external capture devices

[glowworm]

If I wanted to use my laptop to capture a video or tv show on I would need an external capture card, right? Whats the best one under $150? I'm reading comments in the capture card section and there's alot that have some mixed reviews so it's hard to decide. It looks like most Dazzle and Pinacle stuff is a waste of money. I'm looking at ADS Pyro Digital Video 1394 with some good comments but some of the reviews are a few years old, is this still a good one to get? Or are there other ones you people are currently using with good end results that you'd recommend?

[kamots18]

i have been using the ads dvd express with my laptop, it has high speed usb. have been getting great captures with it. it comes with videostudio 7.0 software also, but they seem to conflict each other, vs 7.0 will not open when the ads capwiz software is installed.

[redwudz]

I use a ADVC-100 with my laptop and it works great. Canopus is coming out with the ADVC-55 listed to sell for $230US. The ADVC-100 is listed for $299US and I got it for $240US. I would imagine the '55' would sell for maybe $180US after it is on the market a short time. The release date is Jan 19, 2004. The '55' is designed for laptop use with no external pwr supply needed. Might be worth considering if you don't mind waiting a month or two. Check out the Canopus site. http://www.canopus.com/US/products/Index/product_index.asp

[snafu099]

I use the ADS Instant Dvd-2 about $150-us which has both input and output capability. The DvdExpress lacks the "loopback" capability which I never use , and is about $99-us. Both accept any analoge input and hardware encode to mpg-1/2 realtime. Check that the ADS product you sited has analoge in capability. My choise would be usb not firewire as more compatability with most systems.
http://www.adstech.com

Pinnacle also makes a usb device which has good reviews (not the dv one), name something like ?studio system movie box usb?

Look for device that caps both vid & audio together via the usb or fw and not audio via soundcard or you will experience audio sync issues.

I am sure there are others, but for $100-us I would go with ADS dvdexpress