video capture hardware

[elad]

I am adding a video capture board and would like to find reviews before I make a purchase. Anyone?:
Thanx in advance

[reboot]

What do you want to capture with it? (VHS, TV, ?)
How new and how fast is your computer?
Do you have more than one hard drive?
What operating system are you using?

[elad]

I have a relatively new computer (amd athlon 3200) hard drive is 160gb. I want to record vhs and video from my dish PVR.
Thank you

[elad]

I haev winXP and one hard drive
sorry about taking two when one will do

[Alien Bay]

Elad, I bought AverMedia's DVD EZMaker. Its an external device that plugs into USB 2.0 I have copied all my old videos from my non-digital video camera and backed up a couple of old VCR tapes. It worked great.

[reboot]

Although USB devices do work, somewhat, there are quality issues to worry about.
The quickest way, is to just purchase a DVD Recorder.
This doesn't allow any editing, but it's fast, and quality is good.
Still a little pricey.
The next best, is a hardware capture card. These record directly to DVD spec mpeg-2, ready to edit, author and burn.
Best bet in this category is the Hauppauge PVR-250.
The cheapest is a "soft" capture card, which relies totally on your CPU power to capture. Any hiccup, and you get dropped frames, out of sync audio, and all sorts of problems can arise.
If you do NOTHING else on the computer while capturing, you CAN get excellent quality AVI's, which then will require encoding.
The process is longer by a LOT, but very cheap. The card is about $30 and software is free.
Somwhere in the middle are USB devices. Some are "soft" and others have a hardware encoder built in. Get one with hardware if at all possible.
At the high end are TBC devices. These give the BEST quality when capturing VHS, but no tuner, so you would have to leave the VCR hooked up to watch and capture live TV.
Personal preference here is the PVR-250/350/500. Hardware encoder, built in TV tuner, and superb quality with speed.

[tony7914]

Originally posted by elad
I have a relatively new computer (amd athlon 3200) hard drive is 160gb. I want to record vhs and video from my dish PVR.
Thank you

hi there,
i use an MSI TV@nywhere master in my system it's an older card but works well for me.

http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=TV@nywhere_Master&class=vga

it works well with dish and VHS and isn't very expensive. also you can capture from the card with Nero vision as well.

[Grinch]

Take a look at the Video Advantage PCI from Turtle Beach