Capture card vs Digital camcorder - which is better?

[snaimpally]

I recently got a Gainward ti/500 VIVO video card. Haven't tried capture with that yet. Also own a Sony TRV-310 digital 8 camcorder.

I have some VHS stuff I want to burn on DVD-R (Pioneer 104). I am wondering if I should try video capture with the Gainward Vivo or if I should just digitize by recording it on to my Sony and then using firewire from the camcorder into my PC.

Any thoughts, sharing of experiences would be appreciated!


Shiv Naimpally

[jtor]

...since you already have both, TRY BOTH.

But on the digital8 side, check the analog pass-through first, before making a copy, if your cam has the feature, you don't need to copy VHS.

hope this helps.

[snaimpally]

Thanks. I was hoping people would share their experiences so I could avoid having to try both but what the heck ...

I had thought of the pass-thru and wondered if my camcorder has this feature and would basically act as a high priced A to D convertor. I'll check it out. The TRV310 is an older machine but it was fairly high-end at the time ...

If anyone else has experiences they would like to share, I would appreciate hearing them!

[jtor]

Most probably, TRV-310 has the pass-thru feature (but don't quote me on that), as I don't have a D8 cam (I'm using miniDV).

If you have the capability to do analog capture and dv transfer (via firewire), I would suggest you go to firewire...life will be a whole lot easier that way. I started this thing on a Hi8 camcorder and a DC10+ capture card. Though the captures were great, I got myself a miniDV camcorder and a firewire card...and from that point on, I thought I wasted time and money (and efforts) on analog captures...but then, that's just me.

hope this helps.

[Scobo]

I agree with jtor.
Firewire transfer from a DV device is far easier and very good quality.
You will struggle to achieve good full screen capture unless you have a powerful system. I've used various analogue capture cards over the past 3 or 4 years and none have come close to my Canon miniDV camcorder.