I would suggest buying a msi 4200ti if you are tring to save $$$$ It comes with ViVo S-vid In and out and a/v in and out, and has a price tag of around $100. I put one in my HTPC and it work great, and it is a 8x card so it gets pretty good frame rates. if not that then I would get a lower end ati tv all in wonder cards, those things work wonders!!!! HA !!!
Here's an idea: Don't use a graphics card. Either use A/V conversion box like the Canopus AV100, video bridges offered by Dazzle or Pinnacle, or use a digital camcorder to serve as an Analog-to-Digital converter. These devices help address many issues that tend to lead to the dreaded a/v synch issue (Audio and Video tend to get out of synch because of various software or hardware limitations/bugs/hiccups). Since I already have a nice digital camcorder, that's the method I'm using.
I have the Pinnacle MovieStudio USB. Comes with MPEG2 converter and Studio 8 software. Warning: before you buy anything, make sure your PC is Pentium 4, lots of RAM, and you have a fast hard drive with lots of space and USB 2.0 or Firewire! Otherwise, don't blame me if your output is choppy and your PC freezes.
Err. I have an Athlon 1.1 Ghtz and Athlon 1.7 Ghtz systems. Never had any problems with either one. I do agree that anything less than 1 Ghtz is a bear to deal with. The thing I've found is more RAM == More Better! And of course, your harddrive needs to be fast enough to capture the video as well. No regular DMA or PPO will work -- need to be in UDMA mode. ATA66 or ATA100 or better is recommended.
Main video workshop:
Athlon XP 2100 (1.73 Ghtz)
512 MB PC2100 DDR RAM
40 GB system/program harddrive
120 GB w/ 8 MB buffer HD -- for video/data files.
Firewire port for sucking in video via a digital camcorder.
Sony 500AX DVD burner
Secondary sys:
Athlon 1.1 Ghtz
512 MB PC133 RAM
60 GB system/program HD
120 GB w/ 8MB buffer -- data HD
40X CDRW (Plextor)
I do a lot of video editing eith both systems. My secondary box is also my PVR system which takes video/tv on my PVR350 with SnapStream. I edit this video and archive on DVD or re-encode to DivX.
I use an external firewire box called Directors Cut 2 from a UK company called Miglia. Its output quality is superb and in conjunction with a fast hard disk I hardly ever drop any frames during capture.
