searching for a good codec for my capture

[Cazz]

Hi I have use DScaler and I like it alot.
I can easy recording my TV program with my TV card.

But I have one question.
I like to find a codec that is free that I can save the program I have recording.
I going to use a P4 2,4Ghz HT with 1 GB memory so I think I have a strong and fast computer.
I dont care if the file is going to be big but not TOO big

I going to use virtualdub after I have recording to remove the commercial and then save it again in Xvid or maybe use mencoder and save it in lavc that I like alot

But I need a good codec so I save the file so I can work in the next program.

I have look at huffyuv but I dont know if that is a good codec or what value I can use so I have a good quality and still dont have so big file (I did try without change the value and a 5 min TV was almost 3 GB AVI)

[jagabo]

HuffYUV is one of your best choices as an intermediate codec. It doesn't compress a lot but it is lossless (assuming a 4:2:2 YUV source) and fast. Compression varies depending on the video but will typically be in the 30 GB/hr range for full D1 video.

Another lossless codec you can try is Lagarith. It compresses more than HuffYUV but it isn't as fast. So you may have trouble trying to compress as you capture. Lagarith will usually be in the 20 GB/hr range.

If you want smaller files you'll need to use lossy codecs like the commercial PicVideo MJPEG codec. Ffdshow is free and includes an MJPEG encoder. With MJPEG you can pick a quality level -- the lower the quality you pick the smaller the file. MJPEG will be from 10 to 30 GB/hr when using reasonable quality settings.

Another lossy format is DV. You can try using Cedocida (free) for this. DV runs about 13 GB/hr.

[vhelp]

Currently there are four major (popular) codecs to choose:

--> MJPEG; Huffy; Lagarith; Cedocida;

When I capture, I mainly use lagarith or cedocida. I mostly use cedocida for when I just want to capture
analog cable tv and don't care about exact quality. But, when quality (or image analysis) is required, I
capture with either lagarith (or, when HDD space is not an issue, a non-compression) type codec.

So why say negatively on dv type codec ?? well, in my experience, when my source video is analog cable
tv or vhs, dv begins to loose its ground in terms of quality when source video is noisy like analog cable tv
and vhs are. The dv compression just can't keep up and produces a lot of square macroblocks in the noisy
areas during most motions. Even in static scene where there is no motion there is these blocks that stand
out -- you can see them when you enlarge a video frames image.

So, when my video source is analog cable tv or vhs *and* I need absolute quality I go with lagarith or a
non-compressive type codec.

If your source origin is VHC-C or HI-8 and is archived on VHS, you might be alright with cedocida in this
case. I've seen some examples of these types of "captured" video and analized them for their salt-n-pepper
like noise and could not find any. I guess they are not the same as analog cable tv is with its chroma
phenomina, aka salt n pepper noise. I forget the exact cause of this SnP nonense, but maybe some one
else knows better and can explain it for all.

And finally, if your source is based off a digital medium, you'll have no problem with the cedocida codec
and prob the best compression/size for your video captures.

-vhelp 4700

[ronnylov]

Is Cedocida OK to use even if the capture card only use top field first?
DV is bottom field first and Cedocida is a DV codec.

Personally I do my analog captures with lagarith codec because it works good in my computer and is lossless too. I don't keep the captures losslessly forever, just reencode it to DVD format with HCEncoder. However cedocida codec may still be interesting because I want to archive some old analog camcoder footage on miniDV tapes.

[jagabo]

Is Cedocida OK to use even if the capture card only use top field first?

As long as the software you use downstream allows you to specify the field order of the source, yes. Just tell the software to ignore what it thinks about the field order and treat it as TFF. Or, if you can, convert to BFF before saving as DV (shift the frame up or down by one scan line).

[vhelp]

With DV, (ALTMK) since you don't that option to toggle a capture session as BFF or TFF, you will
have to set your MPEG encoder to BFF encoding. As long as you do this correctly then there is
no worry of incorrect encoding because there is not specific stardard stating that you have to
process mpeg as TFF. It can be either way, your video should play it properly -- unless your
software player is borke, though unlikely, today

-vhelp 4702