Need advice on capture card...

[j1d10t]

I'm trying to decide as to whether or not to get a new capture card. I've looked in the capture card list, but would like some more opinions. I've been using a Pinnacle PCTV Pro PCI card for about a year now, and I'm getting tired of some of the problems/bugs. I also don't think the quality of the captures is that great. What do you think of the quality of these captures? ( http://www.geocities.com/j1d10t/) This is a screen capture I took of a Far Side special I've got on tape. I'm using a VCR that is about 3 years old, the tape is a purchased company tape (i.e. I purchased it from Farworks, Inc.), the tape is in SP mode, I've cleaned the heads in the VCR, I'm using gold RCA cables, and I'm capturing in 720x480 in YUV2, then resizing to 480x480, hoping the resizing will "smooth" out some of the (what I think is) noise.

So I guess what I'm asking is: Does anyone think I can get better results if I switch capture cards? And which card(s) would you recommend for WinXP, that are under $150 (US).

I've read a bunch of the capture card reports, but a lot just say "the quality is great", or "the quality sucks". And they don't talk about which programs they've used to capture, if they're stuck using only one program to capture... With my Pinnacle PCTV Pro I'm pretty much stuck using Pinnacle Studio 8 (or iuVCR) to capture in AVI, because the card doesn't like other capture programs (and believe me, I've tried a ton of them).

Thanks for your advice.

[teegee420]

I can't really offer much in the way of comparison but I have been very happy with the results received from my Radeon All-In-Wonder 7500(which can be found for around $100). I've done several captures that I was very pleased with(mainly VHS). I do a lot of TV caturing too. Most of the time I use the ATI Multimedia Center software to capture with because I can output to either raw AVI, MPEG-2, MPEG-1, or MPEG-4(Divx). There are a number of filters that can clean up noise too. Aside from the capturing ability of the card, the Radeon GPU is great for my gaming needs though I will likely upgrade to a better All-In-Wonder card this year.

[j1d10t]

I've heard a lot of good things about ATI cards. Have you used any other cards to compare with? Or how do your captures compare (noise-wise) with the pics I posted?

And those pics are from some of the better captures I've done, because it's a cartoon - most of my other (live action) captures look even worse.

I've been using some VirtualDub filters for noise removal, and then the noise removal filter in TMPGEnc, but am getting very tired of having to apply heavy filters to get a "cleaner" picture that still doesn't come close to a VHS tape...

Thanks

[teegee420]

It's difficult for me to critique your captures because I don't know how good your source was, and no I haven't used any other capture cards. I haven't needed to. I'll say this though, the VHS caps I have done looked as good as their sources. I haven't really enountered the noise that you speak of either. In fact, the only real noise that I ever have has nothing to do with my card but rather the crappy analog cable I have when doing TV captures(mainly animation by the way).

[lordsmurf]

I've used a number of cards... the only card that beats mine is a friends Matrox card. No surprise there.

Not happy with Dazzle, AVerMedia or Pinnacle cards.

[j1d10t]

It's difficult for me to critique your captures because I don't know how good your source was.

That's true. I can only say that the tape is only about 3 years old, and in very good condition. The tape looks really good on my TV, just not when I capture.

So you would recommend a Radeon All-In-Wonder 7500?

[j1d10t]

I've used a number of cards... the only card that beats mine is a friends Matrox card. No surprise there.

Not happy with Dazzle, AVerMedia or Pinnacle cards.

Which one of your capture devices would you recommend?

[teegee420]

I've used a number of cards... the only card that beats mine is a friends Matrox card. No surprise there.

Not happy with Dazzle, AVerMedia or Pinnacle cards.

In what ways was the the Matrox card superior? Just wondering. By the way, I've read some of your guides and found them very helpful. Thanks for making them available.

j1d10t- I can't really say that you should get the same card I have, but based on my own findings an ATI card would be a good investment.

[j1d10t]

"teegee420:
j1d10t- I can't really say that you should get the same card I have, but based on my own findings an ATI card would be a good investment.

Yeah. What works for one person may not work for another. But they do have a good reputation, and you (and Lord Smurf) have been very satisfied...

I'll have to check them out.

[lordsmurf]

Matrox cards normally cost $1000 or more. It has more hardware, and the signal processing is better and more advanced.