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  1. Member
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    I'm probably one of only a small handful of people who have had a chance to use an Osprey2000 PCI capture card. I got it from work when we were excessing some older equipment, and it has been in use in my system since then. Thing is, for all its power it's a pretty old card. It still only has VfW drivers, and of course has been unsupported for a long time.

    Well, I'm building a new system (Intel P35 MB, NVidia, Core 2 Duo CPU), still using Win XP Pro SP2 for the time being, but may eventually move to Vista. So I have a problem migrating this old workhorse to a new system, especially as I know that it will probably fall down dead when I try to use in under Vista.

    I've also discovered that I don't need what used to be a $3000 capture card to do what I need. Basic composite or component level capture with maybe hardware that can lock audio (although I do have all the tools needed to resync if needed), either PCI based or externla USB, and basically the best bang for the buck. If going PCI gets me a better value for the money then I'll go that route. What should I be looking at right now?
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    It's hard for me to take anyone seriously who says they may eventually move to Vista. Good luck with that. My company, a Fortune 500 company, has no plans to move to Vista because it sucks big ones. If you enjoy having things not work properly, then by all means go to Vista. If you want a system that works, you need to stay with XP.

    Hauppauge makes a variety of cards that work very well (no component capture though - component capture cards are very rare). I recommend the PVR-250 or PVR-350. Both are PCI based and they just work. The PVR-350 has TV out, so if you don't need that you can save money and get the 250. I don't recommend the PVR-150 as it uses a different chip and it's very hit or miss for a lot of people - it will either work problem free for you or you will probably never get it work at all.
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    jman98, I do appreciate the sarcastic response , but I've been building my own systems for over 20 years now. I probably have more experience than most in deciding when to migrate to a new OS, having done so more times than I can count on one hand. I'm not jumping to Vista today or tomorrow like some noob, but may (note I said may) move to Vista when it shows itself to be practical.

    Now that that's out of the way, I do sincerely appreciate the recommendation. I'm happy to see that Happague is still considered among the better devices nowadays.
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  4. Which type of Osprey 2000 is it? There are many and a lot of them do have DirectShow drivers.
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  5. Member edDV's Avatar
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    What is your end compression goal?
    Is this for PVR or webcast?
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  6. Member Cornucopia's Avatar
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    For all your "20 years of experience" I'm surprised the solution didn't come to you quicker than it did me: Dual Boot.

    If the Osprey expects drivers that work with NT or 2k, etc, boot to one of those systems for the capping, then reboot in XP to do all your editing.

    -or (if using NT/2k/etc won't work with your current hardware config)--

    Make a separate "legacy box" (assembled through ebay) on your lan to do the capping to a shared drive, then edit from your new box.

    No reason to work yourself up trying to fit a square peg in a round hole or trying to search for round pegs when there may not be any.

    Scott
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    Originally Posted by JohnnyMalaria
    Which type of Osprey 2000 is it? There are many and a lot of them do have DirectShow drivers.
    It's the 2000 Pro. I think I looked for DS drivers for this model at one time.

    Originally Posted by Cornucopia
    What is your end compression goal?
    Is this for PVR or webcast?.
    Use is primarily for transfer of old VHS material to DVD, for TV display.
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  8. Member Cornucopia's Avatar
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    I didn't write that; edDV did.
    Anyway, there are so many cards out there that are XP or Vista compatible that have current drivers and can probably do as good a job as (or possibly better than) your Osprey (which, however, I do understand was an amazing card IN ITS TIME). ESPECIALLY if it's just for VHS.

    I would think a very good SVHS pro VCR and pro TBC (both with svid/component ins/outs, etc) would be better investments for quality capturing...

    Scott

    Edit: sorry, I guess I misunderstood the thread from the divergent responses...You DO want a new card as replacement...
    OK, when you say "Cheap" what do you mean? When you say "Good" what do you mean?
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    Originally Posted by Cornucopia
    For all your "20 years of experience" I'm surprised the solution didn't come to you quicker than it did me: Dual Boot.

