*CHECK THIS BEFORE YOU BUY A CAPTURE CARD*

[julz]

Make sure you check that the card you buy can capture in high res and different colour space.

I bought a Swann Ezycapture card and it will only capture at AVI 352x288 and lower (seems to have a default size). YUY2 is also not supported. I've tried countless times using Ulead VS and many of the other capture tools to increase but keep getting unsupported format and other various errors. (see last post)

Bad news if you want VHS conversion, judging by all the guides and tips, for the best results you need to capture as high as possible.

Then again maybe there is something wrong with my card. Should I take it back?

I would love to get some feedback on this.

[Will Hay]

352 x 288 is fine for vcd.
I use an ATI Radeon 64mb DDR ViVo (video in, video out) I picked up brand new on ebay for £34.00 and capture for mpeg2 dvd output at 720 x 576, generally at 5000kbs VBR (sometimes 8000kbs if I'm capturing a short piece).
Like you say, check your capture card can perform as you want it to.
Are you capturing with the defualt software, have you tried with say, FreeVCR or Virtualdub?
I use the latter and love it. I capture using the PicVideo MJPEG codec at quality 19 (95% - 17gb per sixty minutes of capture *before* mpeg2-ing/encoding with TMPGEnc) and it produces superb results.
Will

[julz]

Hello,

Yes, I have tried Virtualdub and free VCR and they all have same problem. I used to think that it was the software that was at fault but now I am convinced its the card itself.

VCD is not my prefered option due to poor quality, I was very eager to produce SVCD out of my VHS but at 352 x 288 this may not be possible.

Any suggestions?

[eatin sammiches for lunch]

Hello,

Yes, I have tried Virtualdub and free VCR and they all have same problem. I used to think that it was the software that was at fault but now I am convinced its the card itself.

VCD is not my prefered option due to poor quality, I was very eager to produce SVCD out of my VHS but at 352 x 288 this may not be possible.

Any suggestions?

I'm curious of how much did your card cost, by the sounds of its capabilities i'm thinking somewhere around $20

sometimes (not always) u get what u pay for

[hwoodwar]

Julz:

The Capture Cards section: http://www.dvdrhelp/capturecards and the DVD Players section: http://www.dvdrhelp/dvdplayers on this website are both designed to help you make an informed decision on what capture card or dvd player may be the best for your particular situation. They can provide information on resolutions, formats supported, user ratings, problems (and sometimes their fixes), etc. One of the main keys I have found to get the most information out of this is to always read the user reviews and comments as they provide a wealth of additional information. I personally would never buy anything with an average user rating less than 7.5.

There have been many messages posted encouraging people, especially newbies to check these lists before posting a problem or buying a capture card/dvd player.

[fmctm1sw]

Julz:

The Capture Cards section: http://www.dvdrhelp/capturecards and the DVD Players section: http://www.dvdrhelp/dvdplayers on this website are both designed to help you make an informed decision on what capture card or dvd player may be the best for your particular situation.

I agree, it did for me. BTW, you thought about your driver? My wintv card did me the same way until I ditched the driver (which I already knew I had to do from reading the reviews).

[julz]

The card uses WDM drivers and I have the latest BT878.

[fmctm1sw]

Bad news if you want VHS conversion, judging by all the guides and tips, for the best results you need to capture as high as possible.

This is subject to debate. Do you capture as high as you can or do you capture at a res close to your final res (VCD/SVCD/etc)? IMHO it's debatable...

[RoopeT]

If your card is Bt848 based, you can use the btwincap drivers. With this driver you can capture up to 768x576 resolution using VirtualDub (Turn off overlay and switch to preview mode).

[julz]

Thanks RoopeT

I guess its worth a shot. If the card itself is not governed to a limit and its just the drivers then it might work.


fmctm1sw,

I go for the higher than final res to allow for the loss. Given the HD space though, would it be feasable to go the maximum res? Do you think it gives the absolute best picture quality or is it a waste of time with little or no improvement.

[fmctm1sw]

fmctm1sw,

I go for the higher than final res to allow for the loss. Given the HD space though, would it be feasable to go the maximum res? Do you think it gives the absolute best picture quality or is it a waste of time with little or no improvement.

For my VCDs, if I cap something at 352x240 and convert or I cap at 480x480 and convert, I can't tell the difference. I'm no expert though....

[RoopeT]

Given the HD space though, would it be feasable to go the maximum res?

It would be easier to answer if I knew how much HD space you have. Full res capture using huffuv ~ 30 Gb / hour, using PicVideo Mjpeg @ Q19/20 ~ 10 Gb/hour. Capturing @ full res helps if you want to filter out some noise.

[julz]

I have about 47 GB of disk space so I can afford the higher settings.

[LordVader]

Which the difference between a DV500 Plus and a Bt8x8 Card ?

in terms of capturing and video quality.

I mean, the picture is not so sharp with an Bt8x8 even in 720pixels.

The image is very blurry with this cards.

I'm afraid to buy something more expensive, because in terms of image quality i got the same problem with lot of cards.

------------

i doubt to get a sharper image no matter how expensive could be the card.

[wecc]

julz
Listen very carefully to the wise advice of hwoodwar and the others. Before I bought my capture card I knew the upper and lower boundaries of what I wanted to do. So I looked for a card within my budget that satisfied certain quality / performance criteria.

The users comments in the relevant sections of this site are of critical value - you are almost guranteed to find someone who has experienced what you're going through and maybe even a 'fix' for your situation.

[Quigonsean]

Listen very carefully to the wise advice of hwoodwar and the others. Before I bought my capture card I knew the upper and lower boundaries of what I wanted to do. So I looked for a card within my budget that satisfied certain quality / performance criteria.

Mesa too. I wanted to cap in mpeg2 at 720x480 so I read the list and -went with the Aver EasyDVD. It was 50 bucks caps beautifully and I can use lots o software I use Windvr that came with my p.o.s. Kworld Tv Tuner. But I can use the yucky S/W that it came with if I want PCM audio. I love it its a bt878 card. I did read though according to the manufacture it wont go above 352x288 using Huffyuv, but I don't I grab mpeg2 so it works for me. But the advice of hwoodwar is very wise "He has chosen wisely"

Sean