What kind of full screen quality can I expect from VHS captu

[joeAgain------]

.....re when replayed on a full screen video CD player?

I know I've been a pest here, but have to make a decision soon.

Before I plunk down another nickle on a capture card(of Any kind), I really would like as much responce as I can get on this question. PLEASE Everbody.

On any product, can I get a reasonably good quality picture when played on a full TV screen with a CD video player?

Will it be full screen? Or just a little box picture?(I Don't want to even bother if the burned video looks small !)

And can I get reasonably good copys of our VHS movies(full screen TV, again)with that Pinnacle Studio PCTV Pro capture card that I'm interested in(although getting to watch TV and listen to favorite radio shows while on my computer is very good sounding...that is not the main reason I want to do all this). Money is VERY tight, but I don't think I'll even bother with a tiny screen, poor quality copy when we watch the copies on a video CD player.

Last please, IF that product won't get what I want, what is the Most reasonably priced card that will(I already have a brand new 64Mb video card)

Please answer guys....I know I've been a pest here, but this is crucial to my decision.

thank you, joe

[Eyepop]

Good day to you again there Joe!

Joe...if I understand correctly you are worried that your capture will not fill up the whole screen after you have captured your video and burned it to a CD format. As long as when you do the encoding step you select full screen and properly indicate your aspect ratio I would have to expect the final product to look as good as the captured video.

I checked out that card on the pinnacle systems website....it would appear that it will work just fine for capturing your old VHS tapes assuming your computer has the horsepower, which if I remember correctly lit does. However, it does not have the firewire capaiblity you have mentioned in the past so another fire wire card may be in the near future for you for your DV needs. And lastly, be sure that that card is comptible with your existing graphics card as listed on the webpage.

"ttp://www.pinnaclesys.com/docloader.asp?templ=10&doclink=/WebVideo/StudioPCTVpro/doc/PCTVproTecSpecs.htm&product_id=103&Langue_ID=7&men uDown=dt_20"

Good luck mate.
Popeye

[Anonymous65]

You have to remember the difference between your computer monitor and your TV set. Or, if you are going to play the video on a PC only, what resolution means.

VHS video tape has a resolution of about 352x480. That is the most information a VHS image can have. However, you PC monitor is most likely displaying 800x600 or even more. So, a full resolution VHS image will take up less than half of you computer screen. If you want to display the video so it fills the screen you will have to artificially make the image bigger, however you cannot make the picture sharper! So, you would have to set the zoom to over 200% to cover the whole screen.

Another isssue is aspect ratio. A computer screen use square pixels, while a TV screen use rectangular pixels. However, they both have a screen aspect ratio of 4:3. Even if a video file with 352x480 pixels looks like a long narrow image, when played back correctly on a PC monitor or TV set, it will (should) fill the screen in a 4:3 ratio. Windows media player does NOT do this, but if you install a DVD player on your PC, the correct aspect ratio will be there when you play the file. If you want the file to play on a PC only with Windows Media Player, then you have to make the file 320x240 or 640x480 to get the correct aspect ratio. However, it will not play back correctly on a TV set.

[joeAgain------]

Thanks for answering Eyepop and Skittelsen.

I am not concerned with how it will look played on a computer, but am totally interested in the size and quality when played on a TV screen.

So am I in good shape with that PCTV Pro card? Note these questions you guys bring to mind:

Skittelsen: In this website's comparison table for TV cards it says that one has a "Capture Max Resolution/Format" value of 352x288.....and a "Max Resolution" of 768x576. Is that acceptable for what I want to see on a TV playback screen?
(Please forgive me....I know I'm asking sort of similar questions, but this is SO new to me, I'm trying hard to understand...Please bear with me, Ok?) Will getting a Firewire card (of another type) as Eyepop suggests improve end TV resolution?


Eyepop: My video card's manufacturer is listed, but my particular card(a 65Mb GeForce 2MX), but they say compatable with all cards....what do you think? What kind of problems are there IF it is not?

