Compatible Analog Video Capture Cards?
 

I am trying to capture the analog video output of my canon HG20 camcorder so I can see the video display on my computer in realtime for monitoring purposes. I am doing my audio recording in Vegas.

I came across some products such as Pinnacle Studio USB and ADSTech Video Xpress but I can't tell if it they present themselves to Vegas as a video capture source. THen again, I suppose I don't want to monitor in Vegas - probably want to do that with whatever software the cards come with but I also can't tell if their software will allow monitoring, versus forcing me to record in order to see the video.

Any recommendations for a cheap card to do this?

thanks,

brian

If you must capture analog, get a convertor like the Canopus ADVC series or the something like the ADS Pyro. There's a few others listed here if you do a search. These will convert the analog signal to a DV stream.

However, you should be able to use the files from the camera directly and get the higher resolution it can produce instead of capturing analog.

Hi Brian,

I've got a Blackmagic Design Decklink HD Extreme 2 which has both digital and analog inputs and outputs. It also has HDMI in and out which you might be able to use to capture with it. It runs fine with Vegas 8.0c.

Wish I were down in the Monterey area playing at Pebble!

Garrett

I just want the cheapest means to capture the analog video so I can see it on the computer in real time. I ultimately transfer the AVCHD files but seeing the lower quality video on the computer screen will help me as I am remotely zooming and panning the camcorder. The key point here is I just want to capture that lower quality analog video output just for real time monitoring.

thanks,

brian

OK Brian, now I got what you're trying to do. Just go get an ATI All-In-Wonder or any other cheap "TV" tuner card with composite in. Fry's and other electronics stores have them go on sale for as cheap as $40 with software that you can view the images with.

Hope that helps.

I thought a USB capture device would be more flexible for this, as you could use it with a laptop in the field, provided the laptop can provide power thru the USB ports.

Richard

I'd still go with what I recommended. I've never heard good things about the ATI card or any of the USB solutions.

As another thought for monitoring purposes only, why not use a portable DVD player? The problem with any computer solution other than SDI will be a delay between realtime and what is being shown on the screen. USB by spec carries 5V so there will be power but the question is if the device needs more than that.

ATI card have improved over the years but I'm also still not a big fan. The problem with USB is that it doesn't have the bandwidth to reliably carry video signals.

My brain has been so freid that I totally missed that solution - portable DVD player is indeed a great idea! But for now I am trying to keep it cheap. I would think the analog video out is pretty much real time and I tested it on my HDTV's RCA input and it looked realtime. If there is a cheap USB card that will take the RCA input and display it on the computer (without recording - I don't want the hard drive to be doing any work wrt the monitoring) that would be my best bet for now.

thanks,

brian

It will not be real time one you go through the computer. There will be some delay related to reencoding.