Best DV/HDV capture tool?

[cym]

All:

I'm looking for a Windows PC capture tool that will meet the following requirements. Please offer your suggestions:

• Will capture standard DV, or HDV via fireware
• Includes deck control and the ability to "capture tape." It should automatically rewind, play, capture to the end, stop.
• Includes the ability to capture freely without deck control - e.g. manual capture.
• Slave to deck is nice to have.
• Does not automatically split into scenes, or at least can have this disabled.
• Will log information about the capture such as # of dropped frames, and where they were dropped during capture.
• Excellent buffer management to compensate for disk latencies if needed.
• Understands the difference between 16:9 or 4:3 DV source data, and HDV source data
• Can be run in multiple instances, to capture multiple streams simultaneously

I see a lot of tools that do some of these, but not one that does all of these.

CYM

[aedipuss]

better sharpen your software writing skills, you are going to need to write that one yourself.

[edDV]

I'd pay $25

WinDV +HDVsplit do most of that.
Dropped frames are only an issue with poor equipment or poor practice.
I've been able to capture up to 4 streams at a time but that was because the computer only had four PCI cards including internal.

I'm not sure you can do the multi-stream capture unless you also provide hardware.

[cym]

edDV: Thanks for the reply. I have HDVSplit, but it only recognizes HDV, not DV. I'm not having problems with dropped frames due to PC performance. I have seen my apps drop frames only in gaps in the original video. The value in knowing where frames where dropped allows me to check on that. Nice to have, not required. I have used WinDV, but I don't remember having great success with it (been awhile). DVMP Pro 5 has many of these features, but no HDV support. FWIW, I don't mind paying, in fact I prefer if it means SW is more completely tested. To often, I see great functionality in free tools, but low robustness.

Is there a comprehensive list of capture tools in this forum anywhere? If not, I'd appreciate a core dump from anyone reading here listing their preferred capture tool.

Thanks.

CYM

[edDV]

WinDV is for DV only. It is essentially a GUI for DirectShow + a buffer. It is very reliable but lacks batch modes of Vegas or Premiere, or optical scene recognition in Scenealyzer. Batch mode capture (using pre-logging) used to be a big deal when hard disks were small and expensive. I just cap it all these days and sort clips in the digital domain. These days I mostly shoot HDV but use WinDV with Canopus ADVC's to capture analog SD video into DV format.

DirectShow doesn't directly support HDV so a full capture program must be written. I find HDVsplit reliable because it is simple. Vegas and Premiere have more features but also require getting the settings correct.

[cym]

HDVSplit works fine for me as well. No complaints there.

I also use Vegas for capture, but I have an older version. It has "capture tape," which works great with my Hi8 deck that has DV-firewire out. But I do encounter problems when capturing MiniDV with it, or I would just use it. It looks fine during capture, but when it writes out the file, sometimes it sets the frame rate/aspect ratio wrong in the meta data. It doesn't do it every time. I tried unsuccessfully to correct the meta data with a binary editor, but didn't get it right. I'd need to code up a tool to read/wirte the RIFF chunks to fix it properly. Perhaps I should just upgrade Vegas rather than look for a different tool. The version of Vegas video I have also can capture HDV, but the scene splitting can't be disabled.

What version of Vegas do you have, and have you seen any of those problems with the capture tool?

CYM

[edDV]

HDVSplit works fine for me as well. No complaints there.

I also use Vegas for capture, but I have an older version. It has "capture tape," which works great with my Hi8 deck that has DV-firewire out. But I do encounter problems when capturing MiniDV with it, or I would just use it. It looks fine during capture, but when it writes out the file, sometimes it sets the frame rate/aspect ratio wrong in the meta data. It doesn't do it every time. I tried unsuccessfully to correct the meta data with a binary editor, but didn't get it right. I'd need to code up a tool to read/wirte the RIFF chunks to fix it properly. Perhaps I should just upgrade Vegas rather than look for a different tool. The version of Vegas video I have also can capture HDV, but the scene splitting can't be disabled.

What version of Vegas do you have, and have you seen any of those problems with the capture tool?

CYM

You can fix clip aspect ratio in Vegas with right click properties. Sources like the ADVC or pass through on a DV camcorder default to 4:3 and must be manually corrected for 16:9 material.

I have the current Vegas Pro 9. Vegas DV capture (back to v5) works for me but is more complicated for settings and clip naming. I find WinDV more productive for DV. I leave Vegas capture settings in HDV mode.