Setup for using PC to capture signal and then make BluRay

[Bruce/Fl]

Hello all.

I know just about every aspect of what I am going to ask guidance on has been covered piecemeal on a variety of forums here, but I am hoping to get some answers/guidance on a particular setup, if it will be possible, and pointed in the right direction on the hardware.

For the past probably 15 years I have been recording college football games. First on VHS, and the past 7 years or so on my HDDVR, and then feeding that to a standalone DVD recorder, and making DVDs. I'm losing quality this way, and I want to from here on out record them on the HDDVR and then use my PC to burn them to DVD. Here is how I plan to do it.

Buy a HDMI stripper, err, I mean splitter. Run one of the outputs to my PC via HDMI and into a video card that I do not yet have. Use unknown program to burn content to Blu Ray. (On Blu Ray burner I have yet to buy.) and enjoy HD playback of my games.

First off, is this doable? If so, suggestions on mostly the capture card. I think I have a good grasp on the splitter required, but anything that is clearly the best bet that you know of I would appreciate the recommendation.

Side question, any special software required to author the content to Blu Ray, or is that normally included with the player?

Or is all of this a lot more complicated than I think it is. I know HDCP is out there for a reason, and a few years ago it was very hard if not impossible to deal with, but I assume that there have been a few solid workarounds found by now.

Here is my PC info:

Windows 7, AMD A6-3650 Llano Quad-Core 2.6GHz, 24GB RAM, 500GB HDD

Thank you!

[CubDukat]

You could also get a Cablecard PC tuner, split your connection off into that and record it directly into Windows Media Center. The PC becomes the DVR. Of course, if the program is copy protected, then there's going to be no way to get around that, but if not, you could probably throw it into a program like VideoReDo to take out the commercials.

Unfortunately, none of the HDMI capture cards I know of include authoring software, nor will they take a stripped signal, with the exception of an X360/PS3/One/PS4.

I'm using an InfiniTV 4 USB tuner to record the shows, then VideoReDo to remove commercials (for 720p) or TMPGEnc Video Mastering Works 5 (for 1080i), then after I get enough episodes of a show, I make the Blu-Ray in TMPGENC Authoring Works 5. There's very little quality loss overall.

If your college games aren't copy-protected (and you'll know that immediately because WMC marks them as such), you can create Blu-Rays from them fairly easily.

But there is definitely no cheap way to do it, certainly not if you want quality...

BTW, that config should be adequate for what you want to do, although I would advise using a separate internal HD for recording your shows and rendering.

[Brad]

Unfortunately, none of the HDMI capture cards I know of include authoring software, nor will they take a stripped signal, with the exception of an X360/PS3/One/PS4.

The capture devices don't know or care whether they are hooked up to a game console, cable box, Blu-ray player, etc. They just require that HDCP has been removed.

[usually_quiet]

Hello all.

I know just about every aspect of what I am going to ask guidance on has been covered piecemeal on a variety of forums here, but I am hoping to get some answers/guidance on a particular setup, if it will be possible, and pointed in the right direction on the hardware.

For the past probably 15 years I have been recording college football games. First on VHS, and the past 7 years or so on my HDDVR, and then feeding that to a standalone DVD recorder, and making DVDs. I'm losing quality this way, and I want to from here on out record them on the HDDVR and then use my PC to burn them to DVD. Here is how I plan to do it.

Buy a HDMI stripper, err, I mean splitter. Run one of the outputs to my PC via HDMI and into a video card that I do not yet have. Use unknown program to burn content to Blu Ray. (On Blu Ray burner I have yet to buy.) and enjoy HD playback of my games.

First off, is this doable? If so, suggestions on mostly the capture card. I think I have a good grasp on the splitter required, but anything that is clearly the best bet that you know of I would appreciate the recommendation.

Side question, any special software required to author the content to Blu Ray, or is that normally included with the player?

Or is all of this a lot more complicated than I think it is. I know HDCP is out there for a reason, and a few years ago it was very hard if not impossible to deal with, but I assume that there have been a few solid workarounds found by now.

Here is my PC info:

Windows 7, AMD A6-3650 Llano Quad-Core 2.6GHz, 24GB RAM, 500GB HDD

Thank you!

What you want to do is possible. I bought an HDMI splitter which splitter removes HDCP as a side effect and allows the HDMI signal from my cable box to feed my TV and an HD capture device that I use to record the HDMI output from my cable box. I bought a HD capture device that performs H.264 hardware encoding so I could use the HTPC listed in my computer details to time-shift TV. I can also copy recordings I want to keep long-term to BD-R media. The HD device I use can be set up to make recordings with HD video and audio that conforms to the Blu-Ray spec for authoring, but many newer Blu-Ray players could also play the same recordings as media files from BD-R media without authoring.

