Video Capture/TV Input

[crazzyeddie]

I was looking for a video capture/ TV device that i could use to capture some old family movies and casual projects as well as being able to watch TV.

I have found two products that I think fit the bill the best: EyeTV ($199, USB) and Formac Studio DV/TV ($389, Firewire).

The DV/TV is superior in everything but price, and i was really wondering if its needed for home videos. The DV/TV captures at 720x480 full DV and the EyeTV captures at 320x240 MPEG 1.

I know the MPEG 1 isnt directly iMovie/iDVD compatible, but for a $180 difference I could live with converting the data. Is the EyeTV good enough for casual editing? or is the extra $180 dollars worth it?

 

[timbloom]

My father has the original Formac Studio, and it's de-interlacing capabilities were rather crummy, if you were burning it to dvd, you would notice it (looks checkered). I am unaware of eyetv's quality. I would think that Formac would have improved the quality since. But the ease of use of it is fantastic.

 

[Dont Hurt Me]

what format are these old movies? if on vhs you could use a hollywood bridge to get em into your computer. i have heard very good things on the eyetv. wish ati would get a 9700 all in wonder on the mac then we could use our mac to watch TV.

 

[crazzyeddie]

They are old VHS tapes. I looked at the hollywood DV bridge, but im looking for something with a built in TV tuner.

 

[mymemory]

My advice...

Pay what they are asking for.

The thing is, that, is very easy to get a cheap useless video capture device. Nothing lower than $300 is good, specially USB base systems (do not get them at any cost). There are no way to get around a bad video signals, you can cheat audio but not video. Humans are 80% visuals and we proccess more visual information than anything else.

Get a good video capture device, the Hollywood Bridge is good enough, I think you can find something more appropiate for what you want outhere but nothing under $200 at lits.

Recomendations:
1. Be sure is at list 640x480 resolution.
2. 30 frames per second capture.
3. Fire wire at list. Usb can not handle such ammount of data density.

Thouse are my 2cents.

 

[crazzyeddie]

Your 2 cents are much appriciated =)

But is the difference enough for $180 bucks? thats basically double the price.

 

[hugemullens]

The difference is well worth the price if your serious about capturing and exporting out to a TV via any format. 640x480 is what you need for that and usb 1.1 simply cannot handle that much data, or atleast not well.

 

[timbloom]

it will be very choppy and nasty looking video if you try to use a USB device to capture at a decent resolution.