Connecting capture devices

The following list details the capture devices you can use and how they can be connected to your computer. For complete information about connecting your specific capture device to your computer, see the documentation associated with your hardware.

• Web camera connected to either a USB port, video capture card, or IEEE 1394 port. Depending on the type of Web camera, you can connect it to a USB port (if it’s a USB camera), to an analog capture card (if it’s a video composite camera), or to an IEEE 1394 port (if it’s an IEEEE 1394-compatible Web camera). Some Web cameras have a built-in microphone so you can use the Web camera for capturing both video and audio for your projects.
• Analog camera or VCR connected to an analog capture card. In this configuration, you connect a camera or VCR to an analog capture card. For example, you could connect the video line out on the camera to the video line in on the capture card. You could then to connect the left and right audio lines (often through RCA-style left- and right- channel connectors to a single 3.5mm stereo plug adapter) to the line in on your audio card (or analog video capture card if your card has both audio and video). If both your camera and capture card provide S-video connections, you could also choose to use the S-video connection to record the video while leaving the audio connectors attached so the audio is captured. Again, the specific configuration depends on your hardware.
• DV camera or VCR connected to an IEEE 1394 port. When a DV camera is connected to an IEEE 1394 port, you get the best quality available from your DV device. Because the data is already in a digital format, it is simply passed through the IEEE 1394 port to your computer. In this configuration, the IEEE 1394 cable is connected from the DV out port of your DV camera or VCR to the DV IEEE 1394 card or built-in IEEE 1394 port.
• DV camera or VCR connected to an analog video capture card. Many DV devices have analog outputs. If you have an analog video capture card, you can connect the DV camera or VCR to the analog capture card to transfer video and audio to your computer.
• Microphone connected to a sound card or USB port. To capture audio from a microphone, you connect it to the microphone or line-in input on your computer. Some microphones attach to a USB port on your computer.
• TV tuner card. To capture video from TV if you have a TV tuner card connected and installed on your computer.

Related topics

• Understanding capture devices