I am new to this Video field although I have been doing some video work. I really want to know (1) what the basic difference between the TV card & Capture Card (2) Whether the TV card is sufficient for capturing videos (also want to know on the quality of capture by this process) (3) Whether the TV card can capture in mpeg format

-- sam (samara@slpa.lk), June 26, 2001

Answers

Good questions. I find the terms "TV Card" and "Capture Card" to be used interchangeably. However, I suppose it might be possible to find a card that can do TV but not capture video, so you might want to stick to the term "Capture Card" to make sure you are talking about a card that can also capture video. It might be possible with an add on software program, such as Power VCR II (www.gocyberlink.com) or Virtual Dub, to capture video from a TV Card that has no capture program of its own. Most capture cards can do MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 captures. The quality of the capture depends to a certain extent on your CPU. Faster CPUs can capture video at higher bit rates and resolutions without dropping frames. I have a 1 GHz Athlon CPU and I can capture SVCD video (less than 2.6 Mpbs on video, 480x480 NTSC resolution) without dropping frames. I can also capture at NTSC DVD resolutions but only if I record I frames only (this will make more sense to you later after you get started). If I had a 1.3 GHz CPU or better I might be able to capture at DVD resolutions and also get B and P frames. Real time MPEG-2 encoding puts a huge strain on a CPU and you will need the most powerful one you can get. If you just want to make VCDs, you can get by with a lesser CPU as it takes less resources to record MPEG-1 video at VCD bit rates. I find the quality of homemade SVCD to be acceptible and homemade VCD to be unacceptible. Others makes their own VCDs all the time and find the quality to be OK. You're going to have to decide for yourself what you think of the quality. In my opinion, anyone who claims that they are getting DVD quality video with their own VCDs or SVCDs is not telling the truth.

-- Jason (Jason.Shumate@sita.int), June 27, 2001.

yes

-- DJ Dee (djdee@k.ro), June 28, 2001.