Hi, I'm relatively new to doing Video Capture, and I realize I don't have the best software or equipment but I have to make due for now. What I could use are some suggestions on how to make the most of what I have. I'm useing an AMD 1.8Mhz based laptop, and a Hauppauge WinTV USB (1.1 not 2.0) with a DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive and a 60 Gig HD with about 20Gig that I can allocate for Video files. I'm running Windows XP Pro SP2, and several different caption programs (AMCAP 9.0, WINTV 2000, and AVI_IO). I have several different encoding programs including SuperDVD Creator 7.5, VCDGear, TMGEnc, STOIK, etc. I am trying capture TV programs, and VHS tapes to be encoded and recorded to SVCD or VCD disks. Can someone give me suggestions on the best CODECs to use during Video capture and settings to use to maintain the best quality when I convert/reencode it? Any advice is welcome. Thanks
You really should have a bigger drive...however... Use Huffyuv if you have the room. If not, use a good mjpeg (Picvideo has a trial one that's cheap ($15 I think), which will give an avi about half the size (or less) than huffyuv (quality setting 19). Given the specs of that device, and your computer, I would capture at 320x240/288, 29.97fps (NTSC) or 25fps (PAL). This is native VCD resolution, and should be fine for that. You can attempt 480x480 capture for SVCD, but you may get dropped frames. Try it and see. What encoder are you going to use to make the (S)VCD's?
As for the bigger drive part... well I have a couple of external USB drives, but the performance is too slow for capture. I use them for archive and storage. Encoding...as I said, I have several programs...but I'm looking at? Any suggestions which of the Capture programs I named would be best to use, or do you recommend something else altogether? Thanks for the info...
I would use virtualdub, or virtualvcr for capture as they both give you more options than WinTV2k. (both free) Depending on the length of the cap, use Huffyuv for very short films, and mjpeg for longer. If you're running out of space, try DivX (although it's extremely slow) at no more than 352x240. Encode in Canopus, Mainconcept, CCE, or even tmpgenc, to 1/4D1 aspect (352x240) using mpeg-2, and enough bitrate to maintain quality, and still fit the capture onto the disk(s). This is a non-standard VCD, but should play in most standalones. You'll have to test one and see if it works for you. If not, then capture at 480x480, and encode to SVCD mpeg-2. If you have trouble capturing at that aspect, drop back to 352x240 and make a VCD instead. Make sure you capture audio at 44.1khz, and if you use audio compression (not recommended), make sure it's CBR and not VBR!
Thanks. I downloaded Huffyuv...and will try MJPEG. I'm not sure what a "good" bitrate to use is though. I have VirtualDub and downloaded the "trial" version of VirtualVCR. I also have a few others as well...but I gave up on WinTV because it kept shutting down on me. VirtualDub is a little confusing to use... AMCAP9 isn't bad although it has bugs in capturing to MPEG2. My first couple of captures I did with Microsoft Video 1...but the file sizes were pretty massive. 20+ gigs for 110minutes. Does that sound decent? I tried a couple using Microsoft MPEG 4 V2 and they weren't too bad. Funny though... every program I try to capture doesn't list MPEG2 in the Compression Codecs loaded on my machine, but somehow I have programs that do create MPEG2 files...its all very confusing.
If you can manage to save up for one, you will save yourself a lot of time and headache getting a Hauppage PVR-150 hardware encoder card. You can find the retail version on sale for $60ish US. The advantages will be: * much smaller files (3GB or less for DVD compliant mpeg2 files) *retail version has all software you need *support by most freeware home theater software *ease of use/saved time I know this doesn't address the problem at hand, but I recently got one of these to replace a software encoding card (too system reliant for my old system). Just the time (and hassle) that you save in not having to reencode alone is worth the money when you can afford it. I wish I had of done this from the start myself.
Some capture software has the option to soft-encode to mpeg-2 on the fly. This is extremely CPU intensive, and not recommended. Don't bother with msmpeg-4 or MPV1 or whatever it's called. Crappy, outdated codecs. Use huffyuv or mjpeg as I mentioned. Yes, files will be large, but will also be much better quality. @LivnDGirl, nice suggestion...just how do you propose he install that card in his laptop? A real suggestion, is to splurge for the PVR-USB-2, and pass the old Hauppauge on to the great capture card heaven.
Thanks... considering the Hauppauge Win PVR USB2 version as soon as I can afford it. I tried the BeyondTV3 Trial, and it locked up my computer... Has anyone tried WinDVRPro? The user interface isn't a slick as some of the other programs, but it looks easy to use and has some nice features.
