Quantcast Recording Video: Which Card Should I Buy? - digitalFAQ.com Forums [Archives]
  #1  
02-22-2003, 08:58 PM
nicksteel nicksteel is offline
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I want to install a resonably priced card to capture cable tv. Could I get some recommendations? I have a 750mhz P3.
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  #2  
02-22-2003, 09:34 PM
kwag kwag is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nicksteel
I want to install a resonably priced card to capture cable tv. Could I get some recommendations? I have a 750mhz P3.
Get the Haupagge WinTV Go. It's a very cheap card and has excelent video quality
Then you can either capture to AVI using Huffy CODEC (need large disk space!), or use WinDVR and capture directly to MPEG-1 or MPEG-2

-kwag
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02-22-2003, 11:28 PM
nicksteel nicksteel is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kwag
Quote:
Originally Posted by nicksteel
I want to install a resonably priced card to capture cable tv. Could I get some recommendations? I have a 750mhz P3.
Get the Haupagge WinTV Go. It's a very cheap card and has excelent video quality
Then you can either capture to AVI using Huffy CODEC (need large disk space!), or use WinDVR and capture directly to MPEG-1 or MPEG-2

-kwag
OK, just bought one (model 401) on Ebay. Does the thing come with any software for capture? I will probably have a few questions after I receive it. My first target is the new Dune on SCIFI channel on 6 March.

How much disk space for Huffy are we talking about
?
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  #4  
02-22-2003, 11:46 PM
kwag kwag is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nicksteel

OK, just bought one (model 401) on Ebay. Does the thing come with any software for capture? I will probably have a few questions after I receive it. My first target is the new Dune on SCIFI channel on 6 March.

How much disk space for Huffy are we talking about
?
Huffy CODEC is a lossless CODEC that compresses 2:1 compared to RAW AVI. You'll need at least a 40GB hard for a ~2 hour capture. However, you can also use WinDVD and capture directly to MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 at a very high bit rate, and then you won't have any space issues

-kwag
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  #5  
02-23-2003, 07:10 AM
jamesp jamesp is offline
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NickSteel,

Good choice with the WINTVGo card! However, when you put the card in don't let any of the provided software within 10 meters of your pc - it really stinks big time! Instead, install the btwincap drivers from http://btwincap.sourceforge.net/ . These are much better drivers for cards with that chipset. Then you need a program to capture. I've tried windvr and don't like the results personally - but give it a try yourself. My personal preference is VirtualVCR - an excellent freeware app, get it from www.digtv.ws . This program allows you to capture to any avi codec installed on your pc and has some specific code to handle audio sync - make sure you tick 'Resample audio dynamically' in preferences although this is explained in the website help section.

Kwag quite rightly said captuing to huffyuv gives best overall quality. However, this gives you huge filesizes. I have found that using the Picvideo MJPEG on setting 18 or 19 gives excellent results when encoded using tmpeg using the PixieDust avisynth filter. The filesize savings are enormous.

If you have any quetions feel free to ask, i primarily use KDVD to encode tv captures made this way and some times the results look just like the tv broadcast. I usually fit about 4-6 hours widescreen capture to one dvd.

Jim

Quote:
Originally Posted by nicksteel
Quote:
Originally Posted by kwag
Quote:
Originally Posted by nicksteel
I want to install a resonably priced card to capture cable tv. Could I get some recommendations? I have a 750mhz P3.
Get the Haupagge WinTV Go. It's a very cheap card and has excelent video quality
Then you can either capture to AVI using Huffy CODEC (need large disk space!), or use WinDVR and capture directly to MPEG-1 or MPEG-2

-kwag
OK, just bought one (model 401) on Ebay. Does the thing come with any software for capture? I will probably have a few questions after I receive it. My first target is the new Dune on SCIFI channel on 6 March.

How much disk space for Huffy are we talking about
?
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  #6  
02-23-2003, 01:51 PM
rendalunit rendalunit is offline
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I'm using Virtual VCR and capturing to Divx5 @3000kbps and I'm getting good results- or at least I think it's good I really like this Virtual VCR proggy though- thanks for that link One problem though is when I capture at anything above 320x240 the preview window disappears
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02-23-2003, 02:10 PM
conquest10 conquest10 is offline
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i just bought an ati tv wonder ve for $40. works beautiful. i get great quality captures on it. using powervcr ii i can capture straight to high quality mpeg2.
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  #8  
02-23-2003, 02:17 PM
kwag kwag is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by conquest10
using powervcr ii i can capture straight to high quality mpeg2.
Try WinDVR. I think you'll like the MPEG-2 quality produced much better

-kwag
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  #9  
02-23-2003, 06:05 PM
jamesp jamesp is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rendalunit
I'm using Virtual VCR and capturing to Divx5 @3000kbps and I'm getting good results- or at least I think it's good I really like this Virtual VCR proggy though- thanks for that link One problem though is when I capture at anything above 320x240 the preview window disappears
Have you enabled 'smart tee for preview'.. Go to the virtual vcr site as they have a forum. Also, beware when capturing using Divx when the source is interlaced, Divx doesn't support interlaced video.

