I would like to compare various video capture/tuner components for a
WinXP PC with 3800+ AMD CPU, 1 GB RAM, 300 GB harddrive, 480w P/S. I
want to transfer VCR tapes to DVD, and be allowed to edit the video. I
have both movies and recorded tapes from TV. Of second importance is
being able to record TV programs. It could be internal or external
(although I might prefer external for the portability and keeping heat
out of my case). There are so many products available, I'd like to
hear some suggestions. Under $150 is okay, under $100 is great. Is
the Hauppauge WinTV PVR any good? Thanks!
In article <or4uk3p7eqosobr6etfcqp0klv0ch6l6ua@4ax.com>, Phisherman
says...
> I would like to compare various video capture/tuner components for a
> WinXP PC with 3800+ AMD CPU, 1 GB RAM, 300 GB harddrive, 480w P/S. I
> want to transfer VCR tapes to DVD, and be allowed to edit the video. I
> have both movies and recorded tapes from TV. Of second importance is
> being able to record TV programs. It could be internal or external
> (although I might prefer external for the portability and keeping heat
> out of my case). There are so many products available, I'd like to
> hear some suggestions. Under $150 is okay, under $100 is great. Is
> the Hauppauge WinTV PVR any good? Thanks!
>
Yes - it's a market leader. It'll save any captured source as MPEG so
you can use Windows Movie Maker to do simple editing.
On Thu, 29 Nov 2007 19:36:18 GMT, Phisherman
<noone@nobody.com> wrote:
>I would like to compare various video capture/tuner components for a
>WinXP PC with 3800+ AMD CPU, 1 GB RAM, 300 GB harddrive, 480w P/S. I
>want to transfer VCR tapes to DVD, and be allowed to edit the video. I
>have both movies and recorded tapes from TV. Of second importance is
>being able to record TV programs. It could be internal or external
>(although I might prefer external for the portability and keeping heat
>out of my case).
Heat isn't much of a concern, they don't produce much of it.
You want an internal card for the best result, because
external are either very expensive, or use USB which forces
you to compress the video before editing it which is
something undesirable, degrades quality.
>There are so many products available, I'd like to
>hear some suggestions. Under $150 is okay, under $100 is great. Is
>the Hauppauge WinTV PVR any good? Thanks!
They make multiple models, which you chose (if any) would
depend on the finer feature sets you desire. You don't need
anything more than a basic video capture card since it
should be capturing to a lossless codec or kept uncompressed
(which takes up a ton of hard drive space) until encoded on
your final editing pass.
For recording TV you might consider a card with hardware
MPEG compression and then you still have the option to
choose a non-hardware-compression codec for recording and/or
transferring (like the VCR tapes) events which you'll want
to edit later.
The majority of cards out there will do what you have
described, if you go with an internal card, so you might
seek some reviews that show the software front-end for them
and make a more detailed list of other features you want.
One other feature I find desirable is the ability to record
to MPEG4, since it has much better compression than MPEG2
and thus, takes up less hard drive space. I happen to have
a DVD player that can play MPEG4 though, in addition to a
HTPC, so my situation might be different than yours.
On Thu, 29 Nov 2007 22:53:05 -0500, kony <spam@spam.com> wrote:
>On Thu, 29 Nov 2007 19:36:18 GMT, Phisherman
><noone@nobody.com> wrote:
>
>>I would like to compare various video capture/tuner components for a
>>WinXP PC with 3800+ AMD CPU, 1 GB RAM, 300 GB harddrive, 480w P/S. I
>>want to transfer VCR tapes to DVD, and be allowed to edit the video. I
>>have both movies and recorded tapes from TV. Of second importance is
>>being able to record TV programs. It could be internal or external
>>(although I might prefer external for the portability and keeping heat
>>out of my case).
>
>Heat isn't much of a concern, they don't produce much of it.
>You want an internal card for the best result, because
>external are either very expensive, or use USB which forces
>you to compress the video before editing it which is
>something undesirable, degrades quality.
