ATI TV Wonder PRO capture issues..

ok so here's the deal... I bought a capture card the other day and I'm using it for all sorts of crazy stuff, but my issue is as follows:
im trying to play VHS tapes (mostly family movies and the such) into my PC through the ATI "TV" software and rip it to my HD as MPEG-2, (trying to keep the file size between 2 - 3 Gig) then i want to take that MPEG file and run it through WINavi and covert it to VOB's so i can burn it up to a DVD.
So now when i go to run the file through WINavi i get an error saying that WINavi doesnt have the correct codec installed. then WINavi will continue the conversion anyway, but i dont seem to get very good results from the output file.
I already know that most of ATI's software is crap, and im looking for an easier way to do this, since the ATI software is a real pain in the ass, not to mention the codec error's from WINavi.
So, does anyone know some better software to capture and then convert to VOB's? Any help would be appreciated on this.

also wanted to add that im running the VCR to the ATI Cap. card tuner with coax, since i dont have the proper length s-video / composite cables.

My rig is as follows:
Plextor PX712-UF
2.0 Ghz P4
Intel PEARL Mobo
1.5Gig RAM
2 WD 40 GIG HD's

WinAvi 6.2
and also whatever the newest drivers / software from ATI is.

give VSO's DiVXtoDVD a try...it's free:
http://www.vso-software.fr/divxtodvd/divxtodvd.htm

@drpino
thanks man, much appreciated!

now does anyone know of a good piece of s/w for capturing video?

np stratonick

you can use Nero Vision Express or Intervideo's WinDVD Creator to capture video (even directly to DVD in DVD-VR format). i don't know of any good free software to capture video but i'm sure someone here does...

I would go over to www.dvdrhelp.com and check the tutorials on capture. I use an old ATI VIVO 7200 64mb. And except for getting the right drivers downloaded after a reinstall I have had nice results with it. dvdrhelp has some excellent tuts on capture using the ATI software and others also on converting to avi etc.

my fave way was running composite into my sony camcorder and then connecting firewirewire from the camcorder to pc, and using scenalyzer pro to capture.... for turning the avi into mpeg2, cce is probably your best qual solution, although fairly expensive, and for gawds sake get some svideo or composite cables the quality is 10x better!!!!

Your problems are going to lie with the WDM drivers ATI now uses, they have instituted a macrovision block, and from the looks of it, it can't tell the difference when it comes to VHS tapes. I finally got pissed because they monkied with the capture portion, I got rid of all my ATI products. Pinnacle, Roxio and Vegas Video are the ones I use to capture the video from VHS, then I use another application to convert to dvd compliant video. If you'll look at the overview you'll find this bullet....Macrovision detection circuitry

@kamikazee

Thanks for the info, i had no idea that ATI has gone so far with the sucky-ness of their s/w.
that being said, i think im going to take drpino's advice and go with Nero Vision Express for capture, and im going to give VSO's dvix to DVD a try to burn it back up to DVD.
chances are i'll be posting back here tomorrow with the results...its 2am now, so its def. time for bed.

ok so im back once again and here's what's going on...

got myself some THICK composite a/v cables AND nerovision express v3.0.1.18.
It seems to be woking properly (no prob. finding my cap. card and recording) but the issue now is this: when im watching a VCR stream OR just watching TV through nerovision, the audio will loose sync with the video within 30 secs or so, (that doesnt really bother me too much though, because when i start capturing video, everything sync's up ok) the other problem is that when i go to watch what i've captured, the video is "line-y" that is to say that whenever there's motion in the video, mostly people or cars moving about, the outline of that object has very minute lines all around it's border.

believe it or not, i used ATI's "TV" capture software for a comparison test, and found that it's a bit clearer than nero's s/w. but that could just be ATI's "videosoap" filters doing their job.

ok now onto the tech. side of things...
im capturing video using MPEG-2 with the aspect ratio of 4:3. I tried using AVI but however i dont know what kind of compression to use for AVI so i end up getting a HUGE 9 GIG file when im finished. any suggestions on that?
ok i guess thats enough for one post. please answer what you can, since i'll be screwing around with this for the next few hours and periodically checking the forum for some help.

anyone?

how do i even get my playstation to record? i can only watch tv.