Recommendation for Capture Card

[chewie8008]

Need a recommendation for a quality well priced capture card. Don't know much about 'em, suprise. Just want to record from a tv to PC. Maybe VCR to PC and Camcorder to PC. I dunno... need to read up about 'em. But if you guys have any suggestions for one, let me know. I have PC specs listed in profile.

[redwudz]

Well, for easy, I would look into the Hauppauge video capture cards. They have hardware encode to MPEG-2. From there, it's just editing and authoring to go to DVD.

Other methods with a capture card is to encode to a AVI format, like HuffyUV or PicVideo. The ATI cards are popular for this. AVI is generally easier to edit than MPEG-2. But it depends on the type of edit. MPEG-2 is a little harder to edit, but simple cuts, such as removing commercials aren't a problem. PicVideo or, especially HuffyUV, takes up a lot of hard drive space, depending on the settings, but you can usually edit where you want.

You can also encode to other formats with capture cards, but editing and sync problems can increase if you have any computer problems. Some cards can also capture in MPEG using software. This requires a fair amount of CPU speed.

Another method is a DV converter box. DV is very easy to edit. It's about 13GB and hour for storage. It has locked video/audio sync.

The problem with AVI formats, is you have to spend some time encoding them if your final format is DVD. And there are occasional sync problems, especially if your card drops frames or the source is very noisy.

The final method, but there are variations of all the above, is to use a DVD recorder. This is very easy also, but you still need to edit the MPEG with the same problems as above.

There is likely a lot more options. Those are just the first to come to mind.

[sfly510]

Just wondering, can the hauppauge cards that have hardware mpeg2 encoding capture avi too? I don't care if the program that comes with them can, just if they can in general. I'm probably going to use VirtualVcr for the captures. I just wanna make sure that they can do avi. Also if they can, are there any limitations to using hardware encoding cards for that? I would like to have the option to do hardware encoding if I want, but also be able to do software encoding if I want too.

[yoda313]

No - hardware mpeg hauappauge cards are mpeg only.

There are hauppuage models that can record to avi - you have to read carefully and make sure the particular model you are looking at specifically states it can record avi.

[chewie8008]

Ok so i'm wondering about this little cheap card from CompUSA...

Hauppauge WinTV GO Plus TV Tuner w/ Remote control
Think the model # is 316264

Only $29.99 after rebates $49.99 up front

Looked it up briefly and it says it can record in MPEG, DivX, and AVI. Doesn't tell what size videos it can record...I want good resolution, doesn't have to be perfect HD, but something relatively clear. I'm thinking 320 x 240 size is a little small...something like 720 x whatever would be ideal. But i'm not sure how all that works. Says it uses 1GB per hour of recorded video. Which must mean quality suffers compared to the 13GB per hour DV converter you were talking about. Here's what i'm looking to get out of a capture card...

Need something to record DVDs from my DVD player(not looking to record whole movies, just little menu demos)
To record home movies from VHS player
Want to record from Dish Network Satellite...
Need good resolution

I think the ones that record to MPEG, record to MPEG2, which I don't think I have anything to edit MPEG2 with. I think TMPGenc can only do MPEG1 unless you have a codec which costs $$$.

So I guess AVI would be ideal, but don't want to encounter a lot of problems if my PC isn't up to par.

I have two PCs, but the one i'd like to install the card on isn't very powerful. So if I really had to I could install it on my better PC. Which still only is 1.8ghz CPU.

I dunno, just would appreciate your opinions on this card as I don't have much faith in it's low cost....

Thanks!

[jay avi]

Turtle Beach Video Advantage ADX Capture Card

I use the AD FullCap software to capture in uncompressed avi.


Don't bother buying an mpeg2 card like ATI or Hauppauge. Get the Video Advantage ADX instead.

[FulciLives]

Do yourself a favor and either get a Hauppauge WinTV PVR 250 or 350 or the USB2 model.

OR

Get the Canopus ADVC-110

The simple PCI type like the WinTV GO or the Turtle Beach card ... they do not lock audio ... and there is nothing more frustrating than A/V sync loss.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[chewie8008]

Don't really have that much to spend on a card. I know how annoying a/v sync loss can be, so I guess it's just best to wait till I do have that much $$$.

Thanks!

[edDV]

Don't really have that much to spend on a card. I know how annoying a/v sync loss can be, so I guess it's just best to wait till I do have that much $$$.

Thanks!

I guess they each have to learn the hard way.

One way to look at it is to figure the card cost is a loss + whatever you consider your time worth per hour + generalized frusrtation.

