Hi. I just recently bought the TV402U version of the Plextor Convertx. I have been using WinDVD to do my capturing but sometimes the video is choppy when I'm recording. Also, I have been recording vcr tapes that are over 3 hours long. I have been capturing them using the highest dvd setting in mpeg2. WinDVD splits up the video into two parts. When I use TMPGEnc Author to authorize the first part of the video, it works fine but when I go to do the second part, it saids that the mpeg2 file is an illegal file? I've also captured with GoCap, but the same things happen. What are the overall best programs to use with the ConvertX? Thanks also Here are the specs of my computer Athlon XP 2000 756 MB of Ram Geforce FX 5200 video card.
I dont have the tv402 but my experience w/ the px402 leads me to these comments: Ulead Video Studio 8 is now shipping w/ the ConvertX. Their web site has 15 day trial downloads. Current owners should get a discount but I'm not sure yet. WinDVD Creator splits the mpeg? Is this 3 hour tape a 2 tape set? Or are you stopping and starting your capture because it's a 2 tape set? If so, that would cause the creation of 2 mpeg files. Just asking cause I've never had that happen except intentionally. Don't forget too, you could join those mpegs into one w/ a simple editor like Womble mpeg-vcr. However, a 3 hour vhs would really be pushing it to get onto one dvd. I've resigned myself to making 2 disc sets if I've got a vhs that's 150 + minutes in length. When using GoCap make sure dvd compliant mpeg is checked before cap. For fun I've capped w/ GoCap @ 1500000bps but ended up not accepted by my authoring progam. To get that high capture rate I had to uncheck dvd compliant mpeg even though my GOP size was set @ 15 it still was non dvd compliant. I did not try w/ a GOP size of 18 (which is my understanding of max NTSC dvd complaint). I plan on trying Ulead. The encoding engine is Mainconcept which should, by all accounts I've read, be a lot better than Intervideo. I've found choppiness or dropped frames occur with the convertX when I forget to check my capture drive for fragmentation and free contiguous space. Now I'm to the point of just working with one project at a time on that drive. Less confusion and errors due to my forgetfullness. And as always, minimize running applications in the "background"- for capping (esp. usb) it's kinda of like "set it and forget it".
