OK, I'm getting ready to buy a usb capture device for a 2003 HP MCE system. The reason is all the pre-configured stuff on mine seems to create a buzz or a glitch when capturing from dish or from VCRs. It does work great for all my other dvd needs. ANYWAY, I want to get some of my VHS original movies transferred to DVD and still retain the surround sound/dolby qualities. Any suggestions for an OK product priced around 50 to 80 bucks. Does anyone know how pinnacle's movie box works. TigerDirect has some for $50.
Well first off VHS tapes arent in Surround sound or in Dolby and even if they were there are no regular Capture devices that will capture in Surround Sound (5.1CH)..... I would actually recomend an Internal PCI Capture device over a USB one because of the Bandwidth limitations of USB Devices over PCI devices but if you Must get a USB Capture device make sure you get One that uses Hardware Compression because you will have problems if you use a Strictly Software Device..... The Pinnacle MovieBox USB is a Notoriously bad device which is why you can Find them for so Cheap these days...I would suggest something like the "Hauppaggue WinTV PVR USB2" which uses Hardware Mpeg-2 compression and should also Ignore Macrovision Copy protection which is Found on Most Retail VHS Tapes and should also Ignore RF Flags which is the Copy protection that is Imbeded into Digital cable and Satalite Video transmitions...... Cheers
To Minion; Thanks for the input. I kinda figured that was the case with Pinnacle. My media center actually does have a Hauppaggue Capture card and thats the one giving me the buzzing. I checked into one of the newer cards that are MCE compatable and the price (well over $300) just doesn't seem worth it. Is it possible my card just needs a software or driver upgrade or is it just too old? (Early 2003) Thanks again.