[Jason Hajdik]

I have a vision...I want to digitize in my VHS tapes and laserdiscs, and maybe other formats...edit them digitally, and output them on DVD-R. Now the first step in this chain...VIDEO CAPTURE.


I want a high quality video capture card, and yes, I'm willing to pay the price. I know that a lot of low-end graphics cards include the ability to record in 640x480 video or whatever, but I want better than that. I want smooth 30fps capture at a minimum of 720x480 for DVD authoring, with accurate colors and such. And yes, I know this will take gobs of hard drive space, that is really not an issue these days with the cheap prices on massive hard drives.


So what are my options? My processor is a P3-850, is that adequate for the kind of capturing I'm talking about?

 

[SHS]

The minimum spec for MPEG2 DVD authoring software is 704x480 but it need to be 48KHz Audio other then that it i have to recode the Audio to 48KHz.

As for 30fps good luck being all movie are done at 24fps film even LaserDisk.

I know a few folk that only have a WinTV-PVR and they output to DVD-R or DVD-RW or DVD+RW with DVDit!.

Fell free check out my site the link is below you even fine a MPEG2 4MBit/sec VBR clip there to.

There so min other option you can go to Hardware or Software way but it much hard to do 720x480 with Software then HW so keep that in mind. You always spent a arm and leg for a card like Pinnacle DC1000 or DVD1000 which dosen't give you all that much better quality then WinTV-PVR at 2/3 less the cost and they are lot other HW MPEG2 capture card products out there try a Canopus MVR1000.

If reall want to pay the price be sure your satting down now we are talking $5,000+ here and for cap card only (half the cost of new car) Ekkk.

 

[jcase]

My experiences...


Dazzle DVC does mpeg via hardware, connects to pc through firewire. The results were great. But I could not justify the $300 to my self so I returned it.


Next I purchased an IO Magic capture card I was not happy with the drivers. I used virtualdub and IOVCR, I got all kinds of stuttering at higher resolutions.


So now I have a Hauppage card, the drivers are stable the only downfall for the model that I purchased is that it does not have SVideo input.


With the Hauppage I have been saving to tape Enterprise episodes then plaing them back into the Hauppage card using virtualdub, using PICVideo codec, then I use TMPGenc to encode to vcd, thus far the quality has been "ok"


I plan to redo all of it going to divx.


Hope this helps.

 

[Want1394]

That's a good question. Here are 3 - the first two from Hauppauge the third from ADS. The first is PCI the second and third are USB (and limited in recording bit-rate). I'd sure be interested in how good they really are.

http://www.hauppauge.com/html/wintvpvr_datasheet.htm

http://www.hauppauge.com/html/wintvpvrusb_datasheet.htm

http://www.adstech.com/products/USB_...?pid=USBAV-700

 

[browndog]

I use the Sony Media Converter. Canopus makes a similar model. My sony does straight analog to DV. I prefer to go straight to DV first, then edit, and then encode via software as a final step. I haven't found a hardware encoding (mpeg2) solution under $1000 that passes the quality test. Also, encoding to mpeg2 first and then editing the footage is a nightmare.

 

[Jason Hajdik]

These are all wonderful suggestions, I truly appreciate the help.


I should have been more specific, I should know not to imply "money is no object" when it comes to electronics, because there are always some ridiculous options out there. I more meant that I would probably spend up to $500 to get great performance...I just don't want one of those $30 cards that technically "capture" video, but it is crap quality. I want to make some nice looking DVDs.


Yeah, 704x480 is what I meant, I couldn't remember the exact resolution. And 30fps was just a target, I know that NTSC and PAL are 24/25fps respectively. You are right, I see absolutely no reason to get a card that does realtime MPEG2 encoding...I will just capture the video as raw and uncompressed, do my editing, use a software MPEG2 encoder, and burn to DVD-R.

 

[PROSIT]

Jason i am a newbie in this teritory but....


I have been lurking around the world of capture and descided on the

Canopus ADVC-100.

Do a search for ADVC-100 in this link for feedback
http://www.vcdhelp.com/capturecards.php

the "reviews" made up MY mind. This is today the best capture device

you can get for my budget(PERSONAL OPPINION)


Here is the link to Canopus own product page...
http://www.canopuscorp.com/ppm_advc100.htm


It should be around 286$ bought in a web store.

A collegue will do the purchas in US and i will pick it up while on

a business trip. The price in Sweden is 470$

 

[PROSIT]

...almost forgot

You will need a firewire card as well.

Just remember(cut from the product page)


"The ADVC currently has compatibility issues with Texas Instruments firewire cards. We are now working on a fix for this and will release it as soon as possible "

 

[SHS]

One thing you need is Raid setup and two 60 or 80GB drive by going uncompressed AVI it is major space hog.

