Help: HDDVR -> PC -> anamorphic DVD?

[uscboy]

I've spent the better part of today reading about encoding and capture cards and even scripting code for avisyth and frankly it's giving me a headache...

Can someone lay it out simply for me... I'm trying to take a 16x9 HD recording from an HR20 (DirecTV HDDVR), output it over S-video to an MPEG-2 file on my computer, edit it to clip the commercials, and burn it as an anamorphic DVD so it plays correctly on a 4x3 set and a 16x9 set. Sounds simple enough, but apparently it isn't...

I've read about capturing your letterboxed 16x9 broadcast inside a 4x3 frame and then re-encoding it in a program that I assume strips off the letterbox bars and then takes the remaining vertical lines of resolution and scales it to 480 lines... ?

However, I don't know if that's the only option out there... since it will impact quality and create an extra, long step in re-encoding.

So, a few notes...

I don't mind letterbox bars on 4x3 sets, I know some people with questions like this are looking to remove those.

I have an ADS Tech DVD Xpress and their newer DVD Xpress DX2 right now... I don't have an attachment to either, they can go if needed.

Anamorphic isn't 100% essential - I could burn two DVDs, a 4x3 version cropped and a 16x9 version, assuming I can find a capture card that will capture a 16x9 frame.

Also, I guess it all hinges on if my s-video out on my HR20 can even send a 16x9 frame, right? I've seen it do that, only squished horizontally (so everyone's tall and skinny)... which should mean that if I found a capture device that can capture at a 16x9 ratio, that should mean it'll show up correctly, right?

And lastly, life would be a whole lot easier if there was a USB 2.0 external encoder capture box that could do that...

So can anyone just tell me which capture device (preferably USB 2.0) and software I'm going to need to do this? I think the capture at 16x9 is more important to me than all the more obscure software to re-encode for anamorphic.

Sorry for the book... working in IT for a living, it's more frustrating to me that I can't seem to wrap my head around this than it probably is for you all that another newbie showed up to your forum.

[uscboy]

Okay, just to help out those trying to do the same, I'm a big step closer...

Circuit City sells a Pinnacle MovieStudio Box USB 2.0 device...
$99 I believe. Anyway, it can capture 16:9 over S-video. And
burn it as an anamorphic DVD that actually works.

Course, I still have one problem... I have a laptop that drops
frames at 6000K/sec bitrate, but not at 5500K/sec... of course,
I'd like to capture 9000K/sec. The videos made from my laptop
with an ATI Radeon Mobility 9700 are smooth like they should be
but it can't get the bitrate I want without dropping frames.

So, I tried my desktop computer... which can capture 9000K/sec
without any problem... except that all the videos are pixelated...
both the .mpg output file on the computer and the burned
anamorphic DVD. Not sure, but maybe it's the hardware
acceleration on the video card?? I have an older GeForce3Ti -
200 in that computer... I still need to try to capture with all
hardware acceleration turned off... I'll update the post.

I hope it's not how all Nvidia hardware will act because I'm
looking at getting a new laptop that can keep up with the frames,
a Dell Latitude D820 with an Nvidia card in it...

[uscboy]

And now today my laptop's not dropping frames like it was the other day... go figure. And the video captures and works fine on it.

My desktop is another deal all together though... even with hardware acceleration turned off it's still capturing video all pixelated.

Anyone have any ideas? Is it the video card? I hate to buy a new video card only to find out that won't fix it.

I have:

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ on an ASUS A8V Deluxe motherboard with 2GB of RAM and a GeForce 3Ti-200 64MB video card on a 4x AGP bus.

I would guess everything except the video card would be plenty fast enough... can your video card affect the capture quality? And if so, why is that... why can't it just stream the data through the hardware capture device... I wouldn't think your video card should be involved at all really...

[FulciLives]

The two ADS capture units you have are HARDWARE MPEG-1/MPEG-2 capture devices. If they work for you then you don't need anything else hardware wise. Just make sure the computer has USB 2.0 ports (do not use USB 1.1) and that you have a fast enough HDD with enough free space. The problem with the laptop could be a USB 1.1 port instead of a USB 2.0 port or it could be a slow HDD (laptops tend to have a HDD that runs slower than those in a desktop) or that you don't have enough free space on the laptop HDD.

