Looking for a 480p capture card* [Archive] - Page 2

Dot50Cal

29th September 2007, 12:08

Just thought I mentioned this. Looking further into it, it seems the amp puts a "wave" pattern into the signal which is pretty distracting. Ill most likely be removing it since Im not splitting the signal anyway. Ill just go with some female phono plugs.

Also, Ill be getting XBOX 360 and Wii D-Terminal Cables so I'll post some shots up of the differences with them.

Side note: PSP slim's video out (480p only for games) is quite nice :)

http://dot50cal.the-horror.com/psp1.png

I also have some 480p Wii shots that a user was asking me for, so if anyone is interested they are here:
http://dot50cal.the-horror.com/480p.rar

Seraphic-

30th September 2007, 02:44

What "amp" are you talking about? Not sure what you mean.

Yeah, I picked up PSP, PS3 and Xbox 360 D-Terminal cables and PS3/360 Fiber Optic audio cables as well. But I won't be buying a 360 until the game I'm looking for is released into the market. There are just too many hardware problems with the system right now as they overheat and die.

What slim model did you order? My one from Japan is still on order as its out of stock. So I take it the video out feature works well? As you know it outputs a 720x480 picture with the game in a letter-box 480x272. Sound over-all good? I also heard that the aspect ratio is somewhat off when using video out.

Also Dot50Cal, do you live in the U.S? There is a slight power difference between U.S and Japan, so I was somewhat concerned about using a Japanese hardware card in a U.S system. But if you are, it would seem like there won't be a problem. And do you use a RAID 0 or 5 for your setup?

The Earthsoft PV4 is still out of stock throughout Japan, but I found another card that allows for the same capture of 480i/p, 720p, 1080i and also has lossless capture codec support. Don't have it yet, but I'll post my results when it arrives.

djpubba

2nd November 2007, 01:24

I also just found THIS (http://www.conexant.com/servlets/DownloadServlet/PBR-200865-002.pdf?docid=866&revid=2) while searching google for 480p capture cards. It's called the Conexant CX23885 video/audio chip and it seems that the Leadtek Winfast PxTV1200 (http://www.leadtek.com/eng/tv_tuner/specification.asp?pronameid=355&lineid=6&act=2) uses the chip with their tv-tuner/capture card. Not sure if anyone has heard of this or know other cards that use this chip-set, but it's something to look into. I can't locate specific capture specs for the Winfast at the moment, but if anyone finds more info be sure to post it. :D

CX23885 specifications: 480i YPrPb, 480p YPrPb, 720p YPrPb, 1080i YPrPb (view below image for the rest)

http://img485.imageshack.us/img485/8915/untitled2os6.th.jpg (http://img485.imageshack.us/my.php?image=untitled2os6.jpg)

I've been trying to find a 480p capture solution and bought a Winfast PxTV1200 for $55 hoping it would work. It does not. It does 480i only. I tried with VitrualDub, dscaler and the oem software. No joy.

SeanTek

2nd November 2007, 05:01

Hi All,

I have been following this thread for a long time now, and think that I have finally found the right card. While I was in Japan this summer I picked up two SKnet Monster X cards:
http://www.sknet-web.co.jp/product/mhvx.html

http://www.sknet-web.co.jp/images/mhvx_s.jpg

The Monster X PCI Express internal card that captures up to 1920x1080 (480i, 480p, 720p, and 1080i--1080p is not supported), along with stereo analog or S/PDIF, using a D-Terminal connector. In other words, it supports up to D4 (in D-Terminal speak). You can download the drivers and application software directly from SKnet.

According to sources that I found (and by inspection of the PCB), the card uses the Analog Devices AD9983A A/D converter. This converter appears to max out at 1080i, so 1080p is totally impossible. http://www.analog.com/en/prod/0%2C2877%2CAD9983A%2C00.html

It's too bad SKnet didn't shell out $1/unit more for the AD9984, as the AD9984 apparently goes to 1080p. Alas, we make do with what we can.

When I was in Japan I looked everywhere for a card, after trying the Blackmagic Intensity Pro in June (which did not work out as it only supports 480i, not 480p). As has been noted on this forum, the Earthsoft PV3 or PV4 are impossible to find. I checked out the Canopus HDRECS, but like the Intensity Pro, the HDRECS does not appear to support 480p. The HDRECS also costs around US$1000.

