Need advice on good capture card/device

uckotter · Post by **uckotter** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 11:36 am

I've been using Movie Factory 2 with my Osprey 100 Capture Card from Viewcast.com. It does not work for Movie Factory 3 as version 3 does not detect the card and appears that 3 doesn't have a plugin for VFW, which version 2 does have. I need a decent capture device that has good compatibility with more than 1 program and that provides a good quality output for streaming video, SVCD, DVD creation and that also outputs to AVI and MPEG.
Any suggestions?

Tim

maddrummer3301 · Post by **maddrummer3301** » Wed Apr 27, 2005 5:41 pm

There are so many capture devices on the market now a person doesn't
know where to start looking.

Capturing Firewire 1394 interface DV format is the most reliable for all operating systems and software.

A simple interfacee that records all the formats and does a nice job
with video is the ATI (pci) add-on capture TV card. It has s-video,
composite and antennae cable/tv input for capturing and viewing
on a computer. There are 3 versions, I think the "TV wonder Pro" can
be had for $79.00 list price. You can get it on sale. Also can use a remote
control with it.
Works with Ulead products. Easy ATI interface software to use and setup.

Hope this helps,

MD

dgoldan · Post by **dgoldan** » Fri Apr 29, 2005 2:48 am

My Dazzle USB 1.1 DVC-100 has finally crapped out on me and I'm looking to replace it with a USB 2.0 device for under $100.

Any recommendations in this realm? Anything that works directly with DMF instead of capturing in the hardware manufacturer's bundled software and then importing into DMF (not that it's a big deal)?

Thanks,
Dan

maddrummer3301 wrote:A simple interfacee that records all the formats and does a nice job
with video is the ATI (pci) add-on capture TV card. It has s-video,
composite and antennae cable/tv input for capturing and viewing
on a computer. There are 3 versions, I think the "TV wonder Pro" can
be had for $79.00 list price. You can get it on sale. Also can use a remote
control with it.
Works with Ulead products. Easy ATI interface software to use and setup.

Hope this helps,

MD

maddrummer3301 · Post by **maddrummer3301** » Fri Apr 29, 2005 5:06 am

Dan,
The PCI editions for ATI are called
"TV Wonder Pro"
"TV Wonder Pro Remote Control"
"TV Wonder Eliite"

I bought the TV Wonder Pro after removing the AGP capture card
and replacing it with an AGP NVidia card.
I already had one of the ati remote controls so I didn't need to buy that.

The "TV Wonder Pro " uses software compression.
The "TV Wonder Elite" uses hardware compression.

The "TV Wonder Pro " can be had on sale as low as $49.00.
The "TV Wonder Elite" lists for $149.00. The cheapest I've seen it was $136.00

http://www.ati.com/products/tvwonderpro/features.html

http://www.ati.com/products/tvwonderelite/index.html

Mine works with the Ulead products. Captures realtime Mpeg2 full
resolution on a 2.8ghz 800fsb hyperthreading machine. Very nice
looking video at least on my machine. Also output to TV via hardware
outputs on the card. Processor usage capturing using the ATI software
set at 100% compression is approx 26% writing P=4, B=2, closed GOP's
with video filtering applied.

Capturing using Ulead at 100% compression is about 40% but can drop
frames depending how long you record and if you are doing something else.
Best to capture with the ATI software.
The ATI software also captures direct to mpg4 format for web streaming or
sending a small video via e-mail.

Hope this helps,

MD

dgoldan · Post by **dgoldan** » Fri Apr 29, 2005 5:43 am

Thanks MD for all of the info - very useful.

So, no issues with synchronizing sound and video through two different inputs? The Pro does route the audio through the sound card doesn't it?

maddrummer3301 · Post by **maddrummer3301** » Fri Apr 29, 2005 3:56 pm

The PCI cards have internal audio out that can connect to the
internal input(s) on the soundcard or motherboard.
Also an external out that plugsinto the soundcards external
input or aux connection.

Never an audio sync issue.
Capture Mpg2 dvd compliant.
Import into MF or another authoring application and
create a dvd.
No re-rendering with exception for changing mpeg audio to dolby etc.
The video doesn't get re-rendered.

If you do edit the mpg2 file then depending on what product and version
you can usually cut/trim. It's usually when cutting out and joining clips
within the same Mpeg2 file that the audio/sync issues popup.

Haven't tried any editing of mpg2 files with VS9 yet.

MD

dgoldan · Post by **dgoldan** » Tue May 03, 2005 3:50 pm

Hey, one last question that pertains to video capture/transfer speed. I was looking at the AverMedia products (Product Comparison) and it indicates that the internal, PCI cards only transfer at 132Mbps, while a USB 2.0 goes up to 480Mbps. Any thoughts on whether this is of any significance?

I do also see that the USB Pro comes with VS 7SE and DVDMF 2SE, so I would assume that these are compatible with the newer versions of both for at least capture, eh?

Dan

heinz-oz · Post by **heinz-oz** » Wed May 04, 2005 6:08 am

I would not use any USB device for video content, still images are a different matter. Firewire leaves USB 2 for dead.