LEADTEK WINFAST "DELUXE" TV2000XP TV/FM MULTIMEDIA CARD - RETAIL BOX (UPDATE: NOW $42.00 shipped!) @ Newegg!

[Muse]

Originally posted by: MustISO
Would it be possible to hook a VCR up using the coax connector? My VCR does not have S-Video out, only composite out and a coax out. I want to record from the VCR to the PC.

The card comes with an adaptor. Haven't connected it yet, but I assume that's what it's for. The adaptor has S-Video at one end and two connectors at the other, one S-Video, the other RCA female (I think that's what you call "composite", right?).

 

[odoe]

I am very happy with my card. I had to do the channel search by using that advanced function, so my channels are not in the right order, so I had to go through and name all my channels. The only channel missing is 2, but I suspect it has to with channel 1 for Charter being some sort of portal channel for shopping and ppv that is encrypted. Some channels do look better than others, for example Comedy Central has a couple of lines on the screen that I can't tune away, but NBC and TNT or sharp and bright as my 27incher. Now, the recording quality at mpeg2 was 1 hour show @ 2gigs. Played back looked just like what I viewed on my computer. When I used TV-out on my 9700Pro, on the tv, you couldn't tell the difference at all. My wife was quite surprised. I'm going to start working on editing out the commercials next.
Very happy with this buy, I even bought a 120gig drive for all my shows.

 

[ltm]

So .. regardless of TV card .. what's the best software for TIVO like functions?

I built a new computer, so figured I'd use my old PC for a PVR. I've found plenty of PVR/VCR software, but nothing that is .. as intuitive .. as Tivo. You know .. you tell Tivo you like "Mud wrestling" and it records all the mud wrestling shows it finds.

Anything like that out there?

 

[ChoppedBroccoli]

Ive been recording in the 'mpeg2 high quality option'. I recorded the NBA Slam Dunk Contest and it was 1.5GB. How should I go about converting large files like this into a smaller compressed format (ie Divx...). I used a program called DVD2AVI and it successfully converted the mpeg2 file into an .avi file (Virtualdub can't deal with mpeg2 files)...but now the audio is off when I save the avi with sound in VirtualDub?

I can't get good results in recording tv shows and encoding in divx/xvid on the fly (things are choppy etc)....

 

[CDD]

Great thread -- I'm considering getting this card for my new PC project.

I want to use the capture functions to archive some out of print Disney VHS tapes that my three-year old is quickly wearing out. Will this card allow me to capture (and subsequently burn) macrovision-encoded video?

 

[omigosh68]

I just ordered one of these. I am not sure If i can do what I want do. I plan to use this to record shows, but not replace my regular tv. Can I still run my satellite through both as long as I use the same receiver?? Can I use the tv through coaxial and the PC through S Video.
Thanks.

 

[Muse]

Just installed mine last night, using the supplied drivers and application. I downloaded and installed from Leadtek's site what I think is the latest versions of the drivers and application, which is zipped up 13 MB. Followed the instructions in the downloadable .doc file and updated the 4 Winfast WDM drivers in Win2000's Device Manager. Yesterday I could toggle FM <--> TV from a button in the respective interfaces. Now, though, I can go from FM --> TV, but I can't find a way back. Where they had an FM button it now has an internet link and it's labeled EPG and tooltip text is "EPG TV Program [F8]". It links to a page, F8 does nothing. When you hit the EPG button, you go to a site called TitanTV, which seems to be an online TV Guide, where you can register. Anybody sort this out?

Edit: At least my levels are decent now.

 

[hawkeye81x]

Would anyone who has own both an ATI AIW and this Leadtek card recommend it over the former (in terms of capturing live signal capabilities)?

Also, I assume this receives 125 channels correct?

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: hawkeye81x
Would anyone who has own both an ATI AIW and this Leadtek card recommend it over the former (in terms of capturing live signal capabilities)?

Also, I assume this receives 125 channels correct?

Search this thead for AIW and you will see a bunch of people trashing the ATI cards. Click your right most icon (View thread in all text format) and do your search there to access all pages simultaneously.

My autoscan for TV stations goes up to 125.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: HocusFocus
Does this card do uhf? Everything works perfectly for me except I can't get any channels above 13 off my antenna. Also, is there a stereo indicator light for fm or anyway to tell if the signal is stereo for fm?
TIA,
HF

Don't know about the stereo indicator yet (I'm less than one day into having it installed), but I bet you have the card set for cable and not TV. I had that too and didn't get anthing above 9. Get the TV config screen up and hit the 3rd tab at top for channel selection. Set to antenna. I'm still green with this. It stops at some stations I don't have checked for some reason.

 

[Muse]

I just found this great site for those of you who are feeding this card (and TV/VCR etc.) with antenna: Antennaweb. Hit the button, enter your address and what happens is fantastic. It shows you all the stations you could get, what antenna is best for which set of stations and better yet, it provides a map of your location with best position for your antenna for each set of stations. I used to go up on my roof and move and test, etc. etc. If I'd known this was available it would have saved me a lot of trouble. I could never get the directions right by trial and error as well as is provided in this one map.

 

[Muse]

Using this card (installed yesterday) with my new 22" NEC FP2141SB monitor, I don't know if I can stand watching my regular TV anymore. This is like going to the movies.... And this is with a crummy antenna. When I fix up my antenna system, mmmm, yeah!

