Capture Woes

[MJDevos]

I have the follow setup.

P4 3.06 GHz 533 FSB
2.0 GB RAM
ATI 9800 XT
Audiogy ZS 2 Platinum
MSI TV / Tuner FM Radio Capture Card
2 60 GB 7200 RPM Hard Drives (RAID 1)
USB 250 GB 7200 RPM Drive

S Video connected from Graphics Card to TV Tuner Card
Audio Out from Audiogy ZS 2 to Audio In on TV Tuner Card

Capture Software -- Windows Movie Maker, Intervideo DVD2 Creator

Editing Software -- Windows Movie Maker, Adobe Premiere, Adobe After Effects, Intervideo DVD2 Creator

Capture to the External USB Drive

Resolution of Desktop when capturing is 1024x768

Example of a capture is here

---

I am trying to make the capture clear / sharper, after asking around and researching the closest reason why I can't get any better than what is above is for one / all / some of the reasons below.

1. Signal is converted from digital to analog (S Video connection) then converted back into digital (Capture Card)

2. Software used to capture

3. Software used to edit capture

4. Settings used to export capture when done.

Any help on this would be much appreciated as to what I am doing wrong, if I have crappy hardware or not the right hardware, not using the correct software, etc...

Thanks.

[MJDevos]

Anyone have any tips or info on this?

Any will be appreciated.

Thanks.

[dphirschler]

Let me see if I got this straight. You desire to capture your video game session at 1024x768, right? I have come to this conclusion because

1) it's obviously a video game
2) You have connected your video card to your capture card using s-video

Since you captured s-video, it will be limited to 480 lines. That's just the nature of s-video. So there's your loss of clarity right there. If you want clarity, then I suggest you capture your computer screen using a screen capturing tool. There is one I've read about on this site that captures full screen video off your computer screen. Sorry I don't know the name of it.


Darryl

[thecoalman]

I haven't used it but I've seen fraps suggested as a great utility for capturing video games, it's software based and takes the capture card out of the process. I've seen some example video from their site and the quality is perfect.

There's also camstudio but I've seen the above mentioned app more for games.

[non-linear]

I haven't used it but I've seen fraps suggested as a great utility for capturing video games, it's software based and takes the capture card out of the process. I've seen some example video from their site and the quality is perfect.

Of course if he's doing this for DVD, then you're still going to be limited to 480 lines in the end, as that is the maximum resolution you'll get with the NTSC broadcast standard. That said, a program like what you suggested would probably be the best bet to get the video captured.

[thecoalman]

Of course if he's doing this for DVD, then you're still going to be limited to 480 lines in the end, as that is the maximum resolution you'll get with the NTSC broadcast standard. That said, a program like what you suggested would probably be the best bet to get the video captured.

Of course it will look better, there's no conversion. It's straight to digital, I'd imagine each frame is just a screengrab so it will be an identical copy. Superior source = superior end product. I haven't tested but I'd imagine I can get better quality from my Canon GL2 using 352x240 that I ever will out of a VHS at 720x480.

[MJDevos]

Let me see if I got this straight. You desire to capture your video game session at 1024x768, right? I have come to this conclusion because

1) it's obviously a video game
2) You have connected your video card to your capture card using s-video

Since you captured s-video, it will be limited to 480 lines. That's just the nature of s-video. So there's your loss of clarity right there. If you want clarity, then I suggest you capture your computer screen using a screen capturing tool. There is one I've read about on this site that captures full screen video off your computer screen. Sorry I don't know the name of it.


Darryl

I want to capture anything from my desktop game or what not .... mostly for games now at this point so I can get practice in manipulation of the captures.

So if SVideo is my crutch then is there cards out there that will capture directly from the video card without going through a SVideo connection. What I am looking for at the moment is how Sony, Blizzard, Warner Brothers, etc.. can get picture clear quality with the least amout of picture lost.

Thank you so far for all the suggestions.

[Bjs]

Note :

Take the damn audio off the tuner card ?

You wonder why you arent getting the best picture you should be getting ..

If audio is coming from source , connect it to LINE-IN , and line-out is to speakers , change audio capture settings to point to line-in .

You should beable to hear audio from source , if not , uncheck the mute button in the volume control settings .

Allowing the audio to be connected to the tv tuner will degrade the picture quality every time .

[MJDevos]

Note :

Take the damn audio off the tuner card ?

You wonder why you arent getting the best picture you should be getting ..

If audio is coming from source , connect it to LINE-IN , and line-out is to speakers , change audio capture settings to point to line-in .

You should beable to hear audio from source , if not , uncheck the mute button in the volume control settings .

Allowing the audio to be connected to the tv tuner will degrade the picture quality every time .

Thanks for the tip, if one wanted to capture both then would the current setup do or is there a better way?