Warm: Leadtek TV2000XP TV/FM tuner card @ newegg

[alyosha]

Sandor
- thanks for the tip- I am using the line -in, but I'll try mic too, just for fun, as I said - audio is not terrible - somebody mentioned - the inpit level can and should be decreased to like 20% of default.
Ziptar
- I am not sure about your comment on hardware Mpeg2 encoding - this card has, I believe, software "real-time" meg2 encoding - menaing when it is done encoding - you got mpeg2 clip with sound encoded in several possible mpe1 layer 2 or mp3 formats - you can choose. So I don't get it about saving hours of you time and such. What's true - wen you are capturing- you better not be burning and dialing and such - it did started to drop frames on me... So the only advantage of hardware is less CPU load...

What are you guys using for the mpeg2 editing? Vegas Video has the option , however it tries to reencode the clip , when you are done editing, womble doesn't have non-linear editing, premier and frameserving in tmpgenc - what a waste?

 

[AmdInside]

Heh....75 posts already. Not bad for my first hot deals post. Well, I wanted to add another warm deal. For those who want a TV tuner and wish to add a second PCI video card for dual monitor support, I thought this wasn't a bad deal.


Personal Cinema Geforce 2 MX 200 PCI from ComproUSA for $89

I tried the Visiontek Personal Cinema Geforce 2 MX version with Snapstream and it works fine also.

 

[GetInMyFatBelly]

Thanks NxFlash

AMDInside,
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2019142475

I think the MX400 with twinview is a better deal for $20 more, but it's not PCI.

 

[Kostya17]

> ANYONE??? I really want to buy this card but...

Well, it's not really good for Hi8 cameras. I was unable to capture with 480-lines resolution (SVCD). It won't do raw capture (uncompressed); MPEG2 at 640x480 drops way too many frames on my PIII 933. Going to return it back to Fry's...
It's OK for 320x240 (VCD), but the image quality isn't anywhere close to analog signal you'd get from Hi8 camera. I'll just wait 'til hardware MPEG2 encoders become cheaper...

--just my $.02

 

[KeyzerSoze]

Ok, this may be exactly what I was looking for. Just need some confirmation from you experts out there. I want to record stuff off my Directv receiver using the S-Video and RCA audio outputs. Will this card do it for me? Are there other affordable capture cards that anyone recommend over this one? Thanks in advance...

 

[Kostya17]

KeyzerSoze,

this card won't do SVCD resolution (480x480); at 640x480 it drops lots of frames (on my PIII933). Running default 320x240 yeilds VHS-like (EP) image quality. That's not good enough for Hi8 camera; don't think that's acceptable for DTV.

On the other hand, if you have P4 at 2+ GHz... maybe it'll be fast enough for 640x480 real-time MPEG2.

 

[KeyzerSoze]

Thanks for the info Kostya. I have a XP1900+ 512MB. Basically I just want to try to get some movies off directv that are pretty good quality. Maybe somewhere near the quality of those Divx rips that you find out there on Kazaa? Is that possible or so I need some $300 high end capture card?

 

[envisioncs]

What is the max resolution that this card can do TV video capture? Will I be able to capture at 640x480 or higher?

 

[chibimike]

Bought one based on the review.
The card works well for tv in.
The capture is nowhere near as good as the review states.
It is good, but not as good as I would like.
The codecs weren't the smartest as you would see artifacts around the entire edge.
Wanted to archive a bunch of stuff off my DirecTivo and some video tapes I have around. (Why the hell did fox cancel Family Guy? bastards)
Not really good enough quality for the DirecTivo or the stuff I recorded in S-VHS.

I decided to bite the bullet and spend the $300 to get the Canopus ADVC-100.
Hardware analog to DV converter, outputs to firewire.
Supposedly the best affordable analog to digital solution around.

If anyone is interested I got mine from Guy Graphics.
They seem to really know what they are talking about.
Search for advc-100, price is $289, $10 cheaper than anywhere else I've seen.


mike

 

[NxFlash]

envisioncs, perhaps someone who has their card hooked up can confirm the max resolution it
can capture. I went through the manual and even zeroed in on the box itself to see if I could
find an answer for you. The best I can come up with is that there are "profiles" you can set
for capturing and the example they use (both on the box and in the manual) is 640x480 for,
"MPEG-2 Optimal Quality".

Wish I could give first hand knowledge. Now that Newegg has the motherboard I want,
*now* I have to wait for the hard drive I ordered from Dell... oh, bother.

PS Good News! Not only is the price coming down for this card but for anyone
interested in using this card to capture and "Stream" your favorite programs, someone got
a definite "yes!" from Snapstream. It is possible to use this card to capture and
then load shows onto PDA's or stream to networked computers, etc. Here's the
link to the discussion...

SnapStream TV2000XP Discussion

Thanks, AmdInside, for the original post.

.

 

[uwannawhat]

Hey, thanks for the link NxFlash.

 

[JoeKamel]

I got my card. But the TV mode shows up as a black screen. Can hear the audio though. FM works fine. Very frustrating. I've read this is an overlay problem (whatever that is)?

Win2000 SP2, Athlon XP kt266a, ATI Radeon 32 DDR, latest drivers, argghhhhh.....

Anyone got issues like this? Thanks.

 

[alyosha]

OK - to summarize - the guy, who got Canopus - good luck - of cause it is a better but more expensive solution, which wont do FM capture and I dont know how many options it has with sound compression. The quality of capture is just as good as in the review - except when they look at the picture in the review - some say wow - , some say -ok. I run 1.5 Athlon and had no dropped frames at highest resolution and bitrate - if- and it is a big if - I didn't do stuff like burning disks and dialing up a modem, and formating floppies - that stopped it dead in the tracks. However when you do 720:540 resolution (which the card does just fine) of off TV quality signal (NTSC 320:240) there are tonnes of artifacts just because you are trying to create more info than you had as an input - drop the resolution to match the source and you'll be just fine.
JoeKamel - did you try only one input - did you try to hook up SVCD and A/V, are you sure you switched on the interface from one source to another?

