Hauppauge Colossus Component Quality suffering.

[ChadEjones]

Iam trying to capture component video from my Xbox360 with my Hauppauge Colossus , I am find the quality not what I would call clear. but dont know what to do about it, here is a small clip of my recording and as u will notice is a lot of artifacting going on which u can really notice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDbPt-vZVpo

Here is a version using HDMI cable, but I dont have a splitter so u can play and watch due to lattency issues. but I just wanted to compare quailty.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS-KjWgyvgk

Is there anything I can due to improve the quality of the Component capture ?

[usually_quiet]

Iam trying to capture component video from my Xbox360 with my Hauppauge Colossus , I am find the quality not what I would call clear. but dont know what to do about it, here is a small clip of my recording and as u will notice is a lot of artifacting going on which u can really notice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDbPt-vZVpo

Here is a version using HDMI cable, but I dont have a splitter so u can play and watch due to lattency issues. but I just wanted to compare quailty.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS-KjWgyvgk

Is there anything I can due to improve the quality of the Component capture ?

You could try increasing the bitrate. That would be particularly helpful when there is a lot of motion. The version of ArcSoft ShowBiz on the Colossus installation disc allows specifying a higher bitrate on one of the tabs on the Capture->Format Settings window. Constant bitrate encoding will give you the most control over the overall bitrate. Variable bitrate encoding will give you a smaller file size because it allocates higher bitrates only where they are truly needed.

[ChadEjones]

Thanks for the advise, but can u help me with the options. these r my settings when recorded the Component video.

[jman98]

Looks like you have upgraded ShowBiz after it was originally installed from disc. Unfortunately the upgrades take away the ability to set the bit rate of your capture, which is why I won't ever upgrade mine.

I would try unchecking Enable under Video Scaler as I can't think of a valid reason for doing it and it may be part of your problem. And I would also uncheck Disable HDMI AC3 Support as from my perspective I always prefer AC3 audio if I can get it over encoding to AAC.

I find that recordings work better with mine if I record to TS format, but I don't play or record games so I have no practical experience there.

[ChadEjones]

K, Yup the video scaler actually waz unchecked at the time of recording I waz muzzeling around in the options and check it off when I took the screenshoot forgot to uncheck it and didnt notice it before I posted the settings Sorry.

as for the Disable HDMI AC3 support. why would i be using it anyways Iam recording Component not hdmi. ?

but the Analog boost what that?? cause component video is analog right not digital like Hdmi. so wonder what it does??

[jman98]

as for the Disable HDMI AC3 support. why would i be using it anyways Iam recording Component not hdmi. ?

It's checked on in your screen capture, but this is NOT the cause of your problems. I'm just telling you what I would do, but you can leave it on for all I care. But if you later record with HDMI you may not remember that it's turned on, but again, whatever you want. No big deal.

but the Analog boost what that?? cause component video is analog right not digital like Hdmi. so wonder what it does??

It's an audio option. I'm guessing it raises the volume of what it encodes. Again, not the cause of your problem.

[usually_quiet]

K, Yup the video scaler actually waz unchecked at the time of recording I waz muzzeling around in the options and check it off when I took the screenshoot forgot to uncheck it and didnt notice it before I posted the settings Sorry.

as for the Disable HDMI AC3 support. why would i be using it anyways Iam recording Component not hdmi. ?

but the Analog boost what that?? cause component video is analog right not digital like Hdmi. so wonder what it does??

Messing with the video scaler won't help you get better component video captures

Analog boost is for audio, not video. It increases the audio level for left and right analog audio sources.

To change the bit rate for the encoder, you need to either go back to the version of ArcSoft Showbiz on the Colossus installation disc, or find some other program that lets you access the encoder's bit rate settings.

Hauppauge Capture can do that via its Video Quality settings. I didn't like Hauppauge Capture and I couldn't use ShowBiz with it installed but there is a newer version now that may work better for you. Otherwise, if you know how to use GraphStudio, it's another possibility. See https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/356017-Hauppauge-Colossus-Capturing-with-GraphEdit-...=1#post2241647

[Brad]

Here is a version using HDMI cable, but I dont have a splitter

Why not save yourself the aggravation and just buy one? They are super cheap if you don't need to remove HDCP, which you clearly don't for your Xbox game captures.

$10: http://www.ebay.com/itm/HDMI-splitter-1X2-Supports-full-HD1080p-for-DVD-player-HDTV-US...-/271725472238

$13.60: http://www.amazon.com/LotFancy®-Powered-Amplifier-Splitter-Display/dp/B00O2OBWHK/

$15 used: http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B0088HP93A/ref=olp_tab_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used

[usually_quiet]

Yes, HDMI is likely to produce a better quality capture since the Colossus is going from an uncompressed digital source (HDMI) to compressed digital output. I could definitely see a difference when using my cable box's HDMI connection versus its component video connection.

However, I do think access to the bitrate settings would be helpful regardless of the HD connection used.

[ChadEjones]

I dont think bitrate is the problem is at 20mbs using Hauppauage capture and constant setting , and iam still getting a crappy quality picture. I am really wondering if people have actuly seen better quality component videos using the collossus, or if this is the highest quality I can get from it.

[usually_quiet]

I dont think bitrate is the problem is at 20mbs using Hauppauage capture and constant setting , and iam still getting a crappy quality picture. I am really wondering if people have actuly seen better quality component videos using the collossus, or if this is the highest quality I can get from it.

All I can tell you is that I was dissatisfied with the quality of my recordings using component video. I uploaded some short samples where I used HDMI if you want to see what the Colossus .ts files look like using HDMI as the source. https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/369290-Testing-Video-Upload I will probably take them down relatively soon because of storage limitations placed on member uploads here.

[jagabo]

I am really wondering if people have actuly seen better quality component videos using the collossus, or if this is the highest quality I can get from it.

Nobody can tell anything by looking at Youtube re-encoded video. Upload your original caps to this forum.

[ChadEjones]

component video 720P 20mbs bitrate Component Colossus xbox.mp4

Hdmi video Hdmi Colossus xbox.mp4

[jagabo]

The only significant difference I see between those two recordings is the brightness and contrast.

[usually_quiet]

If I enlarged the video to fill my monitor, I saw irregular flickering patches in the dark gray area in the center of the screen when looking at the component capture. I did not see that in the HDMI capture. What I saw could be related to differences in brightness or contrast, as jagabo wrote. I think it is possible to adjust brightness and contrast in Hauppauge Capture's Advanced settings.

Quality differences might be easier to spot in a scene with a lot of detail or motion. That is where I saw the most difference with captures from my cable box. However, my cable box's digital to analog conversion doesn't seem to be particularly good to begin with, and was probably more responsible for to less detailed picture I was seeing than anything the capture device did.

[jagabo]

I saw irregular flickering patches in the dark gray area in the center of the screen when looking at the component capture.

I think it's a combination of the darker grey in the component capture and the long (250 frame) GOPs. Adjust the proc amp and use shorter GOPs (~ 30 frames).

[Brad]

The samples he posted are x264 re-encodes, by the way.

[jagabo]

I saw the x264 footprint in the files but I wasn't sure if the Colossus had the ability to capture raw video and use software compression. Looking at the specs I see it uses a hardware h.264 encoder only.