🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <4lfoum$3gi@igateway.uk-po.com>
           rousej@royalmail.co.uk "Jon Rouse" writes:

> Can someone explain - in words of few syllables, why there is such 
> discrepancy in the cost of video capture cards? Presumably there are more 
> functions on some than others, but what are those functions (not what are 
> they called, but what so they do?). I've seen video capture cards offered 
> for less than 100UKP, but do I have to freeze-frame my video while they 
> do their stuff? I haven't the time, or ability to trail round all the 
> shops comparing notes, though those I have been in seem to recommend the 
> video-blaster, and when I look in the electronics magazines there seem to 
> be two different versions of that. Help please, I'm getting confused.
> 
This *is* a complex area.

Most of the cheaper cards such as the RT300 and DC1 only capture half PAL
resolution. The more expensive cards such as the DC20 allow full PAL. The
difference is a fourfold increase in resolution and doubling the fields 
and frames. The consequence of *that* is a phenomenal increase in the data
being streamed to a hard disk, which means you need a very fast and very
large hard disk for the latter. That in turn requires a fast SCSI card and
so on.

Even with the low end cards, you will end up with files which may amount
to 100MB a minute for a raw, uncompresed clip...

Be careful with the RT300 - get assurances that it will work with your
Pentium system, IF your pentium system has an Intel chipset on the mother-
board. The chip which does the compression on the RT300 may well clash with
your system..... The DC1 is a good card, but you will probably need the
full version of Premiere 4 if you want to do any serious editing work.
-- 
David Longley