RRG or Marvel or DC30+ or DV500

[Asterix]

Which is the best video capture card ?
And why ?
Actually I have a Mystic G200 AGP with a RR serie G.
Thanks.

[Elie]

There's nothing wrong with what you have now, however if you want to go a step further... I STRONGLY suggest the Matrox RT2000, by far the best solution for the price.

And I'm not saying this because I'm a BB or because I have one, I'm saying this from experience, and because of what it has to offer vs the other cards in it's price range.

Regards,
Elie

[This_Idiot]

Ah, the old horse chestnut again.

Firstly, define "best". No point in getting a DV card if you have an analogue camcorder. No point in getting an analogue card if you have a DV camcorder (well it will work but won't give best quality). DC30's are far more expensive than RR-G (or Marvel) and although have the potential to do better (witness many happy users), they are not the easiest cards to set up (IE you'd better be well versed in tweaking) and is that extra oomph worth the asking price ?

Personally, my "best" would be a decent DV camcorder hooked up to an ADS Pyro, but then again I wouldn't ditch my Marvel for those times when I want to drag in VCR footage or TV. Lots of folk love the Canopus DVRaptor, but again it isn't cheap. Bear in mind I subject my "best" to my available funds, which writes out either the DV500 or the RT2K at the moment.

[Asterix]

I say "best" for quality/price of course. (Analogue Hi-8 Capture to S-VHS VCR)
I'm not happy with my Mystic + RRg, because the capture movie have "pictures jumps" at different time. So I want to buy a new card. Is a Marvel G400 better than Mystic (8Mb) + RRg ?
Or a possible solution is simply exchange my Mystic to a Millenium G400 ?

Is a DC30+ better ? I read that it can capture at 7Mb/S ? And the MArvel G400 ?
I'm ready to make the change to a DC30+ if it's worst while.
The RT2000 is probably a very best solution, but too expensive for my needs.

(Sorry for my English)

Thanks for your answers.

- Asterix.

[Frank Marshall]

Hi Asterix,

Firstly, about your picture jumps, do you have a fast enough hard drive for capturing your video? Have you run the Matrox HD Benchmark applet? You must do this to ensure that the video equipment makes the most of your hard drive/s.

I see from your previous posts that you have tried the huffYUV hack. The catch is, for fullscreen captures you need very fast and large hard drives -- perhaps even a RAID array -- in order to work at such high quality. I've seen posts here stating transfer rates required are in the order of 7MB/s to 14MB/s or more!

As mentioned, I cannot relate any direct experiences with huffYUV since I'm saving for a better hard drive solution before I can try this for myself.

[This message has been edited by Frank Marshall (edited 23 August 2000).]

[Asterix]

Hi Frank,

Oh yes I have fast drive (2x Maxtor DMax 40+, 30Gb in stripping mode with a Fasttrack U66. PIII700+Abit BX6 rev2) I think it's fast enough...
The Matrox HD Bench has been started too.
I posted some other messages about my expectation (e.g. : Guide for beginner : http://forums.murc.ws/ubb/Forum2/HTML/004666.html). I have, I guess, first version of RRG with a Mystic AGP 220 8Mb, I 've heard that it can have some problems ? Do you know something about that ? Can an extension to 16Mb on the Mystic help ?

Thanks very much for your help and for the help of everybody. :-)

- Asterix.

[Frank Marshall]

Sorry Asterix. I use a Marvel g200.

BTW, if you're seriously considering a DV500 check out the posts here about the Matrox RT2000. It's based on the same C-Cube codec but is tightly integrated with a special 3D accelerated version of the G400 graphics card to deliver *real time* editing! It has everything that opens and shuts and apparently it creams the Pinnacle competition. I want one! Doc Mordrid has one is just full of praise for it...

[Asterix]

In facts, the problem I have, it's not with the drops frames. I have only few drops when capturing. But it's when I playback the AVI file. I see last evening. When I see a "jump" in the picture, then I make a little rewind to see that sequence again, and there isn't any jump ! But I try different settings with the read back cache, ... I have always the problem. This morning I will try to unplugged some others card : Ethernet, Hollywood +, ...
Any others ideas are welcome.

- Asterix.

[This_Idiot]

It really sounds like you may have a driver problem with your HD's - The Marvel isn't particularly difficult to set up for near-zero frame drop, and is less likely to exhibit dropping/stuttering on replay.

You don't say what OS you are using, and each has it's own little foibles. Also, the mainboard/CPU that you are using could have an effect. If you post full details of this info, maybe someone will have the answer for you.

Cheers

Chris

[Asterix]

My configuration is :
PIII700Intel, ABIT BX6 Rev2, 128Mb, Fastrack U66 in stripping mode normally with 2x Maxtor DIamondMax40+ 30Gb each (for the moment running with 2x Quantum KA+ in stripping because test with new clean Win98SE install) , Mystique G200 8Mb AGP + Rainbow Runner G series, Extra in the PC :
Mpeg2 Hollywood + , Ethernet card D-Link PCI de530, SoundCard Yamaha XG (Hoontech).
2 Partitions on HDs : C 6GB) & D 20Gb) for video.
Driver RRg 1.52, Mystic 5.41, FTU66 1.3B25
So I think it's a powerfull PC.
I don't understand why I have playback problem ! B'cause no drops when capturing... strange...
Thanks for help.
- Asterix.

[Sillyname]

Does the jerkiness occur when you are playing it back through mediaplayer only? I've had some weird anomalies with mediaplayer in full screen that would not happen when I viewed it in a window. It wouldn't happen when I viewed the same video full screen in PC-VCR, though...

[Asterix]

I have movie "jumps" with Media player as well as PC-VCR. No improvement using PC-VCR. (in 1024*768, 16M Colors).
- Asterix.

[Sillyname]

See if it jumps using a 16 bpp desktop pallette instead. That may be it. Your desktop's color depth does not affect the color depth of your captured video. It is still 24 bpp upon output to your VTR.

------------------
Deep is not the root word of depression.

[Asterix]

I will try this tomorow.
I use a Mystic 8Mb AGP, is an extention to 16Mb improve this ?

-Asterix

[Sillyname]

Also, if by "jumping" you mean video "tearing" (where there is a visible line skip distortion thingy every now and then that causes a stairstep kinda anomaly on whatever it glitches accross) this is not necessarily a problem but a gradual synchronization "crossroads" between your captured video's frequency (60 or 50 Hz) and your monitor's refresh rate. If you are able to play around with your monitor's refresh rate, then you should be able to throw off the timing enough to avoid the glitch you're experiencing. It does not transfer to video that way, so it's really just a cosmetic fix to what you view on your monitor.

------------------
Deep is not the root word of depression.