Announcement: Our new CyberLink Feedback Forum has arrived! Please transfer to our new forum to provide your feedback or to start a new discussion. The content on this CyberLink Community forum is now read only, but will continue to be available as a user resource. Thanks!
CyberLink Community Forum
where the experts meet
| Advanced Search >
Looking For Advice On A Capture Card/Device Using PowerDirector 12
David3396 [Avatar]
Newbie Location: none Joined: Dec 25, 2013 16:33 Messages: 5 Offline
[Post New]
Hello, my name is David and I am relatively new to Powerdirector. A Trial of version 8 came with my computer when I bought it a few years ago, but its capabilities were limited to I bought the latest version a few weeks ago. My computer is an HP model p6703w. I am running Windows 7 home premium. In the past I have heavily used an ADS Tech DVDXPRESS DX2 capture device with the supplied Ulead editing software, unfortunately this is not compatible with windows 7. I would like to purchase a capture card, or USB capture device, to use with my newer HP computer and capture directly to Powerdirector 12. Most of my current projects are capturing video from vintage Betamax tapes so analog RCA inputs are a must. I would appreciate any suggestions for a quality device that would work well with Windows and Powerdirector 12.
Carl312
Senior Contributor Location: Texas, USA Joined: Mar 16, 2010 20:11 Messages: 9090 Offline
[Post New]
Check out http://www.hauppauge.com/ for modern capture devices.

Products range widely.

I do not work for Hauppauge, but I have used some of their products. I have two of their devices in use on Windows 7 now.
Carl312: Windows 10 64-bit 8 GB RAM,AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4 GHz,ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB,240GB SSD,two 1TB HDs.

Rocket-Scientist
Senior Member Location: HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA Joined: Apr 23, 2010 10:14 Messages: 288 Offline
[Post New]
if you are doing Betamax, then try to find an ADVC 300, it has a built in time base corrector, which really cleans up the line scan timing in old analog tapes.

Hauppauge and Avermedia both make nice cards that work well with windows 7. RTX 2060 SUPER 8GB GDDR6
(2 NVME 2TB, 1 SSD 2TB, 3SATA 18TB )
PD18 ULTIMATE 64bit
WINDOWS 10 PRO 64 BIT
GIGABYTE X570 AORUS PRO WIFI MB
RYZEN 7 3700X 8-CORE , 64 GB DDR4
ORSAIR HX1050 watts PSU
David3396 [Avatar]
Newbie Location: none Joined: Dec 25, 2013 16:33 Messages: 5 Offline
[Post New]
Thank you both for the response. The ADVC 300 looks interesting. Does anyone know if it works with PD12 and Windows 7?
SimonW [Avatar]
Newbie Joined: Mar 25, 2013 13:48 Messages: 22 Offline
[Post New]
I tried a Hauppauge VCB internal capture card for capturing VHS home video tapes on my Dell desktop PC. It was OK until I went back to tapes which were originally taken on an older camcorder and I started to get a lot of "crackling" i.e. flicker on the captured video which wasn't obvious on the VHS tape.

It was too bad to watch so I got onto Hauppauge who, I have to say were really helpful, but couldn't eliminate the problem. They said it was due to the card losing sync with the VHS machine when there was an error on the tape.....and there were lots!

Being me I went on and on at them to fix their driver and in the end they sent me a new card FOC - a Colossus card - which works just fine and doesn't add more flicker than was on the original tape. The output is far superior to what's displayed when the VHS player is plugged into a TV via SCART. Its not cheap though!

...... and then your trouble really starts! You have excellent captured video, Powerdirector (which I researched long and hard and was glad I bought) ..... and no idea of all the challenges (not problems) you are about to encounter

What output format? what's the difference between PAL and NSTC? why does may Apple TV work with both PAL and NSTC? why does an iPhone produce 30 NSTC when I live in the UK? - it goes on and on but it's all fun and the people on this forum are really helpful.

Have fun
Simon PowerDirector 12 Build 2420
Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64 bit
Dell Studio XPS 7100 AMD Phenom II x6 1035T 2.6Ghz with 8 Gb RAM
ATI Radeon HD 5770 video card graphics card
Hauppauge Colossus capture card and "Capture" software
SimonW [Avatar]
Newbie Joined: Mar 25, 2013 13:48 Messages: 22 Offline
[Post New]
BTW - when using the Colossus card I'm running Windows 7 and PD12. I use the Hauppauge app appropriately named "Capture" to capture the video. I also used PD11 with it ok. PowerDirector 12 Build 2420
Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64 bit
Dell Studio XPS 7100 AMD Phenom II x6 1035T 2.6Ghz with 8 Gb RAM
ATI Radeon HD 5770 video card graphics card
Hauppauge Colossus capture card and "Capture" software
Rocket-Scientist
Senior Member Location: HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA Joined: Apr 23, 2010 10:14 Messages: 288 Offline
[Post New]
I use the AVDC 300 with its own software "Picture Controller 300" which lets you adjust hue, lighting, sync and many other neat things while the video is playing. it creates a DV 720x480 30p output file on your hard disk. when you get all the setting for a particular tape just right, you rewind and record full version. this will give you a good starting file, with very good scan line starts. I always capture uncompressed video, that way you keep as much information as possible ... big disks are now very affordable ... memories are priceless.

