Is the G400TV a good card?

[Cheezwiz]

What are your guys experiences with this card. Our school is looking at getting a capture card and this one looks pretty good. Is there any reason to drop a lot more money for a card like a DC30pro when for the same price we could get 2 of these and have some money leftover?

thanks,
steven

[metalslug]

I have a G400 - TV and it's great ,
the provided software is ideal for school use
because its so simple and the card itself is also very versatile ( I dunno if your school will use it to play DVD's but the Dual head display is '' OH MY GOD '' worthy )



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*~MeTALSlug~*

[Cheezwiz]

Yeah dual head is pretty sweet. I use it now with two non-matrox cards. So is the video quality good? Also can u edit the files you capture from the G400 in premier?
Also is all MJPEG compression the same? (eg. will 1mb/s look the same on all MJPEG cards?)

Thanks a ton,
Steven

[This_Idiot]

Steven,

It all depends on how much quality you want. G400-TV is plenty good enough for the majority of amateur camera handlers. I disagree with Metalslug over the software issue, I think that especially enquiring minds would be much better off with a "testing" application like MSpro (or Premiere for that matter) than with AvidCinema.

On that subject, while (apparently) it isn't impossible to use Premiere with G400-TV (or any other Matrox capture card), it isn't an easy ride.

Did you check out my reviews of G400 and DC30+ (first part, second part due out any day now) in the "product reviews" section of the site ? http://www.desktopvideo.com

[Fred H]

Yes, the card is great. The software is okej. Capturing & editing in Premiere (5.1) is also great, BUT do NOT use the Matrox MJPEG codec. It causes B/W captures in most unexpected situations. Use the Morgan MJPEG codec trial 1.30 until apr 01 2000 or it's worth to buy for only 25$. Som setup must be done, but it's also great. The created files are smaller and the rendering/exporting goes qucker with Morgan.
Games? I'm not a hardcore gamer but I am VERY satisfied by the card.
Conclusion: the Marvel G400-TV is fine but expensive card, most adequate for video capturing/editing.
I tested it in comparation with the Asus V3800. For me the Marvel is the clear winner!
Read and trust the reviews.

My system: AMD K6/2-400, FIC Pa-2013 mobo, 64 Mb SDRAM 3,5 Gb systemHD + 6,4 Gb dedicated Hd (it seems to be tight now)

Good luck,
Fred H.