Virtual VCR - software tips?

[warnas]

Hi,

I'm looking for some advice. I have a G400 and would like to record TV-shows with a timer AND (preferably) in Div-x. PC-VCR from matrox won't, afaik, record in div-x and a program like VirtualDub is a bit too complex for my tastes (plus, it crashes a lot) and won't work on a timer. What are my options?

I know there's WinVCR, now Cineplayer, but I've never met anyone who actually got that to work. Considering the quality of the trial-version, I'm not going to go buy something like that, but I don't mind spending a few bucks on some decent shareware.

By the way, I'm not picky about the format. Recording .asf or in realmedia is also fine, but you don't get the timer-options there either.

[landrover]

The highly recommended AVI_IO capture software will let you use whichever VfW codec you choose, including DivX, plus, it has a built-in timer. Everybody around here uses it.

landrover

[DrP]

I've written a simple kixtart script to automate AVI_IO a bit more for the Matrox. It can change channel, set the capture file, select from a range of AVI_IO configs so you can capture with different codecs / resolutions. It can shutdown your PC when its finished too. Written for W2k / XP but with tweaks will no doubt work on anything.

100% poor scripting included for free.

[warnas]

Thanks for the advice. I'm already trying out the demo-version. This is also the first time I've ever seen the phenomenon of dropped frames on my pc. Even Virtualdub never complained about that ;-) Even so, the program looks interesting. I'd like to see those custom-made scripts. Maybe (well... probably) I'm doing something wrong with the settings that I can figure out by studying them. Where do you keep them?

By the way, I have a Abit KT7 with 256 mb and a Thunderbird 900 Mhz. Modest, but enough I'd say.