I am successfully using the Monster X to play Nintendo Wii, in 480p widescreen, on my 30" HP LP3065 monitor in Windows XP SP2 32-bit. The Monster X is specifically marketed to support playing of high-resolution game consoles such as Xbox, Xbox 360, GameCube, Wii, PlayStation 2 (PS2), and PlayStation 3 (PS3) on your computer monitor. They specifically tout PS3. Of course, you could also use this to capture video out of another computer if that computer is outputting component video, and you have a D Terminal connector.

If people want proof I can upload pictures. I found that the included Monster X software sort of dithered the onscreen image so that it looked like bad 16-bit or even 8-bit color about 95% of the time. However, I managed to get DScaler up and running with the card. I was using an nVidia 7600GT and am now using an 8600GTS, so I do not know if the bad dithering should be blamed on the Monster X drivers, DirectX, the Monster X software, or the video card driver. The bottom line, though, is that with DScaler (and maybe 5% of the time with the SKnet-provided application), the quality was pristine and amazing. Any questions? Has anyone else tried this card?

Ranguvar

2nd November 2007, 11:02

The HAVA Platinum HD will accept anywhere from 480i to 1080p component, pass it through to your TV, and downscale it to 480i and send it digitally through Ethernet.

So, no HD recording, but HD viewing and very good quality recording.

djpubba

17th November 2007, 01:08

Yes, PV3 uses its own codec by default. Some guys have found a way to get the signal being sent to the PV3 monitor app though into an Avisynth script, but the image appears washed out for me, but that could be because I am putting the AVS script into VirtualDub. I can get some captures of lossless vs their codec, give me a little bit. Its quite efficient and I dont think you'd notice much difference to be honest.

I picked up a PV4 recently. Can you explain further how/where to grab the stuff I need to take lossless screen? I seem to only be able to grab stills from a recorded dv movie, which is compressed with their proprietary codec.

Will the MonsterX card capture in a lossless format?

SeanTek

19th November 2007, 19:36

I wanted to provide an update on my Monster X experience. Yes, the Monster X will capture in a lossless format. With appropriate fiddling, the quality is really quite pristine.

My hard disk crashed so I had to reinstall Windows XP (32-bit). Incidentally, on the partition formerly known as "working OS installation," I was able to use DScaler with the Monster X card without a problem. However, I installed DScaler (both 4.15 and the experimental 4.16) after installing the Monster X drivers, and unfortunately, DScaler causes a STOP error of IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL when it switches to "composite video" (the component video input pin) on the Monster X.

Hope, however, is not lost. I found the following at karinto (かりんと！) http://karinto2.mine.nu/index.php?MonsterX

Apparently this poster has a Monster X and has done a lot of amazing work with this card! I tried using the MxCapture application posted there:
http://karinto2.mine.nu/index.php?MonsterXTOOL

And the Monster X is working beautifully with the tool. (I used the tool in conjunction with the Monster X Setting Utility to change the color balance.) I have not yet tried to capture, but MxCapture apparently supports capturing in a variety of formats and quality settings.

The MonsterXTOOL page also has a link to "64bit_test" drivers. Hooray--64-bit drivers! It says that the test version is unsupported, but the fact that they exist at all is encouraging. Does someone have Windows Vista 64-bit, and if so, can they test those drivers? I seriously doubt that they would work on Windows XP x64 as they are built with "Longhorn DDK Provider" in the resource description, but it's worth a try as well if anyone out there is willing to give it a shot.

Mysteriouskk

19th November 2007, 23:37

I wanted to provide an update on my Monster X experience. Yes, the Monster X will capture in a lossless format. With appropriate fiddling, the quality is really quite pristine.

How did you get your monster x running? I installed the drivers, program, etc, and all I'm seeing is static or a green screen when my xbox 360 is connected to my computer using the D-terminal cable. I've tried dscaler, mplayer classic, and they all do the same thing.

Thanks

ajp_anton

25th November 2007, 01:14

Dot50Cal

25th November 2007, 15:26

D-Terminal is the Japanese standard. Its Component video with a different connector.

Mysteriouskk

25th November 2007, 23:29

So does this Monster X really work (you had some problems after a re-install)?
I'd prefed capturing with VirtualDub, but as long as I can get lossless 480p and 720p I'm happy.

Does it do 60fps btw? <-important

And then there's also the D-terminal cable... why all these different cables

Yea, I got it to work. I'm now capturing at excellent quality. Check out my first post on http://www.cgaming.com

I compressed it quite a bit and I'm trying to get it smaller.

ajp_anton

26th November 2007, 06:12

That video is 30fps, encoded at 60fps, making every frame appear twice.

