Advice on hardware

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

I just unexpectedly was given a DVD recorder drive. Now I need to be able to
import video etc into the computer, a 900 mHz Athlon system. Don't have a
camcorder, but would like to record off cable TV and external video sources,
like a vcr or laserdisc player.

I presume I need a cable tuner / video capture card of some sort. Probably
need USB2 at some point also. I have an open 5 1/4" drive bay - is there an
audio / video patch bay that would fit there?

Suggestions PLEASE !

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

On Fri, 27 May 2005 09:06:33 GMT, "Mark D. Zacharias"
<spammenot@yis.us> wrote:

>I just unexpectedly was given a DVD recorder drive. Now I need to be able to
>import video etc into the computer, a 900 mHz Athlon system. Don't have a
>camcorder, but would like to record off cable TV and external video sources,
>like a vcr or laserdisc player.
>
>I presume I need a cable tuner / video capture card of some sort.

Yes, the tuner part if you dont' want to have to tune via a
separate cable tv tuner box (which would still be necessary
for scrambled premium channels), and typically s-Video input
(plus an included adapter as needed) for the other external
analog video.

>Probably
>need USB2 at some point also.

?
Not to capture the video you don't, unless you choose an
external MPEG encoder box that attaches by USB2, which is a
reasonable option for someone with no available PCI slots
but otherwise no better, sometimes worse and less flexible.


>I have an open 5 1/4" drive bay - is there an
>audio / video patch bay that would fit there?

Do you need one?
It probalby won't gain you anything, having an S-video cable
attached at the back is enough and puts the connection in a
more accessible location. The bay would just be a longer
run with more mechanical connections which potentially
degrades the signal more... plus I don't recall any with the
tuner in the bay meaning you'd have to route a still cable
tv cable elsewhere.


>
>Suggestions PLEASE !
>

The typical generic PCI tuner/capture card will do the job.
If you will always want MPEG2 compression and little to no
editing, consider a hardware-compression type capture card
as it will reduce the workload on the CPU- a 900MHz Athlon
isn't relatively very fast for such a CPU intensive task as
video compression.

Particular makes and models can depend more on your personal
preference for the bundled software, what you need but what
interface catches your eye as well. FOr that you need to
seek some reviews of cards.

 

[km]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

On Fri, 27 May 2005 09:06:33 GMT, "Mark D. Zacharias"
<spammenot@yis.us> wrote:

>I just unexpectedly was given a DVD recorder drive. Now I need to be able to
>import video etc into the computer, a 900 mHz Athlon system. Don't have a
>camcorder, but would like to record off cable TV and external video sources,
>like a vcr or laserdisc player.
>
>I presume I need a cable tuner / video capture card of some sort. Probably
>need USB2 at some point also. I have an open 5 1/4" drive bay - is there an
>audio / video patch bay that would fit there?
>
>Suggestions PLEASE !
>
I recently bought an:

ADS video input USB2

on behalf of someone else. I tried it before passing it on. Very good
piece of equipment. I captured via analogue camcorder and VHS recorder
to test for dropped frames - there were none. The capture size 640x480
(I think this was the setting I was using) was handled with no
difficulty. It came with one of Ulead's editing programmes (I think it
was v8) in the UK.

KM