[MPlayer-users] mencoder video card recommendation

[Andrew J. Yeckel]

I am looking for recommendations specifically for a video card, and also
for general advice on my setup.  I know this is asked frequently, but
with new cards coming out, past recommendations aren't necessarily still
accurate.

For an upcoming event, I will be provided with a video feed (either
composite/RCA video or S-Video, I don't know which yet), and a mono
audio feed.  I would like to record the event and be able to later go
back and edit the video to create a DVD of highlights.  The event lasts
2 days, 8 hours per day, with a break for lunch, so I want to be able to
record at least 4 hours of continuous video (w/ audio), but 8 hours
worth would be better.  I'm not overly concerned about disk space (I
estimate around 1Gb per hour for decent mpeg, based on what my TiVo
produces, and I'll have around 200Gb free to start), so I'm fine with
recording in whatever format is "fastest" and then reencoding to mpeg
(as required by DVDs) later.

Can anyone recommend a good video card to use, which has both
composite/RCA video-in and svideo-in?  (TV-in is fine to have, but not
required.)  Can anyone recommend appropriate mencoder settings to use?
Is there anything else that I should consider for this?

My CPU is described as follows (from /proc/cpuinfo):

processor       : 0
vendor_id       : AuthenticAMD
cpu family      : 6
model           : 10
model name      : AMD Athlon(tm) 
stepping        : 0
cpu MHz         : 1150.073
cache size      : 512 KB
fdiv_bug        : no
hlt_bug         : no
f00f_bug        : no
coma_bug        : no
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 1
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 mmx fxsr sse syscall mmxext 3dnowext 3dnow
bogomips        : 2293.76


Thanks,

AJ

-- 
"Those who would sacrifice essential liberty for temporary safety
 deserve neither liberty nor safety."