whats doing my encoding

[bfowler]

hello,
i capture local college football games and cut out the commercials and send the games on dvd to my son who is serving in the military overseas. using this site i've been able to set this up using a hauppauge pvr 350 and i also use snapstream beyond tv version 3.5 to schedule and manage the recordings. i guess my main question is whether i am getting the highest quality mpeg capture with the set up i have. my results are decent but i am always looking for improvement if possible. i've paid for the snapstream so i'd like to keep it even though its not perfect. i don't really understand whether the pvr 350 is doing the encoding or is it the snapstream. i've read several posts stating that the 350 does a good job of encoding and i don't know if the beyond tv program is taking that function over and degrading the mpeg encoding. i obviously don't understand how my own set up works but i really appreciate the asssistance i've gotten thru this site because i never would have gotten this far without alot of your help. sorry for the long post.

ps merry christmas

[reboot]

The PVR-350 is doing the encoding by using it's mpeg-2 encoder chips on the card. Snapstream is just the interface you use to control the channel, etc.
There are numerous tweaks you can use with the PVR-350, to improve picture quality, and output (recorded video) quality.
Take a look at the tweak tool http://www.cask-of-amontillado.com
Also look in the forums at www.shspvr.com for lots of tips and tricks for Hauppauge cards.

[mats.hogberg]

It's the hardware of the 350 card, doing the encoding.
To my experience, it needs a top notch signal to produce top notch quality. Any noise in the signal eats bitrate (=picture quality) like wild. Are you on "regular cable/antenna"?

/Mats

[jagabo]

From WinTV2000:

Press PREF button

Select Movies tab

Under Quality Level pick the setting you want

If you don't like any of the built in templates you can create your own by pressing the Advanced>> button.

From the Property Sheet dialog select one of the standard settings as a starting point.

Select the Video tab and from there select the video properties you desire.

Select the Audio tab and the audio properties you desire.

Go back to the Configurations tab, type in a name for your new setting. Then press Save New Config.

Close the dialog. Back at the WinTV Settings dialog your new named setting will appear in the Quality Level pulldown. Select it and press OK.

[mats.hogberg]

...but don't start the name of your setting with an underscore! (_) Kept me baffled for a month, why I couldn't save my custom settings - until I found that out.

/Mats