I have a Hauppauge Colossus, an internal (PCI-e) capture device, which works well enough for me and can capture the original AC3 audio, or 2-channel AAC audio (if it receives LPCM rather than AC3) from the HDMI out for my cable box. I don't use it for capturing sports, so I don't know how well it performs for that use. AAC audio isn't supported by the Blu-Ray spec, and would need to be re-encoded to AC3 or LPCM. The Hauppauge HD-PVR 2 1512 is USB 2.0 device with similar features. Both Hauppauge devices work with their bundled capture software, Capture4Me, GraphEdit, GraphStudio, rcTVCap and several popular PVR programs.

The Elgato Game Capture HD can capture H.264 at a higher bitrate, which may make it better for capturing for detail and fast motion than any current Hauppauge models, but it can only capture 2-channel AAC 224 kbit/s 48kHz audio. For all practical purposes, it only works with its bundled software (using Windows or OS X), or Elgato's EyeTV PVR software (only available for OS X).

All of the above have their faults. There are no perfect HD capture devices yet. All of them will take some time to set up, tweak, and to learn how to use for what you plan to do with them.

[Bruce/Fl]

Hello again all,

I took usually_quiet's advice and finally picked up a Hauppage Colossus card, and a HDMI splitter, and after a very small amount of trial and error, (I first split from the output of my A/V Reciever, so that whatever I had coming out of it, DVR, Wii, PS3, etc., would be ready for capture. That didn't work as the feed to the computer was very choppy. I switched the splitters location to immediately behind the DVR (which is where I would be getting most, if not all of my content I want to capture) and it works like a champ.

So I did a test run of a few minutes of a game, and hit record. Recorded beautifully. Output was a file with a .ts extension. Played no problem in Media Player.

My next step was to see if I coud use my Vegas (13) to edit the files I just made. It won't accept them. I did some googling and saw other threads about Vegas not taking a .ts file.

How do I get this to work, if there is a way? I saw references to videoredo and other programs. I would of course prefer something that is available at no cost, although that might not be an option.

I am attaching a screencap of the mediainfo for the test file I created. Is there some setting in the capture program I need to make, (I'm including a screen cap of the advanced settings available that came with the capture software) or is this some processing that I would need to do after the fact?

Thank you for any suggestings/assistance.

[usually_quiet]

I can probably still be of help, but I returned my cable box last week and no longer have my Colossus set up to record, although I still have the device. I found one tuner was not enough for the all programming I wanted to record, so I bought a CableCARD tuner.

I would use the version of Arcsoft Showbiz included on the installation disk to capture pre-recorded output from a DVR instead of WinTV v8. ShowBiz provides access to the Colossus encoder settings, and will allow you to capture AC3 audio, if the DVR can be set up to output AC3 Audio.

This is a screenshot of the settings I used for the Colossus encoder page, accessable via ShowBiz's "Format" button on the capture Window.
https://forum.videohelp.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=30445&d=1424878478

TS is the Colossus's native format, and I always capture to a TS file with the Colossus. I was warned that MP4 files from ShowBiz are problematic, and that MP4 can't be used for AC3 audio capture, so I never used it. I never used M2TS for capture, but you could try capturing to M2TS with ShowBiz to see if that works better with Vegas Pro.

I'm using VideoReDo TV Suite H.264 to edit captured TS files from the Colossus. Others have said that they use Cypheros TS-Doctor or Cyberlink PowerDirector for editing. I know of no free options that work well for editing H.264 TS files from the Colossus.

[Bruce/Fl]

Thank you for the reply!

I am having an issue finding the "arcsoft showbiz" software. My card came with 2 CD's, the winTV 7 (which sends you to the hauppage website for the latest, winTV8) and another disc labeled "HD PVR 2 - Gaming Edition". I opened both in explorer, and didn't let them autorun, and looked at the various folders and files and didn't see anything. Was something left out, or am I not doing something correctly?

Edit: Just ooked at my screen cap, down at the bottom, under "decoders, enable 3rd party decoders, Arcsoft is listed. Is it as simple as checking those boxes to get the software to appear for me?

[qz3fwd]

Hello all.

I know just about every aspect of what I am going to ask guidance on has been covered piecemeal on a variety of forums here, but I am hoping to get some answers/guidance on a particular setup, if it will be possible, and pointed in the right direction on the hardware.

For the past probably 15 years I have been recording college football games. First on VHS, and the past 7 years or so on my HDDVR, and then feeding that to a standalone DVD recorder, and making DVDs. I'm losing quality this way, and I want to from here on out record them on the HDDVR and then use my PC to burn them to DVD. Here is how I plan to do it.

Buy a HDMI stripper, err, I mean splitter. Run one of the outputs to my PC via HDMI and into a video card that I do not yet have. Use unknown program to burn content to Blu Ray. (On Blu Ray burner I have yet to buy.) and enjoy HD playback of my games.

