[Ewingr]

Wanting to get Satellite in to a HTPC, and use dScaler, I have been told that I might as well use a Prolink Pixelview Xcapture card, but they are discontinued.


I see many say they would rather not put a tuner card in if they don't need a TV tuner.


What card instead of this would be good?


Thanks

 

[IUnknown]

FLyVideo 3000 or Compro Videomate are both better than this card. Both have a tuner but you are not paying any extra for it. The Videomate has a S-Video and Cmoposite input. The FV 2000 had only one input which was a pain for me.

 

[Ewingr]

Well, I'm about to decide to go with the Videomate. I was thinking I would rather go with a 10bit Conextent (Spelled right?) card, but I am finding dScaler support to be scetchy, depending on the card. Lots of good reviews of the Winfast 2000/XP Xpert, but when I go to the dScaler support forum, a lot of people are crying about it not working one way or another.


If anyone has one of those chipped cards that is not problematic, you might let me know. Haven't pulled the trigger on the order yet. Still trying to figure out all the other stuff.

 

[IUnknown]

The tuner for the Conexant chipset doesn't work in dscaler. As I mentioned the cards tend to have noise but they do work with the single video input.


By the way, in dscaler you just select FlyVideo 3000 and NTSC for the tuner and it works fine.

 

[scriabinop23]

Quote:

Originally posted by Ewingr Wanting to get Satellite in to a HTPC, and use dScaler, I have been told that I might as well use a Prolink Pixelview Xcapture card, but they are discontinued. I see many say they would rather not put a tuner card in if they don't need a TV tuner. What card instead of this would be good? Thanks

Its still available. I just ordered/installed one the other day:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...144-301&depa=1

 

[Ewingr]

OK. I am finally down to deciding between the Compro PCI TV Tuner Card and the Pixelview .


I tend to lean toward the Compro...but I have received a lot of feedback about possible noise from tuner cards.


I'm presuming from the earlier recommendation on this card in this thread it is no issue for IUnknown. Any input on that?


Thanks

 

[mn3kgtvr4]

I've used both xcapture and now the compro gold plus. Some people had some diagonal banding issues with the xcapture if I remember right. Mine was nice and clean. I went to the compro since i actually wanted a tuner for some basic cable and i also use the svideo input for Gamecube. Perfectly happy with the picture.


Keep in mind that if you are only going to be using the svideo input to the card, you're essentially bypassing the tuner altogether so it's not going to be introducing any noise. Your satellite set top box is your tuner in your case. Using svideo into the Compro makes it just a capture card. A very good one at that. People got very excited by the introduction of the xcapture last year since it was cheap and didn't include the tuner on it which not many people used anyway.

 

[dpeng]

I used bt878 and upgraded to flyvideo 2000 because at that time, DScaler had not supported Conexant 2388x well and people said that flyvideo 2000 picture quality was better than 2388x.


DScaler 4.1.8 changes the whole concept. I A/B tested flyvideo 2000 and XCapture (DScaler allows switching between two cards instantly). 10-bit XCapture/2388x is the clear winner.


I am deinterlacing NTSC. Someone in this forum compared both chips (9-bit Philips SAA713x vs. Conexant 2388x) regarding PAL deinterlace and 2388x won again.

 

[dpeng]

BTW, the noise/degraded picture quality has absolute connection with how clean your mainboard's pci voltage supply. Asus A7N8X-L gave me headache until Epox 8RDA3G replaced it. Excellent picture quality from 8RDA3G + XCapture combination.

 

[dpeng]

I'm using a 12-year old panasonic VCR/composite out as my cable tuner. If I decided one day to spend US$100 for better cable picture, it'd go to JVC S-VHS VCR. My co-worker bought one and it's picture is solid and noise free.

 

[achentwn]

I checked Prolink web-site, they still have XCapture on their product list. And I just bought it 2 weeks ago in Taiwan, so you should able to find somewhere to get it.

I have [email protected],XCapture and PMS PDI DELUXE on my hands. To watch cable TV, JVC S-VHS VCR+PDI DELUXE or XCapture has better picture quality than [email protected] and less noise.

If you have game console, PDI DELUXE is probably the best choice. Both PDI DELUXE and XCapture are alomost the same solid in picture, but PDI DELUXE is solider in color. I think this is because it's Philips 7118 ADC did a good job.

Just like dpeng mentioned, PCI power quality is very important. I am using Epox 8RDA3+ MB, both XCapture and PDI DELUXE have good quality with Dscaler. I've tried XCapture on a P4 ASUS MB system, and I was shocked at that time. The picture looked terrible. If XCapture on Epox system scores 90, I would like to give it 40 on ASUS MB system.

The reason why I want to use PDI DELUXE is that it supports component video input. But if just use S-Video, better go for XCapture, it's picture quality is good enough and much more cheaper than PDI DELUXE.

 

[Ewingr]

Quote:

checked Prolink web-site, they still have XCapture on their product list

I checked their site, this link , and it is shown as discontinued. That being said, I see that I can find one.


But wait, what am I thinking? I am planning on purchasing an Xcard and PDI Delux combination. So, I don't need either of these I am speaking of, right? (I was originally pointed to the PDI Delux from another thread, as an excellent way to get good quality DVD playback, with dScaler, and easily. (Although I read that the dScaler for this has to be a specific one from PDI...that concerns me).


Boy oh boy...am I ever going in circles.

 

[achentwn]

Quote:

I checked their site, this link , and it is shown as discontinued. That being said, I see that I can find one.

Sorry, the web-site I checked is their tranditional Chinese page and they didn't mention that.

I heard Xcard+PDI card+Dscaler is good on video source DVD. I would like to try it also.

 

[achentwn]

Quote:

(Although I read that the dScaler for this has to be a specific one from PDI...that concerns me)

Now I am using Dscaler 4.1.7P3, downloaded from PMS. PMS said they already sent the source code to John Adcock. And I checked "what's new in Dscaler 4.1.9", it says it will add PMS new card. Old PDI capture card already supported by current Dscaler, so this new card is probably PDI DELUXE if I am not wrong.

 

[Ewingr]

achentwn


Thanks! That eases my mind on that.