for those of you who didn't seem my post about Photos from video in Critiques/Opinions/Help requested. I was confronted with a problem of taking still photos from a video tape and was asking for help on how to do it. With some sound advice from the forum I purchased a video capture/TV tuner card for my computer. I was limited byt the age of my computer as to the features I could have but I was still able to get somthing which is going to do the job. I purchased an Pinnacle PCTV capture card. I could have got a card with a lot more features if my computer was more modern (3 years old) but as I'm considering replacing it in the near future I didn't want to spend too much. This card cost me AU$129 which is about US75 (that's a rough conversion). The quality is not as good as an actual photo would be but that's to be expected.With this card I am able to take snapshots of the screen, save them and then take them to photoshop for a little tweeking. I haven't connected the VCR up yet but I'm confident that I will be able to get useable photos from the video.

You will have to let us know how it goes when you get your VCR hooked up. I'm interested to hear how well this works. I have alot of home movies on VHS format that would be great to make stills of.
DJ

I'll be hooking it later today when I get the longer cable I need. I'll post a pic to let you see what it looks like.

It's unlikely that I'll be buying a card, but I would also be interested in knowing about the quality of the photos when printed. Personally, I wouldn't expect too much, but I've been surprised before!

Ed

Don't want to sound like a Jonah, but I've been down this road too.

Pity you didn't ask before buying the Pinnacle. Their Miro range had awful drivers :( A better (and cheaper) bet is ATi All-in-wonder. I don't think you going to get photo quality still images though (video resoultion is too low). Snappy gave better snapshots, but I'm not sure whether you can get it anymore.

I still don't have the video hooked up, it seems that the rest of the family needed to record some stupid car racing today. So I have to wait till tomorrow to use the VCR. I took a couple of snapshots from the TV reception. They are not too bad, nowhere near photo quality but if what I can get off the video is 80% as good as the snapshot they will be good enough for what my son needs. I've attached a copy below.

Big Al,
I had to go with what would work with my aging computer and what was available in my area. Unfortunately there was not a lot of choice at a reasonable price. Wish I had spoken to you first though you may have saved me a lot of time searching.

well finally got it all working, I wasn't too impressed with the documentation but got it all done eventually. The pictures aren't great but they are good enough for what is needed in this case. I have attatched a copy with out any touch-ups so that you can see what I got straight from the video.

dahhh.. got to attach file. :o:

As long as you got what you needed, I guess that's good in itself. Would you think it was money well spent, if the situation were different, and you didn't really *need* it?

Ed

There is no way I would even consider it if it wasn't needed for my son's college course. I would much prefer taking photos with the digital camera. I really hated the thought of opening up the computer and adding the card as the computer was working well and I didn't want to upset that but playing around with it's set-up. So my answer is no I wouldn't think it was money well spent in other circumstances.

Good info to share. Thanks.

Ed