Hauppauge Colossus HD-PVR

[Tom Saurus]

BOMOON: When you have that new computer built, you are going to have a much more powerful chip than your current Pentium 4. I can't say for sure, but if an encode takes 8 hours now, perhaps with an i7 computer it might be down to 2 or 3 hours. This should free up from time for you to do do more projects. It will be interesting to see the benchmarks. Also back the Hauppauge Colossus HD-PVR, the percentage of your resources it takes up when recording is going to drop greatly which is an added benefit.

[jagabo]

BOMOON: When you have that new computer built, you are going to have a much more powerful chip than your current Pentium 4. I can't say for sure, but if an encode takes 8 hours now, perhaps with an i7 computer it might be down to 2 or 3 hours.

I suspect it will be closer to 1 hour.

[Tom Saurus]

jagabo: That is quite the jump in computing power. It doesn't seem all that long ago that Pentium 4 where the latest and greatest chips. How far the chip makers have come. One wonders where they are heading next. I am yearning for the time of 40 TB hard drives, that are stable and these HD recordings pale in size to the capacity of the drives they are stored on.

[jagabo]

I don't know how fast Sony's h.264 encoder is but here's a chart of x264 performance over a wide range of processors:

http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=669&pgno=2

It doesn't show the latest Ivy Bridge Core i7 which is a little faster than the Sandy Bridge i7 2600K, but even the 2600K is about 12x faster than a P4 similar to BOMOON's.

[chris27]

Forgive me I'm currently working my way through this thread after a recommendation from BOMOON on the Hauppage UK Forum who appear to leave my posts on the pre-moderation shelf if it goes beyond a couple of sentences and becomes a paragraph or asks anything to challenging.

I'm on the verge of sending my Colossus PCI card back for a refund, concluding that the card itself could be faulty.

May I ask a question. Would my monitor (NEC 20WGX2) which does not support HDCP affect the video I capture using Colossus PCI card? My Graphics card Geforce9800GTX+ is connected to the monitor via DVI but states Playback of HDCP-protected content requires other HDCP-compatible components.

At present I am running the HDMI cable from my STB downstairs to Colossus Card in PC upstairs. I have an HD Fury which converts to component and strips out HDCP content (I know naughty, naughty but why are the big cheeses getting in a tither and preventing us doing with HD material what we could with SD) I digress...The HD Fury I have tested directly to Sony Bravia HDTV downstairs and the picture is fine without any noticeable imperfections. I am using ArcSoft Showbiz to record the capture but my results are not entirely satisfactory. Here is a clip of one of my latest captures http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xusoc1_hd-fury2-to-colossus-pci-e-test-video-capture_sport

...as youcan see it's not perfect. Sound is okay but the picture is hard to watch especially during fast fluid action. It's very choppy and flickers. I've also grabbed a screencap and there's adiagonal jagged line that frequently appears in the video (more noticeable during scene transitions)...



...but could it be my monitor which is causing this problem? I can understand why it may show the problems I'm encountering on live playback, but to affect the actual capture which is done by the card itself?

The model number of Colossus starts 131xxx so I've followed the UK driversdownload from Hauppauge here http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/site/support/support_all.html?prod=4

Both Colossus capture and encoder show driver 1.5.30151.0 inmy device manager.

[jagabo]

I don't think there's any way your HDCP-less monitor could be the cause of the jerky video.

[Tom Saurus]

chris27: Have you ever recorded using the component cables? Do you have this problem if you use the component cables?

[BOMOON]

Forgive me I'm currently working my way through this thread after a recommendation from BOMOON on the Hauppage UK Forum

Hi there!

I see "Quality 720" in the info icon display. Was that really an HD capture? The aspect ratio looks like 16:9, or 1.77777.....

If "quality 720" really refers to the resolution, and the aspect ration is really 16:9, that would suggest that you captured at 1280 X 720 (p or i?).

Whatever: try the trick I suggested in the Hauppauge UK forum: capture with WinTV 7, but click on the Pause button as soon as the capturing starts. Remember, that only pauses the monitoring during capture, not the capture itself, and removes your graphics card from the equation - just in case that's what's messing up the capture.

