Suitable ‘all-in-one’ device

[alexp2000]

Hi all,

Trying to find a capture device I can use for VHS as well as Sky TV programs and potentially Amazon/Netflix etc. Ideally something portable and not too expensive (within reason!)

Was looking at the Elgato HD S but wanted to see what everyone’s thoughts are?


Thanks

[deleted user]

I don't know much about capture devices, but for good captures of TV wouldn't it be good to have something that can capture the raw MPEG-2/H264 streams? Capturing any other way will result in huge amounts of data (hundreds of gigabytes for a single capture) and the need to reencode the capture while probably having dropped frames and quality loss through the reencoding.

[alexp2000]

Good point - it looks like the HD Pro can do that but that needs to be put inside a desktop. Not ideal but could live with that if it’s going to lead to better results. Unless anyone knows of any portable ones that can capture raw mpeg2/h264 streams?

[alexp2000]

So, ended up getting the Elgato HD Pro for my new PC - gave it a quick test last night and results seemed really good. Going to do a few captures of programs I’ve got on my Sky box but I’m assuming it could work for Amazon/Netflix if I use the same HDCP-stripping splitter. If there’s anything on UK TV that someone wants captured for a project please let me know (I don’t have Sky Movies btw but any other channel is fine)