Video Soap with ATI Multimedia Center 8.1 question....

[etecnifibre]

I am capturing basketball games, both from VCR tapes and from live TV. What Video Soap option is best? I choose the Sports - High Motion, but then it allows you to apply filters. Which ones of these would best suit my needs? Thanks so much for any input.

[non-linear]

It depends on the quality of the signal you're inputting. If you have a clean looking picture, you probably don't need any Videosoap at all. If there's a little bit if graininess or snow, then some Videosoap can help make it look better.

One thing I've found is the higher the amount of Videosoap you use, no matter how high the "motion estimation quality" you have selected, you'll lose some of that; resulting in color ghosting from one frame going to the next one (so if a shot changes, you'll see some color spots from parts of the last frame in the next one). I haven't experimented with the different settings for Videosoap, so your results may vary.

Probably the best thing to do is experiment. If you can get good results without using Videosoap at all, then you're better off not using it. If you feel you do need it, use only as much as you need to get the results you want.

[FOO]

Have you noticed that there is a preview mode
where half of the screen is filtered and half not.
Why don't you stare at that a while ?

[etecnifibre]

Thanks, FOO. I tried that. I just did realize that I could change the size of the screen.
Non-linear, it seems that no video soap may be best for me.
THanks guys.

[lordsmurf]

My current tests still show HEAVY or NONE as being best, but I'm experimenting with other filters that have been submitted to me for review. I'll post all the suggestions on my new guide (when done), but pay closer attention to those I like.

Most of my live work involved no filters. Only half of my VHS requires video filters (almost all need audio filters, post process, done in SoundForge).

[FOO]

It would be good if ATI would explain some of those filters.
Combo1 and Combo2 is not very informative.
I noticed that at least one is a Serious temporal filter that
at high levels is almost as bad as mouse trails.