using advc300 and Cyberlink power producer

[victoriabears]

What can I do to avoid getting what i think are called over pixelated captures using jvc 9911 tbc/nr ON and advc300 set to default and using cyberlink power producer/director to capture in mpeg, would another mpeg capture software help?

It is the sort of plastic looking image quality, it gets better if I reduce the sharpness tab down to 'zero" it improves but is still a problem.

Would using a vcr through the various suggested hardware improvement machines like a sign video 1000/vidcraft deatiler 3/bvp4+ and a good computer capture card be a better bet than the advc 300 route?

And if so, which capture card would be suggested, at $200 to $400 levels, and which mpeg capture software, I would rather not capture to avi and convert but will if you make me!

I read that as all I do is cut out commercials rather than true editing, capturing in avi is not necessary?

Thank you as usual everyone.

[thecoalman]

I read that as all I do is cut out commercials rather than true editing, capturing in avi is not necessary

Your converting that beautiful ADVC AVI on the fly?

You have the wrong tool for the job if you want to capture to mpeg and your machine is too slow for capturing mpeg on the fly. On the fly conversion requires a lot of horsepower. The other alterantives are a hardware based encoder like the hauppage 250 which I have seen suggested by many or using a DVD recorder.

[victoriabears]

Thank you very much for your input, I am suprised my pc spec is too low for mpeg capture!, so what you are saying is using the advc300 is best done "capturing" as avi then converting?

And if I want to capture mpeg, use a capture card hauppage or ati?, and the software choice would be? Mainconcept pvr or the software that comes with the card.

Thanks again

[redwudz]

I would try the same 'capture' in DV format, then encode the DV file to MPEG-2 with a encoder. If the quality is that much better, you answered your question.

If not, look for another capture system or some adjustments. I have used a AMD 2500+ and, yes, I could convert on the fly with Mainconcept encoder and a ADVC-100, but the quality was much better with encoding seperately.

For a quick and easy encode from a medium or lower quality VHS tape, this was sufficient. I usually set it to 1/2 D1, and even then it struggled.

With Mainconcept I had to enable the buffer. A 2hr video would be about 15 minutes behind using the buffer. I got about .8 or .9 encode speed with the 2500+. That told me it wasn't fast enough for 'on the fly' encoding.

[edDV]

It comes down to a tradeoff of marginal picture quality vs time. Try this test.

1) Capture a sample with ADVC-300 to DV format AVI file. Experiment with various MPeg2 DVD encoders. Save samples from each for same source material. Try to mix action, slow motion, bright light, low light, etc. in the encoding sample.

2) Realtime encode the DV stream from the ADVC-300 to MPeg2 (DVD) for the same material. Try Mainconcept PVR and Cyberlink 3 or others. See if your machine can keep up.

3) Evaluate quality vs. #1 and make your choice.

I'll append my results in the next post. Test your opinion first. I don't want to bias you.

[edDV]

I have Cyberlink Power Producer 3 but have not yet tried it for realtime capture*.
So far I've had good results with the ULead Video Studio 8 version of the Mainconcept encoder (for the following configuration).

*I did try Pinnacle Studio 8 and Nero 6. Both caused frame drops with the machine described below. The Mainconcept encoder performed well in realtime.

My realtime encoding setup: This is a dedicated machine for TV capture.

Source: Comcast Motorola DCT-6200 HD set-top tuner (sources HDTV, DTV 16x9, analog 4x3)
Computer: Celeron 2.4 GHz, 512MB RAM, VIA P4PB motherboard (with IEEE-1394)
Capture: S-Video to Canopus ADVC-100 (7.5 IRE mode) to IEEE-1394 to ULead Video Studio 8 default MPeg2-DVD setting (720x480 MPeg2 VBR 8,000 or 7,000 Kbps, LPCM or MPeg2 224 Kbps audio)
Procedure: Realtime capture DV stream to MPeg2-DVD, trim if necessary, author directly to DVD.

Results:
The 2.4GHz Celeron will keep up if no other applications are running. Some buffering may occur but no frames are lost. 7,000-8,000 Kbps VBR results in 80-120 min per DVD. A faster processor will allow higher video compression (i.e. more minutes per DVD). If the encoded MPeg2 goes higher than 4.4GB in size, I may use DVD Shrink, Nero Recoder, or Vegas 5 + DVD Architect 2 to shrink the file to fit a single DVD.

The better the source, the better the encoded 720x480 DVD looks. I'm happy with resulting DVDs from HDTV (e.g. HBO-HD, InHD, DscHD, PBS-HD, etc.), SDTV (e.g. 16x9 PBS DTV) and 4x3 analog sources.

Capturing to DV format and then non-realtime encoding to MPeg-2 (with Premiere or Vegas 5 versions of the Mainconcept encoder) produces somewhat better DVD quality but the time investment is an additional 2-6 hours per DVD. I only do this for DV camcorder transfers, special TV material or captures that need major editing or processing (e.g. VHS captures).

Your mileage may vary. Experiment first. Gain confidence. I'm not saying this is the best way to do it. This is what works for me at the moment.

[victoriabears]

Very much appreciate the input, most helpful