Video encoding help needed

[JonRead]

Up until recently I have only done VHS to DVD conversions (or camcorder) so things have been very straight forward. I now want to get in to higher quality codecs, especially AVC and any other HQ ones.

Capture wise I have a fairly old Snazzi USB2 capture box that doesn't seem to have any 16:9 option unless it is automatic or I am missing it. I also have a Analogue to Digital converter called ADVC-100 by Canopus. I want to capture video from a S-video source and create as high a quality output as I can in a downloadable size, if that makes sense. Basically speaking I am hoping to create a 90 minute video file for around 1.5gb. If the capturing equipment I have is not up to it, what do people suggest for hardware ? Do any also accept component or HDMI ?

What is the highest quality codec I can use and also what sort of resolutions should I use ? I am only used to DVD ones of 720x576, etc etc. Does the resolution differ if it is 16:9 ? I am guessing so to remove the black bars, yes ?

Any help or advice much appreciated, thanks.

[twolfe18]

as far as encoding and codecs go, if you are looking to get a 1.5gb file for 90 mins of video.... well thats just huge. those filesizes can be expected on raw footage with NO compression.

as far as codecs go, h.264 is probably the best, but XviD is a close second. if you use a bitrate around 1500 kb/s, that should be more than enough quality for what you are considering. that makes out to under 1gb for 90 mins of footage.

[FishTank]

caputre video as huffyuv and audio as PCM.

expect a large file (around 40 gigs for 90mins).

then compress it to xvid. theres a ton of info in this forum for
just that.

resolution: depends on if your signal is PAL or NTSC. since you're talking 720x576 for dvd i guess PAL, so keep that for
the capture and maybe lower it some for the encoded xvid. (something like 512x384 works good for me).
i dont think you can capture as 16:9. just crop the black bars when encoding.. (you can of course crop while capturing, but u have to know how much and thats not easy with broadcast, works for a vhs tape though)

good luck

[Blue_MiSfit]

Yes, I second FishTank's post. That's a great way to do it. Capture to lossless, filter with AviSynth if you want, and encode XviD or x264.

As far as hardware goes - if you want to step up to component or HDMI capture, you have to pay for it. Blackmagic makes an HDMI capture card called the Intensity. It's ~$250 if memory serves. Keep in mind it honors HDCP, so it will not capture (for example) the output of an HD-DVD player, PS2, or HD cable/sat box. It will however capture the HDMI output of your HD camera :)

Component capture cards are even more expensive, because they have to do a high quality A/D conversion. The only cards I know of are very pro level, and are designed for working with production quality analog video formats (Beta SP, etc). Both Blackmagic and Aja make very nice component video capture cards, but expect to pay at least $500 - $600. If you want to work in HD, then figure at least twice that (for the Multibridge, or Decklink HD)

Sanely priced consumer level cards are surprisingly good - especially when fed a clean source via S-Video. I'm happy with the quality of my GeForce 7800gt's basic VIVO. It could be better for live usage (too laggy for real time gaming with decent deinterlacing), but quite acceptable.

~MiSfit