AIW or VIVO for video capture?

[max105]

I am debating over whether or not to get the AIW or the VIVO for tv capturing purposes as the title says. since the VIVO features the instant VCR features of the AIW, the AIW only seems to have the added tuner to separate it from the VIVO. However, the VIVO does have an extra 32mb of ddr. So i'm thinking about just getting a VCR to hook up television to a VIVO and record TV off from there. I've seen some the Radeon's television quality and it just doesn't stand up to television quality. would this be a limit by the AIW's tuner? would getting an external VCR and connecting it to the VIVO work better?

 

[astroller]

Hey! I'm also looking for such a card. What brands are available? ATI's Radeon AIW seems to have the package I want - TV in/out, TV tuner. video editing. Meaning, I can watch TV on my PC, record some shows on my PC and also surf the internet on my TV. Am I right? However, reading Tom's hardware review, the Radeon AIW lacks in 3D gaming punch. And I really want a GeForce2 GTS! That leaves me with Asus V7700 Deluxe?! The Asus lacks in TV options right? Like is there a TV tuner to watch and record shows?

What other cards offer GeForce2 GTS with the ATI AIW features?

 

[max105]

has anyone seen both the VIVO and the AIW in action? Will an external TV tuner w/VIVO be better than the AIW in terms of picture quality?

 

[Hawk]

I currently use the VIVO with a VCR, and the picture quality is very comparable to the TV in the living room. The AIW is probably about the same too, I think the TV didn't look as good to you because the TV wasn't meant to be shown on a high resolution monitor (maybe). So I wouldn't worry about it, and since the VIVO is cheaper, you might as well just get that over the AIW.

astroller: The AIW doesn't lack in 3d performance, and is at times faster than the GTS (usually at 1280 and above, 32 bit color). I don't think any Geforce 2s have a built in TV tuner, that and their 2d quality is no where as good as the Radeon's (if you want a Geforce with TV in/out features).

 

[rbV5]

Actually even my Tv-out with my old coax looks pretty good, I would think that the internal tuner would have better quality than VCR>Composite-in, It came down to the s-video in on the AIW and internal tuner for me(both not available in the VIVO) because I want the highest quality analog capture. If those aren't as important, the 64DDR is a great buy.

 

[max105]

rbV5 doesn't the VIVO come with S-video input too? hows the quality when you're capturing with the AIW's internal tuner, as opposed to the VCR via S-video input? I find the quality of the capture very important too and would like the best.

however, I am inclined to go with the VIVO because it does offer more memory at a higher core speed, but then again, I hear this doesn't make much of a difference.

 

[rbV5]

So far, I haven't missed the extra memory, but I'm not a hardcore gamer. I do use some 3D apps and its just so superior to my old V3 2000, that they seem to fly as well. The VIVO lacks the s-video in Check here , the TV captures are great with the AIW Tuner, I haven't tried capturing with the VCR Tuner, but I would be limited to the composite in, and I'm sure it wouldn't be as nice. I am transfering my home movies with the VCR though, and while I've done OK, I still haven't got the right combination yet to burn to a VCD compliant CDR.

 

[oldfart]

I'm not into the capture thing. Listen to rbV5 for that stuff. The extra 32 meg does make a difference. I have a 64 VIVO and was comparing it to a 32 meg card not too long ago. The extra texture memory does help. UT is quite a bit smoother. Not something a benchmark would show very well, but I could see a big difference. Same with Q3. If Q3 texture compression is disabled on the 32 meg card, you get a fairly large FPS drop. On the 64 meg card, very small drop. Newer games will have larger textures. That extra memory will always be a good thing IMHO. In addition, you get 5.5ns ram and a 183 MHz clock speed.

 

[6TNINE]

so for a average gamer who also wants to record shows and edit videos for vcds and svcds which is better AIW or VIVO

 

[rbV5]

Capturing the broadcast signal off the AIW internal tuner will be of higher quality than capturing the signal from the VCR's tuner through the composite-in, and if you have an s-video signal(SVHS recorder, analog camcorder, Sat dish) to capture to take advantage of the s-video input of the AIW, you may want to go with the AIW.

If its more important to have the extra, faster memory for games and applications, while still having pretty good capture capabilities(VCD's are near VHS quality anyway)go with the 64DDR, you can buy a nice hardrive with the money you save.

 

[Hawk]

For the "average" gamer, I would say the VIVO since it's cheaper, and you just want some casual video editing, plus you didn't say you need the tuner. Besides, the VIVO is about 50 bucks cheaper...=) I guess my definition of an average gamer is an average gamer on a budget.

 

[Blain]

So basically...
There's less chance of captured video getting screwed up using the AIW's s-video input, vs. the VIVO's separate inputs?

 

[rbV5]

S-video degrades the signal less than the composite in, so for instance if you were doing analog captures off of your VCR or camcorder and they had s-video out, you would be able to take advantage of the better input with the AIW. So not so much screwed up, but if you start with better captures, you end up with better final product.

Also as far as broadcast captures off the tuner, they would also be of higher quality. The signal off each tuner would be similar, but using the VCR tuner, you are going to have to go through the composite-out and then into the composite-in and into the card, rather than strait from the internal tuner.

Is it enough of a difference to make up for the higher price and less/slower memory of the AIW? I'm not sure that it is. I can say that my broadcast capture are excellent, my captures off my VCR are OK, but they are through the composite in and VHS tapes, not broadcast (hmmm, I should try a capture off the VCR tuner for comparison)


Both cards IMHO are a great bang for the buck and to put it into perspective, I spent 5 times what I spent on my AIW just for Editing software and cables. Good Grief I ramble on sometimes

 

[max105]

wow thanks rbv5....let me know if you ever do try capturing with your VCR. I'd like to hear about those comparisions

 

[rbV5]

I'm off work starting wednesday, I'll do some comparison captures between the AIW tuner and my VCR tuner via composite-in, I'm interested in the comparison myself

 

[max105]

hehe cool....LMK what kinds of conclusions u find

 

[Hawk]

I haven't done it lately, but I use my VCR as my TV Tuner and I captured an episode of Silver Hawks, don't know the settings and stuff, but with just the RCA cables with the VIVO, the quality was pretty much the same as the source (TV).

 

[max105]

hehe thanks for the reply Hawk. I figured my friend could use the extra ram instead of the TV tuner, so I picked the VIVO over the AIW.