Then post a small capture file here so the guys who have decent HD playback capabilities can verify the quality of the cap for you. That's not me, unfortunately, but they really helped me out a lot in isolating other problems I was having because the monitoring was causing too much CPU usage during capture.

Also, as others have suggested, try capturing with component cables instead of HDMI, to at least rule out the HDCP variable. I know you want to capture via HDMI, but it can't hurt to see if that's where the problem is.

But what's up with that "Quality 720"? Were you really capturing at 1080?

Alan Mintaka

[chris27]

jagabo - thanks at least I know I don't have go out and buy a new PC Monitor/HDTV just to get the Colossus working. I was contemplating it which would already add to the money i've spent so far.

Tom & BOMOON - I am not able to capture directly using component as VM Tivo box only fits the HDMI out http://cdn.electricpig.com.s3-external-3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/virg...-review-10.jpg

Hence why I had to buy the HD Fury2 and go something like this setup;

Forgive me I'm currently working my way through this thread after a recommendation from BOMOON on the Hauppage UK Forum

Hi there!

I see "Quality 720" in the info icon display. Was that really an HD capture? The aspect ratio looks like 16:9, or 1.77777.....

If "quality 720" really refers to the resolution, and the aspect ration is really 16:9, that would suggest that you captured at 1280 X 720 (p or i?).

Whatever: try the trick I suggested in the Hauppauge UK forum: capture with WinTV 7, but click on the Pause button as soon as the capturing starts. Remember, that only pauses the monitoring during capture, not the capture itself, and removes your graphics card from the equation - just in case that's what's messing up the capture.

Then post a small capture file here so the guys who have decent HD playback capabilities can verify the quality of the cap for you. That's not me, unfortunately, but they really helped me out a lot in isolating other problems I was having because the monitoring was causing too much CPU usage during capture.

Also, as others have suggested, try capturing with component cables instead of HDMI, to at least rule out the HDCP variable. I know you want to capture via HDMI, but it can't hurt to see if that's where the problem is.

But what's up with that "Quality 720"? Were you really capturing at 1080?

Alan Mintaka

Yep, I captured at 1980x1080i - I did try and change settings on Tivo to 720p but the capture file is even worse, very slow motion, then double quick speed-up and optical SPDIF input slows it to a crawl... I think Daily Motion downscales anything over 1080 to 720p unless you become a motionmaker as they like to put it.

This is what media info says about my captured file;



I was going to try and install each driver release one by one from here http://www.shspvr.com/ftp/download/colossus/ but when I switch PC off and reboot Windows automatically recognises card and installs driver 1.2.29291.0 18th Oct 2011

I will try your suggestion with Win7 TV but I'm not sure it's processor problem because even with Hardware Accelator unchecked it only ever reaches 15%-20% utilisation. Also Win7 installs startup files and IR blaster which I won't need, but I'm willing to give anything a try!

Edit: I have tried using WinTV v7 but there is just a black screen. It recognises the Colossus but displays no picture.

ArcSoft for all it's faults is the only capture software that has detected the correct resolution and accepted the Optical leads for sound. It's just not giving me that fluid video motion... here's another example....http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xuvvi4_2012-11-6-12-57-57_sport

...as you can see it's kind of watchable but it does irritate you after a while, with the flickering and stutter.

[Brad]

Sounds like a faulty card?

[Tom Saurus]

I am quite happy with the HD recordings I am getting with the Hauppauge HD-PVR and if I can afford it I am going to get an i7 computer and have a Hauppauge Colossus installed in it. There are quite a lot of similarities between the two devices. I tested out a vhs tape today hooking the composite cables from the output of the VCR to the front of the HD-PVR. I eventually got the HD-PVR to see the video and audio coming from the VCR. I must of did something wrong though because it was very distorted. I tested both a SP and EP tape, one with macrovision one without and please realize I don't expect anything special especially since there is no TBC in the HD-PVR but the capture device seemed like it was laboring to keep up with the video coming into it. If it isn't stealing the thread could someone give me the parameters to setting up the vhs capture settings in the Arcsoft TME software.

[jagabo]

I will try your suggestion with Win7 TV but I'm not sure it's processor problem because even with Hardware Accelator unchecked it only ever reaches 15%-20% utilisation.