>
>
>>There are so many products available, I'd like to
>>hear some suggestions. Under $150 is okay, under $100 is great. Is
>>the Hauppauge WinTV PVR any good? Thanks!
>
>They make multiple models, which you chose (if any) would
>depend on the finer feature sets you desire. You don't need
>anything more than a basic video capture card since it
>should be capturing to a lossless codec or kept uncompressed
>(which takes up a ton of hard drive space) until encoded on
>your final editing pass.
>
>For recording TV you might consider a card with hardware
>MPEG compression and then you still have the option to
>choose a non-hardware-compression codec for recording and/or
>transferring (like the VCR tapes) events which you'll want
>to edit later.
>
>The majority of cards out there will do what you have
>described, if you go with an internal card, so you might
>seek some reviews that show the software front-end for them
>and make a more detailed list of other features you want.
>One other feature I find desirable is the ability to record
>to MPEG4, since it has much better compression than MPEG2
>and thus, takes up less hard drive space. I happen to have
>a DVD player that can play MPEG4 though, in addition to a
>HTPC, so my situation might be different than yours.
May I ask which card you reccommend for MPEG4 capture???
On Sun, 02 Dec 2007 04:53:01 GMT, J Spitzer
<jspitz@cnet.com> wrote:
>On Thu, 29 Nov 2007 22:53:05 -0500, kony <spam@spam.com> wrote:
>
>>On Thu, 29 Nov 2007 19:36:18 GMT, Phisherman
>><noone@nobody.com> wrote:
>>
>>>I would like to compare various video capture/tuner components for a
>>>WinXP PC with 3800+ AMD CPU, 1 GB RAM, 300 GB harddrive, 480w P/S. I
>>>want to transfer VCR tapes to DVD, and be allowed to edit the video. I
>>>have both movies and recorded tapes from TV. Of second importance is
>>>being able to record TV programs. It could be internal or external
>>>(although I might prefer external for the portability and keeping heat
>>>out of my case).
>>
>>Heat isn't much of a concern, they don't produce much of it.
>>You want an internal card for the best result, because
>>external are either very expensive, or use USB which forces
>>you to compress the video before editing it which is
>>something undesirable, degrades quality.
>>
>>
>>>There are so many products available, I'd like to
>>>hear some suggestions. Under $150 is okay, under $100 is great. Is
>>>the Hauppauge WinTV PVR any good? Thanks!
>>
>>They make multiple models, which you chose (if any) would
>>depend on the finer feature sets you desire. You don't need
>>anything more than a basic video capture card since it
>>should be capturing to a lossless codec or kept uncompressed
>>(which takes up a ton of hard drive space) until encoded on
>>your final editing pass.
>>
>>For recording TV you might consider a card with hardware
>>MPEG compression and then you still have the option to
>>choose a non-hardware-compression codec for recording and/or
>>transferring (like the VCR tapes) events which you'll want
>>to edit later.
>>
>>The majority of cards out there will do what you have
>>described, if you go with an internal card, so you might
>>seek some reviews that show the software front-end for them
>>and make a more detailed list of other features you want.
>>One other feature I find desirable is the ability to record
>>to MPEG4, since it has much better compression than MPEG2
>>and thus, takes up less hard drive space. I happen to have
>>a DVD player that can play MPEG4 though, in addition to a
>>HTPC, so my situation might be different than yours.
>
>May I ask which card you reccommend for MPEG4 capture???
No. LOL. I hate recommending capture cards because they
all seem to have one bug or another which randomly effect
different users. In general they're more alike than
different though MPEG4 hardware encoding is still a bit of a
rarity AFAIK, at least on consumer grade parts.
I suggest you go somewhere like Newegg.com and read the
reviews there, also buying from a seller with a good return
policy if the manufacturer's updated driver and software
(from their respective website) doesn't resolve any issues.
Video capture and TVO 
Linear Mode
