Capture DVD movie from a DVD player to a WMV file on my PC

[JBredensteiner]

Good morning,
I have a DVD player from ClearPlay https://www.clearplay.com/ that uses filters provided by ClearPlay to remove fowl language, nudity, and just about any other inappropriate footage that you want it too; it has varying levels of filtering that is available for individual needs. Anyways, I have a Vista Ultimate PC that I use to record my TV, and stream it and the PG-13 movies I have converted to WMAs to my two XBOX 360s throughout my house, and I would like to capture the filtered movies from the ClearPlay DVD player as WMA files on my computer, so I can stream them to my XBOX 360s too.

Here are the Audio & Video input option I have on my PC:
1) Audio & Video - I have a Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-500 http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/data_pvr500mce.html that I use to capture the TV using the standard TV tuner input via a hardware MPEG2 encoder and the Vista MediaCenter app; besides the TV tuner input, the card also has an available audio and video component line-in that can be used to capture audio and video.
2) Video - I also have an ATI x1900XTX http://ati.amd.com/products/RadeonX1900/specs.html that I believe has a both a component and a s-video input port; however, I am not sure if the Avivo portion of the video card works yet in Windows Vista, as I have a device listed in Divice Manager under "Other Devices" that is named "NTavivrv01", which I believe is what drives the Avivo portion of the video card, but I am not sure.
3) Audio - My motherboard is an ASUS Commando http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=307&l4=0&model=1480&modelmenu=1 that has a nice PCI-e SupremeFX audio card, which can also be used to capture the audio input from my ClearPlay DVD player via a Red\White RCA to headphone cable.

Here are the specs for my ClearPlay DVD player https://www.clearplay.com/shopdetail.aspx?id=31:

Audio Connections:
1) Optical Digital audio output: Yes
2) Coaxial Digital audio output: Yes
3) Stereo Audio output: Yes (red/white)

Video Connections:
1) Progressive scan: Yes
2) Component Video: Yes (Pr/Pb,Cr/Cb,Y)
3) S-Video: Yes
4) Composite Video: Yes

Here are my questions:
1) As far as my hardware selection goes, what is the best option for me to input the Video?
2) As far as my hardware selection goes, what is the best option for me to input the Audio?
3) What are some of the best application available for capturing the Audio\Video as a WMA file?
4) Will the application capture the 5.1 surround sound when connected to the Hauppauge audio ports via a Red\White RCA cable?
5) Will the application capture the 5.1 surround sound when connected to the ASUS PCI-e SupremeFX audio card via a Red\White RCA to headphone adapter cable?
6) Will I be able to achieve close to DVD video & 5.1 surround audio quality when capturing the imported video?
7) Will the quality be better if I use the progressive option on the DVD player?
a) Can I only use the progressive scan option on the DVD player if I have a component video (Pr/Pb,Cr/Cb,Y) connection on my PC, or can I do it via one of my current video input options?
8) Is there a better piece of hardware I should buy to do all of this?

Here are my priorities for this project:
1) Video quality
2) Software ease of use
a) I will be very happy if I don't have to select a bunch of different settings like frame rate and aspect ration, as I just want it to be able to keep the native settings, so I hope the application can figure it out automatically.

I also asked this question today at Expert Exchange, and here is a link to the question, so we can all follow both forums: http://www.experts-exchange.com/Hardware/Components/Sound_Cards/Q_22581256.html

Thank you in advance for your help, and sorry for such a long question, Jon

[nic2k4]

Looks like a nice setup, but the main question is did you try doing it first; part of the fun is experimenting. The Hauppage is what you're familiar with, stick with it. Most likely you won't be able to capture from a DVD player, definetly not with an ATI card. You'll need something like a Sima GoDVD box. As for capturing 5.1 audio, you can't capture 5 audio channels if your input options are limited to 2 channels. You'll have to capture the raw stream from a digital output (SPDIF or Optical) to a digital input.

[olyteddy]

IIRC the Hauppauge 500 uses the same chipset as my USB2 PVR and will therefore probably ignore the MacroVision that your DVD player is likely to output. That, to me, would make it the best choice.

[JBredensteiner]

Thanks guys for the input

My question is: Currently I have my XBOX 360 hooked up to my Receiver via one pair of RCA cables, and it produces 5.1 surround sound. So, if the receiver can produce Surround from a set of RCA cables, then why can't I record the 5.1 surround sound on my PC via the two RCA inputs on my Hauppauge 500, as stated by nic2k4? Thanks again, Jon

[MOVIEGEEK]

It's probably simulated surround.