Problems with G400DH-MAX and RRG in W2K, pls help me keep using Matrox :)

[wfn]

Hello everybody,

Long time reader first time poster. Thank you all very much for maintaining such a wonderful resource. I have been trying to figure out how to make my old but high quality Matrox gear useful in a modern world and finally got around to building a TV capture/htpc workstation around it and some other spare parts I had kicking around the house. Now here's my setup that I'm having problems with:

AMD AXP 1800+
Epox 8KHA+ (via kt266)
512MB PC2100 Mushkin Value
Matrox Millinium G400Max DH
Rainbow Runner G
Pioneer DVD-106S DVD-ROM
Western Digital WD1600JB HDD
D-Link Wireless G NIC
250W Sparkle PSU

Now, just to get it out of the way, the system is rock stable running Windows 2000 Pro SP4 w/ VIA all-in-one v4.43. Runs prime95 as well as Memtest86 for hours on end. The problem lies in the driver / video tools combination. My plan is to use VDub or AVI_IO for capturing TV programs utilizing PicVideo's MJPEG codec.

Here's the problem I'm having:

- Using driver 5.34 + VT 2.02 (MV patched with the patch from the utils section) I get a hard reset as soon as I run any program pertaining to capture (VT, VDub, AVI_IO)

- Using driver 5.39 + VT 2.04 (with MJPEG support added from MJPEG.ZIP) any video file I play or if I run VT triggers DVDMax so it becomes full screen and because I'm planning on using my TV as a monitor I can't have that (VT can't be killed and I need it for channel switching). Also, with that driver combination I cannot capture anything using the addon picvideo m-jpeg 3.0.0.11 codec. When I select it in vdub the resulting capture video is just a green screen. Yet another thing is that VT is missing the record button in that combination and when I try to use AVI_IO or VDub with overlay selected the preview window does not show any picture on the TV while the attached computer monitor shows everything right.

- Using the driver 5.92.006+ and VT 3.05 from http://adis.szm.com/ does not work for me either. No matter what I tried I could not get that combinaton to display the DualHead Clone option in the driver settings and without it I cannot use my TV out properly.

I should also note that I always completely uninstall everything pertaining to PDesk / VT before I try a different version (using add-remove software in combination with vt cleaner 2.0 and matrox uninstaller)

If someone out there can recommend me a driver + vt combination or a way to make any of the above mentioned combinations work please post as I have been trying to figure this thing out for 3 days now.

Thank you so much!

[Brian Ellis]

Don't want to discourage you, but that RRG of yours is really old and Matrox stopped supporting it several years ago and never supported it for WME, W2k or WXP. It is true that they stopped this support somewhat prematurely for technical reasons. Third party drivers may work for some but certainly not for all.

Personally, I used my G-200 Marvel, which is essentially similar in concept, after I went to W2k by having dual boot with W98SE and using the Matrox drivers. However, I agree this was clumsy and started looking around for alternatives. I decided on the IEEE-1394 route and chose the Canopus ADVC-100 as my "break-out box" for analogue in and out. I have never regretted it. The quality is better than the hardware MJPEG of the Marvel for 99.9% of the jobs and it is MUCH easier to use and hassle free, and I no longer need AVI_IO, Virtual-Dub, PICVideo: everything works beautifully in MSP7 with superb quality.

[wfn]

thank you for your response, i was actually hoping not to spend any additional money on the project. even though the canopus product looks spectacular, it's still $300. my question to you is this: is there maybe a similar product from any other manufacturer or even canopus themselves that would be sort of a step down pricewise but still provide adequate video quality for someone who just wants to capture analog TV and maybe an occasional VHS?

and to others if there's any hope at all or if someone has a similar working setup please respond.

thank you

[Brian Ellis]

If you are happy with analogue in only, the ADVC-50 will do the same at lower cost. There are other makes of similar devices, but I'm told the video quality and audio locking may not be up to the same standard.

[wfn]

Thanks for the reply. I was under the impression that a digital miniDV camcorder could be connected directly to the firewire port on my PC? Thus making ADVC-50 a better candidate for me. Could you expound a little more on why I would want the 100 over the 50 i.e. what does the 100 have that the 50 doesn't for someone capturing analog TV signal? Maybe I'm just missing something really obvious (and I think I am).

BTW If I need to do postprocessing with MPEG2 conversion I can always do it in software (AVISynth + CCE)

[Brian Ellis]

The ADVC-50 is analogue>DV conversion only. The ADVC-100 does that and DV>analogue conversion, an invaluable tool when editing, if you don't have any other TV out.

Of course, a DV camera can be connected to an IEEE-1394 port, provided it is compatible (not all are). But you started this thread with RRG, which is analogue in, not IEEE-1394.

[Dr Mordrid]

I agree that the ADVC-100 is a terriffic option, and very compatable with most editors on the market. Another advantage to it is the excellent Canopus DV codec. This is much higher in quality than Microsofts MSDV, and the difference isn't just a little.

Dr. Mordrid