TV/Video Capture Card (transferring video cassettes to video files)

[RoksGoldenSmile]

So I'd quite like to be able to make video files of footage I have on video cassettes, that I can store on my laptop (which has plenty of memory) & upload to the 'net from there. I've been looking at some capture cards on Amazon's site but it seems like there's more involved in it than I thought... for example, one review of a card warned that it only worked for camcorder footage & that it only worked on AV-Out. I don't know a great deal about the technicalities of all this so I wondered if anyone can recommend a particular card that works?

Also, I'm guessing all you need is a capture card that you plug into the back of your TV (my TV is very new so there shouldn't be any compatibility problems) & then afterwards, you plug the card into your computer through USB. Is that right? I discovered you can buy editing suites etc. but I'm really not interested in editing any footage, I just wanna be able to transfer some BSB footage on VHS to say .mpeg or .wmv...(or .avi or .qt - whatever! I can probably d/l a converter to change the file type if I want to later anyway, right?) I got a little confused when I read the description for this capture card:- http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000DG4V4/qid%3D1089125575/ref%3Dsr%5F8%5Fxs%5Fap%5Fi1%5Fxgl/026-7725236-9586829
as it says "Turn your PC into a video editing studio with the help of MainActor Video Editing Suite, which allows the editing and sequencing of videos. " im guessing thats an optional extra to buy that suite but I just wanna check incase anyone knows, that doesn't mean that you HAVE to purchase that before it'll work does it? Just thought I might as well ask...

Anyway if anyone can give an insight into this stuff, please do :)

[RoksGoldenSmile]

Oh yeah I forgot to say that my laptop is FireWire enabled & has USB etc... so that should help I think. I think you also need a particular cable as well don't you?

[lallybrooky]

As far as I know, there are PCI which are PC only PMCIA laptop only, both of which fit inside the machine...and then USB/Firewire which are for either, which is probably would be what you want considering you probably don't want to have to fit it.

http://www.videohelp.com/capturecards.php

It depends on how much you want to spend/what kind of quality video to want to capture...whether you want to be able to watch TV on your computer, whether you want terrestial TV/digital/from a VCR

A TV/cap card is on my mind at the moment, so I'll let you know if I find any bargains ;)

[TrueB&B_BritFan]

there are several ways to transfer stuff from VHS to "digital" file formats..

one option is if you have a separate dedicated "video capture" card, or a graphics card that has video capture capability built in..
those usually have like a S-Video in and/or composite in.. you would just plug the camcorder (if it's playing the VHS) or a VCR's output directly into the card and capture it to your computer..

another option is if you have not gotten YET (or already have) a camcorder that has Firewire/1394/i-Link out..
it must ALSO have S-Video "in" and/or composite "in"..
with this method you can typically play the tape on a VCR or another camcorder, connect the S-Video/composite feeds into the Firewire camcorder, and just transfer the video out to the computer through the Firewire port..

this has the advantage that if you either don't have a very fast computer (for doing all the real-time capture/compression), or you just have like a laptop (and/or don't wanna buy a capture card :p).. it will automatically make it into digital video files on your computer, with minimal setup..

[RoksGoldenSmile]

Thanks guys :)