TV/VHS tape Capture card suggestions for my pc?

[drwho]

Thanks in advance but I have the following problem right now
and although I have read some of the threads I still have problems interpreting what card will can be recommended to do this job.
I have bought a Homecast HD PVR (personal video recorder) and as I understand I can transfer videos directly via USB. This side of the story is fine but my wife wants to preserve some of the old VHS/PAL recordings which complicate things for me. So I wonder where do I start with capturing video tapes and record to Pc?
I currently have an Nvidia Geforce GT8500 video card that does not have a TV in or out.
Can some of the experts here enlighten me on the subject of choosing from the selection of a card or even a new pc video card that will work with a new capture card?
Thanks

[yoda313]

You can get a run of the mill no frills capture card or usb design for under 50.00 these days.

If you want one with an hd tuner you jump to 80.00 or more. The pinnacle hd usb stick is very good - I have one.

If you prefer pci or pci-e than I suggest looking at either hauppauge or fusion dvico. I have a pci-e ati-all-in wonder hd card that works very well and does input capturing - allbeit I had to purchase a riser card to get svideo and composite inputs.

FYI my prices are in USD. I don't know what the exchange rates are for Australia. Also try your version of ebay and I'm sure you can do better on used or knock off brands. However I might try to avoid those ones from china for 2.00. I don't imagine the super cheapies have very good driver support or codec options. Now don't get me wrong, some might be perfectly good but it would be a gamble in my opinion to go too far off brand.

[drwho]

Thanks POLLSTER for your reply,
My homecast PVR does have a tuner built in so looks like my real problem is to capture from a VHS/PAL player.
Now my other question is Do I need to replace my current NVIDIA GT8500 pc's video card because it does not have TV in or out?
Thanks

[yoda313]

Not necessarily.

There are pci capture cards that are tuner only. You would install it in an available pci slot. Then that would leave your graphics card untouched.

If you get a usb capture device than you would keep your existing graphics card as well.

If you want the two combined you can look into an ATI ALL-IN-WONDER card that is both a primary video card AND a capture device. There is only one pci-e model that I am aware of from ATI and I have it - the 512mb ALL-IN-Wonder HD. That however requires an extra pci slot for a svideo/composite input module. The card itself has a dvi port and a hdmi output that contains audio and video.

[drwho]

Thank you yoda
I have room for another pci card so I'll get a pci capture card have to look at some good brands around.

[yoda313]

That's probably a good move. Get something with a hardware mpeg2 encoder and you'll have good results. Probably something like a hauppauge wintv pvr250 or better. The 250 isn't in production anymore I believe but you can get one online used. Also the 150 I think is still commercially available with essentially the same internals.

There are other brands of course. Set a budget and then look into the specs you want.