Best outboard consumer capture device today? VHS, LD, camcorder and HD DVR

[cosmichippo]

hey all,

I'm finally about to get a new computer and am looking to try and start capturing and archiving all my old analog stuff to digital. Is the Hauppuage HD PVR about the best high quality option these days? I'll be using it with a variety of analog formats all NTSC. SuperBeta, S-VHS. LD, Hi8 and some HD DVR stuff.

I still have my old Canopus ADVC-100 but wouldn't the Hauppuage do a better job with the colorspace without NTSC DV's restrictions?

How easy is it to edit the files created by the HD PVR?

Thanks in advance for any guidance or alternate suggestions. Im looking for high quality above all.

Thanks,
Mike

[yoda313]

You get m2ts or mp4 files on the hd pvr. The m2ts files should be fairly easy to edit in most high def editing suites that accept m2ts. You can also edit in freeware like projectx (pretty sure it handles m2ts) and things like tsmuxer or multiavchd for avchd creation.

The only downside to the hd pvr is it has no mpeg encoding functions as far as I know. It only does h264. That said it would entail more conversion down the road if you desire to create dvds. If however you are looking for avchd or bluray creation from your sources this will do that wonderfully.

The hd pvr does have analog composite inputs as well as component inputs. You can use fiber optic input for digital surround input on the component input but I don't believe you can use fiber optic input with the analog composite signal.

I have the hd pvr and it is great for high def widescreen captures.

However it may be overkill if you are intending on just capturing analog 4:3 material. If you have letterbox 4:3 material this may or may not be advantageous over other capture devices.

If your main goal is simply to record analog video and output to dvd (ie mpeg2) than you are better off getting a much less expensive device that supports direct mpeg2 encoding.

As I said I don't believe the hauppauge hdpvr supports direct mpeg2 encoding. There may be a way to map it with avs or some kind of script program that I am not well versed in.

[magillagorilla]

EDIT
- sorry I see you have been a member for a long time...... Still, what is your budget?

[cosmichippo]

Budget is probably $300 or less. Obviously, as low as possible is preferable. I can spend what's necessary to get a quality output.

As far as overkill for capping analog 4:3 legacy stuff... I will also be using the device to cap HD from a DVR settop box as well. It might be a bit excessive for the analog stuff but will be just right for the current HD stuff.

I just noticed that BlackMagic Design has an outboard solution that captures from HDMI as well as analog connections. I am not familiar with BlackMagic products. Back a few years ago when I was active here my Canopus ADVC-100 was THE shit but it can't serve my new needs and I am hoping that whatever I find for the HD caps can do a better job than the Canopus DV caps of analog SD material. Hauppuage was a quality product way back when. is that still the case?

What about the BlackMagic stuff? Are they a relatively new company or just an offshoot or rename of one of the old standards?

Thanks again for the replies, it's cool to be back here,
Mike

[yoda313]

Yes hauppauge is still good. My hd pvr is great for hd captures but I must say I haven't done many if any sd captures with it (since my sd captures are intended for dvd conversion I don't go the 264 route). If you are interested in using it for hd captures its perfect that.

I think the hdmi may still have encryption issues. I'm not sure if that covers "basic" cable channels like espn, food network, syfy, tnt, etc or just the premium stuff like hbo, cinemax, etc. With component you don't have to worry.

I think blackmagic has been around for ahwile now, at least several years. They may be a spinoff, don't know their history.