The trick is that they may only capture 4:3 and not 16:9 (I don't know) but what you have to remember or realize is that 16:9 is always 16:9 and if you feed these devices 16:9 video then at worst the video may get "flagged" as 4:3 but will still be 16:9 and there is software (freeware at that) which can be used to correct the "header flags" to make it 16:9 if your hardware will only flag at 4:3

The real trick is trying to get 16:9 over S-Video ... good luck ... your hardware probably does not support that (i.e., by hardware in this sentence I mean the cable TV or satellite TV converter box).

So let's take a closer look here OK?

1.) If you can get 16:9 out over the S-Video then your capture devices (the ADS stuff) will capture. They may capture 16:9 or they may capture 16:9 with 4:3 flags. If the former you are A-OK. If the later then you have to change the header info on the captured files to 16:9 and all will be good.

2.) If you cannot get 16:9 out over the S-Video but instead get 4:3 Letterboxed ... you will have to capture 4:3 because you don't have 16:9 to start out with! After the capture you have two isssues ... Burn "as is" creating a 4:3 Letterboxed DVD or crop/resize to create a 16:9 WS DVD. Now most HDTV sets and/or DVD players can "blow up" the video proportionately (you want proportionate blow up) for 4:3 Letterboxed sources. Yes the quality is not as good as a true 16:9 WS source but converting it from 4:3 Letterboxed to 16:9 WS on the computer essentially is doing the same thing via software meaning that you really will not get a better image so you might as well just burn a 4:3 Letterboxed DVD and let the TV "blow it up" to 16:9 mode. If the 4:3 Letterboxed DVD has an aspect ratio of at least 1.77:1 or more (like 1.85:1 or 2.35:1) and your HDTV let's you "blow it up" proportionally then you will not loose any real picture (just the black or at least some of it) and the aspect ratio will be maintained.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[uscboy]

Actually, DirecTV's HDDVR does output 16:9 over Svideo... and my followup posts pointed out that I got the Pinnacle USB capture box because it does 16:9... I finally figured out all of that mess. In fact, I can make a DVD just fine on my laptop now (it is USB 2.0)... for some reason, it was dropping frames like crazy the other night and now it's not...

Anyway, the biggest question I have now is why are my captures on my desktop computer pixelated horribly... only real difference that I can think of is the video card because the desktop computer is faster, more memory, same USB 2.0, and same capture box from Pinnacle...

If the video card can affect capture quality and that's the reason it's pixelated on my desktop and not on my laptop, that's cool... I'll just buy a better video card for my desktop computer. But I didn't want to do that if it wasn't going to fix it...

[FulciLives]

OK well your posts were not very easy to follow.

As for your current issue with the desktop computer:

The computer's video card (or graphics card) has nothing to do with capture quality. Nothing. It makes no sense that the captures are coming out "pixelated" on the desktop but not the laptop ... not since you are using the same hardware (I assume the Pinnacle is a hardware MPEG-1/MPEG-2 capture device).

Is it possible you are using a USB 1.1 port on the desktop? These days desktops have multiple USB ports and it is not uncommon for some but not all to be USB 2.0 which means one or more may be USB 1.1

I assume you are using the same software on the desktop as you are on the laptop?

And you are capturing I assume MPEG-2 DVD spec SO are you using a dedicated MPEG-2 software player such as PowerDVD or WinDVD?

Could be the capture is fine but you have a hardware or software issue that is mucking up the playback. You could try burning to a DVD (use a DVD-RW or DVD+RW so as not to "waste" a disc) and play back on a regular DVD player hooked up to a TV. If that is clear then you know the desktop has a playback issue ... if it is not clear then you know it really is a capture issue.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
There was no reason to buy the Pinnacle as the ADS capture units already did what you needed. You wasted money there as far as I am concerned.

[uscboy]

Same hardware capture device.

Definitely USB 2.0, it's an ASUS A8V Deluxe motherboard in the desktop computer, only a couple years old... and it's not dropping any frames.

Same exact settings in Pinnacle Studio 10. MPEG2, 9000K/sec, 16:9 ratio.

I've burned about 15 coasters testing this out on both a DVD player hooked up to a 4:3 set and a 16:9 set.

