ATI AIW 9700 Pro Questions

[ButtersStotch]

Hello, I am thinking of buying the AIW 9700...I am getting antsy waiting for the FX benchmarks and that to come out...I'd probably go with the ATI anyways, I just would be less bummed knowing the performance difference ahead of time. Anyways, I have a few questions about the AIW. I am interested in the capture quality; how is it? I had thought I could capture say LD or VHS and choose any codec installed on my system or even uncompressed video if I wish but as I read more reviews some made it seem that I am limited to only specific DVD, SVCD, VCD compliant resolutions and either MPEG-1, MPEG-2, or ATI's avi codec in terms of compression??? I mean I want to be able to capture directly in certain codecs, avoiding having to reencode clips. Also, any ideas of how the AIW capture quality would compare to using a Sony DV cam as a pass-thru? My only other reason for not buying this card would be I am not sure I like having one card doing all as if I want to upgrade it for gaming at some point, well my computer only has one agp slot...so any thoughts on high quality capture cards? I know there are AIW cards that are PCI if I don't want to buy all in an agp card...although, all of the features of the AIW 9700 AGP help me "justify" the co$t psychologically...Thanks...Butters

 

[Lizardman]

anand has a review of this card and he discusses the capture quality. Check it out.