PowerVCR vs Virtual Dub Whats better???

[Pinky99]

Can someone tell me, if PowerVCR is better (quality) than Virtual Dub?? Its more simple than VirtualDub, but is the quality the same?? Where is the difference???

[DigVidLab.com]

I may need correcting, but I think PowerVCR captures to MPEG format.
Ive tried it in the past, the program works pretty good and the video
is decent.

Though, captureing with AVI_IO or VirtualDub to AVI and then
encoding with TMPGEnc generates much better video quality.

Its all in what you want really, PowerVCR will save you the
encoding time at the cost of quality.

HTH, Good luck!

[Fozzee]

Well obviously I'm not getting as good TV picture as I should then. Because I get a better mpeg using PowerVCR then encoding with TMPEnc.

Cheers
Fozzee

[lchiu7]

Since I have not been able to capture in AVI using Virtualdub and others (either no WDM support in XP Pro or lose one channel sound) I capture using PVCR at high bit rates 6000kbs and then convert to SVCD or CVD format using TMP

Not ideal but it works okay

[homerpez]

I have used both of these programs, though as I recall, PowerVCR had a nasty time with Windows 2000/XP, but I did get it to work...

In my opinion, you MUST use Virtualdub (or similar program) and capture to Huffy (perfect) or MJPEG (less perfect), THEN convert to MPEG, for the best results. I can make SVCD that looks as good as the source video, since the capture is lossless with Huffy.

With PowerVCR, or any on-the-fly program, they have a limited range on what they can do for quality, and what they have to pass up for speed. PVCR always was blocky, tough to control GUI, I found ATI MMC to be better. And, ATI software has it's own problems, too, particularly with dropped frames and blockiness when even simple video effects are on the screen (like spinning).

Another advantage to doing it Huffy AVI --> Encode, is that you can tweak settings until you get what you want, knowing your source will always be flawless. With MPEG encoding on-the-fly, if something goes wrong, it's wrong for good.

[lchiu7]

I would not disagree with any of that but I can't comment on ATI's program since I don't have a ATI card.

I use PVCR since I cannot capture in AVI format using the WDM drivers supplied by Hauppauge, I always get one channel dropout. And using the universal drivers I get both channels but mono. Plus with any capture that using directshow I get noise bars on the screen and static. Not good and so far I have not been able to solve that problem

[TKS]

My personal opinion is that i cannot get Vdub to capture properly either. Id love to use it and i realize how incredible it is.. I mean i use it to frameserve to Tmpgenc.. and the video filters ALONE!!

But since i have an ATI tv wonder PCI.. I cannot for the life of me get them to capture properly in Vdub. On the other hand.. PowerVCR turned my ATI card into another card altogether and i really didnt have to do anything.. Id love to sit and compare the two, but i cannot get the drivers to install properly under win98se or win2k.

If anyone has any ideas on how i can.. Id love to hear/see em!

tks

[Fozzee]

"My personal opinion is that i cannot get Vdub to capture properly either. Id love to use it and i realize how incredible it is.. I mean i use it to frameserve to Tmpgenc.. and the video filters ALONE!! "

Hi
I can capture using Virtual Dub so if anyone can tell me how to improve the picture I'd be very interested. at the moment my PowerVCR Mpegs are far smoother than the Virtual Dub avis. Am I missing something?? I saw mention of filters ??? Are there filters u can get which improve the capture???

Cheers
Fozz

[homerpez]

at the moment my PowerVCR Mpegs are far smoother than the Virtual Dub avis. Am I missing something?? I saw mention of filters ??? Are there filters u can get which improve the capture???

Cheers
Fozz

This is due to playback. Because Huffy is still HUGE in size, the decoder has a rough time keeping up with the massive bitrates involved here. (To make a long story short, Huffy is TOO GOOD FOR IT).

But run it through your encoder, and you'll see it's fine (since it doesn't have to keep up to real-time playback to encode).

If your "dropped frames" counter % is extremely low, then you have a perfect pruduct (even though no player can keep up).

[SatStorm]

You can't beat Virtualdub with Huffyuv. It is far better
PowerVCR is a good program, expecially if you use high bitrates. A decent on the fly program. You can succeed far better results with virtualdub/TMPGenc (or CCE) at the same bitrates. Anyway, if you burn direct on DVD-R and you are ready to expect the fact that 1 DVD-R gonna be 2 Hour of movie, then it's ok.
Otherwise, go the other way to do 4 - 5 hours per Disc @ various combinations!

[lchiu7]

I like PVCR because of it's flexibility. I admit that Virtualdub is much more flexible since it can capture in AVI format uncompressed apart from lossless compression, but it doesn't use WDM drivers and getting it to schedule a capture for a channel at a time is a hassle. Hauppauge told me not to use their WDM drivers(!) because I was having one channel dropouts but to go back to their WFW drfivers. This means I could not use PVCR anymore which is a waste in investment.

Maybe the hassle free answer is to get a Tivo - after it runs Linux! Gotta to be better than Windows

[Stanley Bostitch]

I have Virtual Dub, so does that mean my PC also has the Huffy codec or do I have to d/l that somewhere? I use Pvcr 2, and your avi --> Tmpeg ideas are intriguing. Mooies.

[homerpez]

D/L Huffy under 'tools' on this site, at left.

It needs to be installed separately.

[hoola_loop]

i have a tv wonder ve with out of the box drivers and capture great with vdub + huff i get very little fram drop 0 to 140 per 2 hour movie. mainly in the first minute or so of capture. but after running through tmgp to vcd the end result is actually pretty awsome on the tv screen. dont be fooled by the way playback looks after capture. once you encode it looks as good as source.