happauge 500mce

[mike909]

Can someone out there with a happague 500mce tell me if the first post here is true? I have seen many posts attesting to the mpeg2 resolution of the card's capture as 720x480 but just wanted to make sure. Also, anyone out there have two theatre 550 pro cards (dual tuner setup) working with anything except mce? Word on the street is, ati's drivers won't work with a dual tuner setup unless your using mce. Thanks

[mike909]

Well, I just read through this post and I'm pretty sure that the card can not only capture in dvd mpeg3 res of 720.480 but also at halfd1 which is cool. My second question about the dual theatre 550's still stands though.

[SHS]

That user review is way off the card can not do 640x480 but it can do HalfD1 and FullD1 as well as SVCD and VCD.
It ture that dual ATI 550 don't work also the 550 can't do HalfD1 it only capture at res the 720x480/576.

[kosekjm]

Hi there,

Unfortunately, I cannot definitely answer the 550 question as I only have one installed currently. However on the snapstream forums, a similar question was asked in regards to the Hauppouge cards. If you go to snapstream's page and then on the knowledge base search for article 320 (The link was way too long for me to want to post it here ) the KB states that both the Hauppauge cards and the ATI 550 boards seem to have this same problem (Although the Hauppage problem seems to only be on machines with VIA chipsets according to snapstream).

The fix that they recommend for the ATI card is ATI's latest drivers. How well that works or not, again I don't know since I only have the one card. That being said, the single card works great in Beyond Media, GB-PVR, and with MCE.

As to the resolution question, though you didn't ask about the 550, it seems locked at 720*480. Every program that I've tried doesn't let me change that resoultion. The program accepts the change, but the captured video always comes out at 720*480. You can adjust the bit rate though.

[mike909]

Thanks. Just wanted to make sure. I will try to find someone who has 2 theatre 550's and latest drivers w/ out mce and see if it has been fixed. Though being able to cap at other than full d1 is appealing anyways...probably going to just go w/ the hap 500mce. Thanks guys.

[edDV]

That user review is way off the card can not do 640x480 but it can do HalfD1 and FullD1 as well as SVCD and VCD.
It ture that dual ATI 550 don't work also the 550 can't do HalfD1 it only capture at res the 720x480/576.

If I understand the Hauppauge PVR series they always "capture" to a 720 480/576 raster but the hardware encoder can output MPeg2 in either 720x480/576 or 352x480/576 resolutions at various selectable bitrates.

[mike909]

Thanks Ed,
And if I understand it correctly, it is better to "capture at 720x480 and encode to 352x480 than it is to captuer at 352x480 and encode to 352x480 correct?

and how about if I'm capturing from my Directv STB? My guess is that my resulting PQ of my mpeg2 depends (among many other tings) on how the broadcaster is encoding a particular source on a particular channel.

[Denvers Dawgs]

What is HalfD1 and FullD1?

[edDV]

Thanks Ed,
And if I understand it correctly, it is better to "capture at 720x480 and encode to 352x480 than it is to captuer at 352x480 and encode to 352x480 correct?

Correct if the hardware (or software) encoder properly filters down to 352x480 from 720, the results will be smoother than simply tossing every other pixel.

and how about if I'm capturing from my Directv STB? My guess is that my resulting PQ of my mpeg2 depends (among many other tings) on how the broadcaster is encoding a particular source on a particular channel.

True, most DBS and cable companies use digitally mastered programs or quality A/D capture devices. Different cable and sat channels are sent to the home at bitrates that can be set anywhere along the system. For SD channels, they digitize to approx 512-540 x480 to the tuner box. DBS and older cable systems tend to use lower bitrates, newer 750+ Mhz cable systems are using bitrates as high as 8Mb/s to deliver 524x480 (e.g SD HBO). Dish, etc may be using half that.

At the cable box, the 512-540x480 video gets converted back to analog. If you redigitize the analog signal, you cannot recover more than the 512-540 hoizontal resolution but you should capture to a 720x480 raster for best quality. DVD only supports 720 or 352 horizontal sizes..

720x480/576 is ofter refered to as D1 resolution. Thus 352x480/576 can be called half D1.

[mike909]

If you redigitize the analog signal, you cannot recover more than the 512-540 hoizontal resolution but you should capture to a 720x480 raster for best quality.

When you say capture to a 720 raster, do you mean one should also encode to 720 for best PQ or are you saying capture to a 720 and one can achieve just as good PQ if he then encode's (through either software, or by telling the hardware to do it) to 352. I know we are speaking in theory here, and PQ is a very subjective matter "eye of the beholder' and all...but just trying to get your take on it.
Either way, I look forward to doing some comparison's when I do get it up & running.
Thanks agian.

[edDV]

If you redigitize the analog signal, you cannot recover more than the 512-540 hoizontal resolution but you should capture to a 720x480 raster for best quality.

When you say capture to a 720 raster, do you mean one should also encode to 720 for best PQ or are you saying capture to a 720 and one can achieve just as good PQ if he then encode's (through either software, or by telling the hardware to do it) to 352. I know we are speaking in theory here, and PQ is a very subjective matter "eye of the beholder' and all...but just trying to get your take on it.
Either way, I look forward to doing some comparison's when I do get it up & running.
Thanks agian.

At the limit of the channel's bandwidth, say HBO over a new Comcast system at 524x480 8Mb/s., you would want to recapture analog at 720x480 at the highest bitrate you can justify to fit the program to a DVD at highest PQ.

If you want more recording time vs. PQ on the DVD, you need to compromise resolution (to 352x480) for a 50% data reduction or bitrate using lower average VBR or a combination of both resolution and bitrate. You need to experiment to see which looks better to you with your cable/dbs service.

I've found the key issue is source quality. Even VCD looks much better if the source is a downscaled HDTV channel.