im going bananas on the crosscurrent views on capture cards!

[zoranb]

I want to purchase pinnacle pctv but the views on this card are either the worst or the best! whats going on here? Isnt there anyone having a middle point of view for this card? I dont know on which point of view to rely on!!! can anyone help me??? Is this card as good as they say it is? I want to convert my old VHS tapes to DVD with the minimum loss in quality. I havre an Athlon 1Ghz, 512 RAM, 30GB & 80GB HD, RADEON 8500LE 128mb, DVDrom and CDRW. Does this card make uncompressed AVI file????

[zoranb]

correction the card i want to purchase is PINNACLE PCTV PRO

[txpharoah]

My experience with external Pinnacle devices left MUCH to be desired. Not sure how difference this item is. I'd suggest an ATI product.

[FulciLives]

Hello

Sorry to say but no way your computer (due to cpu speed) could handle doing an uncompressed capture from an analog capture card. IF your computer was fast enough I would suggest using the HuffyUV codec (an AVI format codec) since this is the next best thing to uncompressed (it does compress but is considered a lossless form of compression).

Probably the best you could hope for is an AVI capture using the PicVideo MJPEG codec. Your computer SHOULD be fast enough for that without dropping frames ... but your cpu speed is an issue even then.

Since you say you only have a DVD-ROM drive I am assuming this capture will end up as either a VCD or SVCD. Your computer should almost definately have no trouble with a VCD (352x240) resolution capture. Should also be fine with a SVCD (480x480) resolution capture. Might be too slow (as I said) for a full screen capture (full screen being 720x480 or 640x480 depending on who you talk too hehehe). Please note those resolution values are for NTSC format. PAL is slightly different.

I've never used the particular capture card you are talking about and I know very little about. Seems everyone has a favorite when it comes to capture cards and very few seem to agree.

You may want to consider the Canopus ADVC-100 or the DataVideo DAC-100 as these are highly regarded and take a BIG strain off of the computer. Both are almost exactly the same product but the DataVideo is cheaper and I see no reason to spend extra on the Canopus. The Canopus is $300 whereas the DataVideo is $200

The nice thing about these two is that it (since they are the same) is a black box that connects to the computer via the FireWire (IEEE 1394) connector on your computer. If you computer doesn't have FireWire you can buy a PCI FireWire card for $50 if not less.

Might sound like a lot of money but consider what this device does and how it does it.

The device is basic break-out box with A/V inputs and outputs. It has composite video, S-Video and Stereo RCA audio connectors. It also have a DV in/out connecter. Plug your analog video source into it and this thing has it's own hardware built-in that will convert your analog A/V source to the DV format and then input it into the computer. Because this is done in the box it takes the strain off of the computer BIG time allowing you to do a full screen (640x480) capture (it works with both NTSC and PAL video). At this point it is very easy to edit. The DV format was made for editing. So it will be simple to cut out commericials from TV captures and/or trim the start and end of your captures.

When you are done editing you can then use the popular TMPGEnc (or whatever program you want) to then convert the DV file into your format of choice such as mpeg1 VCD or mpeg2 SVCD or mpeg2 DVD or DivX or Xvid or whatever.

Please note that because the device is external and works via the FireWire port on the computer that it is compatable with both PC windows and MAC platforms plus there are no drivers needed to use it so if you get a new computer or have a friend that wants to borrow it ... no problemo. Also even if you are only doing VCD or SVCD for now and NOT any DVD stuff you can use this for that purpose so if you ever get a faster computer with a DVD-R drive or add one to your existing computer ... well there you go!

In short, A/V capture is a tricky thing, especially with a slower computer ... this unit (either one) will take the load off of your computer. No, I don't have one, but people on this forum can't seem to rave about it enough in terms of quality capture including no audio synch problems which IS often a problem with (most) other capture cards, especially TV tuner type cards.

However, most TV tuner type capture cards ARE cheap (usually $40 to $60) and your computer is surely fast enough for VCD (and perhaps SVCD) capture resolution(s) so if that is all you need then by all means go for it.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[CaptainC]

zoranb
I have a PCTV Rave card and have aquired the pro software both cards are the same except the pro has additional features in the software and comes with a remote. I have the software but not the remote.
The card is perfectly exceptable for capturing VCD SVCD and DVD but as mentioned in previous threads with a 1.ghz processor SVCD will be your limit or about 4000kbps, I have captured plenty of VCD and SVCD with this card using a 1.1ghz AMD K7 and the results were impressive in SVCD format i found that VCD was better captured using Ulead Video Studio though because you have more control over the quality of the image but thats a personal preference.
There are lots of other cards on the market and I tried to get a fair opinion about capture cards but there are always those who've had good and bad experiences, what I will say is that you could by a more expensive piece of hardware and have all the same problems and in my experience if your computer is going to play up its going to play up.
The bottom line is you can buy the card try the card and if you dont like it you should be able to return it within 7 - 14 Days if its not up to scratch or you have problems, just ask when you purchase, most decent stores will want you to get something that works so you go back later.

Spending more money wont garantee that it wont play up and it wont necessarily mean a better picture a lot is down to software.

I have a theory that the more you pay the more you expect and so the more you are disapointed when paying more wont garantee anything, Pinnacle support is good I had problems with the rave software and they sent me the upgrade which i should have paid for for free a rarety in the modern world. I recently got the new WINDVD platinum recorder which is a great bit of software and there is a software upgrade on Pinacles site now. If you are starting of at this i would recommend starting with a pinnacle if your looking for a new graphics card and a capture card all in one you'l be limited to an ATI card or similar.