    If the Osprey expects drivers that work with NT or 2k, etc, boot to one of those systems for the capping, then reboot in XP to do all your editing.
    Sigh. The Osprey works perfectly well as a capture device in XP, even with my use of VfW drivers. Dual boot is neither warranted nor desired in what would be a relatively limited use for a system that serves as a media and data distribution system for my home (yeah, I thought about it). I'm just not sure I want to install such an old device in a brand new build.
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    Originally Posted by Cornucopia
    I didn't write that; edDV did.
    Anyway, there are so many cards out there that are XP or Vista compatible that have current drivers and can probably do as good a job as (or possibly better than) your Osprey (which, however, I do understand was an amazing card IN ITS TIME). ESPECIALLY if it's just for VHS.

    I would think a very good SVHS pro VCR and pro TBC (both with svid/component ins/outs, etc) would be better investments for quality capturing...

    Scott

    Edit: sorry, I guess I misunderstood the thread from the divergent responses...You DO want a new card as replacement...
    OK, when you say "Cheap" what do you mean? When you say "Good" what do you mean?
    No problem Scott. I almost sent back a rather uncivil response.

    I'm using a JVC S9600U as the source feed, but I'm only marginally happy with its internal TBC (it isn't really a full-frame TBC, but works kind of okay). A cap card that could provide some additional capability there would be good. Would like intrinsic capture to be good enough for quality viewing on a HT (even if it is SD).
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  11. Member dadrab's Avatar
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    I built an audio/video computer about a year ago. I put in a PVR-350 - and I really like it.

    It does what it's supposed to do.

    The decision to go with a card that recorded to MPEG2 via hardware encode was one I grappled with long and hard. There appears to be a good bit more flexability in recording to .AVI when it comes to editing and such, but I've been very pleased with my choice.

    You also have a pretty nice VHS player. You'll get pretty good captures through a Hauppauge unit with that source hardware. I might consider a stand-alone TBC and procamp if I were you, though. I'm debating that myself right now in that I'd like to be able to do a little cleaning up on some of my tapes before they get to the digital realm.

    That's the downside of recording to MPEG2. There aren't a whole lot of software filtering applications available. You need to get the signal right before it gets to the hard drive.

    ...probably not telling you anything you don't already know...
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  12. Member edDV's Avatar
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    I maintain a legacy machine with multiboot Win98se/NT5/XP/Linux to support old cards like my early Osprey's, Miro DV30plus+Premiere6.5 etc.

    This allows me to load my old projects + cap to MJPEG or H.263 streams.
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    Originally Posted by dadrab
    I built an audio/video computer about a year ago. I put in a PVR-350 - and I really like it.

    It does what it's supposed to do.

    The decision to go with a card that recorded to MPEG2 via hardware encode was one I grappled with long and hard. There appears to be a good bit more flexability in recording to .AVI when it comes to editing and such, but I've been very pleased with my choice.

    You also have a pretty nice VHS player. You'll get pretty good captures through a Hauppauge unit with that source hardware. I might consider a stand-alone TBC and procamp if I were you, though. I'm debating that myself right now in that I'd like to be able to do a little cleaning up on some of my tapes before they get to the digital realm.

    That's the downside of recording to MPEG2. There aren't a whole lot of software filtering applications available. You need to get the signal right before it gets to the hard drive.

    ...probably not telling you anything you don't already know...
    Yeah, it's a tough choice. I've been playing with an in-line AVT-8710 to try and get some cleanup before it hits the capture device. It works pretty well but I wish it could be controlled a bit better.
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  14. Member Cornucopia's Avatar
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    Thing about MPEG2 cap boards (just like DV boards or boxes like ADVC-100/300, etc) is the capping using color subsampling. MPEG = usually 4:2:0 and DV = usually 4:1:1, while you can get other cap cards that at least can do 4:2:2 and save as such in AVI (or alternately RGB in AVI). I guess that just depends on you color quality needs/demands.

