USB or PCI?

[lifeisgood03]

I want to capture video from TV from my Laptop. But it seems like it only suits USB.

What's the difference capturing with a USB device and a PCI Device? Is there anyway to use a PCI Device with a laptop? Do I need any PCMIA card or anything?

Thanks!

[Bizuser]

How are you getting the input into the laptop in the first place?

USB2 is now becoming available, but USB1 is much more common. USB2 is 40 times faster than 1. The 'spec' for USB2 is, I believe, 480 MBit/sec, or 60 MBytes/sec, which compares to 33, 66, 100 or 133 MBytes/sec for IDE hard drives.

My USB2 seems to get 'actual' rates of about 20 MBytes/sec. 20 MBytes/sec is higher than any video rates, so in theory it should be OK, but this assumes no 'temporary interruptions'. When I shut down every 'optional' program on my system, I can do video captures to my USB drive without any frame drop. USB 1 has no chance.

But I'm curious as to how you are going to get the video into the system in the first place.

[jeg_jason]

A few options

1)USB1.1 TV tuner/capture card - (cheapest but lowest quality)
2)Install a USB2.0 PCMCIA card then a USB2.0 TV tuner/capture card
3)Install a Firewire PCMCIA card then a firewire capture unit (probably have to use tuner on VCR as source or record with DV cam first)

Check out the capture card features and user comments on the left side of the page. Also please post your complete laptop specifications especially processor, memory, OS, and hard drive space. Also you did not specify what format you wanted to capture in Mpeg1/Mpeg2/DV/Other AVI. If you have limited space or don't want to reencode the video for VCD/SVCD/DVD authoring, use mpeg. For more details please read the how to capture guides on the left and search the forum to answer most questions for you.

[lifeisgood03]

How are you getting the input into the laptop in the first place?

USB2 is now becoming available, but USB1 is much more common. USB2 is 40 times faster than 1. The 'spec' for USB2 is, I believe, 480 MBit/sec, or 60 MBytes/sec, which compares to 33, 66, 100 or 133 MBytes/sec for IDE hard drives.

My USB2 seems to get 'actual' rates of about 20 MBytes/sec. 20 MBytes/sec is higher than any video rates, so in theory it should be OK, but this assumes no 'temporary interruptions'. When I shut down every 'optional' program on my system, I can do video captures to my USB drive without any frame drop. USB 1 has no chance.

But I'm curious as to how you are going to get the video into the system in the first place.

I bought Dazzle Video Creator 100 that uses USB 2.0 Interface. I didn't like it so I returned it.

[LanEvo7]

You can't get good captures with a USB TV-Tuner.

[lifeisgood03]

All these capture and tv tuner cards... Jeez. I tried Dazzle, which sucks and I don't know what else to try.

I think I'm just gonna get Canopus ADVC 100 I read a lot of good reviews for that. Heh.

[Bizuser]

Have you thought about buying a desktop machine? A desktop costs about 40% of the cost of a laptop, and that's not even thinking about peripherals, which are real expensive, problematic, and hard to get for laptops.

We are paying about $2k for 1.8 GHz, 512 Meg Ram, 20 Gig HD laptops at work (these are office-oriented dell latitudes, with built-in ethernet and modem, etc). For about $800, we can get 2.6 GHz, 1 Gig Ram, 80 Gig HD desktops with 17" monitors. The performance of these desktops is way better, not just due to CPU, but also disk throughput (laptops are typically 4200 rpm, not 7200 rpm; RAM is slower; and the 'stated' CPU speed is, apparently, something of a myth - they can 'burst' at that speed, but to reduce heat, they don't really run at those speeds continuously.

So rather than spend the earth on buying addons for the laptop, I'd think about buying a desktop for video. I have one of the above-mentioned laptops and use it for various stuff, but also have a desktop in my 'home office' for video work. I have a wireless network card in the laptop which hooks me to the desktop, and all it's files, and also share internet access through the desktop. Give it some thought.

[Jester700]

You can't get good captures with a USB TV-Tuner.

Sure you can. I had a Hauppauge WinTV-PVR USB that worked great for VCD & SVCD. And for good bitrate MPEG2 - 5MB/s. But the audio is 44.1, so it was a pain for making DVDs. If I was after VCD or SVCD instead of DVD, though, I'd have kept it.

[LanEvo7]

Well, I guess I should restated that. You'll get much better quality with a PCI card compared to an USB one.

[Jester700]

Well, better, yes. MUCH better? Depends on the format.

The annoying thing is, there's no good REASON for this. USB bandwidth is enough for a USB cap to be every bit as good as a realtime PCI one for VCD and SVCD, and also for DVD as long as it's 6MB/s or under. Of course, PCI has the flexibility of going above that, but many people don't use that anyway, to maximize recording time.

The problem is, nobody uses the better cheap chips (including the ITVC15 & 16) in USB units.