Video capture

[no one]

I'm looking at getting something to capture of my 8mm video camera into
my computer for making home DVDs. I've seen several solutions. Some
use the USB 2.0 interface, others the PCI. Which interface gets the
best quality? Is there a PCI Express solution out here? Does it offer
better quality?

 

[J. Clarke]

I'm looking at getting something to capture of my 8mm video camera into
my computer for making home DVDs. I've seen several solutions. Some
use the USB 2.0 interface, others the PCI. Which interface gets the
best quality? Is there a PCI Express solution out here? Does it offer
better quality?

You're going to get the _best_ quality out of a digital-8 camcorder. Next
best will be a digital camcorder with analog pass-through to the firewire
port. Then the dedicated firewire devices such as the Canopus ADVC-100.
The inexpensive analog capture devices you find at CompUSA and the like are
pretty dismal. There aren't any for PCI Express and there is nothing about
PCI Express that would make such a device work better than the
alternatives.

 

[Dan Wojciechowski]

I'm looking at getting something to capture of my 8mm video camera into
my computer for making home DVDs. I've seen several solutions. Some
use the USB 2.0 interface, others the PCI. Which interface gets the
best quality? Is there a PCI Express solution out here? Does it offer
better quality?

I'm using the Adaptech Video Oh! PCI for doing exactly what you describe.
The Adaptech card is an analogue capture card with composite and S-video
inputs. I'm using it with my 8mm video camera and a VCR to transfer old
home movies to DVD. The Video Oh has a hardware MPEG encoder and
does a much better job than the software encoder solutions I tried.

Advantages:
Relatively easy to install and set up.
Excellent captures without dropped frames.

Disadvantages:
Currently, only the Sonic My DVD packaged with the product can be used to
perform the capture. (I can author the DVD in anything else I want after I
have
captured the video.)
Must open your computer to put in the card. }


--
Dan (Woj...) [dmaster](no space)[at](no space)[lucent](no space)[dot](no
space)[com]
===============================
"I see you coming / To the end of the day
And was it worth it? / No one can say
I see your face / It is ghostly pale
Into the sunset / We are watching you sail"

 

[zmex]

I've been using the, "Dazzle" Digital Video Creator 80 from Pinnacle,
and it works great.
Everything you need is right in the box, and if you dont like the
pinnacle software that comes with it, you can use the capture hardware
with a number of different video apps. The capture device plugs in via
usb and works great, i've also been using this to convert my VHS
library to DVD. The included software is Pinnacle Studio Quick Start,
you can make VCD,SVCD or DVD's with it, and it is extremely easy to
use. It goes for about $60.00 US. Hope this helps.
zmex