Which capture card for vhs to dvd

[manuilse]

Hello,

I'm planning to build up my PC with a dvd-writer, capture card and bigger hard drive.

My only problem is which capture card I should buy: my purpose is to make dvd's of vhs movies so I need a card to connect my viedeorecorder to my pc. I saw on the site that you have normal tc-cards and realtime encoders. But I don't understand the difference that good. Which card is best for me, I want good results on the dvd so good quality is importer to me than the price. Of course I don't need a pro card.

Exept a bigger HD which parts bof the pc are also important for doiing this proces ? RAM, processor....

Thanks a lot

[ItsMe]

The main difference between cards that do realtime MPEG encoding and cards that don't, is the amount of time it takes, to create a finished product. Quality can also be an issue as most hardware MPEG cards do not produce the same high quality that software encoders produce. Having said that, quality is generally good on most hardware MPEG cards, especially if you capture at high bitrates.

Captures made with cards that do not support real time MPEG, need to be converted to MPEG after capturing. This can be a time consuming process, depending on your CPU speed. On the other hand the captures produced by real time MPEG capture cards can be authored straight to DVD.

If you do go the real time capture way, I recommend that you look at cards that do MPEG in hardware.

I use the VMagic TV Pro and am really please with it. I used to have the Pinnacle PC TV Pro, which I was also pleased with.

You might want to take a look at the capture cards section on this site:

http://www.vcdhelp.com/capturecards

I recommend that you get the fastest processor that you can afford, at least 1/2 GB of RAM and 2 hard disks, a "small" on for the OS and applications, and a big hard disk for your captures. If you go for a card that captures to AVI format, then I suggest that you get a really huge hard disk.

[manuilse]

Thanks for the reply, it really helped me.

So checked out my local computer dealers webpage to see which card he has in stock (I'm from Begium). And he didn't have the card U use , he has pinnacle studio or pro (which do you recommend) or otherwise I could ask him to order one that captures to mpeg in real timebut since your card is only available in germany and switserland which real time card do you recommend that is sold all over europe ?

[ItsMe]

Vidac VMagic, its the best in its price range when it comes to hardware MPEG. Pinnacle (software MPEG) is good, but the VMagic is much better. I didn't mention, I also tried the Hauppage PVR 250, which also does hardware, MPEG's. I took the PVR 250 back to the shop because of various issues such as audio sync. & crappy software.

Nobody stocks the VMagic outside of Germany and Switzerland that I know of. The Vmagic can be ordered directly from Vidac though. I myself live in The Netherlands, it took about 10 days to get the card. I'm glad I ordered it. Its the most trouble free TV/capture card that I have come accross, I'm watching the 8 o' clock news as I type.

[Bondiablo]

Though, in that same price range, if you want the best quality going from VHS to DVD and least headaches with getting it set up and working look at the Canopus ADVC products, especially the 100. They convert analog to DV AVI, about 12GB per hour, and you'll need software like TMPGEnc Plus to convert the files to MPEG. With the ADVC-100 or 50 you'll also need any cheap firewire card, but it's recommended you don't use one with a Texas Insturments chipset.

2 hard drives really aren't necessary, but at 12GB per hour just for the captures, you'd definitely want a big one. Next most important is a fast processor but that's really more for the encoding than the capture.

[ItsMe]

There are no headaches with the VMagic and its certainly the fastest method. The quality is really good too. Just plug your video into the card, select the capture profile you want, start the video player and VMagic recorder can capture away. After capturing the video simply add the captured file to your favourite authoring app and burn the disk. You cannot get any easier that that.

[crjackson]

Bondiablo,

any cheap firewire card, but it's recommended you don't use one with a Texas Insturments chipset.

Could you tell me why this is? Could this cause audio/video sync. problems, or is it something else?

[arealgijoe]

ME?

I have a Panasonic E-30, stand alone DVD recorder. 1,2,4,6 hrs per 4.7 GB DVD-R. all real time no software needed, use a DVD-R/DVD-ram drive and Nero to make copies. I use it for VHS and Camcorder.

I can make copies of DVDs made in my E-30 in about 57 minutes, even if it has 6 hrs of video on it, and that's using a 1x DVD burnner.

Easier, faster, no computer problems no hardware/software compatability issues and the disk seem to play in anything, they do in anything I have.

I also have a VCD recorder for MPEG-1 video, (a Terapin). sure beats computer encodeing in my book. I wasted far too much time and money on so-so software. but that was before I learned about this site.

Items I would buy/spend on again;
1- Terapin VCDR for video CD
2- panasonic E-30 DVD recorder
3- NERO
4-DVD burnner

JD J 8) E

[Bondiablo]

Could you tell me why this is? Could this cause audio/video sync. problems, or is it something else?

No that's one of the main reasons to go with the Canopus, or other DV captures, they don't have audio/video sync problems. Not sure what exactly the issue is with Canopus and Texas instruments chips. Here are the known issues quoted from the Canopus site.

ADVC-100 Known Issues
The ADVC currently has compatibility issues with certain firewire cards using the Texas Instruments chipsets. To find out more please email support@canopuscorp.com.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Macintosh ADVC-100 Known Issues
Please note certain issues that have been reported on MAC OS 10 have been rectified within the MAC OS 10.2.1 update. To find out more please email support@canopuscorp.com.

[Tony Yip]

Concerning the Vmagic TV Plus card, I have 3 questions:

1) I live in Canada, does this card do NTSC?

2) What video chipset does it use?

3) Does this card only capture to MPEG 1/2 or can it capture to AVI also. I
know that the original WinTV PVR also captured to AVI