Capturing SKY digital to PC-TV card.

[Buggerlugs]

I posted this to the capture messageboard lastweek but haven`t had much response. Hopefully you guys in here will be more forthcoming!

I`ve just borrowed a Haugpage Win-tv PCI (Which uses Brooktree 878) off a friend to test out (he basically wants £20 for it). I`ve managed to find a driver which works in windows xp without rebooting my pc here....

http://btwincap.sourceforge.net/Files/btwdmdrvinstaller5.3.0.zip

I`m using PowerVCR2 (3) 0618. The results using a RF arial are pretty crap to say the least. Also I can`t seem to get audio to work in this way by taking the audio out the tv-card to my line-in on my sblive. Apparently no driver is loaded for the audio, but its working properly according to device manager, so go figure?

Needless to say my line-in on the sound card is working as I have tested it by other means and Powervcr2 records the crap picture and perfect audio in this way.

My questions are,

1. Is it worth my while to invest in a scart to Supervideo and 1x 3.5mm stereo jack, and trail them from my Sky Decoder to my pc? (so I can go svideo to tv-card, 3.5 stereo jack to sblive line-in)

2. What will the quality be like using SVHS compared to the arial or composite and is the difference really worth using SVHS over the other 2?

3. Is this a worthwhile venture and if so where can I buy the cable I need in the UK online without spending lots of cash?

4. I`ve learned the MJPEG codec is probably the best to capture in using virtual dub and then edit and compress to the final codec before writing to cdr. If this is the case, How can you record a film off tv and get it to fit on x amount of cdrs at the end of the day after all the encoding? surely its one hell of a headache working out?

System specs, XP1800+,KT266A,512MB PC2100, GF2-PRO-64, Seagate Barracuda 4 40gb, Sony CRX100, Pioneer DVDrom, Supra-express modem, Sblive value, MS Internet keyboard pro, Ms intellimouse optical, Windows XP PRO, PowervcrII 3 0618.

[SatStorm]

I have win tv primio FM and the reason I have it, is sky digital. I want to grabb to CVD/xSVCD some stuff...
You don't need more, and personaly, I don't suggest you the use of realitime mpeg 2 software encoders.
Use virtualdub and capture to mjpeg avi (pic video at value 18 is okey for such tast). Then encode to whatever you want. Even with the cheapest duron 1200 outthere, you can do amazing job. Using CVD and 2 Pass VBR at motion estimate searce mode in TMPGenc (don't mention CCE) you blow away any realtime software/hardware solution at half realtime! Ain't bad you know, and the quality is FAT better!
About your questions, the answers are on the Left! READ THE GUIDES!!!!
All your answers are there!

[Buggerlugs]

So, whats the max resolution i can look at capturing?

[vhelp]

buggerlugs,

at max, you can capture 720x480 (I can do this now - I was using wrong)
settings for my PC specs, but I don't need to capture that much resolution.
I use 352x480, and the results are spectacular from my Satalite, which
is DirecTV. Anyways, using the the MJPEG by PIC, you should be able
to cap at 352x480 or mabe even 704x480.

-vhelp

[Buggerlugs]

So the six million dollar question is.....

Can I capture a film like say "Tomb raider" from Sky premier and then encode it to divx so it`ll fit on 1 or 2 cds and it be near the quality of a DVD ripped divx?

And if so what sort of resolution am I looking at capturing it in?

[SatStorm]

Yes, you can, and it is really easy
Don't expect DVD quality that way, but close enough

[JamieBecks23]

Tmob Raider is on Sky Box Office at the moment. But anyway, a couple of months ago the entire Star Wars saga was on Sky Premier remember? I used Win TV Go to capture them all, 352 x 288 Pic quality 20. Big File, but I used KVCD to compress the 2 hour movies to 800 mb each and burnt them as a non standard VCD, they work BRILL on my Samsung (Use princo)

[SatStorm]

Tomb rider is also on tequilla pay per view services of Canal Satelite Digital (spain) and it's gonna be in french kiosk pay per view service of canal satellite numerique next month
French Pay Per View services are still easy hackable (he he he...)
I'll grabb it from there next month!

Just my 2 cents: It is very easy to grabb in realtime at divx/xvid with virtualdub and win tv primo fm/win tv go/etc
There is a guide here in vcdhelp. Try it, the results are great!
I have to say that is better to use xvid, because it supports interlace! That is neccessary for PAL interlace transmissions like those ones from sky digital.

[Buggerlugs]

DarthBooker, This KVCD looks intriguing! Is it a sort of SVCD hack or something? I must admit my pc really struggles to play svcd discs due to their ludicrous file sizes on cdr.

How exactly do you use this KVCD? all I get is a .mcf file to download, can I use this with Virtual dub?

Also, can I capture directly to KVCD instead of recording the capture in Mpeg or avi first with say virtual dub?

[DVWannaB]

Buggerlugs,

KVCD is a setting that is used in TMPGEnc to get hi-quality VCD/XVCD. The template uses a 352x480 resolution (vice 352x240) and optimized GOP structure to produce the hi-quality. You can use it to encode your AVI or if you like re-encode an existing MPEG1/2 file.

As a side note:
If you have an existing 352x240 MPEG file, I would not recommend re-encoding using this template.

[uteotw]

why not save the original MPEG2 broadcast (DVB) ?
patch the file header.
and then burn it ?

http://2002dvdinfo.org/main.html

never tried it persoanlly.

uteotw

[SatStorm]

Because it is out of standards?
DVB can be anything horizontal X 576/480 or 288/240 vertical
Most DVD players won't handle anything beyond CCIR 601, D1 and 1/2 D1 resolutions...

Personally, I am doing it all the time (grab the stream as it is and burn it as xsvcd with nero), but quality varies, so the filesize.
Most of the times, that way you can fit 20 - 25 min per CD to an x-SVCD format, not much playable to standalones. I am a lucky one, and my standalone play it (cyberhome M)
If you burn it to DVD-R there are picture ascpect problems most of the times

[energy80s]

Satstorm, which model of Cyberhome do you have? I have the 528. Seems to play any damn thing you through at it although the picture quality isn't wonderful and each machine seems to act slightly differently!

[SatStorm]

Well, I am a lucky one!
I have the Cyberhome M212, and I load the hack from www.cyberhome-help.de
It plays anything and also the picture quality is really great. I get 2, on I gave it to a friend of mine. Huge difference!
For example: Mine has no problem playing protected CDs like those ones from Celine Dion, Imbruglia, etc. The other one (which was in the same self), can't play it!
You can change the drive of cyberhome with one from cyberdrive (not the same factory, but full compatible 'cause there both chinese). That gonna increase stability/combatibility.
Then, by changing 2 registor inside the machine, you increase the picture quality about 100% I did it and I was amazed from the difference. More infos to cyberhome-help.de