My follow videographers,
I have been trying on and off for the last 2 years or so to record TV directly to my PC. My goal was to record program(s), edit out commercials, and make my own custom DVDs. (I also have a substantial VHS video collection I'd like to convert, but I've yet to go down that road, that will likely be another post when I actually get to embark on it.) The main stumbling block I've been unable to overcome is file size. When I first started I would end up with 1 hour of television and a 1 GB mpeg file, which I would then edit down to a 40 something minute MPG file in the 600-700 MB range. When I try to take the edited files and create a DVD I would only be able to fit (1) one hour episode onto a disc. Through research (on this site) and tinkering I've managed to get an edited file down to about 500 MB (and still look pretty good), but I'm still only able to get (1) episode onto a disc. I recently tried using Windows Movie Maker and was able to convert my 500 MB MPG file to a 200 MB WMV file, but I'm STILL only able to get (1) episode onto a disc.
My setup:
My Satellite box is connected to my capture card (Asus TV7133 WDM) via s-video and left/right RCA jacks. I'm using WinDVR 3 to record, Pinnacle Studio 9 to edit, and Roxeo Easy Media Creator 7 to author.
These are the approximate settings I've tried:
Size: 640 x 480 NTSC (as small as I can get and still maintain quality)
Frame rate: 25 fps
video data rate: 1100 kbps
audio data rate: 160 kbps
audio frequency: 44 kHz
compression: MPEG 2
If I try to reduce any of these settings any further the quality will suffer, and this is my impass.
I'm at a loss as to how to proceed from here. I'm competely open to ANY suggestions. I know my capture card is older and (obviously) isn't the best one on the market, I'm quite willling to replace it or any of the apps I'm using in the process. I'm also planning on upgrading to XP in the hopefully not-too-distant future, if OS is my problem please let me know. More info available upon request, any assitance/wisdom offered is greatly appreciated.
Thanks!!
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Originally Posted by oller_a
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640 x 480 NTSC at 25fps? That's wrong for a kick-off. TBH i'm at a loss as to what you want to achieve, you want a DVD but you convert to WMV? Anyway, is Roxio Easy Media Creator 7 re-encoding for you? That might explain why you can only get 1 episode per disk.
He's a liar and a murderer, and I say that with all due respect. -
Ditch Roxio for starters. It is the first problem you have.
Second problem, if you are going to capture for DVD, capture at 720 x 80 (or 704 x 480) if you card supports it, and an NTSC framerate (probablt 29.97 fps). If your card can't do this, it is a waste of space in your PC. You also need to up the frequency of the audio to 48kHz, and use a higher bitrate.
If you can apture at these settings, all you need is an mpeg2 editor such as videoredo or womble mpegvcr, and Tmpgenc DVD Author. Edit the commercials etc etc out with the mepge editor, then author with the files as they are. You should be able to get three 45 minute episodes or 6 30 minute episodes on a disc at reasonable quality.Read my blog here.
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Alot of things dont work well here :
Size: 640 x 480 NTSC (as small as I can get and still maintain quality) ... format not supported .
Ntsc : (720x480) , (704x480) , (352x480) , (352x240)
Pal : (720x576) , (704x576) , (352x576) , (352x288)
That 640x480 needs re-encoding to a more suitable aspect to be acceptable by most authoring tool's , and consideration of the existing format so as not to squash or stretch the picture out of alignment .
Frame rate: 25 fps ... incorrect for format .
Pal is 25fps ... nstc is not .
video data rate: 1100 kbps ... very low
I wouldnt consider anything below 2000kpbs .
audio data rate: 160 kbps ... ok , but what form
Ac3 , no lower than 64kbs ... or audio will not be heard .
audio frequency: 44 kHz ... nope
Should be 48khz
compression: MPEG 2 ... fine .
Watch out , not all mpeg encoder's are equal .
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Guides of interest :
Commercial removal
https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=291744
Make your own subtitle's
https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=291971
Mpeg to dvd easy
https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=269499
Dvd compilations made easy
https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=270121
Music video dvd's
https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=270620
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Of course I have seen some programs when a single title is used , the program determine's how it should encode to fill the entire disc ... nero did this once .
Check in the program option's that no re-encoding is taking place as this will cause the title's to grow in size during output .
Some dont support ac3 as audio as well ... it's why I follow the freeway method .
Basic kit to get what you needed :
Virtualdub (slice , dice , extraction , frameserving)
Bbmpeg (best mpeg2 encoder , never a glitch)
Besweet (audio convert to ac3)
Gimp (dvd menu backgrounds and more)
Dvdauthorgui (simple and straight forward)
Pgcedit (nav command reauthoring , plus more)
Vobedit (demux vobs)
With the right settings , you can fit three decent dvd movies onto a single dvd-r ... which is still respectable and wont send people blind ... I have seen some crap in my time .
