speedy4500
05-06-03, 02:16 AM
I think this is probably the best place to post my concerns...
I just recently bought a Prolink Pixelview Video Maker PCI card (http://www.prolink-usa.com/english/product/video%20maker.html), which has a TV tuner and hardware MPEG1/2 encoding. So far, I've only tried recording VHS tapes to my computer, and the quality leaves a lot to be desired (I think sometime soon I may extract the card and examine the various chips soldered on it and investigate their white papers if I can find them). My hunch is that the VHS tape input signal is fairly "castrated" to begin with, as no matter what bit-rate I set the MPEG2 encoder at--2.8 up to 15 mbit/s--the quality is pretty much the same; is that the probable cause for bad quality recordings? In two weeks when I get cable television hooked up, should the recording be better? Or might this be card related? Unfortunately, this card I have is rare in the USA, there was only one internet store I found that stocked them, so I don't have many places to look for advice/help, and I hope I didn't invest 160 of my hard-earned dollars into a less-than-stellar card. It seems like it has a lot of potential (the specs were nice), but so far it's not as good as I had hoped. OK, enough rambling....so is it the card or the VHS input?
PS Here is a link (http://www.tweaktown.com/document.php?dType=review&dId=129&dPage=1) to a tweaktown.com review of it, the only review I could find on the net.
I just recently bought a Prolink Pixelview Video Maker PCI card (http://www.prolink-usa.com/english/product/video%20maker.html), which has a TV tuner and hardware MPEG1/2 encoding. So far, I've only tried recording VHS tapes to my computer, and the quality leaves a lot to be desired (I think sometime soon I may extract the card and examine the various chips soldered on it and investigate their white papers if I can find them). My hunch is that the VHS tape input signal is fairly "castrated" to begin with, as no matter what bit-rate I set the MPEG2 encoder at--2.8 up to 15 mbit/s--the quality is pretty much the same; is that the probable cause for bad quality recordings? In two weeks when I get cable television hooked up, should the recording be better? Or might this be card related? Unfortunately, this card I have is rare in the USA, there was only one internet store I found that stocked them, so I don't have many places to look for advice/help, and I hope I didn't invest 160 of my hard-earned dollars into a less-than-stellar card. It seems like it has a lot of potential (the specs were nice), but so far it's not as good as I had hoped. OK, enough rambling....so is it the card or the VHS input?
PS Here is a link (http://www.tweaktown.com/document.php?dType=review&dId=129&dPage=1) to a tweaktown.com review of it, the only review I could find on the net.