[TheFamilyMan]

I've used this with very good to excellent results:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16815100120
Other than the device driver I ignored the bundled software, and used VirtualVcr to capture AVI using the Huffyuv codec, encode MPEG2 using TMPGEnc and authored using Ulead MovieFactory 3. I've had no problems with A/V sync or frame drops recording 2+ hours from my VCR. I know this product goes against the prevailing wisdom around here but its price/performance ratio can't be beat. Something to consider IMHO.

P.S. The only times I've had A/V sync issues is with very poor quality VHS tapes that had dozens of dropped frames per hour.

[chewie8008]

Do yourself a favor and either get a Hauppauge WinTV PVR 250 or 350 or the USB2 model.

OR

Get the Canopus ADVC-110

The simple PCI type like the WinTV GO or the Turtle Beach card ... they do not lock audio ... and there is nothing more frustrating than A/V sync loss.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

So what's the difference between the WinTV PVR 250 or the WinTV PVR USB2.0? Other than one is PCI and the other is USB...

I was looking at the USB2.0 at newegg for $127 but will have to upgrade to 2.0, which looks to be about $30. So $157 total. Not sure how much the PCI version goes for...

Do I have to have a standalone sound card? My PCs both have the sound integrated into the MOBO...

Also, can I record from Dish Network satellite receivers with either of these. That is what I have and being able to do this is a must for me.

Thanks

[FulciLives]

The Hauppauge WinTV PVR 250, the WinTV PVR 350 and the WinTV PVR USB2 all have essentilly the same "guts" and really work about the same HOWEVER ...

There are some "tweaking" utilities that I think will only work on the 250 and 350 models and not the USB2 model ... at least that is my understanding. I think it has to do with the difference between PCI vs USB 2.0

I just looked at NEWEGG.COM and it appears that they no longer have the 250 model in stock but they do have the USB2 model. They also don't have the 350 model in stock (odd).

In fact the 250 model is very hard to come by these days but the 350 is still easily available as is the USB2 version ...

I just did a search at PRICEGRABBER.COM and I found the Hauppauge WinTV PVR 350 for $118.00 which is a damn impressive price especially considering that the cheapest WinTV PVR 250 is at $134.99 at least according to PRICEGRABBER.COM so ... since you don't have USB 2.0 on your computer ... you might be better off with the WinTV PVR 350.

The WinTV PVR 350 is exactly like the 250 model but the 350 model adds outputs as well as inputs ... this can come in handy if you intend to use the computer as a PVR for a TV set. Granted the output of the 350 is limited to MPEG video with MP2 audio but this matches the format that the card records in and the quality of the output is better than the TV out on a standard video/graphics card.

As for copying/recording all three of these Hauppauge devices totally ignore all types of copy protection so you are good to go as far as that is concerned.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[chewie8008]

As for copying/recording all three of these Hauppauge devices totally ignore all types of copy protection so you are good to go as far as that is concerned.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

I'm assuming you're talking about dish. Just wasn't sure if it had the right hookups to copy tv shows from Dish.

What about the Soundcard? Do I have to have a standalone soundcard or can I use the one already in my PC. It's integrated into the MOBO(Asus A8NE).

One more thing, I know it's MPEG2, but i'm trying to estimate what kind of quality this looks like. I've seen mpeg 1 videos created in size 320x240 and they are quite poor looking. I'm assuming this would be much higher quality. I don't know much about MPEG2. What size does it record in?

[FulciLives]

As for copying/recording all three of these Hauppauge devices totally ignore all types of copy protection so you are good to go as far as that is concerned.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

I'm assuming you're talking about dish. Just wasn't sure if it had the right hookups to copy tv shows from Dish.

Yes. These units have composite video input, S-Video input and stereo audio input. The PCI versions will require an adaptor for the audio part but it probably comes with one ... if not such an adaptor can be bought at any decent computer store or a place like radio shack. Also the adaptor is cheap should cost just a few dollars.

What about the Soundcard? Do I have to have a standalone soundcard or can I use the one already in my PC. It's integrated into the MOBO(Asus A8NE).

Sound card means nothing. Your soundcard is never used in the capture stage. It would still capture audio fine even if you had no sound card.

One more thing, I know it's MPEG2, but i'm trying to estimate what kind of quality this looks like. I've seen mpeg 1 videos created in size 320x240 and they are quite poor looking. I'm assuming this would be much higher quality. I don't know much about MPEG2. What size does it record in?

The DVD Video format uses MPEG-2 but MPEG-2 can be DVD Video compliant or not. So in short you can capture in quality less than a store bought DVD Video ... about the same as a store bought DVD Video ... or even better than a store bought DVD Video.

Granted the recording will never look better than the source but you can expect the recordings to look very good ... even after burning to a DVD-R

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[chewie8008]

Cool...thanks for all your help!