Choosing a capture card

[Defiler]

Let me briefly explain my needs.
I do essentially one thing, and one thing only, with my capture hardware. I grab video in the highest possible quality from a Laserdisc/S-Video source.. Use VirtualDub and SubStationAlpha to overlay subtitles on it, then write it out to SVHS.
This means I have no need for, or interest in, DV, Firewire, etc, etc. All I need is the best possible analog video quality.
The card has to work properly in Windows 2000 Professional.
Currently, I have a Matrox Marvel G200-TV, a Truevision Bravado 1000, and a Hauppage WinTV 401.
Due to severe limitations, none of these meet my needs. I already own all the software I need, so the bundle is a non-issue.
System specs:
Dual P3-1GHz CPUs
512MB SDRAM
Ultra160 SCSI
Seagate Cheetah X15
Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 Platinum

Source:
Pioneer Elite DVL-90 (LaserDisc)
Target:
Toshiba W808 (SVHS Deck)

I'd really like the card to cost less than $1000. All I care about is Windows 2000 support, and the best possible image quality. I don't care if it has audio inputs, since I can easily use the SPDIF inputs on my sound card.

One card that has caught my eye is the Pinnacle DC30pro. Is this the best analog capture card?

Thanks, guys.

[Dr Mordrid]

Have you tried capturing with YUY2 with the HuffYUV compressor? That delivers great quality. The problem is what do you do with it once you have it captured?

Given that the Marvel G200 doesn't have dualhead/DVDMax (this allows you to send video of about any codec to the vidout) your options are limited to Matrox's MJPeg. Not the best end to a great start....

You could GET dualhead with a Marvel G400 or G450 eTV. With that you could encode those high-quality YUY2/HuffYUV files to MPEG-2 then play them out to your SVHS deck with very nice quality.

When not using the RT-2000 this is what I do a LOT. A whole lot....

Dr. Mordrid


------------------
Asus P3B-F 6 PCI
PIII/850
Gigabyte GA-6R7+ slotkey
Matrox G400/Flex3D
Matrox RT-2000
256 megs RAM
Promise SuperTrak100 (4 x 60g IBM 75GXP: 240g RAID0)
AWE64 Gold

[wkulecz]

Did Matrox release working windows 2000 drivers that I somehow missed?

For under $1000, I'd get a bottom of the line D8 camcorder (Sony TRVx20) or DVMC-DA2 and an ADS PyroDV. Capture to DV over firewire thru camcorder or DVMC-DA2 analog in. Edit and then output via firewire to the camcorder using the bundled MSP6 and let the camcorder or DVMC-DA2 convert the DV to SVHS analog.

As far as I know, nothing with decent analog output has w2k drivers that work well enough to be useful. I'd like to be wrong here, I have a G200 Marvel collecting dust.

I can't verify the DVMC-DA2 works with the Pyro since I don't have one. I can verify the firewire analog capture and output thru the camcorder using a TRV320. You do have to change a menu setting on the camcorder to "turn-around" the analog via firewire from output to input.

--wally.

[Defiler]

Though you've both given very different suggestions, they're both insanely useful to me.
I'll look into the camcorder/firewire option.. If I can't find anything that suits, I'll grab a G400 Marvel and switch to Windows 98.

Thanks for the info.

[Grigory]

I'll suggest to go D8 way:
In addition to direct DV digitizing, you can use camcorder as DV storage device of 14 GB capacity per cheap Video 8 tape.
Don't miss that option too.

Grigory

[Defiler]

*nod*
Can you recommend a "cheap" D8 cam that will suit my needs?