9600xt Video Capture....

[jeremymacmull]

Hey all this is my first delve into video capture and encoding captured material

and the reason is simple I have just been given a hi8 handycam like video camera

basically I am getting the ATI Radeon 9600xt already and have no intention of buying a AIW card or another GFX card

Can the 9600xt capture from a composite source ?

if not can someone reccomend a very cheap and half decent capture card for someone living in the Uk (i only need composite in really)
and budget is a big constraint.

next question i have 1X 80 gb 120gxp ibm hdd spare which im planning on devoting entirely to capturing my home made movies etc

if i use huffyuv at 768X576 (or Full PAL res) and wav for the sound how long in recording mode should 76.5 gb give me roughly (1 hr ,10 hrs , 20 mins etc)



In the long run i plan to make a dvd

basically my friends and i are going to make a lot of relatively short videos that i then want to edit (would adobe premiere 6.0 be good for editing out mistakes or would some one reccomend something else ) i want to then create a full dvd with menus and ability to click on the clip you want to play. i also want to record a voiceover for certain clips and have them via a secondary audio track for the clip (like directors commentary).obviously id have to encode the clips to mpeg2 and sound to lpcm or ac3

IS this possible

what tools and software would i need

can someone reccomend ALL the software id need preferably freeware but im willing to get software if it is a LOT better for the job

JEREMY

[jeremymacmull]

After reading the guides again

It seems there is a program called sonic my dvd 5 which can do most of what i want to do and looks easy to use

i dont want animated menus i just want simple menus with piccies and buttons to click on

i also want to make a slide show for credits and artwork

however none of them mentioned more than 1 audio stream (ie sonic my DVD 5) the price tag of upto £50 is acceptable

any one care to comment on this product or am i looking at the wrong things

JEREMY

[jeremymacmull]

anyone ?? i know the asus 9600xt can capture and has a vivo breakout box but does the stock ATI one have one ?

otherwise any suggestions for a £60< capture card for a VHS composite camera

JEREMY

[Arachnotron]

http://mirror.ati.com/products/radeon9600/radeon9600pro/specs.html

From this page, I get the impression this card only has s-video (TV) out, and cannot cap at all....

For alternatives, there are plenty of discussions about those in this forum.

[edit] as far as I know (but I don't own Ati products) only the All-In-Wonder product line does capping.

[jeremymacmull]

cheers for that

the reason i ask is that the ASUS 9600xt can capture in SVIDEO and Composite via a breakout box dongle thing and i was wondering if the normal radeon had it too

If not what capture card would u reccomend i need it for Video VHS capture only buying another GFX card like the ATI all in wonder is NOT an option

JEREMY

[Arachnotron]

All analogue capping devices can do composite.

The cheapest option would be a TV card. Roughly speaking, they come with three types of chips: The Conexant BT878, its successor the CX23881 and the Philips SAA7133 or 34.

The BT878 is an older design. Still very popular, but the combfilter is not as good as that of the other two, and you need a good combfilter for a composite source. There are many brands that make TV cards with these chips on them. The choice between the Philips and the CX chip is more a matter of taste than anything else. Go for a brand that has good driver support and will be around for a few years.

You can cap full resolution with them (720x576 or even 768x576), but they don't do any compression on-board, the computer (codec) has to do that. Personally I think this is an advantage (you have more control over it) and your PC has the power for it.

More expensive are cards like the Hauppauge PCR series that do compression on-board (MPEG2 I believe).

Also expensive are external devices that do DV or MPG2 compression, and connect through firewire or USB2. There are some (like the ADVC300) that have very good combfiltering. But you pay for that.

Stay away from cheap external USB2 devices that don't compress at all. They can be very troublesome while not delivering better quality than an internal card.

Also, if you have AC97 on-board sound you might consider putting in a real soundcard. It does not have to be an expensive one, but cards tend to give less problems then AC97 versions.

For the rest: see what you can afford, what is available for that price and then use the search option of the forum.

And ofcourse: read the Doom9 capture guide to learn what the issues are with capping. :)