Hauppauge PVR software alternatives?

[tinpanalley]

I use my Hauppauge PVR to capture video from SD sources (VHS, laserdisc, etc). The WinTV program that the PVR card comes with is really basic.
Does anyone know of another program that might also control the card not just to watch but to record/capture input sources?

Thanks!

[hech54]

I use Magix Movie Edit to capture with my Hauppauge USB2

[tinpanalley]

So I guess it would be reasonable to assume it would also work with my HVR-1250?

[hech54]

Magix also recognizes my PVR-350...just making a suggestion.....no way to be sure.

[tinpanalley]

Well, then yeah, that's gotta work. I used to have the 250.
Can you set the ratio when you capture a source?

[hech54]

The video bitrate and audio type/bitrate are VERY adjustable if that is what you mean....but I do believe that still depends on the capture device. For instance I used my Hauppauge USB to capture/record LPs from a turntable but 44.1 was not available....only 48....so I captured at a very low bitrate MPEG2 with LPCM 48 audio then converted the audio to 44.1 in Goldwave.

[fk]

ChrisTV is an excellent program for your purpose.

[Trefaynie]

I use iuLAB iuVCR 4.17 for capturing. Easy to setup and use, user-friendly controls, it can capture with Xvid and Divx 3.11 codecs directly. I have an old Hauppauge WinTv USB external capture box so it is compatible with iuVCR.

[jman98]

If iuVCR works with your card, it probably won't be able to capture in Xvid/Dvix. Hauppauge's driver for the PVR and similar models only supports H.264 video capturing. The encoding chip is capable of a lot more than that, but someone somewhere will have to write a driver that fully utilize the chip. I'm not aware of any such driver.

Did you not get ArcSoft ShowBiz with your PVR? My Colossus, which is in the same family of products and based on the same hardware, came with that. Whether it's exactly what you want or not is another question, but it's been good enough for my needs. If you failed to install it or use it because you didn't understand what it was, give it a try.

[Trefaynie]

If iuVCR works with your card, it probably won't be able to capture in Xvid/Dvix. Hauppauge's driver for the PVR and similar models only supports H.264 video capturing. The encoding chip is capable of a lot more than that, but someone somewhere will have to write a driver that fully utilize the chip. I'm not aware of any such driver.

My device is Hauppauge WinTV USB Model 40214 Rev B121. It IS able to capture in Xvid and Divx. I use it for almost 10 years, I checked the captured films' media informations and they says the codec is really Xvid/Divx. I know that it also supports H.264 but I use Xvid or Divx 3.11 instead. I do not know you, you do not know me, I do not know your knowledge, but it is proved that my device is capable of capturing in Xvid.

Did you not get ArcSoft ShowBiz with your PVR? My Colossus, which is in the same family of products and based on the same hardware, came with that. Whether it's exactly what you want or not is another question, but it's been good enough for my needs. If you failed to install it or use it because you didn't understand what it was, give it a try.

I have no ShowBiz with my device. I understand how to use this device but I do not wnat to use any other capturing programs. iuVCR is the best solution for my gadget.

[tinpanalley]

The issue I'm having is that WinTV only records 720X480 which isn't the right ratio for classic films that are 4:3. You would preferably want 640X480 to maintain a proper 1.33:1.
Since there are no settings that allow you to adjust this I need another software that might be able to control the card for this purpose. There is also the fact that the only way to get video out of my Cable box/DVR is in SD via S-Video so capturing at anything higher than SD isn't possible anyway.
So the new software I use has to be able to capture at custom resolutions and I'm also fairly convinced that the software doesn't make the most of the video encoding power of the card and I'm sure that other software with better options would get me better quality captures.

[usually_quiet]

The issue I'm having is that WinTV only records 720X480 which isn't the right ratio for classic films that are 4:3. You would preferably want 640X480 to maintain a proper 1.33:1.
Since there are no settings that allow you to adjust this I need another software that might be able to control the card for this purpose. There is also the fact that the only way to get video out of my Cable box/DVR is in SD via S-Video so capturing at anything higher than SD isn't possible anyway.
So the new software I use has to be able to capture at custom resolutions and I'm also fairly convinced that the software doesn't make the most of the video encoding power of the card and I'm sure that other software with better options would get me better quality captures.

If you are using the HVR-1250 S-Video connection, then you are capturing an interlaced SD source at 29.97 fps. The material may not be encoded exactly as you want it to be, but it is being captured in a way that is appropriate for the source. As I recall, HVR-1250 MPEG-2 captures are DVD compliant. DVD doesn't support 640x480, but it does support 720x480.

