need capture card recommendation

[mysts]

While searching for a cheap video capture card the Hauppauge USB-LIVE2 kept coming up. According to the specs it looks pretty good for non high def stuff and I was wondering if anyone has any experience on this thing.

[lordsmurf]

I can't help but get grumpier as I get older...

You want a "cheap video capture card" but expect it to be "pretty good" -- really?
Isn't that like asking for a high-class whore?
It's an oxymoron.

You can have cheap, or you can have good -- rarely are they the same thing.

What's your realistic budget for a card?
And then what do you want to do?
With that information, you can get some good suggestions.

[edDV]

The "What is your computer spec including software you want to use?","What do you want to do?" and "What is your time worth?" are key sort questions.

You need a process design before you start buying stuff.

[yoda313]

If analog standard definition is all you want you can buy used on auction sites.

If you want simply to make a dvd from a captured source I'd recommend looking for a hauppauge 250 or 350 capture card. They are internal pci cards (original pci not the newer pci-e). They do hardware mpeg encoding and do it very well - for dvd mpeg2 or even vcd capping if you want.

I don't believe its possible to capture in an avi container for either divx or dv-avi at all with those but that may have changed with a later upgrade since the last time I used one several years ago.

If you want dv-avi or divx capturing on a hardware card you'd have to look at some other card that I can't offer recommendations on.

But staying standard definition on input capturing will keep your costs down. And if you don't mind buying used and a generation or two older you'll save even more.

High def capturing like component or hdmi will be a different story altogether.