Review & Comparison of Various Hardware MPEG Encoder Cards. 11-8-01
Been messing with the following cards for a while a week now: my email:
- SNAZZI (acutally I had that for 2
years and it's sorta a base for my comparison) only do MPeg1 encoding
- Dazzle Digital Video Creator II (supposely the
successor to the Snazzi)
- PV256T (from Provideo the model with the TV
tuner)
- Real Magic DVR (from Sigma
Designs, the HollyWood Plus guys)
- PV233 (from Provideo w TV tuner captures only MPEG1 )
- Contact: geniv@geniv.com or jayfarris@aol.com ( don't judge me cause I use aol, it's free for me)
ABOUT MY REVIEW:
Test System:
PIII 450mhz
196 megs ram
SBLive 5.1
STB 3dFX banshee
Win98/W2K (dual boot)
Video Source: (hooked up from A/V cables to 32" toshiba TV and it has A/V output to my capture card)
DVD "Soldier" (Kirk Russle)
DVD "Macross II the movie" (cartoon)
Playstation "Ridge RAcer Type 4"
DVD "Ninja Scroll" anime
DVD "AKIRA" anime
DVD "V" (a early 1980's alien nation type series)
I think I"m like most of you that wants a good capture card with good set of features, high quality video capture and transfer my VHS, DVD or what ever capture video to VCD or DVD or SVCD.I don't do any editing or titling. I got all the latest driver/app for the cards also. I consider the video quality and sync the highest priority in a card. I compare the quality of the video using VCD capture setting on all the cards since all card can capture to that format and it's the only equal measurement.
* I don't get paid for this or anything and don't
want to spend shit load of times, this is just to help you people decide on what capture
card to get. this is based on real world trials with the cards and not just comparing
specs on a website.I may use vulgar language, have bad grammer and throw in a joke here or
there. If you think you will be offended then by all means goto another site.
why no screen shots or specs on the cards? well I"m
too lazy and to much hassle to take screen shot and paste. to the webserver. and for specs
goto the product website. No video clips because I got 56k and uploading is a bitch
for me. Just take my word for it when I tell you about the video quality. I've
been in the computer scene for years. from being a techinican to hacker to pirate etc... I
wn't say I know everything but I"m no rookie.. btw: I can tell with my
naked eye the difference between monitor refresh rate of 60hz and 80 hz :P
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I got this little bogger about 2 years ago it was actually released I think around 1998. Though by today's standard it can't really do much. It only capture to max resolution of 352x240, 352x288 (VCD resolution). But if MPEG1 up to VCD resolution is all you need THIS THING IS AWESOME!. Software is simple and EASY to
use yet have good set of tweaking option (video/audio bitrate etc..). (ohh yeah it does those 170x120, 170x160 resolution also). this is VERY reliable hardware. I never noticed it before until I compared to other capture boards but the Picture quality of the VCD quality is VERY good. Get this if all u need is VCD, I'm sure ebay has it cheap. For what it is made to do it does an EXCELLENT at it. It capture my Ridge RAcer in best quality. (close to what I see on TV) Love this thing.
