ATI Radeon 64 VIVO

[Ares' Lament]

Hello,
I'm going to buy this card.
I need some suggestions, especially about video capture stuff.
I'm not a professional video editing user.
I choose this card because of its gaming performance and VIVO capabilities.
How does Radeon 64 video capture quality?

[Traderx25]

I just converted over from ATI Radeon Aiw 32MB which is basically same as the 64MB with less memory.

I had nothing but trouble with the card for many reasons.

It is not a terrible card, it has some flaws but I end up selling it and getting a Matrox G450 eTV.

The video capture is what I needed. The quality of the capture were not that great and often flawed. I got jitters, unknown compabilility probs, and poor encoding to VCD format even with the latest drivers.

It was working awhile ago, all of a sudden the card just started having the problems.

When I moved to the G450 eTV, my only complaint is the copyright protection scheme that I hate but it has worked good overall.

[Indiana]

It's working well here in Win2k. You just have to be a bit carefull about the driver-version you're using: there were two or three versions that broke the capturing-stuff.
But I don't capture with ATIs program but with VirtualDub, since software realtime mpeg-2 encoding is too bad quality IMHO (on any card that does this without special hardware).
So just capture HuffYUV AVI or high-bitrate MJPEG and the convert it afterwards to MPEG2 or DivX/MPEG-4 with a HQ encoder - you'll get good results.

The only thing that the VIVO lacks is a SVHS input (it has only composite in). At least there's a SVHS out...

[Ares' Lament]

Well, I guess ATI must replace their buggy driver with a better one ASAP. They have to optimize 3D performance while perfecting VIVO, what a job!
Maybe I should starting to look for other products, such Asus V7700 Deluxe.

[Indiana]

Why? I don't have many problems with the Radeon - not more than I had with my old G400(and I'm using it nearly only in Win2k).

And keep as far away from Asus' products with VideoIn as you can: Because of the bad VideoIn of my first Asus VT3400TNT (no captures at full resolution possible without massive framedrops) I had to buy an additional Hauppauge card. And I've read users of the V7700 with problems when capturing full PAL not long ago (with a statement of Asus that this will be fixed in one of the next drivers - unfortunately they are claiming this since the old TNT1 times...)

I have not had felt the urge to install the Hauppauge since I have the Radeon ViVo, since the capturing works as it should (I think I'll reinstall it, but only for it's included tuner and Video-Text).

[jeepman]

I dumped my ATI AIWonder (Blunder) Radeon and I now have a V7700 Deluxe. I dumped the ATI because I was coming up to the 15 day CompUSA time limit for returns, and I could not get the drivers working under W2K. The quality of the input picture was good, and the TV tuner was nice.

Back to the V7700. Like most other cards, the support under W2K is lacking. Asus has a codec call ASV2 that compresses my analogue input from my Sony Camcorder into a nice picture. I am as happy with the results as I was with my Marvel G200 with the hardware MJPEG. But, under W2K, Asus has failed to deliver a beta (they have one, it is bad)capture app with decent results. This means I capture under Win98 and I encode my SVCD's in W2K.

One important difference between the two cards is worth note: the ATI is DirectShow, and the Asus is VFW based. The Asus has an option to go above the 2GB file mark, but I don't know how it does it. The ATI can support 4GB file sizes with the correct filesystem (i.e. FAT32) but since it is not VFW capable, ULead Media Studio Pro and many other editing apps can't capture above 320x240 with the ATI.

Tom's Hardware actually has an article comparing the two products. He likes the ATI input quality, but the Asus is a kick butt gamers card, that has video abilities.

I should be getting a free ATI AIW Radeon, so I will give it one more shot, but I suspect I will be most happy with my Asus V7700.

If I do like the ATI for some reason, like better drivers than two months ago, then maybe I will have V7700 for sale!

------------------
ASUS A7V133, 256MB CAS2 Micron PC133, "Copper" Athlon 1000@1120MHz (8*140), GlobalWin FOP38 with Delta 7000 RPM 38CFM fan. Asus V7700 Deluxe GF2 GTS, 3COM 905C NIC, Adaptec 2940UW Ultra-Wide SCSI, SBLive PCI 1024. Segate Medalist PRO 9.1GB UW SCSI 7200RPM, Seagate Barracuda 4.3GB UW SCSI 7200RPM, Maxtor 20.4GB ATA66 7200RPM 2MB Cache, 8GB tape b/u, Sony IDE Spressa 8x/4x/32x CDROM RW, RAID 0 stripe set on Promise ATA100 with dual Quantum Fireball Plus LM 30GB ATA66 drives.

[This message has been edited by jeepman (edited 07 May 2001).]

[Indiana]

Jeepman, just install the latest drivers for the Radeon (I think they'll work on the AIW as well even though they're officially only for the RadeonVE/LE/32/64/VIVO). But I already heard that AIW users tend to have more problems than those with a VIVO card (that is better for gaming, too). So if you don't need the tuner (use your VCR, e.g.) take a look at those cheap OEM Radeon64MB/VIVO cards. Mine does 200/200 at fast/fast mem-settings easily, but of course you can be lucky here or not ).

Then in Win2k use a NTFS partition and use VirtualDub for capturing, not ATIs software!. With VirtualDub (in combination with NTFS there's no such thing as 2/4GB filesize-limits at all - I recently captured the Movie "Absolute Power" in 768x568 with a total filesize of ~45GB (high bitrate MJPEG) and then converted it to a convenient 1,4 GB DivX ;-) that fits on two CDs...

[EvilDonnyboy]

Hi ppl's. Going slightly OT here.

I'm currently debating on either an ATi Radeon AIW or a Radeon 64mb VIVO (retail, OEM is only a couple bucks cheaper, retail is faster).

The only reason I'm considering the AIW is for the TV tuner. But since the Radeon 64mb VIVO has video in, I can buy a cheap VCR to use as a tuner. And as a plus, the VCR will have a remote, and the ability to record/play VHS tapes.

I don't plan on doing much capturing, editing or that kinda stuffs. With everything added up, the 64mb VIVO+VCR will cost only a couple bucks more than an AIW.

So it looks like the VCR+VIVO combo. Is there anything I'm missing, that might sway me towards the AIW?

[Ares' Lament]

Well, I'm quiet confuse here..
Since many of hardware reviewers didn't talk much about video capture quality, so I am not really sure about vid capture combo cards.
I like games and I want to learn some about vid editing stuff. All I have to do is get a good card.

BTW, I hope ATI add another two multitexture pipelines in Radeon. I'm pretty sure this thing will be a GeForce killer!

[Indiana]

The VCR+VIVO solution of course has some advantages (the possbility to record video/your computers output, capturing of old video-tapes to CD/DVD,...).
But the AIW also has some advantages: software package for editing included, time-shifting (not that this would be impossible with the VIVO, but it's not included in it's software). Also a tuner is necessary if you want to decode some, erm, otherwise "interesting looking" channels - although for this purpose the best slution is a Hauppauge.
You also might check the different connectors of the AIW vs. the VIVO models and see which suit your needs better.

P.S.: Beleive me, if you have such a card you will start capturing video (a digital VCR is just so coool....)