I am now using iuVCR/HuffyUV lossless capture of RGBS input on a daily basis, and combined with TMPGEnc 3.0 + AC3 plug-in, and DVD-Lab I am now creating superb quality DVD's of my favourite shows and recordings!

SweetSpot is a much better solution than any stand alone DVD Recorder, as I have complete control over frame accurate editing of the lossless AVI captured source before MPEG encoding, and then optimising the MPEG encoding bitrates etc. to make optimum use of the DVD-R capacity.
eg: I can perfectly fit two 1 hour US TV episodes (42 mins 30 secs each, after adverts "frame acturately" removed, and encoded at VBR 6400Kbps), onto each DVD-R disk with a professional looking customised menu as well.
Can't do this with any of the expensive standalone DVD Recorders!"
Greg (aka KoolKiwi)

First impressions of the card/software are excellent. Coming from using a JS RGB to S-Video converter with the Packard Bell S-Video capture card, this SweetSpot setup is a massive improvement. The colours seems so natural and rich, with the picture showing great edge definition and excellent detail.

I just watched five minutes of Trisha on ITV2, and she never looked so good! The OSD (on screen display) from the cable box is so crisp and clear it is great.

I think that using the specific DScaler has helped as this has been calibrated for the SweetSpot card, and it shows. To watch the television now is like watching an average DVD for picture quality, and is far more enjoyable.

If anyone out there is using the Packard Bell capture card and an S-Video input, and is thinking of upgrading, please don't hesitate YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED!"
Rob -

"When I connected my set top box with the Scart/RGB cable I was totally stunned by TV picture quality. I just could not believe that the difference in picture quality would have been so enormous (I have connected the set top box via S-Video directly to the projector before).

Now lets talk about DVD quality: While I was stunned by TV reproduction, the quality of the DVD playback (using the optional Xcard) blew my socks off! I have never seen a clearer, sharper and more colourful image before.

...there were no artefacts or any other bad effects that could disturb an unbelievable home theatre experience."
David Lorenz

"S-Video from Freeview straight into Panasonic Plasma 32PW5.
Frankly this sucks. noisy edgy picture, badly deinterlaced, crunchy image. Yuck its what the kids use when I'm out.

S-Video into XCapture card and through DScaler.
Pretty Good, very watchable, much better deinterlacing courtesy of DScaler, more visible detail, smoother pans, better colour. Chroma delay visible but correctable in DScaler, still some noise hiding fine detail.

SweetSpot fed RGB and through Dscaler.
Zero noise, excellent colour detail, clean fine detail. This looks much sharper than even the best S-Video-only cards."
Mr.D - AVForums.com

"First impressions are that the picture quality from both cards (SweetSpot & Xcard) is fantastic - I've not really played much with any settings, but I'm not sure if I'll have to tinker much anyway.

Both the DVD and Sky+ pictures are easily as good as my Tag DVD32 and watching the DVD at my Runco CL-710 DLP projector's native resolution is stunning.

Makes me wonder why I spent £4k on a DVD player.."
C Harrison

"When I look at a piece of kit, I have in mind what the optimum possible performance can be. In terms of a video processor, this means artefact free deinterlacing (within the limits allowed by available information in the input signal), smooth pans etc with no loss of resolution or increase in noise levels, or inane colour shifts etc And ofcourse the ouput has to be stable in terms of sync jitter etc.

Sweetspot + Dscaler comes pretty close. Subjectively, I can't see any noise (And if it's below the threshold of perception, I don't care). Resolution is good.

The test I made was with with my external DVD player with RGB. I lost interest in the calibration and gawped at Moulin Rouge for half an hour. It popped (as we PJ cogniscenti say ;-).

RGB performance is excellent (using Pioneer 747A DVD player as source). S-Video performance is very good. As good or better than Centerstage CS-1 input."
John Alison