yes it can be done, and done well with the ATI All In Wonder Series Cards

Ok,

They are two ATI cards that I'm interested

1: ATI-TV WONDER I don't know the price !

2: TV WONDER VE I can Have it for $69 CDN

Now the differences :

FEATURE COMPARISON

Features ATI-TV WONDER? TV WONDER? VE TV WONDER?USB EDITION
PCI slot required x x
Stereo TV-Tuner x
Windows® 98 SE, Windows® 2000, Windows® Me compatible x x x
*includes Windows® 98 support
Video capture x x x
Real-time video compression MPEG-2 MPEG-2 AVI
S-video input x x
Digital VCR x x x
TV integrated into web browser x x x
GUIDE Plus+? Interactive Program Guide x x x
Closed captioning x x x
TV Magazine x x x
Hot Words real-time word notification x x x
Scheduled viewing x x x
Video desktop x x x
Channel preview x x x
USB connection x

The only difference I see is the TV WONDER VE don't have a S-video input

Is is so important this S-video input ?

Thanks

S-Video is a conection used on Hi8, S-VHS, DVD, SAT... to achieve better picture quality by separating the color and resolution portions of the video signal. Standard RCA jacks are limited to about 240Lines of resolution whereas s-video can get upwards of 500. If you are only planning on transferring VHS then No there is value in the S-video for you.

*the tv wonder is also Stereo but the VE is just Mono

Thanks greasemonkey

I will check the price of the other card at Insight ;)

If I transfer VHS to my pc with the ATI Tv card,

and I burn it to a CD

What will be the size of the movie ? Full screen ?

Thanks

I capture at 320x240 (I've always had problems capturing any higher with the TV wonder). Whether you would view it full screen or not depends on the compression you use. The VCD's I make I watch on my TV (32") and they would be comparable quality to a good VHS recording. If you use a straight AVI capture it would look great but take up a [b:a03680cb12]HUGE[/b:a03680cb12] amount of space. When I'm not making VCD's I usally use the DIVX codec or if its for webpage/email I'll use .wmv.

*you can change the size while viewing them on the computer just like any movie file but like I said the picture quality at full screen totally depends on the compression(codec).

1 error in last post, for VCD's you must capture at 352x240 as this is part of the VCD standard (no problems with this resolution with the TV wonder).

*1 more point the higher resolution you capture at the more likely dropped frames are (not good), and also some codecs rely more heavily on your CPU when encoding so make sure your system is up to it.

Thanks greasemonkey

For these very precious informations

I really appreciate them ;)

This question is for Greasemonkey.

When you convert Hi8 and put it to VCD, can you play it in your DVD player?

If so, What software are you using. I have a Hi8 DV camcorder and I connect it to my PC through Firewire. The camcorder has a firewire port on it, in case you were wondering.

I believe I also read in my DVD player manual that it will play VCD's. (Yes I am male, and yes I did read the manual.:D )

Ok, maybe I just skimmed it, but I did look at it.:rolleyes:

Easiest program I've found to make VCD's is Uleads dvd factory. It will convert into the proper format and burn to disk with a simple menu.
As far a playing the VCD in your DVD player, most players will play VCD's however not all will play burnt ones. Basically if it recognizes a burnt CD (music) it should play the VCD as well. Pioneer, most models of hitachi and toshiba will play them, most Sony's will not.