scavengertype

I have my old P3 500 box equipped with an ATI TV Wonder VE for use as a digital video recorder. I spent the better part of the weekend trying out different DVR/PVR softwares only to be right back with ATI Multimedia Center 7.9 (the newest version on ATI's site). Everything else I tried (Showshifter, WinDVR, PowerVCR, etc) just didn't seem to work the way I want it to, although Showshifter came close. (I tried Snapstream at an earlier date, brings the system to it's knees.)
I am pretty content using ATI Multimedia Center, but to get decent quality, I end up with HUGE files. I suppose I could reencode later, but I would like to end up with near-SVCD quality MPEG files right from the recordings.
Is this even possible on this machine without dropping half the frames? Is it even possible in ATI MMC? I can't seem to get the settings correct with a good balance of quality and file size.
If anyone uses ATI MMC and has the magic formula, or knows a better option, please let me know.

thanks...

split lickety

i've been wanting to do the same thing but i don't really know where to start.

i recently acquired an old g-force card with s-vid in and out but i don't know the first thing about using the video in functions of the card.

oberon

If you're willing to try Linux, I've heard great things about MythTV. Some of my friends use it and swear it beats the pants off even a TiVo.

There are even some distributions whose sole purpose is to provide a CD that can be used to boot a machine with suitable hardware and automatically turn it into a PVR.

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scavengertype

I've also heard great things about MythTV. I have considered trying Linux on this machine, since I really only use it for a media server/filesharer/television. I just don't think I have the time right now to set up and learn a new OS, no matter how easy and great it is. Now I'm afraid this will turn into a how great Linux is thread.
Any windows suggestions?

Tuna911

I used to use the ATI AIW 7000 and I found the best software for it was the one that came with it. If you are looking to edit after the fact then Ulead is definatly the way to go. I use DVD Picture Show by Ulead and love it. Its easy to learn and they haev step by step videos to guide you though creating DVD's , VCD's , SVCD's etc. Also supports making a Photo Album that you can burn to a DVD or SVCD that plays in your DVD player. 2 Thumbs up to that program!

I have a question about the TV wonder. Does anyone know how it compares to the All In Wonder for quality and speed? I refuse to keep buying the AIW because I am a gamer and I upgrade video cards 3-4 times a year and AIW's get way too pricy. I want a video capture card that I can use (PCI) along side my AGP card so I only need to upgrade the video card and not the video capture parts. I heard some of thse PCI cards were a bit laggy in full screen mode?? Anyone have any experience with it?

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Tuna

MontanaXVI

I have a TV Wonder VE and think it is a POS, might be some config with my system or whatever but WINXP pro newest drivers etc and I can view TV fine and with good qual, but damn me if I want to close the program the image freezes up on screen and I have to reboot.

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Spank you very much

yotta

A 500MHz CPU is going to have problems encoding video in real time with more advanced codecs. I ended up simply buting a TiVo, and hacking the shit out of it. It's got dual 120GB hard drive, ethernet, a web interface, and stuff to extrace video set up, and on-screen caller ID.

if you want to go the PC route, yeah, you probably need more CPU power. You might want to look at one of hauppauge's PVR cards, they have build in MPEG encoders, so your CPU doesn't have to do the work.

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scavengertype

I haven't had many problems with mine, but i agree it is a POS, but it's also the cheapest TV card I've seen, and for $40 it's a good deal. I guess if it crashes your system everytime you shut it down that increases the POS factor. I never had that problem, but my ATI MMC used to never really close, it would dissapear from the screen, but when I tried to open the program the next time, nothing would happen. I would have to open task manager and close all the ATIMMC.exe task, sometimes there was 3 or 4. LAst weekend I reinstalled ATI MMC 7.9, and it has worked fine since then. I also have XP Pro. Did you try a different PCI slot?

Tuna911, if you're looking for quality, stay away from the TV Wonder VE. It works well for a simple TV and recording tv shows, but it sounds terribly shitty (no stereo!) and (although I don't know what the picture of other TV cards looks like, and i have my cable signal split by 5 so it's slightly weak) the picture is a little grainy. But then again it's only $40.

Thanks everyone for your advice. I assumed a 500MHz Pentium 3 would be able to act as a decent DVR machine, there's no way a Tivo box has a 500MHz processor...but I guess that's that way it is with older PCs.
Just looking around at all the tv shows, etc. that are available via filesharing now, I don't even know if I need a DVR, I can just download any show I want.

split lickety

i D/L'd the ASUS digital VCR. anyone know anything about this software?