Mysteriouskk

26th November 2007, 07:53

That video is 30fps, encoded at 60fps, making every frame appear twice.

Really? how does that work?

Dot50Cal

26th November 2007, 12:49

Really? how does that work?

Not all games run at 60FPS. The great majority of console games are restricted to 30. You should really change the framerate if that is the case, you are making videos double the size they need to be.

If your card is anything like the pv3, it will record at 60 frames regardless of what the game runs at. Also, why are you limiting the horizontal width of the video on that page? Its 1000, which is throwing off the aspect ratio. And WMV inside an AVI? :(

Mysteriouskk

26th November 2007, 19:25

Not all games run at 60FPS. The great majority of console games are restricted to 30. You should really change the framerate if that is the case, you are making videos double the size they need to be.

If your card is anything like the pv3, it will record at 60 frames regardless of what the game runs at. Also, why are you limiting the horizontal width of the video on that page? Its 1000, which is throwing off the aspect ratio. And WMV inside an AVI? :(

Yea... still trying to figure out what to do to get it as small file size as possible. Do you have any recommendations or settings as to how I should do it?

ajp_anton

26th November 2007, 20:39

So can someone comfirm that this card really does 60fps (that video doesn't really proof anything) so I can start looking for someone who sells it =)

Mysteriouskk

26th November 2007, 21:25

So can someone comfirm that this card really does 60fps (that video doesn't really proof anything) so I can start looking for someone who sells it =)

Do you know a game that does 60 fps? Maybe I can try it later.

Mysteriouskk

26th November 2007, 21:48

What is the best way to go from MJPEG source to a small file size to post online? (1280x720)

Pope Flick

26th November 2007, 22:16

What is the best way to go from MJPEG source to a small file size to post online? (1280x720)

Unless REALLY necessary, skip the 100% size and output a 640x360. That'll help the file size straight away.

Mysteriouskk

27th November 2007, 01:38

Unless REALLY necessary, skip the 100% size and output a 640x360. That'll help the file size straight away.

I've gotten it around 0.3-0.4 KB/sec and it looks alright for 1280x720. I'm just wondering what is the way to encode the files and stuff. Apparently the video is 30 fps or something and the wmv and avi thing is messed up. How would I fix it?

Pope Flick

27th November 2007, 20:30

I've gotten it around 0.3-0.4 KB/sec and it looks alright for 1280x720. I'm just wondering what is the way to encode the files and stuff. Apparently the video is 30 fps or something and the wmv and avi thing is messed up. How would I fix it?

Time out. I'm not sure what that other guy was referring to, but if you captured that off a XBox 360 in its 720p format then you should be capturing at 59.94 fps, assuming your card captures at a default that matches the signal the 360 put out. If you can tweak the cframe rate you can capture at, then perhaps its different.

If I were you, and continue to intend to use youtube to host, I'd do your export at 30 fps, then send that file to youtube, where it would convert to 30 fps anyways, if I'm not mistaken. Better for you to do that work and create a file that's as close to 100MB as possible (youtube's non-Director limit) to send to them.

Blue_MiSfit

27th November 2007, 21:16

Better for you to do that work and create a file that's as close to 100MB as possible (youtube's non-Director limit) to send to them.

Absolutely. I saw a guide somewhere on how to encode an FLV perfectly so that YouTube doesn't re-encode it. This alone will make a huge difference.

For such a large downsize, something like bicubic or spline resize would probably be ideal. IMO lanczos might introduce some haloing...

Also, your video will probably be VERY clean. I would expect little to no analog interference due to the usage of the D terminal. This may (surprisingly) be an issue for MPEG codecs, as they typically expect some noise / grain. You might need to add a bit of grain to it. Just an idea that I remember someone mentioning awhile back. There could be some noise in the chroma planes that a quick fft3dfilter(plane=3) might fix. Use fft3dgpu if you can, and tweak as you prefer obviously.

By doing such a drastic reduction in resolution, you will probably lose a lot of detail, but that's to be expected...

If not YouTube - I.E. DivX Stage 6 - then go balls to the walls. Preserve full resolution - 60fps (if it's not all dupes), and keep as much detail as possible. Good luck!

I've need to get one of these cards (and my Xbox 360 back). I've got Forza 2 videos to make!

~Misfit

Pope Flick

11th December 2007, 21:26

http://www.leadtek.com/eng/company/press_2.asp?newsid=652

This just announced by LeadTek, and claims 480p support.

