What is the best capture card?

[ammonrose]

Right now I have a JVC HR-S7600U VCR. I’m planning on buying a DataVideo TBC 1000 in the future and I’m not sure what would be best for a capture card. The most well known is the Elgato USB, but I’m sure there are better out there for this setup. Also, if there’s a better TBC than the DataVideo TBC 1000 let me know and I’ll set my sights on it.

Thank you

[lordsmurf]

The best card depends on factors, mostly OS, but sometimes source.

Elgato earned the nicknamed "Elcrapo" for video capture (even if their other non-video products are quite good).

DataVideo TBCs are simply popular, not necessarily "best" -- especially given how most are now failing, or require mods. If you can get a rebuilt/refurb'd/modded unit, you'll be fine. That also means avoiding eBay entirely, as those are always in random condition, almost never sold by actual users/owners (which easy to see, as those sellers have lots of random crap for sale).

Remember to look in the marketplace for TBCs. Several available right now, from myself and others.

But back to the capture card...

Which OS?
- WinXP/7 best
- WinVista/8 can go either way
- Win10/11 worst
- No real quality Mac/Linux paths

You never want to use your daily computer for capture, not a computer that is online, as those "do stuff" (updates, etc) that can cause dropped frames, capture glitches, etc.

In general, specific ATI and Pinnacle cards are best. (Not any random ATI/Pinnacle, some are awful.)

[ammonrose]

Oh, interesting. I didn't know a specific OS would be best. I have VM's running on my server, I could run WinXP/7, would that work? Or do I need to buy a computer with that OS on it?

Also, if TBC 1000's aren't necessarily the best, given my setup with WinXP/7 and a JVC HR-S7600U VCR, what TBC would you recommend?

[lordsmurf]

VMs do not work, bare metal required.

7600U suggests U.S., correct? Only NTSC, never any PAL?

More info about your source tapes can help as well, both for TBC and capture card.
Tell me more about your project:
- How many tapes?
- What recording mode are your VHS tapes? SP, LP, EP/SLP, or a mix? If mix, % of each? If not known, guestimate. (What you don't want to do is put these tapes in a ratty old VCR, and have the tapes get damaged.)
- What % of your VHS collection is from a camcorder, a VCR, and retail?
- What era are your tapes from, % of each? 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s?
- Are you aware of any problems with the tapes? Either with the signal, or physical? (mold, etc)

TBC-1000 can indeed be best for you. Or not. It depends on factors. I help guide you to capture success.

Timing also matters. Is this something you want to do
- now? (this week, next week)
- soon? (this month, next month)
- or unknown future date?

[ammonrose]

Concerning my VCR, U.S. is correct. Only NTSC.

Source Tapes:
I have only have 4 right now, but that number will increase substantially in the near future. To give some context, I have a handful of Disney movies on VHS that I would like to digitize. They are the only version where they are unedited (Disney edits a lot of their content these days), and I'd like to have them digital before the tapes degrade even more. Once I finish those, I'm going to take my dad's home videos and digitize all of those as well. They were mostly shot on his camcorder with those small VHS tapes. I can't remember what they're called. Hi8's I believe? I'll clarify with him this week.

As far as recording mode, I am unfamiliar with this terminology, but it being Disney tapes for now, is there a way to know for sure? As for my dad's tapes, is there a way to tell on them as well?

My Disney movies are all from the 90's (1990, 1992, 1995), my dad's tapes are another story. Again, I'll clarify with him this week, but for now we can focus on the Disney VHS tapes.

I am unaware of any problems with the tapes except for one of them. Only because I recently watched it. It has that fuzzy black bar go up and down only for a second or two near the end of the tape. It makes a fuzzy noise with the audio. If that's unfixable, it's fine. It's not even that bad.

Hopefully that's some good info I provided. If there's more you need from me, ask away! Thank you for your help!

[lordsmurf]

SP for the Disney.

VHS-C and 8mm-based tapes (Video8, Hi8) are different. The same-ish for the signal processing, the capture/TBC needs. But the decks/cameras to play will be vastly different. A suggested Hi8 camera with line TBC may be in your future.

What about timing to acquire the gear, then start the project?

[ammonrose]

Okay great! I'll look around for a Hi8 camera with line TBC in it!

As far as timing goes, I've got all the time I need. There is no rush to get these tapes digitized. I want to make sure I know what gear I need to get, purchase it when I can afford it (depending how expensive certain tools are) and then digitize the tapes.

As for right now I'm focused on the Disney tapes since I have them with me currently. What would be the best setup for them? Hopefully my VCR is good, but what about the capture card and TBC?

[aramkolt]

Ah yes, the good old "best capture card" question haha. I've acquired like 10 different cards and still don't know the answer to that. I do plan to test them against each other though.

There are definitely some pros and cons to different chains. If you want the "best" captures, you'll probably want to capture lossless and keep in mind that those captures will take up around 40GB per hour. Yes, hard drive space is cheap these days, but working with large files like that can be annoying depending on your setup and if you are planning to make any backup copies of the lossless files.

You also may want to take into account if you want your capture card to be AGP, PCI, USB and if you'll be doing the post-processing on the same machine as you capture it on. Certain capture software works better in certain OS's as well.