Program to capture tv/satellite and burn to dvd?

[darkcyber]

What's the best way to capture tv/movies...etc. and burn to dvd?

I have a capture card with s-video in and want to shortest route and best quality from capture to burning the dvd.

I have used Power VCR II in the past, but always have problems with the audio when burning to dvd.

Thanks!

[Kool_Aid]

Use ScenalyzerLive To capture in DV/AVI format, then covert with Canopus ProCoder (or the encoder of your choice), then Author and burn with TMPGEnc DVD Author.

You didn't mention the catpure card you have, but the Canopus ADVC line of capture cards have "Audio Lock", for long captures.

I have captured as much as 4 hours in a single DV file, with no loss of Audio Synch.

[ronnylov]

A DVB-S card to capture digital mpeg2 streams directly from satellite and then pvastrumento to demux and author it as DVD. No conversion loss at all since the satellite is broadcasted in mpeg2 transport stream already.

[qpskfec]

A DVB-S card to capture digital mpeg2 streams directly from satellite and then pvastrumento to demux and author it as DVD. No conversion loss at all since the satellite is broadcasted in mpeg2 transport stream already.

If this is in the US, I don't see how this would work. Dishnetwork broadcasts in DVB (Directv doesn't), however, but I haven't heard of a PC DVB receiver card that has Dish's Nagra security. If you have a DVB receiver card without security, the only thing you will get is channels that are broadcast in the clear.

In regards to conversion loss, even if you could get direct access to the mpeg stream, dish does not usually broadcast the stream in a DVD compatible resolution, so you will still have to re-encode to burn to a DVD.

[darkcyber]

The video card I have is an ASUS GeForce 3 64 meg ddr with s-video in. I have tried using Power VCR II in the past and then encode it and load it into DVD Lab and burn it...but when I did, the audio is out of sync.

I'm recording in mpeg2 format, because I want 720 x 480 resolution.

Thanks!

[ronnylov]

A DVB-S card to capture digital mpeg2 streams directly from satellite and then pvastrumento to demux and author it as DVD. No conversion loss at all since the satellite is broadcasted in mpeg2 transport stream already.

If this is in the US, I don't see how this would work. Dishnetwork broadcasts in DVB (Directv doesn't), however, but I haven't heard of a PC DVB receiver card that has Dish's Nagra security. If you have a DVB receiver card without security, the only thing you will get is channels that are broadcast in the clear.

In regards to conversion loss, even if you could get direct access to the mpeg stream, dish does not usually broadcast the stream in a DVD compatible resolution, so you will still have to re-encode to burn to a DVD.

I live in Sweden, and that's correct, Sweden is not in the USA. You can't take for granted that everybody live in America! Most people in the world don't live in America. He asked for the best solution and I gave my best solution that works for me. I do not know which country he lives in. Many countried in the world can receive DVB-S broadcasts. DVB-C and DVB-T is also available in many countries. But since darkcyber now have told us thet he want 720x480 format it might be correct that he lives in USA and then you are correct, DVB-S is not a good option then.


I actually have a DVB-C card and use it on cable TV here in Sweden, but DVB-S is just another receiver for satellite. I beleive satellite sends more original and cleaner signals rather than reencoded signals that are linked on the cable network. That's why I beleive DVB-S is better quality if you have a good satellite dish and a good DVB-S receiver.

Regarding the encryption, besides the illegal software methods available you can always buy a CI-interface, CI-module and use your legally subscribed smart card (at least here in Europe).

Most interesting channels on my cable network broadcasts with 720x576, 704x576 or 352x576 resolution and is DVD compliant. Some channels use 480x576 or 544x576. But there are ways around the non-standard resolutions, using the same methods as SVCD on DVD-R, or using XSVCD or reencode. The bitrates are mostly within DVD-spec and pvastrumento fix bad GOPs so everything is fine. I can mostly put it on DVD without any reencoding. Only on recordings longer than 2 hours (on the full resolution channels) I need to reencode because it does not fit on one DVD-R, but I can also choose to split it to several discs if I want to.

[whatever]

Actually ronny, i think you are wrong about that (any) digital tv distributor in sweden would reencode the signal for cable, they simply transmodulate it from qpsk to qam.

The equipment needed to decode, encode, multiplex and encrypt the video would be far to expensive.

Although if you have hard evidence that this is the case with any provider that provides digital cable channels please let me know.

i.e you will get the same quality using a dvb-c card as it is very likely that it's the exact same mpeg stream as on satellite.