[Edit]The HVR-1250 uses software for encoding, but its uncompressed video input to the software encoding module is probably limited to 720x480, 352 x 480, and maybe 352 x 240. You may have to learn how to use Graph Edit or Graph Studio to see what the software MPEG-2 encoder that comes with the card actually allows.

[jman98]

Trefaynie - My post was meant for the original poster and NOT you. This is not YOUR thread. However, I do apologize for not making that clear. Your card has nothing to do with the original poster's card. They are completely different pieces of hardware.

[jagabo]

The issue I'm having is that WinTV only records 720X480 which isn't the right ratio for classic films that are 4:3.

No, that is exactly the right frame size for standard ITU full D1 capture. That's the same frame size used on commercial DVDs, both 4:3 and 16:9 (the only two aspect ratios supported by DVD). Almost all capture devices are designed to capture this way, especially hardware MPEG 2 encoder cards. You probably can't even get the device to capture 640x480 with MPEG 2 encoding unless you switch to uncompressed video capture.

[tinpanalley]

Ok, I think I know what the problem is that I'm having...
Is it possible that I'm experiencing the issue of square vs rectangular pixels? I'm looking at video that was captured 720x480 by a computer that is actually supposed to be seen in a 640x480 aspect ratio on a TV or movie screen. So seeing it on a computer screen in computer pixels (rectangular) stretches the image. Because it is definitely stretched. In that case it that something that can be adjusted or will it look fine on a television when burned to a disc?
Or is there simply padding of black columns added to a 4:3 image encoded at 720x480 to retain the original 1.33:1 ratio?

[jagabo]

Ok, I think I know what the problem is that I'm having...
Is it possible that I'm experiencing the issue of square vs rectangular pixels? I'm looking at video that was captured 720x480 by a computer that is actually supposed to be seen in a 640x480 aspect ratio on a TV or movie screen. So seeing it on a computer screen in computer pixels (rectangular) stretches the image. Because it is definitely stretched.

That is correct. The pixels in a 720x480 video capture are not square. Some software will adjust the picture to match the display aspect ratio (4:3), some won't.

In that case it that something that can be adjusted or will it look fine on a television when burned to a disc?

If you burn it to DVD properly it will display with a normal 4:3 aspect ratio. Just like any commercial 4:3 DVD.

[oldfart13]

Doesn't the windows version of Elgato capture software also allow you to use the Hauppage devices? EyeTV for Macs works on some of them according to the website....

This device will capture to a PC at the resolution you wanted:

http://www.elgato.com/elgato/na/mainmenu/products/Video-Capture/product3.en.html

[jagabo]

If you capture at 640x480 you will have to resize to 720x480 if you want to make a DVD. NTSC DVD doesn't support 640x480. Only 720x480, 704x480, 352x,480, and 352x240.

[tinpanalley]

If you burn it to DVD properly it will display with a normal 4:3 aspect ratio. Just like any commercial 4:3 DVD.

So, basically, when I'm burning with Nero or whatever, as long as I set the video source as having a 640x480 resolution the burning software should add the appropriate gaps to the display to correct the ratio of the film. Is that correct?
How about if viewing as a file through a media player? Like from a media device and connected to my TV? Is it then always going to remain slightly stretched the way it is on my computer or am I getting this wrong?

[jagabo]

If you burn it to DVD properly it will display with a normal 4:3 aspect ratio. Just like any commercial 4:3 DVD.

So, basically, when I'm burning with Nero or whatever, as long as I set the video source as having a 640x480 resolution the burning software should add the appropriate gaps to the display to correct the ratio of the film. Is that correct?

You tell the authoring software your source is 4:3 display aspect ratio.

How about if viewing as a file through a media player? Like from a media device and connected to my TV? Is it then always going to remain slightly stretched the way it is on my computer or am I getting this wrong?

Most modern media players respect DAR flags in MP4, MKV, MPG and Divx/Xvid AVI files.

[hech54]

Let's try this one more time:

NTSC (NTSC Film)
Video:
720 x 480 pixels MPEG2 (Called Full-D1)
704 x 480 pixels MPEG2
352 x 480 pixels MPEG2 (Called Half-D1, same as the CVD Standard)
352 x 240 pixels MPEG2
352 x 240 pixels MPEG1 (Same as the VCD Standard)

https://www.videohelp.com/dvd#tech

[usually_quiet]

If you burn it to DVD properly it will display with a normal 4:3 aspect ratio. Just like any commercial 4:3 DVD.

So, basically, when I'm burning with Nero or whatever, as long as I set the video source as having a 640x480 resolution the burning software should add the appropriate gaps to the display to correct the ratio of the film. Is that correct?
How about if viewing as a file through a media player? Like from a media device and connected to my TV? Is it then always going to remain slightly stretched the way it is on my computer or am I getting this wrong?