* for the record my OS is very unstable with loads of hardware crammed in it and shit load of software loaded. and I know I got 1 or 2 virus that's really just lying there doing nothing:) if it works flawlessly on my OS. that said alot about the stablity of the software
Pro:
- VERY reliable and bug free software program also very easy to use
- very good VCD picture quality
- NEVER EVER had any audio/lip syc problem in my encode file. even with 2+
hours long captures
Con:
- can only do up to VCD resolution MPeg1 (not that it's a fault, it's
originally design for mpeg1)
- only has driver/applicaiton for Win9x (as far as I know
no updated software for WinME, W2K or XP)
score: 8.5
I personally I wouldn't recommend this device. I nick named it the "Digital Video Crapper II". I'm VERY dissappointed on this device. before you call me an ass. let me explained, I gave it a fair chance. I tried it on two different system and had 3 of them tested to make sure I didn't get a defective device). I don't think the hardware is that bad, just the software for it. it's kinda buggy. but asside from that there's Audio/Video Sync problems with it. most people wouldn't notice until they capture a long clip like over an hour long. Personally I think that's the worst problem a encoder can have. I emailed the company several time about the problem and never got any reply. most of the problems I read on internet forum about this thing is the sync problem. people were offer solution from, switchign to more power box, clean system of virus, to using a TBC ($200-$1000+) on it. my biggest grip is that the company never acknowledge the problem or offer a solution to me about it. just surprised because they were the came company (I think) that made the original SNAZZI. I find the capture software bloated with too many features (some might find it useful but that's just personal taste). when all I wanted is to make quick capture I have to wait like 5-7 seconds for the program to load. (the longest wait time of all the other card's capture proggie). also sometimes there's a second or two delay after I click record button before it records. some might find the integrated "albums" and edit features useful but again it's personal taste but it do have some decent set of functions and features along with the capture buttons. I can't comment on the editiog part since I never did it. The TV out feature is kind of flaky on this thing. all the VCD/MPG1 clips I made with the SNAZZI I can play it on the TV output with no problem (looks good too). but the VCD clips I recorded on the DVCII would sometimes not play and sometimes plays jumpy. (also the VCD captured by it looked kinda blurry and certain clips jumps even when played by Windows Media). the DVD capture to VCD of Ridge RAcer is the worst in the lot the image is "compressed" to like a square wheres the Snazzi is a rectangle giving me the right aspect ratio to what I saw on TV
Pro:
- Good quality capture on high resolutions SVCD/DVD with high bigrate
- good set tools and extra programs with the package
- easily set template for VCD,SVCD,DVD and easy to access applicaation for burning
your videos
- good quality picture on high bitrate/ resolution captures.
- could be good card if you are the portion of owner that can successfully fix the
a/v sync problem
Con:
- main capture program have some control listed but can't adjust it (ex.
sharpness)
- crashes occurs when using the program (though latest version 4.3 is
supposely more stable)
- VCD capture is blury/ too smooth out. I think one of the worst in the whole
lot I tested
- Audio/Video Sync problems on VCD captures (I personally
never tested long DVD/SVCD captures but I hear alot that thereys sync problems on it
also) and company failure to offer solution
- "Inital video in" picture is kinda dark u need to tweak the picture
control to get colors to match source
- got problem outputting it's own capture MPEG1 to TV
score: 6.5
In terms of encoding quality i would have to say this is the best one out of all I tested. at SVCD/DVD resolu tion even in lower bitrate I was able to get as good as quality as the DVCII in higher bitrate. but I have to say the software leaves alot to be desired. I tried it on 2 Win98 machines. it keep giving me "unsupported hardware alert" and let me enable DMA. and when I tried to run the application it would say "perform illegal function". IN it's defense my system is over bloaded with software and stuff. so I installed it on my dual boot to Win2K. and it installs runs fine. I use driver 1.6 which seems to clear some bugs off the old 1.4 dirvers but still have sability issue like sometimes after you click the "stop" recording button it freeezs. freezes when loading file to play. when switching from play to record mode
Anyway. the program left out some common sense features:
- you can't record audio in 48kz, max is 44.1 even though they have a DVD template I don't think the 44.1 khz is gonna give u a complient DVD file. (maybe fix in future driver?)- Their player/decoder program you can use it's hardware to decode and view the MPg file to screen or TV but there's no slider bar to advance/move along the movie file. only a "play" and "Stop" button... I like to watch the mpeg file on my TV but it's stupid to have to wait from beginning to it play.
- on MPEG1 encoding the max bitrate is 1150000 (VCD). all the other programs /cards allow you to go as high as 3 or 4 meg bitrate. why limite it to VCD bitrate for mpeg1 here?! might not be a problem to some but I personally like to record stuff in VCD resolution with 3 meg bitrate then convert it to DivX. (this give me smaller size and better than standard VCD quality video). This seem to give me better quality capture on Ridge RAcer (as in less macrobox) in VCD format than the SNAZZI but the picture is not as "rectanglular" as the snazzi.
I'm hoping future driver/app will resolve these issues.
Ohh yeah this is one of the lowest costing mpeg1/2 card in my list I paid $205 shipping included for it, it comes with Video STudio, Remote control and TV tuner. I'm in USA and there's no distributer here so I have to get it directly from the manufactuer, sales lady (by email) is nice and helpful but to buy u also have to send them photocopy of u credit card... (scary for some, even for me) (sorry I never tested the TV tuner or capture from it since I have REALLY bad TV reception since Sept 11 attack) . as soon as I plug in the Video In. the picture was perfect to what I see on TV and no need to adjust like the Snazzi or worst off DVCII. the PV256's software package was nothing to wow about not much.