[joeAgain------]

Think I'll repost as new "topic"

[Paul777]

Hi Joe,
I'm pretty new to this stuff and I believe you and I are trying to do about the same thing. I want to archive my 17 year old family VHS tapes before they deteriorate. I also don't want to plunk down a bunch of money just yet. I have a Dazzle Digital Video Creator II and I found that if I capture the VHS to Mpeg2, 352x480 resolution, variable bit rate, and 6000 Mbps the resultant picture on my 35 inch Cathode Ray Tube TV is virtually the same as the original VHS tape. And I'm talking about full screen with no black lines on any sides and no stretching or schrunching of the picture. I've tried bit rates of 4000 and 2000 Mbps and the picture quality was fuzzy and would break down when the image changed rapidly.

I burn the Mpeg2 directly to a CD-R using Easy CD Creator, yes, it is not burned as either a VCD or SVCD, just a plain data file. I'm able to play the Mpeg2 file on my TV through the Apex 1100w DVD player I bought at Walmart for $74. The big drawback is that I can only get about 14 minutes on each CD-R, the good thing is that the Mpeg file is already in DVD format so when I have time I can do some editing and burn the videos to DVD when I'm ready (I capture the audio at DVD compatable 48kHz). I have only now found the best quality for my captures and have not started the archiving yet. I'm debating right now whether to break down a buy a DVD burner as I have to admit that 14 minutes is not a lot of time (although my daughters seem to be only able to take in that much of family videos at one time). I'm just waiting for the prices to come down, the Sony dropped about $200 to $300 in just the last month, but the new HP does both DVD+RW and DVD+R. Just gotta make a decision.

By the way, the computer I'm using is a hand-me-down from my wife. A one year old E-Machine 466MHz with 192MBRam. Granted not a powerhouse, but the price was right. It probably won't handle a DVD burner though, which is another variable in my decision matrix.

Hope this helps,
Paul

[joeAgain------]

Paul,

That sounds good to me too. If I get a DVD burner a get only a half hour on each disk. I could do it straight...and not have to worry about all the compressing and encoding stuff?

I like that. Half hour disks of straight thru transfer would be fine.

Can you transfer the 14 min file to your hard drive if you wanted to edit out things....and then burn a new 10 min disk of just stuff you really want to save?

[joeAgain------]

Paul,
You didn't mention a capture card(only the Dazzle bridge), how does that work? Do you have a capture card also? Or does the Dazzle unit connect directly to your video card?

Please check your Private messages. And email me. Being a "Newbie" myself, of all the ideas I've read on this board, yours seems the best to me. And it has other possibilities I'd like to discuss.....and possibly more capabilities and problems using DVD to do it.

joe

[Paul777]

Joe,
I'll answer the two posts above incase any other newbies are reading, and then email you so we can trade specifics.

First, the device I have is not the Dazzle Bridge, it's the Dazzle Digital Video Creator II. It includes a PCI card which attaches to an external box with connections for s-video, composite video, and stereo audio. It captures directly to the hard drive in real time, no encoding, processing etc. I can capture the analog video to MPEG1 or MPEG2 in either default DVD, SVCD, VCD, or any number of combinations of resolutions and bitrates (both constant and variable). As soon as I hit stop recording the file is on the hard drive and I can edit the file any way I want. Or in my case, just burn it to a CD-R and play it on the Apex DVD player.

Paul

[Devnull]

I have the Pinnacle PCTV Pro. It's alright but I would see if there is anyone else who had one of these, but has also used others... My capture quality varies quite a bit. I am pretty picky when it comes to video quality, but then I am limited to vcd and xvcd due to my player.

[monsoon01]

hey,
i have a pctv studio pro and i(after a lot of work) find the quality to be very good to the sourceafter running flaXen's VHS filter, that thing is a God sent. also when encoding your video use CQ not CB contant quality, for me, produces a less blocky picture.

[joeAgain------]

Monsoon01,

I found and downloaded that filter. How do I incorporate it into VisualDub,...or use it?

(Paul777, please check your email)

[joeAgain------]

Paul777,
I just purchaced the Dazzle Digital Video Creator II system. I found it for $205! And it came with lots of bundled software and DVDit also.

Please tell me....you did say I could capture from my VHS VCR, Right? My video camera does not work anymore.

Please answer that question, Ok?

