Video Guides > Capturing/Recording
> MPEG with PowerVCR II
Article last updated December 22, 2008
Understand that
MPEG capturing is not suggested unless you have high quality
MPEG hardware, a device that usually comes with its own
specialty capturing software or drivers. For many
budget-priced consumer capture cards, the best quality will
come from an uncompressed or low-compression AVI capture.
While there are several options in MPEG capture software out
there,
many of them record with poor video quality. For those who insist on capturing MPEG
with lower quality capture cards, this guide presents an
option that will capture MPEG with acceptable results, on
those low-end cards.
This method requires the software Power
VCR II and the freeware PVAstrumento. Not using both programs may result in poor results. PowerVCR
alone is known to have severe audio sync problems.
PVAstrumento will realign the audio and eliminate these problems. PowerVCR does not report dropped video frames
if any occur, and it will record audio regardless of video
drops. The 44.1hz audio is also given an incorrect 48hz ID
tag. PVASstrumento fixes these problems on the final file.
For best results, follow
all steps of the guide, without deviation.
As of December 2008, this software is not advertised as sold
by Cyberlink
on their website, however it appears a demo is still
available, and registration may still be possible. Google
Shopping searches show the software available from
discount vendors for as little as $8 total.
Note: If you have an ATI AIW/VIVO, Hauppauge
PVR250/350, Matrox or Canopus MPEG cards, please use the
software that came with the card. While this guide will
provide decent results, it cannot compete with the high
caliber hardware/software combination on that equipment.
This guide is not meant for you.
PowerVCR II Custom
Installation
Go ahead and install PowerVCR II like
any other program. Follow the instructions and reboot as
required.
Registry Editor. After installing the software, it is
time to customize the setup for PowerVCR II. You must edit
the registry so PowerVCR will give better results than what
it does by default.
Goto START -> RUN -> and type
"regedit" -> then click OK
Warning !! Be very
careful !! Do not stray from this guide !! The
registry is the code area of Windows that controls how the
system and its software operates. The Registry Editor is
part of Windows that let's users make custom changes.
Making the wrong changes could damage your system. As long
as you follow this guide without deviation, you should be
fine.
Making the registry changes. Once the Registry Editor
launches, it will pop up a windows that many computer users
will find confusing. The + boxes expand the tree of code.
- Expand the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE tree.
- Expand the SOFTWARE tree
- Expand the CYBERLINK tree.
- Expand the POWERVCR II tree.
Your registry will have a LOT more trees in it. This image
has been cropped to show just what you need. The registry is
alphabetically sorted, so you should have no troubles
finding the trees.
Click on the POWERVCR II tree so it becomes highlighted.
When this is done, the window on the right will reveal the
coding for POWER VCR II. Some of this will be changed.
Restore interlace - PART I
- Find the LiveDeinterlace key and
double-click on it to bring up the editing box.
- Change the value to 00 00 00 00
Change maximum allowed filesize
- Find the MaxRecSizeMB key and double-click on it to bring
up the editing box.
- Change the input to DECIMAL and change value to 3990 if
running Windows 95, 95 or ME. Change to 8000 if running
Windows NT, 2000, XP.
Restore interlace - PART II
- Find the RecDeinterlace key and
double-click on it to bring up the editing box.
- Change the value to 00 00 00 00
Add 352x480 Half-D1 recording resolution
- Find the AllVideoSize key and
double-click on it to bring up the editing box.
- Add 352 x 480# to the end of the file. Be sure to use
spaces exactly as shown.
Now expand the HKEY_CURRENT_USER
tree and repeat the process !!!
These changes must be made in both locations for the
hacks to properly work. After making all these changes, you are finished with the
installation process. Now reboot the computer (required for
Windows 65/98/ME ... may not be necessary for NT/2000/XP). After it
restarts, open up PowerVCR II.
PowerVCR II Capture
Settings
When PowerVCR II first opens, the
viewing screen is a bit large. Some systems may not like
having a preview of that size. Click the lower right corner,
and resize to about two-thirds or half the original size (it
will resize to recording size later on when you begin to
record).
Above: The important items are in the pink boxes. The top
left is the Cyberlink menu, with PowerVCR capture as the top
item. The preview window (shown in blue) is where the video
will be. The pick-axe icon on the bottom left is the setting
control panels. The red dot on the far right is the RECORD
button. These are your basic controls.
Click the pick-axe to enter the CONTROL PANELS ...
