Capture card non-compressed output

[darkbluesky]

Hello

Some time ago I was adviced in theses forums to get and ASUS MyCinema ES2-750, because it was one of the only cards that allowed to capture with some acceptable quality (comb 3d, etc if I remember correctly) and gave a non-encoded output (not like USB dongles do, normally).

Now I have the need to find something similar (capture card / device to give good non-compressed/encoded quality, to use with virtualdub or premiere) but the ES2-750 is no more available, if I could find one could be ok, but it seems it is disappeared form market.

At this point, and as I am quite rusty in this subject (and I don't know too much, actually), I wanted to ask you for some advice on current devices. The card is not for me, is for a colleague, which wants to capture some old VHS home-made tapes, but want to control the process and not useing an USB dongle do-it-all, which also gives poor quality as compared with a capture to AVI + coding by other soft.

He works on Windows.

Thanks a lot,

[usually_quiet]

The vast majority of SD USB-stick type capture devices do provide the opportunity to capture losslessly compressed video as long as someone uses third-party software that allows it. However none that I can recall list the type of comb filter they use in their specs. Among current models, the Hauppauge USB Live 2 is one of the better ones for VHS. There are others who like the Diamond VC500.

The Diamond ATI Theater HD 750 Tuner Card TVW750PCIE has the same Theater HD 750 chip as your ASUS TV tuner card and a 3D comb filter. Some people here don't like the Theater HD 750 chip on account of its AGC issues with VHS, but you are apparently not one of them.

[LMotlow]

Yeah, the AGC in the 650/750 is mighty horrible. There's the older ATI 600 that people like, but probably easier to find the Hauppauge or the Diamond. The only way to get a decent comb filter and line tbc is to use a Panasonic for pass-thru. Or find a working legacy VCR with s-video output (a tbc would still be required unless built in with the player). Most of the time the AGC in the later 750's will ruin a video. There are a few hundred posts in this forum that talk about exactly these same issues.

[usually_quiet]

Yeah, the AGC in the 650/750 is mighty horrible. There's the older ATI 600 that people like, but probably easier to find the Hauppauge or the Diamond. The only way to get a decent comb filter and line tbc is to use a Panasonic for pass-thru. Or find a working legacy VCR with s-video output (a tbc would still be required unless built in with the player). Most of the time the AGC in the later 750's will ruin a video. There are a few hundred posts in this forum that talk about exactly these same issues.

The TV Wonder HD 600 USB is the "ATI" capture device that does not have AGC issues. (It was a design ATI purchased from another company.) The only reason it doesn't have the same AGC problems as the other TV Wonder HD 600 devices is that, unlike the others, it doesn't use the Theatre HD 600 chip. However it is not a good choice for the OP. It is long discontinued and was never released outside N. America. (The OP is not in N. America because the ASUS TV card he uses is a model that was never released here.)

[LMotlow]

No, I wouldn't suggest trying to find a 600 anyway. The other two suggestions would be better. Easier to find, anyway.

[darkbluesky]

Thank you very much for your advice. I have been very busy and could not come back here. I wanted to check the MyCinema 750 AGC problem, but I had no time. As I remember I did not suffer from it, but I'll check.

For my colleague maybe the best is the Hauppauge USB Live 2. If it uses it with Premiere or VirtualDub, could he capture uncompressed?

On the other hand, I have in mind some project/problem I need to solve: I have to digitalize around 1.5 thousand VHS tapes to preserve information before it is too late, which is dissapeared from the market and seems nobody care about (except me). I did not want to send them to a 'professional' because they seem to care only for money and not by the quality (I don't mean only image quality) of what they are doing...

As these tapes where recorded along years and with different equipments, now thay suffer from tracking issues in the videoplayers. I thought that I wanted some good device with good auto tracking, comb filter and line tbc.

I was thinking that maybe a professional VCR (second hand I guess) to play the tapes and process the image/sound before capturing it would be my best option. I can't be in front of the screen for each tape to adjust tracking then, rewind and capture...

Do you have some recommendation about that? Some tape player, able to filter and make auto-tracking effectively?

Thanks a lot. Maybe I should open a new topic for this. If you think so, please tell me, and I'll open it.

[jman98]

I've never heard of any Hauppauge device that could use VirtualDub for capturing. I doubt Premiere would work either, but I don't use Premiere and I don't use Hauppauge USB devices so I have no way to test that specific setup. I've also never heard of a Hauppauge device that could capture uncompressed video unless maybe the very ancient PVR-150 could do it, but that device was problematic to get working.

Your task of preserving 1500 thousand VHS tapes is frankly, insane, so I'm done here. My rule is that when a post becomes insane, I drop off. But this is really ill conceived and you'll never finish the task, no matter what you think now.

[usually_quiet]

Thank you very much for your advice. I have been very busy and could not come back here. I wanted to check the MyCinema 750 AGC problem, but I had no time. As I remember I did not suffer from it, but I'll check.

For my colleague maybe the best is the Hauppauge USB Live 2. If it uses it with Premiere or VirtualDub, could he capture uncompressed?

jman98 is mistaken. The Hauppauge USB Live 2 uses software to encode. It has standard DirecShow drivers, and works with third-party capture software. People using the device have varying experiences with virtualdub but using the right settings does help. https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/343932-Hauppauge-USB-Live-2-Advise-Please?p=2144792...=1#post2144792

I don't know if it works with Premiere. Some NLEs only work with DV and HDV cameras or Firewire capture devices.

Instead of capturing uncompressed, I would suggest using lossless compression like HuffYUV, UT Video Codec or Lagarith.

On the other hand, I have in mind some project/problem I need to solve: I have to digitalize around 1.5 thousand VHS tapes to preserve information before it is too late, which is dissapeared from the market and seems nobody care about (except me). I did not want to send them to a 'professional' because they seem to care only for money and not by the quality (I don't mean only image quality) of what they are doing...

As these tapes where recorded along years and with different equipments, now thay suffer from tracking issues in the videoplayers. I thought that I wanted some good device with good auto tracking, comb filter and line tbc.

I was thinking that maybe a professional VCR (second hand I guess) to play the tapes and process the image/sound before capturing it would be my best option. I can't be in front of the screen for each tape to adjust tracking then, rewind and capture...

Do you have some recommendation about that? Some tape player, able to filter and make auto-tracking effectively?

Thanks a lot. Maybe I should open a new topic for this. If you think so, please tell me, and I'll open it.

Pro VHS decks are getting hard to find in working condition, and they are very expensive to purchase or repair. The conventional wisdom here is to find a few good consumer decks and use a Panasonic DMR-ES15 as a passthrough device to correct flagging and wavy vertical lines in the picture. A Panasonic DMR-ES10 would be the next best choice for a passthough device. It wouldn't hurt to open another thread, but there are plenty of recent threads on this subject that you can read to get advice first.

[hech54]

The Hauppauge USB Live2 can capture lossless (or HuffyUV) with DScaler easily. I hate capturing with VirtualDub but I did manage to capture via VirtualDub as well.....once.