Analog Capture PC?

[TheNuzziNuzz]

I would like to build a computer built for capturing Analog signals, as in S-Video and Composite. I would like to be able to record multiple inputs at once. Is this possible? Are there any Multi Input Composite Capture Cards? For the most part all Ive been able to find are cheap little usb capture cards (Ive bought 2 different and both don't work right). The build also needs 4tb storage ready to be upgraded at any time. Do I need a good GPU for capturing the low resolution SD inputs? Is the money better spent in a CPU? I would like budget solutions, but I would rather quality. Thank you for your help.

 

I have an old, but working haswell mobo with 4gb ram lying around that would be great to utilize, but im not quite sure what the needs of this PC will be.

[KenjiUmino]

14 minutes ago, TheNuzziNuzz said:

Are there any Multi Input Composite Capture Cards? For the most part all Ive been able to find are cheap little usb capture cards (Ive bought 2 different and both don't work right).

those cheap usb thingies are trash - speaking from personal experience

 

multi input capture cards are available but they might not be cheap. 

 

 

that thing is like 70 euros

[TheNuzziNuzz]

5 hours ago, KenjiUmino said:

those cheap usb thingies are trash - speaking from personal experience

 

multi input capture cards are available but they might not be cheap. 

 

 

that thing is like 70 euros

Where do I get it? lol 70 Euros is cheap!

[KenjiUmino]

1 hour ago, TheNuzziNuzz said:

Where do I get it? lol 70 Euros is cheap!

i found these on amazon.com under the name Hauppauge ImpactVCB Video Capture Card 166 and they can be had for around $50

 

looking at the pictures, i see there is "2000" written on the PCB - if that is the year they were made then expect some trouble getting these to work on modern systems.

i don't have one of these myself but i had a hauppauge TV card (analog cable with additional s-video and composite input) and i remember i got it working on win7 after some driver hunting

[NumLock21]

You need a tv tuner/capture card. 

[TheNuzziNuzz]

On 9/12/2017 at 6:09 PM, KenjiUmino said:

i found these on amazon.com under the name Hauppauge ImpactVCB Video Capture Card 166 and they can be had for around $50

 

looking at the pictures, i see there is "2000" written on the PCB - if that is the year they were made then expect some trouble getting these to work on modern systems.

i don't have one of these myself but i had a hauppauge TV card (analog cable with additional s-video and composite input) and i remember i got it working on win7 after some driver hunting

So with this I will also need to capture the audio, but I haven't been able to find any way to do this economically. The only multi input sound cards I've found are 500+ at which point I mind as well buy 3 $200 Blackmagic Intensity Shuttles. How did you deal with this when capturing your TV card?

[KenjiUmino]

25 minutes ago, TheNuzziNuzz said:

How did you deal with this when capturing your TV card?

the TV card could only record one input at a time so the setup was simple:

 

for cable TV, the card did have analog audio out wich then had to be routed to the line in of a soundcard (short 3.5mm to 3.5mm patch cable was included) 

 

for any other AV source i'd plug the video cable into the TV card and audio straight to the line in (i used it with a VCR, game console and sat reciever) 

 

btw, what exactly are you trying to do that requires multiple video and audio inputs?

[TheNuzziNuzz]

9 hours ago, KenjiUmino said:

the TV card could only record one input at a time so the setup was simple:

 

for cable TV, the card did have analog audio out wich then had to be routed to the line in of a soundcard (short 3.5mm to 3.5mm patch cable was included) 

 

for any other AV source i'd plug the video cable into the TV card and audio straight to the line in (i used it with a VCR, game console and sat reciever) 

 

btw, what exactly are you trying to do that requires multiple video and audio inputs?

Record the output of VCRs (Vhs Tapes). I figured out that a "VHS Adapter" (Lol) usb capture device for $10 has the audio ins. So I use the haumage one for High quality video input and mix it with the audio ins on the other interfaces. One for each VCR.

