Huffyuv/avi vs. TS and resultant encode quality?

[Tio]

Was wondering what quality difference there is (if any) imposed on a pc/avi encode derived from either a huffyuv/avi or transport stream of the same digital broadcast source?

For a 90min. 480i digital broadcast source huff/avi consumes about 40Gb of HD while when captured as a TS it's file size is somewhere around 2Gb. That's a BIG difference but am I correct in thinking that this TS file is the same raw source that is being bloomed into the larger huff/avi file during a capcard capture?

Huffyuv/avi caps are via cablebox -> s-video -> WinTV-FM -> V'Dub
TS caps are via cablebox -> firewire -> CapDVHS (direct stream)

Thanks,
Tio

[communist]

am I correct in thinking that this TS file is the same raw source that is being bloomed into the larger huff/avi file during a capcard capture?

Not entirely. Just record the TS - it should give you a better quality because its actually just a saving process of the stream that is broadcasted. The huffyuv file that you cap comes from 2 conversions : digital -> analog (Box -> S-Video) and then converted to digital again by your capture card (S-Video -> CapCard). Not really useful when you can grab the digital stream from the beginning.

[Tio]

Fabulous! I figured the TS was the route to go as it's an unadulterated copy direct from the source. Just surprising in that it's one of those process upgrades that truly makes life easier. Smaller file sizes to store, best possible quality, no encoding required prior to formatting to DVD specs, etc., etc., etc.! ;-)

Regards,
Tio