TV Wonder for painless TV recording?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mitchua
  • Start date Start date
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Mitchua

I'm looking for a cheap TV capture card to work as a digital video recorder
for my digital cable e.g. I know I'm going to miss a show so I set it to
record. Forgetting for the moment the challenge of the digital cable box (I
know, I know...I'd only get the analog channels), will an ATI TV Wonder give
me reasonably high quality? I have 120GB so MPEG2 compression isn't a must
and I have an Athlon Xp 1800+ w/ 512MB of RAM so it should run fine. Pros
and cons of USB vs. PCI?

I already have a firewire card I use to capture video from my digital
camcorder. Can you buy an RCA-to-firewire attachment?

Thanks a lot,
Mitchua
 
Mitchua said:
I'm looking for a cheap TV capture card to work as a digital video recorder
for my digital cable e.g. I know I'm going to miss a show so I set it to
record. Forgetting for the moment the challenge of the digital cable box (I
know, I know...I'd only get the analog channels), will an ATI TV Wonder give
me reasonably high quality? I have 120GB so MPEG2 compression isn't a must
and I have an Athlon Xp 1800+ w/ 512MB of RAM so it should run fine. Pros
and cons of USB vs. PCI?

I already have a firewire card I use to capture video from my digital
camcorder. Can you buy an RCA-to-firewire attachment?

Thanks a lot,
Mitchua
Click to expand...

Take a look here for a better solution:

http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,109098,00.asp
 
MrToad said:
Take a look here for a better solution:

http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,109098,00.asp
Click to expand...

I was under the impression that the analog tuner cards all converted
to mpeg2 for recording. I'm using a digital card, not for the extra
channels (mind you, BBC3 had City on last night), but because the
signal is already mpeg2 and does not need compressing for recording
purposes. It's a good bet that the broadcasters have got better mpeg
encoders than a cheap analog TV card.
 
I was under the impression that the analog tuner cards all converted
to mpeg2 for recording.
Click to expand...

No, only professional-series cards do. The typical PC card uses
software, host-processed codecs, so it can save captures in any format
you want, providing you have the appropriate codec and the software
supports it. For example, I usually capture in Divx unless I want to
edit it later.
I'm using a digital card, not for the extra
channels (mind you, BBC3 had City on last night), but because the
signal is already mpeg2 and does not need compressing for recording
purposes.
Click to expand...

Are you sure you aren't REcompressing it to MPEG2?

It's a good bet that the broadcasters have got better mpeg
encoders than a cheap analog TV card.
Click to expand...

There's no bet to it, a PC can record (encode) in better OR worst MPEG
quality than the original broadcast, depending on the parameters set
by the program and/or user. One of the primary parameters is
bitrate, and that's where the broadcast has a limitation.

Now, better quality doesn't mean the PC capture is higher quality
than the transmission of course, which is impossible, but does mean
that less artifacts are introduced from the PC re-encoding, and if the
original broadcast had been done in that higher quality, would've been
even better.


Dave
 
Mitchua said:
box (I


I'm really just looking for the card since most come with software to do the
recording. I notice that Snapstream uses the Hauppauge cards though. I've
heard good things about them. Better than the ATI WOnder?

--Mitchua
Click to expand...

I believe so yes, they are dedicated capture cards, not trying to "do it
all".
Google for reviews...
 
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