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Best Video Capture Product & Procedure.

Discussion in 'MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 encoding (AVI to DVD)' started by tmog, Mar 10, 2005.

  1. tmog

    tmog Member

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    I'm wanting to capture video from various analog or digital sources. What is the best device to use to do this? Should I get a Video capture card or USB 2.0 Video capture device? What should I look for?
     
  2. rebootjim

    rebootjim Active member

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    The BEST way is with a Time Base Corrector such as the Canopus ADVC-100, but expensive.
    The next best way, is with a capture card that has built in mpeg-2 hardware encoding, such as the Hauppauge PVR-250/350 or 500.
    The next best way, is to capture with a cheap BT878 chipset card, and then encode with software. Quality is an issue here (in some cases), as well as the amount of time it may take.
    IMHO don't use USB for capture.
     
  3. tmog

    tmog Member

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    MPEG-2 encoding with software or hardware is better?
    Why not those USB capture devices? I want the best quality with the 29.9 fps & NTSC (720 x 480)
     
  4. rebootjim

    rebootjim Active member

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    The BEST quality is with the Canopus.
    The next best is with a hardware encoder card.
    Hardware is usually better than software, and much faster!
    USB rarely can capture at full NTSC 720x480 29.97fps.
     
  5. tmog

    tmog Member

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  6. rebootjim

    rebootjim Active member

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    Yes. Please read the fine print. Do you have USB 2.0 and a computer fast enough to use it? Does it give only minimum specs you need, or does it have "suggested"? Does your computer system meet those specs?
    If you decide to get that, make sure you can return it if it doesn't do full NTSC mpeg-2 captures witout dropping ANY frames. 1 dropped frame per hour you may not notice, but one dropped frame every 5 minutes, and your audio will be so far out of sync by the end of a 2 hour capture...even with their "audio lock technology"...(yes, I'm skeptical)
    Read this really comprehensive review: http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Reviews/Specific.aspx?ArticleId=11532
    If it works, great. But you lose out over a card, because it has no tuner, so you can't capture live TV.
     

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