Analog video capture question

[vwcrusher]

I currently am using a Sony Vaio desktop that has integrated analog capture and two capture applications (Click to DVD and Gigapocket).

I have used Gigapocket (which also can record from the TV card) and it captures only in MPEG. I am told that I can get higher quality if I capture in AVI. Unfortunately, neither included application can capture in anything but MPEG.

In addition, I purchased Screenblast MF 3.0 for editing, which includes MyDVD. I cannot seem to get MyDVD to capture anything (I am told that it may be because of the other included applications). I could delete the included applications, but I am concerned that I will be left with no capture capabilities. I also do not know enough about all of this to know what should be done.

My question is: is there anything I can do to be able to capture analog video as an AVI file?

Thanks in advance.

[dlb]

Try using virtual dub, you will find it in the tools section.

There is also a good guide capturing to avi, you need plenty of hard disc space, can be 1 gigabyte per minute depending on settings - resolution etc. Also have to think about codecs, I prefer picvideo (I think that is what it is called off the top of my head).

dlb.

[vwcrusher]

dlb,

thanks for the advice, but the concern that I have is I am not sure this particular PC can capture using any other software other than what was supplied......

Also, what is the difference in quality between MPEG and AVI? Is it substantial, or just a percentage? Of course keeping in mind that I am capturing from a VHS tape recorded at EP speed.


thanks

[LSchafroth]

I would go to the following sight and read about the analog vs progressive capturing and etc. It has some good reading.

http://www.lordsmurf.com

It explained some things I've been unsure about for some time.

LS

[andkiich]

VirtualDub is a free app, so you would be spending anything but some time checking out to see if it works for you.

[vwcrusher]

Thanks guys; I will give them a try.

It does seem that this particular hardware set up is not easily utilized, though.

[trhouse]

You may not be able to capture in AVI. I have a VAIO without GigaPocket. When I was trying to decide which to buy, I found this note about GigaPocket on another web site.

"It has a built-in tv tuner (philips saa114 from what i can tell) as well
as Hardware mpeg capture"

If the tuner output is hardwired into the hardware mpeg capture then you will not be able to capture in AVI with the internal hardware.

Click to DVD may work since it can accept DV-AVI files. What might work is if you purchased something like a Canopus ADVC-100 and hooked it to the iLink port, you may be able capture AVI with Click to DVD. The ADVC-100 is about $300 or if you already have a digital videocam, it can be hooked to the iLink port and again Click to DVD. The digital videocam would be used as a pass-though device only for getting your tape in.

[trhouse]

Forgot to mention about MyDVD. If your version is 5.0, it cannot capture except from digital camcorders.

[vwcrusher]

trhouse,

yeah, I heard the same. My model is RZ24G and it seems like all I have is various 'quality' levels of MPEG.

Which begs the question; what is the difference in quality between MPEG and avi or mpeg2 for that matter? Is it worth another $300 to go around the existing hardware?

[Bilal]

hi just capture in mpeg2 high resolution bitrate has to be over 4mb/s to get good quality.
Bilal

[trhouse]

I think the answer is personal. There are guides on this site including one by SatStorm which indicates you can get better quality if you avoid mpeg2 hardware encoding. Some programs like the encoder Tmpgenc are capable of making your VHS tapes look better than the originals because of the filters that can be applied to reduce noise or that you can do two pass mpeg2, VBR encoding. For very discriminating viewers it is the route to go, but the tradeoff is that extra quality comes with a lot of extra time spent.

If you are satisfied with getting out, close to what you put in but not better, then what you have is good. I do the following test. I set up the Sony TV and flip back and forth between the DVD I have created and the original source tape. If the viewer cannot tell which is which from a normal distance, then I think I have done a good job. Mostly I am converting family home videos to DVD albums.

[vwcrusher]

Yes! That is exactly what I am trying to do. The reason I got this PC is to avoid becoming an expert in all this stuff, but clearly that isn't going to work.

The original media is not that good; some of it is recorded in EP on VHS tape, others on SP and still others are on 8mm.

I am using screenblast ms 3.0 to edit, then the plan is to burn a few DVDs with the final result. I guess I will try burning a DVD with what I have done so far and see how it compares to the original tape....

Any other suggestions?

[trhouse]

Even more frustrating is trying lots of software just to find the ones that will work on your computer. Some don't for any number of reasons.

