Does AVIVO make ATI > nVidia?

[bmgoodman]

I'm looking to build my next PC--the first time I'm considering the DIY route. I had priced up a system:
Here's what I have put together at ZipZoomFly:
CPU Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 $238
Motherboard ASUS P5B $155
Memory OCZ Gold 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 800 (5-5-5-12) $205
Graphics Gigabyte 7600 GS $110
Sound card Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS (OEM) $68
Hard drives Seagate 7200.10 250 GB SATA $84
Optical drive Lite-On SHM-165H6S Dual Layer DVD±RW Writer $41
Case Antec P150 $150
Floppy drive/media reader Mitsumi FA404M 7-in-1 combo $20
CPU cooler Included with CPU 0
Power supply 430Watt SmartPower 2.0 (with case) 0
Operating system Windows XP MCE 2005 $120

Then somebody told me that for video transcoding, ATI is MUCH better than nVidia. He mentioned something called AVIVO. I did a quick search and found a brief article from Nov 2005 that makes it seem like a great product; however, I'm looking for someone with real experience in transcoding TivoToGo to DVD. Did anybody find a significant benefit to using ATI AVIVO?

So, I am considering ATI All-In-Wonder X1900 PCI Express 256MB DDR3 Video Card Retail for $210. That's a big jump from the card listed above and probably a good bit noisier. Just wondering if this purported benefit is real, so far as TivoToGo transcoding is concerned?

Thanks

[Bai Shen]

I'm looking to build my next PC--the first time I'm considering the DIY route. I had priced up a system:
Here's what I have put together at ZipZoomFly:
CPU Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 $238
Motherboard ASUS P5B $155
Memory OCZ Gold 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 800 (5-5-5-12) $205
Graphics Gigabyte 7600 GS $110
Sound card Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS (OEM) $68
Hard drives Seagate 7200.10 250 GB SATA $84
Optical drive Lite-On SHM-165H6S Dual Layer DVD±RW Writer $41
Case Antec P150 $150
Floppy drive/media reader Mitsumi FA404M 7-in-1 combo $20
CPU cooler Included with CPU 0
Power supply 430Watt SmartPower 2.0 (with case) 0
Operating system Windows XP MCE 2005 $120

Then somebody told me that for video transcoding, ATI is MUCH better than nVidia. He mentioned something called AVIVO. I did a quick search and found a brief article from Nov 2005 that makes it seem like a great product; however, I'm looking for someone with real experience in transcoding TivoToGo to DVD. Did anybody find a significant benefit to using ATI AVIVO?

So, I am considering ATI All-In-Wonder X1900 PCI Express 256MB DDR3 Video Card Retail for $210. That's a big jump from the card listed above and probably a good bit noisier. Just wondering if this purported benefit is real, so far as TivoToGo transcoding is concerned?

Thanks

Your video card won't make a difference in your video transcoding. The AIW cards are tv capture cards, and that's where their transcoding takes place. Also, unless you're an audiophile, I wouldn't bother with a seperate sound card an' would jus' use onboard sound.

[bmgoodman]

Your video card won't make a difference in your video transcoding. The AIW cards are tv capture cards, and that's where their transcoding takes place. Also, unless you're an audiophile, I wouldn't bother with a seperate sound card an' would jus' use onboard sound.

I have someone in another forum claiming it will make a difference, but I'm guessing he doesn't own a Tivo. Are you making this statement based on personal experience or something you have read? I'm not trying to be argumentative, I just want to get an appropriate card for my new DIY PC.

Thanks!

[petew]

Looking quickly at the ATI website AVIVO is transcoding software bundled with the ATI graphics card. It claims to be 80% faster than other solutions so it's possible it does have a hardware assist from the graphics card.

[Bai Shen]

I have someone in another forum claiming it will make a difference, but I'm guessing he doesn't own a Tivo. Are you making this statement based on personal experience or something you have read? I'm not trying to be argumentative, I just want to get an appropriate card for my new DIY PC.

Thanks!

Unless you have something specifically written to take advantage of the vid card, it won't. And AFAIK, the tivo encoder doesn't take advantage of it.

[bmgoodman]

Unless you have something specifically written to take advantage of the vid card, it won't. And AFAIK, the tivo encoder doesn't take advantage of it.

True, the .tivo file originally from the Tivo has already been encoded. Once on the computer, MyDVD then "transcodes", which to me implies "encoding in another format". This encoding COULD be much faster with AVIVO, but how can I tell if MyDVD benefits from AVIVO?

[Bai Shen]

True, the .tivo file originally from the Tivo has already been encoded. Once on the computer, MyDVD then "transcodes", which to me implies "encoding in another format". This encoding COULD be much faster with AVIVO, but how can I tell if MyDVD benefits from AVIVO?

