (including me) were waiting for capture cards with the new Conexant CX23881 chip. It's supposed to replace the good old Bt848/878 digitizer chips. It comes with a 10 bit A/D conversion, which should result in a better picture quality.

German magazine c't now published some details about the new chip: It's now used on the WinTV Go series and because of the new chip these entry level cards are now stereo capture cards. But...

According to c't magazine Conexant had troubles with the audio part of the chip which postponed the release date. And the audio part still seems to work quite bad. The audio level increases above 14 kHz and that causes a distorted sound.

Don't know, if it's true as I don't have one of these cards, but c't magazine is well known for accurate test reports. More details in issue 02/03 of c't magazine.

So at this time the Philips SAA7134 chip seems to be the best choice for high capture quality.


M!chael