Right Capture Card

[venky_m]

Hi,

I need some help to select a right capture card to convert my Hi 8 video ( From SONY TRV 608) to VCDs.
My System configuration is 800 MHz PIII 256MB RAM.
I am very tight on budget (maximum I can afford is US $75)
What are the fetures which are required to capture a good quality video and burn it to VCD ?
I use Nero to burn VCDs.
Is real time MPG feature necessary to have good quality Videos ?
Time is not a issue for me. (I can wait couple of hours for the machine to encode).
Can anyone please suggest a Video capture card which fits my budget ?

Regards,
Venky

[RoopeT]

Is real time MPG feature necessary to have good quality Videos ?

No, you will most definately get a lot better quality using a software encoder.

Are you sure you want to create VCD's? IMHO VCD and good quality should't be used in the same sentence. I would rather make SVCDs, if your player just accepts them.

[venky_m]

Yes, my DVD player plays SVCD also. Basically I want to be able to get a good quality MPEG so that I can burn it as VCD/SVCD/DVD.

Regards,
venky

[slvr-bullet]

I am in the same situation as venky_m. I want to transfer some Hi8 videos of weddings and outtings onto a SVCD or VCD but I am stuck as to what to buy.

I basically want something that has everything I need, fairly easy to setup and won't encounter the dreaded audio/video sync dilema.

I have looked in to the Canopus ADVC-50 and just read some reviews on the Pinnacle Studio version 8. Of course I'd like to get the ADVC-50 but at $300CAD (canadian) and then I'd have to purchase a firewire card, it gets pretty expensive.

The Pinnacle looks to be a good alternative with basically everything that you need to start capturing and editing right away.

So my questions are:

1. Is there anything else out there that someone would recommend that's an "all in one" package?

2. If there isn't, is the Pinnacle "kit" a good choice for someone who converts video on occassion?

Thanks

[prog-dvd-rules]

Hi,

I am in exactly the same boat..
I have a Sony TRV 740 D8 camcorder..
and want to convert my D8 tapes into SVCDs for archival purposes.

I would like to convert them into DVDs.. but DVD writers are still
too expensive.. will buy them only if they come under $100.
until then. i will be satisfied with SVCDs.

want an easy solution.. don't need to do any big time editing...
just something that will take everything from my 1 hr D8 tape
and burn it onto CD-R disk.

whats the best solution for this ?
Pinnacle Studio Version 8 is now available for $70 (after $30 rebate until Jan 31 2003 from various internet sites)

can some experts give me a clue as to whether this is the right solution or is there an easier solution..

thanks

[ktnwin]

Well, for a low budget ( < 100$ ), the best chance goes to the digital camcorder using Firewire link since the capture is flawless, it preserves the original quality, I use this even with Pentium2-266 Mhz system with 64MB RAM. Capturing with analog cards will cause some level of quality loss. The Pinnacle DC-10 ( < 100$ ) could do the job here but beware that you need a pretty powerful CPU to capture at high quality.
In both cases, the hardware you buy is just for capturing and editing with the accompanying software (Studio DV 8, a good one which I use a lot).
Just don't use this software to convert to VCD, the quality looks horrible.
Use TMPGEnc (free software) instead. Due to long conversion, I have upgraded my system to Athlon 1.2GHz + 256MB RAM long time ago.