Anyone use one of their cards and now if lossless might be an option? This release is very short on specifics, espcially price....

Mysteriouskk

15th December 2007, 23:55

How does this video look? (Burnout Paradise at 60fps)

http://www.cgaming.com/test/test03.html (14MB, 30 sec)

Dot50Cal

16th December 2007, 22:43

It looks nice, but why do you have the resolution set to 960x547 when the video is 1280x720?

Mysteriouskk

17th December 2007, 01:40

It fits on the screen for most users. If you want to see it 1280x720, you need to use the full screen.

ajp_anton

17th December 2007, 06:34

How does this video look? (Burnout Paradise at 60fps)

http://www.cgaming.com/test/test03.html (14MB, 30 sec)Still not 60fps...

Seraphic-

17th December 2007, 06:39

How does this video look? (Burnout Paradise at 60fps)

http://www.cgaming.com/test/test03.html (14MB, 30 sec)

Mysteriouskk, was that done with the MonsterX?

Also Dot50Cal, in your other post you talked about trying HDMI with PS3 and the BlackMagic Intensity card. As you said, there was no video and did not work due to HDCP. However, do you recall if the audio stream passed to the card and was able to be heard/recorded? I've been trying to find out if the PS3 used HDCP for audio stream as well for the video stream.

Thanks

squid_80

17th December 2007, 06:44

The Intensity only passes audio to the pc if there's video to pass as well. It kinda sucks because audio always drops out when there's a display mode change.

Seraphic-

17th December 2007, 06:50

The Intensity only passes audio to the pc if there's video to pass as well. It kinda sucks because audio always drops out when there's a display mode change.

Are you sure you can't pass the audio if there is no video? Even so, I think the Intensity only does two channel anyway. However, the main reason I was asking is to see if there was HDCP or anything over the HDMI audio stream for a HDMI surround sound audio receiver.

squid_80

17th December 2007, 07:28

It will pass it unmodified through to the HDMI-Out port on the card but there's no way to get the audio on the pc if there's no video signal (with the current drivers).

Mysteriouskk

17th December 2007, 07:54

Still not 60fps...

It is 60fps...?

Mysteriouskk, was that done with the MonsterX?

Also Dot50Cal, in your other post you talked about trying HDMI with PS3 and the BlackMagic Intensity card. As you said, there was no video and did not work due to HDCP. However, do you recall if the audio stream passed to the card and was able to be heard/recorded? I've been trying to find out if the PS3 used HDCP for audio stream as well for the video stream.

Thanks

Yea, it was done with the Monster X.

Does anyone know a good host or some site that can stream videos? I can't seem to find one fast enough to handle this kind of material. Something not too expensive or free would be great.

ajp_anton

17th December 2007, 17:11

It is 60fps...?The video is 60fps, yes, but there are only 30 "unique" frames per second. Which means you're wasting space making doublets of every frame.

Mysteriouskk

17th December 2007, 20:17

The video is 60fps, yes, but there are only 30 "unique" frames per second. Which means you're wasting space making doublets of every frame.

How can I check it?

and how come it looks not as smooth when I try to make it 30fps? Is there some other way to convert it to 30fps?

Pope Flick

17th December 2007, 22:40

How can I check it?

and how come it looks not as smooth when I try to make it 30fps? Is there some other way to convert it to 30fps?

I'm not sure what you and Anton are driving at.
If this capture took place at native frame rate for this game, it's a 59.94 frames per second video. PROGRESSIVE. So, he's not 'duplicating' any frames, that's the actual output of the game.

I do game capture work, and this is exactly how my native, uncompressed 720p footage looks. Without knowing your process after capture, I cannot say exactly how to convert to 30, but that's what you want to do: capture the video, then put it into an encoder and set the size settings, but make the output at 30fps. In part, because that's what many lcd computer displays run at, and it'll aid in their viewing.

As it is, your video is VERY dense and does seem to push my robust system - but it's a mac. :p

Mysteriouskk

18th December 2007, 02:23

I'm not sure what you and Anton are driving at.
If this capture took place at native frame rate for this game, it's a 59.94 frames per second video. PROGRESSIVE. So, he's not 'duplicating' any frames, that's the actual output of the game.

I do game capture work, and this is exactly how my native, uncompressed 720p footage looks. Without knowing your process after capture, I cannot say exactly how to convert to 30, but that's what you want to do: capture the video, then put it into an encoder and set the size settings, but make the output at 30fps. In part, because that's what many lcd computer displays run at, and it'll aid in their viewing.

