Need Help and Advice Buying Capture Card!!

[sivan]

Hi this is my first Post.

I just needed some advice on buying a device for capturing video. I own a Panasonic NV-GS50 and it’s a great video camera, however once I capture video the quality becomes really bad, the last time I captured something I used an external Belkin Capture card from a friend and it was terrible (it looked like a really bad video out of a webcam.)

I’ve been looking around and I’m not sure which, captures better quality. I’ve seen the FIREWIRE cards, and the USB Cards, and I want to know which captures better quality, I know FIREWIRE is quicker but I don’t really care about the speed I want something with really good quality capture.

Also I’ve noticed there’s different ways to capture, for example DV, S-video, and Analog; I want to know which also captures better quality. Also I started looking for a capture card, and there’s a few that I like but there TV turners and they can only capture by analog, so it analog a good way to capture?

Now I’m sort of confused on which I should get as I don’t know the best way to capture. I’m not really good with capturing video, as my previous experience is really limited. So now I need to buy a capturing device, I don’t want to spend way too much because it’s only for home use but I want it to capture really good quality. I can only spend about $150 or cheaper. I don’t really care if it’s new or used so I can also use eBay.

My PC has
2.53 GHz,
768MB Ram and
80GB Hardrive and
GeForce4 MX440
No FIREWIRE in the Computer.

The video camera has
-AV IN/OUT phones
-S-Video IN/OUT
-and DV

Also I live in Australia so some devices are quite limited to buy from my local area, so I also use eBay and online shops, any suggestions on the current products listed on eBay or the items on these websites will also be greatly appreciated.

http://www.shopbot.com.au/c-87-0-0-1.html

http://www.shopbot.com.au/c-88-0-0-1.html

http://computers.listings.ebay.com.au/Video-Sound-Multimedia_Video-Capture-Cards_W0QQcatrefZC4QQcoactionZcompareQQcoentrypageZsearchQQcopagenumZ1QQfromZR10QQfsooZ1QQfsopZ1QQfsprZ0QQftrtZ1QQftrvZ1QQga10244Z10425QQsacatZ111509QQsocmdZListingItemList

http://computers.listings.ebay.com.au/Video-Sound-Multimedia_Other-Video-and-Multimedia_W0QQcatrefZC4QQcoactionZcompareQQcoentrypageZsearchQQcopagenumZ1QQfromZR10QQfsooZ1QQfsopZ1QQfsprZ0QQftrtZ1QQftrvZ1QQga10244Z10425QQsacatZ175QQsocmdZListingItemList

A few items that I liked from these sources are
- WinTV PVR-USB2
- WinTV PVR-250/500MCE
- PV-256T Pro
- PV-356T USB
- Snazzi III
- I'll post more later!!

So please any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated even if the products are not on these websites I can still try to shop around.

Thanks in Advance Sivan:sly:

[jggimi]

Hello, and welcome to Doom9's forum.

Your camcorder is a DV camera. IMO, your best option is to obtain a firewire card and cable, so as to "capture" in DV format. This form of "capture" is a digital file copy, bit-for-bit, of the digital recording made by the camcorder.

For more information about DV, please visit our DV forum.

[sivan]

OK thanks for the Information.

So, is there any differnce between FIREWIRES? Will it make a differnce if i buy a cheap one, or is it better to buy something like the "ADSTech Pyro 1394DV" with good feedback and reviews?

Thanks
Sivan

[jggimi]

While I'm sure there are engineering and manufacturing differences between cards.... as long as the card connects and communicates properly, bits on your tapes will end up on your hard drive.

I am transferring this thread to our DV forum, where you will be able to obtain further information and get any additional questions answered.

[communist]

I have 2 cheap 1394 cards in 2 PCs - no problems at all.

[bmartinson]

I picked up a $30 CompUSA 3-Port FireWire PCI Card (http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=274516) and was carrying it to the checkout counter when I noticed another copy of the exact same SKU in their markdown bin for $25, so purchased that one instead. It has worked flawlessly and I'm quite pleased with it.

CompUSA also offers some less expensive options (http://www.compusa.com/products/products.asp?N=200087+%2D300&Ns=display%5Fprice%7C0#sort1), but I have no experience with any of those.