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Thread ID: 32759 2003-04-27 07:47:00 Video capture bba12 (1139) Press F1
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139361 2003-04-27 07:47:00 I have an analogue camcorder and several tapes of recorded material (home video). I'd like to save at least some of this material to hard disk and perhaps CD. I've heard that the quality of analogue video capture can be suboptimal. Where do I get a reasonably priced analogue video capture card? Dick Smith have an "old" card that doesn't like the Geforce2/3 or TNT chipsets (I have Geforce2). Someone suggested buying a DV camera and copying from the analogue to the digital camcorder and then to disk via firewire - an expensive option! Any advice / suggestions / personal experience out there would really be appreciated. Thanks bba12 (1139)
139362 2003-04-27 08:13:00 I've always used a TV card to capture any analogue video. The quality isn't that great but it does the job. :) 4bes (2848)
139363 2003-04-27 08:54:00 > I have an analogue camcorder and several tapes of
> recorded material (home video). I'd like to save at
> least some of this material to hard disk and perhaps
> CD. I've heard that the quality of analogue video
> capture can be suboptimal. Where do I get a
> reasonably priced analogue video capture card?

Try QMB.co.nz for Aucklands best prices, or Pricespy.co.nz for all NZ :-)

Now.. 'Ive heard that the quality of analogue video capture can be suboptimal'..

Im not too sure what you're getting at there... But Digital is gonna be better than Analogue, and it'll never wear out like a VHS tape will!

> Dick
> Smith have an "old" card that doesn't like the
> Geforce2/3 or TNT chipsets (I have Geforce2). Someone
> suggested buying a DV camera and copying from the
> analogue to the digital camcorder and then to disk
> via firewire - an expensive option! Any advice /
> suggestions / personal experience out there would
> really be appreciated. Thanks

Okay, Ive got a TV Capture Card (A little old but its a card none-the-less), and It captures video fine.

At 320x240@32ish FPS, you're getting Approx Vid. Quality :-)

DVD's run @ 1024x768 and Im not too sure of the FrameRate, sorry.

But anyways, Its not too hard to do.

It'll set you back around $100 for a capture card, and you'll fit at least an hour's vid onto a CD depending on compression!

Hope this helps

Cheers


Chilling_Silence
Chilling_Silently (228)
139364 2003-04-27 10:29:00 Hate to disagree with anybody here but dvd pal resoluation is 720x576 i believe.

And capturing from vhs can generate massive quality loss depending on hardware,method of compressing,re-encoding,quality of source.

Way to much to cover in a forum such as this.

Id suggest going to http://www.dvdrhelp.com/ and checking out the guides,forums and product reviews.

But for a quick overview.

Make sure your using a good sound card,soundblaster live or better.

You need to capture in a avi for best quality(huffy is an excellent free lossless codec recomended by most)Then encode the captured file to vcd compliant(using tmpgenc,again free and the best option,unless you want to shell out 3 grand american for cce).

If your getting captures where the audio is out of sync with the video you need to capture in short 5 minute bursts,this is one of the main problems people run into.

And please,never buy a Dick smith branded anything.Its just some 3 dollar pos they have put there sticker on.Im using a leadtek card and while i wont tell you which brand to go for,im very pleased with my purchase and the software(the updated software anyway).

1 last thing http://www.dvdrhelp.com/

and http://www.dvdrhelp.com/

Huffy codec and tmpgenc are available from the tools section of that site.
metla (154)
139365 2003-04-27 10:31:00 And i reserve the right to be wrong about the resolution issue as well................... metla (154)
139366 2003-04-29 10:10:00 To all those who replied,
Thanks for all the feedback - MOST useful. I've also heard some bad things about dse products.
Lots to think about.
(Have had problems connecting to the Press F1 site - hence delay in reply)

Cheers
bba12
bba12 (1139)
139367 2003-04-29 10:22:00 Metla> Yeah.. Think you're right.. but the proggy I use recommends using a Full-Screen Res. of 1024x768

And go to QMB if you dont want DSE.. :-)
Chilling_Silently (228)
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