Advanced video grabber

terry dennis · Post by **terry dennis** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 11:11 am

I have a number of VHS videos and also videos still on 8mm Video 8 casettes. I want to get them onto my PC , edit them and burn them to DVD.

I understand that I need a "video grabber" and wondered if anyone on the forum had any experience and recommendations as to which model of grabber to buy plus any other general advice ?

Terry Dennis

Post by **Ron P.** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 11:51 am

As you're aware there are numerous devices available, some costing less than $50 and others costing hundreds of dollars. One thing that I'll point out is that VS, versions 11 and 12 throw fits when trying to capture analog or capture using an Analog-Digital conversion. So whatever device you choose to use, and if you are wanting to use VS to capture, you will need to use the program that comes with that device to get your video into your PC. VS just will not do it.

EasyCap is a USB capture device. Some have reported having good success with it, while yet others have had problems. The troubles will be due to VS inability to capture analog. It also does not have a chip that handles the A-D conversion, so that is left up to your PC to do "on-the-fly".

Digital-8 or Mini-DV camcorders that have pass-through A-D conversion. They handle the conversion, and feed the digital signal through firewire to your PC. Using this method, AND the free capture utility WinDV, you can capture to DV (avi), then insert those into VS for editing. If you try to use VS to capture, it will balk, throwing errors. WinDV allows you to work-around this bug..

Now if you can afford them (so far I can't), Grass Valley Solutions, Canopus ADV series of video grabbers are consider the best.

terry dennis · Post by **terry dennis** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 12:30 pm

Thanks for that response , Ron.

You make the point well about VS not being able to cope with analogue and thankfully , it was my intention to get my videos direct to hard disc (or to DVD ) before capturing into VS.

I will let you know how I get on !

skier-hughes · Post by **skier-hughes** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 12:53 pm

Go to hard disc.
Use a grass valley product, they are far superior.

terry dennis · Post by **terry dennis** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 1:09 pm

Graham

Can you give me details of where I can get the Grass Valley products in the UK ?

skier-hughes · Post by **skier-hughes** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 2:43 pm

Their UK base
http://www.thomsongrassvalley.com/sales/

They can give you close by resellers, or the few that I know and trust
http://www.holdan.co.uk/
http://www.smartdv.co.uk/

terry dennis · Post by **terry dennis** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 4:31 pm

Thanks for that information , Graham , although as Ron says , "If you can afford them !" ¢G120 is a bit more than I had planned to spend considering others cost ¢G20 - ¢G30 ..................... but , as they say , 'you pays your money and takes your choice' !! Thanks anyway.

It looks like a toss-up between EasyCap and Ez-Grabber !

I may send a post when I have decided , installed and tried !

Thanks again to you both !

Terry D.

skier-hughes · Post by **skier-hughes** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 4:58 pm

The problem with the cheaper ones is, they capture as compressed video formats, so you lose quality. They don't have anything to keep the audio and video in sync, so this may cause problems, you have to use the software supplied with them.
£120 for all those great memories!! and ease of use......
I've had several canopus products, I love them for ease of use and quality of product.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 10:09 pm

One which is a good deal cheaper than the Canopus devices but more expensive than others is the Adtech DVDXpress DX2. Have a look at http://www.adstech.com/products/USBAV-7 ... BAV-709-EF I don't have a British address for it though there is undoubtedly one...

Its major attraction is that it has an inbuilt chip which does all the hard work of capturing the analogue signal and converting it to digital mpeg-2 in the box, rather than burdening the computer with that task. It does an excellent job, and though it cannot capture in DV/AVI format, the mpeg-2 is very good quality and already DVD-compliant. The one slight negative is that VS cannot capture from it properly. You have to use the supplied software (an excellent little program called CapWiz), then open the captured files in VS for editing.

terry dennis · Post by **terry dennis** » Mon Apr 27, 2009 2:55 pm

Thanks for that reply , Ken.

Unfortunately , after almost two days of trying , I have not found a source of supply in the UK. A number of replies from trades people indicate that it is no longer supplied here.

I will keep trying , although the kit that you described seemed to be exactly what I wanted and it was previously supplied here by Amazon.

Regards

Terry D.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Mon Apr 27, 2009 9:51 pm

That's strange...

I assume you looked at the Adstech list of distributors and retailers... But what about their listed on-line suppliers? http://www.adstech.com/adsworldwide/adsWWResult.asp Could you not import it from the US or elsewhere?

terry dennis · Post by **terry dennis** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 12:02 am

Yeah ! That's what I looked at and a lot of the distributors websites in the UK are now defunct.

The last resort may be to get one from abroad ............... I could even collect one in person from Australia as I will be in Sydney in October !!

Regards

Terry D.

qtrim · Post by **qtrim** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 1:30 pm

I've had good success capturing analog using a Hauppauge PVR150. It has an mpg2 chip onboard and does the compression and keeps the audio in sync. VS can handle the mpg2 and use the mpeg optimizer and you'll only have to recompress the parts you edit.

The PVR150 is an older version that can be had on ebay for around $35.

terry dennis · Post by **terry dennis** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 5:20 pm

qtrim

I may be missing your point here , but I am trying to convert Analogue (8mm cassettes & VHS tapes) into Digital on my PC for later editing using VS11+. I am not trying to capture analogue.

Can you be specific about the name and model number of the device you are referring to as the only products that drop out when I do a search are Personal Video Recorders , or are you saying that is what I need?

Regards

Terry D.

qtrim · Post by **qtrim** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 6:08 pm

Here's a link to the discontinued product page:
http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_pvr150.html
Here's an Amazon.co.uk link:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hauppauge-WinTV ... 431&sr=8-3

It had a break out box that has the Yellow/Red/White and S-Video inputs. It also has a TV input.

This is the newer version:
http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/ ... r1250.html

The main thing you want is a hardware mpeg2 encoder, so the device keeps your video and audio in sync.