I want to edit analogue and digital video using VideoWave5 software.
do I need a "capture card" or is there a VGA card that does the same
(and more?)?

Hi perplexed-ga,

Thank you for your question.

When you say edit, do you mean work with video clips already on your
hard drive, or do you want to capture video from analogue or digital
mediums to your computer? If the former, you don't need any special
hardware, in which case I can just direct you to the software you
need. If you mean the latter, which I'll assume for the rest of
question, then read on!

To transfer video from one medium to your computer you need a card
with video in capabilities. This can either be a-) a dedicated capture
card with hardware encoding, b-) a TV Tuner card with capture
capabilities, or c-) a normal video card with video in/video out
features.

Each of these categories have their benefits:

a-) These cards are usually expensive. Encoding quality is generally
quite good, and CPU usage is very low during encoding. The
disadvantage is that you cannot in general use other codecs than the
one supported in hardware. There is no "upgradeability" for these
cards.

b-) These cards are general cheap, come with a more features, e.g. you
can usually watch TV and some of them allow you to listen to radio on
your PC. You can in general use any codec you like. The disadvantage
is that you need a relatively fast computer to be able to use these
cards to their full advantage. At least 2GHz or equivalent is
recommended.

c-) These are also quite expensive, but they incorporate a normal
video card as well, so you can use these as your primary display card.
They might have some minimal hardware encoding features but will still
require a fast PC. The main disadvantage is that if you want to
upgrade your display card after a while you will have to get another
capture card.

Here are a few cards from each of the categories:

a-) Any device on here:

Pinnacle Systems capture cards
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=manufactory&catalog=47&manufactory=1099&DEPA=1&sortby=14&order=1

Canopus
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=manufactory&catalog=47&manufactory=1745&DEPA=1&sortby=14&order=1

b-) Any of the cards from:

Leadtek TV capture cards
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=manufactory&catalog=47&manufactory=1280&DEPA=1&sortby=14&order=1

Hauppauge TV capture cards
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=manufactory&catalog=47&manufactory=1772&DEPA=1&sortby=14&order=1


c- )
Leadtek WinFast A350 TDH MyVIVO Nvidia GeForce FX 5900 with Twin
Turbo-II 128MB DDR VIVO 8X AGP RETAIL
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.asp?DEPA=1&submit=Go&description=N82E16814122175

Or any of the cards that have VIVO (video in/video out) in their description on : 

Leadtek video cards
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=manufactory&catalog=48&manufactory=1280&DEPA=1&sortby=14&order=1

or 

any of the cards that have VIVO in their description here:

Asus video cards
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=manufactory&catalog=48&manufactory=1315&DEPA=1&sortby=14&order=1


Any of the ATI cards that have All in Wonder in their description:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=manufactory&catalog=48&manufactory=1126&DEPA=1&sortby=14&order=1


I hope this answers your question, if you need any more clarifications
or more information about a product, please do not hesitate to ask.

Thanks.
endo

---

Request for Answer Clarification by perplexed-ga on 30 Nov 2003 13:47 PST

thanx Endo, thats a great help.
2 brief (I hope) questions
1. what is a codec?
2. does "video in/video out" include both digital and analogue, or do
I have to check each spec seperately if I want to use both?

---

Clarification of Answer by endo-ga on 30 Nov 2003 14:04 PST

2. does "video in/video out" include both digital and analogue, or do
I have to check each spec seperately if I want to use both?

Hi,

1. Codec is an acronym for compression/decompression. It is usually
used to signify a type of compression algorithm used for video or
audio data. Raw video and audio take an enormous amount of space, they
need to be compressed to be made available in a practical format. DVDs
use the MPEG2 codec, also you must of heard of the MP3 codec.
Depending on the codec you choose to encode your video, you will get
different features, high compatibility with different devices, high
compression but low quality, high quality with average compression
etc. Depending on the application you want for your digitized video,
you need to choose an appropriate codec.

2. Sorry somewhere along the line I forgot that you wanted digital
input as well as analogue. In which case you would want to stick to
the a-) series of cards. More specifically the cards that mention IEEE
1394 or firewire port for input. These are naturally more expensive.
For example the PINNACLE MovieBox DV IEEE 1394 Video Capture Device
on:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=manufactory&catalog=47&manufactory=1099&DEPA=1&sortby=14&order=1

I'm very sorry for the confusion. I hope this helps. If you need any
more help or clarifications please do not hesitate to ask.

Thanks.
endo

thanks endo -v useful indeed

I'm glad to have been of assistance.
Thank you for the great rating.
Regards,
endo