Can i record video with an audio interface?

[postapub]

If I have a device mainly constructed to record sound, it has RCA jacks in/out, could it be used to hook up to a video scource and record to the pc with the right software

 

[Spicedaddy]

You want to capture video through an audio line-in? There's no way that'll work.

 

[Bloodstein]

how did u even think of that....

 

[Peter]

Ah, frequencies ... Audio tops out at 48 kHz in consumer equipment, while video is well into the MHz order of magnitude. All electrical obstacles aside, your audio equipment simply is WAY too slow to sample the signal.

 

[chizow]

My Audigy 2 does quite well with video capture, but then again it has an integrated firewire connex

Chiz

 

[Pauli]

a device mainly constructed to record sound

Would you care to be more specific? If it only has stereo audio connections, then no, you will not be able to get a video signal.

 

[Peter]

Originally posted by: chizow
My Audigy 2 does quite well with video capture, but then again it has an integrated firewire connex

Chiz

No it doesn't do video capture. Firewire is just a digital data mover, with the data happening to be a movie when you connect a camera. This is TOTALLY different to capturing incoming video from a cable/antenna or RCA/S-Video signal sources.

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: Peter

Originally posted by: chizow
My Audigy 2 does quite well with video capture, but then again it has an integrated firewire connex

Chiz

No it doesn't do video capture. Firewire is just a digital data mover, with the data happening to be a movie when you connect a camera. This is TOTALLY different to capturing incoming video from a cable/antenna or RCA/S-Video signal sources.

It doesn't do video capture? What does it do when I connect my camcorder to it and record movies or stills to my HD? Import pictures from my digicam? Burn VCDs from my VHS tapes? Yes, Firewire is only the method used to transport data, like coax is for cable, and rca/s-video/component video/optical cable is for home theater equipment, but how is my original statement incorrect in the context of the original poster? He asks if it is possible to record video through a device mainly constructed to record sound....and I responded that my Audigy 2 enables me to do just that. I know you're a big fan of integrated crap on crappy boards, but I guess its just another benefit of spending a bit more on decent equipment

Chiz

 

[Peter]

Sorry, you didn't get the point. In your case, the camera does the capturing (i.e. the conversion from analog/real world ongoings to a computable data format), and what goes through the wire to the computer is readymade data. The brain is in the camera. When trying to input analog data, there needs to be a capturing unit inside the computer.

The firewire unit on your audigy btw, by your own rules of conversation, is integrated crap on the sound card, a completely independent functional unit that happens to sit on the same board for cost reduction purposes. No news there either. Settle down, and stop trying to push buttons. It isn't working.

 

[chizow]

Video capturing is a term used to describe at what point data is captured by a PC through its I/O channels, not when data is converted from analog to digital or vice versa. Lets compare apples to apples and oranges to oranges here. A digicam records its data in digital format, because thats what it is supposed to do, but the video capture doesn't occur until that data is transferred to your PC. I send it through my firewire, at which point it is captured , ie. I can manipulate it on my PC. If you wanted to capture video from a coax cable in analog, it isn't captured to your PC until it is physically connected to your PC. It goes without saying that there needs to be a device to receive the signal, at which point it is captured . Whatever processes the signal has to go through afterwards are irrelevant, the video has already been captured into the PC. I'm not trying to push any buttons, I just find it amusing how you sit there and try to complicate such a simple process.

Chiz

 

[Peter]

Well it'd help if you'd read the original question, instead of nitpicking around, desperately trying to wiggle out of having to admit you're off track.

The question was about RCA jacks. Analog input. Sound device. No can record video with that. Simple enough?

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: Peter
Well it'd help if you'd read the original question, instead of nitpicking around, desperately trying to wiggle out of having to admit you're off track.

The question was about RCA jacks. Analog input. Sound device. No can record video with that. Simple enough?

LoL, and where in my original post did I say I was capturing video on my Audigy 2 through RCA jacks or that it could even be done? I stated that I had a device used mainly for audio that could capture video as an alternative. Sound device. Can record video with that. Simple enough?

And about going OT? It's one thing to play Captain Obvious, but the extent to which you explained your own assumptions and examples borders on ridiculous.

Chiz

 

[skatertech]

Originally posted by: chizow
LoL, and where in my original post did I say I was capturing video on my Audigy 2 through RCA jacks or that it could even be done? I stated that I had a device used mainly for audio that could capture video as an alternative. Sound device. Can record video with that. Simple enough?
Chiz

No,you can record digital video. Your Audigy is simply acting as a passthrough device, it is not converting the video to digital.

There's a big difference, and you can really piss off any DV tech by confusing the two.

 

[LethalWolfe]

Well sense this thread has been totally hijacked...

The term "capture" when talking about Firewire and DV is a misnomer, but it is still used 'cause either 1. people don't know any better, or 2. The people who know better don't want to explain it to the people who don't know any better.

Personally, I prefer "digitize", as opposed to "capture", which is the word Avid uses (i.e. it has a "digitize tool" not a "capture tool") because you are digitizing the media to get it onto yer HDD ("capture" just sounds to magical and ambigous, IMO). The act of "capturing" video is the act of recieving an analog "input", converting the media to a digital file, and storing it on yer HDD. And before you say "but MiniDV is digital" hold on. MiniDV is digital, but if you use the RCA or S-Video i/o on yer camera it's converted to (and treated like) analog media.

There is a huge difference between "capturing" video and "copying" a digital file via Firewire. I work in DV a lot and I always have to stress that to people who are new to DV or new to doing post in DV. Working w/DV and Firewire is different than working w/analog i/o's. As long as you always use firewire you'll never have generation loss because all you are doing is transfering a digital file. If you go Firewire out of yer PC into yer camera you're not "recording" anything, you're copying (in part or in whole) a digital file.

In short, when using analog i/o's (RCA, S-Video, Component, etc.,) you are digitizing (capturing) the media. When using Firewire you are copying a digital file (be it audio, video, still, etc.,).

Lethal

 

[Peter]

skatertech, he's pulled that strategy before ... let's give him some time to grow up

LethalWolfe, thanks for the confirmation.