Good component capture card for Betacam SP, VirtualDub?
 

Forgive me if this has been discussed, but I'm looking for recommendations for a capture card with component inputs to be used with a UVW-1800 Beta SP machine on Windows 10 or 11.

I checked around the forum and have seen some general recommendations for Aja and Matrox cards, but I've also seen some threads that mention Matrox doesn't seem to have the best codecs and doesn't play well with VirtualDub.

I'm not opposed to using other capture software (I know Premiere Pro can capture with some of these cards and Matrox has their own software) but I'm very much hoping to capture lossless and relatively painlessly. If I have to use another capture software then so be it, but if anyone has recommendations for the capture hardware, that would be greatly appreciated.

BM Intensity Shuttle is known to work well over component, just not from consumer VCRs via composite or S-Video, BrightEye 75 is a good device for component acquisition but pricy and hard to find. There are half decent devices that can get the job done over component such as some Elgato's and StarTech's, But there is a plethora of chinese knock offs and game capture boxes that you should stay away from.

Thank you for the response. I've seen Blackmagic's Intensity Shuttle mentioned a few times, but I've been extremely nervous about it due to the reasons you mentioned here in regard to consumer formats. I recall it's because of the weak or inconsistent signal specifically that causes the card to drop frames (please correct me if I'm wrong). I take it by your phrasing leaving out the Intensity 4k that only the Intensity Shuttle specifically works well in component?

I've had less than stellar success with Elgato products in the past, but the few Startech products I've used work well enough. I assume though that the Startech capture boxes are limited to h.264?

I saw you mentioned knock-off cards, do you happen to know if the AJA Kona LHi has been bootleged? I see the price of a new unit is around $1200, but "used" units on eBay are around $200 even including the breakout box. That seems a bit off to me.

The UVW-1800 does have an internal timebase corrector and should be stable enough for an immediate conversion to SDI with something like a Blackmagic Analog to SDI mini converter without an additional timebase corrector. From there, whatever you like that'll take standard definition 480i SDI input. The AJA KiPro also does have analog component input and can record in up to ProRes422HQ, and while not technically lossless, it is 10 bit instead of 8 bit and is generally considered visually lossless.

SDI is essentially digital component over a single wire (and can contain audio as a bonus) and it can also be losslessly converted to HDMI, but not all cards will capture 480i HDMI either.

Good to know the strength of the UVW's TBC should provide good stability. I intend to grab the optional TBC box to go with it to select between Frame and Line as well. In regard to SDI conversion, that's good to know it could realistically open more pathways should I grab a converter box.

From what you've said here, it's seeming like the AJA KiPro would be a good option as well. Judging by the comparison sheet on the website, the KI Pro Rack does not only ProRes, but also has XLR audio inputs. That seems like it'll be the prime choice for me, this suggestion was a huge help!

I use Blackmagic Intensity Pro (old one, discontinued, not the new, 4K one).
It is calibrate-able.
Note that it captures using full range. You need to "compress" it into the limited one.
It works best with the latest VirtualDub2.

The main downside to the Rack version is that it doesn't have RCA audio inputs whereas the regular version does. Both versions allow for XLR in/out. Both KiPros are also kind of nice because they can cross convert and have passthroughs, so you could feed it component and then use the HDMI or SDI output to do live viewing of the signal on a more modern monitor and you can even use the RCA outputs to monitor your XLR inputs. The regular version also has composite output that you could use for live monitoring on a more basic CRT. I'd say the main advantage to the rack version is that it has an integrated power supply and probably has better cooling, but I've never seen a failed KiPro as opposed to lots of failed Blackmagic stuff that likes to overheat to the point of damage sometimes.

I will say that the KiPro can't do uncompressed captures whereas some Blackmagic products can, though they'll usually be 8 bit in those cases.

Also keep in mind that both Blackmagic and AJA standalone capture products of that era tend to capture to MacOS formatted drives (HFS+), so you might need to install third party software to pull the content off of the drives if you don't have a Mac available.

