I’d like to be able to import analog video (from a VCR, and from the TV) and record it on my computer, essentially so i can use the computer as a VCR-type device. I’m a little uninformed on this stuff, so i did some poking around.
From what i understand, i have two basic options:
Use an internal video card that will accept analog input, and plug my VCR or TV directly into that.
Use an external USB2 video capture device—most of which contain an mpeg-1, mpeg-2 and sometimes mpeg-4 encoder—to bring the video into the computer, and then watch it on the computer, or edit it and create the appropriate DVD output folder.
The video card on my computer is an nVidia GeForce 5200FX. This is not, as far as i know, capable of importing analog video. I don’t really want to go messing around changing video cards, and i’d also like a device than can be moved from one machine to another (we also have a laptop in the house), so it looks like an external video capture device is the one to go for.
I’ve spent some time looking at some of these devices, and reading reviews, and it’s really difficult to get a sense of which one to go for. Some are as cheap as $50, while the super-expensive ones can run well over $200. There seem to be a few decent ones around the $150 mark, but it’s difficult to get a sense of which one will do the best job. Sometimes the reviews contradict one another, and i’m always suspicious of “customer” reviews because sometimes it’s so damn obvious that the review has been written by some representative from the company whose only aim is to plug the product.
I was wondering if any Dopers were using any of these external video capture devices, and if you had any advice to offer.
I finally gave up after wasting money on several video capture devices. I finally bought a A/V component DVD recorder and though it lacks the convenience of recoring straight to my computer but I can live with having to transfer a DVD to my computer after capturing analog video. I paid $150 which is about what a good capture board would cost.
What you want is called a “digital media converter.” I’m not sure what brands are on the market right now, but a few years ago I picked up a Sony DMC that converted between analog audio/video and Firewire/IEEE1394. You pushed a button on the case to select which conversion “direction” you wanted. I paid about $400 for mine, though I think $200 for a good one is not unreasonable these days.
I originally got it to transfer my camcorder footage to my computer, but ever since I got a new digital camcorder, I haven’t used it as much. Still, it’s handy to keep around, just so I can hook up non-digital gear to my Mac as needed.
The brand is called Ilo, I got it at Walmart $150. Someone in another thread said it may be a rebranding of Tatung. Nothing spectactular but it’s easy to use and has a reasonable feature set. You can use it like a VCR except for it having no built in tuner. Standard A/V inputs on the front. Input on the rear with S-video and output with standard, S-video and component video. DV link on the front so you can do digital dubbing back and forth to a digical camcorder.
I tried an ATI TV-wonder and some others. Even with a fast PC It never seemed to have the bandwidth to capture video in full resolution and audio without dropping frames. I put a firewire board in the same PC and all my problems vanished. Now that I have the DVD recorder I’ll copy all my analog stuff to video and stay all digital from now on.
Can I just second this? I used the Sony DMC (not sure on the precise model) at an old job that required the conversion of analog 8mm to digital on a daily basis. Let me tell you, it just worked. No ifs ands or buts. In my experience, Firewire/IEEE1394 is the only way to go. Why? Because it was specifically designed to handle A/V. A Digital Video Camera (from what I understand) can’t be called one without at least one Firewire port. Plus, firewire cards are seriously cheap, like around $20. You can even get a Firewire/USB 2.0 combo card if you are worried about wasting a slot in your computer.
I can only speak for the Sony, but Dazzle I think has a firewire Analog to Digital converter for a bit less than a Sony. I have used a USB Dazzle (an older model) and it su-u-u-ucked. The software with the Dazzle was teeth-grindingly frustrating.
With any of these firewire options, you won’t have to worry about the speed of your video card. You may have to watch the speed of your hard drive, as I have had trouble with one internal drive that I installed myself. It seemed there was some weird problem where if the HD wasn’t writing fast enough I would lose frames. However, I suspect that most factory installed drives can write fast enough. I have an external Firewire drive (slower, in theory to my self-installed internal problem-drive) that I have recorded to (hours at a time even) and had no problem.
Good luck. I know how frustrating it can be to make some of these products work.