Looking for a good Capture Card that will capture ANYTHING

[ColtWalker]

Quite frankly, I want to purchase a Video Capture Card that will capture from any VHS video tape and that will do the following:

REQUIREMENTS:
1. Provided with software and drivers that with the card COMPLETELY ignore Macrovision VHS anti-copy technology. (does so without the need of an external macrovision removal device)
2. Reasonable to high quality video capture with stereo sound.
3. Will capture NTSC 352x240

PREFRENCES:
1. Will capture as close to if not perfectly VCD compliant
2. Will capture as close to if not perfectly SVCD compliant
3. Will capture MPEG1 and MPEG2 native
4. Has S-Video as well as composite inputs
5. Affordable (preferably $200 or less or within reason)

I intend to archive all of my VHS videos that I have bought and paid for to Video CD format as they are aging and as we all know, VHS has a shelf life. My ATI AIW will not allow me to back up most of my videos since they have the Macrovision anti-copy technology on them.

No speculations and guesses please. Only people that know for a fact by way of personal experience or verified knowledge that a particular capture card will copy ANYTHING.

Thank you

[jerycan]

ATI TV WONDER (Or the VE if you don't really need s-video)

REQUIREMENTS:
1. Provided with software and drivers that with the card COMPLETELY ignore Macrovision VHS anti-copy technology. (does so without the need of an external macrovision removal device)
[Get the card, Get PowerVCR (free from Morpheus hehehe) or ATI MMC 7.5 (Available in many places, check this forum)
The TV wonder ignores macrovision]

2. Reasonable to high quality video capture with stereo sound.
[Use your sound card for sound input, works great]

3. Will capture NTSC 352x240
[The TV Wonder does this, If you get the drivers from http://sourceforge.net/projects/btwincap/, it will do 640x480]

PREFRENCES:
1. Will capture as close to if not perfectly VCD compliant
2. Will capture as close to if not perfectly SVCD compliant
3. Will capture MPEG1 and MPEG2 native
[as good as it gets]
4. Has S-Video as well as composite inputs
[The TV wonder has cable in, composite and S-vid. The VE is missing S-Vid]
5. Affordable (preferably $200 or less or within reason)
[In Canada, the TV WOnder is ~$100, The VE is $69.00]

I intend to archive all of my VHS videos that I have bought and paid for to Video CD format as they are aging and as we all know, VHS has a shelf life. My ATI AIW will not allow me to back up most of my videos since they have the Macrovision anti-copy technology on them.

[Have you tried Stinky's MAcrovision hack for the AIW?]

No speculations and guesses please. Only people that know for a fact by way of personal experience or verified knowledge that a particular capture card will copy ANYTHING.

[ I use the ATI TV WOnder VE. I Cap DVDs to Divx so I can Watch them on my laptop when I'm on the road. I have also backed up my home movies from VHS-C at 640x480 with mjpeg and converted them mpg with TMPGEnc and burned them with NERO.]

[Please note: Any VCD looks great on a 32" or smaller television. But On my 57" Sony, they all look like shit. Consider DVDR and MPEG if all you have is a big screen.]

Thank you

[ColtWalker]

Stinky's Macrovision hack did not work for me under Windows 98 and what I am using now, which is Windows 2000 workstation.

I've read that Stinky's hack only works on older ATI capture cards. My card is relatively new.

I would prefer to avoid purchasing another ATI capture product. I mostly read criticisms about them here. Also, from what I have read, anything by ATI being sold now will not copy Macrovision protected VHS.

Thank you for your recommendation. I would invite more feedback from others in the forum as well.