Question: What are the Different Types of Capture Cards?
Capture Cards are internal or external devices that record Video or TV into your computer's hard drive. Internal cards fit into a PCI slot on your PCs motherboard, external cards often attach via USB 2.0. There are cards that only record digital video via IEEE1394 (Firewire), or others that can record TV or Video with analog inputs (S-video and Composite). Still others record TV with a coaxial cable input. See below for more on the different Capture Cards.
Answer: TV and Video Capture Card
A TV Capture Card or Video Capture Card records TV or Video from an analog signal. Typically this type of card will only have S-Video and Composite inputs to record Video and Audio. These cards can attach via USB 2.0 or internally into a PCI slot. These cards can also record analog video from a camcorder, DVD player/recorder or VCR. They typically come bundled with TV and Video Capture software. These types of cards do not input digital signals or capture from coaxial cable.
Video-only Capture Card
These are higher-end Video Capture Cards typically used by professionals or advanced hobbyists who want to edit the video they are capturing. These cards capture with IEEE1394 (Firewire) inputs from digital camcorders. Usually bundled with high-end video editing software.
TV Tuner Card
The TV Tuner Capture Card captures TV from a coaxial cable input and tunes the channels available from your cable company or from an antenna. They typically provide an Electronic Programming Guide (EPG) to schedule recordings in advance. They also function as a Digital Video Recorder, so users can pause and rewind live TV.
Some Capture Cards function as Video Capture Cards as well as TV Tuner Cards. They include analog inputs as well as a coaxial cable input. Many come bundled with TV and Video Capture software, video editing software and/or DVD authoring and burning software.