Review: Leadtek Winfast TV USB II Deluxe Review

Miles · 04-09-2005, 02:22 AM

Gary finds that a product he first doubted had it all and then some.

Feel free to post your comments and questions here!

Link To Article

Deer Slayer · 04-09-2005, 03:00 AM

I've been considering one of these doohickeys for a long time now. I want to get one for my puter, but I would like to know a couple things. First, does it need the audio connection from the sound card to the box itself, or is audio captured directly through the USB cable??? I really like the screenies, that definetly helps make up my mind!!! The recording quality does look great, and that was a major concern. The second question is does it get screwed up by multitasking??? That could gite big time, I heard the CPU usage was 30% on an A64 system, that should be about 35% here. I'm pretty sure you could burn a DVD while it's recording, because it has the option to record straight to DVD. How about internet surfing, will that screw a recording??? I want that little thing!

Smurfer · 04-09-2005, 03:13 PM

DS, you only need the audio cable for NT2000, with a sound card. The cpu utilization is 4 to 7 % peaks at 10, multitasking is no problem with this unit.I also did this with a non hyperthreaded system with onboard sound so Amd systems I would think should have no problem.

Deer Slayer · 04-09-2005, 04:30 PM

Every time I've tried a video capture where the audio is captured by the stinking sound card, it winds up waaaaayyyyy off sync. That's why I pretty much gave up on video capture with my old all in wonder original radeon. That thing sucked, never worked right! Anyways, I'm not going to rant about it, but I really had a BEEF with ATI for a while. The card played Quake III great, but it was waaaaayyyy over priced, and didn't do what I wanted it to. I couldn't record a show without crackled nasty off sync audio in real time. I could capture completely uncompressed video, and then it would take 8 hours to "render" a movie! It sucked, I only used it for games and TV out after that. What a waste of money that was!!! I tried a PCI video capture card, and it worked OK, but the audio would get a tiny bit off sync. I tried a BUNCH of different sound cards. The sound card recorded the sound, and the only thing the capture card did is record video. It only had composite video and RF inputs. It also only did a fairly low resolution, so the picture sucked. I could record in mpeg 1 and that was what I used, mpeg 2 just took up more space. I didn't use that card much either, but it was a freebie. I gave it away to a friend. My buddy still uses it in his puter to watch TV, even records things and burns them to VCD once in a while.

So I see these where the sound and video are captured to the same device. If it doesn sync the audio, somebody is going to be walking funny and in desparate need of a proctologist! It's taken them WAAAAYYY too long to get this right, so I expect it to be good. Anyways, I want it to be able to plug into my TV and record shows just like a VCR used to. I have no desire to use the timed record feature, or the TIVO type guide. I might use the feature where you can rewind live TV if it works good. As soon as I get paid for this little project I'm working on, I'll get that thing. Now the only real problem is how to get the USB cable extended to the TV. That could be a real crappy problem, but I might have an idea. :o

04-09-2005, 02:22 AM	#1
Miles Registered User Join Date: May 2001 Location: South Carolina Posts: 5,558	Review: Leadtek Winfast TV USB II Deluxe Review Gary finds that a product he first doubted had it all and then some. Feel free to post your comments and questions here! Link To Article __________________ Regards, Miles ________________________________ Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 w/ Enzotech Ultra \| ASUS Blitz Formula SE \| 2 x 2Gb Mushkin XP2-6400 DDR-2 \| XFX 8800 GTX XXX\| 2 - Seagate 750GB Barracuda ES \| PCP&C 1KWSR \| Lian Li G70 \| Windows Vista 64-bit Ultimate \| Dell 2407 FPW Monitor Last edited by Miles : 04-09-2005 at 07:44 PM.
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04-09-2005, 03:00 AM	#2
Deer Slayer Unscanable!!! Tatoo??? Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Howell Michigan Posts: 3,844	I think this looks a little better than the plextor thingy! I've been considering one of these doohickeys for a long time now. I want to get one for my puter, but I would like to know a couple things. First, does it need the audio connection from the sound card to the box itself, or is audio captured directly through the USB cable??? I really like the screenies, that definetly helps make up my mind!!! The recording quality does look great, and that was a major concern. The second question is does it get screwed up by multitasking??? That could gite big time, I heard the CPU usage was 30% on an A64 system, that should be about 35% here. I'm pretty sure you could burn a DVD while it's recording, because it has the option to record straight to DVD. How about internet surfing, will that screw a recording??? I want that little thing!
(Offline)

04-09-2005, 03:13 PM	#3
Smurfer Land of the Brave Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: W. Los Angeles, California Posts: 1,854	DS, you only need the audio cable for NT2000, with a sound card. The cpu utilization is 4 to 7 % peaks at 10, multitasking is no problem with this unit.I also did this with a non hyperthreaded system with onboard sound so Amd systems I would think should have no problem.
(Offline)

04-09-2005, 04:30 PM	#4
Deer Slayer Unscanable!!! Tatoo??? Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Howell Michigan Posts: 3,844	Cool, the sound is recorded by that box. Every time I've tried a video capture where the audio is captured by the stinking sound card, it winds up waaaaayyyyy off sync. That's why I pretty much gave up on video capture with my old all in wonder original radeon. That thing sucked, never worked right! Anyways, I'm not going to rant about it, but I really had a BEEF with ATI for a while. The card played Quake III great, but it was waaaaayyyy over priced, and didn't do what I wanted it to. I couldn't record a show without crackled nasty off sync audio in real time. I could capture completely uncompressed video, and then it would take 8 hours to "render" a movie! It sucked, I only used it for games and TV out after that. What a waste of money that was!!! I tried a PCI video capture card, and it worked OK, but the audio would get a tiny bit off sync. I tried a BUNCH of different sound cards. The sound card recorded the sound, and the only thing the capture card did is record video. It only had composite video and RF inputs. It also only did a fairly low resolution, so the picture sucked. I could record in mpeg 1 and that was what I used, mpeg 2 just took up more space. I didn't use that card much either, but it was a freebie. I gave it away to a friend. My buddy still uses it in his puter to watch TV, even records things and burns them to VCD once in a while. So I see these where the sound and video are captured to the same device. If it doesn sync the audio, somebody is going to be walking funny and in desparate need of a proctologist! It's taken them WAAAAYYY too long to get this right, so I expect it to be good. Anyways, I want it to be able to plug into my TV and record shows just like a VCR used to. I have no desire to use the timed record feature, or the TIVO type guide. I might use the feature where you can rewind live TV if it works good. As soon as I get paid for this little project I'm working on, I'll get that thing. Now the only real problem is how to get the USB cable extended to the TV. That could be a real crappy problem, but I might have an idea. :o Last edited by Deer Slayer : 04-09-2005 at 08:09 PM.
(Offline)

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