Recording Video: Other software besides VirtualDub?
 

Hi Guy,

I dont know if me PC/Hardware is up to the job but I have loads of home camcorder movies of my kids growing up and I would love to convert them from VHS video tape to DVD so that they wont degrade over time.

I have a Pentium 3 @933Mhz with Windows XP Pro OS. Also a 40 Gig 7200RPM HDD & 256MB SD133 RAM.

I also have a Radeon 9500 Pro which has S-video & composite connector for TV/VCR.

I was wondering if this could do an adequate job of capturing or will I need a dedicated Capture card. I was looking at Capture card's via the Firewire connection for good speed transfer.

Also what sort of capture software do you recommend both freeware and commercial.

I dont mind paying for a good commercial one (as long as its not a ridiculous amount of money to buy :))

I dont want to use VDub for capturing as im not to impressed with it for that purpose but any other software advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance guys. :)

In your case as you got a "slow" system for capturing, ... go and get a Haupauge WIN PVR 250! As it gots a hardware mpeg2 codec chip ONBOARD!

Well it captures in YV12 but the quality even using that colorspace is quite good. Other YUY2 based based cards are EXPANSIVE or you have to capture using a software mjpegYUY2 codec, but that would mean you have to spend even more money to update your system hardware ... which costs much more as compared to the price of a PVR 250.

Hands of of Firewire!
Why? Easy .... you can get a Formac or Dazzle Firewire Box, BUT as I know they do encode in DV (... mega encoding sizes!) and they do cost much more)

And the rest of knowledge you get get from the Capture Guide in this capture forum ;-)

I was just going to suggest just that :lol:

-kwag

Thanks for the advice on the Haupauge WIN PVR 250 guys I shall look into it. I have read your excellent guide in this section Inc and I intend to use that as guide for better capturing.

I know my system is not really up to the job. Im going to upgrade soon to a Pentium 4 2.2 Gig with 512Mb RAM and a much bigger HDD.

Im guessing its better to buy a dedicated Capture card as you have suggested above rather than buying a graph card to do the job is that correct?

Also my brother has a bought a new digital camcorder with DV In/Out for faster transfers to PC, I know this uses FireWire and that is expensive but could you explain to me how this works.

Does the DV In/Out connect directly to your FireWire card in the PC or do you need a FireWire external box between them?

Again thanks for the info guys. :)

Only a hint: is your Radeon only VO (video out) or maybe VIVO (video in - video out) :?: Check this closely. If you have VIVO, then MPEG2 capture in the fly is delicious 8) In that case if you want to capture TV stations, redirect signal from VCR to Radeon and voila :lol:

Im not to sure if my card is VIVO i assume it is as it has S-Video Connection. Check >>>Here<<< these are my card's specs I dont really know if it can capture. :(

@Kwag, Inc.

I was looking at the Haupauge WIN PVR 350 as the price was pretty reasonable and I liked the specs on this card, can you recommend this card at all?

Thanks again. :)

Hi Zyphon,

The only difference between the 250 and the 350, is that the 350 has TV Out :)
Other than that, they are both the same.

-kwag

Thanks fort the info Karl, the only thing that concerned me when I looked at the specs on both cards from the site where I am going to buy the card from is.

According the the site I am going to buy the from the PVR250's video compression format is YUV 4:2:0.

While the PVR350's video compression format is YUV 4:2:2.

Can you please confirm this is true??

The reason I ask is in Inc's guide for better capturing he recommends a card with YUY2 4:2:2.

I would appreciate any info. :)

"Theoretically" that would be VERY good! Capturing in mpeg2 4:2:2.

But ... show me that link where they say that the PVR 350 supports 4:2:2 mpeg2.

Unfortunately this link says that you only have VO :(

@Hydeus

Thanks for pointing that out to me I guess I'll have to buy a dedecated Capture card which is probably for the best anyway.

Again thanks for your help buddy. :)

@Inc

Thanks for the info buddy.

I Dont know if linking to this site works directly but the link to the site is below. ;)

>>>PVR250<<<

>>>PVR350<<<

I think "IUVCR" is one best capture software:
1.It can segmented capture;
2.It can set Tv channel by CHANNEL,FREQUENCY..etc;
3.It can capture source save to avi,bmp;
4.It have schedule capture,I'm very like it , I set my computer
power on in schedule time from BIOS's RTC,and make one schedule
in iuvcr.haha...When my liked tv program begin, my computer power
on and iuvcr work to capture my program,after capture ,it automatic
shutdown .
so I can capture EURO 2004 in the night 2:00,and watch it tomorrow.

@toysoldier

Thank you very much for the info buddy I shall look into it. :)

Welcome to the forum also. :D