what about marvel g400-TV quality output ?

[SoToS]

I need to export animations to S-VHS and VHS tapes with as high quality as possible so I'd appreciate if someone can tell me if the TV output of Marvel G400-TV is comparable to a S-VHS or at least to a very good VHS recording (before I buy it).
If not, is there a real quality card under 480$?

My system is PII 233, 128MB, 10GB Medalist Pro ASUS AGP-V2740.
I also plan to edit some VHS tapes so I think of the hardware mjpeg of this card as advantage.

Thanks in advance!

[DrMordrid]

Yes it is. If you want to supply your email address and I'll send you a frame I captured with it so you can judge for yourself.

Dr. Mordrid

[This message has been edited by DrMordrid (edited 12 December 1999).]

[SoToS]

No problem, and that's a good idea. My address is anelixis@usa.net Now I'm very curious!

[DrMordrid]

Here it comes ;-)

Dr. Mordrid

[SoToS]

Thanx Dr.Mordrid for your time to send me these stills and your valuable info, but after a second thought, I think I'm guilty of not making myself clear enough!
By saying "TV output" I was meaning the marvel's video output to external TV. So, when you wrote that you could send a frame, I thought that you could capture the output of G400 simultaneously while playing back a frame sequence that you had captured previously! (Science fiction?)
Anyway, if these stills are from the internal TV-tuner I'm satisfied, taking into account that the noise on dark areas usually becomes far less noticeable when frames are moving.
If it's from a re-capture of the video-output connector, then I'm double happy with the survived quality after 3 conversions!(if it was graphics it would be two)

By the way, yesterday I read on a local computer magazine about a recent motherboard from ASUS, P3B-1394 that it's the first for PCs to include a IEEE 1394 Firewire controller! With bandwidth up to 400Mbps this link is faster than SCSI for connections to digital appliances, and includes two 4-pin connectors for direct compatibility to Sony's digital cameras! It comes with Ulead's VideoStudio3, on-board PCI sound, and costs about 225 $!

So, after this, I'm thinking:
1. Marvel G400 is probably a great card but since it's not available here yet, I'll have to order it online, maybe waiting too long.
2.My system (PII 233) needs soon or later an upgrate so why not with ASUS P3B-1394 that includes Firewire and software?
3.I don't have a video camera, so I could get a digital Sony TRV110 for "better than broadcast" quality just under 1000$ (not cash) that would allow me to import-export to analog too.
4.Of course I will miss Marvel's extra...

Thoughts.... Your opinion?

[Grigory]

Asus controller works with avi's that are not compatible with most editors. See a post about 105$ firewire solution.

For DV, you better go to well known solution like DV raptor.

As for G400 DH TV quality, it is really good as TV quality itself. You can output a movie to TV with very good results, using even different codec.

I made an experiment: played DV movie with software Canopus Raptor codec and see G400 TV ouput. The quality was similar to DV camcorder playback! This is true life test of TV out subsystem.

However, G400 DH TV output, in particular DVDMAX mode need field older adjusment!

To Haig or any Matrox techsupport person:
PAL DV or MPEG2 (made from PAL DV) movies are played with REVERSED FIELD ORDER on G400 in DVDMAX mode. Please, include in your future driver release the ability to change the field order of G400 TV output in DVDMAX mode. Otherwise, many PAL users who want to buy G400 for its ability to play mpeg2 on TV would not be able to use this feature with DV-originated interlaced movies such as mpeg2.

Grigory

[SoToS]

Thanx Grigory, another more precise comparison that somebody could do is possibly
making a test-pattern with different horizontal bands of vertical lines (even using fonts like | || || || || || || ||), then
record a sequence of this pattern to a digital camera, and next, compare camera playback to direct playback through a marvel at the same TV.
Maybe It sounds too much, but it may be usefull when it's hard to decide...
Certainly, Matrox engineers must solve this bug with reverse field order - I am a PAL user too!