Which old card to use?

[rmhartman]

I have an osprey 100, avermedia avertv, and a hauppauge winpvr 150 ... I want to save my old VCR tapes. From what I understand, any of these would be capable of this. For doing this I clearly do not need the tuner capability, just the video in. My question is whether any of them would be significantly better than the others?

[sanlyn]

Depends on what you want to do with the captures. DVD, digital archive, or both? And the quality level you expect.

[rmhartman]

Copying to DVD. Would like best possible quality ... But know VHS has limits.just do not want to be further limited by the card ... Within the constraints of using one of the ones I have on hand and not going out to buy yet another.

[yoda313]

I used to have a hauppauge pvr250. If memory serves the 150 was its cheaper cousin was it not? And if memory servers it was something of a slightly inferior product to the 250 and 350 models I believe.

However that being said I'd still prefer a hauppauge to another brand.

Simple answer to your question though is try both out. Then do a sample with the same source on both cards and see which output is better.

Ideally for capture and conversion to dvd you should use the one that has hardware mpeg encoding. That way you can capture directly to mpeg2 and author that directly to dvd without any extra conversion steps (authoring doesn't convert it just aligns the dvd compliant video into a structure the dvd player will recognize - plus you can do menus and such if you so desire or just do movie only).

You can capture to avi using a dv codec if you so desire and the card in question has this capability. However that would require encoding it to mpeg2 and then authoring it to dvd. An extra step but if you want to apply filters and stuff it might be more suitable than using a mpeg2 captured mpg file.

[usually_quiet]

I have an osprey 100, avermedia avertv, and a hauppauge winpvr 150 ... I want to save my old VCR tapes. From what I understand, any of these would be capable of this. For doing this I clearly do not need the tuner capability, just the video in. My question is whether any of them would be significantly better than the others?

The PVR-150 does hardware encoding, and it can capture directly to DVD-compatible MPEG-2 video. Audio might have to be converted, because as I recall, the PVR-150 captures MPEG-1 Audio Layer 2 audio. (When there is only one audio track on an NTSC DVD, then it must be AC3 or PCM but if capturing PAL video, MPEG-1 Audio Layer 2 audio is allowed if there is just one audio track.) However if you want to correct defects in the captured video, a card that can capture to a lossless video format using software would be better. (The losslessly compressed video would be re-encoded to be DVD compatible after the desired corrections are made.)

The Osprey 100 only captures video. Audio would need to be captured from your PC's audio line in, which increases the chances of audio synchronization issues. I can't tell for certain but I'm guessing the Osprey 100 can capture to a lossless video format or DV using the right software. It is supposed to be a bt8x8 card, and those are reputedly good for capturing VHS.

Which AverMedia AverTV card do you have? That is the suffix AverMedia uses on their entire TV card line.

[yoda313]

(When there is only one audio track on an NTSC DVD, then it must be AC3 or PCM but if capturing PAL video, MPEG-1 Audio Layer 2 audio is allowed if there is just one audio track.)

Just an fyi I have mentioned this before - generally speaking a lot (but probably not all) dvd players will actually play mp2 audio. I had a capture card that would only do mp2 audio and I was able to play those discs in my dvd players. (and I am in the ntsc part of the world)

Granted that is a generallity and is a case by case basis. Individual results may vary.

So yes strictly speaking you need it to be ac3 or pcm at LEAST and can include dts. But to say it won't work at all with just mp2 audio is innacurate.

But yes ac3 should be the preffered format. And the audio can be removed from the captured video and converted to ac3 (besweet for instance) and put back into the video.

[usually_quiet]

(When there is only one audio track on an NTSC DVD, then it must be AC3 or PCM but if capturing PAL video, MPEG-1 Audio Layer 2 audio is allowed if there is just one audio track.)

Just an fyi I have mentioned this before - generally speaking a lot (but probably not all) dvd players will actually play mp2 audio. I had a capture card that would only do mp2 audio and I was able to play those discs in my dvd players. (and I am in the ntsc part of the world)

Granted that is a generallity and is a case by case basis. Individual results may vary.

So yes strictly speaking you need it to be ac3 or pcm at LEAST and can include dts. But to say it won't work at all with just mp2 audio is innacurate.

But yes ac3 should be the preffered format. And the audio can be removed from the captured video and converted to ac3 (besweet for instance) and put back into the video.

Even if the DVD player will play an NTSC DVD with just MPEG-1 Audio Layer, some DVD authoring software may adhere tightly to the DVD spec and not allow it.

[rmhartman]

I have an osprey 100, avermedia avertv, and a hauppauge winpvr 150 ... I want to save my old VCR tapes. From what I understand, any of these would be capable of this. For doing this I clearly do not need the tuner capability, just the video in. My question is whether any of them would be significantly better than the others?

(snip)

Which AverMedia AverTV card do you have? That is the suffix AverMedia uses on their entire TV card line.

How do I tell?

[usually_quiet]

I have an osprey 100, avermedia avertv, and a hauppauge winpvr 150 ... I want to save my old VCR tapes. From what I understand, any of these would be capable of this. For doing this I clearly do not need the tuner capability, just the video in. My question is whether any of them would be significantly better than the others?

(snip)

Which AverMedia AverTV card do you have? That is the suffix AverMedia uses on their entire TV card line.

How do I tell?

If there is no model name or model number on the card, install it, open Device Manager, and look under "Sound Video and Game Controllers" for that information.