Trying to clarify advantage of external capture device

[plaitar]

First, the wealth of information on this site is staggering! And, the amount of knowledge that is freely given is commendable.

Second, yes, I am a newbie and if my following questions have been answered elsewhere, I would graciously ask for redirection. However, I have read several pages of posts in the capture forum and looked at the FAQ’s and cannot seem to piece together the information I need.

So, here it goes…and most of this centres around capture hardware recommendations and basic understanding.

As with many other newbie’s here my goals are simple (getting there, apparently, is another thing). These are to a) convert some relatively new VHS and SVHS-C tapes to DVD for archival purposes and b) begin to experiment with DV camcorder material for editing family video.

First the conversion. I would be capturing 5 to 20 minute segments, combining them together (not really editing them, just stringing them together or creating a DVD menu to the individual scenes).

I know I would need a capture device and as I have a laptop, this would be external. Because of geographical location and retail concerns (i.e. what is locally available to me at my budget level) I have decided to look at 1) the Canopus ADVC110, 2) the Pinnacle Moviebox DV or USB and 3) the Plextor ConvertX PX-M402U.

I also realize I am limited by my computer hardware and thought I would be best served by an external device which would “encode on the fly” with its own chips and not rely on the systems CPU.

This is where I really begin to get confused over the hardware. If my intentions are to capture and burn to DVD then I thought the Plextor unit would be best suited as it converts directly to Mpeg2. I think this means I do not need to convert/transfer to DV-AVI(?) file, then render to Mpeg before authoring and burning the DVD…saving a step(?).

However, if I want to get into editing (which may someday include going back to my VHS stuff) then sticking with a device that converts/transfers DV appears to have the most support in these forums (for quality). So, I thought the Canopus or Pinnacle DV box would be best so I could use both analogue and digital sources. But, tech support at both these companies has said that since DV camcorders transfer directly to the hard drive and they serve as nothing but fancy pass-through for DV. I.E. no real advantage. Is this true…am I understanding this correctly? Why would they offer this as being a “feature”? Why would they not just say they convert analogue to DV format?

-If I decide to go with the Plextor, what might I be giving up by not being able to convert my VHS tapes to DV format?

-If I want to be able to record back to VHS (which I don’t think the Plextor unit can do) does the S Video out on my laptop provide an output source of “OK” quality (basically, videos of the kids for Grandma)?

- Does the Pinnacle Moviebox USB version compare to the Plextor unit? There seems to be quite a debate on Pinnacle’s quality of the hardware/software. Again, I assume that for my DV camcorder the Moviebox offers no advantage and I use it to convert VHS to Mpeg AND be able to convert back to analogue at a better quality then S Video out. True?

Thank you for taking the time to read this and appreciate any recommendation on which “box” to purchase for some very basic entry work.

~ PL

[jdizzy40]

I had to post before even finishing your post. What ever you do, do not buy the Plextor unit. Just because it carries the plextor name, don't think it has the same quality as thier drives. They rushed that unit to the stores with a half baked piece of software, many complaints on many forums about the unit. Almost as bad as Dazzle units that have been consumer bait to take your money. Please do a search and read for yourself. I almost bought one but based on the enormous amount of bad press I read., I passed. The Canpous would be a better choice. Your S-Video out on your laptop should only output to a TV, in other words you would only be able to use it's output as a primary or second monitor. It is not for transferring video. I am not a fan of Pinnacle products either. Capture straight to MPEG if you just want to slice and dice straight to a menu. Editing etc. Capture DVI through firewire/composite to your computer. Hope you have a big drive.

[redwudz]

I use a Canopus ADVC-100 and it works fine with my laptop, though I generally use it with my regular computer. DV is about 13GB/hour, so have a lot of HD space.

A DV camcorder with passthrough will also do the same conversion, so that's something you might keep in mind.

I'm not a fan of USB solutions for video; Firewire works better, IMO.

DV is much easier to edit in than MPEG-2 as far as reducing the chance of audio/video sync problems.

DV will have to be encoded to MPEG-2 for DVDs, this is pretty CPU intensive, so your laptop may be a little slow for this task.


I use WinDV (Free) for transferring the DV into my computer, but there are other programs that work as well. Then I use TMPGEnc encoder and TMPGEnc DVD Author for authoring and burning. If you are going to combine the videos, it's better to just do that when authoring. Again, this is to avoid sync problems.

I have also used TheFilmMachine for DV to DVD. The quality isn't as good, but it's easy to use. (Also free)

Hope that gives you a little more info.

[snafu099]

If choosing a external usb hardware capture device be sure to select one that encodes both the audio and video in the box, not just the video leaving the audio to pc

all $ = usa
ADS usb DvdExpress $100 retail, sales after rebate $50
ADS InstantDvd-2 $150
neither of the above have tv tuner
http://www.adstech.com

Compro Videomate Live $125 has tuner & pvr software

mpg editers are getting better all the time. IMO very adequite for consumer useage.