What software do most of you with ADVC-100 use for captures?

[cosmichippo]

Hello,

I just got an ADVC-100 and am wondering what most folks have had success capturing and editting with. I will initially be capping stuff off of our digital cable PVR but will be doing SVHS/VHS and Laser Disc captures later as well. I was considering V-Dub but from what I have read on their site it doesn't seem to be an easy solution for DV capturing.

I will be converting to MPEG1/2 for VCD/DVD using TMPEGEnc+.

Thanks in advance to any and everyone that offers suggestioins or advice.

Mike

[redwudz]

For DV transfer to the computer, the simplist is DVIO or WinDV. Scenalyzer is also popular. You can check these out in the 'Tools' column at the left side of this website. For editing, there are quite a few programs available. I use Ulead Media Studio, then encode with TMPGEnc and author with TMPGEnc Author. I use DV-2 mode.

[TBoneit]

I use Scenealyzer Live.

Preview windows, captures to both types of AVI, Able to pause and restart capture.

Small, Simple, works great. Not free tho.

Cheers

[mturcott]

Scenalyzer Live to capture all of my video thru the ADVC-100. VirtualDub to trim the ends of the AVI file and anything in the middle that needs to be removed. Save as a Hugh-Jass (BIG) AVI using the Huffyuv codec. Convert to MPEG-2 using either CCE Basic or TMPGEnc. Author to DVD with DVDlab. I try not to edit the MPEG files but there are tools to split and join them if you need to re-arrange things.

[cosmichippo]

Thanks for all the replies!

I am new to this so forgive me if some of these q's are obvious.

I assume that it is preferable to capture to type-2 format so that you can process the audio seperately, right?

Can I go directly from the WinDV or DVIO capture into Virtualdub? Will these files open in V-Dub without some sort of conversion? I'm not at all trying to avoid spending money but if this the simpilest, quality approch why spend what I don't have to?

Is it beneficial to save the file in Huffyuv since it is already limited to DV bandwidth?

thanks again and keep the replies coming. I'd like to hear how several people use this device.

M

[redwudz]

DV-2 works best for me. I haven't used Virtualdub that much, but it seems to work fine with DV-2 files. I just process it through, with a little smoothing, then take that file and put it into TMPGEnc. I encode with the ES option, then put it into TMPGEnc Author. I'm new at this also, so I am using the easiest method I can find, then work on the refinements later. My current project is to convert a stack of old VHS tapes recorded at LP speed (3 to the tape) to DVD. Lots of filtering, mostly using TMPGEnc. A 5 minute test encode (7 Gig) takes about 27 minutes to complete. The 5 hours of video per tape will take a long time, but I'm working on the best resolution vs encode time. I see in your computer stats you have a 40 Gig HD. You will probably need something bigger soon.

[hle2001]

Please clear me up on how to to capture right and what tools should I use to capture VHS tapes using ADVC-100.

I already captured a few VHS tapes with ADVC-100 using ScenAlyzerLive, all the tapes are about 30minutes long and I choose type-1. After captured the average of the each AVI files are about 6G. I did not change any settings, and all the AVI files are captured at 720x480 at 8000kbps, and audio captured at 48khz Stereo sound.

I then use ULEAD Movie Studio 7 to burn it to VIDEO_TS dvd format on the harddrvie, I can only add three 30Min VHS tapes AVI files on a singlge DVD. When I drag the a 6G AVI into MS7 it estimate about 1.5G for DVD format on the status bar.

My questions are do I do it right? Can I compress more on AVI files without loosing video quality so I can add more in one DVD by changing the resolution, bitrate? I hear a lot of users mention a lot of tools but are there all-in-one tools that let you compress more with decent video images and either burn directly or save VIDEO_TS to harddrive ?

I hope it make sense and thank you in advance. Pardon my written English.

-Hle2001

[Bondiablo]

Scenalyzer Live for capture (though WinDV and DVIO are good too and free) and TMPGEnc for conversion and cutting out commercials. VirtualDub is pretty much a waste of time and extra step you just don't need unless you have your heart set on trying out the filters. To use it you'll also need to install a DV codec. Generally only use Type2 if you plan to use VirtualDub. Also, since you're already in DV format there's really no benefit to using Huffy for anything.

[Tommyknocker]

By adjusting the bitrate with TMPGEnc, you can squeeze more video into a DVD. you will lose some quality, but in you experiment, you may be able to live with the lower bitrate to quality tarde off.