Above: Select your video capture card and your input source.
Select the sound card and then select the audio source,
normally LINE IN. Set both audio setting to the same
connection so you can hear what you're recording.
Above: This is where you can alter your video quality
settings. PLEASE NOTE! A video will look "muddy"
(meaning less contrast) on a PC monitor as compared to a tv
set because the PC uses a RGB 0-255 colorspace while the tv
uses a YUV 16-235 colorspace. These are best left untouched,
except in situation where the video needs to be corrected.
Leave in OVERLAY mode for most cards on most systems. This
is what affects how you see your video in the preview
window. The wrong option will often make the program crash.
Above: The presets that come with this program, much like
every capture program, are not very good. Click NEW and
we'll now take advantage of the hacks that were implemented
in the registry. Your new profile will appear in the USER
DEFINED area when added (it can be EDITED or DELETED with
those buttons later). Do not alter the INSTRUCTION SET for
any reason. This info is pulled from your CPU.
Above: Name the new profile (PROFILE NAME tab, not shown)
and then move on to the VIDEO tab. Set the encoding format
to MPEG-2 and the video size to the newly-added 352x480
resolution. For this example, a bitrate of 4000k is being
used. For normal use, follow the bitrate chart on the AVI
vs MPEG section of the Video
Capturing Intro Guide.
Above: This program uses MPEG Layer II audio for capturing.
A bitrate of 256k-384k is suggested. For almost all
situations, the richness and adequate bitrate of 256k is
perfect. The audio mode will depend on your soundcard (true
STEREO audio card used here).
Above: The ADVANCED tab has advanced MPEG control. Leave it
at HIGH QUALITY (this program is already imperfect as it is,
the HIGH SPEED option is a bit blocky). The IPB settings are
optimal at 2B/4P or 2B/3P but can be 1B/2P for less demand
on the CPU (as shown here). Never use I-FRAME only as that
is not a DVD-spec MPEG file.
Click OK and you're now done setting up the new custom
capturing profile.
It will go back to the SYSTEM SETTINGS control panels...
Above: Be sure it is set to record both AUDIO AND VIDEO. Use
the advanced options as you see fit. Intelligent Noise
Removal seems to works okay. Video Smoothing can be usefull
too. The WORKING DIRECTORY is where capture files will be
automatically saved (preferably on a capture-only hard drive
for best results).
The program should now be completely set up. Click OK
to exit and return to the main program. Start the video
(which should show video and have audio) and then click the
RED RECORD BUTTON to start recording.
PLEASE NOTE! If you are getting half-sized files (176x480)
when using the 352x480 setting (or 368x480 files when using
the 720x480 setting), simply go add a double-sized setting
in the registry. A 704x480 setting will yield 352x480 files,
as will a 1440x480 setting yield 720x480 files (though Full
D1 is not really needed). Test thoroughly before committing
hours to a project.
PVAStrumento
Corrections
Again, PowerVCR II 3.0 does not keep
audio/video in sync very well. The files are often corrupt.
The freeware PVAStrumento will fix this. Click
here to visit the download site (if this site if
offline, please let us know using the CONTACT US button at
the top of this page). Download and install the program (it
does not really matter which version is used, thought this
is still being tested).
Above: Load your PowerVCRII-made MPEG file (... to open
file). Click INFO to bring up the stream information.
It will show a 44.1hz audio file and your MPEG video file.
Notice how the PTS is offset from the very first instant!
This program was made for DVB use, but offer MPEG correction
as a side effect. This is the reason to use this tool. Click
SCAN to find the errors in the file.
Click DEMUX...
Above: Change the file location (as needed) by using the
(...) marks by BASENAME. Change the EXTENSIONS of the new
files to have VIDEO as .M2V and audio as .MP2. There will be
no AC3 file, that is not used on this guide (PowerVCRII
captures MPEG Layer II audio). Leave all other settings
at defaults.
Click START and then let it make the corrected files. The
end.
NOTE: If the final files look/sound butchered, try
again with another version of PVAStrumento. Each version has
it's own set of bugs and problems. Software v2030 is often
suggested as the best one to use.
Closing
Thoughts
Unlike the ATI All-In-Wonder MPEG guides, this guide is
not guaranteed to work on all systems, although it may work
quite often. Feel free to ask questions
in our forum,
but know that there is little more that can be suggested.
Using a cheap video card is not the way to go when both
quality matters and live MPEG capture is desired.
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