As it is, your video is VERY dense and does seem to push my robust system - but it's a mac. :p
I wanted to either end at wmv or h264 files, so right now I'm just using wmvmuxer to create my wmv files. If it is 59.94fps original, should I make the final video at 29.97fps? I tried setting it to 29.97fps, but for some reason, the video always ends up at 59.94? Is there something wrong with wmvmuxer?

Pope Flick

19th December 2007, 03:06

I wanted to either end at wmv or h264 files, so right now I'm just using wmvmuxer to create my wmv files. If it is 59.94fps original, should I make the final video at 29.97fps? I tried setting it to 29.97fps, but for some reason, the video always ends up at 59.94? Is there something wrong with wmvmuxer?

Well, again, I'm on a Mac, but if your end use is wanting to post the vids while retaining the highest qality, I'd capture as close to lossless as possible, then export a 30fps Quicktime because that's -from what I understand- an excellent default setting for your average computer monitor.

Also, if you're not going to stream it full size, then export at 640x360 too, and keep it as close to that as possible. That will help quality as well, provided it isn't blown up on your webpage.

Mysteriouskk

19th December 2007, 05:10

Well, again, I'm on a Mac, but if your end use is wanting to post the vids while retaining the highest qality, I'd capture as close to lossless as possible, then export a 30fps Quicktime because that's -from what I understand- an excellent default setting for your average computer monitor.

Also, if you're not going to stream it full size, then export at 640x360 too, and keep it as close to that as possible. That will help quality as well, provided it isn't blown up on your webpage.

Yea, I'll keep that in mind.

ajp_anton

20th December 2007, 23:59

Now that you mentioned it, I also remember I noticed the video looked a bit too smooth for 30fps.
So I downloaded it again and opened it with virtualdub using avisynth's ffmpegsource. It made me feel really stupid. Yes, it really is 60fps.

MPC's frame-forward clearly showed 30fps doubled into 60fps. There was even some small differences in compression artifacts for the doublets, further proving the 30fps. It's always worked fine with other video formats.

I'm really sorry I didn't test it properly. Well, now you know you didn't do anything wrong, and I know what card to get =)

You're recording to uncompressed right?

And to whoever said LCDs run at 30fps: I've never seen LCDs at lower than 60Hz, like mine, and 60fps looks much better than 30fps.

Mysteriouskk

21st December 2007, 01:31

Blue_MiSfit

26th December 2007, 18:20

Try a lossless codec, like HuffYVU or Lagarith.

~MiSfit

News Bot

4th January 2008, 06:27

Mysteriouskk

5th January 2008, 01:49

After reading through this topic, I see that the Monster X and the Earthsoft PV4 are basically the best in terms of HD capture cards.

Problem is, where does a mere non-Japanese mortal aquire them? ;_;

Use Japan to US services such as Rinkya, to buy stuff straight from Japan. You basically choose what you want to buy using Yahoo Japan's Auction site and they will win the auction and ship the product to you. There is a small fee though.

News Bot

5th January 2008, 06:03

Yeah. Last time I heard it was $15. Not so bad, considering the end price of the overall product.

Thing is, i'm in the UK. ;_;

Mysteriouskk

5th January 2008, 08:26

Yeah. Last time I heard it was $15. Not so bad, considering the end price of the overall product.

Thing is, i'm in the UK. ;_;

Rinkya and other service shipping places do offer shipping around the world, so take a look at those options and see what fits you best.

News Bot

5th January 2008, 19:41

Ahh, I see. Thanks for the help. =D

Mysteriouskk, would you be able to capture a 480p game by any chance?

ajp_anton

7th January 2008, 16:53

I only have room for one card in my Media Center, and it needs DVBt. Been planning to move the power supply outside the case and somehow put a capture card where it was, but i just found the perfect card:

http://www.leadtek.com/eng/tv_tuner/overview.asp?lineid=6&pronameid=399

easy2Bcheesy

10th January 2008, 07:28

I'm recording using the Pic Video MJPEG codec it comes with at the 18 level (out of 20). For some reason, I'm not sure how to capture completely uncompressed. I still need to figure some stuff out.

Your Burnout video is a 60fps capture, but you're dropping a lot of frames. When I play it back I can see the "jumps" in the passing scenery which are not present in the game. It's blatant right from the beginning with the passing bus.

What tool are you using to capture? Can't you use VirtualDub?