UPDATE: I installed a fresh WIN2K operating system and, tried the card. and using 1.6 latest drivers it still somewhat stable. someimes it just reset my system. also I switch to a less clutter version of my Win98 system. and I was able to run the cap software but after recording it ask me a file to save. and the file that it saves is "0" byte.... %$^@%$##. I tired switch IRQs to dedicated IRQ and it didn't seem to do any different.
Pro:
- low cost alot of goodies, lowest cost of the 3 encoder cards tested, $205
capture card, with TV tuner. remote control. but it's a hassle buying it.
- best VCD and MPEG2 picture quality captures out of all the cards (it use the
scream stream chip,, .. something like that)
- good quality TV out picture.
Con:
- better compatiablity with Win2K than win9x
- software for capture leave some common sense options out. (as I listed
before)
- company lazy or stupid on the software.. (very little features on the
app and instead of separate driver/app for win9x and Win2k they have one set for
both OS. I think it will some issue later)
score: 7.5 (low score due to compatiablity issue and unstable drivre/application)
I don't mind paying a little extra of
my gears if it's actually worth the money. but i"m kinda dissappointed with
this card. this is bascally 2 cards in one a mpeg1/2 encoder and the HOlly
Wood Plus DVD decoder card (HW+ card great card btw). the decoding part is same as
HW+, should be same chipset, and manufactuere. acutally the software is almost exactally
the same as HW+ with the exception of a "record" and "preview"
button on the right side and the encoding settting on the options page.
one cool thing about this card is that u can preview in
"real time" (actually it's 2 second behind) how the encode video will look.
so instead of using a setup, encode then play the file, you just preview how
it look like with a particular setting on. great time saver. Unlike the DVCII,
PV256, which require a PIII450 this card does all the encoding in hadware so
all you need is a PII266mhz cpu. personally I like the low cpu useage since I
only meet the the PIII450 spec.
Two superficial thing about this I don't like is, that's
there's a "breakout" box thingy to plug your a/v cables it just clutter my table
more. (I like one where u can plug everything directly in back of the card but with the
dvd out decoder it's impossible to cram all the plugs in the back of the card). another
thing is you have to use a "pass through" cable to connect it to your video card
then to your monitor. Something like how you hook up those old Voodoo1 and Voodoo2
boards. I can't really tell any difference but some people say there a loss of
video quality on your monitor slightly. personally I ahve 19" with 32 bit color
and I don't notice any difference.
One thing I find kind of bad and strange is the way you
take screenshot of the incomming video. Litterally all capture cards I tried you can
just get a uncompress snapshot of the video with no problem. With the DVR, you can
take a snapshot but it is a compressed snapshot. so let say you set your capture
setting to VCD and you take a still shot from the incomming video the picture will look
like you took a snapshot from an already captured VCD clip. the end picture looks
compress and somewhat blocky like a still from a MPEG1 instead of a clean uncompress pic.
To get better quality you have to set your capture setting to high resolution and
high bitrate. Just a pain on the ass and still won't get as good as a screen grab from say
a cheap WinTV.
Asside from the wavy picture the encoding quality is not good
either. this thing use the BKIR or something chip the same one that's on the WinTV
PVR (which alot of people say has bad encoding quality) I read that the DVR is 2.5x
the encoding picture quality as the PVR so I hate to see how the WinTV PVR looks
like. hard to describe but the encode video. the SNAZZI, PV256 when they
encode moving edges (where u normally see artifacts ) it kind of make little boxes but
smoothed out. with the DVR you get bunch of little box but it's not as
"smoothed" out it looks like it's ditterled and it covered a wider space
in the picture than the SNAZZI or PV256. resulting in more visible
compression/motion artifact. but in still scenes the picture is sharper and cleaner
than the DVCII.
Worst of all it was a bitch for me to encode clips from the DVD
because this thing has macrovision protection and won't let you encode macrovsion
protected DVD. what I did was jack the video into my TBC (Time Base Corrector...
supposely improve quality of some older damaged vhs tapes but as a sideeffect it removes
macrovision signals) than from the TBC jack it back to the DVR. of
course this resulted in a slight picture qulaity loss at first I thought it wasy the cause
of the wavy lines or the dlittered edges but I tried it on the SNAZZI and it didn't have
the same problem. unless you're willing to spend from $200 to over $1000
to get a TBC forget about encoding DVD movies...or anytying with macrovision.
