What is the best (PAL) video capture device for the Mac?

[jowie]

Hi,

I need to replace an old PAL DVD recorder that has a poorly drive mechanism. Rather than buying a third machine, I was thinking it might be better to get a video capture card instead, as hopefully it will last longer.

I want it to be MPEG-2 because I don't want to have to re-encode stuff for burning to DVD. I also need it to be full 25i 720x576 resolution with a decent bit rate (up to about 10Mbit). I want the quality to be as good as possible (most stuff is being ripped from a digital source) so I'd prefer something that accepts component/RGB/S-video rather than composite.

Any ideas please? Thanks!

 

[iamsludge]

What Mac is it? What video source is it? Maybe you don't need a capture card per se and can use something like iGrabber usb device?

Then again, I would have thought nowadays a capture card or orher accessory wouldn't be necessary except for high end professional use.

Last time I did video capture was a few years ago but even then capture from a digital camcorder with firewire output to a Mac without a capture card afforded excellent results (better than the £100k Avid solution I used many moons ago anyway)

 

[jowie]

What Mac is it? What video source is it? Maybe you don't need a capture card per se and can use something like iGrabber usb device?

It's a 15" rMBP, so it has USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt. I also have a FW800 adapter. The video sources I wish to record are programmes from a Sky+HD box (non-HD material) and the odd VHS.

I had a look at the iGrabber specs and on the whole they look pretty impressive, however I'm a bit concerned by the resolution which is quoted as 640 x 480... This is NTSC whereas PAL should be 720 (or 768) x 576...

Then again, I would have thought nowadays a capture card or orher accessory wouldn't be necessary except for high end professional use.

I'd be quite happy with whatever, as long as it comes highly recommended! What I want to avoid are moire patterns you usually get from composite cables! (yuk)

Thanks

 

[iamsludge]

Sorry no-one has given you a reccomendation. To elaborate on what I did was buy a digital camcorder with analogue video inputs so I could record analogue video onto digital tape and then output via firewire straight into the mac.

Hope that helps.

 

[manatee]

Hi,

I need to replace an old PAL DVD recorder that has a poorly drive mechanism. Rather than buying a third machine, I was thinking it might be better to get a video capture card instead, as hopefully it will last longer.

I want it to be MPEG-2 because I don't want to have to re-encode stuff for burning to DVD. I also need it to be full 25i 720x576 resolution with a decent bit rate (up to about 10Mbit). I want the quality to be as good as possible (most stuff is being ripped from a digital source) so I'd prefer something that accepts component/RGB/S-video rather than composite.

Any ideas please? Thanks!

Try Grass Valley device such as http://www.grassvalley.com/products/advc110. Works well with my iMac and professional quality capture.