Is this an acceptable capture card?

[pahidla]

Hi,

I would like to get my feet wet with caturing vhs family tapes. Can someone comment whether this is an acceptable quality capture card:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3761&item=5112654073

Also, what does "Save motion video to MPEG-1, MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 file with relevant software" mean?" Will I or will I not be able to capture MPEG-4?

Thanks!

Pahidla

[Capmaster]

It sounds a bit cheesy, but for that price it might be worth the gamble.

Also, what does "Save motion video to MPEG-1, MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 file with relevant software" mean?" Will I or will I not be able to capture MPEG-4?

My guess is that they're referring to codecs you might need to add later to cap MPEG-4.

[studtrooper]

The guy is gonna ream you for shipping. Since it will come out close to $40 anyway, you might as well plunk down that sponduli (cash) towards something that you know that will be good, like THIS

[pahidla]

Thanks!

[pahidla]

How does it compare to this card?

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=15-100-110&depa=0


Also, since you seem to be a newegg expert , how come they don't seem to have dv tapes? Or maybe I just don't know how to look?

[thecoalman]

Not sure about the one your looking at but I have tried this one and it works quite well. It has the same specs as the the card you posted above plus fm tuner and it comes with two excellent software programs. Ulead video studio SE for DVD capturing, editing and authoring and Ulead cool 3d you can use for making 3d titles and images. Even comes with an antenae.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-122-180&depa=0

I've used this card so I know it works pretty well, others have reported sound sync problems with it but that is probably more a system issue than with the card. I can't compare the two because I haven't, perhaps someone else can.

Not sure what you mean by DV tapes or what you would need them for unless you have a Digital8 cam. If you do I looked and didn't see any cams or tapes on newegg. If you have a Digital8 cam can it accept a analog signal? If so you can just connect your VCR to your cam and pass the signal through it to convert it to DV then capture through a firewire port which is a hell of a lot easier than messing with capture cards and will produce better results.

[pahidla]

Thank you so much for the excellent point about the software.

The following question will reveal what a newbie I am. I notice that the card doesn't have the yellow-white-red plugs that I'm used to. What shall I be plugging into this card. The only cable that my trv-22 (minidv) came with is the aforementioned y/w/r.


My second question was not related to my first. I was just looking for mindv tapes for the trv-22 and not finding any on newegg.com.

Thank again. If I resolve the y/w/r issue I will buy this card.

Pahidla

[thecoalman]

Edit:You don't need a capture card with that cam. It has a firewire port on it. I strongly suggest gettin a PCI card with a firewire port if your computer doesn't have one. Your essentially going to be converting the signal to analog then converting it back to digital if you use a capture card which is the completley wrong way to go about it. If you have a firewire port on your computer all you need is a firewire cable. They can be purchased for about $20 for a decent one. Firewire will directly transfer the video to your computer, almost as simple as copying a file. The firewire port is also referred to as I-link by sony and 1394 by some manufacturers. There all the same you only need to make sure that each end has the correct pins for your cam and computer. Usually 4 pin for the cam and 6 pin for the comp.



There's an adapter cord that gets plugged into the card on the back.. Composit video and audio, S-video. Every card is about the same, might need to get audio mini-jack adapters for some. This one has regular RCA jacks for the audio. It still has to be connected to your soundcard which is the same for any other card. I just run the audio directly to my soundcard from the VCR.

[pahidla]

Sorry, I'm doing so many things at the same time that I confused myself. I have two camcorders, a new one (trv-22) and an old one (also a sony bought 12 years ago).

The looking-for-tapes question related to the trv-22. Still wondering if newegg carries those.

The search for the capture cam had to do with the old camera. I assume that on THIS PICTURE the video input will go into the third jack from the left. What do you call this jack? And will the cable that fits in that jack at the one end and my old camera at the other most likely come with the card or will I likely have to purchace it separately? (The card that I asked about originally had that yellow jack so I had no worries.)

Thanks for you patient and thoughtful answers.

Pahidla

[thecoalman]

There's an adapter cord that gets plugged into the card on the back.. Composit video and audio, S-video. Every card is about the same, might need to get audio mini-jack adapters for some. This one has regular RCA jacks for the audio. It still has to be connected to your soundcard which is the same for any other card. I just run the audio directly to my soundcard from the VCR.

The adaptor cord comes with the card. If you click the picture on the top right of the link you posted you csn view all the accessories.

[Madz]

I have that same card. As mentioned, the last Newegg picture shows all the accessories. The dongle on the far right is what plugs into the minidin (ps/2-looking) socket on the back of the card. If you're capturing from a VHS camcorder (your older one?), you can just use the y/r/w RCA cable that you have; this plugs between the outputs on your camcorder (or you could just use a VCR) and the pigtail leads on the dongle. Then you use the included WinPVR software to capture. But make sure the card doesn't share an IRQ w/ anything else (in other words, find the right PCI slot on your motherboard).