Got the AIW Radeon, this is how it's going...

[jeepman]

Well I picked up an AIW Radeon. I have it installed, loaded Premiere 6.0 and I am ready to go.

Well, doing test captures with 720x480 MPEG-2 is not going so well. I can capture a file, but when I try and play it back, it only displays the first frame! Now, even my Ligos Player is hosed. The Ligos test file also displays only the first frame, so it looks like the codec is messed up.

When I try and capture as .avi, I have a maximum file size of 320x240! Give me a break...

If this is not the forum for a thread like this, please so say before I get too far. I can already tell though this will become an "ad" for Matrox and their superior video abilities, even in the likes of the Marvel G200.

[mkaresh]

Thanks for posting this. I'm eager to hear what people have to say, because I'm wondering which card to use in a system for my parents (see my post if you have something to recommend). With AIW, G400, G450 (soon), there are a number of choices in this price range.

What led you to get the ATI? For games?

Michael

[wizz]

Hey Jeepman,

I've got the AIW, MPEG-2 capture and playback is perfect for me using media player and ATI's file player. I don't have Primiere 6 but Videostudio works fine. I haven't tried to capture AVI's yet, may try that tonight and let you know what happens

[rwierenga]

So far, your experience sounds like mine. Have you tried using the TV out yet, or printing a file to your VCR? I was very displeased with the TV/VCR output capabilities of the AIW; I'm curious to hear if you've had better luck.

[Hulk]

I've been using an AIW 128 for about a year and really like. I can honestly say it's been very stable.

For a while I had a Marvel G400TV and the AIW but sold the Marvel because I believe the AIW capture looks much better.

Although my MPEG II capture works fine I must say I NEVER use it.

I capture huffyuv using avi_io. I use
TMPEnc to encode to MPEG II. The resulting quality is much better than native AIW MPEG II captures.

[jeepman]

Hulk,

How do use avi_io to capture? I remember hearing about this program about a year ago but never tried it. Does it basically "hook" into the AIW's drivers and you just start capturing?

If so, I may need to try this. Adobe Premiere 6.0 will not recognize MPEG-2 so I may need a workaround for even that program.

I am coming from MSP 5.2 so I am now totally lost here!

[Dr Mordrid]

With Premiere I use HuffYUV captures (~10 mb/s lossless) in Premiere and then export using the AVISynth frameserver to TMPEnc for my MPEG encoding.

This also provides the ability to use some of AVISynths video manipulation commands to pre-process the data before it hits TMPGEnc.

Dr. Mordrid

[rchapoteau]

I also picked one up to tide me over till the E450 comes out. So far I like it for the most part. It was a pain in the butt to get it to work with my motherbaord since I have a Via chip set which apparently the AIW has a problem with. All in all its not bad. I have been dropping a lot of frames at the max resolution though. A lot more then I think I should be. I have an Athlon 1 Ghz machine on a Abit KT7-Raid mobo with 2 ATA-100 WD 40 Gig drives, and I drop a lot of frames.

I wish the E450 was going to be a hardware chip as opposed to software. That was always Matrox biggest plus in my book. I guess we'll c how it turns out. Any word on its release?

[jeepman]

Well, even after reading all the issues with the AIW Radeon at other sites, I just had to try it. Well, I am taking the card out tonight, and will attempt to remove DirectX 8.0.

What card will I replace it with? Well, for now I will put in a nice trusty G200 Marvel-TV! The AIW Raden drivers are just bad apparently under W2K. I know the G200 drivers and vid tools are Beta right now, but maybe in May when Haig said the final would be released, all the G200 Marvel issues will be resolved.

I may not even have to worry, because as soon as I can find one local, I will also try out the Asus V7700 Deluxe to see how the vid cap abilities of that card is. If I get similar functionality to the Marvel line, then that will probably be my dream card.

For now though, no games, except maybe Doom or Quake, but at least I will be able to edit those videos!

[Hulk]

Yeah, avi_io uses the same capture device as the ATI Multimedia Center.

I was thinking of upgrading to AIW Radeon but I've heard so many driver horror stories I think I'll just stay old school AIW.

[jeepman]

Hulk,

It gets better, I tried to use the card under W98 to see if I just would do captures under that OS. As soon as I start the TV Player to get to the vid cap functions, and if I am on the Internet with IE, the system goes black screen with a total lock up.

These are the drivers from the darn install CD, so I hesitate to try any ATI Beta drivers!

Oh well, I must make time tonight to put in the Marvel to see how that goes.

[Mance]

Hmm, not sure what's going on here. I've read lots of complaints about the Radeon AIW, but I've had mine since October and have had very little problems with it. The MPG2 capture, which I use all the time as a VCR, works great, but produces poor quality CBR files (okay for viewing back to TV and then deleting, but not good enough for keeping or converting for sure). I haven't tried YUV captures or anything else fancy yet. Other than that the system and drivers have been very stable for me. But I made sure to build my system around the BX chipset (ASUS CUBX), so maybe that's it. I've loved its ease of use, but gaming could be more stable. But the multimedia stuff has been better than I expected. Am I the only one enjoying this card?

[Dr Mordrid]

If not the only one perhaps one of a few. I've been checking up on it in the NG's and it looks ugly out there. Of course the NG's almost always have a preponderance of disgruntled users, but the problems they're reporting are severe.

Dr. Mordrid

[Mance]

Thanks, Doc. Yes I read the same things when I was deciding whether to buy it or wait for the forthcoming Matrox card. The thing that sold me on the AIW was the TV Guide program, which I believe is the only convergence piece missing from the Matrox solution (other than gaming). Matrox's card will probably be of higher quality overall when it comes out, but then it still won't do games well. Different market I guess.

I heard about missing capacitors on the AIW that made people take it back, and I've read about instabilities and install nightmares. But I've been pretty happy with mine. Maybe it is just my motherboard, or maybe somehow I got really lucky.

The one thing I don't get is why they can't do VBR MPG2's in realtime. Is this a Ligos problem, and if so, will Matrox use Ligos' Go Motion in their card as well for software encoding? I guess VBR in realtime will have to wait for a later generation of CPU power. As it stands right now, the AIW's MPG2 can't hold a candle to my Sigma Designs DVR, which I've heard is not considered to be that great in the scheme of things.

I still haven't gotten into making, what is it called, HUFYUV captures using AVIO as you recommend and then converting to MPG2 in Tsunami. By the time I ever get to that the new DVD-R drive will be out and I'll hopefully actually be able to store some MPG2's in their current form.

My main interest for the AIW was to build my own version of a Tivo, which I've done, but I also had to use a Hollywood Plus card on another PC in the LAN to spit out to TV. I still use my Sigma DVR for archiving home movies though. Different products, different quality, so I use them for different functions.

Love the forum, BTW. I've been reading for two years, but this is my first posting.

[wizz]

Hey Mance,

I'm currently enjoying the card as well, still experimenting with it but i get few crashes, and the vid capture is superb. So far i've been able to create VCD's in Mediastudio 6, a bit slow but totally white book compatible and i'm still experimenting with SVCD's. Everything is being done in Win ME, i have Win 2000 but i haven't installed it yet.

Doc,

The drivers are a little immature, but i'm sure will improve, i remember driver problems for my Marvel G200 and G400 Marvel, which became very stable over time. I think ATI have produced a very good product which over time will surely get better although this will not stopping me getting the next Matrox card.

Tony