One more thing. I was reading the manual PDF file and they they say there's a
template for VCD/SVCD/DVD. well surprise! there's no template for SVCD
in the actual software nor any option to pick the SVCD resolution :(.
This thing is the most expensive of all $677 for me (shipping included)
if you think about it, $79 for the HW+ decoder and $300 for a mpeg
encoder is still cheaper.
REAL MAGIC DVR update:12-05-01
The other day and was just wondering why on a review: http://tangentsoft.net/video/mpeg/reviews/dvr.html
the guy said the DVR have "very good quality", while my experience was with crappy video. so I started to question my setup. I had some wavy picture during playback of mpg files on their player but that was taken care of by manual calibration.
I found out that the video in cable I was using was breaking apart on the inside. anyway I went to the WIZ and bought a $25 set of "high quality" a/v cables (or the sales person claims...) anyway I used those cable and the encode quality is WAY better! the wavy lines and extra artifacts on the encoded video was gone :) I then change to another generic video cable and got the same result so screw me for paying for the expensive ones :P
After some deeper testing I realize that when I was making my capture of "Soldier" before through my TBC. it DID decreased my video quality. so I switch to the DVD "Matrix" and "Ninja Scroll" which is not macrovision protected and I can just connect to my DVD player. got some good encoded video quality.
The encoded video from the DVR was on par with the PV256 in terms of quality but it is kinda "different". on the SNAZZI and PV256 the "edge of different colored objects" was "smoother" but the over all picture was not as sharp. on the DVR the "edge" of objects was more "vivid" and "dittered" and you can see slight artifact that you wouldn't notice on the SNAZZI or PV256 but the overall picture was sharper. (I watch the clip on my TV with the video out and the edge issue didn't really show up) Also interesting. at the same bitrate (VCD) on the SNAZZI and PV256 on some quick moving scene I notice some macroblocks. but on the DVR there was less macroblocks and some scenes I didn't even notice any macroblock!
To sum up the video quality. the SNAZZI and PV256 is smooth and alittle less artifact. The DVR have a little more noticeable artifact but the overall image is sharper and less macroblock in moving scenes. the quality of the 3 is the same so it depend on which u perfer.
Some complains about the DVR's encoded file. the image is "off centered". (like the video image is moved alittle bit toward the right too much) and on the encoded video there's a small blank vertical black area where there should be video. (Apperarently there's no aligniment controls on the Cap software... :(. I tried hooking up the video from my TV, DVD and SVIDEO and still the off centered image so I'm sure is the card. (maybe there's a registry hack to fix this?)
Another problem with the encodered file is it's "unstable". I use ActiveMovie Control and Win media Player 7.1 to view the captured files. anyway when I load a DVR file and I move the slider bar around in my player to different section of the video, the player would frequently hang. NONE of the mpeg files encoded by the other cards does that to my players. (but I can't say this is 100% the DVR's fault there's a chance it's my system also)
Yeah, Yeah I know this is a long article on this card but for the price don't u want to know all the nooks and cranny about the card before you slap down your $$?
Pro:
- pure hardware capture low cpu requirement
- can view/preview captures in real time.
- 2 card in 1. save extra card for the HW+ great DVD playback
- has video noise filter built on hardware
- has the sharpest quality picture of all the cards (great quality if u use SVideo
in )
- overall great quality image in capture (if u can get rid of the off centering)
Con:
- capture setting is not as robust as other dedicated capture card
- can't do uncompress still image snapshot.
- expensive $655
- I capture image is "off centered" and some stability problem with
encoded files
- won't let you encode macrovision protected video
- no SVCD settting
score: 7.5 (because of high price and all these little annoying problems with it)
PV233 12-05-01
Just got this today and was testing it
for the past 5 hours. This is like the little brother of the PV256T with the
exception that it can't do MPEG2 compression and have no Video Out). Since I'm
mainly concern with MPEG1 capture quaity, I never tested the TV Tuner. I got REALLY bad
reception and can't get any station on my house and I couldn't care less about the tuner
since I already got the WinTV. but hey for a TV tuner and REmote control why not
just slap in an extra $30 it may become useful later on on a different machine.. I never
tested the remote control or long (over 1.5 hours) captures for a/v sync problems.