The thing is your going need look for older capture card being everybody has done switch to DV codec which not a space hog like AVI oh 1hour of DV is about 400MB.

You may want try http://www.videoguys.com/

 

[SHS]

PROSIT you as forgot to say it also has macrovision detection which make it ueslee.

 

[PROSIT]

Thank's SHS, i did not know this about the DVcodec(newbie warning here)


The issue with AVIs did worry me but as i understand it, Canopus has a codec of it's own so the the files are not completely uncompressed.


I do not know if the codec will output 1hour=400Mb, though.

Probably not.


There is always a drawback with the cheap approach, i guess

But what made up my mind was the quality comparision with the Dazzle Holywood and that was my first choice to start with(second now, for the time being as i learn more and more)

 

[PROSIT]

oh did not make the reply in time.


Macrovision can be disabled and untill i read this at vcdhelp.com this product was a no go.

 

[artur]

Jason the easiest way to go from analog S-Video source to DVD is Panasonic DVD recorder for $780 and $2 a disk all you have to do is press record button. I get the price from profeel.com

Best regards Artur.

 

[SHS]

PROSIT some products let say like the Pinnacle Studio Deluxe (It like the DV500 Plus but with out all that effects software which must people never use any way) it only use DVcodec to record but it then output the MPEG2 in RealTime hardware which is also called Export out in RealTime.


The one to watch for are one that have Very High System Requirements when converting DV to MPEG.

So as you can see Canopus ADVC-100 is nothing more then Analogue to Digital Conversion firewire so this products need fast CPU to convert DV to MPEG, I think this products is real good idea for thoses with Laptop that on go.


PROSIT it real eazy to fig out space usage just cap off 5min time it by 12 or 10min time it by 6 by what ever the file size is then have base line per hour.


Yes I know PROSIT but it real pain turning off macrovision which is tricky from what I read from other, They say continuoly hold the input button till the color bars turn on then off.

 

[SHS]

artur thoses type of products can't do any editing what so ever there uselee.

 

[vstesting]

It has already been mentioned, but the ADVC-100 rules. If you can spare the room (initial capture takes up ~12-14GB/hr), and are willing to spend some time recompressing to MPEG (Macrovision hasn't survived after any encoding that I've done, BTW), this box does the job. It also works in reverse, so you can preview your edited title on your TV before converting to MPEG.


DV is incredibly easy to edit, and there are a host of applications out there to choose from. I've also not encountered the A/V synch issues that have plagued me with any number of capture cards (the sound card isn't used for capture, in other words). I typically connect it to my Pinnacle Studio Deluxe and edit with the bundled software, but I have also hooked it up to my laptop's connector with equal success (it has both the 4-pin and 6-pin 1394 connectors).


I hate to sound like an advertisement, but get this box.

 

[Peter_Mann]

testing123, PROSIT, and any others....

can you tell me how you turned off the Macrovision of the ADVC-100 ?


Is it as simple as the "continuously hold the input button till the color bars turn on then off" , as stated at vcdhelp.com ?


Are there other solutions?

 

[Jason Hajdik]

So from what I have gathered from this thread and my own research over the past couple of days, I will probably go with either the Canopus ADVC-100 or the Pinnacle Studio Deluxe. What are the pros and cons of each device? They both look like they will serve my needs and cost about the same, so it all comes down to features and the bundled software.


I'm a bit wary of the Pinnacle...how can they capture video at 400mb per hour and not lose quality? Even though the Canopus captures at 13GB per hour, space is not a concern to me if it would yeild better quality. Does the Canopus capture in raw AVI and the Pinnacle in some sort of DV codec?


I will probably just pick up a fast 100 GB hard drive to do my editing on. What DVD-R do you recommend? The Pioneer DVR-A04 seems to be the obvious choice, but any warnings I should know about it?

 

[SHS]

Canopus capture in DV just like the Pinnacle I think diff depend on bitrate they use which can be any where from 1 to 25MBit/sec with the DV codec, Just so you know Jason just about all DVD are coding at 4MBit/sec VBR some time they done 6 or 8MBit/sec VBR.

So if went with DVD record 4.7GB disk that give you 1hour at 8MBit/sec VBR or 2hour at 4MBit/sec VBR of play time.

As for yeild better quality from high bitrate this is not ture I see no diff from 4 vs 8MBit/sec VBR with my WinTV-PVR and I'am sure this also apply DV codec.

The bigest diff in the beteew Pinnacle and the Canopus that the Pinnacle win hands at encode to MPEG2 much much faster where the Canopus is going to take hours on end to do.

 

[artur]

Inter video has interesting products, to capture from DV source and on the fly encoding to MPEG2( wincoder ) and another to edit in MPEG2 ( win producer) All you need is 1394 port and fast CPU at 6Mb/s it has good quality.

Artur.