tell me about capturing....

[DVD_NDN]

I hope This is the appropriate section for this.
I have decided I want to enter the wonderfully frustrating world of video capturing.

I have a whole lot of questions, as I dont know my elbow from my a$$hole when it comes to this stuff. I would like to start off on the right foot - forewarned is forearmed, right? I thought, perhaps a consultation with the users of this website might be in order.

I would like to be able to capture video from regular cable. nothing digital (yet), or satalite feed. just old fashioned cable. however, I would also like to retain my ability to feed audio/video from PC to television as I have set up now.
Would I need two seperate video cards? one TV tuner, and one for output? would this cause a conflict?

I am also curious about the different manufacturers. Ive seen a few posts asking about specifics on each model, and its problems. I understand each make is going to have its positives and its negatives - but really, does the actual 'quality' of the captured video vary that much before the tweaking takes place? For example - could 'brand X' not capture just as well as 'brand Y' if tweaked properly?

would a TV tuner be able to capture from a VHS source as well?

IS there a special adapter required for the feed? or would I just hook up regular co-axial cable to it? (see how ignorant I truely am about this?)

Can I also capture from a video camera? VHS or otherwise?

I am also entertaining the idea of building an entirely seperate system specifically for capturing. This is only becuase I understand that the process takes a whole lot of time (comperable to backing up a DVD?), and would like to be able to retain use of my computer for browsing, word processing etc without slowing it down further. this a good idea? would it have significant impact of quality/ duration of capture?

I'm a 'straight up multimedia junkie' and think this is the next logical progression (capturing).
please, in addition to answering my questions, perhaps suggest a set-up or specific parts which would be good for a person such as myself who is entirely new to this. I still have two months or so to learn the basics about all of this before I take the plunge and purchase all sorts of hardware, and as I said above - I would prefer to go into this with a better idea of the 'whats and the whys'.

thank you everyone for your time and help.

[thecoalman]

To start you off you have two distinct options... AVI or MPEG capture. Both have there pros and cons.

AVI if you want to do extensive editing. By extensive I mean add titles, affects etc. This does not mean trimming it. For AVI capture I'd suggest either a ADVC 110 converter which is an external unit that converts the video to DV-AVI which is transferred to your computer. If you're in the market for a cam you can get one with pass-thru capability... Both require a firewire connection and are by far the easiest way to get high quality video to your HDD. The downside is this AVI file has to be converted to MPEG before it can be authored on disc, a straight AVI to MPEG convewrsion takes approx. 1 hour with a 3ghz machine. Conversion times can vary depending on the amount of filters, the encoder etc...

MPEG capture saves you time since you don't have to convert the capture file providing the encoder settings are what you want for final output. It isn't as editor friendly as AVI, nor is the quality going to be as good as AVI if you convert the files to different formats or to another MPEG using a lower bitrate etc..... If your intentions are to simply capture the file, maybe do a little trimming of the edges and add a few transitions thaen then MPEG capture is probably the way to go.

I don't have any experience with MPEG capture since I always do AVI but having read many posts here I can suggest two options. The Hauupage cards are highly recommended by other users, it's a hardware encoder that does all the converting and utilizes nearly no CPU. A DVD Recorder is another option. Simply record to DVD then rip the disc to your HD for further editing and authoring.

[Nelson37]

Well, I happen to be an ATI fan. Pre 9000 series cards.

No to the TV tuner, it can introduce signal degradation and is useless for capping premium stations anyway. Composite or Svideo input will handle any available source.

ATI is hardware-assisted, but dependent on your CPU. Why not use that hi-tech brain instead of a 3 year old dedicated encoder? This is for MPG capture, ATI will also do AVI as well for extra options. Hauppage does not.

You do not need two cards, at least with ATI. Component output available on some models.

Lots of guides available, start reading. Many concepts will be explained, often by citing other things which you do not yet understand. Reading multiple guides will begin to pull it together. There is so much to learn.

There is some interesting new hardware on the way, in the field of HD capture. I would seriously consider a card capable of the, the MyHD cards seem to be a current favorite. ATI has one, but it currently has a lot of problems. Next option would be to capture HD feed down-sampled thru the S-video output, this is currently the best quality SD source commonly available. DVD-ready too, the problem with HD is what to do with it. No storage media, unless you get a hi-res, Xvid capable DVD player, which is currently on my wish list.

One other thing I would recommend is the program DVD2SVCD. Package includes many useful softwares, can do many other functions, and show what is possible to achieve. Studying the log file and the process chain it goes thru will teach you a lot about dealing with video, even though it is not capture-specific.

Good luck, and enjoy!

[yoda313]

the problem with HD is what to do with it. No storage media, unless you get a hi-res, Xvid capable DVD player, which is currently on my wish list.

Well what you're supposed to do with it until hddvd or bluray burners become common is downconvert to dvd. You demultiplex the video and sound. Reconvert the video to dvd specs then mux them back and author you're dvd like normal. Beautiful results but takes a long time.

Larger harddrives are getting cheaper all the time so its getting easier to leave the 5-8gb files on a little longer until you reencode it.

But if you're not in the market for hdtv capturing yet ati's all-in-wonder cards are very simple to use. Or my favorite HAUPPAUGE mpeg encoding cards work extremely well for capturing from a tv antenna/cable/satellite or your trusty vcr/camcorder (nonfirewire models via rca/svideo cables).

You can get any of these options starting at around a $100 USD and up or a lot cheaper used if you go with a few of the older generation models.