gasper said:
Sorry but have to confirm,
Video input is with all cards using the rage theater chipset 200 unusable
to
digitize tapes FROM VCR. There is something wrong with the timebase . You
cannot switch in
the right timebase as with some tv sets. The theater 100 cards don,t have
this problem at all, but haveb record macrovision too
Theater 200 chipset
What I do believe is that they (ati) tried to make a 100% macrovision
locked input which cannot
run over by hardware devices. So they tried to set the timebase and gain
control in a manner that it
would switch off completely whenever VCR macrovision input is detected. and
would not follow
video tape timebase with all tapes.
You can try by yourself : If you play a macrovision protected tape you had
usually a playable on PC screen but not
recordable picture.
Whith theater 200 chipsets you will have NO PICTURE AT ALL AND NO SOUND OR
HORRIBLE HISS !!
AND ALL YOU WILL GET IS MONO SOUND FROM TV (PAL)
With no macrovision tapes picture will still jump in the upper portions of
screen.
Rage Theater 550
With this you will have only two hardware resolutions and it will forever
try to record NTSC even if you have PAL card
There is no interlacing on video input and nor play or record with
macrovision tapes. You will have no problem with timebase
but play and video captures trough external inputs will be HORRIBLE in
quality.
AND ALLYOU WILL GET IS MONO SOUND FROM TV (PAL)
ALL in ALL i can say that ATI don,t really support PAL TV System and have
been ignoring European customers beginning from TV Wonder
times up to now.
I can fully understand why they stopped All in Wonder Operations in Europe.
The video input and TV is pretty unusable if you compare it
with competition which not even have macrovison. They simply cannot sell it
here anymore, computer guys know the problems
and they have very bad reputation grown in decades here.
They don,t do and market products wanted by customer, they only follow media
industry guidelines.
THE ONLY FEATURE WHICH IS PERFECTLY WORKING IS COPY PROTECTION
I am not an expert on ATI cards, so:
Does the AIW 7500 Radeon have the "theater 100" chipset? From what you
are saying, and my experience with it (i.e. I don't have problems
recording from VHS), it looks that way.
Does the AIW 2006 have the "theater 200" chipset? From what you are
describing as its effects on the non-Macrovision tapes, it seems that
way to me. Is there a solution to the problem?
" With no macrovision tapes picture will still jump in the upper
portions of
screen." I don't get jumping in the upper portions of the screen,
but some lines that make it look as if there is some tracking problem
at the top, and periodically it gets darker/lighter, and periodically
also more lines closer to the middle of the screen.