best tv tuner card for the g400?

[darthJones]

what tv tuner card goes good with the g400? something with fm capability would be nice too but is not needed

thanks

dj

[AndrewDV]

Hi,

I've used both a Hauppage WinTV-Go + FM and WinTV-Radio with the G400 and had no problems (remember: no IRQ sharing). The difference between the two is that the WinTV-Radio can capture stereo TV signals. Both have S-Video, coaxial, and FM radio connections. The audio is handled via a pass through cable to the machine's sound card. The WinTV-Go+FM costs about $60 while the WinTV-Radio costs about $95.

If you buy one, make sure the card has a Conexant 878A Fusion chipset. That makes a huge quality difference.

Thanks

[darthJones]

thanks for your suggestion Andrew. one question though - is there a passthrough cable that is required for the card (or something that connects to the g400)?

thanks again

dj

[AndrewDV]

No video pass through cable is required. The audio pass through is only needed for external sources (like a camcorder or similar).

[LC1104]

"If you buy one, make sure the card has a Conexant 878A Fusion chipset. That makes a huge quality difference. "

How can I check for this chipset on the hauppauge cards? don't they all use the same chipset? Thanks.

[AndrewDV]

Hi,

The latest Hauppage cards are using this chipset. However, there are still a fair amount of older versions on the shelves using a bt848/bt878. You can check for the Conexant by simply looking on the physical card.

[Greebe]

The Hauppauge WinTV dbx stereo/FM stereo Model 401 I purchased off the shelf a year ago has the Conexant 878a chip on it.

Here a pic of it...

http://members.home.net/greebe2/Incoming/Hauppauge/WinTV%20%23401_10x7.gif

[fredo5]

out of curiosity, what are some good programs to use if i don't want to use the ones that come with the card? cuz the one i got sucks...


thanks...

fredo

[AndrewDV]

Hi,

For capturing, I use AVI_IO. It works like a champ.

http://www.nct.ch/multimedia/avi_io/

For TV Viewing, I use DScaler. It is a great program capable of deinterlacing on the fly.

http://deinterlace.sourceforge.net/

If you want TV scheduled recording, take a look at ShowShifter and WinVCR. Here are the links:

http://www.showshifter.com/

http://www.cinax.com/Products/winvcr.html

[LC1104]

How much better is the 878A chip compared to the 878 chip? I am curious about what quality differences there are.

[Technoid]

I have had a WinTv card with the BT878 and it realy sucked compared to my RRG.

I will get one with the newer Chip and test

If it is comparable (to the RRG) I will probably ditch both the RRG and the G200. (no I won't throw them away, just archive them for some other situation )

So the capture machine can double as a gaming rig for my brother.

As I did when I only had one computer...

W98: capture and gaming... (that worked perfect untill I happily bought a G400 and tried to make it comunicate with the RRG )

W2000: Editing and serius work (nowdays I transfers the captured raw files to my main machine to edit )

[Frankie G]

This looks very interesting - I am looking to get a new
mobo/CPU (need for speed!) and if I go Intel, must replace
the Marvel G200-TV as its AGP is not compatible.

Can someone who has an NTSC WinTV verify that it in fact
will capture AVI, 704x480, 29.97 fps, into an external codec
such as HuffYUV or PICvideo, using some capture utility such
as VirtualDub or AVI_IO? Their website says 352x240 is the
max, but I've read otherwise in other threads.

Is there any way to tell from the box if it has the "better"
878A chip? I don't think CompUSA would appreciate me tearing
open their box.

[Rob100]

I don't think you will have a problem as long as you use VFW drivers, rather than the crappy WDM one's.

I am in the UK and can happily capture @ anything up to 768x576 using PicVid and Huffy using AVI_IO.

Rob.

[Dr Mordrid]

Yes, by all means use the VfW drivers and AVI_IO with it. Gives the best quality plus you can set your frame sizes and do segmented captures.

Dr. Mordrid

[Technoid]

I have know aquired a Pinnacle PCTV with a Conexant 878a chip!

I will test Quality, stability etc, etc,

BTW:

The remote that comes with the card, is it usable to anything else than stering the card?