Any value on continuously using Pinnacle MP10?

[Clarence Yu]

Hi,

First of all, wish you happy new year!

I am Newbie and would like to ask for professional recommendation.

I have a Pinnacle MP10 (it has RCA and S-Video AV-in) and a DV with I-Link.

I got some valuable DV tape and wish to make a DVD+RW for normal DVD player.

Here are my questions.

(1) If I want to keep the best capturing video quality, is there any difference if I use I-Link or S-Video? If there is difference, can I say that MP10 is no more valuable to me?

(2) If so, which brand of capturing device do you recommend? Which software of de/encoding to DVD Video is more user friendly?

(3) If MP10 is still good (no difference to I-Link), which software is best to convert AVI to DVD -Video for this system?

Help please!

Clarence

[Tommyknocker]

Hi,

First of all, wish you happy new year!

I am Newbie and would like to ask for professional recommendation.

I have a Pinnacle MP10 (it has RCA and S-Video AV-in) and a DV with I-Link.

I got some valuable DV tape and wish to make a DVD+RW for normal DVD player.

Here are my questions.

(1) If I want to keep the best capturing video quality, is there any difference if I use I-Link or S-Video? If there is difference, can I say that MP10 is no more valuable to me?

I-Link is a true transfer of DV directly to your computer. However, Do not get rid of your capture card, as you may still need it to capture other feeds, like VHS, satellite, etc.

(2) If so, which brand of capturing device do you recommend? Which software of de/encoding to DVD Video is more user friendly?

I still like I-Link, as it seems to give the best quality at about the same user-friendlness

(3) If MP10 is still good (no difference to I-Link), which software is best to convert AVI to DVD -Video for this system?

TMPGEnc works best for me.

Help please!

Clarence

[Clarence Yu]

Thanks Tommyknocker

(1) Do you mean using i-link for transferring from DV tape to computer has best quality for video (Comparing to S-video or RCA of my MP10) ?

(2) Because I just got S-Video and RCA from MP10, I can't use i-link for transferring.

Can I just use a simple IEEE 1394 computer card for transferring?

Or I need to buy a special capturing device which has i-link if I need the best video quality (like Pinnacle AVDV..)

Lastly, I need your advice of which i-link capable capturing device is good and cost reasonable? USD2.0 is preferrable.

Thanks

[Tommyknocker]

Thanks Tommyknocker

(1) Do you mean using i-link for transferring from DV tape to computer has best quality for video (Comparing to S-video or RCA of my MP10) ?

Yes, exactly.

(2) Because I just got S-Video and RCA from MP10, I can't use i-link for transferring.

You can also add an I-Link (fire wire) card to your system. They very inexpensive.

Can I just use a simple IEEE 1394 computer card for transferring?

Yes.

Or I need to buy a special capturing device which has i-link if I need the best video quality (like Pinnacle AVDV..)

If you plan on capturing in S-video or RCA in higher resolutions or MPEG-2, you may want to upgrade

Lastly, I need your advice of which i-link capable capturing device is good and cost reasonable? USD2.0 is preferrable.

I just purchased an ADS Pyro A/V Link, and I am happy with it. However, it is I-Link. If you want USB 2.0, you can look in the capture cards section at left, I remember seeing ADS IDVD has a USB 2.0 version. Although I never used the 2.0 version, I had good success with 1.0 type.

Thanks

My Pleasure!

[Clarence Yu]

Tommyknocker,

One more question.

Do you familar with Pyro Digital Video? (PCI card with IE1394)?

Do you think the capturing quality similar to that of Pyro AV Link if both using firewire only?

I asked because I have Pinnacle MP10 already and thus a new capture device with only I-Link is enough to me for capturing Digital cam.

Moreover, I was told that PCI capturing device will use some computer resources and thus may have poorer (or unstable) capturing quality than external devices, do you already so?

[Tommyknocker]

Sorry, I never used it.