Help selecting a video capture device

[JeffG89]

Hi everyone I need some help on choosing a video capture device. I dont know whats the best way for video capture.
I want to capture VHS/Laserdisc and maybe some TV shows. Would would be better for this a capture external device or a capture video card that I install into my pc. Also I want to try to get the best video possible without the capture device encoding it. Plz any suggestions Ive been
looking online and etc, but dont know which one would be the best for me.

[hech54]

I want to try to get the best video possible without the capture device encoding it.

So you want to capture to uncompressed AVI or some other lossless-type video codec?

[JeffG89]

I want to try to get the best video possible without the capture device encoding it.

So you want to capture to uncompressed AVI or some other lossless-type video codec?

yes if that's possible

[sanlyn]

You might get more specific advice if you let us know what computer you're using.

[JeffG89]

I have an HP desktop with windows 7

[usually_quiet]

I have an HP desktop with windows 7

You will need something more than a capture device and a single HDD. If you want to capture standard definition video as a losslessly compressed AVI, you will need a second internal hard drive to avoid dropped frames. To capture standard definition video as an uncompressed AVI you'll need a RAID 0 array or SATA III SSD. Making high definition TV captures in either of the above types of AV is more demanding. Most people employ lossy compression to capture high definition TV for that reason.

[Edit] USB 2.0 is enough to capture uncompressed or losslessley compressed SD video, and most of the devices that would allow you to do that use a USB 2.0 interface. To capture uncompressed or losslessley compressed HD video, you will need to look for an internal device. There are USB 3.0 devices for uncompressed or losslessley compressed HD video capture, but only a few specific USB 3.0 controllers are compatible, and they aren't used on most motherboards.

[JeffG89]

Okay thanks for the info because alot of captures encode to x264. what's a capture device that can either encode to a loseless codec or uncompressed?

[hech54]

Quite a few USB devices have the ability to do it, but you usually cannot do it with the software provided with the device.....my Hauppauge USB-Live2 for example. It can capture lossless via a program called DScaler easily, and supposedly via VirtualDub but I've never had much luck capturing with VirtualDub so I never tried it.

[PuzZLeR]

Hi everyone I need some help on choosing a video capture device. I dont know whats the best way for video capture.
I want to capture VHS/Laserdisc and maybe some TV shows.

VHS: Get a good VCR first. If you can get an S-VHS deck, and capture through s-video, great. However, since this is 2014, finding a good used one has an ever fading probability. But you can get good quality from a good composite 4-head, HiFi deck.

Laserdisc: Capture using composite/RCA (the yellow one).

Good capture devices are the Hauppauge USB-Live2, ezcap.tv (the real one). If you can find an ATI USB 600, this too is a good choice.

TV Shows: This is open ended. A good capture device for TV is not necessarily good for VHS/Laserdisc, or vice versa. Example: Hauppauge USB-Live2 (good for analog capture such as VHS) and Hauppauge WinTV-HVR950Q (good for TV) - both would be much weaker in reverse roles (unless you capture TV in analog). Capturing in HD? Different animal altogether.

Would would be better for this a capture external device or a capture video card that I install into my pc.

I wouldn't bother with internal for SD. Although they don't necessarily produce better quality, you may get better performance from an internal card with an older machine, but it's not an issue with yours. USB devices will be good enough. Those mentioned earlier are USB external.

Also I want to try to get the best video possible without the capture device encoding it.

Use lossless video formats, as was mentioned, like HuffYUV, Lagarith or UT.

Plz any suggestions Ive been looking online and etc, but dont know which one would be the best for me.

Public info on capture devices is spasmodic at best. Only in Forums like these will you get the low-down on what's good or not.

what's a capture device that can either encode to a loseless codec or uncompressed?

Those three mentioned. They all work very well with software like VirtualDub. Don't know enough about DScaler to give more info on it.