S-video In or Out??

[tinyclanger]

I'm thinking of transferring some incredibly ancient VHSC tapes to my PC and then putting them on DVD.

I have a JVC GR-AX808 (:eek: I know ..bought it in 1992) and the only connectors on it are the yellow and white audio/video jobs.

I don't know anything about graphics cards, but I have a ATI Radeon Express X1500 512MB (Came with Fujitsu Scaleo P box). I've googled it, but there seems to be different specs and I can't work out the one I have. All I see in the back there is the connector for the monitor and an S-video connector.

Here's my dilemma. I don't know if it's and input or an output. I have no cable to check, and even if I had, I wouldn't know what to do with it..:D:D:confused:

Is there anything that I can check, or is there somewhere I can look in Windows to see if it can do my job?

I have Legacy Capture Video Devices showing up in my Device Manager under Sound/Video Controllers, but maybe that means nothing?:confused:

I open Windows Movie Maker and clicked capture but all I could see was my webcam, but again, I haven't the foggiest what I'm looking for.:p

Should I open up the box, and see exactly what's on the card?

My brother is hopefully getting hold of an AV to S-Video cable for me.

Or should I take the tapes in to a shop and get them converted professionally??:o

What y'all think??:D:D

[Charmers]

Hello Tinyclanger, I am afraid I am the bearer of bad news. There is no way you can capture video with your graphics card. The graphics card you have solely deals with outputting graphics, not accepting inputs I am afraid.

However if you are willing to spend a lil bit of money you can get hold of a video capture device. These can either be in the form of a card you put inside your PC or a small box you attach to the usb ports of your computer. TV capture devices also give you the ability to turn your PC into another television. Hey you can even have a little windowed televison on your screen whilst you work.

My personal recommendation is a capture device from Hauppage, they do a wide range of them and the prices are fair, if you just want a cheapo one that captures video you are probably looking at around £50 - £70. Have a look at Hauppages website here :-

http://www.hauppauge.com/

[tinyclanger]

Hey Charmers...thanks for the reply. You're up late....:D:D Me too!!

Well..I thought as much about my card...would have been too good to be true.:p

I don't know if it's worth spending any money on, but I'd be kinda interested to see what the quality would be like. The camcorder fired up today, and is perfect, but I'm sure it's complete garbage compared to what is available today.

If I could preserve what I already have, I'd be happy. I can't see myself using the camcorder too much more, though if the quality was acceptable, it would do for messing around the house. See..I'm having a conversation with myself here, trying to work out what I'm going to do..lol.:D

Don't know what to do...:confused::confused:

[Charmers]

Well I have always had a TV card in my PC's, sort of tradition. It can be a lot of fun messing about with video on PC. However if you are after an ultra cheap cheap solution you could consider pinnacle Dazzle. It's USB, it records video, shoves it on to dvd and it's £29 what more could a lady want... well apart from someone to buy her it of course :D:D:D

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/107373/rb/0

[tinyclanger]

Thanks so much charmers...I'm going to explore the card option. Could be useful for recording tv and stuff as well as doing my video bit.

The downside to the camcorder always was editing the video, but now that would be so much easier. It might experience a revival for a bit, let the kids loose with it and see what happens.

Ok..that my job to obsess over for the next few days, trying to pick out a card. :D:D

Any tips on specs would be appreciated as I don't know what to look for.

Thanks again:D

[milvus-milvus]

One word of warning with Hauppauge - their boxes are not entirely compatible with the spec. OK if you use them only with Hauppauge s/w (such as WinTV), but if you want to use third party stuff (I was setting up a webcam feed) - it might not work.

I bought myself a dedicated Osprey video capture card in the end.

Cheers,
Baz.

[Charmers]

it's a bit difficult to recommend a specific card for you I am afraid, you are going to have to do a bit of reading yourself :(. As milvus-milvus said hauppage cards tend to be a bit iffy with other third party software, but the software that usually comes with hauppage stuff willl do all the normal tv/recording.

Probably the best I could find for TV function is the Hauppauge WinTV-NOVA-TD Dual digital diversity USB Stick it's about £60 and it comes with digital freeview built in. One thing you should note though is you need an outside aerial, an indoor aerial will not be up for the job.

But if this puts you off just go with a cheap capture card option to grab stuff from your camera.

[tinyclanger]

How's this (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-025-HA&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=) ?

[Charmers]

Yep just checked it out, always forget about overclockers. But yeah if you feel comfortable installing a PCI card that is a pretty decent TV card and with freeview and not too expensive either. You should have a lot of fun makes me want to get a new card lol.

[tinyclanger]

Bought it!:D