Need Video Capture Device that works in XP

Martin Fontaine · 11-04-2002, 07:57 PM

For many years I was using the ATI TV Tuner card with various ATI Video cards... The combinasions were:

- 3D Pro-Turbo (PCI) w/ ISA TV Tuner.
- XPert@Work (PCI) w/ ISA and PCI TV Tuner
- Xpert 128 (PCI) w/ PCI TV Tuner (Still in the machine)

All worked fine under Win95/98 but recently I upgraded to WinXP and the video capture cards are no longer supported (On ATI's website it's mentionned they do not plan to support Win XP for these)

What are my options?

I have S-Video/Composite + White/Red cables coming out of my receiver to capture video from either TV, VHS, SNES or DVD. I usually record music videos or some short clips either from a TV Show or a DVD Movie to VCD Format or sometimes lower if it's to send a small file to someone on the net.

What would be the cheapest solution? I don't need any fancy features, just good VCD/MPEG-1 Capture from either composite or S-Video sources. Either as a PCI capture card or a USB break-out box.

JoshR · 11-04-2002, 09:11 PM

Haupagge's WinTV line sounds right up your alley. I'm probably going to get one myself in the near future. Namely, this one: http://www.hauppauge.com/html/wintvpvr250_datasheet.htm

It's their PVR-250, which is a personal video recorder. So it obviously does capture(mpeg1 or mpeg2), and it's got all the nifty timeshifting capabilities as well.

They also have some standalone capture and tuner cards, if you don't want to pay for the PVR extras.

Jeff Kleist · 11-04-2002, 11:01 PM

You're going to have to buy a new one. Basically no older capture device that's not at least semi-pro oriented is being updated for XP, and then many of those are not (including mine, grr)

Brian Ruth · 11-05-2002, 08:16 AM

I'd recommend getting an All-In-Wonder 7500. It's an AGP card, but it's a step up from your old graphics card (most likely) and its about the same price as the WinTV card that Josh recommended. You're pretty much going to pay 50 to 100 dollars for a seperate tuner card, so it might be worth spending the extra 50 to get a pretty nice (albeit somewhat old) graphics card along with it.

I'd say the breakout options (RCA/S-Video In, TV out) make it worth the extra $50 all by itself.

I have the AIW 7500 and I'm quite pleased with it.

brentl · 11-05-2002, 09:41 AM

Not Exactly true Jeff. I use an Avermedia tv98with a Brooktree chip and upgraded fine ..

They spent the time making XP drivers .... what's weird is that this card is pretty bad, but it only cost me $30 3 years ago.\

Brent

**HTF Ads**

Jeff Kleist · 11-05-2002, 09:56 AM

I didn't sa everything

Only most things

Martin Fontaine · 11-05-2002, 10:04 PM

My intentions were to get a newer AGP card (An ATI model compatible with my existing capture card) but since it won't work on XP, I guess that option is out of the question now.

So maybe an All In Wonder is what I'll get... That WinTV thing looks cool as well, I'll keep it in mind if I decide to keep my current video card... I don't think it supports a digital cable feed? Namely, Videotron/Illico in Montreal?

The main reason I'd be interested in an external solution is not to be tied down to the video card, if I want to upgrade my video card then I don't want to be restricted to those with built-in capture.

Brian Ruth · 11-06-2002, 08:03 AM

Martin:

The thing is, most of the cards above the 7500 in performance PROBABLY won't give you a big performance boost if you have an older computer. Anything below 1 GHz as far as processing power PROBABLY won't reap the benefits of a better card.

BUT -- A top of the line AIW is coming out soon ($500 american), and I think NVidia might be updating their Personal Cinema line, so it may be something you don't want to totally discount.

Almost forgot -- the 7500 comes with a nice RF remote that doesn't require line-of-sight to use -- great if you're gonna put this thing next to the TV.

RossH · 06-09-2004, 10:16 PM

I have the ATI AIW 7500 with the Remote Wonder. It has served me well. However, I'd like to burn some of my TV shows onto DVD, and the 7500 doesn't do hardware-based MPEG2 encoding. I don't think any ATI cards do.

As JoshR has recommended, I'm gonna get a Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-250 card (Future Shop has them online for $150 CDN right now). I'll probably wish I'd done it sooner.

Gordon Moore · 06-10-2004, 03:39 PM

I'd suggest the Leadtek Tv2000 XP Expert:

http://www.leadtek.com/multimedia/wi..._expert_1.html

10-bit video decoder
a very meaty remote
fm radio capable
well thought-out software bundle.

not expensive....and works great in XP (for me anyway).
Pair it up with the video card of your choice. Rather than being linked to the graphic chip of the AIW series.