Marvel G200 not working right :(

[LemonJelly]

Last month i got hold of a G200 agp marvel/tv video card minus its breakout box and lead! So i hunted around and tracked down the required items... got them in the post this morning so i hooked it all up and installed the drivers and avid cinema etc....
*on windows ME btw!

it seems to be ok but if i change the input to fullscreen it goes nuts... has green bars across the screen and flickers like its in interlace mode? (anyone with an amiga will know how bad that is lol)

i can capture video with it but its not right... its jumping like crazy so i dont know what to do next?
could the card or box be faulty?

[Brian Ellis]

This is fairly prehistoric stuff. The following questions are in order:
1) which versions of MGA and video drivers are you using?
2) do you have a PAL version?
3) will the G-200 work under ME, which came out LONG after the hardware?
4) is your m/b agp-1 compatible?

[LemonJelly]

looks like it was ME or just a botched driver install on my part m8!

i wiped the system and put on 98se! installed the proper drivers and tools! it now works perfectly (touch wood)


1) which versions of MGA and video drivers are you using?

i did use the ones off the matrox site but then installed the driver cd originals after a system wipe!

2) do you have a PAL version?

yes m8! but the blue box has no tv-tuner

3) will the G-200 work under ME, which came out LONG after the hardware?

i may try ME later on now i know it aint faulty!

4) is your m/b agp-1 compatible?

yes defo! its on old penty 440BX board with agpx1 & 2!


i have two other systems using up-todate amd hardware! i just bolted this old pentium3 together mainly for the kids and old games etc... i do need an 8meg card for g200 tho so i have to track one down if i can!

[Peter B]

Having used an Marvel G200 for 5 years I would recommend the following points:

If you want to unistall drivers use the Matrox utillity for this purpose.

If you want to remove Macrovision (Copy protection on pre-recorded VHS tapes) you will need to use older drivers than the latest I think, check with the files available on this site (for both MGA and Vidtools) including the Macrovison patch.

Use AVI_IO for capture, can capture files larger than 4GB onto a FAT32 drive without dropping frames by creating multiple files and allows YUV capture (if patch applied) and other codecs

Apply the YUV patch (available on this site) as it is signficantly superior picture quality (if your hard drives can keep up) as it creates LARGE files.

Many people recommed the PIC video Mjpeg codec as this can capture higher data rates as well. I also allows you to edit your Matrox Mjpeg files on other systems (assuming you use Mjpeg and not YUV), never used it much myself once I got YUV working

Format or defrag hard drive before capture, Ideally use a fast hard drive on the other ATA cable than your operating system drive. Enabale DMA for drives.

Works well on ME for me.

Avoid VIA chipsets and SB Live cards if possible

Use MSP for editing as it can ouput the preview to the TV, there is a line or two you need to add to a file, details available at the Ulead website. Mjpeg files don't work well with Premiere when trying to output your projects, bad news to learn at that point!

Some suggestions I have found useful, there are more but these spring to mind at the moment. Good luck it is a good tool but a bit fussy.

[LemonJelly]

Many thanx for the help

ive only just started to play around with it... ive chucked on virtual-dub! been recording a few short snippets of video to get the feel of the device!

*i was going to throw in a sblive 1024 & live drive but it did cross my mind about the fact they hog the pci bus i have an audigy which is alot better the board im using the matrox on has a 440BX intel chipset! seems to work quite well but im now after an ide ata card so i can fit a couple of 40gig ata100 drives!

im tempted to splash out on one of the more expensive matrox offerings now.... well impressed with matrox stuff

*would linux or an NT based o/s work better for this kinda thing?

[Peter B]

I haven't tried Linux but I believe there are some third party drivers, Matrox does not support video capture with Linux.

I have tried NT, but there is no Macrovison or YUV options with this setup. basically they have designed it for 95/98/ME I think.

The Matrox RTX systems appear to be excellent, though I haven't used them. However, if you want something cheaper with no Real Time check this thread http://forums.murc.ws/showthread.php?s=&threadid=40405