ADVC-100 Capture Problems (I Think)

[Escher0]

I'm having problems getting captured video (from VHS or TV) to DVD. No matter what I try to do, the movie comes out bad quality on the DVD. Even after all my reading articles and guides, the best I got was still a little blurry and hard on the eyes.

I'm capturing into Premiere 6.5 with a Canopus ADVC-100. I go into Premiere because I need to edit the clips. I then export using LSX Encoder plugin for Premiere straight to DVD standard video. I don't think the problem is in the authoring or burning as that doesn't touch the video right?

I think the problem might be in the capture quality because LSX is pretty straight-foward on the DVD standards except I was a little uncertain as to what interlacing settings to use. I think I figured out the interlacing by making a test DVD just to compare effects on the video though.

Here are links to screengrabs exported directly from Premiere. There are shots of the raw avi capture and the compressed DVD mpeg.

Warning: Each shot is about a meg.

This shot should be pretty detailed but its all blurry.
http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/~bpilnick/DVDShots/CapturedAVI1.bmp
http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/~bpilnick/DVDShots/DVDMpeg1.bmp

This shot shows what happens when the camera pans past something or something moves quickly. That blurring is present every few frames.
http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/~bpilnick/DVDShots/CapturedAVI2.bmp
http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/~bpilnick/DVDShots/DVDMpeg2.bmp

Just showing the overall "bad-quality"
http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/~bpilnick/DVDShots/CapturedAVI3.bmp
http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/~bpilnick/DVDShots/DVDMpeg3.bmp

Please let me know what I'm doing wrong or what I can do to improve quality. Should I call Canopus about this problem? Any information would be very helpful. Thanks.

[Mrsash]

Mate i have the same crappy capture with advc 1394 but i do not have the pan prob that you have. I suppose it would be an interlasing prob

[Vizcaya]

change your field order.

[FOO]

Capture interlaced and encode interlaced and
watch it on your TV not your computer.

One of your shots is definitely an interlacing problem

Are you sure actual broadcast looks better than that on the Tv
I bet not.

[Escher0]

How would I change the capture field order? Is that in Premiere or would it be a hardware DIP switch?

Also, the TV signal is better then whats captured. I have tried playing this exact video on TV. I burned it to a DVD RW.

[ZenZen]

Try thinking outside the square.

I use ADVC-100 and Scenalyzer Live to capture, but then go down a totally different track.
1) I use Virtual Dub (freeware) to edit out the station breaks, etc. It also has a cool collection of filters if they are required. Much easier than Priemer.
2) I then FrameServe the AVI from Virtual Dub to Main Concept Encoder, or TMPGenc (cheaper but takes longer to encode). Both are streets better than Ligos, and free demos can be downloaded from their sites. This produces the Mpeg2 DVD file.
3) I then author the Mpeg2 file with either IFO Edit (no menus) or with DVD Lab if I want to use selectable menus.
4) Finally burn with ImgTool which is a nice interface for the latest Nero.

This system is bullet-proof for me. Works everytime, no frizbies, and my DVD-Rs are playable on all settops I've tried. And the quality is almost a mirror-image of the original source (usually cable TV).
Leave the AVI file as interlaced (this is how the ADVC captures it) unless you want to view the end result on your computer monitor.

You've made a great start with the choice of the ADVC-100. You just need to refine and improve your method of operation. All the tools I have mentioned above can be found on Left of Screen, or by doing a search on either this forum or http://doom9.net/

Hope this helps

[Escher0]

Could Premiere do this to the quality? I've used Premiere in an educational environment with both Digital and Analog sources and never had problems.

Just to be sure, what field setting should I be using? Top or bottom?
Also, LSX has an option for Field or Frame.

[NightWing]

A few things.

Questons:
1) What are your DV playback settings?
2) How clean is your signal going into the capture box?

Notes:
1)The 2nd is deffently interlace. There is a FAQ here some where concering Interlace and how to do some cleanup on it. Its pritty good. On fast movement you will get that. Remember any action faster than 1/30 of a second will give you that tearing effect. Its taken into effect in the TV.
2)VHS is basically 1/4 resolution if you consider broadcast/DVD/LD full rez so you dont have a lot of detail to play with. That is why you can capture at 352 and it basicall the same as capturing at 720.
3)Even with cable you may not get a decent signal. IE noize etc. Usualy use some form of noize filter here in the process chain.
4)You may want to feed an output of a calibration disk in and check your processing chain. Both a video and a calbration clip would let you check your pipeline for problems.

To check DV playback settings:
1) Bring up the clip in MS Media Player.
2) Click on Menu/Properties.
3) Select the tab Advance.
4) Double click on DV Video Decoder entry listed.
5) Make sure its set for Full. If not set Full and select Make Default. Click on ok.

Had fun encoding the same Enterprise!