Over the last year, I've made a comparison of various capture cards during my own laserdisc transfer project. On my home server here (BE PATIENT) there are three untouched captures of the same scene. Only one of these capture cards is able to capture in YUY. The others are captures from an MPEG2 capture card and another from a DV capture card. The results I think are suprising. Remember, these are all raw, untouched captures:

The top picture is a capture from a Canopus ADVC50 (same as the ADVC100 excepts lacks video out capability). It shows slight combing, but there is bad dot crawl(?), tearing (?) of red, most easily seen along the top of Leia's left arm. I never really considered DV seriously to start with because of the quality loss from the format.

The center is a YUY capture from a BT8*8 (actually a BT878) chipset tv capture card. It shows combing artifacts that I've noticed in many captures using similar cards and really is of poor quality. Despite the good reputation I am not impressed by these cards.

The bottom capture is from a Hauppauge PVR250MCE. To my eyes it easily is the best capture of the group. The interesting thing about this card is that it only captures in MPEG2. That's right, the image that has already been compressed shows the best quality. If I could wish for one thing, it would be a sharper picture as it looks like it was run through a soft filter.

Ok, a word on the source of the capture material. I'm using the definitive collection through a Pioneer Elite CLD-79.

Anyways, I would like everyones comments on these captures and a discussion on capture cards, and anyones personal experience with the PDI Deluxe.