«

I have have been looking at ATI TV Wonder VE PCI tv capture cards, and have
found a new one for US$46 and a used one ("like new in the original box")
for US$31.

I want to capture VHS tapes to my HD and then burn the acquired files onto
DVDs.

Are the inputs to the ATI TV Wonder VE able to connect to the VHS VCR
player output? Will I need any special adapters or cables?

Is the output format of the ATI TV Wonder VE OK? I think it's MPEG2, but
I'm having trouble finding out just what the specs are.

In short, is this capture card OK? Is it too cheap? I can't afford to
spend very much, and I'm trying to get by on the cheap, but too cheap will
be a total waste of money that I don't have.

All helpful comments will be appreciated; thanks in advance

pilgrim

Don't forget that you may need some more stuff if the tapes have macrovision
protection

David

pilgrim wrote:

> I have have been looking at ATI TV Wonder VE PCI tv capture cards, and have
> found a new one for US$46 and a used one ("like new in the original box")
> for US$31.
>
> I want to capture VHS tapes to my HD and then burn the acquired files onto
> DVDs.
>
> Are the inputs to the ATI TV Wonder VE able to connect to the VHS VCR
> player output? Will I need any special adapters or cables?
>
> Is the output format of the ATI TV Wonder VE OK? I think it's MPEG2, but
> I'm having trouble finding out just what the specs are.
>
> In short, is this capture card OK? Is it too cheap? I can't afford to
> spend very much, and I'm trying to get by on the cheap, but too cheap will
> be a total waste of money that I don't have.
>
> All helpful comments will be appreciated; thanks in advance
>
> pilgrim

On Fri, 11 Mar 2005 09:52:00 -0600, pilgrim <>
wrote:

>I have have been looking at ATI TV Wonder VE PCI tv capture cards, and have
>found a new one for US$46 and a used one ("like new in the original box")
>for US$31.
>
>I want to capture VHS tapes to my HD and then burn the acquired files onto
>DVDs.
>
>Are the inputs to the ATI TV Wonder VE able to connect to the VHS VCR
>player output? Will I need any special adapters or cables?
>
>Is the output format of the ATI TV Wonder VE OK? I think it's MPEG2, but
>I'm having trouble finding out just what the specs are.
>
>In short, is this capture card OK? Is it too cheap? I can't afford to
>spend very much, and I'm trying to get by on the cheap, but too cheap will
>be a total waste of money that I don't have.
>
>All helpful comments will be appreciated; thanks in advance
>
>pilgrim

You need a powerful system with plenty of hard drive space to record
a tape. The bit rate on an analog tape is high. Also, you'll
experiece dropped frames and "choppy" video if your system is slow.
The program you use for recording is critical. InterVideo Win DVR 3
is a good one. It offers many different recording modes/qualities
and allows you to tailor it to what you want.
-Rich

RichA wrote:

>On Fri, 11 Mar 2005 09:52:00 -0600, pilgrim <>
>wrote:
>
>
>
>>I have have been looking at ATI TV Wonder VE PCI tv capture cards, and have
>>found a new one for US$46 and a used one ("like new in the original box")
>>for US$31.
>>
>>I want to capture VHS tapes to my HD and then burn the acquired files onto
>>DVDs.
>>
>>Are the inputs to the ATI TV Wonder VE able to connect to the VHS VCR
>>player output? Will I need any special adapters or cables?
>>
>>Is the output format of the ATI TV Wonder VE OK? I think it's MPEG2, but
>>I'm having trouble finding out just what the specs are.
>>
>>In short, is this capture card OK? Is it too cheap? I can't afford to
>>spend very much, and I'm trying to get by on the cheap, but too cheap will
>>be a total waste of money that I don't have.
>>
>>All helpful comments will be appreciated; thanks in advance
>>
>>pilgrim
>>
>>
>
>You need a powerful system with plenty of hard drive space to record
>a tape. The bit rate on an analog tape is high. Also, you'll
>experiece dropped frames and "choppy" video if your system is slow.
>The program you use for recording is critical. InterVideo Win DVR 3
>is a good one. It offers many different recording modes/qualities
>and allows you to tailor it to what you want.
>-Rich
>
>
>
THe system doesn't have to be anything that powerful. It will just
make the process slower. And the bit rate for analog VHS isn't high -> 3
for SP and 2.6 for EP. Take a look at this page
http://www.doom9.org/capture/introduction.html


jason



--
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For me , said Sherlock Holmes, "there still remains the cocaine bottle,"
and he reached his hand up for it.

