Input for capture

[equinox137]

What is the best input for capture? Coax, S-Video, or Composite? I have a Leadtek Winfast 2000 card and it only has a coax and s-video input. My vcr only has a composite and a coax output. As a result, I can only capture with coax. Is it worth it to replace either the vcr or the capture card?

[redwudz]

S-video would be the best. If you plan to do a lot of capturing from VHS sources, you would be better off to get a SVHS VCR. Coax (RF) from your VCR to the tuner on your video card will probably not get a good quality signal.

[Capmaster]

Yes. Using the coaxial connection means the VCR converts the video to RF channel 3 or 4. The ccapture card then has to downconvert the RF back to video.

In the process it horribly degrades the video. I would never recommend capturing via RF coax

S-video is a better way to go than composite (yellow RCA jack) because the video elements are kept separate. But, if you use good quality short cables and have no other options, you can get good results with composite

[equinox137]

What does RF stand for?

[Tommyknocker]

Radio Frequency.

[edDV]

What is the best input for capture? Coax, S-Video, or Composite? I have a Leadtek Winfast 2000 card and it only has a coax and s-video input. My vcr only has a composite and a coax output. As a result, I can only capture with coax. Is it worth it to replace either the vcr or the capture card?

There is a parallel thread in this forum called "VHS to DVD - do I need an S-Video VCR?" that more widely covers this topic. The latest response is shown below. *

In your case, use the composite RCA connector from the VHS VCR. It will do fine for general capturing. If you have a source with a S-Video connector, use that (with a few exceptions for purists). Never use the RF connector for capture unless it is the only choice (e.g. tv tuner functions). If you want to record the "digital channels" off cable, you will get better results using the S-Video output from the cable box. Next best would be the composite RCA.

* from other thread
-----------------------
"The original question was whether S-Video output is desireable for dubbing VHS tapes. People are wondering if they should buy a S-VHS VCR to capture their VHS collection (SP or EP). I think we can say that for home VCR recorded VHS tapes, there is probably little capture advantage to S-Video connections. For VHS-C camcorder or commercially recorded VHS tapes (which may have more luminance bandwidth), more tests need to be done. In any case, there is no disadvantage to using the S-Video connection.

There may be other advantages to using a quality S-VHS machine to do VHS playback capture such as better signal electronics, processing circuits, TBC, etc. Best way to evaluate this would be to do parallel playback tests with a generic (e.g. K-Mart RCA) VHS player connected with the composite cable to the same capture card and compare the results from the same test tape."

Edit: Maybe I got your question wrong. Your card can input either composite or S-Video with the adapter that was sent with the card. See this picture
http://www.ixbt.com/monitor/images/leadtek-dv2000/units.jpg

The breakout cable has your composite (yellow) in.