AVerTV HD DVR: New PCIe HD Capture Card - Page 6

Reliability of recordable BDs hasn't been proven yet, given they're only a few years old. 2TB hard drives look to be around half the cost of BD-R in $/GB, and don't require you to sit there (1) authoring to make a compatible encode and filesystem or (2) burning... Personally I don't see the point unless you really want to play them back on a standalone (that can't do USB playback) or lend copies to friends. Maybe someone else will step up to help you in this area.

Truly perfect isn't possible unless you can get the actual file off of your cable DVR (Firewire). The HDMI decompressed output can be captured and stored losslessly but clearly that isn't your goal. You can probably get something visually close if you're careful. The biggest losses have already taken place on the cable encoding end. If you can't do firewire, install the card and try recording something off the box using the newest version of the software (1.7.8) to check whether it's HDCP protected. From there you can decide what app you want to capture with and whether to do encoding of the captured file.

But yeah, none of this is gonna be "sit back and watch it do everything for you". The content owners don't want it that way.

msgohan is right.

and if your card is model number MTVHDDVRR, you may not be able to capture from your Cable Box's DVR. most Cable companies utilize the HDCP protection for ALL Hi-Def outputs, so HDMI capture of this type may NOT be possible without a "hackbox" decoder of some sort. usually, the only output you can use for capture is the yellow-white-and-red "composite" connector, or the higher-quality-but-slowly-becoming-extinct "S-Video" connector. the component cables (RGB) are often blocked also, and there are unfortunately few capture cards for them.

also, as msgohan said, unless you've figured out how to do a direct copy decoding of the recorded shows, re-encoding will just worsen the quality.
my recommendation is that you just get a decent DVD Recorder, and record the DVR video using S-Video cables (still good, but not HD video).

your other option, especially if you happen to HAVE captured HD video (in 1080p) on your hard drive, is to use "bluray disc authoring software". just google that phrase for some decent software. they will take your HD video, and aide you in the creation of BluRay discs. however, none of them is particularly "user-friendly" (unless you are familiar with DVD Authoring software).
all-in-all, the format is still too new for any TRULY useful software to pop up. i happen to think that BR discs will go the way of the HD-DVDs at some point. especially with all the restrictions, and the fact that few software even supports it (affordably, anywayz). but maybe it's just me...

Not required for this card, as it is possible to trick the old drivers into recording HDCP content (see previous page, not to mention earlier in the thread).

Hello Sean,

For High quality, use COMPONENT with AVERMEDIA SOFTWARE in MPEG2 1080i, 40.000 bitrate. (final note 8)

For Best quality, use HDMI tip with Virtualdub or VH Capture in AVI (UT video Codec RGB or Lagarith codec) 1080i. (final note 10)

After capture, use RIPBOT264 or MEGUI to encode both captures for BR.


Claudio

I record in Mpeg2 from a Dish DVR. Quality will depend on the original content, but there is no such thing as a "perfect" HD recording because from satellite or cable it's not perfect to begin with. My OTA recordings using BeyondTV are far superior.

I haven't found any great difference using the 40K bitrate instead of 15K, but that could just be me. I keep mine on hard drives, and occasionally burn regular DVDs using Nero Vision which will also do Blu-Ray. My experience with Nero is that even though it's a resource hog it does quality work. With the horsepower you have it shouldn't be too time consuming. It makes regular DVDs that actually look pretty good on my 42" plasma, so I'd guess it's BD would be as good as you'll get.

1 - Of course. Its dependent source image.

2 - Try record game consoles (Ps3 and X360) with 1080i 15k and 40k. You will look BIGGER diference. For movies working good with 8k, if H264 codec is used.

Hey Guys,

My question really is split into two parts. First, I have been using this card for a few months now and it is great for the price and features. I have been capturing using VH Capture, but recently I have been getting an error with the program. It says "Error: VH MediaLib COM Demo" and there is now a trial watermark appearing on the screen. No matter how I uninstall/reinstall it still thinks the trial has expired. From what I gather 1.4.6 of VH Capture is freeware. Any ideas?

