Good capture card recommendation...

[BrainAche]

Hiya,

I'm currently using the Hauppage USB Live2 capture card to record live audio and video. I'm using my own bespoke software writtten in c++. I have been given the option of using an alternative capture card at my choosing, within a respectable budget of course.
I'm using the current capture card ( which uses a software encoder to encode ) to capture to mpeg2 elementary audio and video streams before multiplexing them into a single .mpg file. While this works ok I'm wondering if using a PCI-e capture card would offer benefits over a USB one.

My thoughts are that a PCI-e capture card that would have hardware MPEG2 encoding built-in, but would this offer benefits in terms of better encoding quality and reliability. I assume it would but I'm unsure what with todays more modern USB cards.

Ultimately, I'm looking for a possible recommendation of a capture card that is more reliable ( record up to 4hrs without problems, and last longer than a few months ) with a good quality mpeg2 encoder within a budget up to £200.

Regards
Dave.

EDIT:- I did use the Capture Search facility which gave many results and left me more in the dark than before as to choice.

[jagabo]

I'm wondering if using a PCI-e capture card would offer benefits over a USB one.

No. Except for the fact that it's not a box hanging off the computer.

My thoughts are that a PCI-e capture card that would have hardware MPEG2 encoding built-in, but would this offer benefits in terms of better encoding quality and reliability.

No. Good software encoding is superior to any hardware encoding. The only benefit to hardware encoding is that it's done in realtime while capturing. And it's is more foolproof since the computer is dealing with less data. But the best quality comes from capturing uncompressed or with lossless compression, then a good MPEG 2 software encoding.

[SHS]

Hiya,

I'm currently using the Hauppage USB Live2 capture card to record live audio and video. I'm using my own bespoke software writtten in c++. I have been given the option of using an alternative capture card at my choosing, within a respectable budget of course.
I'm using the current capture card ( which uses a software encoder to encode ) to capture to mpeg2 elementary audio and video streams before multiplexing them into a single .mpg file. While this works ok I'm wondering if using a PCI-e capture card would offer benefits over a USB one.

My thoughts are that a PCI-e capture card that would have hardware MPEG2 encoding built-in, but would this offer benefits in terms of better encoding quality and reliability. I assume it would but I'm unsure what with todays more modern USB cards.

Ultimately, I'm looking for a possible recommendation of a capture card that is more reliable ( record up to 4hrs without problems, and last longer than a few months ) with a good quality mpeg2 encoder within a budget up to £200.

Regards
Dave.

EDIT:- I did use the Capture Search facility which gave many results and left me more in the dark than before as to choice.

Hardware MPEG2 Encoding in PCI or PCI-e capture should be better encoding quality but it all depend your source input and you be able bump up the resolution and bit rate to and it far more reliability I have record up 6 hour in go under SageTV with PVR-150, HVR-1800 even latest HD-PVR 2 which is another option that is a Hardware H264/AVC Encoding.
With USB2 there are Hardware MPEG2 Encoding to and there no real benefits over a USB2 vs. PCI/PCIe.

[enim]

As I am thinking of an upgrade... Would you mind posting short 1min sample recorded with PVR-150, HVR-1800 even latest HD-PVR 2? any public advertisement will do. Do they have option for interlace or hardware deinterlace selection? do you get same resolution as channel with PVR or HVR? you can post me link.

[SHS]

As I am thinking of an upgrade... Would you mind posting short 1min sample recorded with PVR-150, HVR-1800 even latest HD-PVR 2? any public advertisement will do. Do they have option for interlace or hardware deinterlace selection? do you get same resolution as channel with PVR or HVR? you can post me link.

I have sample recorded on my web site see the review and link to SHS below this message
I no longer have a PVR-150 but you can look at PVR 250 sample recorded I have
As for HVR-1800 I don't have any clip nor do I want find it and mess with my SageTV Server which full Hauppauge Colossus cards not counting a HD-PVR2 for HD recoding, But I can in sure you it tab better then PVR 250 sample recorded after they all used the same Conexant MPEG-2 encoder chip here list of same model with that chip set
PVR-150
PVR-160
PVR-250
PVR-350
PVR-500
PVR-USB2
HVR-1600
HVR-1700
HVR-1800
HVR-1850
HVR-1900 USB2
HVR-1950 USB2

[enim]

SHS Unofficial WinTV-PVR

Nice One. I like this one where your forum lead me to.

[usually_quiet]

Hiya,

I'm currently using the Hauppage USB Live2 capture card to record live audio and video. I'm using my own bespoke software writtten in c++. I have been given the option of using an alternative capture card at my choosing, within a respectable budget of course.
I'm using the current capture card ( which uses a software encoder to encode ) to capture to mpeg2 elementary audio and video streams before multiplexing them into a single .mpg file. While this works ok I'm wondering if using a PCI-e capture card would offer benefits over a USB one.

My thoughts are that a PCI-e capture card that would have hardware MPEG2 encoding built-in, but would this offer benefits in terms of better encoding quality and reliability. I assume it would but I'm unsure what with todays more modern USB cards.

Ultimately, I'm looking for a possible recommendation of a capture card that is more reliable ( record up to 4hrs without problems, and last longer than a few months ) with a good quality mpeg2 encoder within a budget up to £200.

Regards
Dave.

EDIT:- I did use the Capture Search facility which gave many results and left me more in the dark than before as to choice.

I remember your other thread. As I recall, you want to capture video and audio using a capture device and quickly create a playable DVD disc. If that is still true, devices like the Hauppauge HD-PVR 2 that only capture H.264 video are not going to be useful to you. SHS's other suggestions are good products, except for the Win-TV PVR 150, which disappointed a lot of the people who bought one. The Hauppauge WinTV-HVR 1900 is still in production and available in the UK, but the other MPEG-2 capture devices he listed are no longer made and some don't have suitable drivers available for all versions of Windows after Windows XP.

The Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2200 is another current option sold in the UK that uses hardware to encode to MPEG-2. The WinTV-HVR-2200 has a PCI-e interface and is probably more reliable than the Hauppauge WinTV-HVR 1900. The WinTV-HVR-2200 can capture from two analog sources at the same time with the right software. I have the N. American version of the same device, the WinTV-HVR-2250. I don't use it often for analog capture but it seems like a good product.

[BrainAche]

Thankyou SHS,jagabo.

Hi usually_quiet,

Yes its the same project.
Thank you for your advices. We've gone for HVR-2200.

Thanks all
Dave.