Here are a few other things I learned along the way. The first DVD I made was using MyDVD 3.52. With DVD's unlike VHS tape, you can create "chapter points" with buttons on a menu so you can go directly to a clip. MyDVD 3.52 would do this only during capture at fixed intervals or you had to be there to press the space bar at just the right time. Also, the first DVD had only 3.6 GB of video because it turns out that MyDVD 3.52 changes any audio ( transcodes) to PCM audio which creates a huge file of about 800 MB in size. That was all pretty frustrating. Store bought DVD's all have Dolby Digital which is about 1/8th the size of PCM audio.

MyDVD 5. 0 Deluxe is now out. It cannot capture but it allows placing chapter points anywhere after the capture is complete. It also can transcode audio to Dolby Digital so the audio does not take up so much room. The bad news is that 5.0's editing is not good. Tmpgenc which is available as freeware has a nice section in it called "MPEG Tools" which allows cuts and merges. So I capture, use Tmpgenc to edit, send the edited file to MyDVD 5.0 Deluxe and add chapters and burn.

One thing to be aware of, only the 5.0 Deluxe can do Dolby Digital, the plain 5.0 cannot.

[vwcrusher]

trhouse,

you mentioned filters that can be applied by using TMPGEnc to improve the image quality. Two questions: how hard is it to use this, and is there a tutorial on how you do this?

thanks

[DannyDVD]

trhouse,

I am using MyDVD 5 delux to capture my family VHS tapes onto DVD (using pass through analog-to-firewire on my Sony TRV-830 D8 camera ). The problem I have is fitting odd length tapes onto 4.7GB(4.38GB effective) DVD-R or +Rs with best possible quality. Does TMPGEnc let you fit a lets say a 1hr 30 minute tape onto a DVD at a VBR that utilizes all the available disk space to give you best possible quality for the length you have?

I have a "similar" (not the same) posting on this question at https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=699242

[Tommyknocker]

You do not need to double post. The Gurus will see your post, even if it is the only post you have ever done. Also, double posting is against forum rules, I suggest you delete the text and title from one of youur posts. Anyway, this is how you adjust the bit rate to make use of all the available space on a DVD±R. Guide

[jeg_jason]

Download the trial version of iuVCR from http://www.iulabs.com/iuvcr/download.shtml and try that. Make sure that you can capture avi above 320 x 240 to uncompressed, huffyuv, or mjpeg. If it works then pay the $25 price and enjoy the extra quality at the expense of very large file sizes and long encoding times back to mpeg.

You may also want to consider the Canopus ADVC-100 or Datavideo DAC-100 which are both external boxes that convert analog video to DV format which is AVI by the way. They run at about $260 and $200 respectively. You may be in luck if you have a digital camcorder that does analog to digital pass-through on the fly. It should have a line-in option to act like a VCR and pass the live signal out through the firewire port into your computer. You may want to consider adding scenalyzer to your system for capturing your DV files as well. It now includes a timer for added convience.

[FulciLives]

I say for best quality you should get either the Canopus ADVC-100 or the DataVideo DAC-100

Hook it up to your computer via te FIREWIRE port (also called i.link as well as IEEE 1394)

These devices will let you capture any analog video source and will convert it to DV video.

There are many freeware/shareware programs you can use to capture.

You can then do SIMPLE editing with VirtualDub and then do your final MPEG-2 DVD encoding with CCE BASIC or TEMPGEnc PLUS

This will give you better quality since you will be able to use filters ... important for any VHS source but especially so with EP/SLP recordings.

Also you can fine tune the bitrate so if you only have a 90 minute video you can maximize the bitrate to fit the DVD. At the same time if you have a 160 minute video you can also make that fit a single DVD disc.

It gives you a lot more flexibility and most importantly ... in the end ... much better quality.

The SONY MPEG GIGAPOCKET is good for time shifting ... record a program when you are away ... burn it to DVD-RW ... watch it on your computer ... then delete it after you watch it.

But for backing up those really important things like old TV recording of stuff not yet on DVD or home made family videos etc. you can't beat the AVI capture method to MPEG-2 with CCE or TMPGEnc.

Both the Canopus ADVC-100 and the DataVideo DAC-100 will work with 99.9% of computers and are both easy to use and user friendly. Other capture cards require some level of tweaking that can be mind blowing to a non-expert. The Canopus and DataVideo work well and are more-or-less "fool proof"

Plus they are external devices so when you get a new computer or if you have more than one etc. makes it easy to switch it back and forth between comuters.

The only "downside" to the Canopus/DataVideo is that they don't have a TV tuner built-in so for cable/satelite TV you would have to use the analog outputs of a cable box or a VCR. Not really that big of a deal if you ask me.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman