I have a Sony TRV608 Hi8 I was given (only used 3 times) from my mother. I have 2 tapes I'm trying to drop to DVD for her. I have tried a few things to capture the video from USB. 1. Pixela (came with cam, very poor quality 320x240 caps in mpg) 2. MovieFactory 7 (can't get sound to record) 3. Sony Vegas 9 (audio won't sync) 4. VirtualDub! VD works great, but it will only allow me to cap at 320x240. Now, I've managed to resolve interlacing problems using Vegas once I cap the vid with VD. My problem lies with the final outcome on DVD. I burned my test disc (MovieFactory 7) using a constant BR of 6000 for a 7 minute video and the picture is very pixelated. I rendered in Vegas as 720x480 and 352x240 with almost exact results. I know it's the vid cap, because I capped it as uncompressed and it's the same amount of pixelation when viewing in full screen on my PC. Now, it's my understanding that Hi8 is around or in excess of 400 lines. Why can't I cap at a higher res to help reduce pixelation? Is there anything more I can do? I'm really hoping someone here can please help me get a decent quality cap. I will be forever in your debt.
There's a couple of driver updates here: http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-list.pl?mdl=CCDTRV608&SelectOS=7 What do you mean "I've managed to resolve interlacing problems" ? Normally you should capture both fields, 720*480, and use that as your master. Interlacing should be maintained for maximum quality.
I had problems with interlacing, so interpolated both fields. Interlacing is not the problem, getting a good quality capture is. I can't capture at anything more than 320x240 and the resulting cap is quite pixelated.
You don't mention what hardware you're using to capture. That's probably wherein your problem lies. I'd see if you can borrow a DVD recorder and just get it done.
PC is AMD 5000+ BE (2.6GHz) 2Gb RAM GeForce 8600GT w/ 512MB RAM Western Digital WD25 232GB SATA HDD Capturing video via the USB connection on the cam. Doesn't have 1394. If I knew someone with a set top DVD recorder, I would go that route, but I don't. :/
I found this comment on amazon.com: "If you are planning to capture the recorded video on your computer using the USB and the supplied software named PIXELA, u will be disappointed with the quailty as it was very very bad." http://www.amazon.com/Sony-CCDTRV608-Camcorder-Video-Streaming/dp/B0000630MM Perhaps the analog-digital converter in the camera is poor ? Perhaps you should consider a cheap capture card, forget the USB, and hook up the camera via the A/V cables.
I gave up on Pixela with the first capture I did...lol. Not only is it horrible quality, but it also only allows about 10 mins of video to be captured at a time. Now I'm trying Pinnacle Studio, but having bad luck syncing the audio. I was also able to get MovieFactory to pick up the audio, so I have to give that a try now too. I'm fearing I just may have to install a capture card and go through S-video, as it appears I'm getting about the same results with everything. Going to get the best cap I can and play with the filters in VD. Maybe theres something there to help with this. **EDIT** I think part of the problem does lie within the camera. For 1, the only computer interface is USB. I'm not sure if this is USB1 or 2. Manual doesn't specify. second, the manual specifies a CCD of approximately 320,000 pixels. Not exactly hi-res. Third, I'm not sure if these tapes were recorded in Hi8 or Digital8 mode. I'm going to try applying MSU Smart Deblocking filter in VD and seeing how much it helps.
This is not a Digital 8 model, is it? I looked in the product manual PDF and I couldn't see any mention of digital 8. Just Hi 8 or standard 8 - HI8 being used if the HI8 tape is detected. I think you're going to be better off with the capture card. Were you able to capture both fields (720*480) ?
I stand corrected. The manual is pretty vague on many things, but it does appear this is not a Digital 8, but a Hi8. I can only cap in 320x240, but yes both fields are being captured. Also, Gspot is reporting 30fps; 33882 kb/s BR; 14.706 bits/pixel on the uncompressed AVI captured with VD using YUY2. I honestly think my problem is a limitation of the USB transfer. Does anyone know of a decent capture card in the $100 or less price range, preferably with S-video in?
You should really be capturing in 720*480 or 640*480. Take a look at this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815116007 Or this one, a little cheaper: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815116028 Here's more to browse: http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=47&name=TV-Tuners-Video-Devices
Thank you much sir. I really like the <$50 prices . Using the MSU smart Deblock filter worked decently. I would actualy recommend that to someone looking to "un-pixelate" video footage. But since my caps are so small and require resizing, it only helps a little. I was going through my parts drawers and happen to actually find a tuner card. Not sure if / how it works, but I'll find out. If not, I should be able to dig in the couch cushions to come up with $50.
Success! The Hauppauge HVR-1600 I had in my parts drawer works! I will say this though, the WinTV software is garbage and kept crashing. Using SageTV and it works great.
NP. WinTV kept spewing "can't open hcwdatabase, hcwservices, etc" errors at me. Spent hours trying to fix the database problem. Finally decided on trying SageTV after reading all sorts of rave reviews about it. I also don't have any combing problems like I did with my first attempts (through USB capture). So, no de-interlacing required. Here's my workflow - Capture video using SageTV with highest settings Import into Sony Vegas 9 PE for editing Render project as .mpg Import final .mpg into Corel MovieFactory 7 for simple authoring. Final product comes out as good on TV as the original played through the camera. I'm new to this whole thing and there's so much to absorb and learn, a lot being trial and error.
