best res. for capture from sat dish to dvd?

[allen074]

hi people

i have hooked up my sat dish to my computer tv capture card

what resolution should i capture at if i want to make the best quality dvds i can?

i tried at 720x480 at 40frames per sec and it seemed almost really great...

it seems dvd is only 29 frames?

any help is appreciated... thanks!

[allen074]

ok i have the winfast tv tuner app which came with the card (seems to do ok)

i have ulead video studio 6 se

and pinnacle 8

so far winfast seems the easiest

help!

[FulciLives]

If we are talking NTSC then you capture at Full D1 resolution. This actually can be slightly different depending on how your capture card "sees" things. For some the correct resolution is 720x480 but with other cards the correct resolution is 704x480 but either way you capture at 29.970 fps (again this is all for NTSC format).

Most Satalite TV is broadcast at something like 352x480 or 480x480 but some "premium" channels could be as high as 640x480 and possibly even 720x480

There are a few threads around here on Satalite resolutions and it differs a bit between DirectTV and Dish Network etc.

For most satalite stuff you would probably do best to capture Full D1 but then resize to Half D1 which is 352x480

I would not capture at Half D1 unless you capture direct to MPEG-2 otherwise capture Full D1 and resize in the MPEG-2 encoding step.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[allen074]

ok thanks - so the 720x480 is ok...

[FulciLives]

ok thanks - so the 720x480 is ok...

Yes Full D1 at 720x480 or 704x480 is the best you can capture for DVD use. All I am trying to say is that sometimes it is "overkill" and if you later resize to Half D1 at 352x480 for your final MPEG-2 you will end up with a final picture whose quality is nearly as good as a Full D1 MPEG-2 encode.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[allen074]

of the software i have which do you recommend?
i really appreciat eyour help

[FulciLives]

No particular order:

TheFlyDS
iuVCR
VirtualVCR

As for myself I like TheFlyDS

Like you I have a PCI type TV tuner capture card.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[allen074]

ok thanks again

i think i tried virtual vcr but it wouldnt do anything higher than like 352 or something

[FulciLives]

ok thanks again

i think i tried virtual vcr but it wouldnt do anything higher than like 352 or something

I think your capture card uses WDM drivers in which case ALL of the programs I mentioned should work A-OK. If your capture card uses VFW drivers then you should use VirtualDub.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[allen074]

i downloaded thefly -- weird it looks like a ham radio

looks like i will be reading the manual to get it to work with my card going to the rca cable instead of the coax

[SHS]

allen074 when tried mess with the long hard way of doing thing get your self WinTV-PVR 250 and pop over SageTV or SnapStream and make better use of your time.