USB/Firewire Video capture on the Mac findings

[broaddd]

I have been researching the better analog video capture options. These are just my understandings/opinions...

For Australians like me, I've found that once you choose what you want, you may as well get it from the US, either new or secondhand, and pay at least 50% less than you would in Australia. If you are getting something with a TV tuner, however, you will need to get a PAL model, which usually means ebay.co.uk is your friend.

Some of the choices are:

[*Firewire DV converting bridges*]

Examples: DAC-100, ADVC-100, ADVC-55. Varies around US$150 on ebay.com.

(Of course, if you have a DV cam that takes analog input from say a VCR, you can use the DV cam as your bridge.)

iMovie or similar treat them as if they were firewire DV cameras: importing video as a DV stream that the bridge converts from the the composite or SVideo input that you plug into it (eg. from your VCR). You could also capture live TV this way by using your VCR or whatever as a tuner, and some free software seems to be about to facilitate this (eg. vidi).

Some bridges have a TV tuner as well (eg Formac Studio TVR - mixed reviews on this one though). Some are bus-powered by the firewire port, except on some Powerbooks, while others always need an external powerpack. Most powerpacks are 110-240v, so should work here, with a plug adaptor.

Most bridges are two way (but not the ADVC-55 for example), so you can export back to your VHS or whatever. If you have an iBook/Powerbook, you don't really need a two-way function as you can usually export video with the inbuilt hardware.

Once you edit the DV to your satisfaction, you can encode to MPEG-2 for DVD-Video burning, or DivX etc. Encoding on a Powerbook G4 1.67, for example, will take 1-2x as long as the source material.

[/The EyeTV wonder is a device that is like a USB 2.0 one-way variation on these DV bridges. Because it is USB 2.0, it requires EyeTV software to capture the video, and can encode medium quality MPEG-2 on the fly if you have a G4 1.4ghz+. It requires a dual G4 or G5 for high quality MPEG-2 encoding on the fly./]

[*USB 2.0 or Firewire hardware encoding TV tuners*]

Examples: USB Plextor ConvertX TV402U*, Miglia USB TV, Firewire Eyetv 200. Varies from US$150-$250 on ebay.com depending on the model.

Depending on the model, these have hardware chips to encode video input, or live TV through the TV tuner, to MPEG-2 and other formats in real-time; saving the encoding step required for DV bridges. For iMovie etc users, I'm not sure if some of them can capture DV natively, or if they capture an MPEG-2 file that you then encode to DV if you want. Some will capture in medium quality on USB 1.1, but still seem to require a G4 400mhz.

[*Hardware encoding only*]

LaCie Fastcoder is an interesting recent variation - a small box with one firewire connector. It is used to encode a DV file on your harddrive to MPEG-2 in real-time. Useful for people with slower systems.

[*Comments*]

On say a G4 1ghz or better with 10gb per hour of video to spare, the DV bridges seem very flexible and practical; as editing is easy, and encoding won't take TOO long.

For slower G4 systems, or for small hard drives, or speed freaks, or people that like to push one button to record and then forget about it (ie. like a Tivo), the hardware encoders may be best.

For G3 users, the DV bridges are the most likely to work well at importing, because they're treated by iMovie as if they were fireware DV cams; but without the LaCie Fastcoder or similar you are going to take many hours to encode an hour of DV to MPEG-2 for burning to DVD.

Hope this helps,
Bruce

[Frobozz]

Excellent information, Bruce.

Add Miglia to your list of makers of good-quality analog to digital capture devices.

I used the Canopus ADVC-55 for awhile with my G4 iBook and the device performed perfectly. However, I sold it on eBay after I bought a Pioneer standalone DVD recorder with hard drive.

I can export from iMovie (and some other apps) directly via Firewire to the Pioneer recorder. I also can use Toast 7 to transfer MPEGs recorded by the Pioneer to my Mac. I choose to record VR-mode DVD-RW discs with the Pioneer when I know I'll want to do this transfer. The Pioneer also will record directly from my DV camcorder and automatically inserts chapter marks at each new scene.

The older Pioneer recorders (DVR-510H-S, DVR-520H-S and DVR-320S) also can export DV video via Firewire directly to iMovie, Final Cut, Vidi, etc. However it only can export video from a recorded DVD or from the unit's hard drive. Therefore, unlike the Canopus ADVC, the video gets MPEG encoded before it is exported as DV, resulting in some picture quality loss. The current Pioneer standalone recorders do not have this Firewire export ability.

[broaddd]

I suppose another alternative to a hardware encoding capture device is to buy a DVD-R TV recorder for about the same price, and just get your MPEG-2 files off the DVD-Rs? How good is the capture/encoding on those things though?

Cheers.

[willrob]

My limited experience with using a "bridge" [transfering s-video from a deck through a Sony DV camera via firewire] found that while iMovie has no problemwith this set-up, Final Cut pro will not see the footage at all. it apparently is meant to work only with a direct firewire connection to the camera.

But is this true of the non-camra firewire bridges? will they work directly with Final Cut?

[Frobozz]

The quality of the encoding with a standalone recorder depends on the brand. There is a DVD recorder forum here that has lots of threads on the topic of picture quality (much of it contradictory). If you were to buy one, make sure it has a built-in hard drive. This greatly expands the usability of these machines. This also brings the price for a good one up to about $350 or more.

A standalone DVD recorder encodes MPEGs from analog sources and, if it has a Firewire input, from DV video as well. All have a very basic title menu. Many have just a few bit rate settings, although the new Pioneer units have 33 settings to fit from 1 hour to 10 hours on a DVD.

A FastCoder works only with DV video. You get to choose the average bit rate you want for the encoding. It comes with the full version of CaptyDVD 2 which has 25 customizable motion menu templates, encodes AC-3 audio, lets you select chapter marker points, creates chapter menus, works with either MPEG, QuickTime or DV files, and supports DL media (but not 16:9).

So with the FastCoder/CaptyDVD 2 bundle you get a lot of control over the encoding and appearance of your video DVD. With a standalone recorder you get convenience that doesn't require a computer at all. For my needs the standalone recorder gets the most use. But I also find it very useful to take VR-mode DVD-RW video DVDs from my standalone recorder and re-author them to better formatted DVDs in either Toast 7 or CaptyDVD.

If you are wanting to make home video DVDs that benefit from editing with iMovie or Final Cut - and you want the authoring capability of CaptyDVD 2 - then get a FastCoder. If you are converting existing video tapes, TV shows and Laserdiscs to DVD then a standalone DVD recorder with hard drive makes more sense.