Capture Cards

DestructionAngel · Post by **DestructionAngel** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 8:17 pm

ok... well i couldnt find anything on this, so... whats a capture card(sorry... im reallly new to this.) anyway what i did hear is nothing good... so i want the fmvs from kingdom hearts and i cant extract them from the disk(but if anyone knows how id love to find out) so... you could use a capture card right? can you hook the a/v(red yellow and white) cords from ps2 to the card? and can it save it in realllly high quality with a really big size(like 800x600 or 1024x780)?and are the external or internal? i want an external one... does anyone know of one that has a a/v input and can save big highres videos? plzz help

Org Profile · Post by **808-buma** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 10:22 pm

hmmm, a lot of questions, lets hit them 1 at a time:
1. what is a capture card? - A capture card is an internal (meaning it must be installed in your computer) that allows you to 'capture' video data from various sources. Depending on the connection ports, a capture card will normally allow you to input signals via RCA cables (red + white) for audio, and composite video (yellow RCA type cable) and/or s-video (better quality if you have this option).

2. Can you connect the red/yellow/white cords to the capture card and caputure high quality video? - um, yest to the connection (most of them probably take the RCA connections), but not really to the high quality part. The composite video connection (the yellow RCA cable) isn't the best source for capturing video data. As it has to carry 2 separate video type signals (chroma and luma, if I remember correctly), it is 'blended' into 1 signal which has to then be 'unblended' to create your video picture.

For higher quality, you'll need an s-video connector (a round connector that has multiple pins inside of it). This carrys the two signals on separate paths so delivers a better quality picture.

3. Are there external capture devices? - Yes, there are. Many external devices use USB connections to transfer data from the device to your computer.

Things to look for in capture cards - input connector types (s-video options?, only RCA connectors?), on-board encoders (which do the job much better/faster than your processor, and then allows your use your computer while it is capturing), bundled software editors (well, what are you gonna do if you don't have one of these).

Khanh Bui · Post by **Khanh Bui** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 4:12 pm

I bought a Moviestar DVC II capture card 5 years ago and never looked back. It still works great today. Apparently they don't sell them at retail stores anymore, but you can always find them at the manufacturer's website.

Unfound · Post by **Unfound** » Sat Jul 02, 2005 3:05 pm

808-buma wrote:2. Can you connect the red/yellow/white cords to the capture card and caputure high quality video? - um, yest to the connection (most of them probably take the RCA connections), but not really to the high quality part. The composite video connection (the yellow RCA cable) isn't the best source for capturing video data. As it has to carry 2 separate video type signals (chroma and luma, if I remember correctly), it is 'blended' into 1 signal which has to then be 'unblended' to create your video picture.

For higher quality, you'll need an s-video connector (a round connector that has multiple pins inside of it). This carrys the two signals on separate paths so delivers a better quality picture.

To add to that, component video is even better quality and is supported by current and next-generation video game systems along with HDTVs/HDTV boxes and DVD Players.

Demonic Cloud · Post by **Demonic Cloud** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 2:28 pm

Alright heres the deal. I want a capture card for some PS2 games. Thats all i need to use it for. I want one that can do that for me. As for the S-video, where would i buy a cable that can connect to my PS2 for that?

My PC specs are: Amd athlon 64 at 1.8 ghz, 1 gig ram, ATI sapphire 128 mb pci express video card, and a hell of a lot of hard drive space.

Any suggestions? I looked into that DVC 2, and its over 200 dollars. While i can afford that, its a bit steep for what i want it to do.

Scintilla · Post by **Scintilla** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 3:22 pm

Demonic Cloud wrote:As for the S-video, where would i buy a cable that can connect to my PS2 for that?

Radio Shack.

idabi · Post by **idabi** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 11:55 am

Does it necessaraly have to be from a foreign source? Can data come from a DVD.