A few HD TV PC card questions

[yetanotherid]

I have a Winfast PxDTV2300H HD digital TV tuner, capture card, thingy. I'm pretty new to this.

The accompanying software only seems to allow me to record using MPEG2 video. Is that normal for a TV tuner, capture card, thingy?

What I assumed I'd be able to do is simply record directly to the format I'd prefer to keep, such as XviD. Unless there's a reason for not doing so I'd be happy to buy another type of card if need be.

And then there's the "removing commercials" issue. Is there an easy way?

I guess what I'm asking is did I buy the right card and is there software that'll automatically remove the commercials in recordings (either before or after). What I'm hoping for is a way to set a program for recording and return to find it in the format of my choosing with the commercials already removed.

Am I dreaming? What does everyone else use?

Thanks for your help,
Darren.

PS. I have another thread going regarding motion blur if anyone can help there.

[squid_80]

Is that normal for a TV tuner, capture card, thingy?Yes for digital tv in Australia (I'm guessing this is where you are, since it's where that card is mainly sold). All digital tv video streams are transmitted as MPEG2, they just get dumped to disk as is.

[yetanotherid]

Yes for digital tv in Australia (I'm guessing this is where you are, since it's where that card is mainly sold). All digital tv video streams are transmitted as MPEG2, they just get dumped to disk as is.

Yes I am. And that makes sense.
One question down...... :-)

Thanks.

[burfadel]

I have a Winfast PxDTV2300H HD digital TV tuner, capture card, thingy. I'm pretty new to this.

The accompanying software only seems to allow me to record using MPEG2 video. Is that normal for a TV tuner, capture card, thingy?

What I assumed I'd be able to do is simply record directly to the format I'd prefer to keep, such as XviD. Unless there's a reason for not doing so I'd be happy to buy another type of card if need be.

And then there's the "removing commercials" issue. Is there an easy way?

I guess what I'm asking is did I buy the right card and is there software that'll automatically remove the commercials in recordings (either before or after). What I'm hoping for is a way to set a program for recording and return to find it in the format of my choosing with the commercials already removed.

Am I dreaming? What does everyone else use?

Thanks for your help,
Darren.

PS. I have another thread going regarding motion blur if anyone can help there.


The Winfast PVR dumps the video straight to disk, and if recording in 'silent mode' (so there's no video showing when recording) it uses virtually no CPU! If it were to transcode the video on the fly to formats such as xvid, it would use a significant amount of CPU such that it would interfere with the use of the computer. In silent mode as is, you can record and play games like Far Cry 2, Crysis, GTA 4 etc and have no noticeable impact on game performance.

Transcoding (that is, encoding to Xvid etc) on the fly is very inefficient, as the most optimal settings for storage can't be used, such as a high keyframe interval etc. Not to mention you'd still have tv ads.

One way to do what you are suggesting is to use Staxrip (www.planetdvb.net/staxrip), with which you can easily cut out commercials and encode to another format. This way you can use the most optimal settings to suit your needs. Its usually a good idea to update the components used by staxrip to the latest then ignore the recommendations, they're there because the programme has been tested with those versions and it known to work. Since the settings for things like x264, neroaac, projectx, etc haven't changed since the last version of Staxrip was released, doing so is fine and can actually be more beneficial due to the quality and speed enhancements that have gone in to these components.

To record a programme and have the commercials automatically removed properly isn't effectively possible. I have heard some programmes claiming that in the past but the end result is some commercials remain and parts of the programme may be cut! Channel 9 does have aspect signalling on some shows, and this can be used as a means to effectively cut out adverts (since the adverts don't have the aspect signal/code)! but I'm not sure of any programmes that can use this method to do so.

[squid_80]

It used to be possible using mpeg2schnitt for programs that used 5.1 AC3 audio recorded from the HD channels; the audio would drop back to stereo/pro-logic during the commercials and those points would automatically be used for cutting. I haven't tried it in nearly 4 years though so I don't know if it still works.

[yetanotherid]

squid_80,
Thanks for that. I'll look for it.

burfadel,
You certainly sound like you're in Australia. Thanks for the info. I'm slowly learning more about how it all works....

[burfadel]

burfadel,
You certainly sound like you're in Australia. Thanks for the info. I'm slowly learning more about how it all works....

Yes, I'm in Adelaide, and I have twin DTV1000S cards (for MVP mode) so I know about the Winfast PVR software! - its a very cost effective means of getting a twin tuner setup, and its designed for it.