Here's the thing... the exact same scene from the exact same HDDVR captured with the exact same Pinnacle USB 2.0 capture box is very pixelated on the desktop computer and not on the laptop. Very frustrating...

As for the ADS/Pinnacle thing... the ADS DVD Xpress will not capture 16:9... the ADS DVD Xpress DX2 supposedly will, but it kept telling me my input source was invalid and then the software would Dr Watson on me and crash. That was a wasted night fighting with that... never had a problem with the older DVD Xpress though... I've been using it to capture 4:3 for a couple years... but that DX2 was all sorts of buggy and kept crashing. That's why I got the Pinnacle. Besides, the DX2 was $77 and went back to Walmart... the Pinnacle was $99, so it's not that big of a deal. I care less about the money at this point than getting the thing to work.

And the kicker in all of this... 1 hour and 47 minutes into my capture on my laptop that WAS working okay and the thing starts dropping frames by the hundreds again... so I'm back to square one.

[FulciLives]

Same hardware capture device.

Definitely USB 2.0, it's an ASUS A8V Deluxe motherboard in the desktop computer, only a couple years old... and it's not dropping any frames.

Same exact settings in Pinnacle Studio 10. MPEG2, 9000K/sec, 16:9 ratio.

I've burned about 15 coasters testing this out on both a DVD player hooked up to a 4:3 set and a 16:9 set.

Here's the thing... the exact same scene from the exact same HDDVR captured with the exact same Pinnacle USB 2.0 capture box is very pixelated on the desktop computer and not on the laptop. Very frustrating...

As for the ADS/Pinnacle thing... the ADS DVD Xpress will not capture 16:9... the ADS DVD Xpress DX2 supposedly will, but it kept telling me my input source was invalid and then the software would Dr Watson on me and crash. That was a wasted night fighting with that... never had a problem with the older DVD Xpress though... I've been using it to capture 4:3 for a couple years... but that DX2 was all sorts of buggy and kept crashing. That's why I got the Pinnacle. Besides, the DX2 was $77 and went back to Walmart... the Pinnacle was $99, so it's not that big of a deal. I care less about the money at this point than getting the thing to work.

And the kicker in all of this... 1 hour and 47 minutes into my capture on my laptop that WAS working okay and the thing starts dropping frames by the hundreds again... so I'm back to square one.

What you don't seem to understand is that the ADS DVD Xpress will capture 16:9 but will incorrectly flag the header to 4:3 and all you have to do is change the header. Very easy to do and only takes a moment.

What you also may not realize is that Pinnacle makes crap ass hardware. So you had perfectly good functional hardware (that only required a simple extra step to "fix") and instead you bought a POS hardware device that surprise surprise isn't working. Most people around here wouldn't use Pinnacle anything even if given for free.

My suggestion? Return the Pinnacle and use the ADS DVD Xpress instead.

PULLDOWN.EXE will fix the 4:3 to 16:9 flag issue and is freeware. It is what I use. I think ReStream (which is also freeware) will do the same (and might be easier has it has a GUI type interface).

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[uscboy]

Apparently with those apps you have to demultiplex the video stream and separate it from the audio?

How long does that take with TMPGEnc? And then how long to multiplex it after setting the 16:9 flag?

And if that takes a while, is there a better USB 2.0 capture device than the Pinnacle that can capture 16:9 so I don't have to worry about fixing any flags and all the multiplexing stuff?

[FulciLives]

Apparently with those apps you have to demultiplex the video stream and separate it from the audio?

How long does that take with TMPGEnc? And then how long to multiplex it after setting the 16:9 flag?

And if that takes a while, is there a better USB 2.0 capture device than the Pinnacle that can capture 16:9 so I don't have to worry about fixing any flags and all the multiplexing stuff?

I use DGIndex to do the demultiplexing. Run the video file (filename.m2v) through PULLDOWN.EXE to re-flag from 4:3 to 16:9 and it creates a new corrected video file. You can then delete the original m2v file (along with the original mpg file).

I always capture 384kbps MP2 since that is the highest bitrate you can use with MP2 audio. Why? Because in the end you don't want MP2 audio. So I open the MP2 audio file into a WAV editing program (such as Audacity) and normalize. Then save to a PCM WAV audio file. Then convert to AC-3 at a 256kbps bitrate. ffmpegGUI is good freeware for that as is Aften.

