Computer requirements?

[booboobubber]

I know this question has probably been asked 100's of times before but I have found it hard to find previous posts that have helped me. I want to buy a new computer which is capable of capturing home video from an old analouge Video camcorder. I'd like to be able to capture these tapes at the highest possible quality. I would also like the option of saving the edited video back to tape as well as to S(VCD). I have had some experience with capturing, converstion and burning on my work computer which is a P4, 40GB 7200, Dynalink 99 Tv card. I've used Virtual dub, Tmpgne and VCD easy and have produced VCD's that are of pretty good quality. The TV card can only capture 352x288 maximum. I don't know much about what makes computers perform well for my requirements so I am afraid the computer store may take advantage of that. I'm just after some advise on the must have requirements I should look for when making my purchase. I hope you can help?

[Greg12]

Video computers need FAST CPU's, dont' be afriad to buy the fastest CPU u can afford.

Also get between 256-512 gigs of RAM.

Make sure u get a LARGE Hard drive. I bought a 20 giger and i'm going back out and getting 120 gigs. It should support Ultra DMA Mode 5.

Make sure your motherboard supports Ultra DMA.

For the video you can go three ways.

I recomind a firewire card and either a Dazzle DV Bridge or a Cannpous ADVC-100 (check the model number)

You plug in your vcr and it turns it into DV (digital video) which is high quality.

You may want to treat urself to a DVD-RW.

Things you don't need are software extras, a large monitor, if you get a DVD-RW, you don't need a DVD-ROM, CD-ROM or CD-RW. You may want to opt out of a Zip Drive if possible. I think zip drives r dead.

DO NOT BUY A USB CAPTURE CARD. THEY SUX!!!!

[presto]

The next time I buy a computer I'm going to get one with the video capture card and DVD burner allready installed. I thought I bought a computer that was way over powered but found that it could not handle video capture. Compaq said they could not offer support for a card that didn't come with the computer (to be fair they did work with me on the phone quite a bit but I had no recourse as far as returning the computer or demanding that they fix it.)

It took me months on this board before I described my problem to the right person (Sulik) and he figured out what was going on.

So I say buy it from a store that has a good return policy, take it home and test it like crazy and if it doesn't suit your needs return it and try again.

[Tommyknocker]

And do not forget to get the heads on your VCR cleaned by a professional, to help your capture quality even more.