ati tv wonder/mdk 10.1 help with video capture

Hi all
I just installed a ati tv wonder card and xawtv and am just trying to use the video capture feature in xawtv to copy some vhs tapes, but am having problrems. I have the correct driver installed and my computer sees the card correctly. The tv input part of the card does not work (no channels found) I can get xawtv to show a good picture of the tape or of the TV using the VCR's tuner and composite in on the capture card.
I have no sound through the sound output (should be /dev/dsp )(pluged in amped speakers to the Tv card sound out to test) so I told xawtv to get sound from (/dev/sound/dsp) and plugged the vcr audio out into the mic in on the sound card.
This gave me sound to watch tapes or TV on my box.
I have used xawtv to record vhs with these settings and I get audio and video but the video filter settings for the view screen in xawtv does not seem to apply to the recorded file. I get a way off color jerky video image and the sound is running a second behind the video. When I try to record TV from the vcr tuner through the composite input I get video but no sound even though I can hear it through the sound cardsame settings

I have used a progam called liVEs to capture video from the ati card and it looks great color is good and is not jerky but i have no sound and there is no option to bring in sound from a different device. So I have to get the tv card sound to work to use liVEs

here is a list of the apps I have tried that are related to this project.
cinnlerra-----will only import mpeg files(no tv capture)
zapping------won't start
tvtime----won't start
kdetv---locks up
Avview--will not compile
kmediagrab--locks up
mythtv-could not install (could not work out all dependencies
motv--won't start
kino--won't see device
Tried _transcode from several gui's(no worky) and command line and get crappy video(worse than xawtv) and no sound sometimes but mostly it crashes

Anyone got any ideas or know where I can get some help? Any advice will be greatly appreciated. I can post any config files etc... that you need, but might need you to tell me where they are located. (I can't find the one for liVEs for example) Should I take this card back to te store and try another(any sugesstions). All I want is video capture to work I don't care about watching tv on my box.
thanks in advance
Erik

i had weird troubles opening TVtime once upon a time never figurd out why though

but i have discovered it won´t open when my soundcard is blocked
or Xinelibraby based players is open Totem , xine etc

i hope you have the PLF mirrors as sources in you mandrake URPMI.

http://plf.zarb.org/mirrors.php

VideoLAN should work well

techincally mplayer witth work too it can save/transcode video from a command line and supports dev://

Ok here is how I'm doing it .This works for Vhs tapes and tv using the vcr as a tuner.
HARDWARE AND XAWTV
1-I plugged the vcr (rca video out) into the (compositeIN) connection on my ATI tv wonder pro card.
2- I plugged the sound out from the vcr into the input on my sound card
3- installed Xawtv and set it to get sound from the sound card. Then start xawtv from a shell like this.
$xawtv -C /dev/sound/dsp
4- choose composite on the xawtv menu, adjust the video settings for best picture
5- Click record on xawtv, choose RIFF AVI format,type in the location to save to, and start recording
__________________________________________________________________________________
AVIDEMUX
6- open the .avi file in avidemux, make any changes you need to here clip,filter,sync audio, etc.... here is the filter script I am using AddVideoFilter(mpresize,w=512,h=340,algo=0);
AddVideoFilter(denoise,lumaLock=4,lumaThreshold=10,chromaLock=8,chromaThreshold=16,sceneChange=30);
AddVideoFilter(lavdeint);
and I am setting time shift to 200 save the file
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOVID
7- Convert the video for use as a DVD/VCD using the command line app Tovid (http://tovid.sourceforge.net/index.html) using this command_______$tovid -full -vcd /home/file to convert /home/destination dir)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
KAVI2SVCD/DVDSTYLER
8- then I am using kavi2svcd to make the bin/cue files for the vcd/then burring them with the same app
I am using dvdstyler to make the files for dvd/then burning with xcdroast
9- Enjoy your movie ;~)

Wow, that sounds enjoyable Erik !
I may give a try soon, as I'll have soon a Video-In / capture card (currently looking for the possible best solution) and amongst all the apps you cited, I only use Avidemux and didn't know yet how to set videofilter.

Thanks for sharing that