Creative Labs Digital VCR TV Tuner $50 AR

[puppyfriend]

Peter:

That's exactly what happened to me at first. I plugged it in and all I got was a blank screen and it took forever to scan the channels. I soon realized that it wasn't talking to the card. So I plugged it into another slot. All was good. You didn't by any chance have it plugged into the PCI slot closest to your AGP card did you? It's common for there to be conflicts with PCI cards in particular slots. Just move em.

I like this card. It's replaced my PowerVCR setup on my HTPC.

David

 

[Bad Dude]

I am still a bit warry about the card. I wonder if CL will continue to update the drivers for this card or are they going to ignore it now.
Is there any other card out there that is better?
how is the sound quality on the TV Tuner?

 

[Morpheux]

I can't get this card to work. I have tried four different PCI slots and nothing.

MSI K7T266 Pro2-RU
512MB 2100DDR
Gainward GeForce3
Soundblaster Audigy X-Gamer

Program is coming up, but blank screen. Doesn't work in Win2k or WinXP. Using standard cable from the wall output.

<EDIT>Nevermind. After changing PCI spots, I had to uninstall the software and reinstall. I can finally see the tuner.</edit>

 

[Bad Dude]

All the negative effects are beginning to surface about this card. I will wait a while before opening it.

 

[puppyfriend]

What negatives?

David

 

[iamme]

Question: do you guys who have the TV tuner use a cable amp with it? I had a WinTV-Digital in the past, and the picture was always grainy. The digital TV reception was awesome and sharp, but the regular cable TV feed was lacking. Someone suggested a cable amp, but I never got to try it out.

It seems that an MPEG-2 decoder would be great for making SVCD's and DVD's, if you could start off w/ a nice clean source.

Could someone take some screen shots, maybe?

 

[scarfase99]

again, just keep in mind the MPEG 2 is creative proprietary

 

[iamme]

Originally posted by: scarfase99
again, just keep in mind the MPEG 2 is creative proprietary

so does that mean that you can't use the MPEG-2 saved by Digital VCR to make an SVCD?

 

[maxint]

its still sold out.. i hate compusa!!!

 

[Peter007]

PuppyFriend I too suspect that maybe the CARD isn't a PCI 2.0 Compliant Card - in that it wasn't able to share an IRQ or self-re-configure

However, what am I to do. Do I keep this card and loose my SoundCard or my Networking Card......................?
NOPE, If I'm paying $100 (I'm assuming I probably won't see that rebate check for about a year) it should work as it promise.
Creative LAB should state very clearly that its CARD is an old PCI 1.0 card and cannot share an IRQ.
Anyone with a decent sound card (takes up 3 IRQ), will have problem with this CARD. I'm not about to buy A New Motherboard with crappy build-in sound just to avoid this conflict.

Quesition for Puppy, is the recording that much better than the PowerVCR II? What about the PowerVCR 3.0???

Just a Reminder to everyone that COMPUSA charge a 15% Restocking FEE!!!!!

So you may want to verify that you have a Free IRQ before you waste your $$$ on it.

______________________________________For those Owner who Love it,

1. Can you Manually Adjust the Video Resolution? (SVCD requires a 480x480, if not, have anyone figure out a REG-HACK to do so?)
2. Is the CREATED Mpeg2 SVCD Compliant??? (most PVR base on LSX engine ware not SVCD compliant, and you have to waste another 3 hours converting with TMPEG)

 

[puppyfriend]

I used to use PowerVCR 3.0. Yes, it actually is that much better. I wen't back and used PowerVCR to watch some CSI episodes that I had previously recorded. They don't look so good anymore. Too grainy and too many artifacts. It's only been a day and I already found myself reaching for the remote and being confused why it wouldn't work until I remembered I was using PowerVCR again. I also love the high speed FF and REW under DVCR. The FF under PowerVCR always struck me as being useless. It was like 1.5 times normal speed. With DVCR I can just zip by the commercials.

I have been having a problem with DVCR. I've been getting random look ups. I don't think it likes an overclock PCI bus. I run my FSB at 116 which on my MB is 38 Mhz. That's above the 33Mhz standard. I cranked it back down to 33 a few hours ago and I haven't had a lock up since. Before I was locking up about once an hour.

