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Researching Capture Cards
I posted this in the Final Cut forum earlier today but thought I’d get everyone’s opinion here as well.
Like all of In-Sync’s loyal customers, we found ourselves completely screwed when they suddenly (but not surprisingly) closed their doors last year. Now after months of debate and research we’re finally ready to bite the bullet and switch to Final Cut Pro. The only question that remains is the choice of capture card.
We currently work with DVCPRO and BetaSP but are adding HDV to the mix when we upgrade our editor. Most of our projects are corporate and non-profit with some local commercial production as well. I don’t anticipate having to output to HDV anytime soon but we want to be able to offer it as an option.
I need a card that can capture YUV Component, Composite and S-Video, as well as HDV over firewire; real-time playback directly from the timeline using the same connections listed above (minus firewire); a card that is stable during edits that are layer/effect-heavy; and most importantly a card that won’t require my boss to take out a second mortgage.
Right now we rely on Pinnacle’s Targa 3000. It’s unstable, unreliable, and a complete waste of our money. With that being said, T3K was the only card out there that met our needs.
Any suggestions?
Ben Henson
Tyler Creative -
1 Reply
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For now it sounds like an AJA Io would fit your needs, but it only supports SD, but all of the connections that you need. Obviously HDV can be handled through firewire with this option. The other option is the AJA Kona LH, which will get you HD and SD on one card with analog capabilities. This is especially nice for HDV, so you don’t have to working in the horrible HDV codec, and can capture to something more reasonable like DVDCPROHD (or even uncompressed). This way you are ready for HD, just in case.
If I were you I would go to http://www.aja.com and look at there Mac capture cards and the Io and see which seams to meet you needs the best. I think all of their prices are more than reasonable, but it is the storage that always ends up costing so much. But I can tell you first hand that you will be very happy with an AJA product.
Jared
Idea Spring Editing, Inc.
Denver Final Cut Pro UG
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