Need Good Cheap Capture card for AVI Capture...

[madmanincognito]

I am looking to capture some of my home VHS video to my computer (specs below), but want to capture to AVI format first with vdubmod, then use TMPG DVD Author to make files dvd compliant. Then burn to DVD-R.

I need a cheap, yet good cap card to do this..any suggestions?

My specs:
AMD Athlon XP 2400+ CPU, 1gig PC2100 DDR Ram, Windows XP Home,(1)80gig WD HD, (2)20gig WD HD's USB External, TDK Indi 8X Dual Format DVD Burner, LG 16X DVD Rom, Asus A7N266VM Mainboard, 64mb nVidiaGeForce2 Integrated Onboard Video Card, Onboard nVidia nForce MCP Audio Card w/Dolby Pro Logic

Thank you,
MM

[Tommyknocker]

Try to get one of the ATI cards if you can afford it. If not, get a Hauppage WinTVGo card around $50.00 USD. You may want to get some different drivers to capture above 352 x 240, but there are free drivers available for that, as well.

[FulciLives]

AverTV Stereo or AverTV Studio ... both are the same but the slightly more expensive Studio includes an FM radio reciever.

I have the AverTV Stereo and it works well.

If you use the AVerMedia drivers you must capture 688x480/576 then add equal amounts of black to either side (16 each side) to bring it up to 720x480/576 for MPEG-2 DVD spec.

However if you use the BTwincap driver then you capture at 712x480/576

That is what I do. I then crop it to 704x480/576 then add 8 pixels of black on either side to bring it up to 720x480/576

In short you really should use the BTwincap driver with these cards ... that applies to most BT based cards. Most of the cheap PCI cards (like the AverTV Stereo and AverTV Studio) are BT based.

These cards use WDM drivers so you are best NOT using VirtualDubMod

I suggest you try (in no real order):

1.) VirtualVCR
2.) iuVCR
3.) TheFlyDS

I use TheFlyDS myself.

The BTwincap driver will allow you to use VirtualDubMod but you need a FAST computer for this because VirtualDubMod uses VFW drivers and when you use it with the BTwincap driver you are using a wrap-around method that increases CPU load. I'm not sure HOW fast you need though to do that well. My computer is kinda too slow for this method but works fine with TheFlyDS because of native WDM driver support (i.e., less CPU strain).

Anyways I get pretty damn good results with my card and it only cost me $50 USD but sometimes it is on sale at CompUSA for as little as something like $20 USD

If your computer is fast enough and you have enough HDD space you should try the HuffyUV codec. I use the PICVideo MJPEG codec (on the 19 quality setting) because my computer is slow and HDD space is a bit tight. The MJPEG codec requires slightly less CPU and a hell of a lot less HDD space than HuffyUV but HuffyUV does provide a slightly better image.

Please note that great results can happen but it is a BIG time tweaking process.

If you have the money you might be better off with a Canopus ADVC-100 or if your needs are mostly capturing from high quality sources then even a stand alone DVD recorder will do. By high quality I mean cable TV or LaserDisc etc.

For VHS tapes the computer method is the way to go. You can apply all kinds of filters via VirtualDubMod or better yet AviSynth to help clean up the image etc.

But just know ahead of time that it will take a lot of time to learn it all!

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[strange_tag]

I bought a Capture Card from Pinnacle for GBP30, it captured in .avi but I couldn't get any audio, I'm pretty sure this was due to my camcorder being really old (lack of connectivity!) :P

[madmanincognito]

How about ADS Instant TV...I see that it is capable of capping straight to AVI...?

[MK_ULTRA]

Another vote for the Avermedia (I have the AVerMedia DVD EZMaker) with the BTwincap drivers , it blows my ati tvwonder ve out of the water and can be had for $30-$50!!

[FulciLives]

Another vote for the Avermedia (I have the AVerMedia DVD EZMaker) with the BTwincap drivers , it blows my ati tvwonder ve out of the water and can be had for $30-$50!!

Yeah I don't think there is much difference between the AverTV Stereo/Studio and the DVD EZMaker.

All good choices if you are on a budget.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[Barnabas]

How about ADS Instant TV...I see that it is capable of capping straight to AVI...?

NO, and it's the WORST POS on the market! Caps lose audio sync when cut.

[madmanincognito]

Has anyone tried this AverMedia EZDVD Maker USB 2.0 device?

[FulciLives]

Has anyone tried this AverMedia EZDVD Maker USB 2.0 device?

If you want USB look elsewhere otherwise the PCI version is A-OK

- John "FulciLives" Coleman