I tend to be long-winded, so if you'd rather get to the requirements list, skip to the bottom:
Video capture has been a hobby of mine for years. I mostly capture short clips or TV commercials I like and want to save. But earlier this year I had to build a new computer and my old capture card (Hauppauge WinTV 404) -- the oldest expansion card I was still using -- was just a standard PCI card and, of course, my new motherboard does not have a legacy PCI slot.
As long as I had good drivers, the old WinTV 404 worked just as I expected it to with no issues I couldn't fix post-capture (like audio and video sometimes falling out of sync). But what I liked about the WinTV 404 is that you could capture raw, uncompressed AVIs. Since the source material is already compressed from the satellite receiver, I wanted to save compression for the last step in the post-capture archiving process.
Now I've been reading about some of the capture cards available today and I've read that many do not allow the capturing of raw AVIs. Very annoying. It's much easier, in my opinion, to edit uncompressed videos. That said, I do like the idea of having an on-board hardware compression to keep from working the CPU, but I don't want to be forced to use compression for every single capture!
A few points about my equipment. The satellite receiver is just standard definition, but I will probably upgrade to HDTV at some point in the future, so I'd like to get a capture card that is also HD with the ability to capture standard definition, too.
So I was looking at the Hauppauge Colossus. I'm familiar with the Hauppauge software already, and while I know how strange and flaky the driver installation is for Hauppauge products, I was nonetheless able to get WinTV 404 drivers and software up and working with 100% reliability. I have never used any other capture card than the WinTV 404. The Colossus doesn't look like it has very good reviews overall.
I saw some stuff on newegg.com from AverMedia and the reviews for it were better, but I'm not familiar with that company at all; I've just seen the name floating around.
My main problem is that while there are some HDMI devices in the house, I never personally owned any HDTV items that used component cables. The best I had and currently have is S-Video. But we're going through the house and slowly upgrading everything, so at some point, I'm expecting to end up with the latest model Dish Network HDTV satellite receiver. I'm hoping to get through all this without losing my video capturing hobby.
Summary of Requirements:
===============
Most important:
------------------
Works with Windows 8 64-bit
Capture video from composite plugs, S-Video and in the future, HDTV
Capture in raw/uncompressed format
Things I don't care about:
(f the device suggested has this feature, it's okay as long as it does not interfere with the most important things listed above.)
-----------------------------
Using the capture card as a DVR with timers to record television shows
Sorry if I was so long-winded, but I was trying to be thorough, and I have the time to do that. :)
Computer Build:
Motherboard: Asus Crosshair V Formula-Z (AMD 990FX)
CPU: AMD FX-6300 Vishera 3.5 GHz (AM3+)
Memory: 4x4 GB (16GB) Kingston HyperX DDR3 2133
Graphics: MSI GeForce GTX 650
HDD: Western Digital 320GB (I'm going to get a bigger one; the twin failed after two years)
Monitor: 27" Acer S271HL
PSU: Seasonic X-Series 1050 Watts
UPS: APC Back-UPS XS 1500
Network: Netgear WNDR3700 N600
Video capture has been a hobby of mine for years. I mostly capture short clips or TV commercials I like and want to save. But earlier this year I had to build a new computer and my old capture card (Hauppauge WinTV 404) -- the oldest expansion card I was still using -- was just a standard PCI card and, of course, my new motherboard does not have a legacy PCI slot.
As long as I had good drivers, the old WinTV 404 worked just as I expected it to with no issues I couldn't fix post-capture (like audio and video sometimes falling out of sync). But what I liked about the WinTV 404 is that you could capture raw, uncompressed AVIs. Since the source material is already compressed from the satellite receiver, I wanted to save compression for the last step in the post-capture archiving process.
Now I've been reading about some of the capture cards available today and I've read that many do not allow the capturing of raw AVIs. Very annoying. It's much easier, in my opinion, to edit uncompressed videos. That said, I do like the idea of having an on-board hardware compression to keep from working the CPU, but I don't want to be forced to use compression for every single capture!
A few points about my equipment. The satellite receiver is just standard definition, but I will probably upgrade to HDTV at some point in the future, so I'd like to get a capture card that is also HD with the ability to capture standard definition, too.
So I was looking at the Hauppauge Colossus. I'm familiar with the Hauppauge software already, and while I know how strange and flaky the driver installation is for Hauppauge products, I was nonetheless able to get WinTV 404 drivers and software up and working with 100% reliability. I have never used any other capture card than the WinTV 404. The Colossus doesn't look like it has very good reviews overall.
I saw some stuff on newegg.com from AverMedia and the reviews for it were better, but I'm not familiar with that company at all; I've just seen the name floating around.
My main problem is that while there are some HDMI devices in the house, I never personally owned any HDTV items that used component cables. The best I had and currently have is S-Video. But we're going through the house and slowly upgrading everything, so at some point, I'm expecting to end up with the latest model Dish Network HDTV satellite receiver. I'm hoping to get through all this without losing my video capturing hobby.
Summary of Requirements:
===============
Most important:
------------------
Works with Windows 8 64-bit
Capture video from composite plugs, S-Video and in the future, HDTV
Capture in raw/uncompressed format
Things I don't care about:
(f the device suggested has this feature, it's okay as long as it does not interfere with the most important things listed above.)
-----------------------------
Using the capture card as a DVR with timers to record television shows
Sorry if I was so long-winded, but I was trying to be thorough, and I have the time to do that. :)
Computer Build:
Motherboard: Asus Crosshair V Formula-Z (AMD 990FX)
CPU: AMD FX-6300 Vishera 3.5 GHz (AM3+)
Memory: 4x4 GB (16GB) Kingston HyperX DDR3 2133
Graphics: MSI GeForce GTX 650
HDD: Western Digital 320GB (I'm going to get a bigger one; the twin failed after two years)
Monitor: 27" Acer S271HL
PSU: Seasonic X-Series 1050 Watts
UPS: APC Back-UPS XS 1500
Network: Netgear WNDR3700 N600