--- You wrote: I have known about the USB/FireWire capture options for a while, but I am not that impressed with them. Most are limited to 320x240 capture resolution that I have seen, especially the USB ones. This is why I wanted a PCI solution. --- end of quote --- You might want to research and reconsider this. The modern solution is Firewire. The high end professional editing systems, Final Cut and Premiere, even Avid, support it as the primary interface. They work with Firewire to import footage and to export to tape or to view video on real video monitors while editing (Computer monitors cannot give accurate video color.)
You are right that most, if not all of the usb solutions are tacky. (There are some boxes that compress video to MP2 for DVD, then export on usb, and that might be ok for some applications.) But Firewire is the professional standard. The pci cards were designed before firewire port came into commmon use. It is true that some of the pci cards have onboard processors that supplement what your mac can do. But these too were designed before Macs got fast enough to handle video processing adroitly without help. If you do not upgrade the processor speed on your G3 (I have 466mhz G4 on my Beige MT, which is quite adequate for video) and can get a good deal on an old, capable pci card, it might be your best economical solution. But an outboard digitizer (even one built into a camcorder like my inexpensive Canon ZR40) and a firewire card ($40 or less) will match the quality, if not the speed, of any pci board. Also, consider that your original source, Hi8 or VHS, even SVHS cannot even nearly meet the quality potential of the DV format through the Firewire port. Hope this helps. Rich -- G-List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- We have Apple Refurbished Monitors in stock! | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> G-List list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
