A couple of questions about capturing..

[Mr.Miyagi]

In order to capture to mpeg1 or mpeg2 do i need a dedicated capture card (that captures straight to mpeg1/2) or can i buy a TV card with the correct inputs and use a program to capture straight to mpeg1/2 like WinVCR for example and do it that way

input would be very much appreciated.

TIA

[bb]

You don't need a dedicated capture card with MPEG hardware on it unless you want to use an old computer having like a 500 MHz processor.

You should decide if you really want to capture in MPEG-1/-2, because there are better ways of capturing analogue sources (MJPEG, Huffyuv). The final encoding could still be MPEG-1/-2 (e.g. VCD, SVCD, or DVD).

If you are going to do digital captures, you need a DVB card. Depending on your source you need DVB-S (satellite), DVB-C (cable), or DVB-T (terrestrical). These cards usually come with software, and the capture process is very different from the anlogue way.

bb

[Mr.Miyagi]

I'd really like something that will capture to about the same quality as the source, im not worried about re-encoding as i know how to do all that.

the main sources would be from VHS and Sky Digital, if i can capture with minimal quality loss then i'd be happy.

[bb]

Minimal quality loss would mean something like using a graphics card with video-in or a TV card, then use VirtualDub to capture with Huffyuv codec (large and fast HDD needed). Then use a good encoder to compress, e.g. CCE, Canopus Procoder or TMPGEnc.

But there are people who swear on capturing through a DV device (e.g. that fabulous Canopus box) or even a DV camcorder. Never tried that personally, but if you browse the forums you'll find some recommendations.

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[Mr.Miyagi]

The graphics card ive got is a Novatech GeForce4 Ti4200 128MB 8XAGP Graphics Card TV Out

it has a VIVO port but it only seems to send out

if i got a capture card with composite and/or s-video ports i take it that'd be all i need then i can use whatever software to capture to what i need?

[jggimi]

if i got a capture card with composite and/or s-video ports i take it that'd be all i need then i can use whatever software to capture to what i need?Yes. Keep in mind, capturing from VHS or Sky Digital analog video-out (composite, component, S-video, or even RF) is just that, an Analog -> Digital capture.

DV "capture" is effectively a file transfer. The hardware and software technologies are very different. I don't know if Sky Digital offers DV-out, but if it does, then a DVB "capture" would give you the 1s and 0s as transmitted.

[Mr.Miyagi]

OK i got one last question

if i buy a mpeg capture card that has a built in TV tuner/imput can i use that seperate from the mpeg encoding so i can record using the lossless avi codec and not be limited by what the mpeg1/2 capturing is limited to? but still have the bonus of having onboard mpeg encoding?

[kronik]

i have a soltek ti4200 8x agp vivo... i ran into a prob where i couldn't use my video in and it didn't explain anything about it. anyways i figured it out...u need to go to nvidia.com and click download drivers, then software and multimedia, then get the wdm drivers.
although i'm having problems using the software that it came with i've been messing around with virtualvcr and it works fine with that. i'm trying IUVCR today. good luck with u'r card, let me know if u find anything cool ;)
KroniK

EDIT: quality is limited with my card. it can't use vfw drivers and it's uyvy. so if u want to encode better u'll need a better video in card...it's a nice addition to the ti4200 but they could have done a better job :(

[bb]

Originally posted by jggimi
DV "capture" is effectively a file transfer. The hardware and software technologies are very different. I don't know if Sky Digital offers DV-out, but if it does, then a DVB "capture" would give you the 1s and 0s as transmitted.
The "DV way" I mentioned above is an analogue capture, which is converted to DV in realtime by some hardware (DV box or camcorder). Only the second part is like a "file transfer" via firewire. DVB set top boxes don't have DV out as far as I know.

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[Mr.Miyagi]

I d/l and installed the WDM drivers and it installed everything ok apart from the actual capture device part (this device cannot start (code 10) error appears, the tv tuner and all the other things installed ok

is there anything i can do to get the capture part to work?

[jggimi]

@bb

thanks for the clarification and correction.

[Mr.Miyagi]

Are the resolutions the TV card captures at restricted in anyway, after a lot of thinking ive decided to get a normal tv card and capture to lossless AVI then encode to whatever i want

i just dont want to be limited to something like 320x240 or something silly like that, can anyone recommend a decent tv card that doesnt have resolution restrictions.

thanks.

[dilly]

My Leadtek Winfast 2000XP has no trouble capturing at 640x480 with bt8x8 drivers. However; I can get it to cap at 720x576, but only with the software AND drivers that ship with the card --which are too buggy (typical). I'm satisfied with it.

No cards nowadays are limited to 320x240.

Here's some samples.

http://tinyurl.com/6v6s
http://tinyurl.com/6v6v
http://tinyurl.com/6v6y