ATI Capture Solutions

[edsmith77]

Good Morning to All,
First, I would like to take credit for this but alas I can't. I found the following solution on another site (thanks to Rich) and thought I would pass this along.
This applies to those using ATI capture cards and MMC suite (like me ATI Rage Fury Pro, MMC 7.2). This goes back to a question I have had for quite some time. First, my ATI card and MMC will let me capture to SVCD parameters and output an mpg2 file. The problem is that you cannot just burn this file to a disc with Nero or even VCDeasy (they both complain, very loudly). Well, what I have learned is that even though it is mpg2 it is NOT a compliant mpg2. Duh. I knew this. Really. However, the bottom line is, at least what I knew before, that it would have to be reencoded to be a compliant mpg2 file with something like tmpgenc. So off we go to the 8+ hours for reencoding with tmpgenc. This always had seemed kinda silly to me, but hey.....
Anyway, here is the magic part (or at least it is to me) and maybe this is already known by everyone ('cept me of course and I wondered why noone ever said this before) anyway, the magic part is to take the mpg2 file into tmpgenc tools section and just do a simple remux (note, no demux then remux, just remux) and after about 10 minutes, voila a brand new mpg2 file that CAN be burned with Nero or VCDeasy and here is the best part, it plays in my standalone as svcd.
So far I have used this process to convert two previous VHS tapes to svcd and both turned out as good as the source with no loss of audio sync.
So for me, no more avi captures then 8+ hours for tmpgenc to encode, just capture to svcd, remux and burn. However, moiarity says it was just my luck to pick two tapes that would work. The remaining 25 will blow up in my face with this procedure.
Why this seems to work (so far) is beyond me but it does. Maybe someone on here who knows, can explain why this is so. It jsut seems so illogical to me. Thus, if there are others out there (or here) using the ATI suite give it a try and see.

Ed

[kakkerlakk]

Hmm, I'm doing the exact same thing, with the exact same set-up. I worked all weekend trying different settings. I'm going to try this way tonight.

Thanks for the input.

[fingernailX]

You're right - Rich's site and advice have been around for quite a while. If you are happy with the quality of a straight to SVCD capture then enjoy. I am not but also don't want an 8 hour wait for an SVCD or DVD file. That's why I capture I-frame only with the AIW at 15 Mbps with MMC 7.6. Then I use Xmpeg with the LSX or CCE premiere plug in to reencode to VCD, SVCD or DVD template. This is at most a 3 hr proposition and some faster systems can do it in less than realtime. If you have a VHS tape you are converting where quality is a concern you may want to give it a try.

[kakkerlakk]

Actually, that sounds interesting as well. Can you expand on it a bit maybe? Or is it pretty easy to figure out, i'm not a newbie, but I'm no where near being an expert

[edsmith77]

fingernailx,
Most of my VHS tapes are in the 12+ years old category and are going bad. I have read nothing but good reviews on here about CCE however, I just did not pick my parents very well. No money, ya know. So, I have to go cheap. You mentioned LSX. Is that a commercial sw pkg? If so, where to find and $$$. If not tooooooo, expensive, I will give it a shot. But for the buck Richs solutions gives lots of bang and the results did not take an overnite to achieve. thus .....



Ed

[fingernailX]

Use MMC 7.6 (not 7.7) to capture. Edit the settings to be Mpeg 2 I frame only 15Mbps and max motion estimate. (pulldown if you are capturing a dvd and deinterlace if you desire) Take this mpg into Xmpeg or the latest flask (.7x) doom9.org has guides on setting up Xmpeg/flask You will need the LSX suite 2.0 or CCE premiere plugin . You have to rename the extension to .xmpeg or .flask and put in the same folder. Open the mpg, save the audio as .mp2 and then resize to 480 by 480, select your bitrate and aspect ratio (see http://www.doom9.org/index.html?/mpg/xmpeg-svcdconfigure.htm )
I think you'll like the quality and speed.

[fingernailX]

Ed -
For what you're doing you seem to have found what works. You may want to try this method for a DVD rip as its very good way to downcode for DVD-R. LSX is the Ligos Suite and it is much less expensive than CCE and is available in those places we aren't supposed to talk about. pm me for more info

I have been using this method to make Xvcds of the new season of 24 for my coworkers. I capture thru the tuner on the AIW and leave the audio at 224k and bump the video to 1500 to 1600 kbps and burn as vcd. Results are damn good for cable tv and I get 1 episode per disc (51 or 52 mins)

[edsmith77]

fingernailx,
thanks for the good suggestions. I must admit I am reallly capturing xsvd since I have lowered the mpg2 capture rate to about 1600 so that I could fit a two hour tape onto two discs.
I have not gotten into making backups of my purchased dvds yet. I do not suffer from little people damage yet. Mine are old enough to know how to handle the discs properly. However, since murphy does exist, I will probably sometime in the near future start making archive copies.

Ed.