Hi, I'm going to be recording a few 2-3 hour classes. I won't be there to be changing DV tapes, and I'll be using a nice 3ccd camera. Also I won't really need to edit the recordings. So I'm looking for a device that can encode in realtime from the video feed from the camera. I'd like it to record to mpeg2 and maybe mpeg4 as an option. What device would you suggest for the $$? Thanks for your time. Shooter.
Well if you can get a Computer into the Classroom you can do it easilly useing Software...You can use any Mpeg Capture program that can capture from a Firewire port like WinDVR 3.0.... You just hook the Camera up to the PC Via the Firewire Port and then Run the Program and choose your recording Profile and click "Record" and it will record everything that comes in front of the camera and compress it to Mpeg2 and save it on the Hard drive, It can also save the File as a DV AVI file which would be of higher quality but will take up more space...... Other than that all I can think of would be to use a Standalone DVD recorder that has a Firewire Input and record that way but you would still have to change the DVD every couple hours....well good Luck
Hi, Erm, correct me if i'm wrong but there is no way on planet earth that any PC out there will be able to encode your digital video stream on the fly using software alone! I mean, how long does it take to encode any video file stored on your PC & you'll know what i'm getting at... My 3Ghz Intel PC isn't up to the job! Again, correct me if i'm wrong, but the DV video stream from your camera will be in a (slightly) compressed format anyway (about 5:1 I think), so just stream this to your HDD and once finished capturing, encode it to your desired format. I hope you have bags of HDD space tho! If you want to compress on the fly however then I guess that a dedicated MPEG Hardware compressor must be used. HDD space will then not be much of an issue. Firewire MPEG hardware encoding capture cards aren't cheap (>£250 ??) which why I guess people use things like the Pyro card that captures & stores the DV codec. I have yet to work out the difference between a bog-standard Firewire capture port & a firewire DV capture card is. For capturing video from by panasonic DV camcorder I just use the Firewire port and encode it to Mpeg4 (aka DivX) once captured. Easy job! Note: Some DV cameras out there do have the MPEG hardware built in but cost conciderably more due to the Tax penalites the use of this hardware incurrs. Perhaps your camera has this feature.... Hope this helps & that I am correct in my assumptions, Andy.
Hey thanks for the replies! I ended up getting the Plextor ConvertX. It actually does just what I want, because some classes I need mpeg2 and some I need mpeg4. It is a shame that it catches in USB only as that iq is meant to be shared with IDE and has the potential to bottleneck stuff. I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to use the captured files in Adobe Encore, but I can, so happy days. Shooter
I think you are going to be very UnHappy with the Plextor Device because there have been many posts here complaining about the device because it has Problems with Audio Sync Like most USB Devices and the Quality isn"t that good.... You can also capture to Mpeg-4 in real time useing software if you have a Fast PC.... tenchars: There are Many Software Capture programs that will encode to Mpeg2 in Real time from any Capture device, Like WinDVR or PowerDirector and a Million more and you don"t need a 3ghz PC to do it but at least 2ghz is needed.... On my 2.53ghz P-4 I can encode to Mpeg2 DVD in more than twice real time speed useing CCE so i think you have just been useing the wrong encoders....
