Looking for recommendations on hardware MPEG-2/4 encoders

[Ardavan]

I'm looking for a MPEG-2/4 hardware encoder board (preferably with accompanying dvd authoring software) to buy to put into my machine. I created a multimedia workstation for daming and video editing, and now I'm not sure what I need as for encoding high quality dvd's. Here's the specs on what I'm running:

CPU - AMD Athlon 64 x2 4800+ CPU (operating with 2000MHz FSB)
RAM - 3GB [3 x 1GB sticks] PC3200 DDR (operating at 400MHz/pr stick)
Video Card - XFX GeForce 7800 GTX 512MB DDR3
OS - WinXP 64-bit Edition

Originally, I had decided to go with Cinema Craft Encoder SP, but it doesn't support the Athlon 64 x2! So, I need to know if not CCE, what would be the next thing? Should I be researching "capture cards"? I'm a little unfamiliar with DVD encoders. I just want a nice hardware DVD encoder board capable of producing high quality DVDs, but not heavy on the wallet. After the money I spent on the computer, I need to cut back on the spending. All advice and suggestions welcome.

[Baldrick]

please change the subject, need advice doesn't say anything about your topic....we all need advice. just click on edit on your post.


what source are you going to convert to dvd? dv,vhs...??? or ???

[Ardavan]

I'm going to be converting a lot of .avi (divx, xvid), and .wmv to DVD. I had my eye on CCE until I found out I can't use it because of my cpu. I'm trying to figure out if I need a DVD decoder/encoder board with the appropriate accompanying software or if I just need a video capture board. So, all recommendations are appreciated.

P.S. Should I have started this thread in the DVD to DVDR section?

[redwudz]

Capturing is OK. If in doubt, use the 'Newbie/General discussions' forum.

The first hardware encoder that comes to mind is the Hauppauge 250 video card or similar. It works well for a lot of members. Check their website for more information. It will capture to compliant MPEG-2 video, then all you need is to edit, then author, then burn to DVD.

MPEG editing can be more difficult than AVI editing, but Cuttermaran is a freeware editor and MPEG-VCR or similar is fairly inexpensive. For authoring, try out TMPGEnc DVD Author. It has a trial version.

If you are talking about converting AVI format to DVD, then a software encoder would be what you are looking for. That's not capturing.

CCE would work fine, TMPGEnc encoder is a little slower, but easier to use for a novice. TDA is still a good choice for authoring.

[Ardavan]

So, here's the deal. I have a couple extremely rare versions of movies in AVI format and I'm trying to get them onto disc. Well, the video resolution on a lot of these movies is pretty bad, looks like whomever made the files was using a vhs for the source input [some of these movies look like they're from the betamax era]. My ultimate goal is to bring the image quality of the video up to par with DVD and have a sharper resoultion. I've tried a few software encoders such as Windows Media Encoder 10, TMPGEnc, and Avi2Dvd, but the video pretty much comes out the same after an encoding. Last night I had TMPGEnc do an encoding job, it took over nine hours only to have the video resolution identical to what it was before the encoding. I guess overall what I'm trying to do is re-encode these movies to put them on DVD, but dramatically improve the video quality so it doesn't look the same when on a disc.
I was talking to a friend and that's when he told me software encoders wouldn't cut it, not for what I want, I need a hardware MPG decoder/encoder board according to him. Well, I don't know much about MPG2 encoders so I thought I would check it out and video capture might be a solution. I was wrong and video capture boards are off the list. My friend recommended the Optibase MovieMaker 200S Xpress found here: http://www.visiblelight.com/mall/catalogView.aspx?cat=170

I need to know what I'm doing wrong with the video quality while encoding and how to correct it. The MovieMaker is looking pretty nice, but before I drop a pretty penny on it I want to make sure that is in fact what I need.

[redwudz]

I don't think the encoding is so much your problem. Many times software encoders can do as good or even better than a hardware encoder. The hardware is just much faster. If the hardware encoder includes advanced hardware filtering, then you might see an improvement. If your own encoding ends up being the same quality as the AVI, then that's about good as it gets.

Since it is in a AVI format, I would try the freeware VirtualDub. It has many filters available. There is no guarantee that you would get the video better, but you may be able to experiment and get something you can live with. Look for some filters here. http://neuron2.net/other.html

If nothing else you may be able to find what type of filtering would improve the images. Then you might consider having the videos professionally encoded using a restoration company.