And since I can't capture with VH Capture anymore, I have been looking at other alternatives. I have tried VirtualDub, but I am having no luck capturing HDMI at 60fps/Huffyuv. What is happening is the audio and video are horribly out of sync...like the audio is twice the length of the video. I have also tried other codecs with no luck. Has anyone had this issue before? I have a 2.4ghz quad core with 8gb of RAM and I am recording to a RAID-0 setup, so write speed shouldn't be a factor.

Any help would be most appreciated.

Thanks,

Corey | GameBlurb | gameblurb.net

Not sure what the deal is with VH Capture, it seems from his website that they've merged with some other company. For VirtualDub there are several options you can try in Capture -> Timing; ex. Do not resync. And if your RAID0 is fast enough you can try uncompressed capture (always capture audio as uncompressed BTW).

All else fails, there's always GraphEdit. For example

A bit confused here. Could someone offer the best way of recording HD utilizing the HDMI input?

For those wanting to record in WMV format with audio without having to use extra cables, i was able to Use the free version of Microsoft Expression Encoder 4 to record both Video and Audio from the hdmi. For some reason it doesn't let you preview the audio, but it records it.

x720 or x1080 you're able to record, i was limited my hard drive whenever i set it as high as 15mbps i was having dropped frames on 1920x1080.

here is a pic of my settings:
Link to larger image

The CPU does do the encoding usually besides the capture card, but really you should try Mediacoder or Virtualdub instead, they're free and you can use any system codec or the ones included with Mediacoder. The highest bitrate on the H.264 from the latest builds of x264 and other formats is like 16 mbps but the program supports 16 cores so it should be the most useful for people who have i7, it supports capture but you'll have to learn all the workarounds yourself with these.

I don't have a capture card, but with only my Pentium 4 w/ HT 3.2 @ 4 ghz I could run most games well and run Final Fantasy X on PCSX2 about full speed usually which is something you used to need 2 processors. Video encoding for me is limited to my hard drive when it comes to lossless formats like Lagarith but Morgan Mjpeg 2000 has 70% better compression while it's only 10-20% of the speed of Lagarith.

If you can you just want 4:4:4 RGB. I bought 2 terabyte-size hard drives (931 GB each of course) and I use these to capture lossless, they're not in RAID yet however, I might need to get a PCI RAID controller, or swap out my motherboard.

My recommendation is just use the highest bitrates for anything you capture live from consoles and copy streams when it comes to cable. Also, x264 on Mediacoder allows you to define encoder parameters well enough that you can change quality:speed.

Another way to encode is to use a GPU, and Mediacoder comes with a CUDA encoder for use with Nvidia cards. I have an 8600GT and this is the best way to encode high bitrate @ larger resolutions. Unfortunately it's limited to about 2 b-frames so it isn't the best for motion oriented video.

Anyone feel like sharing their own VirtualDub settings? I found that with default Disk I/O settings (2x512K buffers), I would often get frame drops in longer captures. Increasing this greatly to 8x8MB allowed me to capture even 6 hours straight with no drops/inserts, though watching Flash videos while capturing eventually caused a few. Increasing to insane values like 1.4GB allowed me to do stupid things like copying other files to/from my capture drive for a while but eventually would drop.

After extensive testing, I'm now using 24x8MB and I'm able to do ordinary tasks while capturing 1080i lossless to my Seagate LP 2TB 5900RPM.



One thing you definitely don't want to do is uncheck the top two options in Timing. It prevents drops/inserts -- instead you'll just get skipped frames when it can't keep up, but they won't be indicated anywhere. Took me a while to figure that one out.

Also, don't capture the PS3 while starting/stopping an app or disc as it will drop tons of frames during the HDMI renegotiation.

Hey msgohan, thanks, i usually don't mess with setting which i know nothing about, so never thought of even adjust disk I/O , might have to try it out see what happens. It does say your cpu usage is at 100% though, how were you able do those other tasks? Thanks again.

No idea how VirtualDub measures CPU usage but it's more like 20-30% across all 4 cores. I've seen it as high as 260% in VDub. I do have to manually set the power options to High Performance in Windows control panel because it doesn't automatically ramp up in power saving mode.

Hey guys.

I've been looking for a good HDMI capture solution, and because of this thread I'm seriously considering this card.

Couple of questions that I don't think have been asked.