http://home.cogeco.ca/~jabean
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On Fri, 11 Mar 2005 22:52:55 -0500, jason b
<> wrote:

>RichA wrote:
>
>>On Fri, 11 Mar 2005 09:52:00 -0600, pilgrim <>
>>wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>>I have have been looking at ATI TV Wonder VE PCI tv capture cards, and have
>>>found a new one for US$46 and a used one ("like new in the original box")
>>>for US$31.
>>>
>>>I want to capture VHS tapes to my HD and then burn the acquired files onto
>>>DVDs.
>>>
>>>Are the inputs to the ATI TV Wonder VE able to connect to the VHS VCR
>>>player output? Will I need any special adapters or cables?
>>>
>>>Is the output format of the ATI TV Wonder VE OK? I think it's MPEG2, but
>>>I'm having trouble finding out just what the specs are.
>>>
>>>In short, is this capture card OK? Is it too cheap? I can't afford to
>>>spend very much, and I'm trying to get by on the cheap, but too cheap will
>>>be a total waste of money that I don't have.
>>>
>>>All helpful comments will be appreciated; thanks in advance
>>>
>>>pilgrim
>>>
>>>
>>
>>You need a powerful system with plenty of hard drive space to record
>>a tape. The bit rate on an analog tape is high. Also, you'll
>>experiece dropped frames and "choppy" video if your system is slow.
>>The program you use for recording is critical. InterVideo Win DVR 3
>>is a good one. It offers many different recording modes/qualities
>>and allows you to tailor it to what you want.
>>-Rich
>>
>>
>>
> THe system doesn't have to be anything that powerful. It will just
>make the process slower. And the bit rate for analog VHS isn't high -> 3
>for SP and 2.6 for EP. Take a look at this page
>http://www.doom9.org/capture/introduction.html
>
>
> jason
>

Beg to differ. For example; On a system with and older 750meg
processor and about 384m of memory, any setting except perhaps
lowly VCD recording mode, will result in dropped frames, a large
percentage dropped. Some capture software will show you, in real-time,
the number of frames dropped.
For instance, say you
want to match the VHS quality. If you record at 1/2 DVD or D1,
this is the spec:
Video:
Size: 352x480
Frame Rate: 29.97 frames/sec
Bit Rate: 3600 KBits/sec

So a 90 minute movie will occupy about 1.8 Gigs of drive space.
Trying to do what the article you mentioned says (capture at a high
quality and resize) will result in even more dropped frames so
while the picture quality may be good, the dropped frames will ruin
the video. The ATI tv card (which I have) isn't a very good tool for
this kind of job, nor are most ATI graphics cards with video/audio
inputs. However, quality seems to be better when capturing a TV
signal rather than dubbing off a VCR, less problems with dropped
frames, etc.

On Fri, 11 Mar 2005 09:52:00 -0600, pilgrim wrote:

> I have have been looking at ATI TV Wonder VE PCI tv capture cards, and
> have found a new one for US$46 and a used one ("like new in the original
> box") for US$31.
>
> I want to capture VHS tapes to my HD and then burn the acquired files onto
> DVDs.
>

STAY AWAY FROM ATI capture cards for capturing! They work just great for
gaming and are what I use in my big game machine. But, ATI has
macrovision detection built in so you will not be able to copy commercial
DVDs if that is what you are trying to do.

The problem is that the ATI MV guard works very well from the standpoint
of Hollywood. In fact it works so well and is so sensitive that it will
trigger on perfectly legitimate datastreams that don't have macrovision.
Especially from a recorded VCR tape. Back when I was trying to move my
library over from tape (taped off the air - not commercial releases) about
a third of them would "green screen" in the middle. Changing to different
players helped some but I finally put a SIMA cleaner-upper in the chain.

Get yourself a Hauppage PVR250 for capturing. No MV and it works great
and is cheap.