 

[jundoshum]

there's a program called cleaner that works well at compressing large files. i have version 5.2 but my friend has the newer version, 6.0. I compressed a 10 gig video into 400mb. The quality was above average at 400mb.

Question about recording... i just installed the card and i love it. i'm having problems recording with sound. i know the manual says that if you hook up the tv tuner to your speakers, no sound will be recorded. so i made sure it wasn't hooked up to the speaker but still no sound. i looked through this entire thread and looked at the other forums to no avail...

i'd appreciate any help. thanks.

 

[NetworkDad]

Originally posted by: jundoshum
there's a program called cleaner that works well at compressing large files. i have version 5.2 but my friend has the newer version, 6.0. I compressed a 10 gig video into 400mb. The quality was above average at 400mb.

Question about recording... i just installed the card and i love it. i'm having problems recording with sound. i know the manual says that if you hook up the tv tuner to your speakers, no sound will be recorded. so i made sure it wasn't hooked up to the speaker but still no sound. i looked through this entire thread and looked at the other forums to no avail...

i'd appreciate any help. thanks.

I connected the enclosed cable that came with the package from the audio out on the winfast card, to the audio in on my sound card. Then, my speakers stayed connected to the audio out on my sound card.

Worked perfectly..

 

[jundoshum]

thanks network dad. i actually had the set-up the way you described. my problem was that i didn't have the "line-in" volume high enough to record... :| thanks for letting me know that it worked great on your system. it made the trouble-shooting that much easier.

any tips in terms of recording without commericials or any of the other features that TiVO has?

 

[uo7]

Originally posted by: ChoppedBroccoli
Ive been recording in the 'mpeg2 high quality option'. I recorded the NBA Slam Dunk Contest and it was 1.5GB. How should I go about converting large files like this into a smaller compressed format (ie Divx...). I used a program called DVD2AVI and it successfully converted the mpeg2 file into an .avi file (Virtualdub can't deal with mpeg2 files)...but now the audio is off when I save the avi with sound in VirtualDub?

I can't get good results in recording tv shows and encoding in divx/xvid on the fly (things are choppy etc)....

I use DivX Video Duplicator in easy mode Works great to get those huge mpg files down to small divx file.
http://www.bvrp.com/

 

[Muse]

Anybody use the supplied Cool 3D program? Why did they supply that? What do you do with it?

 

[yepper]

Originally posted by: Muse
Now, though, I can go from FM --> TV, but I can't find a way back. Where they had an FM button it now has an internet link and it's labeled EPG and tooltip text is "EPG TV Program [F8]". It links to a page, F8 does nothing. When you hit the EPG button, you go to a site called TitanTV, which seems to be an online TV Guide, where you can register. Anybody sort this out?

About the FM -> TV, they dropped that functionality when they added the EPG support. I would have liked that too. Instead I have to go to the system tray, right-click on the Winfast wizard, and select Winfast FM.

Another quirk I've noticed is that something it does while recording a sheduled program disables the standby mode of the monitor.

 

[Xanager]

Is it possible to hear the audio while you are recording something? Right now when I hit record, it sort of mutes it. I figure it is just routing the audio to be encoded, but beats me.

 

[psloan]

Check you record level settings in the configuretion of the winfast software.

--pat

 

[jinduy]

how's the reception on this card? does an antennae come with it? reception really sucks in my apt =\

 

[a2k]

Originally posted by: Muse
Anybody use the supplied Cool 3D program? Why did they supply that? What do you do with it?

Well, so far I play with it, but if I ever wanted to make fancy titles for a home video, it would come in handy. It does seem funny to come with a 'TV tuner' card, but makes sense with a 'video capture' card.

 

[BuckMaster]

Question..Ive read through most of this post. Maybe I missed it sorry if so! I just ordered a DVD Burner and would like to convert a VHS tape to my H/D then burn it to a DVD. Would this card beable to do that? If so does it come with the software or will I need to buy it seperately? I would like to get a dazzle to do this; I think its called but their so expensive. Would this card do the samething but just take much longer? Pros/Cons?

Thanks!

 

[yepper]

Originally posted by: BuckMaster
Question..Ive read through most of this post. Maybe I missed it sorry if so! I just ordered a DVD Burner and would like to convert a VHS tape to my H/D then burn it to a DVD. Would this card beable to do that? If so does it come with the software or will I need to buy it seperately? I would like to get a dazzle to do this; I think its called but their so expensive. Would this card do the samething but just take much longer? Pros/Cons?

Thanks!

The short answer is yes. The card will do the capture. You can either do mpeg encoding on the fly or after the capture with TMPGEnc. Then you can use Ulead MovieStudio to author DVDs. Your DVD burner probably comes with burning software.

The long answer is found here: vcdhelp.com

Edit: Actually, you can burn directly from Ulead. I'm burning a vcd right now...

 

[yepper]

Originally posted by: ltm
So .. regardless of TV card .. what's the best software for TIVO like functions?

I built a new computer, so figured I'd use my old PC for a PVR. I've found plenty of PVR/VCR software, but nothing that is .. as intuitive .. as Tivo. You know .. you tell Tivo you like "Mud wrestling" and it records all the mud wrestling shows it finds.

Anything like that out there?

They keep that software over here: tivo software

Seriously though, this thing is no tivo. This thing can barely record my shows in a non-intuitive way. And I have to remember to turn on my computer before the show. And I probably don't want to be doing much while it is capturing. But it's fun to play around with. I use my replay tv for the important stuff.