capture cards

[BigD69]

hey guys,
im filming a killer video and i need to edit it on my computer to make it good. i was wondering if someone could help me out with capture cards and stuff. like suggestions and just general info. i dont care if it installs in my computer or it just plugs in. also, budget is there, but i would like to know about all products, but cheaper is better. Price raigns over quality!!!

DAN

[punkrock016]

Look on eBay, you can find some killer deals on there. If you want to export it back onto your video tape, you really need a high quality capture card so that you can get a high enough resolution becuase it will be pixelized if you dont.

[Ramprage]

Get a caputure card that can capture at at least 640x480. ATI TV Wonder is what I have and it's very good. I've also heard good things about Pinnacle cards but never used them. The ATI card is $80-100 Canadian and you can get Pinnacle cards for about $150 + I think.

There is also ATI All in Wonder Radeon which is a video card and a capture card in one. It also supports video out but it's more expensive... around $350 Canadian.

Have a look around and read reviews off hardware sites before you take the plunge ;)

www.hardwarecentral.com
www.anandtech.com
www.tomshardware.com

[snoboarderbob14]

the Pinnacle is REALLY REALLY easy and completely user friendly, they have certain software for what kind of camera you filmed it with. It's around $130, but I think it's alot better video editing software/hardware than videowave 5 or pretty much anything out their. I've had it for like...2 days and i've made like 4 videos already... It does take up alot of space on your hard drive, but compared to the rest of the video editing software it is the most efficient (video wave takes like a couple GB for a 20 minute video, and pinnacle takes like 200 some MB for a 20 minute video, and incase you don't know their are like 100,000MB in a GB) Thats just completely my opinion...my dad is a computer programer though so it was a breeze for him to install, for the average american it may be a tad bit confusing...

[Kaptin Dumbass]

i'm really interested in getting something for my computer so i can edit video. recently i bought a firewire card thinking it would work for video, but i think it only works for pictures. so, what do i need to get in order to put video footage on my computer in order to edit it?

[mikejl29]

hey snowboarderbob, you make the compression on those pinnacle cards sound very impressive:D What model did you get? I already have a Nvidia GeForce 2MX w/tv-out so I dont want the all in wonder. Will the pinnacle card just go into one of my empty slots in the back of my computer?(I forgot the name of them:S)

[snoboarderbob14]

yes the pinnacle thing does just slide into their and then depending if you have a digital or analog camera depends on what software you get... i got um Pinnacle Sudio AV Version 7 for an Analog camera....for the analog version (i don't know about digital) you need to have an S video output on your camera, and sound out puts (they would be the red and white like what most tv's have for playstation and what not) and you need an s video cord and the sound cords to plug into the back....then if you really feel like it and want to make like VHS videos, you can get some more cords (i won't go into detail) and hook it up to a VCR, and record from your computer to the VHS in the VCR and it's really nice and comes out great. I highly recommend it...

[boothebugsk8er]

whats a capture card

[Craig Himself]

a capture card is a peice of electronic equipment that allows u 2 record from videos tapes onto ya pc.
Thats how VCDS are made.

[M_coley1]

So what do you do with a capture card?IM new to this stuff

[Mrock]

Normally capture cards go into your PCI slot inside your computer. You take the cover off, there's slots..where the capture card would be inserted. then, that'd allow you to plug an RCA plug from your computer, to your VCR. You'd then play your VCR, while using special software to upload the video.

Kaptin Dumbass- The firewire card will only work if your camcorder is firewire enabled. You have to have a firewire plug on your camcorder, to work correctly...just a note.

[Sum1Stupid&Ugly]

why not get a digital camera so it just hooks up to ur usb port and ur done?

[Flip Boy]

because it only takes single shots, capture cards hold in more and are easy to make videos with

[Craig Himself]

And they are cheaper.
Im going to get a pinnacle c.card and software for £40.
I found it on some english website (no it wasnt bloody loot). Cool huh?
Me and Mat n co. are going to make some funny video clips and send em to You've Been Framed and Kirty's Home Videos heheh (EASY MONEY!!!)

[-fsbsts]

ill nick a card at electronics boutique...
a hit n run job (lol)
ive seen a nice one there...

[Craig Himself]

Hey u the guy above, u stole my avatar idea lol.
Cheeky Git

[-fsbsts]

lol

[Craig Himself]

I need a bloody camera first lol

[Craig Himself]

heh i got a well good clip for kirstys home vids, it wer carl stands onhis couch unstable after an air fresherin attack and the whole thing just falls back its so funny.Anyone else here got a USB Capture device? i have one its well better than usin a pci slot cos they get ****ed taht way

[mikejl29]

I use firewire... its sooo fast. Never have a dropped frame and I can capture over 100mbps. SOO FAST!!!

[blind]

It's funnny how much we learn Mike. Just 6 months ago you didn't even know what a PCI slot is, lol.

[OLDskool]

Originally posted by Kaptin Dumbass
i'm really interested in getting something for my computer so i can edit video. recently i bought a firewire card thinking it would work for video, but i think it only works for pictures. so, what do i need to get in order to put video footage on my computer in order to edit it?

Nope, firewire allows you to take DIGITAL video to your computer. If your camera is not digital you will need a conversion box to turn the analogue signal to digital.

[Craig Himself]

or a capture lol which is the whole point in this thread

[blind]

Craig, a Firewire IS a capture card. It's a card, and it captures video. Only digital, but it still captures. It's just been improved on extremely from those USB ones.

[Ramprage]

According to this chart - USB 2 is faster than firewire.
http://www.macspeedzone.com/archive/5.0/de/gifs/firewirevsscsi.gif

According to this - Firewire is actually faster in real world tests.
http://www.cwol.com/firewire/firewire-vs-usb.htm

"Architecture - FireWire vs. USB 2.0

FireWire, built from the ground up for speed, uses a "Peer-to-Peer" architecture in which the peripherals are intelligent and can negotiate bus conflicts to determine which device can best control a data transfer


USB 2.0 uses a "Master-Slave" architecture in which the computer handles all arbitration functions and dictates data flow to, from and between the attached peripherals (adding additional system overhead and resulting in slower, less-efficient data flow control)

Performance Comparison - FireWire vs. USB 2.0
Read and write tests to the same IDE hard drive connected using FireWire and then USB 2.0 show:

Read Test:
5000 files (300 MB total) FireWire was 33% faster than USB 2.0
160 files (650MB total) FireWire was 70% faster than USB 2.0

Write Test:
5000 files (300 MB total) FireWire was 16% faster than USB 2.0
160 files (650MB total) FireWire was 48% faster than USB 2.0

FireWire - Still the Performance King!
As the performance comparison shown above confirms, FireWire remains the performance leader. And is the best choice for DV camcorders, digital audio and video devices, external hard drives, high-performance DVD burners and any other device that demands continuous high performance throughput. "

[DARKSTAR4ever]

3 years old...

[Blind Sheppard]

Granted that this is the owner of the site and that he's contributing to the thread you can't complain.

[Ramp]