G450 eTV PC-VCR- newbie question

[MunDMC]

I just put together a new rig, and i've run into a problem with my G450 eTV PC-VCR:

1) In the capture settings, the frame rate is grayed out, allowing only 30.00 fps

2) To further complicate things, when i use TMPG in an attempt to standardize the video to VCD, SVCD, or DVD (29.9 fps), the resulting video is choppy, almost as iff the frames constantly have to "catch up" with the audio

3) When opening with any media player, it states the captured video is 29.97 fps, which is contrary to the capture settings.

How can i alter the the capture settings on PC-VCR to a different frame rate?

P.S.- The main issue is being able to record from my cable input on a timer when i'm away

[MunDMC]

After 17 views and no responses, i'm worried if this is an inherent flaw in PC-VCR.

Can anybody recommend a good program that will capture from a cable line at pre-designated times (like a normal VCR). If the program supports MPEG-2 that would rule. Thanks!

[Chmod]

Hi MunDMC
Hmm.
Nasty problem.
I am no expert, but ...
The 30fps thing is probably because you're using an NTSC system, right? My country uses PAL, so I am forced to use 25fps. As far as I know there is no way to change this.
The choppy video problem sounds like frame dropping to me. When you capture video, PC-VCR should give you a readout saying how many frames are being dropped. Optimally this is zero. If a lot of frames are being dropped, you get ruined playback.
At the end of the day, there are many other capture tools to use. Personally I reccommend Virtual Dub, you can get it at www.doom9.org. The only benefit of PCVCR is the ability to capture directly to mpeg2 format, which may or may not be that much of a bonus, depending on what you plan to capture.
Using VirtualDub will mean abandoning the mpeg format, and to get decent results you will have to use a compression codec like one of the MJPEG derivitives.
Hope this helps,
David

[Ted222]

Forget PC-VCR for capturing. Use AVIO. Its works much better.

good luck,

Ted

[MunDMC]

Thanks for the responses. One of the moderators at Matrox Help stated that the fps cannot be altered if it's grayed out, even by playing with the registry.

After thinking i knew my stuff as far as video capture and editting goes, i've run into many, many problems trying to get my G450 eTV to run smoothly on WinXP Pro. This card is not for the faint of heart... i've developed 2 ulcers and had one heart attack trying to get it to work

-Dan