Basketball Video Library - DirecTV

[sportsfreak75]

Hello,

I have been researching options for about 2 hours and just can't seem to find a good solution. Not super tech savvy, so when it comes to a lot of the outputs and file formats, I just don't have a great understanding.

Anyway, I am a basketball coach and wanting to create my own video library of clips. The process that I envision goes like this:

1. Record college basketball games on my DirecTV Genie DVR
2. Somehow transfer that recording to my computer
3. Edit the lengths of certain clips (for example - If I see a perfectly executed pick and roll, I would want to cut that into it's own separate clip)
4. Continually add to this database of clips so that I can show them to my players on a projector at practice

Can anybody offer suggestions on the best way to go about this? From what I have read, it may be difficult to capture anything from the DirecTV DVR. I have looked into Hauppage? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[usually_quiet]

To capture the HDMI output from a DVR, you would probably need one of the inexpensive HDMI splitters that removes HDCP as an unintended side effect in addition to an HDMI capture device. The main advantage that Hauppauge offers over the competition is 5.1 AC3 audio capture if you are bit streaming 5.1 AC3 via HDMI or optical digital audio. Otherwise, Hauppauge's capture devices record AAC stereo audio. Note that 5.1 AC3 audio capture can be problematic. Transmission errors cause problems as does an inconsistent number of audio channels (5.1 channels switching to 2 channels during commercials). Sometimes 2-channel audio capture works better.

If AAC stereo audio is good enough, other companies also sell HDMI capture devices which could be OK.

Beyond that, your choice of capture devices is limited by your PC hardware (available connections, CPU, desktop vs laptop) and your budget.

...and it is true that HD video capture is not always an easy and straightforward process. Every capture device and/or its preferred capture software has some bugs or quirks.

[sportsfreak75]

Thank you for the response.

For my project, audio really is not very important. So what specific HDMI splitter or HDMI capture device would you recommend? You mentioned that my PC hardware or budget could limit my options. I have a brand new Toshiba Satellite Radius 12 P20W-CST3N02 Laptop. As far as budget goes, I am willing to spend up to around $300 in order to make this possible.

Thanks again for the help.

[usually_quiet]

This is the HDMI splitter I bought to use with a Hauppauge Colossus: http://www.amazon.com/ViewHD-Powered-Splitter-1080P-VHD-1X2MN3D/dp/B004F9LVXC

HDMI capture devices that encode using software are out. Your laptop's CPU lacks the horsepower to handle encoding HD video in real time to a highly compressed format. The i7-6500U has 2 cores and 4 threads, which makes it perform more like an i3 desktop CPU than a i7 desktop CPU. Your laptop has a fast SSD as its boot drive which might make it fast enough for recording lightly compressed HD video, but it is only 256 GB, which means lightly compressed HD video (100+ GB/hr) would fill it up long before the game was over.

You will need an HDMI capture device that encodes using hardware. The Hauppauge 1512 HD-PVR 2 is one possibility, as is the Elgato Game Capture HD. You will need to remove HDCP to record from HDMI with either of them. You will probably also want to record to an external hard drive instead of the laptop's boot drive.

There is also a good option that records without a PC, the AVerMedia EzRecorder 130 http://www.amazon.com/AVerMedia-EzRecorder-Tuners-Capture-ER130/dp/B00LAP3GC8 The AVerMedia The ExRecorder 130 seems like a good choice for those who don't have experience with video capture. Read the manual before ordering: http://avertv.avermedia.com/product/ProductDetail.aspx?Id=593&tab=UserManual The EzRecorder 130 does require the use of a splitter able to remove HDCP.

A couple of things to be aware of:

1. The EzRecorder 130 has watermark feature that can be turned on or off with a menu setting in the EzRecorder 130's firmware, but it is apparently on by default. You will want to turn off the watermark.

2. The EzRecorder 130 flags the video headers for interlaced (1080i, 480i) mp4 files with the field rate, not the frame rate. Editing software and most players expect the frame rate and usually don't know how to process it correctly. The fix is to use My MP4Box GUI to demux the audio and video streams, then remux them with the frame rate set to half the field rate. (There are 2 fields per frame in interlaced video) That way 59.94 fields per second will be corrected 29.97 frames per second in the remultiplexed video.

3. An NTFS formatted external hard drive with capacity of at least 500 GB is recommended for use as attached storage for the EzRecorder 130. The maximum storage capacity allowed for the the hard drive is 2T.

4. The EzRecorder 130 has built-in editor, but it is rather limited. Editing with a PC will probably work out better for you.

[sportsfreak75]

Thank you very much for the detailed response. I am going to look into all of your recommendations.