Dvico FUsion Lite

[colojim]

I have installed the above card and all is working well.
Only issue I have is that the Fusion Converter does not seem to install.
Could I be correct in assuming that this part of the software is not included in the Lite version? I chose Lite because I already have analogue in through the video card and a Canopus ADVC50.

THe whole purpose of the Converter is to capture the HDTV stream as .tp then convert to MPG2 for conversion to DVD.

Are there perhaps better ways to accomplish this? I have seen on some other posting that the Fusion Converte leaves a bit to be desired.

THanks in advance.

[bunyip]

Yes the converter works only on the full version card not the light version.

However the latest DVICO drivers now support capturing directly to MPEG.

But if you want to stay with TP capturing (as I do because I sometimes get audio de-sync in the MPEG files and because it supports AC3 audio) two products allow you convert the TP stream to MPEG components, ProjectX and PVAStrumento.
ProjectX requires Java running on your PC, but PVAStrumento is stand-alone (but you need to rename the TP file to a TS file for it to interpret the streams correctly).

Both run well however I have found that ProjectX has better error handling and will process a captured file that has some errors where PVAStrumento fails.

[colojim]

Thanks Bunyip. I wonder if I can download the Fusion Converter anywhere to see if it is any good or does the card exclude the converter?
Just out of interest, when the converter works, does it convert to DVD compliant MPG?

I have started experimenting with PVAStrumento but had not got it to recognize the tp file, so I will rename as ts.

The mpeg that is created by Fusion TV is 50 frames per second, beautiful quality but I have not been able to convert over to DVD compliant with the Ulead programs that I have so far tried. Looks like I have more work to do with the two programs you named.

I am also seeing if I can capture directly into Ulead Studio 7, but I don't think it is handling our streams, especially as the tuner settings don't even have an option for Australia.

[colojim]

Well there you go, I have not tried demuxing yet, but converting to ps I get an mpg with its stereo audio that works, although the audio has some high pitched interference in the background. Also the ac3 file is separately saved.
Now to get a program to combine the mpg movie with the ac3.

Unfortuanatly the Ulead programs are not coping with ac3, and so far they have been making dvds with 4:3 ratio even though the input was 16:9.

[bunyip]

Hi colojim,

I actually tried to load and run the converter when I got the card but it objected that I didn't have the correct hardware.

Glad you're meeting with success. The 50fps you get on MPEG capture should only be on the HD channels, the standard channels should capture at 25fps.

I haven't experienced any audio problems, you may need to get a clearer signal.

I use TMPGenc to re-encode the 4:3 broadcasts, and TMPGEncDVDAuthor to put it all together, it accepts either the MP2 or AC3 audio as input.

[colojim]

Thanks Bunyip for your support.
I have had partial success in the last few hours.
I have been able to get IFO edit to create a dvd folder by remuxing m2v and ac3 together.
A program I recorded last night which when demuxed gives m2v and ac3 files which do not work with ifo edit however, I get a message saying too many frame drops.
I have noticed some instantaneous freezes of the picture even though I have 98% signal strength. I am a little suspicious that many of the difficulties I am having could be coming from the tuner card. I wonder if it is normal for some frame drops to occurr with sdtv and hdtv, I know it is not my computer as it can capture raw avi files at about 30Mb per second in Virtual dub without dropping frames.

I am starting to wonder how those dvd recorders that are replacing vhs recorders work? Do they take a hdtv stream or sdtv stream and produce a dvd compliant vob file? That is essentially what I am trying to do with a computer.

Cheers.

[bunyip]

Hi colojim,

I thought I'd conduct some tests myself to see if I could duplicate your problem.
I have noticed occasional freezing of the picture but I have tracked this down to momentary 'disturbances in the force' ( err.. I mean disturbances in the 'signal'). I operate off an indoor aerial so I can disrupt the signal during capture by moving it slightly.

This created a lot of dropped frames, but there must be too many, I couldn't even de-mux the TP file both PVAStrumento and ProjectX crashed.

What do you use to demux?

However I sometimes get freezes in normal reception, often just re-starting the software will rectify this.

[colojim]

Reply to Bunyip

I use PVStrumento to demux Tmpgenc.

regards.

[colojim]

Reply to Bunyip,
I am having trouble getting this reply through, third attempt:
PVAStrumento to demux.
Also used TMPGENC, but trying other ways at the moment.