Want to watch and record favorite TV shows & then Archive onto DVD's. What's the best card & software to use? Also, the I checked out the "ASUS B-TV 880" card, it looks OK, but the box states, make your own VCD/SVCD/ and miniDVD. What are miniDVD's? Can I also make regular DVD's? The vendor was not sure, the Asus support has not answered. Does anyone know? Thank you
HEY I JUST WENT THROUGH ALL THIS . i know how you feel. i use winfast2000deluxe tv capture card. it lets me chose the capture format. it stores it in a file that i burn onto my cdrws just like a vcr if i want to keep the show i do a disc copy onto a cdr and reformat the cdrw to use again heres a good link http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?description=14-122-132
I'm doing the same thing. But I have an ATI TV-Wonder (PCI). Since I don't like the software that came with the card (for recording that is), I bought a copy of SnapStream's Personal Video Station -- which works for me. I'm able to schedule shows from work via the Internet. Anyways, what the box is probably describing is what the software that comes with the card will do. Either way, if the software that comes with the card sucks, you can always get software that will do what you want. Also, if the card's software will at least output to AVI or MPEG2, then you are in business. There are several software programs that can convert AVI or MPEG2 to DVD-ready files (TMPGEnc). I'm actually using Studio 8 now, but I started with TMPGEnc. Anyways, once software has converted MPEG2 or AVI to the VIDEO_TS folder and associated files, you can use any DVD-burning software to create your DVD (I'm using Nero).
Normal DVD quality should get you about 2 hours on one disc. Best quality will get you only 1. Some software will allow you to juggle between the different settings. Best to buy a few DVDRW discs to play with and get a sense of what you like. What I have found is TV shows from my cable appear to only be VCR quality (or slightly better with digital cable) so normal DVD quality is just fine -- you might even find lower than normal quality acceptable for TV captured videos. If you are asking about AVI file sizes -- that depends on the codec used (if any). I believe the DV codec should use about 17 GB per half hour (720x480 NTSC).
I have a 128Pro All in Wonder. For example if I want to record RAP City through my card and then go back and just keep the videos I like I would need a minimum of 68GB just for the initial file?
I have no idea how long that show is. Most TV shows are 30 minutes or an hour. I guess your show is 2 hours. You could try using another AVI codec -- like Indeo which tends to be smaller. If you don't have room, you could record in high quality MPEG2 if you have software to support that. Probably more like 8GB for 2 hours. Of course, this is not as clean a solution -- and you have to be careful when editing it since each time you save your MPEG file it gets recompressed and thus loss of more data. I haven't had much problem with Studio 8 doing this. I think S8 keeps track of each cut and recompresses/re-encodes at the end. I'm not sure if other programs do the same. Other think to keep in mind, if you do edit your file, other programs may require at least double the original file for workspace. Example: Original 4 GB 2 hour movie recorded from TV in normal DVD quality Studio temp files and cut files: 4-6 GB Final DVD fileset: 4 GB There's a reason why video editing and authoring has always been out of reach of the casual consumer -- until now.
Cool, Thanks for the help. This is something I have had the capability to do for a long time just have not gotten around to it. I have not done more than take still images of Live TV. I am however going to get more involved, to make myself rap video dvd's. BTW RAP City is 2 hours long.
Hello awesomejt, I tried the TMPGEnc link but the downloaded software claims that it had expired from the 30 days trial and unable to edit mpeg2. Any other good suggestion??
