Converting a TV show to Xvid with smaller files and better..

[cchen921]

I have a Hauppauge WinTV PVR USB2. Now, I'm a newbie here, so go easy on me please. When I watch tv thru the Hauppauge, The quality is not the best in the world. It's ok, but not that good. What I want to know is, is it because of my hardware or my settings in the software? If it is my hardware, which one is better? I've seen Converted Xvid files of Smallville in REALLY good quality. DVD quality practically. I want to be able to do that. If it is a hardware issue, which Capture device is the best? I prefer USB because I'm using a laptop, or perhaps PCMCIA.
Also, I tried converting a 2 minute segment of a recording I recorded. The setting was "DVD Long Play" for video quality, and it gave me a 80.1 MB file. When I converted it to Xvid AVI, it gave me a 71 mb file. The Smallville episode of 43:00 minutes of video was only 345 mb file. Now at my rate, a 44 minute epsiode would be 1.5 GB! What am I doing wrong? I am using Vdub mpeg2 to convert the file to Xvid. The guide I was using is:https://www.videohelp.com/avi2divx.htm.

Oh BTW, I am recording cable digital cable from Comcast using composite inputs if that is helpful. THANKS!!!

[lumis]

well, the episodes you've seen were probably captured from OTA HD.. a very high quality source.. you on the other hand are capturing from digital cable.. which may not be HD..

you're also capturing using an analog method too, the people who capture their episodes probably get it from a transport stream..

and not to mention they're probably using better encoding methods.

source, capture method, encoding.. you're beat on all 3 fronts..

[cchen921]

Lumis...What is an OTA HD? The digital cable I am watching is pretty damn good quality on the television set, don't know if it has anything to do with it though. DVD quality. What is a transport stream? Is there any other guides that show better encoding methods? What about the guide I used, is that not good? THANKS!!!

[yoda313]

OTA HD stands for OVER-THE-AIR HIGH DEFINITION TV.

A transport stream is the digital file delivery used for hdtv.

[cchen921]

So cable tv is definetely inferior to OTA HD being transferred with transport stream correct? Thanks...

[guns1inger]

If US cable is anything like our local cable, it is inferior in quality, in the amount of advertising played per $ spent to wath, and in general content I can't understand why anyone wants to pay to watch advertising and repeats.

[kschang]

What we have actually said so far is that it's likely that you weren't receiving that good of a signal to begin with, and thus, you can't compare it with the clips you've seen since you have no idea what source was used to generate them.

Composite signal also introduce a lot of noise artifacts, which plays havoc with compression. You can use quite a bit of temporal or spatial filters to clear that up and even improve video quality a bit, but that can't be done live (only as post-processing) and takes quite a few tweaks to get it to the pont wher eyou like it, and processing is SLOW.

[cchen921]

It is strange. Whenever I record to a blank dvd with my recorder using SP mode, or 2 hour mode, i get great quality, DVD quality. But when I record using the Hauppauge, quality is very mediocre. I guess the best solution is to record it DVD, then rip, then convert to Xvid. However, I don't understand why when I recorded using Hauppauge with quality set to "DVD quality" and then convert it to Xvid using Vdub mpeg2, the file went from 80.1 mb to only 71 mb. <--This was a 2 minute test however. Only 9mb difference? The purpose of converting it to Xvid was to make the file signifgantly smaller! Hints anyone? THANKS!!!

[yoda313]

Like we've been saying you have to use a lower bitrate with xvid to make the file size smaller.

[hhhhbk]

is the Hauppauge WinTV PVR USB2 digital or analogue

i have one of their digital boxes (dec2000) and its great as long as the signal it recieves is decent

i once tried running off an indoor aerial and it was dreadful

if its recieving a decent signal its likely you dont have the right software as the pc in your profile is fast enough



try converting the file you record into xvid using autogk with 128kb cbr audio
using a file size of 350mb for approx 45 minutes

rediculously easy program to use

on a decent pc
converting a 45 minute mpeg 2 to a 350mb xvid
should take under a minute to set up
and between 1.5 and 2 hours to encode

picture quality in this file should be similar to the ones you can download

[cchen921]

From what the other posters comment, it sounds like an analogue. Still a newbie here. How do you tell whether it's digital or analogue?

[jagabo]

As I told you in another thread, record with WinTV2000 with the 12,000 kbps template. Then use that as a source to encode as Xvid AVI. If that's not good enough make your own template with 15,000 kbps.

If your source is analog cable you will not get quality as good as DVD. Analog cable tends to have lots of static noise which really kills any type of compression. If your source is digital cable you can get really high quality. But many digital cable stations are transmitted with very low bitrate and have lots of macroblocks.

Other things to keep in mind:

Almost everything you record off cable TV will be interlaced. This will not look good converted to Xvid AVI unless you inverse telecine or deinterlace.

Computer monitors have very different gamma curves and black levels than televisions. A normal TV capture will look dark and low contrast on a computer monitor unless you adjust the gamma, black level, and contrast.