Any good USB capture devices

[techmot]

Have you tried some of the other available codecs to capture in? I settled on Lagarith because on the PC that I was using to capture, I was getting the best CPU & HDD usage vs file size, and it was a good compromise for filtering with avisynth and encoding with HCEnc (into Mpeg2) on my ageing Intel Core2Quad system. (That I'm still using!) If your CPU is more recent (it probably is) then you might do better with UT Video? Or maybe a lossy codec like X264VFW or one of the Grass Valley codecs that someone was recommending to me some years ago?

Also, have the Task Manager open whilst you're encoding and see how much RAM is actually being used . . . you might be surprised.

I haven't tried those yet, will give them a go.

I'm confused about the encoding options in Handbrake. I did a 50 min capture in AmarectV which came to 35GB in size. I encoded the file in Handbrake, set format to MP4, dimensions set at 720x576 (although I'm confused about the "scaling and resolution limit" setting"). Video encoder I used H.264 which I normally use anyway, framerate at Constant Framerate. For quality i normally set it at 22 but I decided to set it at 18 this time as according to Handbrake suggested values are 18-20 for standard definition sources and 20-23 for high definintion sources. As I just wanted standard definintion I set it at 18, yet the outputted file was 5GB, when I normally set to 22 it's around 3.24GB. Why am I getting a higher file size when I set it at 18?. I spent 1 hr 10 mins encoding the file for the file size to be larger. I was going to use OBS again instead, but I noticed there was a kind of lagging with the video and audio. I did change to encoder options to make the encoding faster, so maybe that's why it was larger, but I wasn't prpared to wait another 2 hours to encode the file. I have encoded much faster in Adobe Premiere on my older Toshiba laptop. I was going to try KDenlive but I can't understand the video settings as it doesn't seem easy to use.


[Attachment 74317 - Click to enlarge]

Do you know if any of other encoder options will be faster?

As far as I'm aware, in Amarec I have selected the Lagarirth codec.

[Bwaak]

As I just wanted standard definintion I set it at 18, yet the outputted file was 5GB, when I normally set to 22 it's around 3.24GB. Why am I getting a higher file size when I set it at 18?

Because smaller number means higher quality. Here, quality is the difference between the source and the target.

https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Encode/H.264

[techmot]

As I just wanted standard definintion I set it at 18, yet the outputted file was 5GB, when I normally set to 22 it's around 3.24GB. Why am I getting a higher file size when I set it at 18?

Because smaller number means higher quality. Here, quality is the difference between the source and the target.

https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Encode/H.264

I suppose that makes sense.

[mammo1789]

That's an Easycap, a $2 Chinese capture card (literally $2 to produce) that sells for more.
aka Easycrap

Easycrap are not so bad as LS is referring I tested it some time ago with my Asus SAA71xx chip and another with Conexant chip and the recording was on pair if not better and they are compatible with Windows 11 especially with UTV007 chipset. With good recorder and TBC, capture card is the least problem most of the recommended cards are OS absolite and hardly work in windows 11

[lordsmurf]

That's an Easycap, a $2 Chinese capture card (literally $2 to produce) that sells for more.
aka Easycrap

Easycrap are not so bad as LS is referring

That values are all over the place -- over contrast, overexposure. You lose massive amounts of details, and the chroma and luma are both corrupted.

[techmot]

That's an Easycap, a $2 Chinese capture card (literally $2 to produce) that sells for more.
aka Easycrap

Easycrap are not so bad as LS is referring

That values are all over the place -- over contrast, overexposure. You lose massive amounts of details, and the chroma and luma are both corrupted.

To be honest, comparing my previous captures with the Easycap device I had (which I've now chucked away as it was got broke) and to the Happauge Live2 there is very little difference. The Easycap did produce some stuttering especially when trying to capture at more than 640x480, but that's really about it.

I am now thinking of buying a separate laptop to do just capturing on, obviously I need one with far more RAM (and possibly not Win11). Lots on ebay of course refurbed but no idea why is good.