a simple high quality video capturing method?

[status66uk]

hi everyone

ive just recently bought a new graphics card and dvd writer specifricaly for use to put my videos on to dvd, i assumed that i could put them to dvd with no loss of quality pretty easily but im finding it extremely difficult as i dont know much about what settings to use, im not bothered how big the files i create are i just want the quality of the dvds i make to be the same as my videos, im using the winfast a280 TDH myvivo card, ive tried using the software that came with it (ULEAD Video studio 6) but the quality of the images is very poor so i must be doing something wrong? does anybody use this software and get high quality video from it?

i read on your site about virtuadub so ive got that now too, ive read some of your guides but still i am not able to get perfect captures of my videos

can anybody on here give me a few tips on the easiest wayof getting videos high quality on to dvd? id like to know what settings to set it to and to and what programme to use after ive captured the video in AVI format using Virtuadub

i have the huffyuv codec

as youve probably guessed i havent a clue about video capturing so id be greatful if someone could help me

thanks a lot

[macleod]

there are a number of guides which talk about this pretty indepthly. You will receive a number of posts talking about quality and best and whatnot.

It you trully do not care how big the file is, go uncompressed vs huffev. I use IUVCR to capture at 720x480. Then I use DVD2SVCD(avi) to convert to dvd format mpeg.

[housepig]

my method -

capture as an .avi, Huffyuv compression, 720x480, 48khz audio. (I use iuVCR as Virtualdub doesn't like my capture card).

import the captured video into TMPGenc, converting as VBR 6000-8000 (depending on length of movie) / Mpeg layer II audio at 224k.

Author with DVD Lab.

This gives me really nice quality (depending on the source material).

Lots of people like Mainconcept or CCE for their encoding, I don't care for it. But I did head to head tests with both (and with Ligos, and Procoder) and I liked TMPGenc better. Your eyes will decide which encoder you favor.

It takes time (mostly with the encode) but the results are sweet.

[status66uk]

thanks for the reply mate, how do mean by uncompressed vs huffyev ?

would i be to select this option in virtuadub or ulead videostudio 6? (the programmes ive used) or is there a download availible of the software you use so i could try that?

[status66uk]

housepig, im going to try and use huffyuv compression when i select it and go to configure it brings up 2 drop down menus, YUY2 compression method and RGB compression method, which options do i select from them and also do i check any of the other boxes under them?

can you tell me where ican get the TMPGenc program from?

thanks

[marscable]

Hi,

Im just starting to use IUVCR too and im having problems when i capture above MPEG1 standards..

I use Leadtek Winfast TV2000 XP Deluxe when i capture with higher resolution like 704x480 or 720x480 using Huffyuv 0.2.2 Compression i got this lines all over the place and the sound is crackling too.

When i use 352x480 it will be stretch out at first but i can remedy that once i re-encode it but the sound is still crackling for some reason.

Like i said when i capture with Mpeg1 resolution like a 352x240 its all fine even the sound is fine but with higher ones everything just gone akward..

Any help is greatly appreciated.. thx

[housepig]

@Status -

okay, I'm pulling this from memory, so I may be garbling it quite badly - but the guy who coded the Huffyuv codec suggested capturing in YUY2 rather than RGB, whenever possible, something like RGB is an upsample from a native YUY2 format, so if you capture in RGB you are adding bits that don't add quality.

that stuff is over my head, I just capture with the default settings and it looks fine.

TMPGenc, if you look in the Tools section at left, you'll find a link to their website, or just do a Google search.

@Marscable -

as far as the video goes, I would try burning a test disc and checking how your captured vid looks on a regular tv - I notice lines and hashmarks when watching on the computer that aren't there on tv resolution.

I would also suggest getting the latest Huffyuv codec - I think it's 2.1.1

As for audio, dig around in the iuVCR settings, there's an audio tab where you can reduce the input level, I have mine cranked way down as it's default setting is way too high and distorts.

[marscable]

thx for the advise housepig as i did what u suggest but still have that crackling sound..

btw i have my sound input directly to my soundcard (SBLive Value)..

do u think thats the problem? of maybe not..

anyways thx for the help..

[lchiu7]

I am capturing with iuvcr, Hauppauge Win TV card. Huffyuv compression (which is a lossless compression), SB Live. I was also getting crackling in the sound, traced eventually to my Asus VIA based MB (Athlon XP 1700+) not being able to handle the traffic on the PCI bus. This was with both the onboard CMedia sound and a SB Live 5.1.

I ditched the MB and got a new Asrock SIS based MB (Athlon 2400+). I can now capture 720x480 16 bit stereo sound (using the onboard CMedia sound chipeset) for up to 90 minutes (48G!) with under 5 dropped frames and no crackling. Then I use tmpgenc to make a DVD compliant file, author with Ulead DVD Factory and burn to DVD using Nero. Works very well the longest time being the conversion to DVD MPEG2 which takes about 2 hours for the 90 minutes of video

[housepig]

Mars -

first thing I would check is your audio cable, 'cause that's the cheapest thing to replace.

next I would try recording audio from a different source, like a Walkman or a home stereo, and see if you get the crackling.

If it's your audio card, I don't see why it would crackle on video captures and not on everything.

if it's not the audio card, I would try a different capture app and see if it's something with the way iuVCR is set up.

keep us posted!