 

[JoeKamel]

I tried both cable (from cable outlet) and the composite/svideo inputs (from VCR). Switched modes on the WinFast program. This wouldn't be the problem since I can hear the TV audio, but not video.

 

[Sandor]

JoeKamel- I have the same exact problem. I can here the audio for each channel and get the FM (both sound clear, at least). But the screen is blank. I tried hooking up my VCR to the input, and still nothing. Oddly, my setup is relatively different than yours, so I'm not sure what the comman problem is (I have a ABIT-K7A mobo, 1,4 T-bird, GeForce DDR, Windows XP).

 

[JoeKamel]

I found a few URLS related to this problem, on other cards:

Gateway

ATI
"You can't see the TV picture because the overlay capture program isn't fully supported in Win2K". Leadtek claims to fully support win2k.

VideoMan
ATI Radeon
problem: - Capture Frames and Capture Images do not work
troubleshooting: - no solution.

Avermedia
12. Which type of video cards are not compatible with the AVerTV tuner card?
Trident, ATI Radeon, Cirrus Logic, and some SIS video cards.

(look at those chipsets, all ancient, except Radeon. What gives???)

I've spent way too long on this problem than I care to, it's very frustrating.

 

[be]

To the people who have bought this card:
Does it definitely come with a stereo tv tuner (ie. no crappy mono?) I may pick one up real soon if it does.

Thanks..

 

[Dipboy]

Kostya17... I've had the same problem with the LeadTek. In fact I've also tried two other XP certified cards and all have the same problem of not being able to capture above 240 horizontal lines. So, it looks like its the new XP drivers and not the card itself (not that that helps the situation). Other cards I've tried include Hauppauge WinTV and the AverTV. The WinTV will work on XP and capture upto 480 lines, but you have to use the old drivers from the accompanying CD and not the updated ones found on the web.

Does anyone have any clue on how to get around the 240 horizontal line limitation (when capturing AVI not MPEG)????

For those considering the LeadTek.... The AverTV is just as good, and can be found on the web for about $55. Cheaper than the LeadTek.

 

[chibimike]

Got the Canopus ADVC-100 up and running.
Wow, amazing quality, but at a price. $300 for the advc-100, $35 for a firewire card, a program that can handle DV, and a large hard drive.
Plus several hours figuring out why it was blowing up my machine. (W2k compatibility update is your friend.)
Still need to find really good codecs to do DV to mpeg-2.

The leadtek looked fine for older vhs tapes (vhs is 320x240, ntsc is actually 525 x ~400), it just didn't cut it for stuff coming off my DirecTivo or S-VHS. Didn't have the high end bandwidth, causing blurriness around edges even when recording uncompressed.
The mpeg2 codecs create lots of jpeg artifacts, especially noticeable in animation.
Don't get me wrong, for ~$70 this card does an excellent job, I just wanted an exact duplicate. $70 wasn't going to give me that.

A note: The Windows media player decoders may down res the image you are seeing. Your device may be capturing at a higher res, but on playback it looks like crap due to this. Check the file properties after a capture to see what res it captured at.


mike

 

[JoeKamel]

<< I have the AverMedia TV Studio and after closely examining the Leadtek TV2000XP (card, cables, remote, etc.) and the specs, I would bet that this is a rebadged Avermedia TV Studio. >>



Avermedia
12. Which type of video cards are not compatible with the AVerTV tuner card?
Trident, ATI Radeon, Cirrus Logic, and some SIS video cards.

:disgust:

But then...


<< JoeKamel- I have the same exact problem. I can here the audio for each channel and get the FM (both sound clear, at least). But the screen is blank. I tried hooking up my VCR to the input, and still nothing. Oddly, my setup is relatively different than yours, so I'm not sure what the comman problem is (I have a ABIT-K7A mobo, 1,4 T-bird, GeForce DDR, Windows XP). >>



So what is going on??????????

Anyone used this successfully with Radeon, or GeForce for that matter??

 

[Sandor]

I have no clue what's going on, but I know the card works. I took a spare hard drive and loadedin windows ME, and the card worked fine (using the new 98/ME tner drivers). Then I updated the mobo drivers and video drivers, and I stopped getting the picture. I tried reverting to the older drivers on the drive with Xp, but didn't get anything. If the original drivers work better for the tuner card work better for capture, maybe they just are a bit better, so I'll give that a try. If anyone else has advice, I'm listening.

 

[be]

people, is the tuner on this card stereo or mono?
The web site only says fm stereo, and the review doesn't mention stereo tv broadcasts...

Please answer.

 

[JoeKamel]

As far as I can tell, it's stereo.

 

[XzeroR3]

I just got mine installed yesterday night.

Painless install with the newest drivers. under xp.

Didn't have my coax hooked up yet(to test that) but the fm works great. the software they have is weak.. but the ability to schedule a capture a wave is cool.

 

[WalkingDead]

I got this card from Fry's. Everything works but I'm not happy with no PVR, only one preview window and the weak tuner. Yes the interface has XP looking design and color but I don't find it very useful. I'm taking it back to Fry's next week. I just ordered the Avermedia TV Studio from Intel for $66.80 + tax w/ Free shipping. I'm not sure how good is the tuner but the Avermedia card has PVR + 16 channel previews in addition to everything the Leadtek card has for about the same price.