Once you have your fixed M2V video file and AC-3 audio file you just import them into your DVD authoring program. No need to multiplex prior to that. Any decent DVD authoring program will accept elementary streams (i.e., separate video and audio files).

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[uscboy]

I still have the older DVD Xpress, the DX2 was the one I brought back and the steps above all worked well, thanks, even with just keeping the mp2 audio and putting it and the m2v video into Studio 10 and burning it from there.

However, it woud be a whole lot better if there were just a simple USB 2.0 capture device that captures 16:9 reliably instead of having to go through all those extra steps.

This should be much simpler than it's turning out to be. I'll eventually find out why video is pixelated when captured on my desktop computer... I've got an extra hard drive here I can install a fresh copy of Windows on to test whether it's hardware or software causing it. If it's software, I don't care why, I'll just rebuild my computer and go from there... if it's hardware, well, I may be getting a new laptop at work anyway that's a Core 2 Duo with all the trimmings that will probably keep up with the frames just fine...

Thanks for the help though... at least I have a means now to get what I need off the DVR even if there are extra hoops to jump through...

[FulciLives]

Well MP2 audio is not part of the official NTSC DVD Video spec so you should be changing it to AC-3 audio anyways so you really need to do the extra demultiplex step anyways to do that ... so you really can just go forward with the hardware (the ADS DVD Xpress) that you have now.

I'm not aware of another hardware MPEG-2 DVD spec capture device that is reliable and can set the 16:9 flag "up-front" without all the "rig-a-ma-roll".

Next best thing would be a stand alone DVD recorder. Only problem is most don't set the 16:9 flag correctly so ... same problem again LOL

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[uscboy]

Well, finally got it working... more details are in this thread:

https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=320666

New computer helped too... not sure why the old desktop system captured pixelated video... don't really care at this point... the new Core2Duo based system runs circles around it anyway.

Basic workflow for going from HD DVR -> PC -> anamorphic 16:9 DVD is:

Pinnacle Studio capture using 510-USB 2.0 capture box set to DV video. Clip commercials in Studio, output .mpg file from Studio with Custom settings using VBR and Progressive encoding checked and a data rate that makes for a ~7.7GB .mpg file. Bring that .mpg file into Ulead's DVD MovieFactory 4 or 5 software to make custom menus since it's easy in that program, make sure to make it a 16:9 project and check the box to not convert DVD compliant MPEG files, burn it to a Dual Layer DVD9 disc, and that's it.

The bitrate ended up being 7600kbps/second VBR in Studio to encode the .mpg file. I chose 192kbps MP2 audio at 44.1kHz since audio didn't matter to me as much as video... ended up sounding just fine.

It's funny realizing how simple it all sounds now, but a couple weeks ago I was just trying to figure out why I couldn't capture 16:9 with that ADS Tech DVD Xpress box. Demuxing and then re-muxing is way too much effort... the outcome from the above workflow looks about as good as 2 hours and 20 minutes of SD video is going to look really on one DVD9 disc.

Anyway, hope this helps some folks out... wish I could have had step by step instructions like above when I was first starting - would have saved me two weeks and countless little obscure command line video editing tools.

[FulciLives]

Basic workflow for going from HD DVR -> PC -> anamorphic 16:9 DVD is:

Pinnacle Studio capture using 510-USB 2.0 capture box set to DV video. Clip commercials in Studio, output .mpg file from Studio with Custom settings using VBR and Progressive encoding checked and a data rate that makes for a ~7.7GB .mpg file. Bring that .mpg file into Ulead's DVD MovieFactory 4 or 5 software to make custom menus since it's easy in that program, make sure to make it a 16:9 project and check the box to not convert DVD compliant MPEG files, burn it to a Dual Layer DVD9 disc, and that's it.

The bitrate ended up being 7600kbps/second VBR in Studio to encode the .mpg file. I chose 192kbps MP2 audio at 44.1kHz since audio didn't matter to me as much as video... ended up sounding just fine.

This is all wrong!

Please understand that I am not trying to be "mean" or "rude" but you are going about this in a way that just is not correct.

Allow me to explain and give some ideas.

1.) Capture as you do now to DV AVI format.

