Capture through USB

[pahidla]

There are some usb video capture devices out there? Can that really work? Is USB not to slow.

For example, here this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3761&item=5111915354&rd=1

In addition to the capture question, I would like to know (if this is an appropriate place to ask this) whether it would be possible to use this card to watch TV on a laptop. Can I expect a nice smooth picture?

Thank you very much in advance!

Pahidla

[thecoalman]

Steer clear of any USB device unless you have USB 2.0 and the device is 2.0. There's a lot of posts on here about users having trouble with older USB devices for video, it simply can't handle the data rate.

I personally would look for something with firewire.

[DVD_Ripper]

USB2 is fast enough to capture bitrates up to 9,000 (and then some). USB1 can capture around 4,000 to 5,000 with MPEG1L2 Audio. (although with some potential issues)

I've used a few and they work ok for VHS xfer.

[pahidla]

Thank you very much for the responses.

Once again, this may be offtopic, but how about simply for watching tv in somthing like a 300x200 window (or 150x100)?

Scenario: you are at a beach, with a 400mhz laptop, usb 1.0, with this card and an antenna. (This is my real situation.) Will this be nothing but a pain in the neck or an all right experience?

Thanks!

[iantri]

It might be OK -- problem is, with a 400mhz processor it might have some trouble getting you full frame-rate with USB..

Buy a card at a retail store with a good return policy and see how it goes.

Also, many of the newer ones are designed for USB 2.0 -- this is much faster than USB 1.1 (which is what your older laptop will have) and you may find that they are not optimized enough to work well over USB 1.1. An older device may work better..

EDIT: The ebay item says performance is the same with USB 1.1 -- this means that it is a USB 1.1 device and is doing compression internally; so the quality won't be great but it will probably work fine on your laptop.

[Evander]

For that situation it seems like overkill. Why not just buy a portable tv? More convenient, and for less tragic than if someone stole your laptop (or accidentaly damaged it) at the beach