Does anyone capture with PowerVCR II (3.0) straight into DV?

[jpb1977]

Hello! I just installed PowerVCR II 3.0 on my system, and I couldn't be happier! Instantly, I get better quality than I ever got from the S-Video input of my ATI TV Wonder, and don't have to capture uncompressed from my DV camera. It's great....

BUT,

When I capture anything above 240 resolution, (using DV, no testing with ATI TV Wonder because it's obsolete now that I can go direct) the system chugs, I hear the audio break up and the file plays back like it has dropped frames. There is no problem with the standard VCD template, but with my system specs, there should be no issues for even DVD quality mpeg2!!!!

I have a 1.2 AMD, 256 rm, 7200 HD, always scanned, always defragged. HELP!! Modeler_us - where are you? Also, I could net get the tweaktool for this program to install properly, I made all changes to the registry manually.

jpb

[macleod]

did you install the upgrade patch from cyberlink's (powervcr II software maker's) website. Install the patch first, then do the registry tweeks.

I had the same issue and that is what I did to get it to work.

[jpb1977]

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh - I think I did things backwards - registry tweaks, then patch. Should I un-install and then start from scratch??

jpb

ps - so you do have success capturing at high-bitrates straight from DV?

[macleod]

whoops. I may have responded a little to quickly. I saw you mention 240 lines and I thought you were having problems getting anything about XXX x 240.

I, personally don't do DV captures (wife wont let me buy any DV stuff - bitches enough about what I do now ). I have been doing analog captures and stuff from TV.

For the purposes of being able to capture at above 240 lines (smoothly) at least in the analog and TV cap world, I had to install the patch first and then do the tweeks. I don't think you need to uninstall and reinstall (I didn't).

[jpb1977]

Ok, ran another test here at work - I think the 240 lines is irrelevant. It comes down to CPU power? Does it take more CPU power to input DV than analog video? I would love to test it, except that my ATI-TV Wonder has no audio when coming into PowerVCR!!

Here (at work) we have a P3 700, and it chugged on normal 352X240 mpeg1. As for DVD capture - forget it! At home I can do 352X240 mpeg1 all day, but I want SVCD!!! I've applied both patches, but made adjustments to the registry manually. Where can I get the tweaktool, and how important is it?

Again, is there anyone out there with success in regards to DV straight to higher bitrate mpegs?

jpb

[jpb1977]

Ok, things are starting to make sense. Turns out, you need a mega system to transcode DV to mpeg - 800 mhz for mpeg1, 1.2Ghz+ for mpeg2, and let me tell you - I have a 1.2, and it doesn't cut it, even for simple 480X480 mpeg2. Imagine 720X480 mpeg2 - good luck!

But, here's what I've learned. There are some serious advantages to PowerDirector Pro. Pretend you've got a DV camera, you can batch your captures and then let it run overnight for non-real time mpeg-ging, which will lead to much better quality. The only issue is that you'll need to stripe tapes so that the same timecode isn't on the same tape (not sure about this yet, I'm trying to figure out if my DV camera can do this.)

The reason it is harder for DV to be captured is because there is no hardware unlike a analog capture card (like my TV Wonder) to do the resizing. The cpu has to do both - resizing and mpeg-ging, and like I said, you better have a p4 2ghz +!!!

SO - how can we get PowerVCR (and PowerDirector) to capture sound using the s-video input!! I know EVERYONE is having this problem and there have been a few success stories. Can we make this post into a collection of where to find those???

ps - anyone have success with the Dazzle USB capture unit?? I don't care for the tv tuner, so I might sell it and get the Dazzle.

jpb