Capturing video, what do I need? 1

[shaner66]

My GF is getting a new Dell notebook, she's also got a Sony Hi8 video camera. She wants to capture the video from her camera so she can edit it on the PC at a later time.

Does she just need any video capture card, or is more specific than that? Does anyone on here have any specific video cards that they would recommend?

Also, what kind of cables is she going to need from Hi8 to the comp?

Also, do all video capture cards also have TV out function? If not, what specific video card can capture video from a Hi8 cam as well as output the video to a TV?

 

[norty303]

You're going to have a few problems as far as I can see. Due to the fact that you're using a notebook you will need either an external breakout box (firewire probably, not sure if USB is quick enough) or a PCMCIA card although I can only find ones geared up for Firewire/DV capture. You may well be looking at a lot of money for a composite capture card which may well not be worth it.

You have a few other choices. Get a desktop with any of the midrange vivo cards from ATI/Sapphire or nVidia to do your capture or upgrade your camcorder to a DV version. You should then be able to plug the camera directly into the firewire port of the lappy and edit away!

 

[EchoseveN]

Too add to what norty said, the vivo cards from ati/nvidia may not cut it for video editing. if you're going to get one of them, I would suggest getting an ATI all in wonder radeon, probably one of the older ones, those should have better video capture software, and the hardware to back it up. My old radeon 64vivo couldn't capture, and I doubt that ati would add it on any of the newer ones, but I'm not positive.

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It takes 43 muscles to frown and 17 to smile, but it doesn't take any to sit there with a dumb look on your face.
I have fun. Usualy at my own expense, but I have fun regardless

 

[norty303]

I have to say that whilst i use DV/firewire normally my Sapphire 9100 vivo (re-badged 8500) does an excellent job of capture. Only gripe is u can't capture and send to TV at the same time...

But it did only cost £60 so not complaining

 

[jhall01]

Well you have some problems with the Firewire issue anyways. Does your cameral have a firewire/DV output. Considering it is a Hi8 and not a DigHi8 you probably only have a composite out or possibly s-video out.

If this is true a firewire card is useless. There are break out boxes that accept composite inputs to convert to firewire/DV. Next you will need a Firewire/DV input to your computer. PCMCIA cards are available i believe. After that all you need is some editing software. Microsoft has movie maker which is a good basic software...not my preferred choice but good because it is free!!!

Now to output to a VCR from the laptop is a little trickier since it is a laptop. The laptop should have a composite output if it doesn't the break out box connected through firewire is bi-directional meaning you can save back out to the camera on tape and then record to the VCR or go straight to the VCR.

Video editing can be fun but requires alot of technical stuff so if you need specific products you need to be more specific on the exact model laptop I/O ports available with it and I can get you exactly what you need at the best price.

 

[norty303]

Just to re-iterate, as she is getting a NEW Dell lappy I would pretty much assume it will have Firewire as standard which will be necessary in order to connect a composite breakout box to. The only choice then will be if you can get one cheap enough to make it worth your while or whether it may be better to go for a new Camcorder you can plug in directly.

 

[jhall01]

I would agree except that DELL tends to leave things disabled on their laptops unless you pay for that feature. I will look for some good break out boxes and post some good ones here.

 

[shaner66]

Ok, so let me get this straight. I will run an S Video cable from the Camera into the break out box, that will convert the signal into Digital, and then run that using a firewire cable into the PC.

So does it not matter what type of video card she has?

Could she have the crappiest video card on earth and still be able to capture video through the firewire port?

 

[CreamCake]

I would spring for a few extra dollars if the laptop does not have TV-out on it rather than trying to deal with the breakout box outputting the video. I'd be suprised if it didn't have tv-out anyway, as even my pIII-667 gateway laptop has tv-out. Rca instead of s-vid, but with a 2mb card, who's complaining?

There is a wide variety of devices for capturing video from analog sources, more all the time. Firewire is more common in the video industry thanks to features like deck control when capturing, but usb 2.0 is a touch faster, and since her camera is not firewire controllable anyway, don't worry about it...unless she's considering a new camera in the very near future.

I'm not suggesting them, even though I've had no issues with their products or service, so glance at tigerdirect.com and look at the video cards, subcategory video capture. It will at least give you some ideas, but please stick with USB2.0 or firewire, usb 1 will not give satisfactory results. Also remember that when getting the capture device, it's tempting to buy on the cheap, but you generally get what you pay for...
Then do a little research on the capture device manufacturer's website to see the minimum hardware requirements for capture.

