I'm wanting to capture video from various analog or digital sources. What is the best device to use to do this? Should I get a Video capture card or USB 2.0 Video capture device? What should I look for?
The BEST way is with a Time Base Corrector such as the Canopus ADVC-100, but expensive. The next best way, is with a capture card that has built in mpeg-2 hardware encoding, such as the Hauppauge PVR-250/350 or 500. The next best way, is to capture with a cheap BT878 chipset card, and then encode with software. Quality is an issue here (in some cases), as well as the amount of time it may take. IMHO don't use USB for capture.
MPEG-2 encoding with software or hardware is better? Why not those USB capture devices? I want the best quality with the 29.9 fps & NTSC (720 x 480)
The BEST quality is with the Canopus. The next best is with a hardware encoder card. Hardware is usually better than software, and much faster! USB rarely can capture at full NTSC 720x480 29.97fps.
This USB video capture device says it can do 720x480 29.97fps. http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=580965&Sku=A03-7042
Yes. Please read the fine print. Do you have USB 2.0 and a computer fast enough to use it? Does it give only minimum specs you need, or does it have "suggested"? Does your computer system meet those specs? If you decide to get that, make sure you can return it if it doesn't do full NTSC mpeg-2 captures witout dropping ANY frames. 1 dropped frame per hour you may not notice, but one dropped frame every 5 minutes, and your audio will be so far out of sync by the end of a 2 hour capture...even with their "audio lock technology"...(yes, I'm skeptical) Read this really comprehensive review: http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Reviews/Specific.aspx?ArticleId=11532 If it works, great. But you lose out over a card, because it has no tuner, so you can't capture live TV.