When I said tivo encoder, I meant Tivo Desktop. :) As for MyDVD and AVIVO, I'm not sure.

[bmgoodman]

I'm going to submit the question to ATI to see if they know. I'll then probably ask Roxio/Sonic and maybe if I'm feeling crazy, I'll ask someone at Tivo. :p

[petew]

MyDVD then "transcodes", which to me implies "encoding in another format". This encoding COULD be much faster with AVIVO, but how can I tell if MyDVD benefits from AVIVO?

It doesn't. AVIVO is transcoding software. The ATI card will not help speed up MyDVD. The AVIVO program that ships with the ATI hardware might be faster than other transcoding options and if you supply an MPG file to MyDVD that is already in the correct format it shouldn't try and transcode it again.

So with AVIVO you might be able to:

1) Use Direct Show dump to get an MPG file from the .TIVO (discussion not allowed here)
2) Use AVIVO to transcode the .MPG into a DVD compatiable .VOB
3) Use myDVD or some other DVD Authooring program to create the Menus etc and burn the DVD.

[Bai Shen]

Also, I wouldn't really worry 'bout the vid card. When my encoder uses both cores it screams along. However, it seems to be a bit picky about when it will use both cores.

[bmgoodman]

It doesn't. AVIVO is transcoding software. The ATI card will not help speed up MyDVD. The AVIVO program that ships with the ATI hardware might be faster than other transcoding options and if you supply an MPG file to MyDVD that is already in the correct format it shouldn't try and transcode it again.

So with AVIVO you might be able to:

1) Use Direct Show dump to get an MPG file from the .TIVO (discussion not allowed here)
2) Use AVIVO to transcode the .MPG into a DVD compatiable .VOB
3) Use myDVD or some other DVD Authooring program to create the Menus etc and burn the DVD.

Thanks for the information! Your answer, boiled down in my world-view, is "it doesn't matter if you get nVidia or ATI video card because MyDVD doesn't benefit from AVIVO." I tried the Direct Show route a few times and I could never eliminate the 1 second audio lag. MyDVD has always worked fine, albeit slowly. You've saved me some frustration and I appreciate it!

[Bai Shen]

Welp, I was just reading a review for the 7900GS which I picked up recently. Apparently, there's software called PureVideo which will offload the conversion to the GPU. I have no idea how well it works, but I'm gonna try it out when I get a chance.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/377/4/

[strategy]

Umm, if you get the all in wonder , why even bring tivo encoding into the picture. Just split the video/audio signal out to the INPUT of the AIW card and let it do its magic. Yes, there is software to give it tivo like features.

EDIT:
By the way, Im buying that card ( ATI All-In-Wonder X1900 PCI Express 256MB DDR3) next week. If you got one, let me know your opinion.

Edit Again: Now that I look, I guess you could split your input signal into both the AIW video card and TIVO or use the other set of outputs oon the back of the tivo and input that to the AIW video card. Not sure if tivo does anything to that signal that would be coming out the back of it. Choose the configuration based oon your needs and the soiftware available ( though again there is DVR functionality software for it).
Id actually buy the card tonight if someplace around here had it in stock.........

[bmgoodman]

Umm, if you get the all in wonder , why even bring tivo encoding into the picture.

Well, what usually happens is I watch something and decide later I want to put it on DVD. I have 3 Tivos. It wouldn't be easy to replicate that on a PC, IMO. I'd have to know in advance what to record to the PC. Basically, my conversion process via TivoToGo is fine, just slow. I only want to speed it up, not change the process itself.

Thanks, though.

[strategy]

Well you'll certainly be stuck recording one channel at a time but since you can buy a 400 gig hard drive for $100 and have the pc record your season passes and compress them with something like xvid/divx you could come close. You can use something like the free VNC program to access your pc on the internet from any other computer on the internet if you need to access it.

Just throwing out ideas..... The Tivo to go has its place and I'll still use it but it just can't compare with a real video capture where you aren't handicapped by any file formats/sizes etc. Maybe the biggest factor to me is that it is already on my PC and I dont have to wait an houe to transfer it from the tivo to the PC before I play with it.

hehe I sound like Im a salesman for video capture devices. I'll let you know how my ATI AIW video card works out but you can always get a < $50 plainjane vid capture too for the PC.

[Bai Shen]

hehe I sound like Im a salesman for video capture devices. I'll let you know how my ATI AIW video card works out but you can always get a < $50 plainjane vid capture too for the PC.

Be careful, though. The ones under $50 are usually crap software tuners.