How can I "test" which is best capture option ???

[Lcarvone]

Hello everyone,

I recently purchased a Hauppage PVR-250 and so far so good in terms of capturing off of coaxial cable and burning simple VCDs for weekly TV episodes I may miss and don't really care about saving. The main reason for my purchase (like many others) is archiving old VHS home movies and other rare VHS tapes. I'd like to test out a few different options in terms of "DVD Standard Play" versus "DVD Long Play" as well as some third party applications.

My dilemna is I don't have a DVD burner (yet!) to create DVDs with and a VCD for this type archiving is too low quality from the few test captures I have completed thus far. Also once I can afford a burner with the additional price of blank media I'd like to be pretty certain on what format I am going with from the get go. It is my understanding that a mpeg2 files viewed on a monitor will not look the same as on a DVD player/TV. Therefore, is there any way to review different clips with different bitrates/resolutions/etc. on my PC to help choose which setup I should use?

Also in regards to the "certain which format from the get go" angle any suggestions from those transferring old VHS tapes with a PVR-250 as to software, settings, etc would be greatly appreciated!!!

Thanks

Lcarvone

[Firk99]

Hi, if you can connect your TV to your PC (TV-out), you can create the "DVD" on your hard disc and watch the result on your TV. Depending on the quality of your TV-out the result will not be perfect but it should give you an impression about the quality off your "DVD".

[Lcarvone]

I don't believe the version I have PVR-250 has a TV-out feature. My video (onboard) doesn't either

[jimmalenko]

Do a couple of tests using 1 min video. Author these like you would a normal DVD but burn them to a CDR, created a miniDVD. Hopefully your player will play them.

[Lcarvone]

So do you mean use a DVD authoring program just use CDR media or simply copy the mpeg2 file onto a CDR?

[jimmalenko]

I mean author using an authoring program to create IFOs, BUPs and VOBs. Create an ISO Image and burn this ISO to a CDR. Hopefully your DVD player will play this format. THis is amethod I have used for testing in the past.

It is my understanding that a mpeg2 files viewed on a monitor will not look the same as on a DVD player/TV. Therefore, is there any way to review different clips with different bitrates/resolutions/etc. on my PC to help choose which setup I should use?

I'm still trying to make sense of this. I don't know why you want to test using your PC monitor when you know that it won't be the same on your TV. The best way is to buy your hardware and test using that and possibly a DVDRW. This is the only true way to test your methods.

[Lcarvone]

I don't WANT to view on my PC but it is the only "option" I have with the hardware I currently have. I was asking if possibly there is some way to compensate for the differences between the pixels on a monitor versus those on a TV through some software display manipulation thing something or something.....I have no clue if this is even possible. I guess I'll just have to wait until I can afford either a vid card with TV out or a DVD burner.

[jimmalenko]

I was asking if possibly there is some way to compensate for the differences between the pixels on a monitor versus those on a TV through some software display manipulation thing something or something.....I have no clue if this is even possible.

Not that I know of. Buy the burner and do some tests when you have it. OR,
make XSVCDs. You can use a bitrate of 2520 for these which will give you pretty decent results. Then play this on your standalone DVD Player. You will soon see some results.

[sikki_nixx]

Lcarvone,
I don't have a good answer for your question but I have some other advice for you.

I also have a hauppauge card (PCI-PVR) my card is older than yours
but I think they would work quite the same...

Unfortunately, hauppauge isn't the best company when it comes to support but I've found a great webpage and forum you might have use
of in the future, it's on http://www.shspvr.com/.

However my suggestion for your problem would be to get a dvd burner as soon as possible and use a DVD+RW disc for testing what works best for you...

[GKar]

one thing you might want to do to improve quality is use rca plugs, s-video, opticals, etc instead of the coax connection.