1. Is the only way to cap smoothly with this card a RAID 0 config?

2. Can a receiver be introduced into the video chain without running into HDCP problems?

I tried an AVR, BD player and a Dish DVR and couldn't get HDMI to work on any of them, just kept getting the HDCP errors, so just stuck to component which isn't a problem anyway since the audio is only stereo even with HDMI. I haven't tried HDMI with the newest software, though, so maybe they improved it.

In all honesty, if I were buying a card right now I'd spring for the extra bucks and get the new Hauppage card.

No. So long as you aren't capturing something that's inherently incompressible like the HBO logo with static, you can use a lossless codec and capture to one fast/large drive.

lsilvest - so did you try the HDCP workaround at all?

Don't know what workaround you are referring to.

Haven't tried anything since the 1st set of drivers when the card was fairly new on the market. I would have pursued it more, but since the audio made no difference it wasn't worth the hassle since the video is just as good with component and a lot more consistent.

That's why I was asking about using a AVR, because if I did get the card I'd set it up initially with the workaround that was posted earlier in the thread.

I assume it would work just as any game console, Blu-ray player, or DVR would work with the HDCP bypass.


I'll be using dual 1 TB Caviar Black 7200rpm drives. Which are not in a RAID config right now, but I guess I could go that route if it's too taxing on my PC without.

Hey guys there is a free software made by some japanese guy that records in 1080p. this thing records perfectly, without Hard drive issues.

http://amamaman.web.infoseek.co.jp/d...arectv200a.zip

There is an english tutorial for the old version on the site somewhere but a friend of mine made a video tutorial for a new version which you can download here:

http://cid-fdf3ca0b35833079.office.l...matutorial.avi

This card is limited to 1080i. For 1080p I'm only aware of the Intensity Shuttle box (only supported by one USB3 chipset), the hardware that Digital Foundry designed for themselves, and maybe one or two Japanese cards.

The software looks fine and all but from that tutorial it appears you can only set integer framerates. Or does it just interpret them as NTSC and PAL rates internally anyway?

When i say 1080p i mean for recording. For the Avertv if you source (cable or sat. box) is 1080i you can deinterlace it with this software and get a solid 1080p recording or You can do it with a 1080p capable card.

If your source is 1080p like your xbox 360, you can change the format option in the Graph1 tab manually to 1080p60.

I just got this card for archiving a few things from my DirecTV DVR. I simply installed the latest version of AVer MediaCenter, uninstalled the drivers and installed the drivers from this post. HDMI capturing is working great without fussing with those other programs.

In that case it would have worked with the newest drivers as well. The drivers in that post will still popup the HDCP protected message in AVer MediaCenter if it was a protected signal.

Your DVR just doesn't use HDCP.

I have been struggling with my new AVerTV HD DVR, owner for three days now. I am a very experienced user of over 20 years and I have tried many things to get this card to work with little success. I have come to the conclusion that the AVer MediaCenter is the main culprit. I am looking for a solution that does not require running AVer MediaCenter at all. My goal is to record 1080 via HDMI cable because it provides the best quality video to my eyes. Getting MediaCenter to work would be ideal. A third party solution without MediaCenter would be fine too. Anything, as long as I get high quality recordings.

I am running Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit on a Dell XPS 630i. I downloaded the current MediaCenter and driver - AVer MediaCenter 1.7.5 v1.12.X.29. I have FiOS HD, I have an HDMI cable connecting the set top box to the port labeled "HDMI" on my AVerTV HD DVR card. Obviously the MediaCenter software prevents HDCP recording. Not that it matters. MediaCenter locks up the entire pc after a few minutes soon after displaying video, frozen solid, I have to hold in the power button for force a shut down. So I try to isolate the problem. I installed a new clean version of Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit onto a brand new partition in my pc. Booted it, updated it, installed the AVer MediaCenter, ran it, freezes the entire pc the same way as on my original Windows OS installation. I have an ATI Radeon HD 4850 with the newest drivers as of Feb 18, 2011 on the original OS, no ATI drivers on the new OS, therefore the problem is not the ATI driver. I removed the AVer card, installed it into a different PCIe slot, same pc freeze with both OS versions, so its not the PCIe slot. I removed the HDMI cable, tried with Component connections using the dongle plugged into the AV-IR slot on the card. Same pc freeze when I run MediaCenter. The AVer MediaCenter or driver must be the problem.

