Should I build dedicated capture PC?
 

I am looking forward several months into the future when I'll have the foundations for a decent capture setup (Panasonic ES10, good non-TBC JVC S-VHS deck and a Pinnacle USB capture card from LS). My current computer is decently fast and has been working great with VirtualDub even with it using Windows 10 at the moment. After acquiring the equipment, should I build a whole dedicated capture PC with Windows XP and a solid quad-core processor, or can I use my main modern computer (but booting into offline Windows 7, solely for capturing)?

Well, it's up to you, but I would. I get results that I like with a dedicated capture machine running Windows XP SP3. I restored a computer my family bought long ago, put a new HDD in it, and installed Windows XP SP3, fully patched, and then loaded the software and drivers for my video card (which is an ATI All-In-Wonder) onto that machine. Other than VirtualDub, MyPal web browser, and a couple of other tools, there is no other software on the computer. This means it boots up extremely quickly and video transfer projects don't have competition for CPU, RAM, or disk space. Note that Windows XP 32-bit cannot properly make use of more than 3 GB of RAM. Older software doesn't know how to properly make use of lots of cores, either, so a processor with fewer cores but fast clock speeds works well.

No, if you can get your Pinnacle stick working with Windows 10. My Win 10 system (i5) works with my 710-USB (initially a bit of a fiddle with the "Crossbar thingee" and occasional VDub restarts and reboots) but in the main, it's OK. I've never had any problem with dropped frames or other capture dramas, and my machine is chocka block with all sorts of software. Plenty of BIG GPT hard drives makes life really easy managing whopper AVIs with Win 10 64bit.

Fallback is to Win 7.

Desperation is Win XP.

:)

It is your decision and should be based on your aims and intent.

If you are getting good results with your current setup (i.e., that you are happy with) there is no compelling reason to change.

However, if this is a hobby and you enjoy tinkering and have nothing more important to do with your time and resources than go for it.

If this is a contingent question, you could start accumulating the needed stuff, then resell it if you decide against it.