Mainconcept DV codec

[easydvd]

Ok.....I'm sure this is a stupid question but I'm confused. I downloaded and installed the codec but I can't capture with it in v-dub. Is there something that I'm missing here? When I'm not in capture mode it shows up in the list of compressors but as soon as I switch over.......gone.

Anyone else have a problem like this?

[medievil]

What capture format are you using. You also can't use odd size captures. It's limited to 720*480/576, 640,480,352*480/576 And must be Yu2 or RGB24

[easydvd]

I think it's set at 352x288 right now. The problem is that it's not even listed as an option. In the list of compression codecs it is completely absent

You use and like this? How does it compare to Huffy or picvideo mjpeg?
I sure would like to see it and make a comparison!! :P

[Thorn]

The free version of the mainconcept codec is decode-only. Maybe it contains a watermarked encode version, I don't remember.

As medieval said, check your colorspace because if you you're not in the right one, not all codecs will appear. I've never capped analog video in DV so I can't say much, but I know it doesn't get discussed much. Also note that it's about 1/3 the size of a Huffyuv capture, but it is NOT lossless. Neither is mjpeg, but people use that a lot for capture so it might be better for lower bitrate capture.

[pepegot1]

The codec is for DV2 files. I use it when I dump dv from my camcorder to disk. It makes it possible to use Virtual Dub, which cannot handle DV1 files.

[photohap]

I have used it for capturing, not great for analog. You do have to capture at 720*480 to see the codec listed. I have found that huffy is much better, not as jerky, and no frame loss. Mainconcept does place a watermark.

[medievil]

Jerky??? I don't lose anyframes and it gives a very sharp picvture capturing analog for me. It's one of my prefered Codecs for Capturing as it's almost lossless (Compression is only 5:1) fast, and gives great quality.

[Riccardom]

I use it too when i need a quality capture that needs successive editing.
In this way the files are ready to be used in VV or Premiere and i can easily save a "master" version on DV tape.
On my experience you are limited on 720x576 (for PAL) frame size.
Be careful to the field order. With some analog source (an Hi8 cam) I had to change field order in encoding.
Hope it helps

Riccardom

[Lamont Cranston]

The MainConcept codec will ONLY appear in the list of compression codecs if you capture NTSC 720 x 480 or the PAL equivalent. You can not use it with SVCD or VCD resolutions.

The following is from the MainConcept codec readme file.

Supported Framesizes
--------------------

FrameSizes in Pixel (for 1.25 and 16:9)
PAL 720x576, 25 Fps
NTSC 720x480, 30/29.97 Fps

PAL VideoSize(square pixels): 1.25 (720x576) & 16:9 (1280x576)
NTSC VideoSize(square pixels): 1.25 (600x480) & 16:9 (1013x480)
Scaling can be made in Video-Hardware.
----------------------------

IMHO The MainConcept DV codec is a great codec. It is very fast. In tests I have run CPU usage dropped significantly using the codec allowing me to capture 720 x 480 and not drop frames. Also, you can recompress up to 5 or 6 times with no image degradation.

[easydvd]

OK..I tried it again with res of 720x480 and it's there and works but.......

It seems from the v-dub statistics panel that I'm dropping about 30% of the frames although I did a fast re-pack on it and the playback seems to be fairly smooth. This is the only time I've been able to cap at this resolution because of filesize mostly. I would love it if I could continue to do so. Is it really dropping that many or am I somehow reading this wrong?

[Riccardom]

VirtualDub gave me the same problem: an abnormal number of dropped frames.
I tried various setting, the ones indicates in the guides too but they don't work.
A bit disappointed because i know it's widely used.
I normally use AVI_IO and it drops no more than 1 frame out of 5000 with an Athlon 1.2.

Riccardom

[photohap]

Ok,,,, I tried to give it another chance . I found with my setup, after doing a 1 minute capture, no frames lost, burned straight to svcd, looks great!!! Before it didn't, but I was taking the AVI and putting it on dv tape.. Don't know what I did to make it better.... Have found that when I do captures with rgb24, it looks much better then YUY2, but it hogs up CPU usage (rgb24)...

[Thorn]

It slipped my mind before, but if you want to capture at 352x240 with Huffyuv you'll actually take up less space than DV (so it would be lossless, but lower resolution). I prefer to capture 720x480 with Huffyuv, so you'd still want to compare the quality of the these methods for yourself.

[easydvd]

even with huffy I drop frames at that resolution. I'm on a 733 celeron OC'd to 850 with 384MB RAM and a 60GB 7200 RPM HDD(capture only)
I would have thought that surely this is enough machine to do a 720x480 cap, but then again maybe not. I'm gonna keep messing with it and will post if I have any luck. Thanks for the help everyone!!

matbe it's time to upgrade!!

[nsdn]

I have had a heap of success using the mainconcept DV codec and IUVCR RGB24 capturing PAL resoultion. Premier also likes the AVI file and you can edit seamlessly with real DV captures .

[BJ_M]

Jerky??? I don't lose anyframes and it gives a very sharp picvture capturing analog for me. It's one of my prefered Codecs for Capturing as it's almost lossless (Compression is only 5:1) fast, and gives great quality.

all DV is 5:1 compression

[easydvd]

nsdn.....

can you tell me how you got iuVCR to let you cap over 320x240? For some reason I can't seem to.

[nsdn]

ummm.....on the video tab click capture format....select RGB24, then select under frame size "free" then set the frame size in the "width" and "size" which for me is 720 * 576. I would not worry to much about the preview window......I could never use the smart tree while capturing....got to many droped frams (even with a 2gig athlon).....I get zero dropped frames even going through badly broken video with preview off, just run a separate monitor.

Then u select Compression and the main concept codec is called (well on my version) [ds] DV Video Encoder, when you click configure you only have 2 choices NTSC or PAL. for audio I used 16 bit 48K PCM stereo.
Under channels all i needed to do is back off my chroma a bit...obviously this will depend on your card. I sugect you look at the help file for the options tab settings....I had some trouble with audio sync when video ran for very long lengths....although it is easy enough to rectify...its easier if it works first up.

Hope this helps yah.....I found iuvcr very reliable under windows XP and the dv codec is a WDM codec...I have a very very old fly video 98 capture card and use the bt848 ref drivers from iuvcr site....i have considered chucking this card many times.....but this combination really seems to work very well. (it lives for a while longer...hehe)

[Greg12]

ur not capturing from a WDM device r u

As the guy before me said, it won't work

WDM is Direct Show and Firewire devices.

You'll wanna get 2 programs.


DVIO (records firewire, very very very very basic, but it WORKS.)

U need a program from Cannpus's website that converts MS DV to Canopus DV which if VFW compatible.

U'll need the Canopus DV codec to. It's free