VCR and video card question

[lexdiamond20]

Im currently looking for video card. Nothing special, just something to watch a few files on my compuetr. My main question is, I have alot of video cassettes that I would like to get put on either vcds or dvds. The only problem is, im not sure of what features a video card needs to allow me to do this. I see a couple of them that say DVI or VIVO. All of them say s-video but my TV is not s-video. I was wondering if I could get one that I can hook my basic vcr to and get the cassettes on my HD. Any help is greatly appreciated. :)

[Whyzman]

Hello lexdiamond20,

Welcome tohttp://www.pcguide.com/ubb/pcgubb.gif Forums!

ATI All-in-Wonder cards will assist you. However, if these are copy protected cassettes you'll be out of luck...

WinFast TV2000 XP I believe is another card...probably for a bit less that will allow you to play and record...I think the same thing though, if copy protected they will not work to record.

[lexdiamond20]

But exactly what features must a video card have to allow the capture?

[lexdiamond20]

Like can u describe to me what DVI, VIVO, and TV-Out is. Like i said, I dont have an S-video TV or VCR, but can I still get a video card that will make me capture the cassettes to my HD?

[Paleo Pete]

You need a video card with an RCA jack INPUT, not output. S-video is usually output so you can use a TV as a monitor. Most decent cards with inputs that work for a VCR/DVD should handle anything you throw at them. I'm not sure if anyone makes S-video INPUT yet, as far as I know either or both could ba available. RCA jacks have been the standard input for several years but S-Video may be taking its place.

[Inka]

One of the best methods of recording Video Casettes to digital format is the video capture card & software produces by Aver Media. (in my opinion)
http://www.averm.co.uk/avermedia/products/dvm.html

This will do most of the hard work for you.

It can technically be done with a Video / TV card combo too. The newer ATI cards are very good in my opinion but not as simple as the Aver solution.

If all you want to do is watch the videos on your pc (& not record them to digital) then a simple video / TV card combo will be cheapest.

[lexdiamond20]

But none of the video cards that I have looked at siad nothing about having RCA cables or inputs. My initial question was how would I know if they have these; would the card be labled as VIVO, DVI. etc...

[Inka]

All graphics cards (WITH TV) will have an RCA socket on them. Obviously you would normally connect the aerial to this. In your case connect the video.
My ATI card is labeled 'TV in' ...reasonably straight foreward :)

The important thing you will need to look for is the WITH TV bit. Like other have said the ATI All In Wonder cards are very popular.

[Beta Geek]

I think DVI stands for Digital Video Input while VIVO I would assume stands for Video In/Video Out.

Here are some S-Video-input cards:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=property&DEPA=1

Here are some coaxial-input cards:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=property&DEPA=1

Some of the cards above come with all sorts of adaptors. You can also get an external video input device that connects via USB, USB 2.0 and Firewire. I have the bottom of the line USB DVI bridge from Dazzle, which is ok for minor stuff, but really isn’t that great.

Here you can get an S-Video-to-RCA converter at Radio Shack (overpriced) or in the electronics section at most department stores. I know www.cyberguys.com has them as well.

Hope that helps!

[Beta Geek]

Crud! Those newegg links don’t work.

Try:
http://www.newegg.com/app/manufactory.asp?catalog=48&DEPA=1

And along the left of the screen select an option from the “First Input” drop-down menu.

[Whyzman]

Here's my take on things... :rolleyes:

I have both an ATI All-in-Wonder on one computer and a WinFast TV2000 XP on another.

The Winfast connectors provide the ability to input from numerous sources: There's an FM antenna input connector; a Coax input connector (this could connect from a TV, Antenna (cable or other), VCR, Camcorder, DVD/VCD player etc.,); composite input connectors (these would be your 3 or 4 wire dealys as in red/white RCAs for right and left channels of the audio, yellow RCA for Video, or S-Video).

The Winfast does not have VIVO (Video In/Video Out... VIVO allows for different output sources such as to a TV or other type of monitor (digital or analog).

The Winfast can display on your computer monitor full screen or PIP (picture in picture)...you can watch the Timberwolves while being on-line...:D or, just watch your monitor like it was a TV. Your playback will be confined to your monitor since you've no output options to send the signal elsewhere.

The Winfast can record to your harddrive, actually has "time shifting" (very similar to Tivo).

The All-in-Wonders have nearly all the capabilities of the Winfasts, but also does have VIVO and can output to my TV if I so desire or another monitor. The ATIs come with numerous adapters to allow you to hook up to almost any input devices...

