Capturing With MiniDV and Virtualdub

[zolik]

I have been looked other places and cant seem to find much info on this subject. I have a MiniDV recorder and would like to Capture the video and turn it into either SVCD or Divx/Xvid format. I have looked at the Capture Material on Doom9's how too's, however I seem to have issues. it seems like I can capture the video without to much a problem, the problem I do have seems to be with the video quality itself, the image quality is bad looks like a very low bitrate .AVI and I cant seem to get it clear.

Im not sure if anybody can help with this problem but all help is appreciated :confused:

[stickboy]

doom9's capture guide and VirtualDub are meant for capturing video from analog sources, not from DV.

You should use a tool that can directly transfer DV without recompressing the video (such as WinDV, DVIO, Scenalyzer Live, etc.).

[zolik]

Thanks for the info, I have downloaded all except for Scenalyzer Live. because it is not freewear howver I see on all of them that you need IEEE 1394 firewire port to capture from.
My miniDV only came with a USB cable? is this a major problem or will the program still pickup there being a capture device? and will I b able to capture from it okay?

[stickboy]

Do you have a Firewire card? If you want to take advantage of DV, then you should get one.

The USB interfaces on DV camcorders I've seen are usually crippled (e.g. they allow transfer of MPEG1 streams over USB, but not DV).

Or did you mean that your camcorder doesn't have a Firewire port? That seems quite unusual.

[zolik]

Okay Im looking at the side of my miniDV it is a Sony DCR HC30E
It has a USB port, a DV port, a A/V port and LAN.
Im guessing this has something to do with the DV socket. However I only recieved a USB cable with camcorder.

Also I should include that the camcorder cam with a image/video packager which allows you to capture the Video and burn a VCD, main problem is is that the Frame rate is very low, not smooth at all and it burns directly to VCD/DVD which ever you select, it soent allow to leave on harddisk and then author.

[bb]

If you have a firewire card or onboard firewire, maybe you got a firewire cable together with the card / mainboard. If not, you need to buy one. Typically, you need a 6-pin to 4-pin cable. Beware: in Germany you pay from €2,50 to €25,- for the same cable, same quality, depending on where you buy!

bb

[zolik]

aaahh I see so I should get a cable with the card, thats okay I can pick a card up for $40AU thanks :)

[mustardman]

If you want decent quality, which I imagine you do, then you will need the IEE1394 interface card.
Beware, the cable is usually more expensive than the card! But like bb said, you can get a card with a cable included, just make sure it is 6 pin to 4 pin before you buy!

[bb]

Firewire is just another word for IEEE 1394 by the way.

bb

[Mug Funky]

zolik: have you been to tandy's lately? 4-6pin 1394 cables cost AU$50!! it's so much cheaper to get a card (plus you get the card and some crappy OEM software with your cable... sweet deal)

i lost the cable that came with my card. i'll be damned if i buy another card to save myself $10.

[zolik]

Is there any benifit in using USB 2.0? a friend at work says he uses USB 2.0 and is able to capture without an issue via virtualdub.

[bb]

VirtualDub capture means analogue capture, because VirtualDub cannot deal with DV devices. You should use firewire to be compatible with all camcorders and DV software. In the DV world, USB is merely used for still photo transfers (at least most of the time).

bb

[zolik]

well now that I have my new system setup I'll be on the look out for a firewire card, is there any brand in particular that anybody recommends or they all generally good quality?

[bb]

They should all be the same. The card has to be OHCI compliant (I haven't found one which is not), and there are cards with two or three sockets. Make sure you get one with the firewire cable included (4 pin to 6 pin).

bb