2.) Clip commercials in Studio as you do now.

3.) Output to DV AVI instead of MPEG as you are now. Allow me to explain. You have DV AVI to start with and you are editing with Studio so if you output to DV AVI you should get an exact digital copy ... just without the commercials. This is what you want!

4.) Input the edited DV AVI into Ulead DVD MovieFactory and allow it to convert to MPEG-2 DVD spec while creating a menu and chapters etc.

5.) Have Ulead DVD MovieFactory create a VIDEO_TS folder for the output. Then create an ISO IMAGE FILE using ImgBurn. Now burn that to a DVD using ImgBurn.

That is one method. The second method is to do as you do now in that you convert the edited file in Studio to a MPEG-2 DVD spec output then check the DO NOT CONVERT COMPLIANT DVD FILES option in Ulead DVD MovieFactory.

However I have some "notes" for you regarding the MPEG-2 DVD spec encoding be it done with Studio or Ulead DVD MovieFactory.

1.) Do not deinterlace or set for progressive. The footage you have is interlaced. If you set either of these programs for progressive then they will deinterlace the footage. This is BAD and will "ruin" the quality of your video.

2.) For the audio you should try to use AC-3 at a bitrate of 192kbps (minimum) or 320kbps (maximum). The sweet spot for 2 channel AC-3 audio tends to be 256kbps. Also the captured audio will be in PCM WAV format, 2 channel, 48k 16-bit format. The AC-3 or MP2 audio file should be the same, i.e., 2 channel, 48k 16-bit format. You mentioned using 44.1k in your MP2 audio conversion and this is incorrect ... you must use 48k instead of 44.1k. As for encoding AC-3 I do think that Ulead DVD MovieFactory supports AC-3 encoding and the MPEG-2 video encoding of Ulead MovieFactory should (knock on wood) be better than that of Studio. This is why I suggest inputting and outputting DV AVI with Studio so that the MPEG-2 DVD spec encoding happens in Ulead DVD MovieFactory.

My very final comment ... eventually you may want to consider using a "dedicated" MPEG-2 DVD spec encoder. What I mean is that you take the DV AVI output of Studio (your edited file) and feed that into a MPEG-2 DVD spec encoder such as Cinema Craft Encoder or TMPGEnc Plus or HC (HC is freeware and most excellent). This is an "added" step and will impose a bit of a learning curve (in order to understand the settings of the encoder you are using) but will give you superior results as the MPEG-2 DVD spec encoding of Studio is not that great and while Ulead DVD MovieFactory is a bit better ... again ... it is not considered all that great either.

One nice thing about learning to use a dedicated MPEG-2 DVD spec encoder (such as HC) is that when you are ready to do the DVD Author step you already have compliant files so that allows you options above and beyond using just Ulead DVD MovieFactory.

I hope this is helpful and that you try to follow my advice. If however you insist to do your current "steps" I strongly advise that you ... at the very least ... output to MPEG-2 DVD spec without the use of deinterlacing/progressive and use interlaced settings instead. I understand that interlaced video may look "odd" on a computer but it will look normal on a computer once burned to a DVD disc and played back with a proper DVD software player (such as PowerDVD or WinDVD). Also if you leave it interlaced this will improve the quality when playing the DVD back from a DVD player connected to a TV be it a SDTV or HDTV.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[uscboy]

I'm going to give that a try, I'm outputting the new DV AVI now minus the commercials... is that lossless then if your source is DV AVI? It just outputs bit for bit minus the areas you select to remove?

Also, I'm not sure if MovieFactory can input such a large AVI file and encode it to fit... I'll find out. If not, I'll use TMPGEnc to make the MPG file using the AC-3 audio if TMPGEnc can do that.

What I don't get is why checking 'Progressive' would ruin the video... it didn't look ruined when I had Studio do that when I used it to encode the MPG file. Shouldn't it improve quality... shouldn't the software look behind and ahead in the footage to build the current frame without the interlacing? I would think a software encoder could take the time to do it better than a hardware chip in a DVD player...

[FulciLives]

I'm going to give that a try, I'm outputting the new DV AVI now minus the commercials... is that lossless then if your source is DV AVI? It just outputs bit for bit minus the areas you select to remove?

