What vid card for making DVD's?

[jruff]

I would like to convert my camcorder and VHS tapes to DVD format
Do I get a ATI All-In-Wonder or the Nvidia Personal Cinema?
Also if I dont care about the gaming of the card can I get the cheaper older models?

 

[Matthias99]

I've heard better things about the AIW cards and the Leadtek TV capture cards.

Yes, older model AIWs are fine; the guts of them haven't changed much since the 8500 AIW.

 

[rbV5]

Also if I dont care about the gaming of the card can I get the cheaper older models?

Yes, but if you are going the AIW route, try to get an AIW 7500 or newer since it has Dual Ramdac (for theater mode) and the remote. Also, the R3xxx models have a much improved MPEG-2 encoder engine over the older models which is nice for video soap and reducing the CPU load (but certainly not necissary), and the Aiw 9000/AIW VE, AIW 9700/9800 pro/np use the improved Theater 200 chip (12bit ADC vs 9 bit ADC's on Rage Theater) so there are differences.


ATI product comparisons

 

[jruff]

So the AIW it is.

Will the quality of the final DVD creation differ with the 8500, 9000 or 9600?
Or is it just the ease of use and such?

Thanks for your info thusfar.

 

[rbV5]

Will the quality of the final DVD creation differ with the 8500, 9000 or 9600?

I haven't seen a large difference between Rage Theater and Theater 200 myself, so I don't think the 12bit ADC's make a heck of a lot of difference with analog captures. As far as the GPU assist with the R3xxx cards, the final quality will be the same provided you aren't dropping frames with the settings you use. A somewhat powerful CPU will allow you to use enough video soap to cleanup the video nicely in software, ATI's MPEG encoding algorythms are very efficient and mature.

 

[jruff]

Most everyone has the 9600 AIW for around $200 but I see referb 9700 AIW for $204 with shipping.
I know the 9700 Pro is the gamer chip to get so this makes it a better value but does it stack up against a newer 9600 AIW as far as the video editing features this newer 9600 might have?

Im such a newbie when it comes to this portion of the hardware

Thanks again for the help

Jeff

 

[rbV5]

3 main things the AIW 9600 have going for them is that it 1. supports dual analog monitors 2. Has FM stereo tuner 3. Run cooler. It also comes with a half life 2 coupon, and a coupon for the Remote Wonder2 when it comes out.
The AIW 9700(especially the pro model) is more powerful 3D performance and supports either 1 DVI or 1 Analog monitor. The pro model also comes with native component output for your HDTV.

I would recommend against the refurb unless you have cheap access to the accessories as they add considerable cost to the card, not to mention the DVD decoders and editing software.

 

[jruff]

I did see the fact that the 9700 did not come with anything other then the card itself. Guess its the 9600 pro AIW.
The 9700 was just the greed for speed on my end and the 9600 pro will more then safice for my wife.

She has a 1600+ AMD with 768megs memory. Will this machine be OK?
I have a 2500+ Barton@210mhz in my system if more CPU power is needed.

What do you think?

This has been extremely helpful in my product research and will be at Best Buys doors this morning
Thanks

 

[jessieqwert]

I think both of the machines you mentioned will be fine.
While MPG 2 encoding does tax the CPU, the only advantage to a faster CPU is faster processing times.

When I was doing a lot of video work last summer I was using an AMD 1 GHz rig with an ATI TV Wonder.
It worked fine, I'd just let it run overnight.
I suspect even the most powerful CPU will require more time then you want to sit there for.

 

[jruff]

I got the 9600 Pro AIW
Now just to figure out all the software

This is all new to me but I done grad'e'ated sixth grade so it shouldnt be to hard right?

Again thanks for the input, you guys made my buying decision much easier then asking the Best Buy folks.

BTW I had to get it at CompUSA. The monkeys at Best Buy never heard of the 9600 AIW and asked when that model had come out.

 

[jessieqwert]

Check out http://dvdrhelp.com for even more in depth help.

 

[Keysplayr]

Just got a Pinnacle Studio Deluxe and it is absolutely fantastic! Comes with a fully featured Analog/Digital capable card with firewire ports, Studio Deluxe software and a really nice breakout box. I bought this one mainly for its analog/digital capabilities as I still own a non digital vid cam. When I upgrade in the future to digital it will still work with it. Anyways, using this program, I was able to make beautiful DVD's of my baby boy with menus, screen transistions, musical backrounds and my DVD looked as if I (an amateur) could not have possibly made it. Couldn't be happier. I believe the kit cost me about 179.99. Which costs much less than a 9600/9700 AIW card. You dont have to remove your existing vid card either because its just a PCI capture/encoder/decoder card.

If you have the coin, I would whole heartedly recommend picking one of these up. I have never dropped a frame and I only capture at full speed. Your system may differ with your speed of CPU and mem config.

My system:
P4P800
P4 2.8/533
1GB PC2700
GeForceFX 5900
Audigy2
NEC DVD +RW
40GB Seagate
80GB Western Digital (This is the drive I use to capture)

Good Luck

Keys