Best PCI Video Capture Card - Windows 7 - S-Video

[jhsu]

I've been reading through the forums and am having a hard time finding a good answer for this.

A lot of older posts refer to the ATI 650 card, but with the AGC/Macrovision problems mentioned here, and Win 7 driver issues elsewhere, it seems like more trouble than it's worth:
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/326560-Which-is-better-usb-stick-vhs-cap-or-hd-pvr-...for-vhs-to-dvd

The project I need it for is a little uncommon. I'm working with an old video mixer board and camcorder that have s-video connections and I want to record the final output onto my computer with the highest quality possible for editing.

I just want something straightforward to record s-video with virtualdub/lagarith compression or comparable.

I am currently looking at these 4 items if anyone has any input on which would work best for the price (hdmi input might be useful in the future when I might use newer camcorders for a different project):
http://www.amazon.com/Avertv-Definition-Analog-Capture-MTVHDDVRR/dp/B002SQE1O0/ref=sr_...+AVerTV+HD+DVR
http://www.amazon.com/Hauppauge-1213-WinTV-HVR-2250-PCI-E-Tuner/dp/B001E2V7R8/ref=sr_1...WinTV-HVR-2250
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007U5MGBE/ref=asc_df_B007U5MGBE2179604?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&ta...SIN=B007U5MGBE
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001CN9GEA/ref=asc_df_B001CN9GEA2179604?smid=A2LXBKOLL3J3K6&t...SIN=B001CN9GEA

I've seen other posts mention Hauppauge HD-PVR, but am wary of usb and h.264 compression, and it looks a little overkill for me.

Thanks!

[jhsu]

I also just found this if anyone has any experience with it:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Canopus-ADVC-1394-ADVC1394-Video-Capture-Card-OHCI-PCI-Interfa...837#vi-content

[jman98]

There are solutions but your requirement of virtualdub/lagarith compression is ridiculous.

You say PCI. Do you REALLY mean PCI instead of PCI-e? It makes a HUGE difference. If you really must have PCI then you are again painting yourself into a corner and reducing your options.

It seems to me that you need some ancient card from the DVD days that could do lossless capturing. I find such cards to be completely unnecessary and a lot of overkill, but those who want lossless capturing won't be convinced it's not really necessary. I'l have to let others chime in on those kinds of cards. To the best of my knowledge Hauppauge doesn't offer any video capture cards that can capture losslessly. I really think H.264 would be fine for your needs but my experience is that people on the "Must have lossless" bandwagon can't have their minds changed about it.

[jhsu]

Thanks for the quick reply, yes sorry I meant pci-e, I just took that for granted.

I only refer to lossless capture because it is the most ideal format to edit with, AE and Premiere can't import h.264 so I would have to transcode and thought I might save myself a step.

Really what I want is something that preserves the video signal as much as possible because there is a lot of color and detail in the footage and I've experienced in the past some programs displaying loss of detail when transcoding to DV.

Are you recommending the Hauppauge HD-PVR? I just mention it looked overkill for me because for the extra price it seems to be delivering features geared more for entertainment systems, but if you think it would be ideal for me I would consider it.

I just haven't heard anyone review the other pci-e cards I listed in the forums and was wondering if they were any good. I'll admit I'm new to this so any insight is helpful!

[jman98]

Ah, yes. I forgot about the "married to an editor" folks whose editors have those kinds of restrictions. My editing needs are quite simple and I don't require the extras that such programs contain. I've been using VideoReDo to edit H.264 captures and it works fine for my needs.

The Hauppauge Colossus is a PCI-e card that is basically the same as the HD-PVR with the addition of being able to record unencrypted HDMI input. The Colossus has an internal TBC that can be turned on via a registry setting that can easily be found via a Google search. Although I do not record S-video with it, it does have a connector that can do it. Note that the Hauppauge Colossus and HD-PVR default to AAC audio and will only record AC3 if the optical cable is used AND the source audio is AC3. It does not record in any other audio formats.

You can record with bit rates up to about 20000 Kbps. I've never tried anything above 14000 but we had a recent thread where a user complained that the Colossus (the HD-PVR will almost certainly be the same) couldn't record above 20000 Kbps for him. I use the Colossus and I've been very satisfied with it.

[usually_quiet]

I've been reading through the forums and am having a hard time finding a good answer for this.

A lot of older posts refer to the ATI 650 card, but with the AGC/Macrovision problems mentioned here, and Win 7 driver issues elsewhere, it seems like more trouble than it's worth:
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/326560-Which-is-better-usb-stick-vhs-cap-or-hd-pvr-...for-vhs-to-dvd

The project I need it for is a little uncommon. I'm working with an old video mixer board and camcorder that have s-video connections and I want to record the final output onto my computer with the highest quality possible for editing.

