good capture card + dvd-R VS Standalone dvd-r

[v1p0n3]

Hello
i have used a Pinnacle miro pctv for about 2 years and now i want something better but i don't know what to choose.
i want to start making dvd's so what is better. buy a good realtime encoder hardware + a dvd writer, or buy just a decent standalone dvd writer?
in case that you think the realtime encoder hardware + the dvd writer will give me best quality than the standalone dvd writer can you advice me some models of realtime encoder hardware? one friend told me about the hauppague wintv pvr 250 but i saw the site and the card and it doesn't seem to be a great card.. can you tell me something about this or maybe tell me some card even better. this has one good thing that is the tv tunner but i can live without it and just plug my vcr to the card and will be the basicly the same.

i want to spend no more than 250/300$ in the realtime encoder hardware.

by the way.. i never used any realtime encoder hardware but one friend told me it was the best i could buy to make dvd's... so if you know something better please tell me
i'll make the dvd's basicly from my VHS but i'll also use it sometimes with my digital camera.

I hope someone can give me some good advices as long as i never worked with this kinda of hardware neither with dvd's. till now i only use to make vcd's.

Please reply

P.S: sorry if i posted this in the wrong category

[Gil T Pleasure]

For the easiest, simpliest and fastest way of converting VHS tapes to DVD, go with a standalone DVD recorder. The drawback is that they are expensive at the moment and you cannot personalized your menus nor can you have nice video transitions (I'm sure there's more, but I can't think of any at the moment). Of course you can always get a DVD burner in the future so you can edit those DVDs burned on the standalone DVD recorders.

Since standalone DVD recorders were out of my reach at the time, I went with the PC route and got a Hauppauge WinTV-PVR250. I must say the card gives me great results. If I have one complaint, it's the bundled softwares.

HTH,

Gil
~~~~~
As I said before, I never repeat myself.

[davideck]

As a very happy PVR-250 owner, I thought I'd add my two cents.
I have been using it with Ulead's Movie Factory 2 and a Pioneer 105.
I record off air with the built in tuner, create quick chapter points with MF2 and burn to DVD. I also use this setup to transfer my SHVS and VHS home movies to DVD. I also use a datavideo TBC and would highly recommend it. I know that a lot of people have had trouble installing the card into their system, and for many it is not a workable solution. I also can't comment on all of the scheduling, remote control, and other various goodies. I have only installed the WinTV application and the MPEG2 encoders onto a Win98SE system. My bottom line on this card is that if it installs correctly it is capable of yielding high quality results. Why not give it a try?