12 hour Capturing

[tsnyder41]

My car was recently vandalized. I want to record my car over night using my somewhat old Panasonic VHS-C camcorder and HTPC (1.47G, 512ddr, 120g, AIW 7500, XP Pro). I have played with the ATI TV program and Virtual Mod with VCR sync. I find the ATI TV program unstable. I kind of like Virtual Dub Mod with VCR sync for the timing aspect. However the files are huge. I would like to keep the 12-hour recording under 20G at least. I don't need any audio.

I want to try to keep the resolution of 352x480.
What compression codec should I use?
Can I lower the color depth to lower file size?

I would like a setup that could run in the background easily., without dropping too many frames.

Thanks
Matt

[uxbridge]

try XviD Mpeg4 codec. It produces decent quality and relatively low CPU utilisation with very high compression on the fly.
Use a "90" quality setting and you should be all right for the application. If the file is still too big, try "85" or "80", the loss of quality is limited.
If you record over night, there cannot be much action, and the black color will be predominant so the compression should work very well and the lenght of the file trivial.

You must use YUY2 to use this compression.
The only thing is the PC has to be fast.
Yours should do however.

[tsnyder41]

I have used that codec for other applications and have been please. What capturing program would you recommend? I am looking for one that is;

Schedule - seup that would allow daily capturing times
Stable
low on CPU usage and resources

Thanks
Matt

[vhelp]

hi tsnyder41,

yes, I agree, use one of those divX codecs. I've done this on my
ESC KS75A w/ XP 1700+ and didn't have any issues. And, in your
case, frame drops is NOT an issue here. So, a couple wount hurt, or matter none.

Also, capture at low resolution like 320x240 will do just fine, and you
should get hours upon hours of capturing. But, use low divX compression
settings to minimize the amount of TAXing you'll be putting on your MB,
CPU and harddrive during this VERY LONG capturing - a quick system
melt-down in matter of days weeks if you don't use minimal settings.
Also, set "your keyframe" to as low a setting (1) and that should be more
than enough for quality. Heck, if you see anybody near your car, even
a blocky look is enough notice something-amiss.

Good luck.
-vhelp

[uxbridge]

Concerning the capture application, I have not tried the Vdub modifications to allow it to act as a VCR. You can try one of those.
Instead I use Vdub and "Virtual Dub Start Pro" who allows you to have a virtual VCR. I have the 1.1 and works very well for my TV recording. Hope your car will not be vandalised again. Ciao

[djmattyb]

You should also consider looking for software that captures video on a motion detection basis. Then you wouldn't have to compress the video a bunch. This is a better idea because that way when you make an enlargement of an individual frame of video, it won't look as bad.

Just a thought.

[SaSi]

My ASUS card came with a capture add-on that does just that. It will capture from a camera and can capture at a fixed frame rate (frames per minute, that is), as well as do movie when it detects motion.

This is your best approach on this. Do 3-4 frames per minute (at full res) plus increased framerate (5-15fps) when motion is detected. The total file size will not exceed even 1 Gb.

[Nelson37]

If you plan on using this as evidence in court, use Hi-resolution AVI cap. The ATI software you already have has a motion-detection setting, or you can use a very low framerate to reduce filesize.