Captured MPEG-2 now what?

[vtecmw]

I can successfully capture video in MPEG-2 using Main Concept MPEG Encoder. I tried using MJPEG encoder with Quality Setting 19/20. The captured file is very large. so, I switched to HuffyUV and it's about half the size.

I have tried editing the captured MPEG in VirtualDubMPEG-2. I managed to set up some filters that makes the final video look like the original (Tivo) version.

The problem, however is that when I output the final AVI, I noticed that toward the end of each output there is a lot of pixelation. The output will sometimes change color to purple as well. I have experimented using 6 minute video captures and this has happened quite frequently. I would like to be able to capture video up to 2 hours long, make the necessary corrections and burn it to DVD. Is VirtualDub the right tool for this? Should I be using something better? If VirtualDub is okay, can someone explain why my video is degrading at the end of each AVI output in VirtualDub.

I have a:

Pentium IV 2.4 Ghz
512MB RAM
80GB HD 7200 RPM
Pinnacle PCTV Capture PCI card.


Any information is greatly appreciated.

[SaSi]

You mentioned that you use VitualDUB MPEG to process the captures. I think you have misunderstood something with the capture you are doing.

Even though you are using Mainconcept MPEG encoder for capture, you are not capturing MPEG files. As you said, you originally used MJPEG and then the hufyuv codec to capture. So, the capture is an AVI file. So, you don't need the VirtualDUB Mod to process it. Just to make sure you don't go under a misconception.

Now, about the picture quality degradation on output.

Which codec do you use when compressing output video from VirtualDUB? Is it DivX? And if so, is it version 5.11 or something? And if so, have you recently upgraded DivX from a previous version (~5.05 or something?).

And your purple colour pixels at the end of the video, do they move along with the general motion in the video? Like a moving hand "dragging" the large pixels that may become purple?

All these questions because I have seen the same problem on a PC that had DivX recently upgraded to 5.11. It could not playback properly. Capture was OK, as moving the video to another PC played back ok. But on the PC that did the capture (i.e. encode), playback was impossible.