    I try to stick with pro cap cards like Aja, Blackmagic, AVID etc so am not the expert on choice of individual consumer/prosumer cap cards...

    Scott
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    Originally Posted by Cornucopia
    Thing about MPEG2 cap boards (just like DV boards or boxes like ADVC-100/300, etc) is the capping using color subsampling. MPEG = usually 4:2:0 and DV = usually 4:1:1, while you can get other cap cards that at least can do 4:2:2 and save as such in AVI (or alternately RGB in AVI). I guess that just depends on you color quality needs/demands.

    I try to stick with pro cap cards like Aja, Blackmagic, AVID etc so am not the expert on choice of individual consumer/prosumer cap cards...

    Scott
    Hmm, those are definitely high end solutions, Corucopia. Almost as much as the orginal pricing for the Osprey. Well, maybe I should just keep this old hunk of gear going. I just wish I could get the WDM drivers to work reliably on XP with modern software capture programs. On the flip side, the card does have RGB32 and RGB24. Granted, it's not YUV 4:4:4, but it should still be better than YUV 4:2:2, no? Is there any current capture software that can play with RGB32 capture capabilities?
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  16. Member edDV's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by tonyp2
    Originally Posted by Cornucopia
    Thing about MPEG2 cap boards (just like DV boards or boxes like ADVC-100/300, etc) is the capping using color subsampling. MPEG = usually 4:2:0 and DV = usually 4:1:1, while you can get other cap cards that at least can do 4:2:2 and save as such in AVI (or alternately RGB in AVI). I guess that just depends on you color quality needs/demands.

    I try to stick with pro cap cards like Aja, Blackmagic, AVID etc so am not the expert on choice of individual consumer/prosumer cap cards...

    Scott
    Hmm, those are definitely high end solutions, Corucopia. Almost as much as the orginal pricing for the Osprey. Well, maybe I should just keep this old hunk of gear going. I just wish I could get the WDM drivers to work reliably on XP with modern software capture programs. On the flip side, the card does have RGB32 and RGB24. Granted, it's not YUV 4:4:4, but it should still be better than YUV 4:2:2, no? Is there any current capture software that can play with RGB32 capture capabilities?
    Back then the hardware card maker usually supplied the capture software often as part of the "driver" software. Then applications like Adobe Premiere 4.2 to 6.5 would open the driver for capture. Each card would offer different capture menus.
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  17. Tonyp2,

    Wow! Osprey 2000! Haven't heard of those in a REALLY long time! That card was discontinued long ago, which is why there are only VFW drivers for it. It was actually a hardware MPEG-1/2 encoder that can also be used as a simple A/V capture card (I assume that's how you're using it).

    In addition to the suggestions posted here, you could perhaps consider an Osprey 210 card. It has Windows Multimedia class drivers, meaning it is WDM-compliant and comes with DirectShow filters. Works on and is fully supported for XP/2003, works with any Windows application that supports DirectShow or WDM devices - encoders, editors, etc.

    There are Vista drivers available but they are beta. Personally, I avoid Vista like the plague (for what that's worth).

    Anyway, the 210 is a PCI-X card, supports composite and s-video inputs, unbalanced audio input, and retails for $209 (from the Viewcast web site store) - You might be able to find one cheaper through one of the dealerships, ebay, etc., if you look around.

    There are higher end PCI-X and PCIe cards in the Osprey family that support component video & balanced audio but they're more expensive (in the $400-$500 range).

    The Osprey 210 cards work really well. I have built machines for some clients that have as many as 2 of them running concurrently in a single machine 24/7 for months on end with no A/V sync problems or really any other issues at all. You can abuse them pretty hard and they just work.

    If memory serves, the Osprey only supports 4:2:0 or 4:1:1 chroma sub-sampling but I am not positive about that. Check into it.

    Anyway, just a suggestion. The Hauppauge cards mentioned here are also really good cards and I think (though I am not sure) they are a tad less expensive, so compare and price-shop, etc. Hope this helps.

    Andrew
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