Help me find a great PCI capture card! I need one!

[KashGarinn]

Greetings!

I've been searching the web a bit trying to find a capture card, but not just any capture card, it must be a really good one, and a really cheap one.

It needs to have :

1. hardware decoding / encoding - either in mpeg2 (preferred) or mjpeg

2. Great quality - but I guess there are alot of factors which come into play.

3. Must be a PCI card.

I want to be able to capture without worrying that checking e-mail or doing small stuff and letting it capture in the background won't eff up the capture.

Extra stuff is ALWAYS great, so let me know of what you guys think is a REALLY GREAT capture card.

I might go as far as $500, perhaps a little more if it's slobbering good, but I'm really looking for something cheaper.

So could you PLEASE recommend something great ? Links and URLs appreciated.

Regards, K.

 

[FrustratedUser]

Pinnacle DC10+

Just 1 example. Comes with software & hardware. ~$200 in Sweden. For US I don't know.

 

[chizow]

Edit: sorry misread your post, thought you wanted a video card with video capture.

Chiz

 

[FrustratedUser]

No, the PCI bus will not limit quality if you buy a dedicated capture card such as the Pinnacle system.
The DC10+ system is an analog system so capturing S-VHS is absolutely no problem at all. It runs PERFECTLY FINE on a PIII @700.
Make sure to have a dedicated HD for the captured video. Defrag it often, preferrably every time you start a new big project. Take good care of it and do not install ANYTHING on it. A 7200 rpm drive works fine but as usual quicker is better. Speed of HD is the limiting factor for quality.

The software (Studio 7) which comes with the card is good and easy to use with all effects (and more) you will ever need. It also supports DV, so just hook up a IEEE 1394 (Firewire) and off you go. This option is not tested by me but the option is avalible in the menus.


Btw: I don't work for Pinnacle

 

[KashGarinn]

Yeah, I guessed that the pinnacle card was the way to go.. haven't seen any others, except for maybe ati all-in-1-wonder, and perhaps voodoo tv (but I've never even seen one of those).

If you liked the pinnacle dc10+ then check out dc1000 - the specs are something to drool at, but wayy too expensive for me.

I was wondering, have you guys tried the dc10 with windows 2000 or winXP ? That's what I'm running so I need to know.

thanks.

K.

 

[FrustratedUser]

Hmmm, good point. Have actually not seen a version for NT/2000/XP.
My father uses it and he runs W98 because of this.

 

[KashGarinn]

Just wanted to give u an update, I found a Pinnacle DC1000 on ebay for not even half its price.. so I got that

 

[FrustratedUser]

Tell me what you think when you've tested it.