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Choosing a Video Capture Device

 

You choose a video capture device according to your needs and budget. What do you want the device to do for you? If you're just going to transfer VHS to DVD, then an entry-level video capture device would do. If you're only going to capture video from a digital camera, then a firewire video capture card would suffice.

Research
Once you have decided on a capture device, you could do well to undertake some research. You could check the manufacturer's online brochure  to determine whether the product specifications serve your needs. The next step is reading up reviews.

Type the name of the product into the search engine box and add the word `review'.

Mostly you will see reviews by tech experts. You should read them. However, far more useful would be user reviews, folks who have bought a product and have hands-on experience of it. You could see things from a beginner's perspective.

Epinions.com would be a good place to start. Type you product name into the search box and look out for the reviews. Don't get carried away by reviews which run down a product; most of them are by folks who have yet to fully explore its workings Take note of the majority opinion instead.

Internal Video Capture Device

Internal Video Capture Cards are generally cheaper compared to their counterparts. The drawback is you would have to open your computer casing and plug this card into a PCI slot.  PCI cards come in the form of analog-only capture or DV-only capture (Firewire card) or a Analog-DV combo.

External Video Capture Device

An external device saves you the trouble of opening your computer casing. It's usually plugged into your computer through a USB port. The advantage of an external device is mobility. You can unplug it and work on another computer at a different location provided you have the device driver installed therein. There is also the ease of connecting cables as the device is usually placed in front of the computer rather than at the back in the case of Internal Capture Devices. You would have to pay a slightly higher price for the convenience. External capture devices are analog only or analog digital combo. The latter is useful if you're trying to digitize analog video direct to DV.

Built-in Capture Device

 

If you're planning to build a new PC for video editing and you'll be capturing digital video, you could solve the capture device problem by opting for a firewire port built into the motherboard. This is an advantage as you don't have to worry about opening up the casing to install a firewire card which may not work stably with your motherboard. I use such a motherboard and have encountered no problems so far. A friend had his digicam firewire port burnt because he used an incompatible firewire card. Now he is using the S-Video terminal to capture footage from his digicam.

Installing Analog Capture Software

A device driver is needed for the computer to communicate with the capture device
The installation is usually a straight-forward process. You run the installation CD supplied and (make sure you make back up copies of the CD - more than one if possible because the older your device gets the harder it would be to find the driver for it in case you you lose the installation CD).

Most CDs go into auto-run mode and you choose the install driver mode etc and follow the online instructions. On completion, you'll be prompted to restart your computer.

Firewire (IEEE1394)/iLink

If you're capturing DV then the whole process is simplified. After you plug in a firewire card into your motherboard, Windows will auto detect it and complete the installation process. The same applies if your system comes with an onboard firewire capture device

   

 

 

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