Choosing a low latency capture card

[Jon]

Can anyone relate their experience with the latency of the capture cards they are using. One of the roles I want my card to play is for format converting my PAL game consoles to NTSC.

My old BT848 card had good latency ( thanks to the fact that it does no compression ). But I dont have that anymore.
My canon mini dv camera can capture analogue video, and that also has good latency, but isnt suitable for use in a HT system.

Im really interested in cards that can perform compression in hardware, but no review Ive ever read examines the latency of the card and its suitability for use with consoles.

[bouchecl]

Can anyone relate their experience with the latency of the capture cards they are using. One of the roles I want my card to play is for format converting my PAL game consoles to NTSC.

My old BT848 card had good latency ( thanks to the fact that it does no compression ). But I dont have that anymore.
My canon mini dv camera can capture analogue video, and that also has good latency, but isnt suitable for use in a HT system.

Im really interested in cards that can perform compression in hardware, but no review Ive ever read examines the latency of the card and its suitability for use with consoles.

I may be wrong, but it is not advisable to use a capture cards, even hardware encoding ones, for the purpose you mention, There is a noticeable lag between live TV (on analog cable) and what comes out of my PVR (via the same analog source); which is fine if you're watching TV... but it's lethal for games.

If you can, get a multistandard TV or better yet, buy a new console.

[rampy]

I think the o.p. realizes this and hence the request for a low latency card... =)

I've always felt as bouchel does, that there would be a lag and you would want to game from a tuner/encoders inputs and that would goof up your timing when playing... but there's a few people who do what you are talking about (even with hardware encoding cards) and claim there isn't a noticable delay or it doesn't effect their gaming performance...

*shrug* there's a thread or two in the past that debated this...

In any case the cards aren't really rated or given a metric for latency... I believe there's a tweak to make the default hauppauge software to eliminate the whole "write to disk/playback" live tv functionality, which presumably would cut down on some of the latency (i.e. more like the framegrabbing cards you previously used)

Another thought, similiar to what bouchecl was alluding to... is to not make your HTPC/PVR act as the NTSC/PAL bridge... There's bound to be some sort of stand alone video switcher/combiner device that is made to or can be made to do the conversion/connections you are seeking. 

Sometimes it's better to not jam that octangular peg into the round hole, know what I mean?

good luck!  (And if find that thread debating this topic I'll reply or if you find it via search plz do the same)

rampy

[Robjomak]

As I've said before, my PVR-150MCE in GB-PVR live tv (but not live tv/timeshifting MODE) has absolutely, positively, zero lag on my channel 100 Gamecube feed. Just make sure you use a program that doesn't force a full blown write to disk live tv mode at all times like rampy said and I think you'll be good to go.

[rampy]

I'm still skeptical  (j/k) 

another recent thread on gaming through a TV tuner

rampy

[valiamarkais]

This is what I know from experience:

My friend bought a ATI 9800 PRO All-inwonder... When we play GameCube and we set it to record we notice lag.  If we set it up to go directly to video out (no timeshifting/recording/pausing) then it works fine...  But, keep in mind this is on a specific video card w/ tuning capabilties.  NOT a PCI tuner card.  As always... YMMV.

-VA