ATi TV wonder capture to DVD using mpeg2 capture

[brianwrx]

I’m curious what the best way to record TV with an ATI TV Wonder and get it onto DVD for play in a standard DVD player.

I’ve been experimenting with this quite a bit and so far the quickest successful way I’ve found is to save to DV .AVI and then encode it with authoring software and burn to DVD.

One thing I tried doing is using the MPEG2 encoder that comes with the ATI MMC software to encode the TV capture in real time. I’ve been satisfied with the results and would like to just burn that encoded capture onto a DVD. I used Adobe Encore for authoring and it accepted the mpeg2 files, but it doesn’t use the audio included in the file. The DVD will play back video fine on a standard DVD player but no audio. I tried extracting the audio track as linear PCM from the mpeg2 file using TMPGenc and then adding back into the project in Encore. Encore wouldn’t encode it though.

That’s also an extra step I’d like to not have to do, but it's still quicker than encoding 2+ hours of capture DV though if I could get it to work.

So my question is: Is there a way that I can capture TV that I can burn to DVD without have to encode it? This is to save time. If I can encode as I capture that saves a lot of time and makes the process easier.

[Blazey]

Any MPEG2 capture, if set to DVD specs will not need re-encoding to burn. Do yourself a favor and read this:

http://www.digitalfaq.com/capture/atimpeg/atimpeg.htm

and then this:

http://www.wrigleyvideo.com/videotutorial/tut_encore.htm

That's 95% of the battle! If you want higer quality (IMO) then do not capture to MPEG, capture to AVI like this:

http://www.digitalfaq.com/capture/atiavi/atiavi.htm

Then encode like this:

http://www.digitalfaq.com/convert/tmpgenc/tmpgencplus.htm

Good luck.

[brianwrx]

Thanks for the reply.

I have read the digitalfaq articles before posting, but they don't really apply to what I'm asking. I'm not capturing for playback on my computer, and I already said I can capture to .avi and then encode for DVD.

I've tried mpeg2 capture to DVD specs but encore claims there isn't an AC3 or PCM track and therefore there is no sound on the DVD. There is when I play the mpeg2 file back on the computer.

I didn't watch the wrigley video encore tutorials yet, but I didn't see anything in the desriptions that sound like they are geared towards authoring from a single MPEG2 source file with sound.

[Blazey]

Thanks for the reply.

I have read the digitalfaq articles before posting, but they don't really apply to what I'm asking. I'm not capturing for playback on my computer, and I already said I can capture to .avi and then encode for DVD.

Those guides are for exactly what you want to do. They ARE NOT geared for PC playback, they are geared towards DVD/TV playback.

encore claims there isn't an AC3 or PCM track

You should fill out you PC specs in your profile so getting help is easier. What sound card is it? Is the video card hooked up to the sound card properly?

There are a lot of variables for this one.
Check out ATI's site for hookup info.

[corwin102]

The ATI Cards capture mpeg1 Layer2??? sound. This is not technically within the NTSC DVD spec and is probably why encore refuses the soud. Many DVD players will play this. So what I do is capture as MPEG2 in ATI at DVD specs then edit commercials and such with Video ReDo and then author the DVD in Tmpg DVDAuthor

[Sulik]

Technically, MPEG audio as the primary audio stream is not within NTSC DVD spec, though I have never heard of a DVD player not supporting MPEG Audio.

There is an option in ATI MMC to encode the audio as LPCM (While editing the preset, select "MPEG-2 DVD" and "LPCM Audio" in the audio format list), which will be accepted by all authoring tools. It requires more disk space (5x more than 256Kbps MPEG audio).

[brianwrx]

Just an update. I finally did get Encore to accept the mpeg2 file created by ATi MMC 9.03, but I had to extract the audio using TMPGEnc to extract it to a MPEG Layer 2 audio stream. I then had to delete the audio Encore read in with the mpeg and add in the extracted one. Kind of a round about way but it worked.

Now I'm finding a whole bunch of issues with Encore I really don't like. I'm regretting getting this software. Up until now all my project have involved footage off a DV camera captured via firewire into Premiere. Of course those AVIs work fine with both pieces of software, but now if I use a Huffy AVI or DV AVI created by the ATi MMC software, I get really crappy playback and encoding in Premiere and Encore. High motion sequences gets jerky. Not macro blocky, just motion errors. Now if I take similar footage and record it onto the DV camera first and capture it into premiere, it encodes fine. I'm perplexed. The AVI plays back smooth on the PC so I don't think its the source file. Something about the encoding and those sources.

So I'm not a fan of adobe products right now. Great for DV video work, but not a lot of options for captures from other sources. (No 352x480 )

[brianwrx]

Hmmm just encoded one of those same Huffy AVI's with TMPGEnc (2-pass VBR, similar settings to MainConcept in Encore), and it too has that motion jitter!

The only program that seems to encode these AVI's correctly is my cheap old NeoDVD software.

So it appears to be something up with the source, maybe encoding in CBR instead of VBR will solve the problem... I'll try that next

[Leoslocks]

Jerky Motion when played back on TV and not the Computer indicates the wrong Field Order selected in encoding. Hell, I do not even know which one to use . . .

[Edit]
Bottom (for DV) or Top (for analog)

This setting is the source of many problems, since some systems don't say what field order they use, and some pseudo-DV systems actually capture in analog mode. The field order is set by the capture hardware, not by the editing program, so you can't change it in software without re-compressing all the footage. All you can do is make sure you set this parameter right, so that TMPGEnc knows how to encode the file. If you notice your MPEG video flickers whenever there is fast movement, the most likely cause is a wrong field order setting. Note that this will only be noticeable on a video monitor or TV set; computer monitors are not interlaced, and always show odd and even lines at the same time.

[brianwrx]

Cool, thanks. I had just seen mention of Top Field and Bottom field somewhere else and was wondering if that could be it. I'll re-encode with Top Field this time (last time was with Bottom). I'll let you know how it goes.