AJA also requires hard drive modules that can get a little pricy, but you can just take any size module and install a modern SSD - I've tried up to 2TB with no issues.

Last and final thing I'll say about the AJA is that it records audio L and R as two separate mono audio tracks, so you do have to combine those later into a single stereo track either with a NLE or a FFMPEG script.

This is all exceptionally helpful information, particularly in regard to the audio. Does the AJA record the audio as separate files from the video, or are the dual mono tracks at least synced to the video in some way? My intent was to hook up the outputs to my interface, then record a stereo track in Reaper at 24/96. Worse comes to worse I suppose can transfer the video and audio via S-video with my VHS capture card and have that synced file to go off of in regard to aligning the tracks to the ProRes video.

The lack of uncompressed captures I'm alright with as well, as is the monitoring. I use both a Sony PVM and a modern LCD for monitoring, so direct connections are no issue on that front at least. Extremely good to know about the SSD and the Mac formatting, I'll have to look into that. Thank you everyone for the suggestions, I feel much more confident about making a selection now and all the information shared here has been extremely informative.

If you can find a PCI card or a USB3 device that can capture directly from component and audio avoid SDI, It will require an additional SDI to USB adaptation, Unless you are going for a SDI recorder so you don't have to mess with a computer or your Betacam deck is equipped with a SDI digital output.

Aja, Matrox, BM and the likes of pro devices are good, there is no knock offs of them as far as I know, but the newer ones are expensive.

Blackmagic Intensity Pro (both 2K and 4K) works fine with component, I use them for Betacam SP.
At least particular cards what has problems with s-video worked fine with component and HDMI.
Do not know about Intensity Shuttle, never tried for component.
But composite and s-video is another story. Some time ago I decided to switch to Pinnacle 710-USB.

4K version crashes blacks and whites when using Component connection.
And it gives a moire when using Composite/S-Video connection.
So, big NO.

You are talking about particular 4K card or have tested several the same model cards? For BM it is common problem particular cards can be defective.

Well, I'm not a QC department for BM. I tested only one particular unit of 4K model.
After I learned about this problem, I started googling and found out I was not alone.
I even contacted their support. After exchanging several emails regarding this issue, I received the following response:
I'm afraid to disappoint you, but that's more like an urban legend, when "some" cards could be defective.
It's not like they produce them individually. More to it, it mostly depends on the firmware, not the hardware, because Composite/S-Video mode don't have such problem.

And you are wrong. My friend is BM dealer so I was able to test several cards and return defective. BM quality control (I doubt there is any) is in very low level. And no support at all. That moire you mentioned I have noticed on two 4K cards (one both composite and s-video input, another only s-video), another 2 I tested was fine. But anyway Pinnacle 710-USB is better for s-video.

Moire is definitely a hardware issue. They might had slightly different PCB layout or extra shielding to avoid the interference.
However, you don't mention any testing of crashing blacks and whites. Have you done any?

They was exactly the same cards, when I found problems, returned and got another (nearly impossible, if BM dealer is not your friend :)). No, I did not tested them specially for black and white crashing. But I did not noticed such problems last time when I used component input (about 2 years ago). But thanks for reporting a potential problem, I will pay attention next time I connect a component.

Both mono audio tracks are synced to the video as usual, so it's just a single MOV file per capture. The audio is 1.15Mbit/s per channel - or it'll become 2.30Mbit/s if you combine the two into a stereo track after capture with an FFMpeg script. The audio format is Linear PCM 24 bit / 48KHz, so you can probably get away without using a separate audio interface unless you reeeeeealy want 96KHz.

I do have some betacam players and random pre-recorded tapes, so I really should get around to doing a demo of what that looks like captured on the KiPro. Almost all the stuff on my youtube channel at this point is from U-Matic and captured via the KiPro, but U-Matic is just composite/S-Video at best, so component via betacam should look quite a bit better than this 1981 U-Matic recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51F4jNfKeNY