Looking for a WinTV alternative

[tinpanalley]

I use my Hauppauge PVR to capture video from SD sources (VHS, laserdisc, etc). The WinTV program that the PVR card comes with is really basic. Does anyone know of another program that might also control the card to capture input sources?
Thanks!

 

[boochi]

Media Center?

 

[tinpanalley]

Will Media Center allow you to record? I didn't think it did?

 

[billyb0b]

Will Media Center allow you to record? I didn't think it did?

yes

 

[tinpanalley]

Ok. Cool. Just gotta figure out how to get MC to see the card. Never tried before.

 

[Slugbait]

Media Center may not work the way you hope. Also, it's not "basic" like WinTV, it's lowest-common denominator: hit the record button. And then I believe your recordings will be in a proprietary format.

VirtualDub is a well-known, highly regarded program that should be just what you're looking for. If picture quality matters, you might want to utilize a lossless video codec...I hear Lagarith works well.

 

[Slugbait]

Ok. Cool. Just gotta figure out how to get MC to see the card. Never tried before.

Run setup, it will see the card. For VHS, I think you need to set to either ch3 or ch4, hit the play button on the VCR, and hit record button on MC.

 

[tinpanalley]

Thanks, slugbait. But I'm hoping to get at least some kind of mpeg file. And if MC captures video into a proprietary windows-media-unknown-container-crap-compression video, I won't be able to do anything else with it.
I'll experiment. I'm gonna download Virtualdub first.

 

[tinpanalley]

Any other ideas here for software?
Someone told me about something called MAGIX Movie Edit Pro. Going to try that I guess.

All I need is to be able to capture what my PVR card is seeing and to set it to the right ratio. WinTV is way too simple.

 

[Evander]

Any other ideas here for software?
Someone told me about something called MAGIX Movie Edit Pro. Going to try that I guess.

All I need is to be able to capture what my PVR card is seeing and to set it to the right ratio. WinTV is way too simple.

You could try NextPVR, which is free:
http://www.nextpvr.com/
otherwise, take a look around these forums and ask if you can't find anything:
http://www.shspvr.com/smf/index.php