Trying out video capture

[dukenukem]

http://www.circuitcity.com/detail.jsp?c=1&b=g&qp=0&bookmark=bookmark_0&oid=29253&catoid=-10266

that's one of the capture cards i am stuck with probably getting,i have a 534mhz intel celeron,32megs sdram,32meg geforce2mx200 pci,8.01gb hdd,i was wondering if this card can capture from my vcr with the composite connection,also does any one else have this card?Would it work with virtualdub or iuvcr which i have seen people say is pretty good.

[sfheath]

I have this card but was bitterly disappointed with the frame dropout on recording, this with a 2.6GHz Pentium 4 so I would warn you your processor is severely underpowered. I recommend a card with a hardware encoder to take the encoding away from the processor. Your memory sounds a little low too for video work. Others may disagree.
One thing for sure; you will fill up 8Gb hard drive rather quickly. Were you thinking of progressing to DVD?

[dukenukem]

Were you recording video from the capture software the card comes with or with another program like virtualdub,iuvcr?

[sfheath]

I had at the time only tried the Hauppauge software. I've not experimented with any other yet. I've since bought the Nova-t freeview terrestrial card. Seriously better picture but drawback is no analogue input.
I keep meaning to try the WinTVGo with the software from www.showshifter.com
Their DVB version is very good but my trial's run out and I just can't afford the £43 to register just yet.
I'm at work at the moment but shall try VDubMod on the WinTVGo later and let you know.

[sfheath]

OK, I tried 30 second recording with the VCR coming in on composite. All following is uncompressed avi.
At 768x576, 25fps, I was getting 230 frames dropped, roughly equating to 4% This on a 2.6GHz P4 with 512Mb RAM
Lowering the framerate to 15fps gave zero dropped frames but looks ghastly.
Staying at 25fps but dropping size to 384x288 gave one single dropped frame and looked ok
Oh, and sound wasn't coming through though that's probably down to my connections.
I'd guess your machine at 25fps and 384x288 might be ok but borderline. If you're staying with that processor I strongly recommend a hardware encoder.
Regards, Steve.