mpeg-2 capture device

[karms]

I have had the El Gato eyeTV device referred to me as the appropriate capture device to meet my needs - which are....

I need to capture/encode/burn about 45 minutes of live video on a recurring basis. The goal each time is to create a quality DVD gold copywhich I would then use as the source in a DVD duplication process.

My problem is the encoding process available with software I have (iDVD and DVD Studio Pro) takes forever. I need to be able to turn the duplicate DVD's around asap. Would utilizing the above referred eyeTV device actually capture the video already encoded? I am just wondering about the mechanics of actually utilizing the captured mpeg-2 video. Will I be able to utilize it and burn the DVD gold copy with DVD Studio Pro, and thereby save time in the process??

[Matt D]

According to the website this device does capture to MPEG2, so you should be able to just capture and burn, no encoding needed.

[rorschach]

I'm in the market for video captures right now and Eye TV 200 + Formac are expensive and hard to find! But I feel those are the best of the lot.

ConvertX PVR from Plextor is brand new, very attractive but requires USB 2.0 If you've got a G4 with USB 1.1, that's not quite enough.

Here's a breakdown for newbies:


3 Classes of Video Capture/PVR (+ TV Tuner) schemes:

Firewire capture to DV (Formac Studio); Convert to other formats at will

Firewire capture to MPEG-2 (Elgato Eye TV 200); Can convert to DV; DVDSP direct placement

USB 2.0 Capture to MPEG-2 (Plextor ConvertX for the Mac)


A/D Converter only:

Pinnacle Studio Moviebox DV (Mac/PC) No Mac software; any codec; uses Studio 9 Editing PC

[mhar4]

I'm in the market for video captures right now and Eye TV 200 + Formac are expensive and hard to find! But I feel those are the best of the lot.

I have used the Formac quite a lot and it works fine technically but its software is not really that great. I am also not convinced by the whole DV capture thing, unless you're planning on filmmmaker-level editing in FCE or FCP.

I also have an MPEG-2 capture device, the ADS Instant DVD for Mac, which while limited in its functionality, works very well overall.

I have had the El Gato eyeTV device referred to me as the appropriate capture device to meet my needs - which are....

As Matt D says, as long as it's the EyeTV 200 MPEG-2 capture device, it shouldn't need too much processing unless you're planning to reencode the audio to AC3, but that shouldn't be too slow.

[russurquhart1]

Hi,

I can comment on this because i've been using the El Gato EyeTV device to take video directly to a form for DVD creation.

I moved to the EyeTV, because the time to process video, through software was taking a long time.

To answer your question, the EyeTV WILL create audio and video files that you can drop into DVDSP immediately. There is also enought control and configuration, and editing support within the software should you need to do a little editing prior to going to dvdsp. e.g, if you want to trim the video, take out commercials, etc.

You save the EYETV file out, for DVDsp, and it demuxes its mpeg2 stream into video and audio streams. (The extensions it puts on them, DVDsp doesn't recognize. I think it puts .mpv and .mpa or something like that. I just change the video extension to .m2v and the audio to .mp1, i think and then they are recognized as legit audio and video files.)

If you want to go with the audio, just like that, then you can. I usually take the audio and convert it to .ac3, using ffmpegx. This may or may not save you some space. This is the only time consuming part of the operation as, at least for the version of ffmpegx i have, the time to convert is equal to the length of the audio. e.g. an hours worth of audio will take an hour to convert.

As for the quality. So far I've been pleased. You can adjust both the bitrates as well as the color aspects of your video and save these settings, so that when you are ready to record, it all happens in realtime.

After you have the files you need, its just a matter of putting them into DVDsp. If you already have a template setup, its just a matter of importing the files as assets and then doing your build/burn.

fwiw,

Russ

[mhar4]

If you want to go with the audio, just like that, then you can. I usually take the audio and convert it to .ac3, using ffmpegx. This may or may not save you some space. This is the only time consuming part of the operation as, at least for the version of ffmpegx i have, the time to convert is equal to the length of the audio. e.g. an hours worth of audio will take an hour to convert.

Russ

That seems slower than ffmpegX for me on that particular conversion.

[Frobozz]

If you think the EyeTV 200 is too expensive take a good look at the ADS USB Instant DVD for Mac. Otherworld Computing sells it (www.macsales.com) sells it for $140. It encodes MPEG2 in real time from analog sources. You don't get the cool PVR features of the EyeTV but you didn't say you needed any of that.

It also comes with a DVD authoring application CaptyDVD. But you can export separate streams for use in DVDSP if you like.

If you are shooting this video with a DV camcorder another fast and easy option is to get a Firewire-equipped standalone DVD recorder. Simply connect the camcorder and burn your DVD in real time. I recommend the JVC and Pioneer models.