[ronnylov]

Actually ronny, i think you are wrong about that (any) digital tv distributor in sweden would reencode the signal for cable, they simply transmodulate it from qpsk to qam.

The equipment needed to decode, encode, multiplex and encrypt the video would be far to expensive.

Although if you have hard evidence that this is the case with any provider that provides digital cable channels please let me know.

i.e you will get the same quality using a dvb-c card as it is very likely that it's the exact same mpeg stream as on satellite.

Perhaps you are right. I have no evidence. But some channels look bad so that's what I thougt. Especially channels with hardcoded subtitles like TV1000/Cinema. They look just like decoded and encoded again, and even if the bitrate is higher the quality is worse. SVT channels and Canal+ is really good quality when compared but they have lower bitrate than TV1000. Maybe the bad channels look as bad on satellite? I don't know. But I'm happy if you are right because then I can't get better quality on those channels than I already have.

One thing for sure is that they use different decryption on cable. Canal+ use Conax on satellite but viaaccess on cable (so far). So they are at least decrypted and re-encrypted. Maybe this is done on one central place in Sweden and the price of equipment is not much compared to all the subscribers. They also have their own pay-per-view movie and sports channels that's not are available on satellite so they must have some equipment to encode also. The sports channels send live events on cable only. The trailers and info channels are also in digital form so I'm sure they have all equipment needed - but no evidence.

[lordsmurf]

If this is in the US, I don't see how this would work. Dishnetwork broadcasts in DVB (Directv doesn't), however, but I haven't heard of a PC DVB receiver card that has Dish's Nagra security. If you have a DVB receiver card without security, the only thing you will get is channels that are broadcast in the clear. In regards to conversion loss, even if you could get direct access to the mpeg stream, dish does not usually broadcast the stream in a DVD compatible resolution, so you will still have to re-encode to burn to a DVD.

I'm not aware of anything for Dish or DirecTV that can merely snag the MPEG2 stream. In fact, I've recently noticed the quality of the encodes degrade, especially on the "cable" and "local" channels. Even the movies channels and PPV seem a bit lower in quality. I've seen pixelization/macroblocking a lot recently. Every now and then, for a few seconds, a channel will look no better than a bootleg Divx file from Kazaa. I seem to remember CLARITY being a selling point when I switch to satellite from cable. What happened?

[qpskfec]

I have noticed the same degradation of picture quality on directv lately. They have probably added some new channels, which causes the average bitrate to be reduced for all channels on transponders where a new channel has been added, which results in lower picture quality.

The quality will most likely stay as it is until the next software upgrade to their encoders.

[lordsmurf]

I have noticed the same degradation of picture quality on directv lately. They have probably added some new channels, which causes the average bitrate to be reduced for all channels on transponders where a new channel has been added, which results in lower picture quality. The quality will most likely stay as it is until the next software upgrade to their encoders.

If you scan the 400s-900s, there a lot of new locals being squeezed onto the transponders. Bandwidth limitations, I'm guessing.

Though the problem sucks, I'm comforted knowing I'm not alone, and not the only one who is noticing.

[darkcyber]

Sorry for the confusion everyone. Let me reask me question

What is the best way to get recordings from a dtv or dish satellite receiver, using s-video out into my video card? What I would like to know, is what recording software will do the best job for taken the recording and burning it to a dvd?

1. What format do I need to record in?
2. What program do I need to record with?
3. What program do I need to re-encode with, if needed?
4. What dvd burning software?

All of this is for recording in the USA.

I've tried using Power VCR II and recording in DVD NTSC format, but if I re-encode that and then load it into DVD-Lab and burn it, the audio is always out of sync on the burned dvd. But I've checked all the files on the pc, even the ones that dvd-lab makes for recording the dvd and none of those are out of sync.

So, I'm just looking for a good solution that will work.

Thanks all...and again...sorry for the confusion.

DarkCyber

[lordsmurf]

Which satellite service are you on and what is your capture card?

[Kool_Aid]

1. What format do I need to record in?
2. What program do I need to record with?
3. What program do I need to re-encode with, if needed?
4. What dvd burning software?

See my first reply above.........

[darkcyber]

Which satellite service are you on and what is your capture card?

Capture card = ASUS V8200 Deluxe Video card with S-Video input, with 64 megs of DDR ram on board...agp.

Satellite service = Direct TV