3D video, + Audio/Video capture card for G3

[GeoMoon5]

Hello everybody!

I've got a Beige G3. I'm upgrading it to occationally run OS X and to meet my video needs. My question for today concerns the current video quality of my G3. when I play a TV signal or an external DVD signal through my A/V personality card A.K.A. A/V capture card, the video quality is very unsatisfying. This "poor" quality defeats the whole purpose of playing DVD quality things and makes watching TV through the Mac a little bit of a task, and if nothing else, impossible to read most words brodcasted over the airwaves. I'm chalking this up to the on-board video being real old and the A/V personality card being well past its prime. The video quality of everything else from the internet and programs seems fine.

Is this a consistant circumstance for Beige G3s, or should the DVD picture quality look the same as it does on my TV using the same signal? If it should be the same quality, any ideas what's wrong? I've used "Apple Video Player" and "BTV" with similar results.

If this is just a result of hardware past its prime, any idea if there is a PCI card that is both a video card and an Audio/Video capture card? I don't seem to be able to find an ATI version that is PCI and I wonder how well their USB A/V capture card (not coupled with a video card) would perform on a G3, an Apple computer that USB technology was still pretty new to.

Thank you in advance for your assistance.