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I am trying to convert some old videos to DVD
and add some cool new sounds and footage.but having installed PCTV in my computer it says Hardware installation failed No sound card installed. But my Pulsar card is working ok.Why won´t it recognise the drivers? Will I have to install another cheap sound card to get a work around? Does anyone know how I can get it to recognise my Pulsar hardware.

You obviously have enough money to afford a DVD burner so why use Pinnacle PCTV ? Isn't that a bit low-end ? (Maybe I'm thinking of a different one?) I had PCTV USB and literally ripped it out of my PC and chucked the whole lot in the bin - I didn't even want to give it away, it was a cursed piece of pure shite.

Now I use Vegas 3 and it couldn't be easier - works exactly like Acid, except with video.

Personally I'd try the Vegas 4 beta which comes with DVD Architect. It's fully functional and expires on Feb 20th. You certainly won't get any "sound card not recognised" problems.

http://www.sonicfoundry.com/download/step2.asp?DID=433





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<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Spirit on 2003-01-18 06:54 ]</font>

in case those old videos are Sony Hi8 cassettes: lend one of the Sony digital-8 camcorders and transfer via FireWire.
That way you'll get high quality encoding in a single pass

cheers, Tom

Thanks for the advice much appreciated.One thing though as maybe you are thinking I am converting analogue formats via a camera. I want to record from a video cassette from my video player via RF output.so I need a video/TV card in my computer to capture.The PCTV hardware is meant to do this but I have the problem of non recognition of sound card mentioned before.What are the better quality/workable alternatives for this? Can Vegas help me? it´s only software isn´t it?
thanks.

Well, maybe with a twiddle or tweak of something your Pinnacle will come good. It must work for some people.

I ended up getting an Osprey 210. Cheap and robust analog capture. It takes a PCI slot, but I've always had it next to my Pulsar without problems. It can capture by itself, or you can simply choose to capture from within Vegas.

On the other hand, if you're soon to buy a new camcorder then you could just pass the analog signal from your VCR through it into a cheap Firewire card.

http://www.viewcast.com/products/osprey.html

Spirit is right. That would be the best solution because the encoder of a camcorder is much more sophisticated than elcheapo framegrabbers or IOs of standard video cards. The encoder chips MUST be licenced by Sony, so PCI boards including them are rather expensive.
But afaik not all camcorders have that feature and in some countries it's disabled due to different custom rates.

cheers, Tom