Best capture card for low profile/short form factor pc?

[mikegamb]

Hi everyone. i'm new to all this so please bear with me.

My parents did something really cool and grabbed me a brand new pc (really stretched their budget to do it too) so i could do some video capturing/editing/authoring for my school and try to get good at it for future careers.
It's a P4 2.26 with 256 ram. got power producer gold 2 and it seems to handle the workload pretty good! unfortunately, coz it's a low profile/ short form factor pc with onboard video card, it came supplied with a USB TV Excel capture box/tv tuner... and it's cvery slow and glitchy. so my question is- what is the best option for around $150 (all i have spare) for an internal video card that'll actually FIT in a spare slot on this low profile unit, or a decent USB 2 external box that won't screw up with video audio sync, etc?

thanks for any help you can throw my way.

cheers

[redwudz]

For internal capture cards the Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 250 - Model 980 is popular. You would have to check their website to see if it would fit. It would be within your price range.

http://www.hauppauge.com/

[mikegamb]

Thanks for the info! Don't think it'd fit though, unfortunately. could you suggest any external USB 2 that are worth getting?" or are they all pretty crappy? i had a look at some other forums and not too many people have kind words about them.

thanks!

[jdizzy40]

Before you spend the money on a capture device, you need more RAM period. Without at least 512 you are running below any standard. 1Gig would be my goal.

[redwudz]

It's more money, and you would need a available 5.25 drive bay, but a Canopus ADVC50 is one option for about $190US. Canopus has a good reputation. I have a ADVC 100 and I have never had any complaints: http://www.canopus.us/US/products/ADVC-50/pt_advc-50.asp.

I'm not a fan of USB capture solutions but you might look into this one from Hauppauge: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16815116624. It is within your budget, about $140US but I have no knowledge of how well it works.

From there, spend a little more time looking around. There are surely more options that would fit into your setup for the right price.

[mikegamb]

Thanks heaps for the replies. the RAM upgrade is already organized. the advc 50 is looking the goods at the moment. i have a spare bay at the front too.

cheers guys.

[snafu099]

I'm not a fan of USB capture solutions but you might look into this one from Hauppauge: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16815116624. It is within your budget, about $140US but I have no knowledge of how well it works.

While I don't have this device, I do have two usb hardware encoding devices. Both work great and provide excellent quality capture. I prefer usb since it is not "tied" to any one pc but can be use as a portable. I also like the hardware encodeing devices rather than software. The link above has some reviews, one of which complained about third party software not reconizeing the device, even upgrade (trail ware) of bundled software. YES that is true and common on most all hardware encoders. Most upgrades of bundled software will have a download patch to provide reconition of the device through. Even so, once the capture is done you can use whatever software you want to edit / author .

Each to thier own choice but the above device would be a good choice at a good price.

[harley2ride]

Look into the ADS PYRO AV/LINK, with adobe premiere elements, for a price of $159.00. It is a firewire solution, external device. You can read up about it at http://www.videoguys.com/Shootout2005.html