Konan

Konan wrote:
> On Fri, 11 Mar 2005 09:52:00 -0600, pilgrim wrote:
>
>
>>I have have been looking at ATI TV Wonder VE PCI tv capture cards, and
>>have found a new one for US$46 and a used one ("like new in the original
>>box") for US$31.
>>
>>I want to capture VHS tapes to my HD and then burn the acquired files onto
>>DVDs.
>>
>
>
> STAY AWAY FROM ATI capture cards for capturing! They work just great for
> gaming and are what I use in my big game machine. But, ATI has
> macrovision detection built in so you will not be able to copy commercial
> DVDs if that is what you are trying to do.
>
> The problem is that the ATI MV guard works very well from the standpoint
> of Hollywood. In fact it works so well and is so sensitive that it will
> trigger on perfectly legitimate datastreams that don't have macrovision.
> Especially from a recorded VCR tape. Back when I was trying to move my
> library over from tape (taped off the air - not commercial releases) about
> a third of them would "green screen" in the middle. Changing to different
> players helped some but I finally put a SIMA cleaner-upper in the chain.
>
> Get yourself a Hauppage PVR250 for capturing. No MV and it works great
> and is cheap.
>
> Konan
Ditto that ! I have the 350 & have converted many VHS Tapes with no discernible loss in quality. TV shows come out downright beautiful ! One note, When I got this card I was running a GA-6BXC / 400 mHz PII and it used 75% of the processor, but the video was still great. If you have 1 gHz or faster You should be OK, or You can shut off the preview when capturing.

rick

if you want to convert your VHS tape/ LD / DV camcoder to VCD or DVD
try Snazzi Video Maker USB 2.0(external version)
coz it using (hardware encoding) as to say
if u transferred your VHS tape to pc it automatically convert your format to
your choices either to mpeg1(vcd)/mpeg2(dvd) or mpeg4(dvix) and use the
software provided to edit to ur style...simole and user friendly
"pilgrim" <> wrote in message
news:...
>I have have been looking at ATI TV Wonder VE PCI tv capture cards, and have
> found a new one for US$46 and a used one ("like new in the original box")
> for US$31.
>
> I want to capture VHS tapes to my HD and then burn the acquired files onto
> DVDs.
>
> Are the inputs to the ATI TV Wonder VE able to connect to the VHS VCR
> player output? Will I need any special adapters or cables?
>
> Is the output format of the ATI TV Wonder VE OK? I think it's MPEG2, but
> I'm having trouble finding out just what the specs are.
>
> In short, is this capture card OK? Is it too cheap? I can't afford to
> spend very much, and I'm trying to get by on the cheap, but too cheap will
> be a total waste of money that I don't have.
>
> All helpful comments will be appreciated; thanks in advance
>
> pilgrim

"poet" <> wrote in message
news:d11ju3$loj$...
> if you want to convert your VHS tape/ LD / DV camcoder to VCD or DVD
> try Snazzi Video Maker USB 2.0(external version)
> coz it using (hardware encoding) as to say
> if u transferred your VHS tape to pc it automatically convert your format
> to your choices either to mpeg1(vcd)/mpeg2(dvd) or mpeg4(dvix) and use the
> software provided to edit to ur style...simole and user friendly

Is this a language you are writing in?

"poet" <> wrote in
news:d11ju3$loj$:

> if you want to convert your VHS tape/ LD / DV camcoder to VCD or DVD
> try Snazzi Video Maker USB 2.0(external version)
> coz it using (hardware encoding) as to say
> if u transferred your VHS tape to pc it automatically convert your
> format to your choices either to mpeg1(vcd)/mpeg2(dvd) or mpeg4(dvix)
> and use the software provided to edit to ur style...simole and user
> friendly "pilgrim" <> wrote in message
> news:...
>>I have have been looking at ATI TV Wonder VE PCI tv capture cards, and
>>have
>> found a new one for US$46 and a used one ("like new in the original
>> box") for US$31.
>>
>> I want to capture VHS tapes to my HD and then burn the acquired files
>> onto DVDs.
>>
>> Are the inputs to the ATI TV Wonder VE able to connect to the VHS VCR
>> player output? Will I need any special adapters or cables?
>>
>> Is the output format of the ATI TV Wonder VE OK? I think it's MPEG2,
>> but I'm having trouble finding out just what the specs are.
>>
>> In short, is this capture card OK? Is it too cheap? I can't afford
>> to spend very much, and I'm trying to get by on the cheap, but too
>> cheap will be a total waste of money that I don't have.
>>
>> All helpful comments will be appreciated; thanks in advance
>>
>> pilgrim
>
>

A lot more expensive than US$46, but a lot better than any of the capture
cards I previously used.

http://www.plextor.com/english/produ...oduct_dvc.html

Morvin