Thinkpads Forum

My laptop has only USB 1.1 but in order to get good video quality, I would like to buy a Video Capture card with USB 2.0 quality. So, if I use a USB 2.0 adapter on my laptop to connect to the video card, would the video card work at all, or at 1.1 level?

The reason I am asking this is, some USB 2.0 devices are known to refuse to work with USB 2.0 adapters; they work only if the computer has the "original" USB 2.0 port.

Would appreciate learning from your experience and recommendation on a video capture card. Otherwise, it would be pretty expensive to buy a later model computer just to get the USB 2.0 ports for video capture purpose.

Thanks in advance.

It depends on your capture device...tho I think most of them will work with 1.1. I have a Pinnacel Systems USB Movie Box and it will work at 1.1 but if you connect it to a 1.1 port it will give a little pop up advising you to move it to a high speed USB port in order for it to run faster etc. It will still work however. I can't think of a 2.0 device I have run into yet that isn't backwards compatile with 1.1 except a TV tuner box that I have around here somewhere...refused to work at all on one of my boxes with 1.1 only.

Considering CARDBUS is pretty much just PCI on a card, if there's incompatibility problems, it's probably crap drivers on the mfg's part.

I'd say go for it and if you do have problems, return it. No reason to keep a product that doesn't work as advertised.

Rahula wrote:My laptop has only USB 1.1 but in order to get good video quality, I would like to buy a Video Capture card with USB 2.0 quality. So, if I use a USB 2.0 adapter on my laptop to connect to the video card, would the video card work at all, or at 1.1 level?

If you buy a Cardbus USB 2.0 adapter card to put in your PCMCIA card slot, you should get 2.0 speeds, or at least much better than 1.1 speeds. They make cheaper ones that stick out from the side of the laptop, and more expensive ones that are flush with the edge of the laptop (but use a dongle).

I saw both in a recent trip to Micro Center (related to Fry's I believe).

You don't say what size video you're talking about capturing, there's a huge difference between VCD quality, say, and full DV quality.
For example, the data-rate of a full-frame DV video file is around 31 mbps, while the USB 1.1 spec is 15 mbps, so for DV capture you definitely need a USB 2 card. Even if you're capturing lower-quality video (240x360, eg), having more transfer overhead is always a good idea. Spend the $20 or so to get a USB 2 card on ebay.

I would recommend you look at FIREWIRE. This is a streaming protocol and you WON't lose any frames from a DV device. I bought a combo CARDBUS that does both USB 2.0 and Firewire. The card was only $35 and works like a charm.

Just my 2 cents worth

Storage_man

Good point, as long as I was buying a card, I'd get a combo firewire/USB 2.0, it will only be a couple of bucks more, and you never know when you'll run into a firewire only device. In fact, I've taken to editing video on my T22 (dump the raw footage onto an Ultrabay HD), and I need to replace my USB2 card with a combo card so I can go straight from the camera (firewire out only) to the TP.

BTW, editing video sitting on the couch or in bed is so much more pleasant than sitting at a workstation.

Thanks for the replies.

Can you recommend a USB2.0/Firewire PC card adapter? I previously bought an unbranded one from ebay which works on and off .... total waste of money.

Also, as suggested by storage_man, I would like to buy a video capture card that uses Firewire interface and includes the software for capturing from vhs, editing, then to burning the DVD. Have read reviews where people have problem with the card or the software. Would appreciate one that works on a Firewire adapter PC card, because some capture cards may be picky and not work on adapters and only on the original Firewire ports on the laptop.

Views?

I'd say anything you get at newegg.com is going to be decent quality (great tech source, but you will get hit with sales tax in Calif).

As to a capture card, ask in the capture forum at dvdrhelp.com, one of the best video sites out there. BTW, IMO the best capture device for the money is a consumer DV video camera with analog passthrough -- you can use it to capture (the camera converts the ananlog signal to DV), plus you can shoot videos. But not all DV cams have analog passthrough.

In any event, I would say what you want is not a straight capture card, but a converter card (or module) that will convert the analog video to DV, that way you greatly reduce the problem with dropped frames you will find if using VirtualDub or a similar program. Of course, this assumes you are capturing video for eventual transfer to DVD. If you are capturing for low-res output (ie for web streaming), dropped frames is not a problem because of the much lower bit rate of the captured video stream.

Thanks for your replies which explored various angles of this issue.
Because of price reason, I finally bought the Plextor AV100U video capture usb 2.0 devise which works beautifully even when I used an USB 2.0 adapter on my laptops which have only USB 1.1 original ports.

What is amazing is that although the manual/box/advertisements all stated min of Pent.IV 1.8GB and USB 2.0 it works on my two laptops which have:
Thinkpad T23 - cpu P3-1.13GB ram 768MB
Fujitsu C2111 - cpu P4-1.6GB ram 512MB

The DVD produced thru the Fuji is slightly grainy (not as sharp as the VHS movie), while the DVD from Thinkpad is more grainy, but still acceptable. What is most amazing is that the video captures from my 2 laptops came out without any audio sync problems, which apparently plague many brands of video capture hardware/software.

If anyone has details on the usb adapter that is flush with the laptop, as mentioned by GomJabbar, I would appreciate any info available,