Help on video-capture cards

[jvarszegi]

... but I don't know the proper forum for my question. I'd like to buy a video-capture card, but I don't have the foggiest notion of which one to get. I've heard that due to the efforts of the MPIAA, Sony et al., some newer cards are already being manufactured with copy protection built in, but that others still aren't.

I want the best non-copy-**cked card I can buy, which will hopefully NOT only record to some lame Microsoft-only format, and hopefully be able to record from an HDTV signal so I'm covered for the future. When I originally thought about getting a card like this, none of the cards would record from HDTV, which made me decide to wait. Now it looks like I might be in danger of missing out if I don't act soon. I've read that some newer cards basically will let you record a program, or even one of your own movies, but then somehow force you to watch it within one day; it's that kind of meddling I want to avoid.

It doesn't need to have graphics-card capabilities, since I'll be putting it into a machine with a capable card. I plan to buy two or more cards if they're decently priced, just so I'll be set up for quite a while no matter what.

Also, any recommendations on good video-editing software would be much appreciated, as I've got a baby on the way. If said software comes with a good card, so much the better. I really need help. I've gone to dozens of websites already, and none seems to have newbie guides for this stuff. If Anandtech has such a guide, I must've missed it several times. Thanks.

 

[jvarszegi]

I wound up getting the MIT MDP-120, in case anyone finds the information helpful. After reading about related topics all day, it seems that this is the only card to support HDTV capture, is not limited to OTA (Over The Air capture, i.e. broadcast HDTV signals from local stations) and hence can record from cable if necessary, and does not have hardware support for the recording-blocking signal now sent with cable programs. It supports MPEG-2 encoding, which seems to be pretty good for this stuff by all accounts, although it is not quite as advanced as the new MPEG-4. It can also handle standard TV signals, and has support for pretty much every useful resolution.

 

[rbV5]

Your research was flawed(lots of incorrect information in your post), but the card you bought is a very good HDTV card...

 

[jvarszegi]

Geez, thank you for being so bleeding helpful, O mighty HDTV wizard... Why the ellipsis?...??....

 

[rbV5]

Originally posted by: jvarszegi
Geez, thank you for being so bleeding helpful, O mighty HDTV wizard... Why the ellipsis?...??....

? OK then

After reading about related topics all day, it seems that this is the only card to support HDTV capture

Most HDTV PC cards do support HDTV capture.

is not limited to OTA (Over The Air capture, i.e. broadcast HDTV signals from local stations) and hence can record from cable if necessary,

The HDTV tuner supports ATSC OTA broadcasts only. The analog tuner supports analog capture from broadcast or cable and is unfortunately poor quality

and does not have hardware support for the recording-blocking signal now sent with cable programs

If you mean broadcast flag, it currently doesn't support the broadcast flag, but its only a driver version away if they wanted too. You maybe OK down the road if you hang onto some drivers. At this point, broadcast flag is a non-issue.

It supports MPEG-2 encoding, which seems to be pretty good for this stuff by all accounts, although it is not quite as advanced as the new MPEG-4

It's a hardware "decoder" card, but doesn't support MPEG-2 "encoding" at all. The analog tuner supports software encoding with the codecs you have installed, but the DTV tuner simply captures the native transport stream to the hardrive for capture, there is no encoding.

I have the MIT MDP-100, and used it for the past couple years. Its a fine HDTV card, and in-fact MIT just released a beta driver that finally supports DTV timeshifting. Go to AVSforums and check out the HTPC forum, there is a long thread on the new drivers.