Looking for a good analog capture device to transfer analog video into digital....

Videomonster wrote on 7/18/2003, 1:04 AM
I am looking for a device like the Canopus ADVC-100, to capture analog video onto my computer and make it digital, and ready for editing. I need something in the price range of about $200-$250. The canopus ADVC-100 looks good, but I have no expeirence with analog capure, and don't know if this is right for me. I need something that can capure the analog video, and transfer it to my computer via firewire. Should I be getting something cheaper that transfers via USB or more expensive with firewire? What are the disadvantages of USB? Please Help!

Thanks in advance for your feedback!

-Videomonster

Comments

RBartlett wrote on 7/18/2003, 1:55 AM
USB devices are often 320x240 USB 1 or sometimes MPEG-2 on either USB1 or USB2. (the latter on USB2 being able to do MPEG-2 at rates just below 20Mbps with audio etc).

Cheaper and better than DV:: (you need good cables for all these types of analogue capture + if your source has dodgy sync, none of them will timebase correct just "field store".
Consider a LeadTek WinTV2000XP, it has a good signal path (noise immunity is fine for neighbouring cards), SVIDEO capture, 720x480 full frame rate, ideally in its YUY2 mode. Capture with www.jpg.com's PICvideo MJPEG capture, giving you 4:2:2 constant quality (Q=17 is fine, Q=19 is better than DV IMHO.) You need at least a PII celeron 400 and a drive capable of sustaining about 5MB/sec. So if you are doing DV already you'll be fine. The only disadvantage with MJPEG to DV in Vegas is that it isn't one of the two file formats that can, when you leave it alone on the timeline, passthrough Vegas - it will always re-render (to DV in your case).

Depending on the quality/res. of your analogue source, you can get much better keys with 4:2:2 than with 4:1:1 (or 4:2:0) DV.

The LeadTek card is a cheaper version of a Hauppauge WinTV card, but is certain to have SVIDEO and solid drivers without ferreting about. US$60, plus US$18 fr PICvideo. (instead of PIC, you could try Matrox DigiSuite codec pack, caveat emptor, freebie). Resist Connexant Cx2388x based capture cards just for a few more months. It has a better design (10bit YUV and RGB + comb filter) but poor WDM drivers.

These cards are often extremely badly overlooked. True - it has taken advances in PCs to really take advantage of their highest capture mode.

Oh, you'll possibly want ShowShifter.com's product (which comes with PICvideo codec included). Most capture apps don't appreciate that the preview bus has to drop to quarter frame whilst the capture-bus is running at full frame (DV/D1) - I think Vegas capture has this lack of understanding.

After all this - an analogue->DV has the advantage of DV-out without wearing out your camera. This would be lower quality than 4:2:2 D1 if that is instead more pertinent?

Sold?
RBartlett wrote on 7/18/2003, 1:57 AM
USB devices are often 320x240 USB 1 or sometimes MPEG-2 on either USB1 or USB2. (the latter on USB2 being able to do MPEG-2 at rates just below 20Mbps with audio etc).

Cheaper and better than DV:: (you need good cables for all these types of analogue capture + if your source has dodgy sync, none of them will timebase correct just "field store".
Consider a LeadTek WinTV2000XP, it has a good signal path (noise immunity is fine for neighbouring cards), SVIDEO capture, 720x480 full frame rate, ideally in its YUY2 mode. Capture with www.jpg.com's PICvideo MJPEG capture, giving you 4:2:2 constant quality (Q=17 is fine, Q=19 is better than DV IMHO.) You need at least a PII celeron 400 and a drive capable of sustaining about 5MB/sec. So if you are doing DV already you'll be fine. The only disadvantage with MJPEG to DV in Vegas is that it isn't one of the two file formats that can, when you leave it alone on the timeline, passthrough Vegas - it will always re-render (to DV in your case).

Depending on the quality/res. of your analogue source, you can get much better keys with 4:2:2 than with 4:1:1 (or 4:2:0) DV.

The LeadTek card is a cheaper version of a Hauppauge WinTV card, but is certain to have SVIDEO and solid drivers without ferreting about. US$60, plus US$18 fr PICvideo. (instead of PIC, you could try Matrox DigiSuite codec pack, caveat emptor, freebie). Resist Connexant Cx2388x based capture cards just for a few more months. It has a better design (10bit YUV and RGB + comb filter) but poor WDM drivers.

These cards are often extremely badly overlooked. True - it has taken advances in PCs to really take advantage of their highest capture mode.

Oh, you'll possibly want ShowShifter.com's product (which comes with PICvideo codec included). Most capture apps don't appreciate that the preview bus has to drop to quarter frame whilst the capture-bus is running at full frame (DV/D1) - I think Vegas capture has this lack of understanding.

After all this - an analogue->DV has the advantage of DV-out without wearing out your camera. This would be lower quality than 4:2:2 D1 if that is instead more pertinent?

Sold?
RBartlett wrote on 7/18/2003, 1:58 AM
USB devices are often 320x240 USB 1 or sometimes MPEG-2 on either USB1 or USB2. (the latter on USB2 being able to do MPEG-2 at rates just below 20Mbps with audio etc).

Cheaper and better than DV:: (you need good cables for all these types of analogue capture + if your source has dodgy sync, none of them will timebase correct just "field store".
Consider a LeadTek WinTV2000XP, it has a good signal path (noise immunity is fine for neighbouring cards), SVIDEO capture, 720x480 full frame rate, ideally in its YUY2 mode. Capture with www.jpg.com's PICvideo MJPEG capture, giving you 4:2:2 constant quality (Q=17 is fine, Q=19 is better than DV IMHO.) You need at least a PII celeron 400 and a drive capable of sustaining about 5MB/sec. So if you are doing DV already you'll be fine. The only disadvantage with MJPEG to DV in Vegas is that it isn't one of the two file formats that can, when you leave it alone on the timeline, passthrough Vegas - it will always re-render (to DV in your case).

Depending on the quality/res. of your analogue source, you can get much better keys with 4:2:2 than with 4:1:1 (or 4:2:0) DV.

The LeadTek card is a cheaper version of a Hauppauge WinTV card, but is certain to have SVIDEO and solid drivers without ferreting about. US$60, plus US$18 fr PICvideo. (instead of PIC, you could try Matrox DigiSuite codec pack, caveat emptor, freebie). Resist Connexant Cx2388x based capture cards just for a few more months. It has a better design (10bit YUV and RGB + comb filter) but poor WDM drivers.

These cards are often extremely badly overlooked. True - it has taken advances in PCs to really take advantage of their highest capture mode.

Oh, you'll possibly want ShowShifter.com's product (which comes with PICvideo codec included). Most capture apps don't appreciate that the preview bus has to drop to quarter frame whilst the capture-bus is running at full frame (DV/D1) - I think Vegas capture has this lack of understanding.

After all this - an analogue->DV has the advantage of DV-out without wearing out your camera. This would be lower quality than 4:2:2 D1 if that is instead more pertinent?

Sold?
donp wrote on 7/18/2003, 8:46 AM
Check the Canopus AVDC forum there has been some discussion on USB-2 vs Firewire for DVD tranfer from the ADVC-100 to the PC. There is no USB ADVC-100 for a good reason. The USB burst rate might be a good as Firewire for it cannot be maintained stay with firewire or get the AVDC-1394 or another converter card. I have that one and captured analog for a long time with it with excellent results.