Best S-Video Capture Card/PC vs Canopus ADVC-110?

will-3 wrote on 12/4/2010, 8:46 AM

We have a need to stream video from an s-video source.

We were considering a Canopus ADVC 110 unit but wondered ...

1 - What are the best choices for internal Video Capture cards?
2 - Can we buy one that is good enough to keep the video & audio in sync?
3 - Are any of you using a capture card? For streaming or video conferencing?
4 - If so what and how does it work?
5 - Please include a mfg & model number so we can find it online.

The cards should be less expensive than the $220 Canopus box... but there are actually other reasons we are considering an internal card.

Yes, in this case we are stuck with s-video :)

Thanks for any comments on the best s-video capture cards.

Comments

Steve Mann wrote on 12/4/2010, 9:01 AM

Stream and capture is Apples and Rocks - nothing in common at all.

I use an old Canopus ADVC-100 to convert component audio/video to Firewire for capture. The 100 and the 110 have an S-video input, but my VHS player doesn't so S-video.

If I had to do it again, I would have purchased the ADVC-300 which has a TBC built in.

Now, if you want to stream video from an S-video source, then you're talking about a lot more money. And a completely different subject thread.

will-3 wrote on 12/4/2010, 9:48 AM

Canopus or internal card - both must convert analog video to digital if the source is s-video. So at level it is apples & apples.

Then the issue is how the PC will see the input and that is probably a driver issue.

In this case we are forced to take video from an s-video distribution unit.

The video will feed a PC which is sending video back for an online video conference using a service like Skype or whatever.

No, we can't avoid the s-video source right now.

Can anyone suggest an internal card that may work for this... one that has an s-video & audio connectors on it... and will keep the video & audio in sync... and one the PC will see as a legit video source.

Thanks for any help.

amendegw wrote on 12/4/2010, 10:09 AM

"Can anyone suggest an internal card that may work for this... one that has an s-video & audio connectors on it... and will keep the video & audio in sync... and one the PC will see as a legit video source."I really hesitate to recommend this, but I have a Canopus ACEdvio internal card that has s-video & audio connectors. I'm not sure that this card is still made but you can still find vendors with supplies (there's also eBay). Also, there are some reports that users have had problems Win7 compatiblity - although configuring it with the Legacy OHCI driver seems to work fine for me.

So, if I had to do it again I think I'd get the ADVC-300 'cuz I've read good things about it's TBC.

Good Luck!
...Jerry

Opampman wrote on 12/4/2010, 10:45 AM

The card Jerry is talking about is the Canopus ADVC 1394. It's is a great card with RCA. S-video and firewire inputs. But, I have not seen it in the catalog since Grass Valley bought Canopus. It also had a front panel extension that mounted in a drive bay so you didn't need access to the rear of the computer.

JohnnyRoy wrote on 12/4/2010, 11:04 AM

I use the Canopus ADVC-300 and I love it. It has time based correction for capturing older tapes. Since you won't need TBC for live capture I'd say the Canopus ADVC-110 should do a great job. If you want to go cheaper there is the Canopus ADVC-55 which is input only (no output). I wouldn't get anything cheaper than the ADVC-55. This is not an area to skimp since the "garbage in... garbage out" rule applies here.

~jr

farss wrote on 12/4/2010, 12:01 PM

The card you are after would be something like the Osprey 240 I believe.

Bob.

John_Cline wrote on 12/4/2010, 12:12 PM

DV is limited to the 4:1:1 colorspace which can produce strange artiifacts on high contrast color graphics and also if you output that to DVD, you end up with 4:1:0 colorspace which contains only 12.5% of the original color information. I tend to avoid DV whenever possible.

The Blackmagic Design Intensity Pro is an internal PC card which can capture SD using composite, s-video, component or 720p and 1080i HD using component and HDMI. It's under $200. It records 4:2:2 to uncompressed YUV or MJPEG which Vegas handles just fine. If you have Cineform NeoHD, you can also capture directly to the 10-bit Cineform codec using the Intensity Pro.

http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/intensity/

As for streaming, that is probably easier to use DV as more streaming software supports SD DV via Firewire. However, Telestream's Wirecast streaming software does support the Intensity and there may be others.

Kanst wrote on 12/6/2010, 2:27 PM

Will_3
As I understand, you already has an s-video unit?
If it has built-in TBC just find PCI-E PC TV-Tuner with onboard hardware MPEG2 encoder (~$100).
Something like Compro VideoMate Vista E850F
or AVerTV Ultra PCI-E RDS