advice for video capture card?

[bad_gui]

I got a pvr-500 as a gift and got it working under vector.  My cable company switched to
digitally encrypted signal so I haven't used it in a while.

I want to convert my old vhs tapes to dvd so I tried connecting either vhs coax or rca
output to the card but the picture is awful.  Even my video camera output looks bad
when it was great a while ago.

I searched the web and came across this posting on my card (I have version b).

http://forums.snapstream.com/vb/home-theater-pc-discussion/33675-hauppauge-wintv-pvr-500-mce.html

I sent an e-mail to the manufacturer but I doubt they will be helpful.

I would like to get another card to capture video input to write a dvd.  Does anyone have a working
setup?  Card, software, settings?  My digital camera can record the vhs output and then transfer via
firewire but this seems tedious for lots of tapes.

I searched the web and found lots of suggested configurations but I don't know much about video capture
and conversion.  I have mplayer and vlc installed. 

Other posting I have seen imply that only the most recent computer hardware can handle vhs to dvd
transfer.  I have a Intel Pentium 4 CPU 2.80GHz with 1Gig RAM. 

I was looking at NewEgg and saw this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815144031

Anyone know if this usb device is supported in linux?

[nightflier]

I transferred all my VHS tapes to disc, several times. I got the best results using a standalone DVD recorder. Video capture, editing and DVD mastering is labor intensive and takes a lot of time.

Your computer is fast enough to do the job, though.

[GrannyGeek]

By far the easiest way to transfer VHS tapes to DVD is to use either a standalone VCR-DVD recorder combo or a VCR connected to a DVD recorder.

I transferred 40-something VHS tapes to DVD a few months ago and used a VCR hooked up to an HDD/DVD recorder (records to its own hard drive or to DVD). This is like a hard drive DVR with a DVD recorder. If I wanted a straight tape-to-DVD transfer I recorded directory from VCR to DVD. If I wanted to do some editing like removing commercials or cutting scenes, I recorded to the unit's hard drive, did the editing, and then dubbed it to DVD.

I've had a computer video capture device for years and have tried transferring VCR tapes to computer and then to DVD. Doing it with the standalone VCR-to-DVD was *MUCH, MUCH, MUCH* easier and the quality was better, too.
--GrannyGeek