Where do I start?

[bengsj]

Hi all,

I want to get fairly serious with Video capturing. I have tried a few times but money and time got in the way. I have about $200 to invest in something that will give me good quality DVD's from old VHS and captured video from TV.

My specs
Asus P4P800-E Deluxe
p4 3.0
1 gig ram
MSI FX9500XT video card
1x 160 gig HD
2X 80 gig HD raid'd
Plextor 708a & Liteon DVDROM
winxp pro

Satilite tv (thinking about a DVR subscription if I can use it for DVD's)

I have read articles and guides but never could use them because I felt I wouldn't be happy with output with the hardware I have so I lost interest.

I think if I was confident with the hardware I have then I know what to strive for.

I'm a hands on kind of guy any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[bengsj]

I just want to clarify Fairl Serious;

I'm a single Father of 3 and realisticaly the time I will beable put = fair amount of time. I have reviewed Canopus ADVC-100 & 50, some pinnacle products TV tunner cards, and alot of your guys comments and have came to the conlusion money vs features. I want good qood quality with some automated features. The ADVC-100 and the like (external device) sounds great but I just read an article that says external devices tend to have less resolution options. I really don't know if that is a bad thing for me. I just want good quality DVD's.

Hope this clarifies where I'm coming from. From all the views and no replies I'm concerned I gave the impression that I want knowledge magically placed in my brain. I do understand the time I will take to perfect (or at least come close) video capture. I am doing prety weill with DVD ripping and burning.

Thanks for any help

Ben

[pyrohydra]

Those system specs should be more than sufficient. It sounds like the only thing you need is a capture card. The cheapest (usually the bt8x8-chip cards) are sufficient in most cases. The main drawback with those is that you can only capture in one resolution and maintain good quality (usually 720x480). Whereas the ATI cards can capture at many resolutions nicely, saving hard disk space - but these tend to be a bit more expensive. You could even get a DV capture device, such as the ADVC-100, or if you have a DV camcorder with analog pass-through, you can use that to capture.

Another piece of hardware that is recommended for old VHS tapes is a time-base corrector. This will help correct signal noise from the VHS tape, and vastly reduces frame drops. Plan on spending over $100 for a good one. I personally am having good results with the JVC HR-S9911U VCR, which has a TBC built-in. This has set me back $350 however, so would be out of your budget. For newer VHS recordings and captures from non-VHS sources, a TBC is probably not necessary.

There are so many options to consider that it's pointless for me to go on further. Read the guides here and at digitalfaq.com for more info.

[bengsj]

I have a sony Handycam dcr-trv310 Camcorder which has s-video, RCA and RFH DC out (which I have no idea what that is really). Does those = pass thru?

Thanks