My Matrox rt.x100 capture board is PCI seperate from the agp geforceTI4800, so even though it requires a decent video card in the specs (geforce4TI is NOT in the Matrox compatibility list, but I built my editing system out of higher end, name-brand parts and really did my homework on the hardware...reading product support forums for a week or two just to select the parts), it's really more for the playback support of captured high-res video when editing. (heh.. a 2 hour AVI capture comes in around 40gigs or so, but realize this is a MUCH higher end card clocking in around $1000 US, with specially selected drives that have roughly 4 times faster hard disk transfer speeds than the "plain" workstation in my office.
The capture relies a good deal on your hard drive read/write speeds, and the editing is CPU intensive, but not a real load is on the video card in either scenario.

It sounds like a pain in the booty, but it's worth it for the frustration you may save yourself from in the future to do your homework now.

Wait till you get to the part about making DVD's with those tapes....

 

[jhall01]

I agree with CreamCake on everything he said. My only concern is how computer savvy the person is. I honestly think the converter (break out) box is the best way to go without being technically savvy.

Bringing up USB2.0 is a good idea except you have to make sure the laptop is using USB2.0. If it is not you almost have to go firewire. Here is a basic text diagram of your setup:

|Camera|---SV---|breakout box|---FW---|PC|---Comp---|TV|(optional)

SV = Svideo cable (can be replaced with composite)

There are other ways to do it and just look for some DV magazines at the bookstore or go online and look up transferring Hi8 to your PC for different setups. I think this way is easiest but that is my opinion and there are many other ways to doing it.
FW = Firewire (can be replaced with USB2)
Comp = Composite (can be replaced with S-Video)

The TV just allows you to see the picture as what it will look like on a TV you don't need it for editing.

Now this is not the only setup but i think it is the easiest. You have the Hi8 Tape in the cameral. the signal to the box is analog. The box converts it to digital so the PC can understand it and allows you to record the video to the PC's harddrive. You then edit the video on the PC once you are done you can output to the camera. The pc sends the digital signal to the box which converts it to Analog so the Camera can record it. You can then hook the camera to a VCR or TV and record to VHS.

No Output to a TV from the PC is necessary but can help the editing process.

 

[jhall01]

Sorry about the previous post i got sidetracked at the end and insterted teh paragraph in the middle in the wrong place. I noticed shaner, you asked about the video card. You can have a crappy video card because it is not doing the actual capture it is just displaying the image. a better video card will make editing much easier and when you are ready to record do not record the final product and preview the video at the same time. If it is a crappy video card then the PC may have a hard time keeping up and will record the video to the camera with alot of breaks or make it choppy.

Here are some links you may want to check out for more help:

http://desktopvideo.miningco.com/cs/toppicks/

http://www.usbstuff.com/capture.html

just do a search on google for: video analog capture edit

 

[shaner66]

jhall01 - Thank you, that's exactly the explanation I was looking for.

My guess is that the Notebook she's getting will have USB 2.0, but I will check that when she actually gets it (it hasn't been delivered yet).

I'll have to do some research on break out boxes, find out more details. At least now I know what I have to research instead of the general topic "video editing."

Makes my life easier.

Thanks!

 

[jhall01]

No problem and good luck. Just remember these few things when capturing and editing video.

1. High Bandwidth (USB2 - 480Mbps and Firewire - 400Mbps) USB1 - is 12Mbps
2. Lots o ram!!! editing video takes up lots of memory so every MB helps.
3. Hard Disk. Keep it defragged, plenty of free space for swapping, bandwidth ATA - 133 best but it is a laptop, and RPM's, Buffer, and Seek time. Hard disk speed is by far the most important, also partitions are important. I can give you details on that too if you need them.
4. When ready to print to video or doing a capture from the camera...stop all possible services and programs running in the background to get the best performance.

 

[shaner66]

Got it. Partitions, services, USb, firewire, I am completely familiar with all of those.

I found a few analog to digital converters, so one more question, do you have any personal experience with one particular device?

Again, it's not for me, my GF may decide to get a Digital cam depending on the price and performance of the converter.

 

[jhall01]

Honestly, If she is going to do alot of video editing...digital is the way to go. But I have dabbled in video editing during school and alot of people out there want to put Analog tape on DVD and VCD.

I don't have any personal experience with the Analog to Digital equipment. I have read that the Dazzle products are good but are by no means professional quality. Any Analog to digital conversion I did was with a PCI capture card.

Check out Epinions.com and TechTV.com once you have a few products you have narrowed your choices down. Epinions.com is good for price comparison, product comparison, and user opinions.