Question:
Hi,
I want to buy a gadget that will let me record TV programmes on my PC and transfer them into (MPEG 2?) format so that I can transfer them onto DVD format. I also want to transfer VHS to DVD.
From all the investiging I've been doing, it seems that the Pinnacle PCTV USB Deluxe can do everything I want. But is it any good?
Has anyone ever used it? I've read mixed reviews about the quality when it translates from VHS to DVD?
Or if anyone can suggest another brand or 'money saving ;D' option that would be great??
Thanks,
Ru
Answers:
Hi, this is a topic I have been mulling over for months. I can't decide if to get a DVD recorder or do it via PC. I read a book on digital video editing in the states and it said that the PCI (ie internal devices) give less dropped frames than a USB connected external box device because the PCI bus (internally on the motherboard) is faster than USB.
Anyway I have also read mixed reviews. I'm sure digital in is fine but different people have different quality standards and the more I investigate the more i think the best way to do it is with a DVD recorder. Let me know what you decide
Answers:
Digital television transmissions are in mpeg2.
If you use a digital TV tuner card then saving them to hard disk will not lose any information. You can also edit before burning a DVD.
The Pinnacle device has an analogue TV tuner and works with a software mpeg2 encoder. Why bother enoding this stuff to mpeg2 when it already done for you on a digital TV channel.
The quality will not be as good from an analogue source as it takes two passes of the material to to keep a moderate size and retain quality. The software encoder/analogue tuner has to do a rushed one pass job of the encoding process.
J_B.