Capturing at 640x480 is a waste of time you intend to make a DVD to play using a standard DVD player. The authoring software will re-encode it to be DVD-compliant, which requires re-sizing from 640x480 to a different DVD-compliant resolution, usually 720x480.

640x480 resolution is appropriate only if you plan to keep the recordings in a file to play with a PC or file-based media player, and do not care about watching it with a DVD player. However, good software players and media players will also display 720x480 4:3 NTSC MPEG-2 video correctly. What are you using now that does such a poor job?

Also, now that I'm thinking about it, are these recordings from an HD channel where black bars are added on both sides of 4:3 movies to fill a 16:9 screen, or from a SD channel and full-screen 4:3 aspect ratio?

[tinpanalley]

I'm going to explain the chain of what I'm trying to do. But I just want to say that I'm sorry if I'm irritating some of you by asking questions. I don't understand certain things which is why I ask and if I'm repeating myself it's because I still don't understand. It doesn't matter sometimes how many times one receives the same answer, if the understanding is difficult to get to, then it's just difficult to get to. And this is ultimately the purpose of a forum, to ask questions so I hope for example that hech54's "Let's try this one more time" wasn't meant condescendingly.

Here's the chain...
1. SD video on a Cable box/DVR from analog outputs via S-Video and RCA audio. (Why? It's the only thing I can get out of my cable box. The movies are old classics which is why I don't care that it's only SD. Good enough for movies that aren't and may never be on DVD)
2. The viewable video is always 4:3 (1.33:1) this is coming from a SD channel so the pillar-bars that exist are probably being added by my cable box.
3. Capturing via HVR-1250, again S-Video and RCA audio.

This is where I'd like more options to play with quality settings...
4. WinTV recordings are very choppy, and there aren't enough settings to allow me to get the recording/capture to be smoother.
5. This is not a computer issue. I'm running a Quad core, 16MB RAM Win 7 64-bit system that I built myself with a 1GB RAM Nvidia video card.

When I watch the recordings on Media Player Classic or Windows Media Player, the images are not at the proper ratio. MediaInfo says they are 720X480, I haven't tried burning them to a disc yet but I'd like to know that regardless of where I play them, they'll be in the correct film ratio.

That's all I've got.

[tinpanalley]

If you capture at 640x480 you will have to resize to 720x480 if you want to make a DVD. NTSC DVD doesn't support 640x480. Only 720x480, 704x480, 352x,480, and 352x240.

Ok, cool. I understand that. That makes total sense. Thanks!

[tinpanalley]

Doesn't the windows version of Elgato capture software also allow you to use the Hauppage devices? EyeTV for Macs works on some of them according to the website....

This device will capture to a PC at the resolution you wanted:

http://www.elgato.com/elgato/na/mainmenu/products/Video-Capture/product3.en.html

Well, I appreciate it but I've already spent money on this PVR because I knew from experience with previous models that it would work for my purposes.

[oldfart13]

You're not by chance trying to cap from TCM HD are you? Avsforums has a whole section on trying to correct the aspect ratio problems from that channel with DVD recorders and other capture devices. I eventually found a DVD recorder with component inputs that will do what I want. Others use boxes that convert from component to S-video to be able to do that as well. A well worn trail...

[usually_quiet]

=
When I watch the recordings on Media Player Classic or Windows Media Player, the images are not at the proper ratio. MediaInfo says they are 720X480, I haven't tried burning them to a disc yet but I'd like to know that regardless of where I play them, they'll be in the correct film ratio.

That's all I've got.

I use Media Player Classic Home Cinema, with View->Video Frame->Keep Aspect Ratio checked. The video looks correct as displayed.

When I used a 720x480 .mpg file to test, MPCHC used 4:3 aspect ratio, and the video looks correct as displayed.

When my test file was a 704x480 .mpg with a 4:3 DAR. MPCHC calculated an AR of 125:96 (to make up for the 16 missing pixels), and the video looked correct as displayed. MPCHC did the right thing. If I overrode the aspect ratio manually, selecting 4:3, for my test file, the video was slightly stretched horizontally.

Windows Media Player looked right too, for both my test files.

I don't know why you are seeing something different, unless oldfart is correct and there is something unusual about the channel you are capturing.

[tinpanalley]

You're not by chance trying to cap from TCM HD are you? Avsforums has a whole section on trying to correct the aspect ratio problems from that channel with DVD recorders and other capture devices. I eventually found a DVD recorder with component inputs that will do what I want. Others use boxes that convert from component to S-video to be able to do that as well. A well worn trail...

It is TCM, but unfortunately I don't get TCM HD. Only the regular channel.
I assumed speaking of specific content on the forum might not be a good idea.