USB capture software

[DavidT]

Can anyone recommend any good USB capture software. I have searched on the forum and looked at the capture guides and can't see any references to USB capture.

Thanks

[Gaelin]

Do you mean software or device?

I recently bought the Pinnacle Moviebox USB. It uses USB 2.0. So far the results have been really good for VHS to DVD capture. I think the DVD looked the same or better than the original VHS. The picture was smoothed out with a lot less "noise". I didn't particularly the the VHS to VCD. It was worse than the original. But the MPEG-2 to MPEG-1 conversion could have done that.

I've only had it a week, so I can't yet comment on it's longevity.


Gaelin.

[DavidT]

Well, I did mean software as I have a built in USB port on my computer already. Is this suitable for video capture, my DV camcorder plugs straight in and I have been able to capture using Imagemaker VCD (bundled with the camcorder) software but the quality was rubbish.

[jdizzy40]

DavidT does your camcorder have fire wire capability?

[FOO]

The camera is probably USB1 therefore it's data rate
is such that it produces rubbish (you noticed that )
I have the same problem. I capture analog out with a good capture
card. It's the only way .

[DavidT]

DavidT does your camcorder have fire wire capability?

I believe it does, there is a port on the camcorder to connect a DV cable.

David

[jdizzy40]

My suggestion would to get a firewire capture card. I've used everything from Windows Movie Maker, Adobe premier, My Sonic DVD and Roxio EZ CD Creator 6 for software capture. Firewire is a big improvement over USB. Also alot of programs will no recognize the camera using USB. But using firewire they all do. Just my suggestion.

[g_shocker182]

Currently, USB2 (not USB 1.1) is better than normal Firewire at in terms of speed.

But, there is a new version of firewire coming out (1394b) that has insane speeds.

To read up on 1394b:

http://www.reed-electronics.com/electronicnews/index.asp?layout=article&articleId=CA91...=0&rme=0&cfd=1

[buttsy00]

This may be a really dumb question but I have just purchased a JVC Mini DV digital video camera and want to transfer the video to my pc.

I don't have a firewire card as yet but once someone can explain to me why firewire is better than usb I might consider.

I have been transferring some videos to my pc using the usb cable and it has been working fine... but I can only seem to capture at 320 x 240 and there is no option to change that.

From what I have heard about firewire is that it is extremely quick... but how much quicker can it capture than real time which is what usb captures at?

Could someone please explain to me as if they were explaining to someone stupid why firewire is better than usb.

Any help would be appreciated.

[holistic]

USB 1.1 : 12M bit/sec (NOTE BIT) = 12/8 = 1.5 Megabytes - pathetic
USB 2.0 : 480M bit/sec (again note BIT's) 480/8 = 60 Megabytes a second. (in a test lab) Expect to get 40Mb/second but still good.
Firewire (spec: IEEE1394) : 400M bit/sec translating to 50 Megabytes a second (again in lab not reality - expect 35 ish) Still it is more than sufficient for DV tansfer which is 3.7Megabytes a second.
Firewire is the defacto standard for digital camcorders. Some new ones may have USB2.0
USB or Firewire cannot capture any faster than 'real time' (as you put it) It is data transfer.
DV is 720*480 NTSC (PAL users ??? 720*576?)

Intresting reading.
http://www.macspeedzone.com/archive/5.0/usbcomparison.html

][

[buttsy00]

so basically when everyone says firewire is faster they are not refering to the capture time they are refering to the speed of the data it captures...

so if dv is 720 x 480 it obviously uses more space than it would capturing at 320 * 240.

so capturing at 720 * 480 would be impossible using usb because it is too slow to carry that much data...

I appreciate your help and I seem to understand better now.

Thanks... I will be buying a firewire card shortly!!!

[holistic]

NOPE - you don't get it.

DV (digital video) has a resolution of 720*480 the data rate of 3.7 megabytes a second is a function of the codec (compression).

Firewire doesn't capture - There is a transfer of data 0010100111001110 and so on.

You have percived it to use more space due to less compression than the program that you are using now.

It is possible to capture analog @320*240 with no compression with file sizes twice to three times bigger.

File size is a function of compression (or lack there of) - pure and simple.

][

[buttsy00]

You have been a great help...

I may not fully understand it but I do now understand the firewire is better than usb for dv transfer.

You have convinced me to buy a firewire card!!

[holistic]

You have been a great help...

I may not fully understand it but I do now understand the firewire is better than usb for dv transfer.

You have convinced me to buy a firewire card!!

You-R-Welcome
You have questions - I have answers (although you may not like them) :P :P

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