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Marvel G400 TV vs. ATI All-In-Wonder 128 AGP (16 mb)
Hi all! Major newbie here...but a gearhead nonetheless, so I should be fairly intelligent about all this in a few weeks time after I've researched it to death!
2 questions:
1. I have just entered the desktop video realm and purchased an ATI All-In-Wonder 128 AGP (16 Mb) last December. Yes I know this is a forum for Matrox, and I have a Marvel G400 TV on its way (question on that down below)...but here is my dilemma:
I have finally gotten around to wanting to pipe my masterpiece video creations out to VCR and, lo, I come to find out that the ATI card is not designed to do the following:
You should be able to simply have a video window open in the middle of your screen, for example, and ONLY the video in that window (Media Player, or maybe the ATI video apps) gets piped out the S-Video port to my VCR. Audio gets handled via my SB Live Platinum. No problems there.
What I found out instead, is that the ATI card simply pipes your ENTIRE desktop out the video OUT ports and therefore, if you want to capture your video with your VCR, you must have captured it into the computer at least at 640x480 and then you must run the video full screen. Not only is this unacceptable (unrealistically large video files, jerky video reponse, etc.), but it STILL looks incredibly LOUSY compared to simply hooking my bloody video camera directly to the VCR. Pathetic.
Enter the Matrox Marvel G400 TV. It should arrive within a week and I am sincerely hoping that it is the answer to my dilemma, but maybe you folks can help me understand these things.
Will it allow me to capture at 320x240 (which seems to be the standard), manipulate the various video sequences, render to a final file and then play that file while it's being piped out the S-Video port (of the BOB, I assume) to my VCR and will it look at least as good as if my video camera was connected directly to the VCR? Maybe I still have to capture at 640x480 (or 720?? I need to read up on all the formats!), but perhaps the Marvel G400 has better compression and it won't be jerky and take up unreal amounts of HD space??
I realize that this is a basic idiot question, but yesterday was an absolute EYE-OPENER for me to find out (3 months later) that the card I purchased (ATI) to do desktop video really doesn't allow you to realistically do desktop video and have it come out looking decent on the VCR.
2. I eventually want to get into higher end types of editing, but I don't mind starting out simple, yet nice. I notice that the Millenium G400 (and accompanying Rainbow Runner G-series) together run about the same price as the Marvel G400, yet come with a higher end video editing software package. Am I better off going this route instead of the Marvel G400 TV? On the other hand, I should be able to purchase better software for the Marvel later on down the road (when all of the various software packages mature!!), and maybe I just need to start out with something that will work with little or no hiccups and I can worry about better software later.
On a side note, it appears that the ATI card does its magic using software compression and the G400 series cards do it with the hardware of the card itself which explains why even 320x240 AVI files were somewhat jerky on the ATI card and, in the reviews of the Marvel, there appear to be no problems with obnoxious jerkiness.
On another side note: I am a serious musician, and the maturing of hardware and software is the same in the music camp. By now, the SB Live Platinum is pretty much my card of choice and the software is nearly bulletproof. I sense that video is lagging behind just slightly, but hopefully it will catch up in terms of reliability and quality.
Oh...here's my system configuration if that helps:
PII 400
128 Mb RAM
8 Gig C drive (ATA 33)
20 Gig D drive (ATA 33)
SoundBlaster Live Platinum
Windows 98 (but might go to Win2000 Pro)
Thank you for ANY help or guidance you can give me in this area. It seems like you Matrox users have a nice little community and it sure seems like a better card than the ATI.
Kevin
2 questions:
1. I have just entered the desktop video realm and purchased an ATI All-In-Wonder 128 AGP (16 Mb) last December. Yes I know this is a forum for Matrox, and I have a Marvel G400 TV on its way (question on that down below)...but here is my dilemma:
I have finally gotten around to wanting to pipe my masterpiece video creations out to VCR and, lo, I come to find out that the ATI card is not designed to do the following:
You should be able to simply have a video window open in the middle of your screen, for example, and ONLY the video in that window (Media Player, or maybe the ATI video apps) gets piped out the S-Video port to my VCR. Audio gets handled via my SB Live Platinum. No problems there.
What I found out instead, is that the ATI card simply pipes your ENTIRE desktop out the video OUT ports and therefore, if you want to capture your video with your VCR, you must have captured it into the computer at least at 640x480 and then you must run the video full screen. Not only is this unacceptable (unrealistically large video files, jerky video reponse, etc.), but it STILL looks incredibly LOUSY compared to simply hooking my bloody video camera directly to the VCR. Pathetic.
Enter the Matrox Marvel G400 TV. It should arrive within a week and I am sincerely hoping that it is the answer to my dilemma, but maybe you folks can help me understand these things.
Will it allow me to capture at 320x240 (which seems to be the standard), manipulate the various video sequences, render to a final file and then play that file while it's being piped out the S-Video port (of the BOB, I assume) to my VCR and will it look at least as good as if my video camera was connected directly to the VCR? Maybe I still have to capture at 640x480 (or 720?? I need to read up on all the formats!), but perhaps the Marvel G400 has better compression and it won't be jerky and take up unreal amounts of HD space??
I realize that this is a basic idiot question, but yesterday was an absolute EYE-OPENER for me to find out (3 months later) that the card I purchased (ATI) to do desktop video really doesn't allow you to realistically do desktop video and have it come out looking decent on the VCR.
2. I eventually want to get into higher end types of editing, but I don't mind starting out simple, yet nice. I notice that the Millenium G400 (and accompanying Rainbow Runner G-series) together run about the same price as the Marvel G400, yet come with a higher end video editing software package. Am I better off going this route instead of the Marvel G400 TV? On the other hand, I should be able to purchase better software for the Marvel later on down the road (when all of the various software packages mature!!), and maybe I just need to start out with something that will work with little or no hiccups and I can worry about better software later.
On a side note, it appears that the ATI card does its magic using software compression and the G400 series cards do it with the hardware of the card itself which explains why even 320x240 AVI files were somewhat jerky on the ATI card and, in the reviews of the Marvel, there appear to be no problems with obnoxious jerkiness.
On another side note: I am a serious musician, and the maturing of hardware and software is the same in the music camp. By now, the SB Live Platinum is pretty much my card of choice and the software is nearly bulletproof. I sense that video is lagging behind just slightly, but hopefully it will catch up in terms of reliability and quality.
Oh...here's my system configuration if that helps:
PII 400
128 Mb RAM
8 Gig C drive (ATA 33)
20 Gig D drive (ATA 33)
SoundBlaster Live Platinum
Windows 98 (but might go to Win2000 Pro)
Thank you for ANY help or guidance you can give me in this area. It seems like you Matrox users have a nice little community and it sure seems like a better card than the ATI.
Kevin
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