If you are able to get them down to 500mbs , then there is no reason why you can not fit 8 onto a single dvd-r , remembering max input is set at 4.3gig for across the board dvd player compatability .
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Any questions , just pm me for help . -
Thank you all for the quick replies. I've suspected that Roxio might be a culprit, but I wanted to outline my whole process to see if I was doing anything else wrong. Going forward I'll adjust my recording and editing settings to what was suggested. My logic for reducing my rates so low was to try to lower the file size. When I'd try to put together a DVD with Roxio I would add (1) file and it would show as taking up 3 - 3.5 GB! I figured reducing the file size would let me get more than the one episode onto a disc. That's why I tried Windows Movie Maker. When I found it produced such a small file it gave me a small glimmer of hope, but then Roxio told me my 200 MB file took up over 3 GB! That's when I decided to consult the experts (you all). There aren't a lot of settings in Roxio relating to quality or encoding and it likely IS re-encoding my files but I can't find any way to tell it not to. I will try the authoring tools suggested and report back my results.
Thank you again. -
You shouldn't use windows movie maker for dvd authoring purposes. Its primary output is wmv. You can output to dv-avi but you still have to convert it to mpeg2.
Your video recorder should be able to record directly to mpeg2. Set it to a proper mpeg recording mode. Follow some of the guides already listed and you should see better results.Donatello - The Shredder? Michelangelo - Maybe all that hardware is for making coleslaw? -
Your problem seems to be that you do not have a DVD-standard file, plus that your authoring program is apparently re-encoding them (doing a poor job at that) and vastly ballooning their size.
Do some reading on acceptable DVD file standards and formats. Capture to one of those standards, or, if this is not possible, use a good-quality encoding program to make them acceptable.
You may find that the captured files, once made in the correct format, need to be run through an editor or demux/remux process to correct minor errors common to captured files. If this is needed, recommend you try several as some programs can "fix" these files, some don't. -
I have the necessary to do in the computer, ADVC 100, 3 Ghz P4 or dual core Athlon 64 4200+ and encoders and author porgram however:
Or just bite the bullet and get a good quality DVD recorder with a hard drive so you can capture to the drive, edit out the commercials and when you have enough episodes then burn a DVD. I use a Pioneer and it edits real easy, edit title real easy, choose thmbnail for the menu, easy. Good quality results. Cheap as DVDs are I only squeeze 4 30 minute episodes onto the DVD, Actually they run 22 minutes once adverts are removed.
Or burn 1 movie per DVD, record striaght to DVD, Then edit title & thumbnail, then finalizerecords real nice from basic cable and Satellite. I even feed in 480i from a HD DVR, both set to 16:9 and when I hit the fill button on the TVs remote it fills the screen.
YMMV. I used to do in the computer. Now for clean signals I just do this as it is easier and quite a lot quicker. -
Sorry I have not posted in a few days, I've been quite busy. But I have some progress to report. I tried the suggested authoring programs and the results are as follows:
Dvdauthorgui: Very simple, but it requires my files to have nav packets. I've never worked with nav packets before and having them is a little more elaborate than I want to get right now.
TMPGEnc DVD Author: Good results!! I had to re-encode whatever I wanted to burn (to get it to comply with ntsc), but was able to burn a 90 minute tv movie and it only occupied 1+ GB on the disc. The video quiality was so-so, but the file had been edited and encoded a few times and I don't recall what settings were used to capture it. I then put together another disc with 5 edited episodes (and I could have gotten a 6th on there if I had it) and they all fit on one disc. I ran into a problem building this disc and that's where I'm currently at. I don't know if it's a problem with my system or the software. Neither the system nor the software hung, but for whatever reason it just didn't burn the disc. I will be trying again as soon as I can and will post the results.
Also, I used TMPEGEnc to re-encode my videos (pinnacle was being picky). I tried a couple of the suggested encoders but TMPGEnc gave me the least grief. TMPGEnc software isn't cheap, so can anyone suggest any freeware or lowercost encoders and/or authoring programs?
Thanks! -
Maybe not the cheapest but the TMPGEnc products work for me. I use TMPGEnc Xpress and DVD author. Xpress lets me add several files to be converted, I then pick output target, NTSC DVD in my case, then on the encode tab I choose encade as seperate files. Then DVD Author to add the encoded files abd author. I tend to stay around 2 hours per DVD as discs are cheap and squeezing to many on the disc wil lower quality.
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Again, sorry for the wait, I'd like to report that I was able to successfully burn a DVD with 5 episodes! Like I said in a previous post, it could have fit a 6th! So now I just have to decide on which authoring tool I'm going to use. I'm pleased with the quality of what I have as well. I want to thank you all for your time and your good advice!!
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