Do I really need a IBP MPEG2 card? What should I use?

[TRILIGHT]

I am wanting to archive recordings I have on my DirecTV Tivo unit to DVDR. Since the video is recorded as MPEG already, I would like to make only one other conversion. I am currently looking at capture cards.

I came across the Pinnacle DVD1000 which says it supports IBP MPEG2 for DVD Authoring. Seems the best choice but it's $1400!! I'm wondering if I really need this IBP MPEG2 option?

I also saw a Digital Video Creator II which says it does MPEG2 but says nothing of IBP. I'm worried that if I used the DVCII, I would end up capturing in MPEG2 but then have to run it through an additional MPEG encoding process afterwards to burn to DVD. That would destroy the picture quality.

Does anyone have any experience with burning to DVDR? Would a simple solution like the DVCII work for me or do I have to shell out the big bucks for a DVD1000 in order to burn a quality DVDR? Thanks for your advice!

[Mirror_Image]

If $1400 is too much (I definitely understand), what is your "not-to-exceed" price?

[TRILIGHT]

Well, I'm not sure if I'm really concerned with a "not to exceed price" just yet. I just don't want to waste money on features I will never use. The DVD1000 seems almost like overkill for what I want. I'm just not sure something as cheap as the DVCII will do everything I need. Here are the major points I need...

1) Since the original material is MPEG encoded already (DirecTV), I would prefer to have only ONE D/A conversion. I would assume that any more than this would kill the picture quality. I'd like to keep it looking as good as possible.

2) It must have S-Video in as this is how I would transfer the video from the Tivo unit.

3) I must be able to take the resulting files and burn them to DVDR(W) format for playback on a DVD player.

If I can find a capture card that would do a decent job of this then that's what I want, as cheap as I can find it. Thanks!

[Greg12]

wouldn't it be better to capture AVI n buy one of those 170gig hard drive's and convert to MPEG


non-real time converts (tmpg) always give a better picture.

U might also consider doing that and buying CCE with it's 9 pass VBR.

[SHS]

TRILIGHT the Pinnacle DVD1000 dosen't do RealTime IBP MPEG2 encode it dose do RealTime IPP encode and after you editing it then you export in to RealTime IBP MPEG 2 encode, To give you idea on what I mean about this card if you record 1hour then edit out 15min of video then you export
it out which will take you 45min to re-encode as MPEG2 IBP, For RealTime MPEG2 IBP encode you need sometime like DVCII, WinTV-PVR, ProVideo PV256 and there are few other Hardware MPEG2 capture card that can RealTime MPEG2 IBP encoding, I use My WinTV-PVR with DirecTV for Scheduler TV show Record at 4MBit/sec I don't DVD burner at this time I waiting for DVD+R/RW and far fast then DVD-R/RW drive is any way.
Greg12 not really belive me it take long long long time to convert it, No non-real time converts like tmpg don't alway give a picture.

[TRILIGHT]

SHS... are you saying that the $1400 DVD1000 does not do real-time IBP MPEG2 and the $260 DVCII does? I don't get it. I don't even see where the DVCII mentions its type of MPEG2.

Here is the way I understand things from all I've read. Please feel free to let me know if I am not interpreting the info right:

I'm assuming that I have to convert to IBP MPEG2 before burning to DVDR. Is this true? If so, it seems to me that I could play the source material and encode directly to IBP MPEG2 using the DVD1000. I could then take the resulting file and burn directly to DVDR. (Is this right?)

If I do not capture directly to IBP MPEG2, I'm assuming that I would have to capture to another codec (AVI maybe?) and then run an encoding process (taking up valuable time) before being able to burn to DVDR.

Can I burn to DVDR using regular MPEG2? Does it have to be this IBP first? What about IPP? Basically, I want to be able to capture a source and burn to DVD utilizing no more than ONE MPEG conversion process. Any more than one and I'm sure it will kill the quality.

Anyone with experience capturing using the Pinnacle DVD1000 or DVCII and burning to DVDR, please let me know what you've found. I've also recently read about the Matrox RT2500. That may be an option as well.

[SHS]

Yes that what I'am say TRILIGHT
This why Pinnacle chose IPP over direct IBP capturing, MPEG1,2 Video formats in most of today RealTime Hardware MPEG1,2 encode are doing direct capture in IBP mode but for best solution for editing MPEG1,2 is in IPP and then Deliver IBP MPEG1,2 but that mean it have to be re-encode in IBP MPEG1,2 and there are two way of doing it Soft and Hardware re-encode the Pinnacle DVD1000 dose it Hardware re-encode.
Capture like the DVCII, WinTV-PVR, ProVideo PV256 do direct IBP capturing.

Pinnacle DVD1000 come with Adobe Premiere 6 and must use it even know it real pain in butt to work with.
Ok let you fire up Premiere then inport your video in to Premiere then you edit out the part you don't want then export the video which save it as final format that is autom deliver in MPEG IBP ready for burn to CD or DVD.

[TRILIGHT]

Thanks SHS! Between your info and sites I've read today, I think I have a much better understanding of what I need.

[You_Are_Alive]

Well, hold your horses there pardner. I would have to disagree with what SHS says. I use the dc1000, and even after I re-edit my movie, it does not matter, its realtime all the way with excellent quality. Yes, EXCELLENT quality. The biggest advantage is that it captures realtime DV signals and has great quality. Then all you do is go to Impression and build your DVD or CD and burn. Don't understand why SHS says you need to re-encode anything and therefore it takes much longer then what you captured in realtime. Its simply NOT TRUE. And what do you have against Premier, you can do so much more with it then you can with any of the crap software that DAzZLe forces you to work with which I've read from other users here that it is very buggy. With premier, I can finally edit my mp3 and use mp3 for audio instead of wav cause alot of my music is already in mp3. Also very stable v. 6.0.

[TRILIGHT]

Thanks "You_Are_Alive". How bad would you say the learning curve is with Premiere? I am already very proficient with Photoshop. Are any of Adobe's menus/tools similar? Are you using the 1000 and Premiere on Windows XP? Thanks!

[You_Are_Alive]

It really depends, but I would say that if you already have an editing background, you can start immediatley. If you know how to navigate within a program proficiently like youself, its simply a matter of knowing and getting used to a new interface. With straight cuts and direct capture, I think you can get up and running in about an hour. You can have lots of fun once you start editing your own stuff and with Premier, its pretty simple for most things. I am using it in a Win2000 environment with no problems. It will also works with XP with no problems. Go here to learn more. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PinnacleDV500-DC1000