That could be an indication that you have an I/O bottleneck. What kind of compression are you using? 1280x720 YUY2 at 60 fps requires a sustained throughput of about 110 MB/s (1920x1080i30 about 10 percent more). That's more than most hard drives can provide. You need to find a compromise of compression vs file size. Ie, enough compression so that the hard drive doesn't become a bottleneck, but not so much compression that the CPU gets to be a bottleneck.

The clips you linked to might indicate that interlaced video was converted to progressive with the wrong field order, at least some of the frames.

[Tom Saurus]

I adjusted the bit rate lower for the VHS capture. My one thing to figure out now is how to get it to record as 4:3 because this footage I got was stretched to 16:9. Thankfully by changing the aspect ratio to 4:3 in VLC in looks the way it was meant to. I unplug the component and audio cables at the back of the Hauppauge HD-PVR and I think that helped things as well.

Should I install WinTV on this computer or is it meant for the Hauppauge HD-PVR? I won't bother if it doesn't offer any other options that I don't have Arcsoft TME. Thanks in advance for any advice.

Also the Hauppauge Colossus HD-PVR with the TBC does it help with tracking issues, which are especially troublesome with VHS EP recordings?

[chris27]

Hi all

I don't know what happened but it seems to have resolved itself, the video is now without defect and playback is smooth and uninterupted. When I installed Win7 TV I went into settings to check over things there, and put a tick in the check box 'check online for new versions' - after reboot when I checked device manager both encoder and capture were showing the latest drivers again 1.5.30151.0. Although I had tried these drivers before I noticed that the download for the 20.3MB file took over an hour and the server was d/loading very slowly. I'm wondering if I got corrupted/incomplete drivers on the first attempt? I don't know if Windows 7 downloaded the drivers automatically in the background, or re-installing Win7 TV worked for me, but the end result is everything is working as it should.

P.S. I still cannot get a picture using Win7 TV - do you have to setup channels on it first before you see a live picture? Doesn't matter though. TiVo is my PVR, and arcsoft my transfer tool.

[Tom Saurus]

chris27: It is nice to get word that things worked out.

[BOMOON]

P.S. I still cannot get a picture using Win7 TV - do you have to setup channels on it first before you see a live picture? Doesn't matter though. TiVo is my PVR, and arcsoft my transfer tool.

Yes, in a way. You have to make sure that the preset channels for the inputs you're using are enabled. They're on the "All Channels" tab in Settings (the gear button). There should be one channel each for the Composite, Component, and S-Video inputs.

If you don't see the channels, you can add them on the "Favorites" tab.

I leave mine all enabled, even though I'm only using Component input at this time.

When you're viewing WinTV, you cycle through these channels with the "OSD" button. Just keep pressing it until you see the banner for the channel you want. It's possible WinTV is tuned to an input you're not using.

Good luck,
Alan Mintaka

[chris27]

chris27: It is nice to get word that things worked out.

Thanks Tom - It is when you've spent a bit of money on something that was not 100% guaranteed to work...but then I think back to spending £250+ for Panasonic DVD Recorders and although they served me well, they only recorded in SD. So it's no different to doing that but now having the best quality possible.

Cheers, Alan M - I'll check that out later. I've not really had time to set Win7 TV up properly yet.

[chris27]

Hi Guys - me again

Does anyone know of a non-destructive TS Video file editor were I can just clip out parts (mainly beginning and ending) of the file and maintain the original quality. I have been tinkering around with ArcSoft's production options and can't seem to match the high quality of the original direct capture. If I save too file there's a big leap in the preference settings for bitrate encoding from 5mb to 10mb when I've originally captured at 6-7 VBR. Also my original file shows 25 frames per second but this seems to want to make it 29.97 fps?? The AVI format doesn't fare much better and anything uploaded to YouTube seems to convert to WMV format.

The direct captures are superb but I'm just looking for an editor that will allow me to cut out bits like adverts but not lose any of the original quality or re-encode everything.

Cheers

[jman98]

chris27 - I recommend VideoReDo TVSuite H.264. You can try before you buy but the trial version is limited. I think it can only save 5 minutes of video if I remember correctly.