That is correct. Unless you do something special, like overlay text or do special transitions (like fade in/out) at the edit points then the output will be 100% the same quality as the input ... just minus the stuff you cut out. Even if you do special stuff (like text overlay) only the affected frames are re-encoded and DV AVI is a very high quality format so even then it really should not be noticeable.

Also, I'm not sure if MovieFactory can input such a large AVI file and encode it to fit... I'll find out. If not, I'll use TMPGEnc to make the MPG file using the AC-3 audio if TMPGEnc can do that.

Ulead MovieFactory will have no issue with converting DV AVI input to MPEG-2 DVD spec output. The only issue may turn out to be the audio. You should be using AC-3 audio. Now I think (not positive) that newer versions of Ulead DVD MovieFactory will do AC-3 encoding ... if so no problem.

If you decide to use TMPGEnc Plus to do the MPEG-2 encoding then that is great but it doesn't do AC-3 audio but you can use the freeware program called ffmpegGUI to do your AC-3 encoding. I think you would be able to load your DV AVI directly into ffmpegGUI and output the audio as AC-3 format. As for TMPGEnc Plus you would input your DV AVI file and if you want to use the built-in bitrate calculator then select MP2 audio and use the same bitrate as you did for your AC-3 audio file and select ELEMENTRY STREAMS for the output so you get a separate video file and audio file. Then just discard the MP2 file and use your AC-3 audio file when importing into Ulead DVD MovieFactory.

You might also want to try the freeware HC program as it gives excellent quality (as good if not better than TMPGEnc Plus) and is very very very fast (at least compared with TMPGEnc Plus).

What I don't get is why checking 'Progressive' would ruin the video... it didn't look ruined when I had Studio do that when I used it to encode the MPG file. Shouldn't it improve quality... shouldn't the software look behind and ahead in the footage to build the current frame without the interlacing? I would think a software encoder could take the time to do it better than a hardware chip in a DVD player...

It is important to note that we are talking analog captures here so you will have NTSC interlaced video at 29.970fps since that is what you are capturing (interlaced video).

There are two ways of making such video progressive. One way simply deinterlaces and this is bad. When you deinterlace you still have 29.970fps but the video is progressive. Again this is bad.

The other method is called IVTC (Inverse Telecine). This is the proper method of creating progressive video from interlaced video. When you do an IVTC you go from 29.970fps to 23.976fps and this is good! However this can only be done on certain types of NTSC video and even then doing it just right can be a bit tricky. Also I highly doubt that Studio nor MovieFactory can do a proper IVTC. I do know that TMPGEnc Plus can do it but using it's built-in IVTC function can be damn tricky. In short it is better to leave it as 29.970fps interlaced and if a IVTC can be done then the TV will do it (if it is HDTV) and if SDTV then it doesn't need to be done anyways.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[uscboy]

Well, MovieFactory did a noticably better job than Studio on the encoding... course, the entire project in MovieFactory took 5 hours and 5 minutes, so it was kind of slow. But,the text was jagged in Studio's encoding and smooth in MovieFactory's, so it's worth the time spent.

Didn't try TMPGEnc yet in between Studio and MovieFactory - not sure if that'll improve the encoding job even further.

My next problem is the second game I'm trying to clean up and burn... it's from a DVD a friend made in a standalone DVD recorder. To fit the whole game he burned it in 4-hour mode, so when I import the DVD into Studio it's a 4:3 .MPG that is 352x480 instead of 720x480. And the quality is less than great.

First I'm going to try to output DV from Studio so it doesn't mess it up any further... I'm going to try two clips, one at DV FullScreen (i.e., 720x480) and one at DV Medium quality (i.e. 352x480). I don't know if adding the addition vertical lines is going to help or hurt.

[FulciLives]

Well, MovieFactory did a noticably better job than Studio on the encoding... course, the entire project in MovieFactory took 5 hours and 5 minutes, so it was kind of slow. But,the text was jagged in Studio's encoding and smooth in MovieFactory's, so it's worth the time spent.

Didn't try TMPGEnc yet in between Studio and MovieFactory - not sure if that'll improve the encoding job even further.

I'm glad you got to see an improvement (as I was expecting). Using TMPGEnc Plus will probably look even better but Ulead DVD MovieFactory should be fine as long as the bitrate you use is a fairly "high" bitrate. At lower bitrates though the 2-pass VBR mode in TMPGEnc Plus would do better.

