What is the best video capture device with the smallest output files?

[True Colors]

Need your help, please.

Trying to find a capture card which will capture an HDMI stream........ looking for something with the lowest size output file and, naturally, the highest level of quality.

My budget is around $250...... but I am somewhat flexible on that.

Suggestions?

Thanks!

TC

[Cornucopia]

HDMI stream from WHAT? (pc output? gamebox play? settop box?) This will determine, because if the outputs of those devices are encrypted (#1 probably not, #2 maybe, #3 likely), then you will NOT be able to capture at all via HDMI.

If you can capture, look at Blackmagic Design's Intensity line of HDMI input devices (start at $199USD). Then decide on a compatible software that manages the capping; it will also have the choice for what codec(s) to encode to. If your pc has the horsepower, h.264 types give the best bang for your buck.

Scott

[True Colors]

Sorry, I should have provided more info.

I use a DVR to record high definition TV shows. It is a Tivo Premiere.

My cable provider is Verizon Fios. So almost none of the content is copy protected.

Just to give you an idea of what I am currently working with......

A one hour HD recording on my Tivo uses up about 8 gigs of storage space.

Also, it tells me that the video bitrate is 17.07 Mbps.

If possible, I would like to record content on my Tivo, and then find some sort of solution to capture this content onto my PC with a much lower file size.

I do not mind spending time to edit files or whatever needs to be done so long as the final file size is smaller AND I can maintain high quality.

Thanks!

TC

[manono]

looking for something with the lowest size output file and, naturally, the highest level of quality.

Also, it tells me that the video bitrate is 17.07 Mbps.

If possible, I would like to record content on my Tivo, and then find some sort of solution to capture this content onto my PC with a much lower file size.

You realize, don't you, that your two requirements (top quality/much smaller file size) are contradictory? Anything other than the way it was broadcast (which is bad enough) degrades the quality. And 8GB per hour is nothing. Just buy another hard drive if space is at a premium. As Cornucopia mentioned, H.264 is maybe the best for what you're asking, if your hardware can handle it. You may not have much fun trying to edit it, though.

[poisondeathray]

record with your tivo, edit with videoredo, encode to h.264 using x264 or some GUI for it (e.g. handbrake, ripbot, megui, xvid4psp)

[Cornucopia]

Most likely your recordings are a combination of MPEG2 and MP4(h.264). The mp4's I would leave alone, the Mpeg2's you could re-encode to h.264 and realize some space savings with "equivalent" quality.

But unless you know something I don't, I would be very surprised to find out that your channels ARE NOT nearly ALL encrypted. Verizon has similar corporate poilicies to all the other major providers, following the "cover our ass so we don't get sued by Hollywood" mantra.

Scott

[olyteddy]

Yeah, good luck with that. Verizon has the 'Copy Once' flag set aon almost all their channels now. http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Verizon-Starts-Enforcing-CableCARD-Restrictions-120141

[hech54]

I think the most obvious answer is...video capture device and smallest output size have ZERO to do with each other.

[usually_quiet]

Need your help, please.

Trying to find a capture card which will capture an HDMI stream........ looking for something with the lowest size output file and, naturally, the highest level of quality.

My budget is around $250...... but I am somewhat flexible on that.

Suggestions?

Thanks!

TC

TiVo provides special software, TiVo Desktop, at no charge, which allows subscribers to download recordings that are marked "copy freely" to their PCs, which I guess is what you use now. From there you can re-encode from MPEG-2 to H.264 with Handbrake or similar to have control over quality and file size.

If you have tried that and don't like it for some reason, your best bet to capture the output from a TiVo is to use analog component video, plus optical S/PDIF instead of HDMI because HDMI is very likely to be HDCP copy protected and the best HDMI capture devices won't let you capture HDCP protected content.

The Hauppauge Colossus (internal PCI-e interface) or Hauppauge HD-PVR (external USB 2.0 interface) are would work well for what you want to do and both use hardware H.264 encoding. In addition to capturing via component video, and optical S/PDIF, the Colossus can also capture from HDMI if it is not HDCP protected.

Another choice for HDMI is the AVerMedia HD-PVR C027 (internal PCI-e interface) which can capture via HDMI, and which is supposed to capture HDCP protected material with hacked software, although it can only capture stereo audio. The AVerMedia HD-PVR does software encoding and may place too much demand on your CPU during capture if you try to capture directly to H.264. For that reason people using that card often capture using a lossless codec for optimum quality and then re-encode to H.264 later.

