which capture card?

[mikebadger]

Hi.. quite simply which one do i buy?
I am ona budget of about £70
(about $120 i guess )

All i need from the capture card is for it to be able to capture from a VCR through which ever input/ output it deems best ! (s-video/rf/scart whatever)
But it definitely needs to come with the correct leads that are needed for it to work!

can someone tell me their best experience with a decent capture card (especially with regards installation/ drivers and leads)

My VCR has standard RF out and SCART out..

please help

MIKE

[pacoreguenga]

You should check avermedia's averTVStudio. It's almost the same as the Haupauge but without its flaws. It's even more compatible with any video capture applications, as Premiere or Vdub.
I reccomend you to also buy Intervideo's winDVR software. It lets you capture mpg1 &mpg2 realtime with the mentioned card, and works extremely well.
I've been using Cyberlink's PowerVCR2 Pro, which works seady as a rock, and it has a DV to MPG1&2 realtime transcoding feature not available on winDVR, but PowerVCR encodes audio at 44,100 Hz even at DVD capture settings and it's a nightmare for serious DVD production. WinDVR encodes right at 48KHz but lacks the DV transcoding feature. If PowerVCR could encode audio the right way, It would beat every other software hands down.
I have had many Hi-end capture cards (expensive) and they also were really a pain in the ass to configure right.
I only keep the cheap but hi-quality Iomega Buz Producer MJPG capture card with Ultra SCSI controller, The 1394 firewire adapter that came with my Presario 7112LA (which has a nice Pioneer DVD-RW drive) and an AverTVStudio. This one has not given me any trouble and its quality is good enough to encode rigth from Betacam SP, as I use it for Pro DVD authoring.
My next purchase will be definitely Canopus' ADVC100 external Firewire to Analog video converter, as Cinewave is too expensive and, as I have witnessed, It's not hassle-free.

[mikebadger]

wow.. thanks for that reply!... very indepth!

so the Aver TV studio will suit me with regards all the things i mentioned including leads etc??....

I seriously only need this card to take video from VCR so is that the best card for price to do specifically that?

[SHS]

I'm sorry pacoreguenga what flaw are you ref to far I know the reg WinTV card as in WinTV-GO, WinTV-GO FM, WinTV-PVR (The first one), WinTV-Radio, WinTV-Theater , WinTV-USB, WinTV-USB
FM, USB-Live with a BT8x8 can use also use thoses apps to with no problem what so ever. How ever the WinTV-PVR 250, 350 and USB are totally different. It has a complete audio and video processor as well mpeg encoder onboard another words it all one chip with everything build in, and it send a highly compressed mpeg stream and the same alppy to the HD card to they where not made for Raw AVI capture which min 3rdparty applications need.
What realy piss me off is number people that can't get there fact rigth nor do they have any unstardard how thing work so automatic assume all TV card are the same.

[mikebadger]

thanks SHS but you didnt help me out at all
lol

[Barnabas]

Mike,

It depends on what you want to do with it. Your options are pretty much as follows:

1: An AVI capture card. This will only capture to AVI, but if you have enough CPU horsepower, you can use a real-time software encoder such as WinDVR, PowerVCR, NanoDVR etc. The BEST quality will be to AVI, and then using Tmpgenc to s-l-o-w-l-y encode to VCD, SVCD or DVD. Costs for these cards start at about $15 or so. MUCH hard drive space is needed for a 720 x 480 AVI capture. I use an 80 Gig drive for those.

2: Hardware encoding capture card. The best ones for the money right now IMHO, are the Hauppauge WinTV PVR-250 or PVR USB. Both use an IVAC chipset to capture and encode in 1 step. Both will also make, VCD, SVCD and DVD captures. Since the encoding is done by the hardware compression chip, you don't need a very powerful computer.

You can buy a Hauppauge 250 for about $100 to $135 or so.

I have owned (or own) all of the following capture devices.

ADS Instant DVD (too many problems to note here)
Creative Labs Digital VCR (makes great captures but not compliant)
All-In-Wonder 128 (software encoding only)
ProVideo PV-231 Hardware encoding Mpeg1 card. (great card, only does mpeg1 though)
Hauppauge WinTV PVR-USB Nice product. Does both Mpeg 1 and 2.
Hauppauge WinTV PVR-250 Nice product. Does both Mpeg 1 and 2.
Hauppauge WinTV Go. AVI captures only, no hardware encoding.
Cybermail AV card. AVI captures only, no hardware encoding.

Editing mpeg 2 captures can be tough. I never could edit my ADS Instant DVD captures without losing audio/video sync. The Hauppauge is MUCH better in this area.

[mikebadger]

thanks for replying so quickly and in so much depth...
maybe i should explain a little more what I need it for...
I am recording clan matches on to VHS and then I want to capture them back to PC... as AVI.. then I want to edit them as such as AVI.. but I dont want to make them into svcd/vcd or dvd--> that I am not interested in whatsoever.. what I make is completely just for sharing on the internet (lol it sounds sad but we are one of the top 10-20 clans in our game and people like to watch that sort of stuff )

so if i literally just want to capture and then edit shoudl I just go for the 1st option you explained the basic AVI capture card and if so which ones of these do you recommend?

oh and do they come with leads included?

thansk for all the help

MIKE

[Barnabas]

If you only want to capture to AVI and edit in AVI, then most any non hardware encoding card will do. Any of the Hauppauge Win TV Go cards, ATI TV Wonder, etc. They usually don't come with cables, but any Radio Shack, K-Mart, Walmart, even some drug stores have those cables. You should be able to get a decent card for less than $60 US. I *think* ATI does include some cables, at least they did with my All in Wonder 128.

All these cards will do 352 x 240, and many will do 720 x 480 with the right drivers.

[mikebadger]

yes i am loving it!
woohoo!
I purchased a hauppauge wintv Go card today and it works perfectly for my needs

and I am also loving watching TV on my computer!
I mean hey Im never gonna have to move from this seat now!
WOOHOO!

[robertw477]

Barnabas-

You mention the Happauge cards. Is the USB version very slow if you are trying to capture a 1-2 hour vhs? Does anyone know how much space 1 hour of vhs video takes up in the highest quality setting. I assume you take the mpeg 2 video and burn to a dvd from there. Is this correct?

Appreciate any ideas about this.

[Anonymous65]

For people with a 2Ghz CPU and faster, the PowerVCR and WinVCR is a cheap option. I have used both, and found WinVCR to give the best video quality. You still have problems like not supporting SVCD resolutions, 352x480 resolutions, 48KHz audio and so on. The biggest problem is to find an editor that will cut the files without messing with audio sync.

Also, for people with Ulead Videostudio or DVD Moviefactory, both programs have Ligos real-time mpeg capture encoders that work quite well, with support for more resolutions and 48Khz audio. The software will work with any BT8x8 card and WDM drivers.

[Barnabas]

Barnabas-

You mention the Happauge cards. Is the USB version very slow if you are trying to capture a 1-2 hour vhs? Does anyone know how much space 1 hour of vhs video takes up in the highest quality setting. I assume you take the mpeg 2 video and burn to a dvd from there. Is this correct?

Appreciate any ideas about this.

Robert,

Very slow? Not sure what you mean by that. You can make DVD's with the Hauppauge, but I make only SVCD's, as I don't have a DVD burner (yet). I can make a 1 hour DVD capture at standard DVD settings and see how big the file is if you like.