Easy way to bypass the capturing problems people have.....

[TheInformer]

Is this a good way to avoid the myriad of problems people here have in capturing analog video? :

1. Connect VCR to Sony DVMC-DA2 media converter.
2. Connect DVMC-DA2 to your firewire port.
3. Press PLAY on the VCR and CAPTURE in your DV capturing program (assume Tbird 1.2 Ghz, 256 megs RAM, WinXP, and a 60+ gig capture HD).
4. Press STOP on the VCR and STOP in the capture program when done.

Any comments?

[ngnr]

Probably, if you happen to have a DVMC-DA2 and a firewire port.

[TheInformer]

I know the DVMC-DA2 runs about $300 shipped, and the firewire card is around $30 or so.

Agreed - this is a bit of money to spend. It does seem like it would solve many problems though.

[priesto]

Is the Sony DVMC-DA2 just a hardware A to D converter, just the same as appears in theirs (and other manufacturers) Digital and Digital 8 cams? If so, for people who are interested in converting old tapes then this would probably be a lot more economical than purchasing a D or D8 camera.

This is just my view.

cheers,

[ThighMaster]

"Is this a good way to avoid the myriad of problems people here have in capturing analog video?"

Spending $330+ for a media converter + firewire would not solve final picture quality vs. encoding speed issues. A better investment would be a TiVo or similar Digital VCR. It would be more useful and would solve more problems.

Digital VCRs have specialized hardware encoders with good quality and lots of speed (better than real time in most cases). But that's a whole new story which I don't want to get into in here.

Cheers,
ThighMaster

[Jamst]

For speed, I don't know, because it will depend on the softwares; But for quality, I'm sure sony's A/D converters will provide better quality then any (those which I have used or seen others to use) other capture cards. I can say that my VCDs that I make from VHS tapes are as good as the tapes. If someone uses pure motions EditStudio (including the capture software) and uses TMPGEnc then he can see how smooth the process of capturing become. But you must have a lot of harddisk space.