[True Colors]

The Hauppauge Colossus (internal PCI-e interface) or Hauppauge HD-PVR (external USB 2.0 interface) are would work well for what you want to do and both use hardware H.264 encoding. In addition to capturing via component video, and optical S/PDIF, the Colossus can also capture from HDMI if it is not HDCP protected.

Another choice for HDMI is the AVerMedia HD-PVR C027 (internal PCI-e interface) which can capture via HDMI, and which is supposed to capture HDCP protected material with hacked software, although it can only capture stereo audio. The AVerMedia HD-PVR does software encoding and may place too much demand on your CPU during capture if you try to capture directly to H.264. For that reason people using that card often capture using a lossless codec for optimum quality and then re-encode to H.264 later.

These are the types of suggestions that I am looking for.

Naturally, I do realize that recording HDTV shows is going to produce large file sizes. I get that.

However, I am HOPING that there is a card, or device, or something that can capture HDTV and use less space than 8 gigs per hour.

Does anybody know what type of output file sizes you get from the Hauppage or AverMedia products?

Thanks,

TC

[jman98]

I can only speak about the Hauppauge Colossus, which I own. The original version of ArcSoft ShowBiz which came with my card allows you to set the average bit rate and maximum bit rates for VBR captures or just the bit rate for CBR captures. However, the more recent version of ShowBiz that the card lets you update to for free does NOT allow you to set the bit rate at all, so I refused to upgrade. I found out the hard way by upgrading and then having to reinstall everything to get back to where I was before

The size of what you get with the Colossus depends on the bit rate you encode at. I am an AT&T Uverse customer and there is an exception to this, but you may like that exception. If you record with the AT&T Uverse DVR and then play back the video later so the Colossus can record it, it will use either the bit rate that AT&T used to record it on their DVR or your bit rate, whichever is lower. The AT&T bit rate seems to be roughly around 5000 Mbps.

Smaller file sizes = smaller quality. Keep that in mind. You may or may not care about this, but do note that the Colossus will record Dolby Digital (AC3) audio ONLY if you use an optical audio cable AND the audio source is also AC3. If neither or only one of those is true, the sound will always be AAC.

[usually_quiet]

The Hauppauge Colossus (internal PCI-e interface) or Hauppauge HD-PVR (external USB 2.0 interface) are would work well for what you want to do and both use hardware H.264 encoding. In addition to capturing via component video, and optical S/PDIF, the Colossus can also capture from HDMI if it is not HDCP protected.

Another choice for HDMI is the AVerMedia HD-PVR C027 (internal PCI-e interface) which can capture via HDMI, and which is supposed to capture HDCP protected material with hacked software, although it can only capture stereo audio. The AVerMedia HD-PVR does software encoding and may place too much demand on your CPU during capture if you try to capture directly to H.264. For that reason people using that card often capture using a lossless codec for optimum quality and then re-encode to H.264 later.

These are the types of suggestions that I am looking for.

Naturally, I do realize that recording HDTV shows is going to produce large file sizes. I get that.

However, I am HOPING that there is a card, or device, or something that can capture HDTV and use less space than 8 gigs per hour.

Does anybody know what type of output file sizes you get from the Hauppage or AverMedia products?

Thanks,

TC

I can't make an exact prediction regarding what file sizes you will get, but H.264 compression can produce significantly smaller files than MPEG-2 with the same apparent quality.

AverMedia HD-DVR (C027) doesn't seem like a a good option for you. The dual core machine described in your signature probably can't perform high-quality real-time H.264 software encoding at HDTV resolutions.

The Hauppauge HD capture devices use hardware to encode, so they are a better option for you. Someone who has one of the Hauppauge HD capture devices can give you information about file size. To capture with either of the Hauppauges HD capture devices mentioned, you will need to use HD component video for capture instead of HDMI to avoid running into problems with HDCP, or find a good HDMI HDCP stripper with DVI or HDMI output.

[True Colors]

The Hauppauge HD capture devices use hardware to encode, so they are a better option for you. Someone who has one of the Hauppauge HD capture devices can give you information about file size. To capture with either of the Hauppauges HD capture devices mentioned, you will need to use HD component video for capture instead of HDMI to avoid running into problems with HDCP, or find a good HDMI HDCP stripper with DVI or HDMI output.

Does anyone know what the file size is which gets produced by using the Hauppauge Colossus to record HDTV?

Thanks,

TC