[KenjiUmino]

11 hours ago, TheNuzziNuzz said:

Record the output of VCRs (Vhs Tapes). I figured out that a "VHS Adapter" (Lol) usb capture device for $10 has the audio ins. So I use the haumage one for High quality video input and mix it with the audio ins on the other interfaces. One for each VCR.

and you want to record multiple VHS tapes at the same time or what? otherwise a single input card would have done just fine. 

 

speaking of recording, the "best" (as in fastest and least work intensive while still having the highest picture quality) solution i found for recording VHS to a digital format was a phillips DVD recorder  

 

way better quality than all the cheap AV grabbers can even dream to achieve - even that TV card i had ain't got nothing on the quality this DVD thing was able to record. 

 

then again ... all of the PC based solutions i tested were sub $50 devices but the DVD recorder did cost AT LEAST twice that.

 

capturing lossless with a good quality card and enhancing it manually afterwards will probably give even better quality. (but it also is the most work intensive and time consuming) 

[TheNuzziNuzz]

5 hours ago, KenjiUmino said:

and you want to record multiple VHS tapes at the same time or what? otherwise a single input card would have done just fine. 

 

speaking of recording, the "best" (as in fastest and least work intensive while still having the highest picture quality) solution i found for recording VHS to a digital format was a phillips DVD recorder  

 

way better quality than all the cheap AV grabbers can even dream to achieve - even that TV card i had ain't got nothing on the quality this DVD thing was able to record. 

 

then again ... all of the PC based solutions i tested were sub $50 devices but the DVD recorder did cost AT LEAST twice that.

 

capturing lossless with a good quality card and enhancing it manually afterwards will probably give even better quality. (but it also is the most work intensive and time consuming) 

I am trying to capture Multiple VHS tapes at once. Could you send me a screenshot of the DVD recording, I would like to see just how significan't the quality difference is for myself. Does the Philips device have a TBC built in? The issue is I don't wan't DVDs for many of the tapes.

[KenjiUmino]

18 hours ago, TheNuzziNuzz said:

Does the Philips device have a TBC built in? The issue is I don't wan't DVDs for many of the tapes.

what's a TBC?

 

what i did to avoid having a ton of DVDs flying around was to use a DVDRW.

 

i'd record a VHS, copy the DVD to harddrive, erase the DVDRW and record another VHS onto it. 

 

probably not the best way to do it.

[TheNuzziNuzz]

On 9/16/2017 at 9:20 AM, KenjiUmino said:

what's a TBC?

 

what i did to avoid having a ton of DVDs flying around was to use a DVDRW.

 

i'd record a VHS, copy the DVD to harddrive, erase the DVDRW and record another VHS onto it. 

 

probably not the best way to do it.

I've tried 4 different capture devices ranging from cheap $10 to a $200 Blackmagic Intensity Shuttle and quality is the same on all of them.

 

TBC is TIme Base Corrector. It corrects VHS tape errors as you play them back. Look up side by side comparison, there are tons on youtube.

[KenjiUmino]

5 minutes ago, TheNuzziNuzz said:

TBC is TIme Base Corrector. It corrects VHS tape errors as you play them back. Look up side by side comparison, there are tons on youtube.

ah, didn't know about that.

 

thing is that i got the DVD recorder and a very good phillips VCR (multi head drive with hifi stereo and whatnot) for free and i just used it because it was the best i had.

 

if i have the time i will do a side by side - take a VHS that i also have on DVD and compare them

[TheNuzziNuzz]

2 hours ago, KenjiUmino said:

ah, didn't know about that.

 

thing is that i got the DVD recorder and a very good phillips VCR (multi head drive with hifi stereo and whatnot) for free and i just used it because it was the best i had.

 

if i have the time i will do a side by side - take a VHS that i also have on DVD and compare them

Could you DM me a piece of your DVD converted footage?