On Tue, 2 Nov 2004 00:20:01 +0000 (UTC), "Humpty"
wrote:
just a short question.
I am going to have a try at converting my vast vhs video film collection to
DVD and would like to know
1) Does a graphics card with built in capture device exist?
2) Is it worth purchasing?
3)And finally will I get a better result with a stand alone device for
example Dazzle etc?
looking forward to your replies.
For capturing VHS probably almost anything would work with the right
software and a decent system. You can get cheap cards that dont have
any tuner just to input video.
Ive used cards that were $5-15 and have a Pinnacle that was top of the
line a few years ago that doesnt have hardware encoding. Basically you
have two types -
The PVR 250 type that has hardware encoding. This was covered at
another site recently because it was on sale at compusa last week for
$80 or so. There are several other cards too that are fairly popular
that have hardware encoding.
The vast majority of capture/tuner cards rely on your PC/software to
do it so you have to have a decent system. The thing is nowadays
unless you have a really feeble system -- it can usually handle it.
Ive used a 1700 XP AMD and a 3200 AMD XP with no problems capturing
S-video inputs from a digtial box at 640x480.
So my inclination is to say you dont need hardware encoding unless you
have a real wimpy PC in which case youll probably want to upgrade
anyway.
-If you want to do the PVR thing then I recommend the PVR 250 or
something similar cause owners claim it works wonderfully that way.
Thats because the one problem I noticed with my non-hardware encoding
card was using the instant rewind feature when watching TV which
frankly I never use so I dont care. But I tested it recently just to
do it and a box kept popping up saying "Buffering blah blah" and there
was a pause. Fairly annoying if you were watching TV.
The older ones and I still see cards selling now that use the old
BT878 etc Conexant chips have slightly less max res etc.
The Conexant came out with a new line CXxxxx chips that have a bit
better specs but heres a test of an early card with it:
http://steve.kittelsen.com/cx2388/
It seems to suggest the newer chips arent all that much better but
that was one card a while ago. Are cards that use the new chips the
same? I dont know.
Darn maybe I should have bought this. I thought since it uses the
Conexant it wouldnt be any different in image quality than my old card
with the BT878 since according to Kittelsen he was disappointed with
new card. And I already dont have problems capturing at 640x480.
But here is raving about the WIN PVR 250.
:
http://steve.kittelsen.com/pvr250/
The Hauppague WinTV PVR-250 is the best hardware mpeg capture card I
have ever tried. It does a good job at VCD captures, something that
most other cards lacks. The SVCD and DVD captures are very good, at
the same level as the best software encoders. Even at only 4Mb/sec,
you can capture good quality DVD 720x480 resolution video. The
card also comes with good software support.
I actually bought and returned the ATI wonder Pro because it didnt
have the Theater 200 chip. Strangely ATI uses Conexant chips for all
their cards except the USB 2.0 Wonder. Why would I do that when I
said I hated Pinnacle and other cards that used proprietary drivers? I
agree Ive had nightmarish problems and so have others with other cards
that use proprietary drivers including the ATI cheapo VE a neighbor
bought. I ended up using BTWIN generic WDM drivers for my Pinnacle and
the ATI so that they could work with all the software out there. I
ranted about it for a while. Right now theres a lot hype about the
Theater 550 chip.
However some users SWEAR -- though its not a universal claim that the
Theater 200 chip has better quality. Sure I hate the ATI software too.
Even when it worked. Just dont like the cluttered aspect of it. But
I thought I had a problem cause I couldnt capture below 640x480 and
get decent captures for TV. However now I think I dont have a problem
after finding out digital TV std res = 640x480. So I really dont need
the new conexant or the ATI.
Ironically the one card I passed up cause I thought it was merely an
improvement in PVR usage (rewinding while watching in real time) may
actually be better all around even for lower res captures. Id really
like to try that card. The sale was last week though or the week
before that at compusa.
So your best bet is to get an inexpensive capture card with a new
Conexant chip if your PC isnt too wimpy and try some popular packages.
If you have problems try one of the cards with hardware encoding like
the PVR though its expensive. I think its usually $100-150. It was at
Compusa for 80-89 after rebate as I mentioned. Wait for Thanksgiving
sales and Xmas sales theres bound to be another one. This one has a
Tuner which you dont need though. Some others have mentioned others
that are cheaper but I have no idea if they are the same quality.
The great thing however for the PVR 250 type card if it does capture
significantly better at lower res is that you dont have to waste time
converting a 640x480 capture to something else if you want to burn to
a CDR as a SVCD or VCD.