Hardware -Capturing Device Help Needed

[stubldman]

I've got the editing thing downpat and have made some very good DVDs using my camcorder and Ulead products. I'd like to move on and transfer some old home videos presently on VHS. I don't know exactly which hardware I will need to capture from my VCR to convert it to digital. Has anyone had success with any particular unit?I've heard good and bad things about Pinnacle Video Conversion Box (not interested in their software) but have not been able to find many others. I have an old TV capture card but the quality on that is not the best.(Hauppauge-VERY old).
I'm running XP Pro on a P4 2.4Ghz w/1024DDR. Any help would greatly be appreciated.
Thanks!

[sjj1805]

If you've previously used a hauppage then why not upgrade to a newer version. I don't know where in the world you're from but here in the U.K. we are slowly moving from analogue TV broadcasts to digital and so sooner or later everyone here in the U.K. will have to upgrade their TV equipment.

I have recently upgraded from a Hauppauge PVR 350 to a Hauppauge HVR 1300 and the difference is tremendous.

The only problem with the Hauppauge range is that they record in MPEG format which can be troublesome to edit. If you find a capture device that allows you to capture to a non lossy format such as DV (a form of avi) then editing will be easier.

Having said that though, the advantages of using a TV card is that you also get to transform your computer into a TV.

[markojo]

Stubldman,
If you haven't acted on this matter yet, take a look at the Plextor PX-M402U device. It accepts either S-video or composite video from your VHS player, and outputs to a USB port on your PC. I used it to convert several VHS tapes to MPEG2 format, and it worked fine. Other output formats are also supported. The preview window was quite dark during the capture step, but the resulting file was not affected. I then used VS8 for editing, etc. No problem.

[railroadguy]

I'm running XP Pro on a P4 2.4Ghz w/1024DDR. Any help would greatly be appreciated.
Thanks!

I guess it comes down to money. The Plextor PX-M402U is USB only and does compression. I would rather capture in DV which will eat up disk space at about 13Gb/hr but gives me the best files for editing.

I bought the Canopus ADVC 300 which maybe over kill for you, but they also have their 110 which will work for most. Both are firewire. The 300 gives you a lot of manipulation of the input from filters which the 110 does not. That flexibility can cause problems just because of all the selections and choices. Most good editing software can do these options post capture. There is also a model 55 which from what I can see, maybe just fine. It does not allow DV back to analog which most will never want to do. Here is the breakdown on these three http://www.canopus.com/products/videoconversion.php

Again, it's money vs how many tapes you have vs end quality.