stage two is run it thru "Video Enhancer" [google is your friend] to double the resolution if the end viewer is on HD.
Not quite NASA VISAR class, but impressive algorithms.
takes me about 4 hours per one hour of video.

power director has a nice but limited enhancement feature,
will clean up a lot (unfortunately out-of-focus not one, I shot a lot of early video out-of-focus)

then into Power Director for edit and fancy stuff. This is where PD shines, almost unlimited creative possibilities and easy to learn. [there are fantastic tutorials on this forum.

the end product looks good on big HD screens, not bad for 320x240 30i inputs.

This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at Jan 03. 2014 23:53

RTX 2060 SUPER 8GB GDDR6
(2 NVME 2TB, 1 SSD 2TB, 3SATA 18TB )
PD18 ULTIMATE 64bit
WINDOWS 10 PRO 64 BIT
GIGABYTE X570 AORUS PRO WIFI MB
RYZEN 7 3700X 8-CORE , 64 GB DDR4
ORSAIR HX1050 watts PSU
David3396 [Avatar]
Newbie Location: none Joined: Dec 25, 2013 16:33 Messages: 5 Offline
[Post New]
Thank you Rocket-Scientist for the information. I am wondering, what is the difference between the ADVC 300 by Canopus and the ADVC110 by Grass Valley which is shown at the following website: http://www.grassvalley.com/products/advc110
They appear to be the same product. I really like what I'm hearing about the 300, I just prefer something compatible with windows 7. Also, not finding any site to purchase the 300 other than ebay at the moment.
Thanks, David. Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit, 5 GB Ram, AMD Athlon II X4 640 3.0 Ghz, ATI Radeon HD 4200, 750GB HD, Free Space Greater than 100GB.
Carl312
Senior Contributor Location: Texas, USA Joined: Mar 16, 2010 20:11 Messages: 9090 Offline
[Post New]
Here is a Grass Valley forum discussing the difference between the ADVC 300 and the ADVC 110

http://forum.grassvalley.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2781

One statement says the same chip is used in all three units 55, 110 and 300.
Carl312: Windows 10 64-bit 8 GB RAM,AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4 GHz,ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB,240GB SSD,two 1TB HDs.

Rocket-Scientist
Senior Member Location: HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA Joined: Apr 23, 2010 10:14 Messages: 288 Offline
[Post New]
grassvalley now makes the AVDC line of products.

AVDC 300 still the best overall unit, but not sure they still are making new ones. RTX 2060 SUPER 8GB GDDR6
(2 NVME 2TB, 1 SSD 2TB, 3SATA 18TB )
PD18 ULTIMATE 64bit
WINDOWS 10 PRO 64 BIT
GIGABYTE X570 AORUS PRO WIFI MB
RYZEN 7 3700X 8-CORE , 64 GB DDR4
ORSAIR HX1050 watts PSU
David3396 [Avatar]
Newbie Location: none Joined: Dec 25, 2013 16:33 Messages: 5 Offline
[Post New]
Thank you both for your replies and links. After reading hours of forums It appears I know very little about video capture because I have been doing it for so many years with sub-par equipment and knowledge. Not that I really "know" anymore now, I am getting the impression that my initial capture should be to a highest quality, lossless file? It appears that the more cleaning I can do in the device before the computer, the better my end result would be? In that case the ADVC300 seems to be the best choice for me. And even if the TBC cannot be turned off on the 300, it does not seem to negatively affect the capture even if TBC is not needed. Of course the 300 is no longer being produced which puts be on the ebay hunt. I don't want to get too off topic, but would .AVI be the lossless format to capture to? Does PD12 capture permit me to do this? I can't test it without a working device plugged into my computer with PD12.

thank you again very much,
-David Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit, 5 GB Ram, AMD Athlon II X4 640 3.0 Ghz, ATI Radeon HD 4200, 750GB HD, Free Space Greater than 100GB.
Powered by JForum 2.1.8 © JForum Team