which programs are better?

[kd1]

Okay ive read hours of guides on vdub and TMPGEnc and how good they are, and im still a total newb at how and what they do.
I've got ulead video studio6 SE and i use it to convert to mpg1/2 and divx 5.03(trying), and i use winfast pvr to capture(leadtek tv2000xp deluxe). Now ive had some problems with these, so what i want to know is, is vdub(ive downloaded vdubmod) better at capturing(and encoding to or editing avi) and is TMPGEnc better at converting to mpg1/2 and whatever else it does.:confused:
For intstance winfast pvr lets me choose uncompressed avi, but i chose mpeg2 optimal(720x576 4000bitrate) and the quality and size was good(14gig 8hrs of video- i only can spare 20gig) but the capture had a green blurry line at the bottom of the video, then video studio would take forever to join and output the video(after i had taken out the commercials) even though the settings were the same(sort of like direct streaming). That is why im looking for alternative programs.
Plus ive read that i need additional files like huffyuv, mjpeg and mpeg2 plugins. Dont video studio or winfast pvr use these?
Is the quality difference with these free programs worth paying for these plugins?
I just want to know whether learning to use and pay(plugins?) for these programs worth the effort, or to just stick to the retail software i have?
i hope this isnt covered in any guides or faqs, because after hours and days of reading i havent found the answer, so any help will hopefully steer me in the right direction.
thanks
:)

[killingspree]

hi

Originally posted by kd1

I've got ulead video studio6 SE and i use it to convert to mpg1/2 and divx 5.03(trying), and i use winfast pvr to capture(leadtek tv2000xp deluxe). Now ive had some problems with these, so what i want to know is, is vdub(ive downloaded vdubmod) better at capturing(and encoding to or editing avi) and is TMPGEnc better at converting to mpg1/2 and whatever else it does.:confused:

actually although you've said there isn't there is a guide for analoqe capturing (from a TV, VCR, etc) it is fairly new and still being improved but it covers pretty much everything you need to do capturing with only the help of free programs. it does not cover the ulead video studio though. anyway as said in the guide, capturing directly to mpeg is generally not recommended.
if you look into the forum rules and especially rule 12, for your convenience i'll quote it here: Do not ask "what's best" because this question cannot be answered objectively. Each and everyone has their own view about what's best in a certain area. The best is what works best for you!
you should understand that i cannot tell you what is best. but these are MY opinions:
for mpeg encoding: CCE if you want the best quality; tempeg if CCE is too expensive or you have compatibility issues.
for avi encoing. please frameserve with avisynth and encode with virtualdubmod. if you do not know the avisynth script lanugage (sounds difficult, but isn't) ;-) learn it, i can reassure you it is worth you. expecially if you do a lot of capturing, therefore need a lot of filters.

For intstance winfast pvr lets me choose uncompressed avi, but i chose mpeg2 optimal(720x576 4000bitrate) and the quality and size was good(14gig 8hrs of video- i only can spare 20gig) but the capture had a green blurry line at the bottom of the video, then video studio would take forever to join and output the video(after i had taken out the commercials) even though the settings were the same(sort of like direct streaming). That is why im looking for alternative programs.

see above...
i do not know the video studio application but i can guess that it reencoded the whole movie after cutting out the commercials. which is definitely not necessary and imposes quite a quality loss too. again see the guide as it has an extra section about cutting out ads. in the next release of the guide there will be several methods described. it will be released soon. (i personally am working on it)

Plus ive read that i need additional files like huffyuv, mjpeg and mpeg2 plugins. Dont video studio or winfast pvr use these?
Is the quality difference with these free programs worth paying for these plugins?

again... in my eyes all of these softwares that came with your hardware are not too usefull if you want to do serious work. you can achieve way better results using the method described in the guide. i personally would not invest any money in new addons for your studio as i believe those are rip offs (: if you cannot get enough diskspace for lossless capture, capture to mpeg2... but afterwards use avisynth to frameserve etc... don't postprocess/ encode your video with your studio...

I just want to know whether learning to use and pay(plugins?) for these programs worth the effort, or to just stick to the retail software i have?
i hope this isnt covered in any guides or faqs, because after hours and days of reading i havent found the answer, so any help will hopefully steer me in the right direction.
thanks
:)
here's the link to the guide:
http://doom9.org/capture/start.html
and here's the analoque capture FAQ:
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=32575
and you might also just take a look into the capture forum:
http://forum.doom9.org/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=10

hope this calrified a few things...
regards
steVe

PS: ALWAYS check when the new guide is coming out... i will help you a lot more!! :D

[kd1]

thanks for the reply,
i didnt mean to break the rule, but i wasnt asking what programs ppl think are the best, but whether the free programs(TMPGEnc,vdubmod) are better at what they do than the programs I have(video studio6, winfast PVR).
Plus ive read that i need additional files like huffyuv, mjpeg and mpeg2 plugins. Dont video studio or winfast pvr use these?
I meant files and plugins and any costs(mpeg2 for TMPGEnc?)concerning the free programs. And whether my programs have these files already(and can therefore be used with the other free programs).
But you havent used the two retail programs i mentioned so i can see where you're are coming from. :)
i do not know the video studio application but i can guess that it reencoded the whole movie after cutting out the commercials. which is definitely not necessary and imposes quite a quality loss too. again see the guide as it has an extra section about cutting out ads. in the next release of the guide there will be several methods described. it will be released soon. (i personally am working on it)
No, v studio doesnt reencode if you edit and save with the same settings, it puts it together in about 2-5mins. Its just the 8hrs i captured and edited that it couldnt save right and i dont know why. If i dont edit and just save a copy of the original capture it does it quick(like direct stream copy), this is the first time ive come across this problem.(maybe the capture wasnt consistent-i think vbr mpeg2 capturing-no configuration).
my captured files are mpeg2 at the moment so i'll have to learn how to edit with TMPGEnc i think.
i havent got enough space to capture lossless and vdub only captures avi, so can i try to capture straight to divx and is there a guide?
again ive searched but havent come across one.
I hope i havent repeated myself and thanks again.

n00b :)