Which Capture Device? ATI, Dazzle, Pinnacle or Hauppauge?

[stuman74]

Hello,

I don't need to watch TV or use my PC like a TiVo, but I do want to convert VHS tapes and possible DV camcorder media to DVD+R's. I have a DVD burner, but I need to know what is the best device for just capturing the video into my PC that yields the best quality mpeg-2 file to put onto a DVD. I currently have an AIW Radeon 7500, but it seems to either drop frames in the ATI TV recorder or I get a lot of interlacing when using Ulead studio. My system is very fast and I want the best quality video. Do Dazzle, Pinnacle, or Hauppauge (or other) offer a better solution for me than the ATI?

Thanks!

 

[stuman74]

Bump. Anyone? I really want to buy one, but just don't know which!

 

[alexruiz]

I think the Radeon AIW is the best. Stay away from pinnacle, their drivers suck and their customer service too.

You can try a different codec to capture. I suggest an MJPEG codec (picvideo or morgan, www.jpg.com or www.morgan-multimedia.com). Those codec can capture 640x480 30 fps in a PII 300 and no frames dropped. I don't know if DixV 5.02 will do it realtime.

Regarding the interlace, well, there is not much to do here. I suggest capture MJPEg, then convert to divX or something similar and apply a filter to take the quit the interlace (if you don't have virtual dub, grab it right now. The best tool to edit/convert video... and it is free www.virtualdub.org)

Hope this helps

 

[stuman74]

I am a bit of a novice, but isn't it more desireable to keep it as an mpeg-2 file instead of converting it back and forth?

 

[MrPhelps]

I am also in process in educating on this and I was told to use ATI Radeon 8500DV. Versus the dazzle or pinnacle external ones.

I wonder if nvidia has a comparable card????

 

[stuman74]

Is there any difference in capture quality between the AIW 7500 and 8500DV? I know the 7500 has an analog tuner and the 8500 digital, but does it really matter if the feen is analog through the dongle connections and s-video?

 

[bigboi]

i'm no expert on this, but have played around some. first, in doing research before purchasing i decided to go with the AIW 8500 w/ 128mb over the AIW 8500DV. i heard many people having issues with the firewire on the card and since cards are so cheap now it's no big deal to add a seperate one. also, the digital tuner is rather new- by going with an AIW that has the analog tuner i think you avoid some problems that often come with being on the bleeding edge. people have noted that the digital tuner gets very hot and the implementation may not be perfected yet.

secondly, the tuner should not matter for what you are talking about . . . you mention the feed coming through the s-video or dongles. so you're not capping from the tv? then you must be capping from an analog camcorder or from a vcr right? so the tuner has nothing to do with this- it is only the device that decodes the tv signal.

and lastly, nvidia does have an AIW-type card. however their latest is based on the geforce2 still i think. and it may not actually include all the capping functionality the radeons do. i think it basically just plays tv, dvds, etc. i could be wrong though. search around for nvidia personal cinema.

also, check out the rage3d.com forums to do some research on the radeons- that's ALL they discuss over there.

peace,
big daddy fatsacks

 

[oldfart]

I'm actually doing capture work with a VT Ti4600. I'm capturing off an 8mm camcorder using VirtualDub and the PicVideo codec. I capture @ 480 x 480 to make SVCD's (I'm not ready to cough up the $$ for a DVD burner yet). I do drop a few frames, maybe 20 in a 1 Hr, 26 Gig capture. I convert to MPEG2 using TMPGEnc. Check out VCDHelp.com if you haven't already.

 

[galtsfan]

It depends how deep your pockets are...and if you want to edit the video...Canopus DV Storm SE will run about $1200 but it has great Real time editing of DV!

 

[MrPhelps]

With the nature of this forum I can't believe there are too many people that spend $1200. on a card considering my whole system cost less than that. I think video tape back up is coming up very fast and strong since the shelf life is approx 15 years.


I am still looking at a best buy $40. AIW card versus a 7500-8500 AIW. I was hoping for some deals to pop up for ATI.

 

[MrPhelps]

Please post your prices and places.

I am needing a coax and rca on the card I want to get.

THANKS Aters rule!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!