From TV To PC

[State Of Mind]

Hi, I have an ADSTech Instant DVD which is rather old. I also have an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro. I'm looking for ways to transfer audio and video from my TV to PC without the transfer being capped at a certain bitrate. I'm sure when everything is closed to give dedication to the transfer process that my P4 3.0 GHz with 512 DDR PC3200 RAM can handle any bitrate. Anyway, I have an S-Video cable also. What software can I use to do a capless transfer? Is there anything like S-Audio too? I have a Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 card too. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[redwudz]

If you are planning on using the ATI card, look to 'Capture' to the left. <<<

One guide: https://www.videohelp.com/capture#9;45 There are others for ATI cards.

S-VHS would be the best if you have a S-VHS source or VCR. Audio is whatever it is. You can convert it to other formats during or after capture.

As far as capless, not sure what you mean. Capture at as high of bitrate as your system can handle if you want. You set that with the capture program.

[State Of Mind]

My source is normal Cable TV. Back of TV. Also, theose guides are for the AIW card, I have a Radeon 9800 Pro.
Capless, recording not limited to a certain bitrate.

[junkmalle]

Do you have the older USB 1.1 version of the newer USB 2.0 version of the ADSTech Instant DVD? The older one is severely limited in MPEG 2 bitrate, 5 MB/s, because of the USB 1.1 interface.

[State Of Mind]

Yes, I have the old one. So no software update is going to allow me to increase my bitrate? I have to go and purchase a new one USB 2.0 one?
Also, I prefer to have as little sound interference as possible, I believe the term is "grounding"?

[junkmalle]

Yes, I have the old one. So no software update is going to allow me to increase my bitrate? I have to go and purchase a new one USB 2.0 one?

I believe that is the case. USB 1.1 has a maximum bandwidth of 12 mbit/sec but protocol overhead limits you to about half that amount of true data transfer in real life situations.

[pfh]

I'm not sure what you mean by capless either.

You say you want to capture tv? If so, then the 9800 is not gonna help that process. That s-video is just output for dual monitor usage.

And yes, you'll have to buy a newer usb 2.0 capture device.

[State Of Mind]

I'm not sure what you mean by capless either.

.... capturing while not being restricted to a limited bitrate...

And yes, you'll have to buy a newer usb 2.0 capture device.

Ok, thanks.

[State Of Mind]

What capture method allows for the highest quality capture? I read someone mention once before that they could capture at 24 Mb/s or something. The ADSTech Instant DVD 2.0 can capture at 15 Mb/s which is 3x the quality of my current setup, limited to 5 Mb/s.

[junkmalle]

15 mb/s won't necessarily be three times better than 5 mb/s. Over about 8 kbps you won't get much better quality from a TV source. And remember, 15 mb/s is too high a bitrate for DVD.

What exactly do you want to do with your captures? Are you making DVDs? How much work do you want to do? Do you want to spend hours converting to DVD compaitible MPEG? Do you want to capture directly to MPEG so you can just burn onto a DVD? Do you want the best possible quality regardless of file size? Do you plan on doing lots of editing? Lots of transitions? Lots of restoration and cleanup? Do you want to be able to use your computer for other things while capturing?