ATI TV wonder pro...need a better tv card

[Pony321]

I purchased the ATI TV wonder pro tv card so I could record a few of the 2004 olympics events. This card is rather bleak. Even recording in the best resolution (ntsc dvd, bitrate: 7000 kbs) the picture doesn't match that of a standsard tv. Besides that there appears to be faint strange patterns present while viewing the recorded video.

There are so many tv card to choose from so I thought perhaps I'd get the opinions of those who knew more about tv cards than I. I'm for the overall quality of the picture. Here's one I viewed at Tiger Direct:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...6&sku=A46-4052

Any advise would be appreciated. Thanks

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Intel® Celeron 2.6GHz / 128K Cache / 400MHz FSB
XFX GeForce MX4000 Video Card / 64MB DDR / AGP8X
Viking 256MB PC3200 DDR 400MHz Memory

[Xayd]

The faint patterns are interlacing artifacts, there are ways to get rid of those, as well as use other filters as you capture.

http://deinterlace.sourceforge.net

Try that to capture with, and encode to mpeg after, see how your results are.

[ComputerNut]

If you're thinking of grabbing a better TV Tuner card (taken from my experience, ATI TV cards arent the greatest), Ive heard that the Leadtek WinFast TV2000 XP cards are pretty good. When i have some money, i might consider grabbing one of those.

HTH,
CN

[Pony321]

I checked out the Leadtek WinFast TV2000 XP at Newegg.com and the reviews aren't good. I did however check ou the Leadtek PCI TV/FM Tuner Card, REMOTE, Model "WinFast TV2000 XP Expert" -RETAIL

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...122-180&depa=0

The reviews from Newegg were pretty good but I'm still going to search for further information.

I downloded the file from http://deinterlace.sourceforge.net and will give it a try before purchasing another card. Thanks

[Pony321]

Last evening I recorded four hours of the Olympics. I noiced that while viewing the monitor while recording still objects on the screen looked fine while fast moving objects were rather blurred and had a slight jerkey motion in comparison to a standard TV. Is this caused from the TV card or my graphics card?

[RayH]

ATI seems to record best in either WMV or ATI proprietary formats.

[Xayd]

Originally Posted by Pony321 I checked out the Leadtek WinFast TV2000 XP at Newegg.com and the reviews aren't good. I did however check ou the Leadtek PCI TV/FM Tuner Card, REMOTE, Model "WinFast TV2000 XP Expert" -RETAIL http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...122-180&depa=0 The reviews from Newegg were pretty good but I'm still going to search for further information. I downloded the file from http://deinterlace.sourceforge.net and will give it a try before purchasing another card. Thanks

Those two cards are exactly the same. The only difference is one has an FM tuner and one doesn't.

[Pony321]

Those two cards are exactly the same. The only difference is one has an FM tuner and one doesn't.

I believe you're correct. I'm believe the old saying " you get what you pay for." I spotted an external usb tv card:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...122-184&depa=0

I've returned the ATI TV Wonder card. Recording a mpg2 file at 7 megs per second should look pretty good. It probably would have if the tv tuner card produced a good picture. The colors were great but the picture was a bit fuzzy and motion was definately blured and jerky.

For quality perhaps I'll need to spend some real cash on a TV card or just purchase a DVR.