WinTV USB2. A good buy?

[J-Mack]

I would like to use this external drive to capture old vhs videos and use it as a tivo. Is it a good product? I cant find any reviews on it. Ill be running my Inspiron 700m Intel® Pentium® M Processor 755(2GHz/400MHz FSB). Thanks.

[reboot]

For a USB device, it's not bad. Should work ok on your system.
You'll get better quality from a TBC device such as the Canopus ADVC-110, but lose the tuner ability.

[sfheath]

I have the internal version and am quite happy with it.
Are you sure your PC is USB2?
I tried upgrading my USB1 to 2 with an addon card but it doesn't upgrade it

[Batman]

I highly recommend the ATI AIW series; they afford good quality and great flexibility.

USB capture cards may be simpler to install, but you may sacrifice some quality; then again, with (S)VHS sources, quality may not be that critical.


Depending on price vs. performance, you can make your decision.

[J-Mack]

the ati looks pretty expensive. And I dont belive I could use it because I have no PCI slot on my Inspiron 700m laptop. Thanks for the replys. Ill post a review of the WinTV USB2 in a few days if anyone is interested.

[sfheath]

Originally posted by J-Mack
Ill post a review of the WinTV USB2 in a few days if anyone is interested.

I certainly will be .. sheer coincidence but I had to remove my internal one temporarily to sort out a system rebuild from a crash.

[J-Mack]

Then I find the pinnacle version.

http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814144107

[sfheath]

Pinnacle are becoming a pain with their software. They used to be much respected but their support is very poor these days.

Though Hauppauge aren't A1 with their software there is an excellent 3rd party application, ShowShifter from the site of the same name.

[reboot]

The Pinnacle stuff just doesn't work as advertised (in many cases), and support is non-existant.
An ATI device means you have to update your video as well. If you alreay have a video card, why change? The cheaper ATI capture cards are notoriously problematic, and the 3rd party software support is non-existant. The bundled software is impossible to work with (IMHO).
Get the Hauppauge, and then get GB-PVR (free). You'll be much happier in the end.
I have no idea why Batman would say that you sacrifice quality. It's just not so. If your system can run USB 2.0, and you have a good hard drive for capture, you'll have no quality problems.
It (the Hauppauge) will also outperform the ATI. It doesn't rely on the CPU to do any work...the ATI does, even though it's partially hardware driven.

[Alien Bay]

I use AVer Media USB2.0 capture with no problems.

[sfheath]

Originally posted by reboot
It (the Hauppauge) will also outperform the ATI. It doesn't rely on the CPU to do any work...the ATI does, even though it's partially hardware driven.

I understood from looking up specs at the time I bought mine that only the higher end PVR (Hauppauge) relieved the CPU of encoding the capture?
I've yet to actually try a capture on my TVGo.

[reboot]

All the Hauppauge PVR-150/250/350/500 cards and the USB2 are hardware mpeg-2 encoding.
The do make a couple of "soft" cards as well.
If you consider a $89 PVR-150 a "higher end" card...

[sfheath]

Heh heh, as I said .. at the time I bought mine .. the 150/250 had soft encoders I'm sure.
The present 150 is very attractive.

Edit: OK, I boobed. Looking them up I'd got the decoder confused with the encoder. The 250 is stereo and the 350 a hardware decoder! LOL

[reboot]

What?
The PVR-150/250/350 and 500 are all hardware, stereo audio, mpeg-2 capture/encoder cards. They have NEVER been "soft encoders".
The winTVGO card is a soft card.
The 150 uses one chip for audio and video, the 250, 350, and 500 use two.
The 350 has hardware mpeg-2 output (encoder and decoder).
The 500 has dual tuners.
The 150 retail comes with a remote.
The 150 MCE does not, but has FM radio.
There are a few differences between the retail, and MCE versions of all models.

[sfheath]

Thanks for the clarification Reboot
We don't appear to have the 500 in UK.