Video Capture Card for VideoStudio 9

[J Eaves]

I have had my analog video capture card for several years, rarely use it, but need to digitize some old VHS tape video. In the fast-moving computer world, there must be much better video capture cards available. I haven't tried my old Dazzle Fusion external capture card yet since upgrading to VideoStudio 9, and don't know if it will even work with VS9. Any suggestions as to what capture cards work well with VS9? Also, is it best to use VS9 to do the capture, or the software that comes with the capture card?

[michaeltee]

In the fast-moving computer world, there must be much better video capture cards available.

Well, there are a ton of 'em to choose from, that's for sure! I've had excellent results using Hauppauge's "WinTV PVR USB2" capture device with VS9. Now that Ulead has released a patch specifically for the latest generation of Hauppauge devices I'm able to capture directly through the VS9 interface or the supplied WinTV PVR software with equal ease and quality. The nice thing about using this particular device (and/or it's PCI version counterpart) is the Tivo-like PVR feature which makes watching TV on my computer a real joy.

I might also mention that Plextor has a nice lineup of capture and PVR/capture devices, several of which (like the Hauppauge) include an integrated chip based hardware encoder. The Hauppauge encoder captures in user-definable MPEG-1 or 2 while the Plextor PVR PX-TV402U and PVR PX-M402U go a step further adding Divx 5. The only complaint I have with Plextor is the included 3rd party (Intervideo WinDVR) software which isn't as tightly integrated as the WinTV PVR/capture software. When monitoring TV or a capture through Plextor's 3rd party UI the video tends to stutter a bit whereas the Hauppauge software yields very fluid motion. Of course this does not effect the file output quality of the capture itself and results are sure to vary between one computer and the next. I've not used the Plextor directly through VS9 however I believe it is compatible.