(from discussion boards I never read or heard of anyone haveing problems with the
Remote control or a/v sync problems so I take it there's no problem with either of them)
When I first install and launch the cap program (ver 2.2) I was
thinking "Fuck" because it looks almost exactally like the one I got with my
PV256 and that thing was a bitch because it's so buggy and unstable. To my surprise
I was proven wrong, the PV233 one is stable with no bugs. Not that the program don't
work in fact it works well but but you gotta admit it's pretty ugly interface and the
button layout is not too intituative. A down side to the program is that there's
little setting options for your captures. Actually theres fair amount of cap setting but
they are scattered all over the program interface. (most cap software will have it in the
same option groups)
Ok on to the good stuff. I first did a VCD cap of
AKIRA it was block and alot of artifact. Next I did the registry GOP update and did
the same cap again. it looks MUCH better. In still scenes the picture was very
good and smooth. one thing I notice about the image quality is it there more
compression artifact on moving/motion scenes than say the DVR and PV256. If you
compare this to the SNAZZI the PV231/233 will give you better quality captures. The
result was pretty much the same for the other DVD clip captures I made. looks great
in still/low motion scenes but a bit of notice artifiact in moving scenes.
Honestly I was alittle bit disappointed by the quality, not that
it's bad but I was hyped up about the winbound chip and by a thread on VCDHelp.com message
board. (Please don't take this the wrong way I don't intend to critize anyone but
just a remark) They might not have seen as much same clip realworld sample from the
various cards as I did. Then again, I use to think the SNazzi have AWEsome quality
video, because that's all I had.
One neat little feature that no one ever mentioned is the
"realtime" capture preview..... well sorta. It's not as good as the actual
Reatltime preview thing from the DVR but it's close to it. When u start recording
you get to see how your actual encoded video will look like (abit 2 seconds behind real
time). it can save time since u don't have to wait until the entire cap is finish to
see the result.
Something interesting with this card is that for some reason it
have some problem reconizing signal from my PlaySTation. It would say
"video error" or no video even though there is... it's on and
off like this. but I was able to capture my Ridge RAcer 4 video. With
the Ridge Racer VCD clip, there's more macroblock than the PV256 (which is hard noticable)
and the DVR (actually I can't find any! but the overall aspect ratio is a little off).
I would recommend this card over the SNAZZI if all u need is MPEG1. because it's better and more bang for the bux and offer better encoded video than the SNAZZI. It don't "color bleed" like the Snazzi when encoding some DVD movies. Also it seems to handle video from my M-FIlter TBC better than the Snazzi. I don't know how it compares to the newer Snazzi I that they sell in www.snazzi.com. my snazzi is from 1997 :P
Pro:
- Pretty good bang for bux, $115 (+$20 for shipping). for MPEG1 capture, TV tuner
and REmote control
- sorta "realtime" capture preview
- Overall great quality captures (just apply the GOP registry fix first)
Con:
- even with the GOP registry update it can't handle motion too well
- corny capture software interface (not that it don't work just ugly)
- not much capture setting or options.
score: 8.5
CONCLUSION: update 12-5-01
Not one card is perfect, each one has
this and that quirk and issues. Personally I'll stick to the PV256T because of the
quality of the encoded video and the buck for bang factor, that is if you are lucky enough
to have no bug issue that I was having. After experiencing all the cards and
captureing & closely view the clips the PV256 has the best quality in both still and
moving scenes. I'm really dissappointed on the product from DAzzle and Sigma DEsigns
because I owned their earlier products and they were top notch. Again this is just
my opinion and it's not law. if you have different needs and requirements then do
as you please.
In case you're wondering here's the list of which I think have the lowest to highest encoded video.
SNAZZI -> PV233 -> DVR -> PV256T.
The PV233 and DVR is actually a close one depending on the the type of video. PV233 does low motion better and the DVR does high motion better but it also have shaper and more vivid picture. the PV256T does high & low motion pretty well and have overall best video quality. Not to dis the Snazzi it's really older generation hardware and for it's time it's good and still pumps out good quality video that's comparable to the other cards.