The last software I tried was VH Capture. With the HDMI cable, all I get is a brief second of video and audio but then a black screen and no audio. With Component cables I am getting video and audio but VH Capture will not save the recording even though it says it does. There is simply no file at all where VH Capture is supposed to be saving. I do not understand that at all. Also, with Component cables the streaming video looks ever so slightly stretched left to right, as though it is 17:9 maybe. That might be just the way VH Capture displays the video, and the recording might be properly 16:9 but I am unable to determine that because I cannot get VH Capture to save its recordings. VH Capture is not displaying the video properly anymore, with the video off to the right quite a bit. The displayed video also has lots of jaggies around the edged, particularly when the objects are in motion. The 1080 option gives me all those problems. The 720 option gives me nothing but a green screen with audio. I want to light myself on fire.

I read here that VLC Player can capture video over HDMI, I followed the instructions here, but I am unable to get any video or audio at all with VLC Player.

FRAPS apparently requires MediaCenter to display the video in order for FRAPS to record anything. Not an option for me since MediaCenter crashes the system when displaying video.

Please help. I am moments away from returning this card and going with the Hauppauge Colossus. I am stubborn and I like to get things to work but my years of experience has provided me with an instinct and its telling me that this AVer is junk. I have had no problems with this pc before, video cards, audio cards, memory cards, hard drives internal and external, game controllers, headphones, you name it. None gave me a problem until this AVer card. Someone, please, help me in any way you can!

I bought this card to capture recordings from a Dish DVR when it first came out. I, too, was frustrated by the HDCP problems and tried the other solutions on here with no luck (probably from lack of patience as much as anything). The original Avermedia software was very buggy also. The only reason I was insisting on the HDMI was for the HD audio. Then I found out that the audio is 2 channel even with HDMI, so I just used the component cable for 1080 Mpeg and it's been fine. There is no loss of quality with component in lieu of HDMI. The only advantage of HDMI is less cable.

I am running XP Pro SP3 with an ATI 3870 512MB card (Catalyst 11.1) with 4GB Ram and the Aver Media Center software, although poorly designed works flawlessly. I just recorded a BD movie earlier today. I streamed video online and played music and edited some video with Nero which is a notorious resource hog during the recording with no problem at all.

I am telling you this only to point out that you have something else going on with your system or a conflict between the Avemedia software and something else or a problem with the ATI drivers. Capturing video is not really that resource intensive and your hardware should not be having a problem handling it. Before you invest in something else, you need to find out what is causing the problem. Also, when I see posts like this on various forums, more often than not 64-bit Windows 7 or Vista is involved.

That's the HDCP protection.

I can't explain why you're having those issues, but my recommendation would be to go back to my post a page or two back with the older driver, grab it, uninstall your current driver, install the downloaded one. Open the AVerMedia software but leave it on the starting page, not displaying video. This is all that's required to defeat the HDCP lockout for external software. Download VirtualDub, set it up for for the HDMI "S-Video" input, and leave it there for a while without capturing. See if that still locks up your system.

Hi. Thanks to you all. Without this entire thread i would have never bought this card. For 80CA$ i was ready to make the jump :-)

So, well, i've got a question.

First i have used the HDMI with previous drivers and the VIRTUAL DUB tip, it worked great. But i'm lazy and as component has the same video quality than hdmi, i have plugged everything with component and it works great, and no HDCP bla bla nag screen.

Ok, so, what is my question ? You seem to say that you can choose the bitrate when you use aver media center to record. It takes a lot of disk space. Even with my aver hybrid, when i record HD OTA it's (only ) 8go/hour. Whereas with this hd dvr i have 1.7 go for 6 minutes... hum... well... hum, even if i have a 1tb hard drive it's pretty big and as my Bell Express Vu already compresses (?!) video i'd like to lower the bitrate when i record.

How to do this ?

Settings -> Capture -> Configure HD Input Source -> Configure Recording. Not sure how it is with 1.7.5 but with 1.7.8 (I think you still have to get it from the download page for another product), options are MPEG-2 up to 40Mbps or H.264 up to 15Mbps for HD sources, as well as AVI with XviD though I wouldn't recommend that.

Remember to set your Bell box to output 720p since they convert everything to that format anyway.

Great. Thanks. I will make some tests