Best card to capture AVI with Huffyuv??

[durieux]

Been looking for a few days and I was unable to come up with a good solution yet...

I've been capturing VHS footage with the Canopus ADVC-100 and although results have been good, the only possible capture format is DV, which isn't the best. I want to capture in AVI using Huffyuv codec for better quality results. I am not worried about dropped frames or file sizes, just getting the best AVI quality, which I understand WILL make a difference with excellent quality source even in VHS.

I have read that basic TV cards can actually capture excellent quality AVI because they do not compress and can output raw AVI. With the number of cards out there it seems none of them stands out for doing basic AVI analog captures and I havent found any comparison on them.

It seems even the expensive DVStorm actually captures analog in DV...

Cost isnt an issue (Under $1k will be nice though...), software bundled with card isn't an issue either, dont need any editing suite or mpeg encoding solution, all I need is the actual card (which supports NTSC & PAL, SECAM possibly also) that will output the best quality AVI that I can capture with VirtualDub or Premiere using Huffyuv in full size.

Anyone can give an advice or point somewhere where I could find solution?

[lordsmurf]

Been looking for a few days and I was unable to come up with a good solution yet...

I've been capturing VHS footage with the Canopus ADVC-100 and although results have been good, the only possible capture format is DV, which isn't the best. I want to capture in AVI using Huffyuv codec for better quality results. I am not worried about dropped frames or file sizes, just getting the best AVI quality, which I understand WILL make a difference with excellent quality source even in VHS.

I have read that basic TV cards can actually capture excellent quality AVI because they do not compress and can output raw AVI. With the number of cards out there it seems none of them stands out for doing basic AVI analog captures and I havent found any comparison on them.

It seems even the expensive DVStorm actually captures analog in DV...

Cost isnt an issue (Under $1k will be nice though...), software bundled with card isn't an issue either, dont need any editing suite or mpeg encoding solution, all I need is the actual card (which supports NTSC & PAL, SECAM possibly also) that will output the best quality AVI that I can capture with VirtualDub or Premiere using Huffyuv in full size.

Anyone can give an advice or point somewhere where I could find solution?

The DVstorm is more advanced than the typical card. It's a lot like the Matrox RT series from what I've seen, and those Matrox cards allow customization of the DV codecs, unlike the lower cards.

Anyway, ATI cards are great. For AVI/HuffYUV look even at the low-cost BT and Conexant chipped cards.

[Leoslocks]

Go through Lord Smurf's tutorial about AVI capture with the Ati cards found Here.

Even my Asus Ti4200 caputres AVI raw. The big deal for me was to get the hard drive up to snuff for the 20403KB/s write speeds. I am still floundering around the Capture stage. I am having trouble getting Virtual Dub to use the HUFFYuv 2.1.1 codec.

I intend to build a dedicated video machine soon. I will put an ATI AIW 9000 pro in it for capture.($99 after rebates)

[vhelp]

TGIF guys

@ Durieux,

What can I say. Besides the ADVC being a great piece of device,
the other devices ie, Analog capture cards do just as good or
better (if you don't have audio sycn; Line Noise; and frame drops for
the most part) because you have the option to go pure (ie, uncompressed,
which I'll acrynim as UNC)

The only slight issue w/ UNC is that it may or may not take longer to
process (encode to MPEG) But, I'm not 100% sure on this fact. On the
other hand, I would say that it would be faster than those that actually
use a different codec. Why ?? ..Because the .avi has to be decoded, and
some decoders are more CPU intensive than others, and if you have a diff
process (ie, Intel vs. AMD) you may have other decoding issue that will
cause slower decoding (ie, SSE vs. ???) so thats basically it on that
point.

UNC (IMO) is the best you can go w/ these low-budget Analog cards, but it
too, like most other things, require some skills to take advantage of or
work with etc. Secrets (if there are any) don't help, because the usually
apply to one single project or source etc, and w/ a newbie, would only
cause other issues or problems

Anyways..

As for Analog cards, I have many. And, yes., I have the Osprey-210 as well.
I haven't done any more testings w/ this card in a while, since I've ben much
busier w/ many other fun projects and special testings and much much more
since my last dealings w/ it. But, I have never had any problems with it.
I still have it in my pc for readyness. May even do some testing w/ it
these weened or so. I don't know. It all depends on where I'm at and what
I'm doing, and how much energy I want (or am willing) to put into these
items of endeavorments.
.
.
One other thing about my Osprey-210 is that I haven't yet writen up a
review on it. I've ben meaning to, but I kept eithe getting interuped or
I forget, or something along those lines. But, sooner or later, I'll get to it
when I get more time to work w/ it again and can spare some more in
the write-up. - - until then. . .

As for my ATI-TV Wonder card. It's one of those original ones w/ the BT
chipsets. IMO, it's lesser of a problem w/ MV. But, I'm not 100% sure on
this either.
.
.
I've ben doing some quick testing w/ this card and my ADVC-100. I hooked it
up to the ADVC-100's BACK ports (tv-out ports) and done some pretty damn
good capturing, and w/out as much Line Noise as (compared to) a straight or
direct connection setup. And, I so far, I like it.
.
.
Some things I would recommend though, is:
* if you opt for capture apps (ie, vdub or avi_io) and want to do full
...captures, I would set for 704 x 480 (instead of 720 x 480) and add in some
...extra 8 pixels (left and right) to give it a full 720 frame. I found that
...704 give's it the best ratio quality. That's my opinion - no explanations.
* use S-Video for your connections, for maximum quality. In my old days of
...of capturing w/ this card, I used to sware by Composite (RCA) as having no
...difference than S-Video. I could sware by it, and did may times over. But,
...today, I don't dare. I was in my youth back then, and didn't really know
...or realise what was so different about the two (of which I won't go into here)
...But at present, I wouldn't go back

There's also the DC10+ card, but this is limited to 640 x 480. In the past,
I didn't mention this, only because in all honesty, it slipped right by me
But it too, is a great card.

Until I can find that perfect card, the ADVC-100 is the one for me and will serve
(and does) for the time being. In the mean time, I continue to run experiments
and tests and other fun projects through my other various Analog cards.

As for secrets.. there really isn't any. The trueth is, it's all about skills and
the level of knowledge you acquire (over time) that proves your end results !!
I refer to knowledge as:


* Computer skills and setups
* Video devices and setups
* Editing and encoding tools, and techniques
* Authoring
* media
* hardware (ie, dvd player and tv set(s))
* etc etc

That about raps it up for me over here at this time

From the Video Workstation of,
-vhelp 2163