My next problem is the second game I'm trying to clean up and burn... it's from a DVD a friend made in a standalone DVD recorder. To fit the whole game he burned it in 4-hour mode, so when I import the DVD into Studio it's a 4:3 .MPG that is 352x480 instead of 720x480. And the quality is less than great.

First I'm going to try to output DV from Studio so it doesn't mess it up any further... I'm going to try two clips, one at DV FullScreen (i.e., 720x480) and one at DV Medium quality (i.e. 352x480). I don't know if adding the addition vertical lines is going to help or hurt.

Since this second project is already in MPEG-2 DVD spec format you should edit it "as is" and leave it that way. So instead of importing into Studio just RIP it to the computer with DVD Decrypter then use a MPEG editor that does no re-encoding. Popular choices are VideoReDo and MPEG-VCR ... both work very well but are not freeware. For a freeware solution you might want to try Cuttermaran or Mpg2Cut2 or Mpeg2Schnitt ... please note I have never used any of these although I seem to recall some saying that Cuttermaran works rather well.

Anyways after editing you will have compliant DVD video/audio. Just make sure that Ulead DVD MovieFactory doesn't try to re-encode.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
The DVD Video format supports both 720x480 as well as 352x480 resolutions. The 352x480 resolution really isn't that bad but it doesn't support 16x9 WS anamorphic and looks "best" at 3 hours ... at 4 hours I could see how it would start to look like crap but not so much due to the "low" resolution but because of MPEG compression artifacts.

[uscboy]

Well, the Medium quality was awful even though it was the same size at 352x480.

The FullScreen 720x480 DV output actually looked a little better when importing that into a MovieFactory project than his original DVD looked. But not by much... still some macro-blocking here and there.

Could kick myself for not remembering to record the HD broadcast of this second game too. LOL.

Hey, thanks for all your help Fulci... I hope this helps some other folks as well. The capture DV, clip commercials, output DV, and use a good encoder whether built into your authoring program or separate from it is a decent, relatively simple workflow.

[FulciLives]

I am very happy that I have been able to help you

However I do have one alternate suggestion if you will ... although I'm sure you will want to kill me LOL

If you go back to using your ADS Xpress for capture then you are already doing the capture in MPEG-2 DVD spec. So after you capture you would use an MPEG editor to remove the commercials. After that ... you are done other than the DVD authoring step (which will not require re-encoding).

The only problem though ... which you had before ... is making it anamorphic. As you found out that required dumultiplexing and running the video only file through a program that created a new "fixed" video only file etc.

I know we already went over all that but my point is this ... since you capture MPEG-2 DVD spec to begin with when using the ADS Xpress you don't have to go through any further software encoding that, as you found out, can take a long time. In some instances it can be as long if not longer than the running length of the video!

The ADS Xpress will actually let you get more done faster since you are dropping the software MPEG encoding stage. The only real "pain" is that you do have additional steps due to the demuxing and all that but in the end it will take less time.

Does that make sense?

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[uscboy]

It does... luckily, I don't rip many things that often, so it's not a big deal really.

If I find myself ripping a lot more often, I think I'll get one of the better ATI cards for my desktop computer so I can use better apps to capture and work with the video than Studio. Until then, the quality I'm getting from this setup should be fine.

Honestly, it's just a holdover until someone figures out how to hack these new DirecTV DVRs so I can just copy the HD file over to the PC and use that as a source... hopefully to burn in HD on HD DVD. That first loss of HD to SD S-video is the worst loss out of any of these steps, but that's about all the budget will allow for right now.

[FulciLives]

Well if you really want to record HDTV as HD video then you can always get a JVC D-VHS VCR which does allow for 720p and 1080i recording ... if the content is not protected ... which of course is half the battle right there.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[uscboy]

Yeah, I've thought about that JVC deck in the past, but it's tape media... I guess it'd be a nice way to archive HD stuff until there's a more cost effective way to get the content to your computer and burn HD DVD or Blu-Ray at home.

But you're right, it's the content protection that gets you... especially with analog HD sources disappearing like they are nowadays. It's sad that I can't archive and burn programs shown on a service I pay for... no wonder people try to hack things.