Recommendations, please.

[AlecWest]

I have two 40-gig hard drives installed on my 256 meg RAM 1.3 ghz Celeron system. One hard drive is set up on Win98SE. The other is currently blank - but I plan to install Windows XP Home Edition on it (system configured as a dual-boot system) using XP exclusively for video capture, editing, and burning purposes.

For years, I've been burning VCDs just fine and used TMPGEnc to edit them. Now, I'd like to start burning DVDs. However, while my system easily supports a dual-format DVD burner (already installed), and TMPGEnc 2.5 Plus will easily edit content (according to their specs), I'm still looking for a capture device or card that will capture DVD type (704x480 or 720x480) MPEG2 on the fly without dropping frames. The closest thing I've been able to find is Plextor’s ConvertX PX-M402U. I say "closest" because their minimum CPU requirement is 800 mhz P3 with a suggested CPU of 1.6 ghz P4. And, my 1.3 ghz Celeron is between the two ... which concerns me.

In any case, I'd prefer a card over an external device since that would save me from buying a USB2 card (my USB ports are all USB1) ... and it seems a USB2 port is required of most external devices. But, if I have to go external, so be it.

Purpose? I'd only be capturing composite signals from my VCR ... both home videos and TV signals (I use my VCR's receiver to feed TV audio and video into my television).

Am I doomed ... or is there hope out there for me? Product recommendations, please.

[daamon]

Hi AlecWest,

This isn't related to your question, but an observation on your planned install of XP...

I'm guessing that the designation of the second (currently blank) HDD isn't "C:\".

I have a vague recollection that Windows doesn't like being installed on a hard-drive where the designation is anything other than "C:\" - this may have changed with later releases of Windows OS's but I thought I'd mention it just in case...

It'd be worth you calrifying before you start - just to avoid any problems or, if it's OK, you'll have peace of mind.

[AlecWest]

That part doesn't appear to be a problem ... using two separate hard drives. This is the site I used as a reference:

http://www.pcformat.co.uk/tips/default.asp?pagetypeid=2&articleid=18358&subsectionid=689

However, if someone was partitioning a "single" hard drive, I can see how things might get a bit dicey.

[daamon]

I must've been thinking of a partitioned drive, or it wasn't possible with older Windows OS's.

If you don't get much / any joy with your main question, PM Capmaster and / or Lordsmurf - they'er both hot on capture cards / devices.

Of course, there's also the "Capture Cards" section under the "List" heading in the left pane.

[vhelp]

Well, here is what I did for my system, and so far, it's working perfectly
w/out any issues that I can find. It's a 40g external drive setup.

I bought ADS's externa USB enclosure kit (takes any harddrive or dvdwr) and
sets it up as an external drive. You can install a new drive at any time.

I use mine for capturing my DV to it, using my ADVC-100 (or trv22) using
avi_io or winDV etc etc. DV only needs abuot 3.5mb /sec to transfer over
USB-2 speed.

My first experience w/ capturing straight uncompressed or huffy AVI was
not a good one. Too many dropped frames. I believe its because I had
some glitches in my setup. I'm working on it, because it is USB-2 and at
40gig /sec it should be more than enough for my captures (should I have a
need to capture uncompressed or huffy avi) But for now, my DV captures is
more than enough for me.

I do all this under Windows 98 Gold, w/ FAT32 / 4g limit. But w/ the
ability to "segment" my captures (under avi_io and winDV) OS's is not an
issue.., even under my win98 setup, which happens to be my OS

-vhelp

[AlecWest]

vhelp,

Thanks ... but I think I found the animal I'm looking for. Considering the limitations of my CPU and memory, the Hauppauge WinTV PVR-250 PCI capture card seems to do the trick. On this site, and of all the PCI video cards reviewed for MPEG2 on-the-fly capture, more comments have been made by people than on any other card ... most positive. As outdated as my system is (1.3 g Celeron, 256 RAM), it's double the system requirements needed for the card since it uses its own processing power (not my CPU's) to do the hard part. With it, it appears that all my computer has to do is have a hard drive fast enough to save the data fed to it ... which should be no problem with DMA enabled. Also, since it's a PCI card, I won't have to go out and buy a USB2 card (all my ports are USB1) which most externals need for the faster capture rates ... and I'll have one less thing cluttering up my already messy desk (grin).

Anyhoo, here's the cheapest one I could find:

http://www.thenerds.net/productpage.asp?un=151850&s=1

I'll be ordering it sometime after Thanksgiving (gotta buy Xmas gifts first, hehe) and will post my own review of it, good or bad, after I put it to the test.