Capturing from VCR query

[harpman]

I'm very new to this game of creating videocd's, and I want to create them from vcr, I used the ati multimedia center which came with the grahics card (until I get my head round other stuff thats out there). I used settings: to videocd, type: mpeg1, video 352x288 PAL(625), 1.05 mbit/sec, audio 44.100khz,16 bit stereo. all went well on recording to file, but when I replayed the file, at the bottom of the (ok) frames was a thin line which looked like a part of a frame, Phew ! my 3 part query is: is this what people call dropping frames, is it my vcr, or could it be the settings I used. Any help would be appreciated.

[mike416]

It's very common to have that kind of "distortion" on the bottom screen of a captured VCR and usually it won't show on the TV screen if you burned the the file and play it on your player
Just try burning it and play it !!

I don't know about MMC,but my capture software have an option to add a few black lines on the bottom screen to replace those distortion

[harpman]

Thanks for your reply Mike, at least I now know its common to have a line there, and can look to find away of masking it if it really becomes a pain.
I did burn to cd, and play it in MMC file player and MGI dvd player, it worked in both, but with the line at the bottom, I haven't got a stand alone dvd player linked to a tv, so I'll have to take a stroll round a mates and try it out.

The harpman 8)

[kitty]

You can use TMPGenc when encoding an avi to mpeg to black out the sides (typically used to letterbox but also works fine for what you want). Don't have the settings offhand but it can be done. I think virtualdub can do it also.

[harpman]

Thanks Kitty, It looks like getting to grips with TMPGenc and Virtualdub has to be my next move.

The harpman 8)

[missionmasque]

Harpman

I'm also new to the Video capture world ( but not in the Computer World)and also going through the trial period of seeing what works best.

I also have tried recording straight to MPeg1 352 x 288 Pal with blocky results when played back on stand alone DVD and big TV, you don't notice these things (blocks) if you are viewing on your monitor in a small to medium window. I admit that the video source was not great and there is alot of fast camera motion,alot of movement and flashing lights in the music video clip I was trying to capture. I'm going to return to trying to capture direct to MPeg with something with less motion and try again.

In the mean time I am trying out capturing to Avi via VDub and using TMPGenc.

Would be interested in any findings.

Cheers

Tony.

[harpman]

Hi Tony, thanks for the info, at the moment I feel like I'm on the bottom rung of the ladder, I've been in the computer world a lonnnnnnng time !! but this is a new and interesting area, I have alot of music concerts, and music documentaries I want to get to CD as the VHS tapes are quite old. Likewise I'm going to play about with virtualdub and tmpgnec will keep you posted on progress.

regards The Harpman 8)

[missionmasque]

The first thing I tried to capture was a clip of "Page and Plant" on Top of the Pops, which I had recorded onto video "Long Play". It was a very manic clip with lots of movement etc. It came out very blocky.

Last night I thought I would start and do some tests before making any commitments. I recorded Top of the Pops 2 straight from the TV Card using VDub at 480x576. Converted with Tmpgenc to Pal VCD format. Alot better, just one group on stage with alot of lights, smoke, movement was a bit blocky but only in places.

Before I delete the Avi file I'm going to try and convert to SVCD format to keep it at the 480x576 size and also change the setting in Tmpgenc from CBR "Constant Bit Rate to VBR "Variable bit Rate". I think VBR lets you set a min Bitrate and a Max Bitrate to help cut down on things such as blocks etc.

I have noticed a haze effect around any object that moves, I presume this is part of the Mpeg conversion process.

OK.

Cheers.

Tony.

[Nelson37]

Harpman - Use the crop image function in MMC 7.6 or Stinky's tool, this will not only clip the distortion but also remove other unseen picture to better utilize bitrate. This is cropped before capture.

[harpman]

cheers for the help Nelson37, I have been onto the ATI website and the MMC I can use with the rage fury pro card is ver. 7.1, which is the version I have loaded, but 'stinkys tool' sounds a possibility, can I get that on this website, or elsewhere ?

The harpman 8)