First off, is this doable? If so, suggestions on mostly the capture card. I think I have a good grasp on the splitter required, but anything that is clearly the best bet that you know of I would appreciate the recommendation.

Side question, any special software required to author the content to Blu Ray, or is that normally included with the player?

Or is all of this a lot more complicated than I think it is. I know HDCP is out there for a reason, and a few years ago it was very hard if not impossible to deal with, but I assume that there have been a few solid workarounds found by now.

Here is my PC info:

Windows 7, AMD A6-3650 Llano Quad-Core 2.6GHz, 24GB RAM, 500GB HDD

Thank you!

Why dont you just buy a Tivo Roamio w/Cablecard if you need cable, schedule the recordings, then transfer the recordings to your PC in bitperfect format? I highly doubt the channels you want to record are flagged copy once.......your scheme is losing quality, error prone, and time consuming, requiring much human intervention than is necessary. Good luck.

[usually_quiet]

Thank you for the reply!

I am having an issue finding the "arcsoft showbiz" software. My card came with 2 CD's, the winTV 7 (which sends you to the hauppage website for the latest, winTV8) and another disc labeled "HD PVR 2 - Gaming Edition". I opened both in explorer, and didn't let them autorun, and looked at the various folders and files and didn't see anything. Was something left out, or am I not doing something correctly?

Edit: Just ooked at my screen cap, down at the bottom, under "decoders, enable 3rd party decoders, Arcsoft is listed. Is it as simple as checking those boxes to get the software to appear for me?

No, it isn't as easy as checking the boxes.

There was just one installation disc in the box I received. It contains WinTV v7, ArcSoft ShowBiz and an early version of the Colossus drivers. "ArcSoft ShowBiz" is printed on the disc in small letters. I had to do a full auto install in order to install ArcSoft ShowBiz.

Maybe Hauppauge changed the software they bundle with the Colossus or maybe you bought the new Colossus II. If you don't have Hauppauge's customized version of ArcSoft ShowBiz available, Hauppauge Capture also allows access to the encoder settings.

[usually_quiet]

I highly doubt the channels you want to record are flagged copy once.......your scheme is losing quality, error prone, and time consuming, requiring much human intervention than is necessary. Good luck.

The only channels that the FCC does not allow to be flagged copy once are local over-the-air broadcast channels. The rest can be flagged copy once at the discretion of the cable service provider. I'm just lucky that my provider, Comcast, presently does not flag any of their non-premium channels as copy once in most service areas. Time Warner Cable and some other big-name cable companies flag nearly everything but local over-the-air broadcasters as copy once in all their service areas.

[Bruce/Fl]

qz3fwd,

My intent is to be able to archive a select few shows (Football games, actually, as I mentioned in my original post) that I presently have on my Genie.

With the needs of my family, I am pretty much locked in with DirecTv. DirecTv and my Genie does everything I want it to, with the programming I want, with the lone exception of a user friendly output that I can archive select programs with.

[Bruce/Fl]

....... I never used M2TS for capture, but you could try capturing to M2TS with ShowBiz to see if that works better with Vegas Pro.

Hello again, I finally had time to start working with this again.

I got ahold of Hauppauge and they said they no longer bundled the Arcsoft Showbiz becase it was no longer supported, but sent me a d/l link for it. So I loaded it up. It does offer me the ability to convest my ts file to an m2ts AVCHD file, and this is what I did, and my Vegas had no problem loading it up and letting me do my edits with it.

My question comes in on the rendering. since all I did was some cutting out of the commercials, I had hoped to do a (hopefully) lossless "smart render". I went into Vegas's render options, selected Sony AVC/MVC format, which was the only one that included the m2ts format, and it offered 3 options that had the "=" sign next to them, which signifies that it would "Match project settings" which I took as probably the best options for a smart render. They were:
AVCHD 1920x1080-60i,
Blu-ray 1920x1080-60i, 16 Mbps video stream,
Blu-ray 1920x1080-60i, 10 Mbps video stream.

I tried all 3, hoping for the "smart rendering" text to show up in my preview window, but it did not. I selected the "AVCHD 1920x1080-60i" setting and it took what I think was an extraordinarily long time to render. What am I doing wrong? Here are the media info's of the original, and the rendered file. You will see there are some differences, which I circled. It seems to have changed a number of factors, and also notice it down converted my audio from 6 channels to 2.

Again, what am I doing wrong? Any ideas?

[usually_quiet]

I don't use Vegas, so you will have to wait for advice from someone who does. Vegas is certainly popular among the members of this forum for editing camera files.

However, I can't recall seeing any suggestions to use Vegas for editing video from Hauppauge's capture devices that hardware encode to H.264. It could be that Vegas is a poor choice for that purpose.

I use VideoRedo TV Suite H.264 for editing captures from my Colossus. Others use Cypheros TS Doctor. A few people like Power Director. These were suggested as editors in threads about the Colossus that I studied before I bought one for myself.