Help! Tv Capture And Region...

[Easier Way?]

Yo Comberman,
Thanks again for a nice reply. Very interesting history,-I'm trying to get away from VHS tape and am delighted with the ease of playback on a PC.
Have you any opinions on if I could get better quality capture on my upgraded PC (to be), do I need to spend a lot of money to out perform an entry level card like my asus combo?
I'm looking at the @SKYBOX satellite receiver which is able to send video data direct to a PC via a USB port. Any opinions?, I wonder if it would make a capture card obsolete re sat reception as it would save the losses from encoding into video solely for analogue capture on a PC card. I have read somewhere that it would allow playback of PC video on TVs in glorious RGB via scart, a la X box. I wonder is that too good to be true?
Do you know how to get RGB quality capture? You are in SCART country so you might know a trick or two that beats S-video!
Any replies will be gratefully received
Easier(previously skint hence PII 266) Way?

[setarip]

To Easier Way?

"Asus V7100 delux combo"

Although not the absolute leading edge video card, this is FAR from an "entry level" board - and should serve you VERY well for capturing (once it's installed in other-than-a-PII266 system)...

[Comberman]

To Easier Way?

In DTV throughput is the important factor: getting your input onto your hard drive(s) in the quickest time possible. As Setarip says, your combo card will more than adequately cope with video and allow you to play most of the lastest games; your choice of CPU depends on the depth of your pocket but you should not skimp on Disk space. To carry the OS; Application Software; Games; and have room for video work you should aim for an 80Gb (minimum) 7200rpm HDD. 80Gb may sound a lot but it's amazing how much stuff you can gather up these days. A good Motherboard is important, particularly one that will allow you to expand. Your best bet is to either build your own PC or get someone to build it for you. Excluding the video card and a monitor, you could get a setup which you could be comfortable with for 2 years (before upgrading) for around £400.
My Sky Digi-box doesn't have USB out but I've been on Sky Digital for some time now so your gizmo is obviously more modern. I don't quite understand what you mean by:

" save the losses from encoding into video solely for analogue capture on a PC card. I have read somewhere that it would allow playback of PC video on TVs in glorious RGB via scart"

You have an analogue capture card which I imagine will allow you to capture anything from Raw AVI format to any of the DV and Mpeg compressed video formats, it may also be capable of capturing Quicktime format depending on your capture software. I don't know how this USB connection works but I'd be surprised if it doesn't go through the video card. Even DV (Camcorder to PC via Firewire) is compressed at 5:1 by the camcorder. We must be talking about a different sort of digibox altogether - unless of course it's Sky Plus - which IS a different thing altogether.

With respect to the quality of video-in: SCART is superior to RF In and SVS is superior to SCART. I have two decks latched onto my vivo card: SCART IN/OUT (Composite) and S-VHS IN/OUT. Both decks are PAL/NTSC.
Regards

[Easier Way?]

rgb

Thanks again setarip and Comberman.
It's reassuring that the asus v7100 is reasonably good, I had hoped to keep it in my upgrade.

The new @SKYBOX satellite receiver is not a sky sat tv company product. It is French made and does not need a video card on the PC except for loop back to the box/TV. I presume that a better capture is possible if the original signal does not have to be converted into an analogue form suitable for TVs or capture cards. The review in June What Sat' and Digital TV is quite short but shows a PC screen preparing to record a vcd! The review also mentions mpeg2. The box has rgb scarts and s-vhs but the review implies the data for hard disk is sent via the usb.

Re svhs, is it not as smooth as rgb? I found svhs much sharper than composite but I don't think it would be as 'photographic' as rgb (I mean rgb from a scart, not composite from a scart).
Your capture card knowledge is good so do you know if rgb quality(smoothness and sharpness) capture is possible and if so is it very expensive?, the @SKYBOX digital link to a PC was interesting for that reason.

I have a 7200/133/60gb hard disk which will do initially, I will try a 300w or bigger power supply.

Thank You again.

[Comberman]

Your satellite setup sound interesting. 'fraid I don't watch enough TV to justify another digibox and dish.
Just to clarify the SCART vs SVHS topic.....
There are three basic analogue video formats:
Lowest quality is Composite which comes via standard co-axial cable from aerial to TV (audio and colour(RGB)+luminance) or SCART which uses 3 wires (audio (L+R) plus a single wire for the colour+luminance signal). Quality level is home video.
Medium Quality is S-Video. It uses two wires; one for Colour and the other for Luminance (Brightness) encased in a single cable. There is no audio signal with S-video. Quality level is Prosumer to Industrial.
Highest quality is Component which uses 3 wires; colour, hue and luminance. No audio signal. Quality level is Industrial to Broadcast.
The above is important only when deciding the best analogue connection for obtaining the most optimum input video signal when signal to noise ratios have to be considered.
TV sets and PC monitors adopt RGB. Therefore the quality of the RGB picture (comprised of fields in TV and pixels in monitors) is dependant on the connection method adopted. Digital video is considered to be the purest.
Take care.