Need advice on capture device.

[rheberlein]

Hello,
I am using a Pentium M 1.86 GHz laptop with 1 GB RAM a 533MHz FSB and a 7200 RPM disk drive. I have a Firewire and USB 2.0 port available. I want to capture video from a VCR/Video Cam to burn to DVD. Is there a Firewire/USB capture device that will capture mpegs to compile and author to DVD. In the past I have had success burning SCVD disks by capturing AVI's with VDub, then converting to mpeg, but it was taking so much time and drive space, that I had to stop. I now have a DVD burner, and would like to edit and archive some aging video. I have read through some of the forum topics, but haven't found an answer for this. I'm looking to just capture, edit, author, burn. Is this possible? Thanks.

[FulciLives]

Take a look at the Hauppauge WinTV PVR USB2 and the ADS Instant DVD 2.0

Both of these devices are external USB 2.0 capture devices that use hardware MPEG encoding for the capture.

In my opinion the ADS Instant DVD 2.0 is slightly better than the Hauppauge WinTV PVR USB2 but if you ever want to capture from TV then the Hauppauge WinTV PVR USB2 is the better choice as it includes an RF input and software made for unattended captures.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[rheberlein]

Thanks FulciLives,
I'll check out both of these devices.

[jameshgross]

I use the Hauppauge WinTV PVR USB2 and I am very happy with it.

I have also had very positive results from their Tech support.

[rheberlein]

Thanks James.
I see you're from Cleveland. Me too!
Do you use your WinTV PVR to capture from tape or broadcast TV? After you capture, can you author and burn without encoding?
Thanks.

[FulciLives]

Thanks James.
I see you're from Cleveland. Me too!
Do you use your WinTV PVR to capture from tape or broadcast TV? After you capture, can you author and burn without encoding?
Thanks.

All the Hauppauge WinTV PVR cards and devices are hardware MPEG capture devices.

This means they capture direct to MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 and DVD is MPEG-2 so as long as your "settings" are correct you can capture to a DVD compliant MPEG-2 file that is ready-to-burn without any need to re-encode.

I should point out that the Hauppauge units and the ADS unit I mention capture with MP2 audio. You really should re-encode this to AC-3 for the DVD but demuxing and re-encoding just the audio is a far cry from having to re-encode the video (which doesn't need to be done).

If you use TMPGEnc DVD Author with the AC-3 plug-in then it can convert the audio from MP2 to AC-3 during the Authoring stage which doesn't really save time but makes it easier on you, i.e., less steps.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[rwlbowl]

I bought a HP movie Maker hp3000 drive which has all the hookups and software to do the job all by its self. This drive is a stand alone and hooks up to a camera or VHS deck with the cable provided and it works through a usb cable to the computer for temp holding. The newer drive is a hp4000 now but both are not new as such but software and drivers are available. Just a thought.

[rheberlein]

I was looking into the stand alone units a while back. It seemed as though a stand alone unit would be good for archiving video footage, but lacked the ability to edit mpegs and author DVD's. Am I missing something?

[rwlbowl]

I did not try MPGs but the DVD I put to gather from 5 different VHS clips I used went to gather very well. That is all I can tell you about the drive. Sorry. Happy hunting.

[FulciLives]

I was looking into the stand alone units a while back. It seemed as though a stand alone unit would be good for archiving video footage, but lacked the ability to edit mpegs and author DVD's. Am I missing something?

What many of us do is ... record to MPEG-2 DVD spec using a DVD recorder ... then RIP the DVD to the computer so that we can do editing and re-author to a DVD-R ... if you use a DVD-RW or DD+RW in the recorder then you can use the same disc over and over again for "transport" to the computer.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[rheberlein]

Thanks all,
You've given me a lot to think about and a bunch of ideas I did'nt think about.
Cheers!

[jameshgross]

Thanks James.
I see you're from Cleveland. Me too!
Do you use your WinTV PVR to capture from tape or broadcast TV? After you capture, can you author and burn without encoding?
Thanks.

Yes, I do that all the time.