Problems with TV Capture Card - Image Quality from Anything is Rubbish!

[s162216]

Hi,

I use a very old Avermedia TV 203 capture card to capture the image from my PVR and games consoles so that I can play them over my HT. The problem is that it has utterly crap quality. I use Dscaler for the deinterlacing but whenever I use composite or s video for capture I have problems. I ahve never actually used the analogue TV part, just the video capture.

With composite the picture looks no where near as good as on my CRT tv and with s video, I get like a diagonal 'grid' of lines all over the picture that are clearly visible unless you sit about 10'/3m away. When I use my N64 or Gamecube especially, even when I use the dedicated 'old game' setting in Dscaler for the N64 which uses a half progressive picture sort of thing, it looks especially bad as the image flickers constantly.

I would like to be able to fix this problem as it is annoying having a great LCR speaker configuration on my PC for gaming but I have to play on mono for my consoles over my 18" CRT.

One problem I think is the capture card, which is from 1999 and I got for £10 as a clearance item, only supports output resolutions up to 1024 x 768 and I am running at 1680 x 1050.

I might get this capture card that supports up to 1080i capture and as so resolution as its a DVB-S card and can receive HD channels. I think that as its pretty recent it might improve the problem.

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Compro-VideoMate-S350-Digital-Satellite-TV-Analog-Tuner-plus-Video-Audio-Capture-Card

Specs: http://www.comprousa.com/en/product/s350/s350-Specifications.html

Any Ideas?

 

[itschris]

I'm not an expert, but I can just tell you that mismatched resolutions rarely look good. My old laptop only has an s-video out and was virtually unusable on my TV. That's a very old card... time for a step up I believe.

Hi,

I use a very old Avermedia TV 203 capture card to capture the image from my PVR and games consoles so that I can play them over my HT. The problem is that it has utterly crap quality. I use Dscaler for the deinterlacing but whenever I use composite or s video for capture I have problems. I ahve never actually used the analogue TV part, just the video capture.

With composite the picture looks no where near as good as on my CRT tv and with s video, I get like a diagonal 'grid' of lines all over the picture that are clearly visible unless you sit about 10'/3m away. When I use my N64 or Gamecube especially, even when I use the dedicated 'old game' setting in Dscaler for the N64 which uses a half progressive picture sort of thing, it looks especially bad as the image flickers constantly.

I would like to be able to fix this problem as it is annoying having a great LCR speaker configuration on my PC for gaming but I have to play on mono for my consoles over my 18" CRT.

One problem I think is the capture card, which is from 1999 and I got for £10 as a clearance item, only supports output resolutions up to 1024 x 768 and I am running at 1680 x 1050.

I might get this capture card that supports up to 1080i capture and as so resolution as its a DVB-S card and can receive HD channels. I think that as its pretty recent it might improve the problem.

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Compro-VideoMate-S350-Digital-Satellite-TV-Analog-Tuner-plus-Video-Audio-Capture-Card

Specs: http://www.comprousa.com/en/product/s350/s350-Specifications.html

Any Ideas?

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

If you want good quality analog video capture - component is the only way to go. Don't waste your time with composite and s-video
The problem was until very recently HD component capture cards started at $2000.
Lucky today you can get a break and this is what you want:
http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_hdpvr.html

 

[s162216]

Unfortunately I don't actually have anything that uses component video. Its not as common in the UK or Europe as we have alwys had RGB SCART that gives comparable quality.

The only thing that can output a component signal is my Nintendo Gamecube as I have one of the early ones with the digital out for a component cable. Unfortunately hardly anyone used it to connect, so in later models it was removed and the cables no longer sold, so now the cables go for a fortune on ebay and the only 3rd party source of them shut down a few years ago

Its not too bad with watching stuff I have recorded on my PVR if you sit back from it, but I really want to use my consoles on it and all I ever get is a flickering image.

I will get that card I mentioned shortly and see if that makes any difference.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Hey s162216,
I had a bit more time to checkout the card you were looking at before.
This TV tuner/analog capture card will surely will be in lower-budget, but as many cards in its price range it'll heavy depend on your pc for encoding.
hauppauge card I suggested doesn't have tv tuner capabilities, but I works with your existing cable/satellite box. I does have however built-in hardware h264 encoder which should allow you to use less hd space for your recordings.

