Pyro Basic DV

[iparout]

Hi there, got a few questions concerning the DV format :

1) I was wondering, if the DV format is standard then a cheap DV card like Pyro Basic DV will capture in DV at the same quality as much more expensive cards ? So why someone could go for the expensive solution ? Are there any differences ?

2) Has anyone tried the Pyro Basic DV ? Is it good ? Any other cheap DV cards recommendations ?

As of tomorrow, I'll own a JVC GR-DVL 300 digital camcorder.

3) How can someone watch the high-quality video that he captured using his digital camcorder ? I know he could record to VHS but then the digital quality will be lost. And of course, cabling the camcorder to the TV is not such a good solution cause if I wanna see the video to a friend's house, then I will have to take the camcorder with me. How can I watch the video, taking full advantage of the DV format ?

Thx in advance

[TOMMO]

I have the "cheap" PYRO card basic. Why basic, well i did not want to pay the extra for all the software.

There is no difference between the cheap and expenive bundles, except fo the software.

From what I have seen so far, the Videowave software at least lets me capture DV in WIN98SE. Premiere 5 or Media Studio Pro 5 does not like DV format. However - Videowave is a little limited but works.

Consider the bundle that come with Media Studo Pro 6 - I wish I had because the software alone is expensive. Check out the purchase price, you are lucky if you live in the USA, because it is on offer.

Good luck with the JVC - Mine is a Sony TVR120.

Does you DVcamcorder not have Svideo out? However the quality looks pretty good with composite.

[jtor]

I myself am using a cheap firewire card (Dazzle DV Editor SE). If you check this firewire card, it only has very basic components.

This card came with VideoStudio4. But right now, I moved up to MSP6.

Expensive cards DO carry better NLE software (Premiere 6, MSP 6). Also they offer real time features, which will speed up your editing (no rendering needed). You might want to go to sharbor.com, as they would allow you to do card comparison; and check out what you can NOT do with Pyro Basic DV as against, say Pinnacle DV500+.

Bottomline, if you are just going for straight capture, and no fancy stuff, then cheap firewire cards will do the job for you.

For your item 3, the closest you can get to DV quality would be via SVHS. But then, copying a DV source to standard VHS would look better already, as compared to having Hi8 as your source (as long as you are using a 'REALLY' nice DV camcorder). If you have the necessary hardware to author DVD, then that would be your best solution.

my 2cents.

[iparout]

Then why bother buying a digital camcorder if, in order to watch the movie, you'll have to degrade the DV signal to analog (SVHS) ?

[taylor42]

I've got an ATI DV Wonder card and it came with Video Studio 5.0 and a cable for 50$US. Works great with my JVC GR-DVL510U and the software does the job for me so far.

[jtor]

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On 2001-08-23 15:17:34, iparout wrote:
Then why bother buying a digital camcorder if, in order to watch the movie, you'll have to degrade the DV signal to analog (SVHS) ?
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For my personal archive, I don't intend to keep S/VHS copies, but I'm looking forward to making my own DVDs from DV home movies.