Help with Sound Card

[proufo]

Hello to all.

I need to get a sound card for my home server, in order to transfer VHS tapes to MPEG-1 files for viewing on another computer for text transcription purposes.

I don't need anything fancy, even 8-bit mono is OK.

But my server is underpowered, using a PII400. I have read that when the video and the sound cards are not the same, it is possible to have bad synch between video and audio.

My guess is that if most of the encoding is done in tha card hardware, the chances for that to happen lessens. It is very important to keep synch for the full length of the programs, about 40-50 minutes each.

I'm considering this lo-end creative PCI card:

http://www.americas.creative.com/products/product.asp?maincategory=461&category=461&product=10

But it says somewhere else in the same site the following: *Usage of this product in Windows® NT 4.0 requires a minimum 200MHz processor and 32MB system RAM. Functionality may differ from box specifications due to limitations in Windows® NT. Bundled application and utility software may have higher system requirements.

As I'm running W2000 Server, I'd guess the same applies to it too. It seems that when using these OSs, CPU utilization goes up.

Does any of our digitizing experts can provide some help here? I'd like to understand what is involved in this, and to guarantee that the purchases I will make will provide the required results.

Video card will be a WinTV 250. The Provideo card I was set on previously is no longer available.

Many, many thanks in advance.

[JonUrban]

Pablo,

You need to find a card with on board processing. I know my Yamaha card has that, however I think it has been discontinued. You might try one of the M-Audio cards. Since you have Win2K, they should be fine. Just verify that the drivers will work on Win2K SERVER. I seem to recall that when it came out, I had trouble with drivers and had to downgrade to WIn2K Pro.

[-=Rudy=-]

Windows NT 4.0 and 2000 (in whatever flavor) are two different animals.

As for transfers, though, I thought that transfering involved a video capture device, where you input both video and audio to the same device. My digital camcorder has a "pass-thru" feature I can use for this purpose. Thing is, to do this with a camcorder or a *good* video capture device, you would probably need to get a USB 2.0 or Firewire card for the computer. (Those don't cost much.)

M-Audio does hvae some good sound cards...I'm going to be buying at least one in the near future. :)

[proufo]

Originally posted by oblio98
You need to find a card with on board processing. I know my Yamaha card has that, however I think it has been discontinued. You might try one of the M-Audio cards. Since you have Win2K, they should be fine. Just verify that the drivers will work on Win2K SERVER. I seem to recall that when it came out, I had trouble with drivers and had to downgrade to WIn2K Pro.
Hello Jon, and thanks for your reply.

Don't they all have on-board processing?

What should I look for in order to be sure a particular card has OBP?

Thanks again.

[proufo]

Originally posted by Rudy@A&MCorner
Windows NT 4.0 and 2000 (in whatever flavor) are two different animals.

As for transfers, though, I thought that transfering involved a video capture device, where you input both video and audio to the same device. My digital camcorder has a "pass-thru" feature I can use for this purpose. Thing is, to do this with a camcorder or a *good* video capture device, you would probably need to get a USB 2.0 or Firewire card for the computer. (Those don't cost much.)

M-Audio does have some good sound cards...I'm going to be buying at least one in the near future. :)
Hello Rudy and thanks for your reply.

As non-sensible as it may sound, most video capture card, even the high-end, require a separate sound card. There are very few that provide both functions. My gues is that they assume most customers already have a configured sound card, so why pay for another and worse, reconfigure it again.

I'd love to get a M-2496 for needle drops. That's not an urgent project. At this point I just need an inexpensive, reliable card that meets the video synch requirement.

Thanks again.