Personally, I don't think it's a hassle to try different slots until you find one that works. I've had to do this with pretty much every card I've ever bought. Here's a tip. Try not to use the PCI slot next to the AGP slot. It's special.

David

 

[mikysee]

Has anyone tried hooking up a satelite to this?

 

[Bad Dude]

What do you guys think of the STB desktop TV? No remote on the STB though .
The chipset is Brooktree BT878. Which would be better in term picture quality?
Thanks.

 

[puppyfriend]

It looks pretty much like any other vanilla BT848/BT878 card. Almost every TV capture card, other than ATI's, use this chip. They work fine. You'll still need software to do the capture and compression. Something like PowerVCR. My experience has been that the quality won't be as good as the DVR. You had better have a good CPU as well. It wasn't until I got a 1.4 GHz Athlon that I was able to use the best setting without loosing frames. On my 900 Mhz Athlon I still had to use the medium quality setting.

By the way, STB doesn't exist anymore. So you won't get any official support for this card. The last STB driver was probably for the original Win98. But not to worry. Since it's just a plain Jane card, you can use the generic Conexant drivers. Conexant bought out Brooktree, the makers of the 848/878.

If you're determined to get a 848/878 card, don't pay too much. I got both my Pinnacle and my WinTV for about $30 each. I would suggest going to CompUSA and getting the I/O Magic 878 card that comes with PowerVCR. I think they're about $40. That's about half the cost of PowerVCR alone.

Also, what are you going to do with this? If you just want to watch TV, get a TV. It'll look much better than any of these cards.

David

 

[Bad Dude]

What is the latest PowerVCR? Some one wants to sell me the STB card for $25. Which one should I get? The STB or the CL DVR?
Thanks.

 

[Bad Dude]

So this is a PCI 1.0 and not the 2.1 as on the box?

 

[LarryJoe]

Originally posted by: Bad_Dude
So is there a card that has stereo and good drivers software for Windows XP? Anyone card that does not require so much time to get it to work?
Thanks.

Avermedia TV Studio

 

[Morpheux]

Well I captured the last ep of 24 from my TiVo last night. It came out to 4 different mpg files after conversion. Each file was 650MB by default and I have not found a place to change that. Quality is pretty decent, sound is also but it is recording at 33000 not 44000. I bought this card to create SVCD disks that I can watch on my Apex&TV.

I'll be doing more research on this to see what I'll need to make this thing work like I require or I'll find a new card.

My CompUSA had 8 of these in stock when I got mine yesterday, so if anyone is looking for them I'd be willing to go pick them up after getting payment via PayPal (checking).

 

[Bad Dude]

I finally broke down b/c of the initial cost of the card. I am taking it back unopen today and will get the STB instead since it has the BT878 and my system is fast enough to do some software capture. I also have the Radeon 64DDR which pretty good with the captures. Any good suggested software out there that I can use to better capture video with my STB or 64DDR beside the ATI one?
Thanks.

 

[puppyfriend]

Morpheux dude, go check out the DVCR thread on www.avsforum.com. Some dudes are doing exactly what you want to do.

David

 

[vladgur]

bad dude, if you get a bT878 based card, checkout DSCALER, the best piece of software out there

 

[Bad Dude]

I cannot get the BT878 b/c seller backout the last second.
Too bad. I return the CL PVR too.

 

[puppyfriend]

Dude:

Just go to CompUSA and get the I/O Magic PVR. You get a 878 card and PowerVCR for the low low price of $39.99.

David

 

[Bad Dude]

I a bit upset that some members now days cannot keep their word when it comes to a trade. They back out on the last minute. Not too honorable.

 

[doodoodoo]

I have STB TV, PCTV and ATI TVWonder VE, I found, after a lot of tryings, STB offers the best quality. Also I am using VirtulDub and DIvex 3 codec to capture TV, the quality of Divex is much better than VCD( captured by PowerVCR) if the file sizes are the same. STB works under Xp if you use generic drivers.