Taking it Digital: Video Capture Devices (page 2)

All-digital Transfers

All newer Macs come with IEEE 1394 FireWire ports built right in, but if you have an older Mac that you want to retrofit, you can get a $94 Adaptec FireConnect 4300 kit. It works on a Power Mac 604e with MacOS 8.6 or later. Windows users can also use this IEEE 1394 card with a Pentium II 266MHz with Windows 98SE, ME or 2000.

Windows 98 users can get an AVerMedia AVerDV card for $60. It requires a Pentium 233MHz or better. The particular type of file this card creates isn't in wide use, and not very many software titles can use it yet. So, beware of its enticing price, until you first find the software you will use with it.

A Little Bit of Each

If you're shooting analog and digital, you may want to get a card that can input both types of video. Many of these cards are popular on the higher end of the consumer market.

Canopus makes the DVRexRT Professional card. It sells for $4,599 and requires Windows NT or 2000 and dual Pentium III 450MHz with 256MB RAM. With this, you get a substantial cut in the amount of time it takes to render effects. It includes component, composite, S-video and FireWire ins and outs and includes Adobe Premiere.

At the low end of the market, Dazzle makes the DVE-SE card available at $70. It's made for Pentium II/400 class or better machines running either Windows 98 or NT4, and comes bundled with Adobe Premiere as well as Dazzle's own Fast Forward software.

If you have a Mac, you might consider the Media100 i/leDV. It requires MacOS 9 and 256MB of RAM. It has FireWire, S-video and composite, and includes Media 100i software. It sells for $3,495.

For Web or Disk Only

If you're not outputting to VHS, but only want to get your video onto the Web or burn it to disk, you can get by with an inexpensive less-than full-frame full-motion digitizer. These are generally external devices that don't require you to crack open the case to install them. They come with either a parallel or USB connection. You should try to get a USB model if your computer supports USB (Parallel is another name for printer port).

If you're running Windows98, the Pinnacle Studio OnLine is worth checking out. It costs $69, and has composite inputs. It digitizes video at 320x240 at 30fps. It consists of a USB cable that connects an analog camcorder or VCR to your computer. It comes with simple editing and access to Pinnacle Systems' free video sharing Web site.

The Dazzle Digital Video Creator comes in both USB and parallel models. The USB retails for around $200 and the parallel is $250. They use MPEG-1 and encode 352x240 video at 30 frames per second.

If you're running a Mac, look at the Eskape Labs (Hauppauge) MyVideo for $239. It uses USB and includes Strata VideoShop 4.5.1 editing software. It also does 320x240 at 30 fps.