Capturing TV: Codec to use??

[flanagann]

I'm capturing some programs from TV, and I don't know what codec to use for compressing.

I need good quality and I don't mind the size of the output file at all (although capturing without codecs spends 800MB/min!! that's too much). After capturing I will convert the .avi file to .ram files, so I prefer good quality and good resolutions.

I have tried Morgan and Huffyuv, both recommended by a friend.

What codecs do you use? What options do you enable/disable in this codecs or in others for obtaining good results??

Thanks!

[Boulder]

HuffYUV is lossless so you get what you see. You might also want to try the MSU lossless codec, a new version was released just a while ago.

ffdshow/ffvfw also includes a MJPEG codec which is lossy but at high quality settings you shouldn't see any difference. The same goes to Morgan MJPEG as well.

Capture in YUY2 in any case.

[Video Dude]

After capturing I will convert the .avi file to .ram files, so I prefer good quality and good resolutions.

If you are not going to edit, then another option is to capture directly in RealProducer (unless you had wanted to do a two pass encode to get a specific file size).

[deets]

i capture to high bitrate mpeg2 (9mbs) as my card has a built in hardware encoder.

normally folk suggest those like your friend has, Huffyuv being the one ive used. Thats normally if your then goign to convert to another format.

of course, you could even try capturing direct to xvid with a very high bitrate.

[flanagann]

Thanks a lot for your useful quick answers!!! I will try what you suggest.

As you see, I'm newbie with capturing, and I'm trying to develope something, so I think this isn't going to be my last question :P

Thanks again and regards!

[WildCelt]

Arithyuv (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=98042) Is a newer losseless codec that has great promise as well. I've done a few captures with it and like it so far.

[mgh]

Other options
PICVideo MJPEG codec-the fastest encoding codec adjust quality settings from 15 up and try.
DivX quality based at 93 % Q and interval between frames 10
The PICVideo codec is a must for slow computers

Be sure to capture audio uncompressed.
If you can encode directly to MPEG2-use VBR at as high a kbps as allowed by your capture software.

[Raziel6969]

Hello,
To not have lost frames, you need a fast codec, depending on your machine (CPU, HardDisk, Capture Card, others), you need to do some test on your own. You have to choose between:
1. With Loss: Is not good to edit, but maybe is an option when the file size is important. If you don't wanna edit, MPEG2 is good ( if you card has it) because is ready to DVD, with no re-encoding. Codecs: MJPEG (PICVideo, Morgan. I prefer PV), MPEG2 (if you card has it), DV (if you card is firewire). I didn't try XVID to capture, but maybe is slow to do that.
2. LossLess: Is good to edit stuff, and finally re-encode to another format (XVID, x264, VP7, MPEG2, MPEG1)
I do some quickly test with an anime trailer (DVD) "cowboy bebop the movie" (converted to progressive by AVS filter).
Conclusion To Me: Best Relation Size / Speed: Lagarith. Best Size: FFV1 AC. Best Speed: HUFFYUV YV12 (Median Adaptive). The last two comes with the latest builds of FFDshow (http://esby.free.fr/CelticDruid/) (Last: 20050920)
Nota1: FFV1: preloading (of each frame) = slow seek. keyframe distance=250 (default), to edit keyframe distance=1 (fast seek). I've read this codec is changing fast, then is better store the same FFDSHOW version with your encode (if you want to backup de lossless), to stay secure about to decode in the future [the common, is use the lossless has a temporal file to encode at lossy later]
Note2: MJPEG: has big file size. To me there are better options lossless
Note3: An old MSU codec version was good at compression (better than FFV1 AC), but is the slower of all lossless codecs (useless for capture), maybe that has changed with the last version, i think i'm gonna try it later.
Bye

[Boulder]

You should avoid capturing in YV12 if you can as the chroma resolution is much lower than in YUY2.

The new MSU codec is supposedly a bit faster, haven't tested it yet myself though - but I'm planning on using it on my next capture next week. At least it'll be a good one to use if you need to do any intermediate files for encodes with dead slow scripts.

In practice, PicVideo MJPEG at Q19 (or better yet, at chroma quality 3, luma quality 2) cannot be told from HuffYUV after encoding both to similar avg bitrate files. The filesize will be a helluva lot smaller and decompressing is also much faster.