Hello Folks, I want to convert my Hi8 videos to DVD, I am looking at capture devices. I have a $150 budget, so far the ATI Allinwonder 9600 looks pretty good. But I have read mixed user reviews people either love it or hate it. My goal is to get good quality video transfer of home movies (s-video) to dvd. Also software recommendation would be appreciated. I am building a new system a need to make decision in a few days. Thanks for all your help! Paul
In my opinion the very Best Capture devices are the Analogue Digital Converters Like the Canopus ADVC-50/55/100 but theses devices start at about $200 US but there is One Capture device close to your Price range that produces the same Professinal Quality and has most of the Same features called the "Canopus ACEDVio" which is a Internal PCI Card that Converts the Incomeing Video signal to DV AVI format useing a Hardware DV Compression chip..The Quality of these devices is way better than any "ATI All In Wonder" or any other Analogue device that uses Software Compression... You can get a "Canopus ACEDVio" on Ebay from a Reputible Licensed Canopus Resaler for as Low as $149 up to $225 US Plus Shipping and since the Device uses Hardware DV Compression you will not use hardly any of your CPU Power to capture and Compress the Video and the DV AVI format files the Device Produces is the Same Format that High Quality Digital Camecorders use and the Files are very easy to edit and convert to Mpeg2 for DVD authoring..... If you want to Go Cheap I would suggest just getting any TV Card but one that uses a 10 Bit Decoder chip.. I just got one for $39 US and it captures very good quality Video from TV or VCR or any Analogue Video source even Satalite TV and Digital Cable the Drawbacks of getting a normal analogue capture card is that all Compression is Done useing Software so you need a Very fast PC with a second fast hard drive for the Captured files, and there are issues like Sync problems that occur were with a Device like the Canopus ADVC-100 or the ACEDVio you don"t have those problems because it has an audio lock feature that elimates any chance of Sync problems.... Cheers
Thanks for the reply. That's what I thought. I will wait until I have the money to buy the Canopus box/board. I see they are bundling it with the CanEdit s/w for about $329. The hardware encoding makes sense. By the way ATI is claiming to have dedicated hardware for compression. But I'm sure it's not the same quality. If you could recommend someone selling the Canopus cards that cheap I would appreciate it I searched on Google and $299 was the cheapest card I could find.
I have seen these cards/Boxes on ebay for between $149 and $275 or so.... Here"s an ADVC-100 for $249: http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=21166&item=3831644244&rd=1 Here"s an auction for a barely used ADVC-100 at $189: http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=21166&item=3831749174&rd=1 Here"s one at $175: http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3759&item=5113715321&rd=1 Here"s one at $150: http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3761&item=5113787628&rd=1 Here"s a Brand New one For $220: http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=21166&item=3831976438&rd=1 Here"s one at $100: http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3761&item=5114038887&rd=1 Here"s a Canopus MVR Hardware Mpeg encoder at $150: http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3761&item=5114040260&rd=1 Here"s an ADVC-100 New for $199: http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3759&item=5114630511&rd=1 Thats all the Ones I could Find right now and they are a Bit cheaper than some others you might find on Line and you can get away with useing Mostly freeware software for Capture and editing and encodeing like Windows Movie Maker to Capture and edit and then render as a DV AVI file and then use an encoder like Tmpgenc to encode to Mpeg2 for DVD but you will probably have to buy a DVD authoring program at some point cuz I don"t know of any freeware DVD authoring programs but there are many Demos you can use... There is also a Free editing program that was released By AVID called "AVID Free DV" that is a Free DV Capture and 3 Track editing program based on Avid Express DV, I can"t remember were I got it from but if you want I can try to find it for you... Cheers