Jim
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02-23-2003, 07:39 PM
kwag kwag is offline
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Hi jamesp,

Have you tried the MGI MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 Video CODECs with VirtualVCR
I would like to know if they work ok, and how about quality

Thanks,
-kwag
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02-23-2003, 07:55 PM
rendalunit rendalunit is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jamesp
Also, beware when capturing using Divx when the source is interlaced, Divx doesn't support interlaced video.
yeah, I forgot about that I captured a small interlaced sample with divx5 at 352x480 and did deinterlaced it and encoded with 528x480 mpeg-1 and I don't see any combing at all
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02-24-2003, 03:02 AM
jamesp jamesp is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kwag
Hi jamesp,

Have you tried the MGI MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 Video CODECs with VirtualVCR
I would like to know if they work ok, and how about quality

Thanks,
-kwag

Kwag,

Where can i get these?

Jim
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  #13  
02-24-2003, 03:24 AM
kwag kwag is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jamesp

Kwag,

Where can i get these?

Jim
I think they are included in Darim's DVMpeg package. Not sure though
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  #14  
02-25-2003, 08:50 AM
nicksteel nicksteel is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jamesp
NickSteel,

Good choice with the WINTVGo card! However, when you put the card in don't let any of the provided software within 10 meters of your pc - it really stinks big time! Instead, install the btwincap drivers from http://btwincap.sourceforge.net/ . These are much better drivers for cards with that chipset. Then you need a program to capture. I've tried windvr and don't like the results personally - but give it a try yourself. My personal preference is VirtualVCR - an excellent freeware app, get it from www.digtv.ws . This program allows you to capture to any avi codec installed on your pc and has some specific code to handle audio sync - make sure you tick 'Resample audio dynamically' in preferences although this is explained in the website help section.

Kwag quite rightly said captuing to huffyuv gives best overall quality. However, this gives you huge filesizes. I have found that using the Picvideo MJPEG on setting 18 or 19 gives excellent results when encoded using tmpeg using the PixieDust avisynth filter. The filesize savings are enormous.

If you have any quetions feel free to ask, i primarily use KDVD to encode tv captures made this way and some times the results look just like the tv broadcast. I usually fit about 4-6 hours widescreen capture to one dvd.

Jim
Could you post a step-by-step for capturing tv cable with WINTVGO card to MPEG2 with VirtualVCR? This is my first try.
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  #15  
02-26-2003, 02:33 PM
nicksteel nicksteel is offline
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[quote="nicksteel"]
Quote:
Originally Posted by jamesp
NickSteel,

Good choice with the WINTVGo card! However, when you put the card in don't let any of the provided software within 10 meters of your pc - it really stinks big time! Instead, install the btwincap drivers from http://btwincap.sourceforge.net/ . These are much better drivers for cards with that chipset. Then you need a program to capture. I've tried windvr and don't like the results personally - but give it a try yourself. My personal preference is VirtualVCR - an excellent freeware app, get it from www.digtv.ws . This program allows you to capture to any avi codec installed on your pc and has some specific code to handle audio sync - make sure you tick 'Resample audio dynamically' in preferences although this is explained in the website help section.

Kwag quite rightly said captuing to huffyuv gives best overall quality. However, this gives you huge filesizes. I have found that using the Picvideo MJPEG on setting 18 or 19 gives excellent results when encoded using tmpeg using the PixieDust avisynth filter. The filesize savings are enormous.

If you have any quetions feel free to ask, i primarily use KDVD to encode tv captures made this way and some times the results look just like the tv broadcast. I usually fit about 4-6 hours widescreen capture to one dvd.

Jim
I've downloaded the drivers and virtualvcr you recommend.

1. How do I install the board using the downloaded driver set?
2. Where do I get the MJPEG and how do I configure virtualvcd for it?
3. What settings do you use with virtualvcd?

Would really appreciate guidence and would like to parallel the exact methods you are using for a beginning.
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  #16  
03-02-2003, 06:18 PM
andybno1 andybno1 is offline
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when I capture via vdub I get flickering lines in the preview box, but when I view the outputted avi file the flickering is not there, anyone know whats going on there?
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03-02-2003, 06:29 PM
kwag kwag is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by andybno1
when I capture via vdub I get flickering lines in the preview box, but when I view the outputted avi file the flickering is not there, anyone know whats going on there?
What you are seeing are retrace/blanking lines in your screen, because your capture program can't keep up the display in sync with the real external video. You should disable preview ALWAYS when you are capturing, so that the program doesn't have to keep updating the video memory. This way you also keep dropped frames to a minimum, because your capture program doesn't need to refresh the screen at the same time it's capturing video.

-kwag
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  #18  
03-02-2003, 07:10 PM
andybno1 andybno1 is offline
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cheers kwag for that tip, never knew that. I only seem to get flickering lines when I capture from digital satalite.
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  #19  
03-03-2003, 09:59 AM
nicksteel nicksteel is offline
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My system:

750 P3
Windows98se
ATI Radeon 32DDR
WinTV GO 190

So far, I've uninstalled/installed my wintv go card numerous times, using their uninstall program. I also reinstalled WIndows98se to detect hardware. I've so far experienced three problems:

Message upon installation that IRQ 10 had compatibility problems. This problem went away when I downloaded and installed from the wintv site:

VIA 4-in-1 driver
WinTV driver version 4.2 wtvdrv42.exe
WinTV2000 application version 3.39 wintv2k339_20112.exe

Failure of other programs (Virtualdvd, Windvd) to recognize the wintv go card.

They all say no tuner found.
Wintv go is not listed in Control panel/system/hardware. The video drivers and audio drivers are listed.

WinTV2000 operates ok. Capture misses audio.
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  #20  
03-03-2003, 10:46 AM
kwag kwag is offline
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Hi nicksteel,

Get this driver: http://btwincap.sf.net

-kwag
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