Is there a way to capture directly to MPEG-2 on a Mac?

[pf4711]

Hi-

Does anyone know the answer to this? I can't seem to find anything, and conversion times take forever.

I tried a cheap iGrabber capture card off Amazon because it claimed it could capture to Mpeg 4 / 2 / 1, but it actually only allowed capture into formats that Quicktime uses (mp4 and definitely not mpeg 2), so I returned the stupid thing.

I'm ready to give up and go to a Windows solution, but I would really like to do this on a mac.

I am going from AVCHD or iFrame on a camcorder to mpeg 2 for a client that requires mpeg 2. Don't ask, it's stupid and they should accept .mp4.


Thanks

[jman98]

Unfortunately we don't have a lot of Mac users here, so posts like this really need to go to the Mac section of the forums here as you need Mac users to help you. I will contact a moderator and ask them to move this for you.

In my opinion asking for MPEG-2 is not stupid. Under Windows this would be a piece of cake.

[Baldrick]

Moving you to our mac section.

[edDV]

I am going from AVCHD or iFrame on a camcorder to mpeg 2 for a client that requires mpeg 2. Don't ask, it's stupid and they should accept .mp4.

Realtime capture with software encoding is compute intensive and not likeley to work at HD resolutions. Quality will be marginal. Mac capture devices like various Elagato have hardware MPeg2 capture for SD resolutions.

Normal workflow would be AVCHD USB2 capture or file import (archiving the AIC intermediate) and then converting to HD MPeg2 in Compressor or Quicktime Pro, etc. Speed of conversion depends on CPU power and encoder settings.

[pf4711]

Thanks - I would like to capture to SD mpeg 2. Do you know which Elgato device can do that? In reading the Elgato product descriptions, I did not see it say anywhere that it could capture directly to SD mpeg 2.

[usually_quiet]

Thanks - I would like to capture to SD mpeg 2. Do you know which Elgato device can do that? In reading the Elgato product descriptions, I did not see it say anywhere that it could capture directly to SD mpeg 2.

I think this is the device edDV wrote about: http://www.amazon.com/Elgato-Digital-Receiver-Converter-10020780/dp/B0013PQ6P4

[edDV]

You're right, the current Elgato line is all h.264.

Try a Hauppauge card or device on a Windows machine. Most cap SD to MPeg2 using hardware encoder. It may be possible to access Hauppauge USB devices from a Mac Pro running Windows or Linux. I haven't tried that.

[pf4711]

The Elgato website says it's EyeTV Hybrid captures in standard def., but it does not say what file format...

[usually_quiet]

The Elgato website says it's EyeTV Hybrid captures in standard def., but it does not say what file format...

According to this page, the EyeTV Hybrid captures in MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 format using software to encode
http://support.elgato.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=3914

The EyeTV 250 Plus that I linked to in my earlier post encodes to MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 using hardware encoding.
http://support.elgato.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=1193

[pf4711]

Yes!!!

Thank you

[usually_quiet]

If you read the comparison between the two, the EyeTV 250 Plus offers more MPEG-2 encoding options than the EyeTV Hybrid, and is better for a less powerful laptop. The EyeTV 250 Plus has a chip onboard that handles real-time encoding, while the EyeTV Hybrid relies on the CPU to encode.