THSCC Forums

Anyone have a favorite analog video capture device for their computer?

I'm thinking of making DVD's out of some old tapes and just need an interface between the VCR and the computer.

Is USB fast enough for the job or should I really be looking at Firewire (IEEE 1394) or a PCI card?

unfortunately my digital video camera only does vido out, not in (except for Firewire in...).

Here are a few I'm looking at:

http://www.synchrotech.com/product-1394 ... er_02.html
http://eshop.macsales.com/Catalog_Item. ... =ADSAPI550

I'd love to pay under $100...

Scott

You want a cheap solution??

http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/data_go.html

Use this capture card (uses the popular Conexant chipset) to capture uncompressed video to your hard drive. Then use other software (such as VirtualDub http://www.virtualdub.org/ which is free) to process it using an AVI codec of your choice (such as DivX)

Total cost? About $42 + shipping from http://www.newegg.com/

This is the solution I used for my autocross videos. Does it look as good as a DV camcorder? No it doesn't. But I think it is pretty good for a cheap 8mm Analog camcorder and inexpensive video capture card.

_________________
Richard Casto
1972 Porsche 914
2013 Honda Fit Sport
2015 Honda Fit EX
http://motorsport.zyyz.com
Money can't buy happiness, but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than a Kia.

Scott,

Sorry, I missed the "Mac" part of the title. I offered you up a Windows Solution.

_________________
Richard Casto
1972 Porsche 914
2013 Honda Fit Sport
2015 Honda Fit EX
http://motorsport.zyyz.com
Money can't buy happiness, but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than a Kia.

A long time ago I tried some video capture over USB and it was awful. Sounds like things have improved:

http://www.smalldog.com/product/12651797

That's one of a couple USB options for video capture.

FWIW I've had really good customer service from Smalldog. Very responsive to email questions about product, etc.

Good luck.

_________________
Not spectacular just decent.
I'm not sure what I'm driving.
Maybe an ITR in DS.
Or half-assed STX prepped 330.

Scott,

Let us know which one you pick and how you like it. One of my projects is to convert a lot of VHS home movie stuff of the kids growing up into DVD format. Most of the tapes are getting dangerously old so I need to do it pretty soon.

I looked at Dazzle and most of their stuff doesn't get very good ratings. Looked at a PCI bus card from Pinacle that might work. Comes with all the editing software. Won't slow down due to USB performance issues. Can keep up with NTSC 30f/sec and good synchronization on the audio track. About $200. After that the really good stuff starts to big $$$$.

Graham

_________________
http://www.greywinds.com

I know this thread is a little old, but this might be a good solution.

http://www.plextor.com/english/products/TV402U.htm

Some info below:

Plextor has partnered with Elgato to introduce the first Hi-Speed USB 2.0 Personal Video Recorder (PVR) for the Mac. The Plextor ConvertX PVR combines Elgato EyeTV software with Plextor's ConvertX PVR video capture device with built-in TV tuner. It uses a real-time MPEG-2 hardware encoder to capture and compress broadcast, cable, or satellite TV to a hard drive. ConvertX PVR also supports RCA composite audio/video input and S-Video input connections for capturing home video from other sources such as camcorders, DVD players, and VCRs. It will ship later this month for $230.

The hardware/software solution runs on any Macintosh computer with minimum 500MHz G4 or any G5 processor. It requires Mac OS X 10.2.8 or higher. The Plextor ConvertX PVR for Mac will ship later this month for $230.

_________________
GS - 17 Honda Civic Si
STS - 91 Honda Civic Si
S04 - 00 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS

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