do you have a TV card?

[t048]

What are your reviews with TV cards? Thanks.

[Warthog]

Yes. I have the Pinnacle Sutiod PCTV Pro. It's alright (never tried anything else). I've had it since late November. Starting about 3 weeks ago, it started to **** out on me a lot. Finally, I started to get pissed when I'd open the player and it would crash my comp. A week ago, I totally reinstalled the software and drivers. So far, so good.

Another thing: On the first and second install, it took about 3-4 tries to get it right. I would install the drivers for the card, it wouldn't accept it, I'd go in Control P. and "update drivers" and then it would work. After that, I'd proceed to install the software.

On the other hand, I've been able to record many music videos. I hooked it up to my VCR also. I have about 30 music videos. The recorded sound quality isn't the greatest....well, kinda 50/50. There is no bass whatsover unless you count the annoying humming sound that comes from any recorded video. Also, the recorded video quality is slightly lower than the tv quality. The TV quality is pretty much the same as a normal TV.

You can record in MPEG or AVI. I use MPEG because the file size is half that of AVI.

A question of my own: why is it that you can fit a DVD in AVI format - with not much of a substitute in quality - on a 700mb CD-R?

Warthog

[thekingofpain]

I use the ATI all in 1, have been for a year now, does exactly what I need thats for sure...now if I could magically turn it into the Radeon version id be way happy...

[OuTpaTienT]

I have a very affordable (ie cheap) WinTV-GO PCI card. It was $39. Was definitely worth the pricetag. It's kinda fun to have the TV in a window thing while your surf the web. But the novelty wears off sooner or later. I don't use it as much as when I first got it, in fact I now often go many days in row with no TV. But it's nice to have it just a mouse click away.

Unless you got some need for professional quality captures or really plan on using it alot I'd advise you do as I did and go the most inexpensive route.

[Long Haired Hippie Phreek]

Go to www.mydivx.com (http://www.mydivx.com) to find out about that dvd on cd thing. Admins: this is not an illigal link, divx ;-) has several very real, legal uses including backing up of your own dvds and compressing your own home movies, so don't erase it.

[RobRich]

I've been using Pinnacle cards in several systems I've built for others. To data, no real problems or issues have arisen.

I am currently using a WinTV card for all of my video work. It is one of the mid-grade models offered with an FM tuner and stereo sound support. Just ditch the included capture program for something more usable, like WinVCR (captures directly to MPEG 1/2 and ASF).

[Wiruz]

I've got a Matrox Marvel G400 - which is the best darn thing i've ever bought...

Everything is on one board, 'cept for the box where all the in/out connectors are.

It records in it's own MJPEG format, which will allow you to record video in 704x576 with CD quality audio on a pentium 200 MMX - with a decent harddrive.

It delivers superb 2D acceleration for windows, and a pretty decent 3d - about the same as a TNT2 ultra... I'll probably get flamed for that...

I'm not planning to upgrade my Marvel, until there is a G800 version or something like it - I'm hooked

Here's an URL for some info on Matrox' own site:
http://www.matrox.com/mga/products/marv_g400/home.cfm

~Wiruz, The Digital Hippie