Plextor ConvertX™ PVR PX-AV100U Video Capture

Pros: Probably the cheapest way to convert TV to the computer file through USB.
Cons: Installation could be a nightmare. You can't schedule to record the TV program.

I bought this for about $90 from the online store TigerDirect in 2004. To my knowledge, this is the only device under $100 which can convert analog AV cable (those red/white/yellow cable from the back of the TV/Radio) through your USB cable, if you are ...

Pros: Compact, small, sleek, attractive, fairly east to install unit and software.
Cons: Low resolution, framerate, and color quality video. USB 2.0, no surround and poor software.

The converter really stresses it's "high quality" and ease of use. Well it is fairly easy to use, but FAR from high quality. Well it's not that easy to use. The software is so user friendly, if you know anything about computers, the user friendly ...

Pros: When it works, it's a doll.
Cons: May be more trouble than it's worth.

The device is difficult to install on a Windows XP or 2000 computer. But that was also true for its competitor VideoBus II.

Video capture? My real complaints is inconsistency. depending on the video editor capturing, I get either a very decent capture or a jerky, frame dropping, freeze frame capture. for some reason, it seems to work very well with Ulead Studio 8 or 9, not with Vegas 4.0 at all, and incosnsitently with Pinnacle Studio 9 and 10.

If I did not have to work with VHS tapes periodically, I would not us ethis device or VideoBus II at all. I'd use firewire which tends to be f=trouble-free, USB 2.0 for me isn't all it's crack up to be.

Pros: Cheap, records well, decent image quality
Cons: Incompatible with Vista and/or dual core CPU's.

This unit actually does a pretty good job of capturing videos. Picture quality is decent, as long as you select the highest settings (click on the wrench icon in the bundled software when capturing).

Colors seem a bit blanched, but that can be fixed, too.

The biggest concern, though, is that this unit will give you audio distortion about a minute or two into your video capturing, if you are using a dual core processor, such as an Athlon64 X2, an Intel Core2 Duo, etc. Disabling one of the cores will not help you.

The unit is also incompatible with Windows Vista.

If you have an older, single core system, running Windows XP or lower, then this unit can work just fine for you. If you have anything more modern, though, skip this, and go with the next unit up (PX-AV200U).