Video Capture and Editing Card

[galaxy_110]

Dear All,

I'm writing to enquire about the best piece of hardware that you may recommend and I'll be pleased if you could kindly help me out.

I've been looking for something that could capture TV or satellite programmes in the highest possible quality . Also, I may want to transfer some movies from VHS into PC and I don't want to loose any quality. Please don't get me wrong, I don't need a TV tuner or something that would work as a tuner but I need something that I could connect my TV, satellite receiver or the VCR to and capture the programmes absolutely identical to the original programme without loosing any quality in a reasonable size.

I've already tried Dazzle Video Creator but the quality was not good at all, to be honest it was aweful.



Please bear it in mind that the quality is very important and I don't want to loose anything in capturing. To be honest, I'm a beginner in the field and I don't know much about the stuff, so do you think that you may recommend me any model by Pinnacle, something that you’d be sure about?

Also, I'd mostly prefer an external one but if the internal ones are far better then I'd go for the second ones.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Cheers

[olyteddy]

If your goal is to create DVDs of your source material Hauppauge has a line (their 'PVR' line) that encodes to MPEG2 at DVD quality. I've had the USB2 model for a couple years now and haven't felt the urge to upgrade. If you intend to extensively edit (lots of effects, titles, CG overlays, etc.) then you probably want one that encodes to DV. There's a real good list <<<--- over there <<<---.

[galaxy_110]

Thanks buddy for your kind reply.
I don't want to do any editing but I only need somethign that help me to capture movie and clips and transfer them into PC. I think that you may have got me wrong. I'm not looking for a TV tuner card but what I'm looking is a capture card that makes it possible to transfer i.e. VHS tapes into PC without loosing quality.
Cheers

[DereX888]

I've been looking for something that could capture TV or satellite programmes in the highest possible quality

The dazzle toy you showed (or any other for that matter) cannot give you any best results because you'll feed them with your digital signal already distorted in the process of converting it to analog signal, then the dazzle will encode it back to digital mpeg compression. If quality is the factor important to you, you have 2 completely useless and obviously distortion-adding conversions in the process before you have your 'final product'.

The only way to achieve what you are asking for, is to "dump" your incoming satellite feed's transport mpeg streams directly to your hard disk. Only this way you'll have the *exact* audio and video exactly as it was 'broadcasted' by your sat provider, without any useless re-conversions/re-encodings in the middle.
All it takes is a good sattv pc card and a software, just google it up.



/edit/
Ahhh, nevermind
I just read you reply posted while I was typing.

I don't want to do any editing but I only need somethign that help me to capture movie and clips and transfer them into PC. I think that you may have got me wrong. I'm not looking for a TV tuner card but what I'm looking is a capture card that makes it possible to transfer i.e. VHS tapes into PC without loosing quality.

Apparently I have too misunderstood your original post.
I guess any of these toys like dazzle or other can do at least 15mbps CBR MPEG-2 at 720x480 if you connect them thru USB2.0, so dazzle is as good choice as any other

[galaxy_110]

Cheer mate. How about my VHS tapes?

[DereX888]

Cheer mate. How about my VHS tapes?

Just make sure the capture card/toy don't have any MacroVisioCrap, because they'll give you grievance when you'll transfer tapes that are not in pristine quality (they usually 'think' every glitch of old VHS is a MV protected copyrighted material )

[galaxy_110]

Dude,

Manny thanks for your kind and prompt reply.

Could you please kindly clarify how I could make sure of this?

Cheers

[DereX888]

Dude, I already told you
M A C R O V I S I O N <- you certainly don't want this 'feature' of your capture toy.

[galaxy_110]

Thanks a million.

Cheers

[jman98]

I am NOT enthused at all about USB based capture solutions. I just don't trust them. Give me good old PCI cards any day.

Back in the day (American slang for "in the past") Dazzle made a great PCI based card called the DVC-II. Then they dropped it and went with USB based solutions and none of us fans of the old DVC-II are very fond of their newer cards. The fact that DereX888 keeps calling it a "capture toy" should be a clue to you what he REALLY thinks of this card.

I would recommend instead that you consider a Hauppauge card. The older PVR-250 or PVR-350 models are rock solid and work well for everybody. They can't capture high definition though, which may or may not be a problem for you. I have no experience with their high def capture cards. If you are trying to copy VHS tapes that you recorded yourself, than you will have no problems. If you are trying to record commercial tapes, they will have Macrovision on them and you will need a card that defeats this. I am not sure which cards can defeat Macrovision.

[galaxy_110]

Thanks buddy for the tip.

Cheers

[olyteddy]

As I said previously, I'd recommend you look at the list of Capture Cards and decide for yourself.

[DereX888]

Just an OT:
yesterday I saw excellent DVC-II for mere FIVE canuck bucks in a junk bin of a used comp-parts store, still in what looked like an unopened box.
galaxy_110, perhaps you should visit any of such establishments in your area... and as jman98 said, PCI card is the way to go (avoid those USB toys if you can, unless you really have no choice - i.e. using laptop etc))

[galaxy_110]

Dude,

Thanks for this.

Cheers