Digital Capture Card question...

[wickedtongue]

I want to buy a digital video capture card. I'm gonna look for one that can record and view free to air digital television and also capture from vhs,etc.

I wanted to know something regarding the digital tv viewing. Do I just have to buy a capture card and I'm ready to go or do I need some sort of a digital antenna to plug into the capture card??


thanks

[Abbadon]

Hi,

It depends what kind of content you have access to. I am not sure if there are DVB-S or DVB-C cards with composite or S-Video input, but in my personal experience I use two cards.

1. SkyStar 2 DVB-S for satellite FTA ( You need a dish and LNB for this)

2. Cheap TV card with Composite and S-Video input for transfering VHS tapes to DivX or MPEG.

If you have a Video card with VIVO, you could use it to record VHS movies.

Now, most of the satellite stuff is encrypted, so if you are planning to watch something that requires subscription, investigate very carefully your options. It is sometimes possible to watch encrypted content legally with extra equipment.

[redwudz]

Take a look at this company, they have free-to-air cards for digital TV with analog inputs for VCRs and the like. (Assuming terrestrial TV, not satellite.) They have a Australian version, also. At least in the US, you use a UHF type antenna for HDTV, nothing really fancy. Make sure the stations you want are close enough for a decent signal.

http://www.dvico.com/