9600XT vs 9600XT AIW

[irenealan]

Hi, I am deciding whether I should get a 9600XT on sale now for $129 at BestBuy without rebate or I should get the 9600XT AIW for $150 at CompUSA with $50 rebate. My basic question is I don't need to the TV function now, but I may need it later. So should I just get the 9600XT first and buy a TV card later?

Also I would like to do video editing by plugging in my VCR or DV videos and recording them on the hard drive. Will the 9600XT AIW provide such functions? Or is there any PCI card I can get that will do both the TV and DV inputs (I guess has both the cable serial input and the RGA inputs). Thanks for all the help!

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: irenealan
Hi, I am deciding whether I should get a 9600XT on sale now for $129 at BestBuy without rebate or I should get the 9600XT AIW for $150 at CompUSA with $50 rebate. My basic question is I don't need to the TV function now, but I may need it later. So should I just get the 9600XT first and buy a TV card later?

I assume you mean the 9600XTAIW is $150AR (it's not clear from your post, but if it was $150 - $50MIR, that would basically be a no-brainer).

I would lean towards the 9600XT+capture card route, just because it gives you more flexbility in the future wrt upgrades.

Also I would like to do video editing by plugging in my VCR or DV videos and recording them on the hard drive. Will the 9600XT AIW provide such functions?

Of course (that's the entire point of an AIW card, no?) -- although DV video is usually captured over FireWire, as it's kind of silly to take digital files and then run them through lossy SD analog inputs/outputs.

Or is there any PCI card I can get that will do both the TV and DV inputs (I guess has both the cable serial input and the RGA inputs). Thanks for all the help!

I'm not sure what an "RGA" input is (there's VGA and RCA, but they don't make VGA capture cards for consumer use), or exactly what you mean by a "TV" input (there's coax and RCA for video in), but you can buy add-in capture cards with all sorts of functionality. DV capture, again, is normally done by Firewire.

 

[rbV5]

If you want DVI connectivety, forget the AIW model. You won't touch a decent tuner for the $20 difference in price, so in that repect the AIW would be a much better value "today".

The hardware won't help with DV transfers, but the Pinnacle Studio software that ships with the AIW card is a decent consumer level DV editor software.

 

[irenealan]

Thanks Matthias90, yes the 9600XT AIW is for $150 after rebate.

Thanks for your correction, I meant RCA also and based on the picture of a AIW card, all I see is the Cable plug, VGA and S-Video. Hence if I want to plug my VCR through RCA (the red, yellow and white) into the card and capture video from my PC, I need to buy another card? It seems that I am spending more money to buy the AIW for Cable TV capture only!

Do you know any good card for capturing both the Cable TV and VCR video? Also I wonder if the 9600XT AIW will do DVI with the LCD TV? Thanks.

 

[irenealan]

Originally posted by: rbV5
If you want DVI connectivety, forget the AIW model. You won't touch a decent tuner for the $20 difference in price, so in that repect the AIW would be a much better value "today".

The hardware won't help with DV transfers, but the Pinnacle Studio software that ships with the AIW card is a decent consumer level DV editor software.

Thanks rbV5, is the capturing ability of the AIW considered decent? Or I should buy separate cards since I should get a card that's good at doing one thing?

Do you know any good external capture device? Since my PC is a mini barebone HTPC and it only has one PCI slot, so I would like to get a capture card that is for external use. Thanks for the help.

 

[rbV5]

if I want to plug my VCR through RCA (the red, yellow and white) into the card and capture video from my PC, I need to buy another card?

No, it features composite capture.

Connectors
*Dual VGA
*Stereo audio, S-video, and composite video inputs and outputs
*External stereo connections to sound card?s line input and output
*Dolby® digital stereo audio output (S/PDIF)


Link

 

[rbV5]

Originally posted by: irenealan

Originally posted by: rbV5
If you want DVI connectivety, forget the AIW model. You won't touch a decent tuner for the $20 difference in price, so in that repect the AIW would be a much better value "today".

The hardware won't help with DV transfers, but the Pinnacle Studio software that ships with the AIW card is a decent consumer level DV editor software.

Thanks rbV5, is the capturing ability of the AIW considered decent? Or I should buy separate cards since I should get a card that's good at doing one thing?

Do you know any good external capture device? Since my PC is a mini barebone HTPC and it only has one PCI slot, so I would like to get a capture card that is for external use. Thanks for the help.

The AIW is very good for capturing, it has some nice hardware filtering (video soap) and 12bit ADC's that works nice for analog captures like transfering VHS tapes. The caveat would be macrovision protection for protected sources like commercial VHS tapes.

I've not used an external device except for my Sony Camcorder, which features analog conversion to DV and then firewire transfer. It actually works pretty slick, probably similar to some of the devices available, and the DV format is easy to work with in an editor. I know there are MPEG USB devices now, so its worth a look at those kind of solutions, and there are some USB2.0 TV tuners like TV Wonder USB2.0<--(you don't want the initial TV Wonder USB model however)

 

[irenealan]

Thanks. I think for $20 more, the AIW is hard to beat price of an additonal TV turner. But again there's no DVI so I can make use of my LCD and possible for a plasma if I buy one in future.

Also I am thinking of the HDTV capbility and I am sure the AIW won't provide such function to capable HDTV. So I guess I better get an external device to prepare for future capturing of the HDTV and outputting the PC signal out thru DVI to a LCD or Plasma TV...

Just wonder if my logic make sense. Thanks very much for help!

 

[rbV5]

Just wonder if my logic make sense. Thanks very much for help!

Makes perfect sense. Connectivety is an important consideration.