Hope this helps! :)

[Whyzman]

Here's a good read on DVI:

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.html?i=1577

For the purposes you are asking, namely being able to record to HDD and burn to disk, the DVI aspect of a video card would be confined to display output and therefore a moot point...

(Ramblings) :D I know Samsung, and more than likely others by now, are making a fully digital DVD player that works in conjunction with their DLP (Digital Light Processing) TVs, so the signal never has to be "analog translated."

The output on the setup I saw was "crystal!" :cool:

[lexdiamond20]

Whyzman, are u saying that the quality wont be good when I place the footage on my HD?

[Whyzman]

Anytime you are transfering from one media format to another there will be some loss of signal...In your case you're moving from cassette to HDD to CD or DVD...

Making the switch to a digital copy on your HDD will result in some loss of signal (how much?? If from magnetic cassette tape...you might notice something...although, VCRs don't produce a DVD like signal to begin with).

Transfering to CD or DVD from the HDD...I would say negligible loss...

From there it would depend on what you chose to display on...

I was just pointing out that the future holds some great technological advancements that will assist in our viewing pleasure...If we can take a digital signal and display digital without having to go through an analog conversion in the process...that would be good! :)

[Beta Geek]

The loss in quality also depends on what type of encoding you use to compress the video when it is saved to your hard drive.

The higher quality you chose will result in higher file sizes. However, newer codecs tend to yield better quality and relatively smaller file sizes.

Please note that I’m talking in general terms of encoding video. My low-end dazzle USB DV bridge is simply a video capture device and does not allow for real-time encoding or display apart from a video editing device such as Premier, VideoWave, or other like software. I don’t know how a TV tuner card or DV/VIVO card encodes the video/saves the video to the hard drive.

[kiosk]

Hey buddy, if you're planning to encode digital video from VHS, you might as well forget about it right now - it's a big waste of time. The end result will look really bad on a computer, too bad to be useful at all. If your tapes are recorded in longplay mode, the picture will jitter and general quality will be abysmal. You might have more luck with factory-recorded tapes but regarding anything else, it's a big waste of time.

If you want to encode computer video that won't be painful to watch, you need a better video source, such as a LaserDisc or a DVD.

[lexdiamond20]

Hey thanks Kiosk, that really helps alot.:)

[Inka]

Sorry Kiosk but I have to disagree with you.

I have transferred my entire Video collection onto DVD's. Ok so it was only about 30 Videos but the point is.. Quality is as good as watching the video direct to a TV.

The only obvious loss of quality is due to video tape degredation - some of the tapes must be 15 years old. However still perfectly watchable :cool: & I would have the loss of quality with that video no matter what.

There, thats me done.

Oh, I used the AVER Media capture card, I mentioned that earlier in this post tho. Got myself a nice collection of DVD's instead now, All chapterised & so on. I think its a great idea. :D

[Beta Geek]

Kiosk, sorry but I have to disagree as well. I’ve seen many videos encoded in both DIVX AVI (preferably DIVX 4 and above) and MPEG, and the quality was limited mostly be the encoding and compression used. Granted, I haven’t gotten good results myself, but I am using a bottom-of-the-line USB device. As long as it’s done right, with good equipment, the quality is not that bad.

But then again, “quality” is extremely subjective, and my opinion of quality may be a lot lower than your standards. ;)

[lexdiamond20]

Well tha VHS tapes that I want to transfer were only made less than a year ago. I rented a couple of dvds and transfered them to vhs because it was cheaper for me that way. But now since im building a new pc, I will be able to put those vhs tapes on dvds or even vcds, allowing me to get rid of the bulky tapes. So, besides what Kiosk said, it is ok to transfer these tapes without losing much quality?

BTW, since the tapes were made from DVDs and less than a tear ago, they look almost perfect when I play them, even though they were recorded in 6 hour mode. But if worse comes to worse, I guess ill just have to re-rent the dvds again (which I dont really wanna do) and just copy hem to dvd. :confused:

[Inka]

If you have a pile of videos you want to put on CD I would recommend a video capture card. In my opinion it simplifies the whole process. (both hardware & software - the bundled software is excellent) The Aver one I linked to earlier is the one I use (pci version) & it really is as good as it says. :D

Some graphics cards (with TV such as the ATI All In Wonders mentioned earlier) will do the job but its nothing like as easy to do (in my opinion)

For your information.. legally you are only allowed to copy videos that you actually own. If you do not have the original you should not have a copy. :rolleyes:

Cheers, Inka.