[jagabo]

h264tsCutter, tsMuxer, tsPacketEditor, tsSniper. All free. Cuts on I frames only.

[Tom Saurus]

chris27: The trial can be expanded now to export more than 15 minutes, if you select the expanded option of emailing VideoRedo and they give you a key that operates it for 15 days and you get the full features of the program with no limit on the length of the file that is exported. I am trying the trial version and I think I will buy it, if I can scratch some money together. It is more accurate and easier to use than AviDemux, especially if you have quite a few edits to do on a particular file. The people I have emailed have been quite friendly. I am impressed with their product.

[chris27]

Cheers all - I'll give those free links a go and also the VideoRedo trial. It might be a toss-up between VideoRedo and TMPGEnc MPEG Smart Renderer 4 this also has free trial. I won't be doing any fancy editing just clipping/cutting etc...

h264tsCutter, tsMuxer, tsPacketEditor, tsSniper. All free. Cuts on I frames only.

Does this mean say if my video is captured at 25 frames per second, it will only allow me to cut on certain frames i.e. every second frame? Sorry not fully upto scratch with the technicalities of it all. I'm not really looking for precision frame-by-frame editing so the free one's might be what i'm looking for. Cheers!

[jagabo]

h264tsCutter, tsMuxer, tsPacketEditor, tsSniper. All free. Cuts on I frames only.

Does this mean say if my video is captured at 25 frames per second, it will only allow me to cut on certain frames i.e. every second frame?

I frames, or key frames (entire images encoded much like a JPEG image), typically appear every 15 to 60 frames, half to two seconds apart.

[chris27]

h264tsCutter, tsMuxer, tsPacketEditor, tsSniper. All free. Cuts on I frames only.

Does this mean say if my video is captured at 25 frames per second, it will only allow me to cut on certain frames i.e. every second frame?

I frames, or key frames (entire images encoded much like a JPEG image), typically appear every 15 to 60 frames, half to two seconds apart.

Cheers! - The first link h264tscutter wouldn't recognise the file. It's MPEG 2 TS Video is that makes a difference? Media info says it's in the AVC format but is this different to MPEG4 H264? My MPEG2 TS files are generally working at around 200MB for every 4 mins of video. Is that about right or could MPEG4 H264 compress them more and offer similiar quality. Sorry for all questions, bit of a newbie to all this video format/codec malarki

[jagabo]

MPEG 4 part 10 = h.264 = AVC

h264tsCutter hasn't been updated in a long time and doesn't work well with many files.

[Tom Saurus]

What I have noticed in VideoReDo is that even if you can only cut on key frames when it comes to AVCHD files that it can hone in more than AviDemux can. I don't understand how it does that exactly, but you end up with a more prescicley edited file.

[jagabo]

VideoReDo isn't limited to cutting on key frames. It has a smart editor that will re-encode cut GOPs but leave the rest of the GOPs alone.

[Tom Saurus]

jagabo: Thank you for that information. I think I better come up with the money and by VideoReDo. Sometimes it is best to part with the money, and buy a quality product. It will probably save a lot of frustration in the end. Perhaps chris27 will really take a liking to VideoReDo as well.

[chris27]

jagabo: Thank you for that information. I think I better come up with the money and by VideoReDo. Sometimes it is best to part with the money, and buy a quality product. It will probably save a lot of frustration in the end. Perhaps chris27 will really take a liking to VideoReDo as well.

I was instantly won over within a few minutes of editing my first h264 ts file It's so simple and idiot proof which is good for me! I actually had registed a version of VideRedo plus back in 2007 when I was recording with the DVD Recorder, but I stopped using it. So i could upgrade to TV Suite for only £30. No brainer. It's good to be back with them, I remember how easy it was to edit mpegs now

[Tom Saurus]

chris27: I am glad you mentioned the Tmpgenc Mpeg Smart Render 4, when my Trial ran out on VideoReDo, I gave it a try. It does a fairly good job, and thankfully there is no limit on the length of video you can export. The full features of the program are not available in the trial, and it does encode a watermark at the beginning of the file you have edited and exported. It seemed to me I could get edit faster in VideoReDo, but it could be just that I have to get used to Tmpgenc Mpeg Smart Render 4.