I just want something straightforward to record s-video with virtualdub/lagarith compression or comparable.

I am currently looking at these 4 items if anyone has any input on which would work best for the price (hdmi input might be useful in the future when I might use newer camcorders for a different project):
http://www.amazon.com/Avertv-Definition-Analog-Capture-MTVHDDVRR/dp/B002SQE1O0/ref=sr_...+AVerTV+HD+DVR
http://www.amazon.com/Hauppauge-1213-WinTV-HVR-2250-PCI-E-Tuner/dp/B001E2V7R8/ref=sr_1...WinTV-HVR-2250
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007U5MGBE/ref=asc_df_B007U5MGBE2179604?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&ta...SIN=B007U5MGBE
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001CN9GEA/ref=asc_df_B001CN9GEA2179604?smid=A2LXBKOLL3J3K6&t...SIN=B001CN9GEA

I've seen other posts mention Hauppauge HD-PVR, but am wary of usb and h.264 compression, and it looks a little overkill for me.

Thanks!

It is a good thing a PC-eI capture card is acceptable, because most current capture devices have either a USB or PCI-e interface.

Most recent PCI-e capture-only cards are designed primarily for HD capture. Some (not all) don't have the connections you want and don't appear to support interlaced SD capture. The Avertv HD DVR and Blackmagic Intensity Pro are the best choices amond the HD capture device on your list. The StarTech.com PCI Express HD Video Capture Card doesn't support composite or S-video.

TV cards that offer analog capture are becoming fewer in number by the day. I'm not sure what current PCI-e TV cards to recommend for analog capture now. Most of those left do hardware MPEG-2 encoding. I have and HVR-2250. and it is probably strictly a hardware MPEG-2 encoder. The third-party capture programs I have tried so far don't work with it. If I find one that does, I'll let you know. I only received it 10 days ago.

I know you want PCI or PCI-e, but there are some good USB devices that cost under $50, have the composite and S-video connections you want, plus they can provide uncompressed video output for lossless encoding. The Hauppauge USB Live 2 worked very well for one of our members, and his captures looked pretty good. It isn't a perfect choice for Windows 7, but the ATI TV Wonder HD 600 USB is a very good capture device. It is discontinued, but still shows up on ebay. I bought one recently to replace a dead ATI TV Wonder 650 PCI card. Most who have one think very highly of it, and it doesn't suffer from AGC issues. It does work with Windows 7 32-bit, although I did have to install the drivers manually (ATI's Vista drivers and EMPIA's Windows 7 drivers). It is supposed to work with Windows 7 64-bit too, but I can't confirm that it does from personal experience.

I wish I had a perfect solution for you, but I don't.

[jhsu]

Just ran into this post which seems to clarify things a little bit.
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/347973-PCI-vs-USB-capture-device

This thread on another forum was interesting too, even though it is for 16-bit games they provide some screenshot comparisons (I wish I could see more!):
http://forum.speeddemosarchive.com/post/exciting_new_capture_card_discovery_26.html

Right now I am actually leaning towards this since I just need to capture svideo and I can use vdub:
http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-SVID2USB2-S-Video-Composite-Capture/dp/B000O5RIWO

The colossus seems to have good reviews from people who finally get it to work, but I would be paying for HD capture which I don't really need right now, and I would also have to pay extra for some kind of svideo adapter.

I was also looking at the Avertv HD DVR, but I think I'll wait on the HD PCIe cards until I really need them.

If there are any other thoughts let me know!

[usually_quiet]

Just ran into this post which seems to clarify things a little bit.
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/347973-PCI-vs-USB-capture-device

This thread on another forum was interesting too, even though it is for 16-bit games they provide some screenshot comparisons (I wish I could see more!):
http://forum.speeddemosarchive.com/post/exciting_new_capture_card_discovery_26.html

Right now I am actually leaning towards this since I just need to capture svideo and I can use vdub:
http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-SVID2USB2-S-Video-Composite-Capture/dp/B000O5RIWO

The colossus seems to have good reviews from people who finally get it to work, but I would be paying for HD capture which I don't really need right now, and I would also have to pay extra for some kind of svideo adapter.

I was also looking at the Avertv HD DVR, but I think I'll wait on the HD PCIe cards until I really need them.


If there are any other thoughts let me know!

