Capturing from VHS source out of TBC > alternative to DV?

[Topsy]

Hello there,

I was just wondering what you guys use to capture your Composite/SVHS video sources? I'm currently using DV but would like to acquire even better quality. I will be outputting through a TBC (g2 MSTC) into PC, Windows 10...

T

[pippas]

My DV capture device is a Canopus ADVC50, which works pretty well. Recently I purchased an EZcap116 (direct from Ezcap to avoid the fakes!) to try as an alternative.

Tried various capture options - including the bundled Arcsoft program - but I get my best results by using AmaRecTV as capture software (free if you don't need to use their own codec).
I also use the free Grass Valley HQX codec to capture to an intraframe format.

Quality is as good - or better - than DV, with files sizes about half the size (using the 'standard' HQX configuration) .

No dropped frames, using my old Panasonic DMR E55 as a frame sync in the capture path.

I prefer to capture the audio separately to my sound card line input (the AC97 audio part of the Ezcap chipset doesn't give me very good results). I've had no problems with audio sync, when using AmaRecTV software.

[JVRaines]

I'm using an Osprey 260e PCIe converter and AmaRecTV to capture Lagarith losslessly-compressed files in YUY2 format. People will tell you that DV's 4:1:1 color decimation is adequate for NTSC sources, but I find that 4:2:2 looks better. The reason, I believe, is that NTSC horizontal resolution is not fixed at pixel boundaries.

[jagabo]

The OP is in Germany and PAL DV is 4:2:0, not 4:1:1.

[Topsy]

I'm using an Osprey 260e PCIe converter and AmaRecTV to capture Lagarith losslessly-compressed files in YUY2 format. People will tell you that DV's 4:1:1 color decimation is adequate for NTSC sources, but I find that 4:2:2 looks better. The reason, I believe, is that NTSC horizontal resolution is not fixed at pixel boundaries.

What sort of data sizes per hour do you get? Is it quite reliable in terms of drop frames/audio sync over long captures?

[JVRaines]

I use Lagarith only for the capture and initial editing. I re-encode to FFV1 for my archival customers at about 30 GB per hour. For production customers, I usually re-encode to lossy ProRes. For casual/consumer customers, I re-encode to MPEG-4 AVC at much smaller file sizes.

Dropped frames and audio sync are more functions of the capture ware than of the codec. I don't have any trouble with either, though I will offset the audio by a frame or two if I have used video processing.

[KarMa]

I use Lagarith only for the capture and initial editing. I re-encode to FFV1 for my archival customers at about 30 GB per hour. For production customers, I usually re-encode to lossy ProRes. For casual/consumer customers, I re-encode to MPEG-4 AVC at much smaller file sizes.

Dropped frames and audio sync are more functions of the capture ware than of the codec. I don't have any trouble with either, though I will offset the audio by a frame or two if I have used video processing.

Assuming you are on windows, what do you use to output to prores. FFMpeg?

[Topsy]

I use Lagarith only for the capture and initial editing. I re-encode to FFV1 for my archival customers at about 30 GB per hour. For production customers, I usually re-encode to lossy ProRes. For casual/consumer customers, I re-encode to MPEG-4 AVC at much smaller file sizes.

Dropped frames and audio sync are more functions of the capture ware than of the codec. I don't have any trouble with either, though I will offset the audio by a frame or two if I have used video processing.

Sounds good. Would you recommend the 210e Osprey? The 260e is a bit out of my price range for what I need to do...