Capturing The Right Video Capture Card!
Jun 05 '00
So...you want to transfer video from your camcorder to your computer, eh? It can be a relatively painless process IF you know what your camcorder can do, what your computer can do, and what your software can do. Here are some (hopefully) helpful hints that should get you started in video capture.
****THE CAMCORDER****
First, you need to identify whether your camcorder is digital or analog. If it is more than 3 years old, it is highly likely that it is an analog camcorder. While digital camcorders are certainly the ideal for video capture, don't despair if you still are using an analog camera...there are options.
---ANALOG CAMCORDERS---
What is an analog camcorder? Essentially analog means that your video is stored on the magnetic tape in an analog format instead of as 1's and 0's. This means that the picture and sound quality are likely to degrade as they are transferred from media to media (think of making a photocopy of a photocopy...with each copy the quality degrades). If you have an analog camcorder, you will need to check if your camcorder uses RCA jacks for the video output (these look like the jacks that plug into the back of your vcr or stereo) or if it also includes an S-Video jack.
S-Video provides higher quality video transfer than the traditional RCA jacks and requires a special SCable.
---DIGITAL CAMCORDERS---
Many of the digital camcorders (sometimes known as digital8) manufactured today have DV video in and out. This is ideal so check to make sure your camera is equipped and that you have the proper cable. If you don't have DV In/Out, check to see if you have RCA jacks or an S-Video out. If it has S-Video, use it instead of the RCA.
****THE CAPTURE CARD/DEVICE****
---ANALOG DEVICES---
If you are going to purchase a capture card that will work with your analog camcorder, I would highly recommend ATI's All-In-Wonder Pro. This card has the traditional RCA jacks but also includes an S-Video-In jack so you can capture your video at the highest quality possible from your analog camcorder. The card is a simply PCI card that fits right into an empty PCI slot in your computer and is simple to install. It runs around $100. You can also get an AGP version that will increase your quality so if you have a free AGP slot or can replace your existing AGP video card, go ahead and get the AGP version. The All-In-Wonder includes a version of MGI's Videowave for capturing/producing your videos. You might check out my review of this card at:
http://xhorizon.epinions.com/cmd-review-3FC-2795A9E-38E25E77-prod6
There are also a few other devices that can be used instead of the All-In-Wonder. Devices like Alaris' QuickVideo Transport system plugs into your serial port and captures video at a significantly reduced speed. I have not used many of these devices, but I would only use a serial port connection if you don't have a spare PCI or AGP slot in your computer.
---DIGITAL DEVICES---
If you have a digital camcorder with DV In/Out, I highly recommend the ADS Pyro 1394 Firewire Card. It is an add-on PCI card that fits in an empty PCI slot and comes with a great DV version of ULEAD's Video Studio for capturing/producing your movies. The Pyro card runs around $110 and comes with the special DV In/Out cable that you need to capture video without any quality degradation.
****YOUR COMPUTER****
As Firewire/1394 technology advances and is integrated into newer computers, you will see "video-ready" computers that already have the firewire port built in. If you are looking for a computer now both Dell and Compaq offer models with digital video ports installed.
Here are some other factors that will effect your capture quality and production speed when dealing with video capture:
Your Processor -- make sure have a PII, and a PIII is really recommended. If you don't have the money to spend or plan on doing video capture as a hobby, you can get buy with a Celeron 500 as the absolute minimum.
Memory -- Make sure you at least have 128mb. Processing a video is really slow work at 64mb or less.
Your Hard Drive -- Get ready to use up **A LOT** of space. I made a two and a half minute video in .avi format that took up 1.2 gigabyte of space. Once the video was produced, I converted it to .mpg format that only took up 35 megabyte but DV camcorders and video software work in .avi format as their standard so you need the room. I would recommend 10.0 gigabyte as the bare minimum. Also, you can take advantage of the high transfer speeds of the new UDMA-66 hard drives if your motherboard supports them. These drives transfer data at a much higher rate and will speed your video production process.
Your Software -- Most capture cards come with some type of production software. I personally like ULEAD's Video Studio, although MGI has a new version of VideoWave that I intend to demo soon. If you have the money to spend and the time to learn it, Adobe's Premier is the top of the line in video production. However, it is aimed at professionals and reflects that in the price (around $1600.00). For amateurs, VideoStudio and VideoWave offer everything you need.
Hopefully these tips will help you in your purchase of video capture and production hardware and software. If you have any questions, you can comment here or email me and I'd be happy to help.
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