[andie41]

I have had the PCTV Pro for over a year and am totally satisfied. I have tried a quite a few different hardware products over the years and decided I wanted something to simply place a good quality NTSC image (an oxymoron perhaps?) on my computer screen and let software do the rest. Just before purchasing the PCTV Pro, I tried the ADS Instant DVD and found it interesting, promising, but not reliable and consistent.

My primary use is to capture Hi-8 tapes and make DVD ready mpegs (I don't as yet have a DVD writer.) You can get very good quality from the PCTV Pro. I don't use the coax input, I only capture through the S-video input and my Soundblaster card. I don't use the Pinnacel software, there are some very good third party drivers and capture programs.

I was using a Celeron 450, 384 MB ram and 60 GB hard drive and was able to capture uncompressed 480x480 or use the Huffyuv codec at the fastest setting, or at 704x480 using the Huffyuv compression (very good, by the way). I now have an Athlon XP1700 and can capture at any resolution, compressed or uncompressed.

With your system, I would expect that you can capture 704x480 with Huffyuv without problem(and this makes for a smaller avi). I am using 352x480 and plan to convert to full DVD at some point.

After captuing the avi, you can then use one or several of the many software programs around to edit and convert to DVD. If you are making a dvd, you can use whatever bitrate you desire, in the software. 4000 kbps/6000kbps/9000kbps,etc.

One more comment regarding your system limitations. The main limitation will be in the time it takes to render to DVD, not in capturing.; it does take time.

[zoranb]

andie41, u mean that CaptainC's opinion that "with a 1.ghz processor SVCD will be your limit or about 4000kbps" is true? That i wouldnt be able to make dvd's or generally high quality videos with my 1ghz cpu?

Can anyone give me opinions on that?
Thanx everyone!!!

[Dwight]

I have a PCTV Rave Card. Tv-quality is quite bad IMO. Captures are good, but require some work. I do vhs captures with composite video from my vhs. I capture YUV2 avi with Virtualdub. I've captured a video at 704 x 576 resolution the highest with Vdub Sync, no frames dropped with a 1,7ghz , 384 mb machine. Haven't even bothered trying higher. I normally capture at the standard vcd resolution or at 640 x 576 or the 480 x 576 format for svcd. I encode using tmpgenc. The vhs transfers are really good when I use a good source...use 80-1-80 noise reduction in vdub (really necesssary..in my opinion). But, overall the card leaves a lot to be desired...it's certainly not the best out there, but will do the trick if you spend time, time, time on it. Oh yeah..I use the btwincap drivers of course and Christv for viewing tv. And my system is a tweaked windows me and I must say I used to be a newbie who dropped a lot of frames reading this site and testing and testing has made it possible for me to get probably the max (or atleast 50% ) out of an otherwise piece of junk card like rave..which I was seriously about to send back during 1st week of use.
And replace with a hauppauge card....

Now I got my eyes on a Canopus ADVC-50 or ADVC-100 .....

[andie41]

zoranb:

SVCD is 480x480; with your system (tweaked for max performance) based on my experience, you should be able to get 704x480 captures - DVD format. Based upon other opinions on this board and now my experience, half D1 (352x480) is probably going to give you all the quality and resolution inherent in VHS, and half D1 is also a legal DVD format, from my reading.

I think there is confusion because we are all doing such different things with our equipment; some are converting to Mpeg on the fly, but if you are capturing a full res avi, the 4000kbps is a non issue. As I stated previously, I do not have a DVD writer, so I am only speaking from what I have read, and that is 352x480, 704x480, 720x 480 are all legal NTSC DVD resolutuions. So, capture at one of these resolutions and use a program such as Media Studio, Video Studio, Mainconcept, TMPGenc, Vegas Video, etc., to convert to DVD at whatever bitrate you decide. Currently I am limited to making CD's and have to limit my bitrate to around 5000kbs, for my DVD player - many evidently will not even handle this bitrate, but with a DVD writer, this is a non issue - use whatever bitrate you want.

Some are using PCTV type cards to view TV on the computer; I haven't tried this but there have certainly been numerous comments about problems with this approach. Someone mentioned a great deal of time required for the PCTV, I haven't found this. The time issue is with making your mpeg, your DVD., and that is where, I believe, your computer's lack of power is going to most significantly impact you - read the posts of folks requiring 16 hours to convert 1 hour of video.

As far as comments ( and I have seen many over the past year) criticizing the PCTV, it doesn't seen logical to me that other cards would be better, in that most use the same video chip, and if one uses third party drivers and software, how can there be such a difference. I definitely wanted and only use the s-video imput, composite might be fine for VHS.

[andie41]

zoranb:

Some things are assumed, but perhaps for better clarification, should be stated. Obviously at around $60 US, this is not a "high-end" card: however it does provide very good results, especially considering the cost. I am not willing to spend thousands on professional level equipment. The Brooktree/Conexant BT8x chip is not true 24 bit, rather 16 bit, and this of course results in less data to capture. Still, very good.

Also, the source video will play a major part of the process. If it is poor quality, fast action and scene changes, very high contrast, all of these will put extra demand on the capture device and may result in a dropped frame or frames. There are numerous posts about how to "tweak" your system, and an occassional dropped frame is not fatal.

You will not be limited to SVCD with the PCTV Pro; however your DVD player will determine how high a bitrate you can use with a CDR, and if you are only going to play the Cd on your computer, you should be able to make as high a bitrate as you wish; however using a high bitrate is probably overkill, considering your source material.