Best AVI compression Codec for PCTV pro users?

[Hong Kong Phooey]

Due to problems listed elsewhere here, I wanted to sound-out other user's of Pinnacle's PCTV pro cards as to what compression codec they found easiest to use ,(On a Celeron 900), with the least amount of frame drops for AVI capture,what resoultions,(ie: PAL 352x288 or better),& that can then be converted in TMPGenc to VCD standards?

Although I have read of there being generic BT878 chipset drivers,I've only seen WDM drivers for Win98 2nd Edition or better machines,(Not Win98 First Edition which I have). Although Generic BT878 VFW drivers are mentioned,I didn't have much luck unearthing them via google. Can anyone say if the generic BT878 VFW drivers were any good? If so are they still available,& would they be better than the current Pinnacle drivers installed? (VFW Version 4.2a)

[bprothero]

Have you tried the HUFFYUV codec? It compresses around 2:1 and is losseless. Your machine should have no problems using that codec.

Brian

[Macros746]

I know that Huffy is supposed to be the most 'lossless' codec out there but I MUCH prefer MJEG. I feel that MJEG set to 18 (quality rating) uses far less HD space and compresses better with fewer artifacts than Huffy. Try clips of both and compare for yourself but I definitely prefer MJEG.

Macros746

[bprothero]

I also prefer to use M-JPEG as this is the hardware codec built into my capture card. My Matrox M-JPEG codec doesn't have the same settings option to set it at 18; but I use the lowest compression ratio available (4.1:1) and the quality is excellent. I think it is at least as good video quality as HUFFYUV and uses far less HD space.

Brian

[monsoon01]

if you have some money then picvideo is an excellent codec to use with the studio pctv pro but huffy is a great free alternative, but for slower/smaller drives mjpeg is the way to go.

[davelanton]

The generic drivers you are looking for are at:
http://btwincap.sourceforge.net/

I use the PCTV (not Pro) card. With the btwincap drivers, I can capture 720x480 29.97fps in real time with NO frames dropped using Picvideo MJPEG! I have a P4 1.6 Gig Dell.

Not only is the card capturing more efficiently, but it also makes 3rd party apps like PowerVCR work (it didn't work at all with the Pinnacle drivers).

By the way, I found the drivers from this vcdhelp forum message:
http://www.vcdhelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=93349&highlight=btwincap

[monsoon01]

davelanton,
what program are you using to capture with? i just upgraded to win2k(i love having no file size limit) and i'm using iuvcr but its a bit finicky on my computer, so it be nice to know what you are using to capture, and i'd like to avoid the wrapper if possible.

[Hong Kong Phooey]

@bprothero.
You've been able to capture comfortably with Huffy? What CPU specs/O/S are you using?
I've have yet to been able to capture at any resolution (Using Huffy),in either VDub or AVI-IO's demo version,(I'm a PAL user), regardless of trying Overlay,or Preview methods @25 f.p.s. 352x288,much less 640x480 which is my limit for my CPU

[Hong Kong Phooey]

Darn, forgot the second reply!
@Davelaton. I have visited that link you posted,(Thank you all the same though),via google myself. But one of the FAQ's specifically states that Windows 98 First Edition users cannot use these Generic BT878 drivers, you must have at least W98SE. A pity,as from what you say,the results might be worth it,with a decent capture program anyway!!

I did see that the site that lists that IUVCR also has "tweaked" BT878 drivers,but it mentions that whilst the WDM drivers it has should work or Windows 98,"they're no reccomended". What are everyone's experiences of these other drivers at that site? (For Win 98 1stEd).

[Devnull]

MJPEG even at 19 or 20 introduces block noise for me that is not present in huffyuv or when uncompressed. That is why I plan on getting a 120gb hd.

I really think you should try and see for yourself but I cann't stand using mjpeg for resolutions above 352x480, for me it introduces a lto of noise. Not meaning to thread hijack but I am also interested in those 3rd party drivers... Where can I find more information on them, as in user experiences? not their faq or something

[monsoon01]

devnull,
i have had no problems capturing at mjpeg quality 20 at 704x480, depends on your source i guess. here are 2 links for generic drivers

btwincap@sourceforge

or

iuLabs

I am currently using the btwincap drivers, they are pretty good but i'm going to try the 1s from iulabs soon, just to see.

[Hong Kong Phooey]

Well,following some friendly advice I got a 2nd hard disk, 40Gig ATA100 7200rpm, which has made quite a difference. I can now capture in Huffy @640x480 though thats about its limits.
My hassle is now once you've caught that footage & go to edit/filter it in VDub,do you need to resave the file all over again?
The footage looks unaltered from the original footage if I frameserved it to TPMGEnc,do I really have to wait for it to be rerendered & saved all over again? (Before using it in TMPGEnc.

[davelanton]

I am capturing with AVI_IO. I use PicVideo MJPEG, quality 19. I capture an hour (takes up 9-10 gigs). Then I edit out commercials in Virtualdub, add filters, offset the audio, and frame serve it to Tmpgeng.

My personal experience with Virtualdub's capture was out-of-sync audio that gets worse as time goes on. With AVI_IO, my audio was *exactly* 14 ms out of sync throughout the capture. So I use Virtualdub's audio interleave settings to fix the lip-sync before frame serving.