The StarTech.com PCI Express HD Video Capture Card and the Micomsoft SC-500N1 are supposed to be the same hardware. Here is another review http://www.videogameperfection.com/av-gear/startech-pexhdcap-hdmirgbvgacomponent-captu...e-card-review/ I think it is an interesting device as well, although it doesn't provide an S-video or composite connection. The mini-DIN provides only component video and stereo audio connections (via the breakout cable), and the other ports provide VGA, DVI and HDMI..

I did recommend the StarTech SVID2USB2 USB S-Video and Composite Video Capture to somebody, based on the number of very positive user reviews it received at Amazon. It is probably a pretty decent capture device.

[jman98]

The colossus seems to have good reviews from people who finally get it to work, but I would be paying for HD capture which I don't really need right now, and I would also have to pay extra for some kind of svideo adapter.

If you don't want the Colossus, that is fine, but you seem to be deciding on misinformation. Decide against it for what it really is, not on this nonsense that you read.

First of all, most of the people who review at Amazon are technological morons. Consider that. The card is just not all that hard to get working.

Second, it is fully capable of SD capturing. It has 3 and only 3 capture resolutions - 720x480, 1280x720 and 1920x1080. That's it. Unless your source is sending out a 720p or 1080i/p signal it ONLY records as 720x480. And you CANNOT make it do HD captures from a non-HD source.

Third, where are you getting this stuff from about you needing an S-video adapter? Geez, I said:
Although I do not record S-video with it, it does have a connector that can do it.
That means there is an S-video input on the card. I really do not know where this "I need an adapter" idea is coming from. Maybe some moron on Amazon thought he needed one or maybe my terminology confused you, but it's explained now.

[jhsu]

My bad, I just didn't see an s-video connector in any of the pictures of the adapter cables, they all looked like component + audio rca and it wasn't mentioned in any of the specs I saw. It looks like a very good card though!

Thanks for the info.

[lacywest]

You might want to think about getting a ... Panasonic DVD Recorder EZ17 ... EZ27 or EZ28 ... or if you can find one ... EBAY perhaps ... a Panasonic EH50 DVD Recorder with a hard drive built in. And then connect to the S-VHS video input.

And then burn to a DVD-RAM disk ... and then from there ... use a DVD burner in your PC that can read DVD-RAM disks.

This is how I transfer my home video recordings from my DVC camcorder. I have a Panasonic EH50 and it does a nice job. Can record a one hour segment - XP Mode - and transfer to the PC and then do another hour after transfering to the PC ... get some extra DVD-RAM disks and it could go a little faster.

[lordsmurf]

It seems to me that you need some ancient card from the DVD days that could do lossless capturing. I find such cards to be completely unnecessary and a lot of overkill, but those who want lossless capturing won't be convinced it's not really necessary..

Sorry to be disagreeable, but that little rant of yours is ridiculous.

Lossless is a requirement for transferring high quality video intended for editing. It has nothing to do with the "DVD days". You don't want to decode a GOP based format (MPEG-2, MPEG-4) in Adobe Premiere, etc. There's also many reasonable situations where you want that sort of footage format for archiving.

Pros work with lossless, uncompressed, and semi-lossless (DNxHD, ProRes422) all the time. I use it daily.

The ATI 600 USB card works fine on Windows 7, and captures losslessly in VirtualDub.
I've discussed this card at length here: http://www.digitalFAQ.com/forum/video-capture/3136-ati-600-usb.html

Coincidentally, my guides for it will be completed this weekend.

[jhsu]

You know what, I ended up going with the startech usb adapter. You can actually get it for about $10 cheaper if you get the original videohome release of the product through an Amazon seller here:
http://www.amazon.com/GRABBEE-AV-Hi-Speed-Deluxe-Adapter-Grabber/dp/B003MWJ400/ref=sr_...bBeeX%2Bdeluxe

I ended up paying the extra $10 to get it through Amazon for quicker shipping and easier to return if it didn't work for me.

It's actually already sitting next to me and it works! Funny enough the best tech support seems to be coming from a reviewer on the product page for the startech version and pointed me to the updated drivers here:
http://www.videohome.com.tw/vh_mana/support/file/GrabBee-AV_BDA_20100930_WHQL.zip

The only thing that tripped me up was trying to get it to show up in virtualdub capture mode. It was giving me a green screen until I selected preview mode under 'video>preview'. You can also select the video source for composite or svideo in the video menu.

Attached are some screenshots, I'm pretty happy with the quality.

[Chug a Bug]

If you don't mind recording in SD then the Dazzle DVC-100 will record S-video. If you're interested in HD then you'll have to look at something like the HD-PVR.