[Jestorius]

It doesn't metter what kind of source you have, if it is a camcorder , vcr or something else. The only metter is the video - source. If you wanna capture from the VCR than it must have composit, s-vhs (Y/C) at least.

Just connect the video out from your VCD to the corresponding Dazzle video inn.

[joeAgain------]

Great !!

I can't wait to start using it!

About how many minutes can I burn on a CD-RW? How about a DVD-RW?

[shellie]

Joe,
I'll answer the two posts above incase any other newbies are reading, and then email you so we can trade specifics.

First, the device I have is not the Dazzle Bridge, it's the Dazzle Digital Video Creator II. It includes a PCI card which attaches to an external box with connections for s-video, composite video, and stereo audio. It captures directly to the hard drive in real time, no encoding, processing etc. I can capture the analog video to MPEG1 or MPEG2 in either default DVD, SVCD, VCD, or any number of combinations of resolutions and bitrates (both constant and variable). As soon as I hit stop recording the file is on the hard drive and I can edit the file any way I want. Or in my case, just burn it to a CD-R and play it on the Apex DVD player.

Paul

Paul, I'm one of those newbies you were talking about.....I have an Athlon processor, and recently purchased the DVCII, but cannot get my system to power up after I install the card. Of course, after the fact, discovered that some Athlon chipsets are reported to cause problems with the DVC, and since HP and Dazzle don't seem to know anything, was wondering if you might know something, or perhaps a workaround? If I do, in fact, have the no-go combination, what other capture card might you recommend for an Athlon 1900+ XP, Nvidia RIVA TNT2 Model 64?

[D_Knife]

joeAgain------
To your minutes question, you will get around 60Min in VCD mode and probably 30-35minutes in normal Dazzle SVCD, As I don't own a DVD writer I only capture in DVD mode to downsize to VCD

IMHO the Dazzle has a less than brilliant VCD capture result, but the SVCD and DVD modes are great so it's not too bad.

The capture modes are really regulated and there's not much you can alter with them - but I will say this if you can turn of the video preview while capturing, I use a video splitter cable to pipe the video to a cheap TV (actually a incredibly old Commodore Amiga monitor!!)
Anyway turning off preview clears up about 200% of the Dazzle capture probles people on this forum have, I have never used the preview and have not experienced corrupted mpegs, sound sync errors or anything else.
Hope this helps

[joeAgain------]

Thank you for that D_Knife,

But please tell me what you mean by capture in DVD mode to downsize to VCD.

Can I capture to SVCD format? Is that clearer? Will VCD and SVCD play on a DVD player to watch on TV screen?

[vhelp]

Morning Joe,

Whta D_Knife ment (about DVD mode) was this:
* he sets up his dvc II's template to capture w/ the DVD specs,
ie, 720x480 resolution, bla, bla, bla
* After he finishes capturing his video,
* he then takes that clip and feeds it into tmpg and encodes to a VCD,
hence the "downsize" wording his used.

Lots of users go this route. (no, not me)

This is something you could try, soon as you clear up your dvc ii
issues.

-vhelp

[joeAgain------]

which dvc ii issues, vhelp?

which "route" do you prefer?

[vhelp]

Afternoon, joeAgain. . .

DVD II ISSUES ? ?
I was refering to the one(s) you had posted in a previous post here, if
memory serves me correctly. I could be wrong - I don't feel like re-reading
all of your posts again

ROUTE:
I was refering to this approach, based on the many posts I've read here
over time, that people have used this route to achieve better VCD
encode quality.
* what people do is, in dvc ii, they just load up a DVD template and start
capturing video.
* then, after finishing capturing, they open up tmpg and use the clip to
re-encode to VCD using tmpg's VideoCD template. However, I believe
that these people are using the this standard VideoCD template and
revising to ie, raising the bitrate in tmpg to something other than the
standard 1150bitrate etc., hence making xVCD, etc.

Do I recommend this approach? ?
Is that what you were asking? ?
Well, since I don't use the DVD II, I can't make that recommendation
for you to use it "specifically" But, other's here, that have and/or do
continue to use it (this approach) can recommend to you weather it's
something you should do or not. I can't, cause I don't use the DVD II.

