Which software for Hauppauge PVR 350 ? Which setup?

[spagel]

Does anybody know how the WinTV2000 software, that comes with the Hauppauge PVR cards, compares to other software?

It captures in mpg and the quality doesn't seem too good. I need to capture in mpg or avi etc. as I only play my files on the PC, I don't need to do DVD's. As I also make the files available as downloads for other people I need to make good quality files that aren't too big and are compatible for most Windows users to play.
I have installed the K-lite codec pack and also offer it as a download on my page. I have no idea if that is all I need to do, I have been reading for 2 weeks on this subject now and everything seems very confusing to me.

Maybe somebody can help me?

My set up:

AMD Athlon 3000+ 2.17 Mhz
2nd HDD 160 GB reserved for video files
Hauppauge PVR 350
K-Lite codecs pack
VCR Sony SLV SE 840
Freeview Box Hauppauge DEC 2000

What I would like to do:

Watch and Record LiveTV (UK Freeview Channels)
Watch and Record VHS tapes (PAL)
Capture from VHS tapes (to mpg2 ?)

What I have done:

Arial socket in wall -> into Freeviev box -> out to VCR
Arial socket in wall -> into Freeviev box -> out to PVR350
VCR -> out to PVR350

With WinTV2000 I can watch VHS tapes from my VCR and also LiveTV from the Freeview box. I can also record both in WInTV2000.

I presume I can record straight onto the VCR as well but haven't tried it as it isnt important.

Problem: The recordings in WinTV2000 from LiveTV don't look good, they have thin black stripes through it wherever there is movement in the picture, very disturbing when things are red or pink.

I thought a different software might solve my problem but I can't get a picture in either VirtualVCR or GBPVR. I have no idea what I am doing wrong as all works well in WinTV2000.

Also I don't know if another software would solve my problem at all.

OK. I just tried to take a still image of the problem and found out that the problem only happens in windows media player 10. The same video plays fine in media player classic (which came with the k-lite codec pack) although I am still not impressed with the general picture quality.

Windows Media Player:



Media Player Classic:




So I have a few different problems here. Basically most people that will download the files will use windows media player to watch the files.

As as you can see the files is even black now. I tried to capture it in different sizes and with different ptograms, took screenshots and when you view it in a windows application it is always all black. Why???

I need to find out which software to use to cut, edit and make good quality downloadable files that play well on different peoples windows pc's.
Maybe I need to rewire my setup? Maybe I need to buy different cables?

Somebody could kindly unmuddle my brain?

Cheers

[junkmalle]

Does anybody know how the WinTV2000 software, that comes with the Hauppauge PVR cards, compares to other software?

All programs will capture with the same quality because the MPEG compression happens on the card. The capture program just saves the MPEG data to a file.

It captures in mpg and the quality doesn't seem too good... The recordings in WinTV2000 from LiveTV don't look good, they have thin black stripes through it wherever there is movement in the picture

You are seeing the result of recording interlaced video and watching it on a progressive display. This post may help you understand what is happening:

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1386363#1386363

That was written about NTSC video but the issue is the same with PAL -- just change the field rate from 60 to 50.

If you were making DVDs the solution would be to leave the video interlaced. The DVD player will "fix" the video when it sends the picture to the TV. But since your final destination is a video to be watched on the computer the solutions are to use a player that deinterlaces on the fly while playing (most DVD player software will do this) or deinterlace the video. Since you intend to make the video available to others, and you probably can't specify what player they use to view it, you'll want to do the latter.

I doubt you'll be using full 720x576 frame size for distribution over the internet. The simplest solution for that is to capture at 352x288 with WinTV2000. I believe that will get you a deinterlaced video to start with.

Beyond that, there is no perfect way to deinterlace. About the closest you can get is some of the Smart Deinterlace filters available for VirtualDub or AVISynth.