Inputing S-Video,composite + dvb

figrin_dan · Mar 1, 2004

I would like to record from s-video and dvb onto the hard disc and archive onto dvd with good quality. Do I need a separate dvb card (Nebula?) and decent graphics card with analog i/ps or is there one device for all?

Cheers

Alex Simon · Mar 2, 2004

I think Nebula also has an analogue input (s-video?) - worth checking.
If not you'd need a seperate capture card. The start at about £30.

wyerd · Mar 2, 2004

Check-out Kustompcs
The Nebula only has DVB & composite, whereas the Blackgold has DVB & S-Video. For DVB, the Nebula is apparently the better card.

Pootle · Mar 2, 2004

While you will get very good quality from a card like the nebula for digital terrestrial (as it records the stream as broadcast, so a later playback is identical to the original), for sources where you have to use analogue input to the PC you cannot get as good quality as this. Composite video is pretty hopeless. S-video is better, but depends as well on the capture card. The best is to use RGB input if you can get a card that will handle it.

Lots of people are using the Sweetspot card to do this and seem to like it a lot.

So the more you pay, the better it gets...

figrin_dan · Mar 19, 2004

Thanks for the help guys.

The sweetspot looks a bit expensive for me - I had been looking at the dazzle DVC150. I need NTSC and PAL i/p though. Are both these supported?

Alex Simon · Mar 20, 2004

I don't know about that particular card, but the Xcapture and tv-100 cards seem to be the budget cards of choice - these both handle PAL/NTSC, 50 and 60Hz.
I moved from a Pinnacle PCTV Rave to the Xcapture (before SweetSopt arrived) and the difference was pretty significant.