The above is an alternative method to creating VCDs. That was all I was
trying to lay out for you. An alternative, based on hear-say, he, he...

Good luck!

-vhelp

[jzedward]

I am considering Dazzle DVCii - right now I can only capture VCD 352x288 with my Studio PCTV, but only uncompressed @ 25fps *and* in Pinnacle Studio or VirtualDub I get audio out of sync. Prob my Cel667 is too sloooow

Using latest v5 WDM drivers I can cap @ VCD in iuVCR eval version - likely to pay the reg fee real soon now, so I recommend to others for capture with native WDM

[TheInformer]

shellie:

The Dazzle DVC II is incompatible with motherboards that do not correctly support PCI mastering. I had to buy another mobo when I found this out, which also caused me to buy a faster CPU.

Once I bought my Sony DVMC-DA1 media converter though, the DVC II became expendable. I'm now looking to sell the DVC II (used only once or twice).

Check this site out for a DVC II compatibility list:
http://www.digitallyactive.com/dazzle/

[joeAgain------]

Informer,

Please tell me what you mean by PCI mastering and correctly supporting it?

thanks,
joe

[D_Knife]

PCI Bus mastering is a feature which allows a device to transfer data from the card to the PC memory without going through the CPU, in the past is was also caused DMA transfer (for ISA bus)
This is a good feature to have as it saves your precious CPU cycles from having to traffic cop a huge stream of data.
You can also see this in CD-Rom/ DVD drives it's seen as PIO or DMA modes.

Most mainboards these days all have bus-mastering PCI slots, in the past only one or two slots would support Bus mastering, however as of Intel's LX440 core chipset (Pentium II mainboard) all intel based boards are fully bus mastered, the other chipset manufactures made their boards the same to keep up with Intel.
If you have a Pentium 3/4 or Athlon anything board you should be ok for bus-mastering

[joeAgain------]

Thanks Knife,
[Informer, your caution had me worried, because I'm Not ready to change mother boards after all the expense I've gone thru lately(eg. upgrading to 850Mhz PIII, 512Mb RAM, backup 40Gig HDD, CD burner, replacement monitor, Dazzle system, etc.....should have just gotten a new computer, but these things happen one at a time over a 2 month period!)]

My computer is a Win98SE, 1999 version DELL with a 440MX Motherboard.
So I'm Ok?????

How do I know which slot to put the new card into?(I have slots 1, 3 and 4 open)

[joeAgain------]

Ok,

I'm Ok with my 440mx motherboard(even if a couple posters Dazzle's unofficial site hardware compatibility area said they had installation problems with their 440ax boards)....since it definitely does have the ability to share IRQs. I know because I have a number of things sharing the same IRQ assignments with No conflicts on my machine.

I'm still interested though in which of the open slots the Dazzle card would best perform in.... in order to not have to share it's IRQ.

Or do I not have a choice and any slot I put it in would have my system assign a shared IRQ ?

Any ideas guys?

[TheInformer]

D_Knife:
Most mainboards these days all have bus-mastering PCI slots, in the past only one or two slots would support Bus mastering, however as of Intel's LX440 core chipset (Pentium II mainboard) all intel based boards are fully bus mastered, the other chipset manufactures made their boards the same to keep up with Intel.
If you have a Pentium 3/4 or Athlon anything board you should be ok for bus-mastering.

Intel chipsets correctly support bus mastering, but some Athlon chipsets do not. An example would be a KT-133 chipset. I had a nice mobo with this chipset, but the DVC II constantly locked up my machine, reset it, etc. This is due to the fact that the KT-133 chipset doesn't handle bus mastering correctly. I switched to a mobo with the KT-133a chipset, which has the bus mastering problem fixed, and the DVC II works great

Check the table at the previous link I gave to see what other people's experiences are. Knowledge can save you time and money.

[joeAgain------]

Informer,

I appreciate the "heads up" on possible MB problems. And after looking into my 440mx motherboard it appears I'm in good shape.

But it concerned me when that Dazzle hardware compatibility chart you linked me to showed 2 users of 440bx MBs having card installation problems(I guess that was before the MX series fixed that).

I'm still wondering about which MB slot to best install it and avoid any IRQ sharing, if possible.

Do you know?