[thing914]

Same as several others. ScenalyzerLive is great. Then use VirtualDub, TMPGEncPlus and Author. I'm new at this so just doing the basics and learning more as I go.

Redwudz: I'm just about to start trying the same thing, several LP vhs tapes. Haven't tried out the filters yet, any tips/techniques on what you've found useful or not so far?

[redwudz]

thing914: I haven't had enough time to really figure out the best system. I have a 5 minute DV file from one of my poorer tapes and am trying different methods. So far TMPGEnc with the noise filter activated and some minor cropping to get rid of edge noise works well, but the encode time for a 6 hour tape looks to be around 28 hours. I'm trying 1/2 DI size and that speeds things up. Virturaldub filtering is faster, but then it's one more step to deal with. One thing I will say is that no matter how crappy the tape is, the ADVC-100 seems to be doing a great job of converting to DV. Better than any capture card I have used. I just need to learn more about filters. Maybe this weekend I can spend more time.

[KrisS]

I also use ADVC-100... (Scenalyzer for capture...)
How do you guys deal with cropping?
I have about 24 black lines on the right and 1 or 2 at the bottom (capturing from cable TV box). I leave those at the bottom; cropping only the right side...
696 x 480 is what is processed:
MainConcept 1.4 for 2-pass VBR (4,200 kbps), interlaced MPEG2 (352 x 480);
Dr Divx 1.03 for 2-pass, 1,000 kbps, progressive DivX (320 x 240) (encoding to interlaced is slower and worse quality).

I have only 1.4G Celeron (256 MB of memory, W2000) - takes about 4-5 hours of encoding for 1 hour of final video (faster with DV-2).

I use LiteOn LVD-2001 DVD/MPEG4 player for playing those files (burned on CDs or DVDs without authoring).

Thay look really good on regular TV... No filters needed with ADVC-100...

Any ideas how to do that better?

PS CCE and TMPGEnc seem to be taking much more time for encoding.

This is my first post - tried to learn from ongoing/past discussions for several weeks - didn't find everything I wanted...

KrisS

[painkiller]

I use Pure Motion's Edit Studio (currently at version 4.03).

It is both a DV capture as well as an excellent editor. They also have an mpeg encoder which does real well. While I haven't compared it against TMPGenc, it is quick and encodes/converts dv vid to vdc/svcd/dvd.

I am quite happy with it.

[feeras]

Hi,

I use Video Vegas!

Cheers,
feeras

[Nick Burns]

TOTALLY new to capturing.
I just received my ADVC-100 Monday.

Using ScenalyzerLive, I captured a VHS-C directly from my Camcorder, to DV type 2 using the Panasonic DV Codec

I see a lot of mentioning of VirtualDub, but I have no clue what to do with it. The one thing VirtualDub did tell me was what codec the capture used.

I don't need to do any trimming of the video.

So my question is: What exactly do you do with VirtualDub?

[Will Hay]

I've tried...

Pinnacle Studio 8
DVIO
Scenalyser (trail ver.)

and my preference is Pinancle Studio 8.

Also, look at Main Concept Encoder (ver 1.4), I've had superb, albiet initial, results capturing direct to mpeg2 from my ADVC-100 with it.
Will

[Will Hay]

So my question is: What exactly do you do with VirtualDub?

Have a look at the user comments, but basically it's primarily for capturing but also adding filters and cutting, clipping etc.
Pretty sure it doesn't work with DV.
Will

[quazer3]

If you download the Canopus DV Converter from their site, you can convert the output from the ADVC-100 into a DV format that Vitualdub can read. It takes about 1 minute per GB.

This is all new to me as well, but I've just captured a 1-hour tape using Ulead MediaStudio Pro, with good results. If I've understood how the ADVC-100 works correctly, I don't think it matters what you use to capture, since it's really just a transfer. So as long as it can handle DV, you could use anything with equally good results, provided you just want a straight transfer, i.e. no filters or mpeg encoding (please correct me if I'm wrong).

I agree that a 40GB harddrive isn't going to be enough. That's what I've got set aside for this stuff and it was a nightmare shifting files back and forth just to get this one video finished. I'm going to get a 120 GB as soon as possible.

quazer

[rhegedus]

If you download the Canopus DV Converter from their site, you can convert the output from the ADVC-100 into a DV format that Vitualdub can read. It takes about 1 minute per GB.

If you install the Panasonic DV codec, VirtualDub can use the Canopus DV file without the need for conversion.

I've used Vegas and IUVCR to capture with success.