I'm planning to build a Windows 7 or Windows XP box to capture some old VHS (and perhaps Hi8 tapes).
1. Cards vs. USB. If I can find the right ATI Radeon AIW AGP card (I'm looking at a 9800 Pro AIW now), is it strictly better than the ATI 600 USB?
I found some threads stating that the cards are better, slightly, because they allow more fine control over input values than the USB device. However, most people seem to recommend going with the USB device simply because it is easier to find and easier to interface with the computer. Is that a correct understanding?
2. Finding the correct AIW dongle. I know getting a AIW card to be useful relies on finding the correct dongle. Among the many very helpful FAQs and guides I found while searching this site, I was surprised that I couldn't find a useful guide on matching the correct AIW dongle to the correct AIW card (apparently there are a lot of card-specific dongles). Does any such guide exist?
I found an ATI dongle with part number 6140004600: does anyone know which AIW cards this is compatible with?
3. CPU and system spec recommendations. If I'm going to "build" a capture box with an ATI AGP card, I'm probably not going to actually build a new-old PC from scratch. I'll probably just find an already-built used PC and throw in the Radeon. It's been a long time since I was alive in the AGP era, though. Can someone refresh my memory as to what would be good system specs for a PC from that era?
I don't need the very best CPU, but since any PCs from that era should be dirt cheap, I think I might as well aim for the top 10% of AGP-era CPUs since the price difference is probably $10 or less. What AMD or Intel CPUs should I be aiming for? Similarly, my memory tells me that 8GB of RAM was "high-end" for that era, but I'd probably be OK with a minimum of 4GB. Any thoughts?
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