I wonder , then you talk about capturing video in higher-resolutions, well if your source is composite/s-video and your running capture at 1024x768 - this means you enlarging the size of video. Original pal tv signal is i576 = 576 horizontal lines = in 4:3 broadcast it roughly equivalent to 768x576 - as you see smaller than your existing tv card limit.

p.s: Scart to component adapters are cheap and easily available.

and second: I used cheap K-World Tv capture card and used d-scaller extensively. I have myriad of options. I'll try to investigate and try other functions. Try also to eliminate any electonic noise source if near by : Heater, AC, Drill, vacuum cleaner, microwave.

 

[s162216]

I wonder , then you talk about capturing video in higher-resolutions, well if your source is composite/s-video and your running capture at 1024x768 - this means you enlarging the size of video. Original pal tv signal is i576 = 576 horizontal lines = in 4:3 broadcast it roughly equivalent to 768x576 - as you see smaller than your existing tv card limit.

Actually I am using 1680 x 1050 as my resolution. I see then reason as for why the lines could appear but why don't they for everyone then?

Theres no way I can afford one of those capture cards, their way too expensive. What limits me is that I don't have PCI express, only the original PCI. There are a few £40 capture cards with component but all the ones I have found are PCI-E.

One slight problem with the N64 is that it cannot output an RGB signal. Strangely, Nintendo decided that despite RGB being very popular in Europe, not to make it outputable. But for some reason, with NTSC models and very early French SECAM models, you can easily adapt them to output RGB with simple circuit on the output IC. Its not possible with PAL models though as they use a different IC. There is a company in Germany that can adapt PAL models, but its 50 euros to do it and apparently it is not always as successful every time. The best the N64 can output is S-Video.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

The fact your monitor resolution is 1680x1050 [mine too btw] has nothing to do with resolution of your source video.
1024x768 is limit of your capture card. Please refresh for me, which cables/connections you use to connect your equipment and what types of video outputs are available on your equipment [Ninteno n64 and you pvr]

If im not mistaken n64 being quite old platform can't show anything over standard TV resolution [in your case 576i]

 

[s162216]

The fact your monitor resolution is 1680x1050 [mine too btw] has nothing to do with resolution of your source video.
1024x768 is limit of your capture card. Please refresh for me, which cables/connections you use to connect your equipment and what types of video outputs are available on your equipment [Ninteno n64 and you pvr]

If im not mistaken n64 being quite old platform can't show anything over standard TV resolution [in your case 576i]

PVR - I use RGB SCART with my TV but it can also do Composite or S-Video

Gamecube - Composite or RGB (PAL models cannot output s video) Component, but its impossible to get the cables. I use composite at the moment.

N64 - Composite or S Video. I use composite with my TV but I have just got given an s video cable for christmas that I attempted to use with my TV card, just very flickery and everything has a diagonal 'grid' over it.


None of my stuff can show anything except SDTV resolution (576i), nothing I have can recieve HD broadcasts or output a HD signal.

EDIT:

The N64 does not actually use a 576i signal, I just remembered that it used a half progressive something or other as the processing power of the time was not good enough to interlace a signal in realtime.

 

[s162216]

One other thing I forgot to put on the list.

I use my VHS player with the capture card and the results are not bad, obviously I can only use composite with that as S-VHS players with S-Video never really caught on in the UK and few models were released.

The N64 sacrifices half the vertical resolution in order for it to run smoother as it takes less processing power than to interlace the whole image, so the horizontal half of it is in progressive scan and the vertical is interlaced. The Old Game de-interlace setting in Dscaler can de-interlace that as all consoles before the Xbox, PS2 etc had to do it like that.

I have just found the place that does N64 RGB conversions. Its more than I though it was, 79.99 euros! Theres no way I can afford that now (Possibly in a few years). Ironically I just found on the same site they do Gamecube component cables, also 79.99 Euros! I do have to accept though that they would have to be expensive as they are custom made for this company in Germany.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Hey s162216,
I kinda running of out answers for you, in view of your very tight budget very few things can be bought. Double check cable connections and if cables condition (no physical damage)
Try to play more with capture parameters and try to match your capture resolution to resolution of your material.

Best luck!

 

[s162216]

If I save for a while I should be able to afford this:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductID=974291&source=froogle

It has S-Video and Component Input and Mpeg 2/3/4 hardware encoding. Seems to have fairly good reviews and its PCI so I can use it.