What card should I get?

[peechee6]

I need some help choosing the right video capture card. I want to be able to hook up my vcr and record tapes to vcd, and I also want to be able to hook up my digital camcorder and record to vcd. I've seen a lot of positive info about the ATI 7500. Is this the right card for me? I know virtually nothing about video capture.

[Craig Tucker]

The AIW 7500 is a good card for analogue capture, it has a TV tuner and good 3D graphics capabilities. It does not have a firewire port for DV capture though. You could go to the AIW 8500DV which does have a firewire port and is a much better 3D graphics card, but it costs nearly twice as much. The other option is to get the 7500 and also a seperate firewire card for DV capture. They are only about £20.

I have had two capture cards an ATI AIW 128 pro and a Hercules AIW 7500 (a badged ATI card). I have been pleased with the capture performance of both of them. They can take a while to set up, ATI support is not good. And you may find that you have to play around with the drivers to get everything working correctly. But once they are set up, they are good cards, and in my opinion the best all round solution available.

Craig