Talk about confusion ?!?!?

[AiShaolinQuan]

Well, I've read enough posts and done enough searching to come to one decisive conclusion: There is no "best" way to capture video, dvd or otherwise.

My question/dilemma is probably the same as many of those who frequent these boards, in that we are all looking for the easy, quick, highest quality way of doing this. Yet it seems the only way to figure that out is to test/try/fail/try again with multiple different software proggies, cards and setups, each according to machine specifications. And I'm clueless as to where to start.

I (as many/most) want to be able to have the highest quality and quickest route to creating vcds/svcds from DVD and vhs tapes. Is there such a thing? I understand it depends, but is there a common standard to go by? Or something of that sort? I run Win2kPro on an overclocked machine, which seems to spell trouble. Guess I'm asking for some pity/guidance

Heck, actually, if someone could explain what real time MPEG capture means, I'd appreciate it, and what the difference is with that and hardware MJPEG capture. Maybe VCDHELP could put up a pros vs cons of capture and dvd ripping. Sure would help me (maybe it's already up, I probably missed it)

These have been very helpful to me(if not a bit overwhelming and confusing) and anyone who can give me some insight, I'd be thankful to.

[Shabubu]

Ok, I'll try to answer your questions

Firstly, your right. There is no best way, it's whatever YOU prefer, I hate FlaskMPEG cause it's outdated, other people love it.

As a lot of the tools used are freeware they are done in peoples spare time they aren't complete packages. Also you'll find that some tools are better at some things than others, TMPGenc has some powerful filters for example, but I find AVISynth gives better quality and more control. It's all up to your personal preference NO MATTER WHAT ANYONE TELLS YOU.

There are some general rules for example, TMPGEnc for VCD., CCE for SVCD/DVD (though some prefer TMPGEnc). Avi's is VirtualDub.

For ripping DVD's I'd suggest:

DVDDecryptor>DVD2AVI>TMPGEnc. (the audio from DVD2AVI should be added seperately, just select decode in the audio menu).

For VHS Capture I suggest:
VirtualDub>Avisynth>TMPGEnc (audio de noised and normalized with cooledit).

The guides for these things can be found here, at doom9.org and at digital-digest.com (under Nicky's guides). PM me for more info and if you need more guidance.

Realtime MPEG capture is basically when your capture card has an MPEG encoder chip built in (i.e. WinTV PVR), the problem is in this area you get for what you pay for, and as these systems can go up to $30,000 you can guess what the quality of a $150 dollar one will be. Hardware MFPEG is capturing avi with an MJPEG codec, this can be done in software using Picvideo, it just takes load off the processor.

If your doing DVD's and have hard disc space, ripping is definately the way to go, you'll get better quality end results.

This is a bloody long post so I'll wrap up, welcome to the finickiest hobby in the world