Consumer, prosumer or Pro? Please help me make a choice

[Chainmax]

Like some of you might have read on previous posts, I am trying to start myself in the capture world. The FlyVideo98 card I managed to get has been giving me lots of issues, and recently a friend of mine gathered some info about professional capturing devices from an acquaintance of his. He recommended him to buy a Pinnacle DV 500. After speaking to some more people, he was also recommended a PINNACLE STUDIO MOVIEBOX DV VERSION 9. Now, many posts I read here gave me the idea that using equipment like that is a waste of money and that using a good card like a Compro VideoMate Ultra should give equal or better results. So, among these three choices, which one would you recommend me and why? Of course, please include your own suggestions as well.

[Revgen]

Do you see yourself working with DV footage anytime in the near future? If so, then the DV products should be something to look at. Don't get these products if you have absolutely no interest in working with DV footage and DV camcorders.

I'm not sure about the Compro VideoMate. I have no idea about the specs.


I personally use a DVICO Fusion HDTV Gold card. I can watch HDTV (ATSC) with an outdoor antenna or through QAM signals delivered through cable TV. It also can handle analog duties with a cx2388x chipset which I use with Dscaler to record.

It also comes with its own mpeg2 capturing software to capture to Mpeg2.

Unfortunately I can't capture beyond 320x240 when using WDM drivers with Vdub. Dscaler so far is the only application that can capture VFW video at 720x480 NTSC with my card since it doesn't use the WDM drivers that are provided by DVICO. Fortunately it does a good job as long as I use compatible codecs.

[Chainmax]

But do these professional packages have any advantage at all over regular capture cards, wether it be for capturing DV or TV/VHS?

Here are the specs of the Compro:

http://www.comprousa.com/New/en/product/vmtvm800.html

And here is a capture card comparison that includes the Compro:

http://www.richardberg.net/WeatherMapRoundup


By the way, I will only capture TV or VHS (and maybe the occasional DV footage). We don't have HDTV in Uruguay, so that's a moot point.

[Revgen]

I've never used a professional capture card before, so I can only guess that the quality would be better than a consumer level card.

If you're thinking about getting one, i'd suggest getting an AceDVio (http://www.canopus.us/US/products/ACEDVio/pt_ACEDVio.asp) from Canopus. I remember getting a Voodoo 2 card from them a long time ago and it was very well made and manufactured. It also handles more video formats than the Pinnacle card at about the same price.

The compro uses an NEC chipset. The only cards I've used are ones with the Conexent cx2388x and the BT878 chipsets, so I can't say if it's good or not.

[Mug Funky]

hmm. i've used a canopus ADVC 110 and am reasonably happy with it for composite stuff. it also does s-video, but i haven't needed that yet.

though be warned, it has it's peculiarities - it'll insert zero samples into audio to keep sync with video, giving masses of clicks (usually removed pretty easily with de-clicker software, but at a quality penalty of course). this is only an issue with stretched VHS tapes (winding through and back before capture can help here, but often the tape was recorded that way).

for component analog capture i use a brighteye 2 analog to SDI converter, and dump the SDI signal onto digibeta. not exactly an affordable solution, but you could substitute the digibeta deck for a decklink card and a computer... here's the website (the next model up has a TBC as well... if only we had one of these here).
http://www.ensembledesigns.com/products/brighteye/2.html

thankfully i don't have to deal with analog much, and usually it's only the audio i need (there's usually a better source available, even if editing is needed to match it up).

[Revgen]

The clicking issue might be a PCI latency issue. Capture cards tend to instensify PCI latency issues when used. I've encountered this a long time ago with an old VIA chipset motherboard and a BT878 tuner. Good motherboards tend to not have these issues.

It might be the card itself, but I doubt that any company would sell $400-$500 cards with these issues present.

[Chainmax]

But do these professional solutions hold any advantage over standard capture cards regarding image quality?

[Chainmax]

Do they? I really need an answer ASAP.