A31P S-Video TV-IN capture

[pxa270]

Hello, I'm in the market for a A31P, and the TV-In capture (with hardware MPEG encoder?) sounds intriguing. I'm wondering what driver and software it needs. Can I use it to display Playstation output? Dub some old VHS tapes? What software would I need?
Thanks.

[proaudioguy]

It came with something called MGI Video Wave. I don't know much else about it. If you have A31 restore discs and use them on an A31 the MGI software is installed. If you just have an A31 the software is not installed. Same with the DVD. If you only have a CDRW, WinDVD is not installed.

[fongj]

You definitely can't use the s-video input to display Playstation output. For something like that, look into a product called the "Gamebridge." They're under $20 when on sale (which is often from Woot or frys.com).

To dub old VHS cassettes, I would not recommend using the s-video input either. To get something decent looking took almost 6gb/hour of footage. I would either dub to mini-dv via a camcorder, or straight to DVD (even though DVD is lossy). If you want to edit the video, then get a product like the "Fyrebox" (I think that's what its called) which converts analog video input to digital video (output via firewire) that you can capture through any of the popular video-editing programs.

In summary, the s-video input isn't that useful after all...

[ujav]

there's no any hardware MPEG chip in thinkpad, but video encoding isn't such a big deal for P4-2.0
When you install proper drivers, "philips phildecn capure" must appear in your device list.

Which software to use for viewing and capturing - you to decide. I use a VirtualDub and iuVCR for capture and Dscaler as viewer. For direct mpeg-4 encoding the resolution must be lowered, if you want highest quality - use hi-bandwidth mpeg2(tecnique of DVD and camcorders). Or mjpeg and then recodind in HQ-mpeg4 - for much smaller file size.

AFAIK, you CAN use this tv-in for playstation, since it works with any tv-device. I know people who use is with old tv-tuner. But you may need a correct cable.

Can't say much about Gamebridge, but the price here is about $100, and generally it has the same function, altough ads says about encoding with minimal signal delay - what is important for fast videogames.
BTW, a31p has IPS screen with excellent colors, but it can be slow for many games.

[fongj]

You're right that speed is the issue if you want to plug in your Playstation, but that speed is not of the LCD (e.g. pixel speed), but the latency/lag that the video experiences because it has to be processed before its displayed.

The s-video input isn't supported by any software that can quickly take that video, and display it on full screen. Thus, there will be lag between what is actually happen between the video game and what you see. (I tried with my A31p with a P4 1.7gHz and 2gb RAM). The Gamebridge shortens the lag considerably, but it was still slightly there, IIRC. I got it as a "just in case" accessory, and I haven't played around with it much.