Capture cards ?

[Rewmer]

Can anyone telll me if it is worth aquiring a capture card. I am currently
using Tmpg to encode my AVI files to DVD mpeg2 and they are typicaly taking 25hrs to encode. is this normal and will a capture card help? if so any suggestions to what card.

[DJRumpy]

Rewmer, try the Catpure Cards section to the left. You'll find it under Other. Unless your ready to drop a good chunck of money, then a capture card will probably not make you perfectly happy. They all seem to require a nip and tuck no matter what you get. Granted, though, I never purchased one of the $4000.00 models.

I went down this road a while back..A few suggestions.
If you do buy one, try to keep in mind what you'll be using it for. Make sure it will capture in the format your aiming for. Othewise, you'll still have to convert your capture after the fact.

Don't forget the audio. Make sure it captures in 44.1 Khz, or 48 Khz! Save yourself some time.

Remember you get what you pay for. In the end, you probably will not beat the quality of a 25 hour encode in TMPGenc, compared to a live, on the fly capture of a TV show, direct to MPEG-2. Know what your willing to accept.

Last but not least, know the return policy of the place you buy your capture card! You'll be visiting them, over, and over, and over again, until you find what your looking for.