Video capture

[Sanda]

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.

[DJ Dubovsky]

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

[Sanda]

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.

[Ed_L]

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

[BigAl]

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.

[Sanda]

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.

[Sanda]

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.

[Sanda]

dahhh.. got to attach file.

[Ed_L]

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

[Sanda]

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.

[Ed_L]

Good info to share. Thanks.

Ed