Best Choice On Capture Cards

[FIHW]

I Hope To Buy A Capture Card And Wondered What The Doom9 Forum Recomended, I Have Around £100 And A Pretty New System To Run The Capture Card On.
(I'm Mainly Looking For Quality Rather Than A Cheap Deal)
Thanks For All Your Suggestions

[Swan]

Hi.

Did you read the forum rules?
"Do not ask 'what's best' because this question cannot be answered objectively. Each and everyone has their own view about what's best in a certain area. The best is what works best for you!"

That said, most people here have a BT878 (Brooktree/Connexant)based capture card, some have cards with a newer Philips chipset. Some, like myself, have a DV capturing device, like the Canopus ADVC. Do a search and you'll find lots to read.
This is also a good place to visit:
http://www.dvdrhelp.com/capturecards

[FIHW]

Thanks

[kastro68]

I'm using the leadtek winfast tv2000xp and it works like a charm for me.

You can use this card to capture TV as well as Video input from VCR.

People who have the VIA chipset may experience some trouble installing the card. You have to read the installation instructions that came with the card very very carefully, otherwise you might get bluescreened...I think the newer drivers solves this problem.

If you update the drivers with newer ones on it's site you also get teletext support.

This card is cheap with pretty good capture quality. The remote also comes in handy. The remote can be used with 'Girder' to control other Appz like winamp and media player classic...it can also be used to shutdown your computer.

[FIHW]

Thanks

[bpjenn]

Nothing beats an ATI All-in-Wonder Card. Look at the 7500. The MMC 8.5, that either comes with or you can download from ATI, works great.

[neily]

Sorry to disagree with the last respondent, but my AIW 7000 kept on thinking my own camcorder tapes were in some way macrovision-protected. At the time I got the impression that this was a common problem, mainly affecting PAL users. ATI support were of no help at all. I ended up with a Hauppage WinTV-PCI and had no such problems.

[jggimi]

And this is a very good example why Swan pointed out that one should never ask, "What's best?"

[neily]

@ jggimi

Whilst agreeing with you to an extent, the OBJECTIVE information I supplied I did not uncover when I was doing my extensive research at the time. The problem may have now been resolved (I expect not as it doesn't seem to affect the more massive US market). Had someone told me in advance that I would waste £200 on the card, dozens of hours in trying to get it to work correctly, and £20 on a phone call to ATI support basically being told that I was a liar, I would have been grateful I had asked advice beforehand.

Maybe it would be more acceptable for individuals to do their research first, and then rephrase the question as "I am thinking of getting an xxx. Are there any known problems?"

I know it's a rule, but it is sometimes quite interesting reading such threads.

Given my experiences, my generic advice would be to get a card that does not implement macrovision protection, not to promote copyright infringement but as safeguard against the possibilty of screwed up captures of valid material from less than perfect sources.

[bpjenn]

I've tried dozens of analog capture cards (Hauppage, Dazzle, Leadfast, etc.) and the various DV converters(Sony, Dazzle, Canopus). If you are wanting to capture from analog sources, then save yourself from all the trouble from the other cards/converters, get an ATI All-in-Wonder card. The All-in-Wonder isn't perfect, but it's the best currently available.

[Dionysus]

okay I'm not asking what's the best but if I give you some ideas about what I want to use could anyone "suggest" the better one out there specifically or what would work well with what I'm trying to do??

anyways, I have an NVidia w/tv out etc but I'm looking to record shows from satellite and TV, possibly VHS but highly unlikely and either compress them and burn them onto CD-R or onto DVD-R etc.

hopefully i won't get flamed now that I've given some specifics about what I want with it

[joshyg2]

I use a:

Hauppauge WinTV (878) w/ NICAM Stereo

Works great, and comes with a lot of software.
Works with most if not all TV software on the net, including Dscaler, HNCPlus, etc.

The card is also very sheilded to other signals, which will help with noise.
The Stereo chipset is really good, and gives out a powerful loud signal, that can be controlled through Dscaler, as well as adjusted Bass and Treble settings with gives me a more crisp sound.

The remote is also very compatible,
it is compatible with Girder, which will allow to control almost everything on the computer, from Dscaler to Winamp, to you mouse.

[kastro68]

(Greek mythology) god of wine and fertility and drama; the Greek name of Bacchus

I named one of my hard drives Dionysus

[Becky636]

I too have the Happauge Win tv.. With the drivers for xp.

I have a HP 2.2 ghz
2 60 gig Hard Drives
Cable connection
Xp Home

and when I record I get a white line on the top that fluxuates (sp)

I use Snap Stream newest version..

this drives me crazy!!

Becky


Ps any idea how to get this out on the movie??

[Piper]

I'm not sure what £100 would buy you, but I can honestly recommend ATI cards. I've been using them for a long time and have always been very happy with them.

If it's simple capturing you're after then you could probably find a ATI Rage Fury Pro 128/vivo card for very cheap. It wouldn't have the TV tuner that the AIW's would, but it would allow you to capture composite video at flexible resolutions. This is the card I started out on (capturing video that is) and I used a VCR when I wanted to capture TV.

[joshyg2]

Becky636 about your line problem,

I have never used the Snap program you have mentioned, but I think this might be causing the problem. Try and experement with other Capture programs.

Also check www.hauppauge.com for new drivers for Windows XP.