Direct Capture Software Poll

[sommersby]

First let me say I have been doing this long enough that I know no direct capture software can beat using vdub and tmgenc!

That said, I want to hear from people who have tried and compared ATI MMC, power vcr II, win dvr, win vcr. Which of these programs give the best results in direct vcd compliant capture. That is just record and burn, I currently use MMC 7.1, and while not bad for a quick and dirty capture I want to improve on it if I can. Thanks!

[dugbrt]

Virtual Dub, hands down. I can capture at 720x480 using Huffyuv (fastest) with 70% cpu usage, with about 1 frame dropped per minute. Everything else I've used drops many frames per minute if I try to capture above 320x240. But thats on MY computer, not everyones. Some may get better results.

[deadpac]

I think dugbrt needs to learn how to READ

by DIRECT CAPTURE software I thinkg sommersby is talking about software than can capture directly to MPEG streams not AVI streams through codecs.

Sommersby's post even acknowledges that direct capture software can never beat the Vdub -> TMPGEnc route.

GOD some people need to learn how to read.

Sommersby are you that guy that posted a while back [couple months ago] that said MJPEG captures look better than Huffyuv captures. because you tested your MJPEG captures against some sort of blue spectrum; I think that was you, so how those MJPEG captures coming along,? [don't answer, I know they're pure utter carp [mispelled] when compared to 32bit RGBA captures or even huffyuv caps.

What did it take, like 3 or 4 guys like Vitualis to explain to you that there is no way a lossy capture can ever come close to a lossless capture.

-----------------------------------------------------
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[fspta]

I can capture via the AIW 128 pro with the following results:

- MMC7.1 and Huffy codec at 640x480 with no frame drops.
- MMC7.1 and mpeg2 up to 10mb/s at 720x480 with no frame drops.
-Virtualdub with Huffy at 352x480 with about 2-3% frame drops.

I use PIII 733mhz. 128 Ram, Tyan 400 MB (VIA 133) and 30MB 7200RPM harddrive...

My only complain with MMC is that while capturing with Huffy and the VCR hasn't started playing yet (ie. white noise) it crashes with a page fault error message in huffy.dll

The problem is not there in VD but I lose frames.....

Comments/suggestions to fix the crashing problem is highly appreciated!!!

Thanx...

[spidey]

The unlisted and almighty VirtualDub with Huffyuv

[sommersby]

well, this poll is coming off, because NO ONE CAN READ!!!

THIS IS A POLL ON DIRECT MPEG CAPTURE< NO VDUB< NO POST CAPTURE ENCODING!!!

And to deadpac I say, yes, I am the same guy and still use picvideo for most of my captures and I stick by what I say as far a quality being equal to huffyuv for vcd's. And it's funny how you remember the arguments against me and not the ones agreeing with me.....lol

But to each his own, another place another forum debate, I would appreciate it if all responding would stick to the question asked.

[Scobo]

I think a few of you are missing the point here.
The guy wants to capture straight to MPEG1 VCD standard with NO
re-encoding and burn the captured files straight to CD.
Sommersby, have you tried Ulead Video Studio 5 ?
It's about the best straight to VCD capture I've seen yet although to get
the best from it, I capture to XVCD standard of 2000kbps and set the performance to maximum (15).
The captured files require multiplexing to VCD standard (I use TMPGEnc) but this takes seconds and I would say gives quality equal to encoding an AVI with TMPGEnc and the VCD template.

[sommersby]

Ulead was a consideration and I have heard good things about it, but I run windows XP and I hear there are compatabilty issues.

[sommersby]

But, I am getting tired of the little nagging problems that keep popping up on XP, It is a very stable OS when all is running right, but the constant little hardware issues are getting to me, losing devices, scaling back my dvd rom drive, etc., I think MS tried to make it to idiot proof, it always wants to reconfigure things when any kind of glitch comes along and then you are stuck uninstalling and reinstalling devices to get them back where they should be, the biggest headache is dvd player software, the only one I have found that doesn't cause problems is power dvd 2.55, 4.0 and windvd 3.0 install and work but if there is any kind of glitch in reading the dvd, bam, it's back to pio mode untill I restore......lol

[dugbrt]

Sommersby, after reading your original post, I did answer incorrectly. I have not tried to capture directly to mpg yet. Maybe I'll try and let you know how it goes!

Hey deadpac, by the looks of your reply, you did not answer sommersby's question either. Instead you took the opportunity to jump down my throat. How is that any better than what I posted?

[Sonic2171]

sommersby

Slightly off topic, but the best solution for direct capture is to use the Hauppauge WinTV PVR system.
It has hardware encoding to mpeg 1 & 2 built into the card.
No dropped frames!!
Up to 12MBits/sec cbr or vbr 704x480 NTSC 704x576 PAL.
Also audio encoding.
Only trouble is you have to buy the complete package with new card.
It is another solution.

[sommersby]

Had the card for 2 days and took it back, it is a good system to use if you lack CPU speed but I found the mpeg captures to not be very good, worse than the ATI mmc captures and at the time for $250 is was not near wirth the extra money. Hardware capture is great but to get good results with it you need to spend in the thousands.

[Sonic2171]

sommersby

Thanks for the info. I'm using ATI mmc 7.1 and was considering the Win PVR.

Sounds like I'll be better off spending the £199 on improving my system.

Apart from some dropped frames I like the ATI with mmc 7.1
Cheers

[mem_user]

Sommersby...I use Win XP with Uleads Movie Factory, Video Studio 5 and just yesterday upgraded to VS6 and I have never had a problem with Ulead's stuff and XP. Everything works flawlessly and the new version 6 has direct capture to MPEG and it works great. I never run my stuff thru any other encoders and my videos come out looking fantastic.