Linux + Capturing

[gkar]

I am just about ready to give up on attempting capturing my VHS collection to DivX. Due to major driver conflicts with Nvidia chipset/nForce2 (I think) I cannot capture video/watch TV on WinXP and with problems on Win98SE -frame drops & other issues intermittently.

Are there any known issues with this format using Linux? I made a start some months back with Mandrake 9.0 but gave up as I'm not the best with command lines etc. Also, is there a file size maximum as with Win98 -4GB?

This is my (just about) last resort.

Lan Party NFII Ultra B mobo
AMD2200+ CPU
Gigabyte GV9000Pro video card
1x80GB HDD
1x40GB HDD
512MB DDR2700 RAM
Lite On LDW-411s DVD writer
Asus E616 DVD Rom

[Razorblade2000]

file size limit = nope...
capturing works fine for me using mencoder...

[gkar]

Thanks Razorblade.

I assume file size limit = nope... means no size limit.

Also, would I be better upgrading to Mandrake 10? or is the difference not worth the effort, as I only a 56K modem connection, and stay with 9.0.

[shevegen]

"I made a start some months back with Mandrake 9.0 but gave up as I'm not the best with command lines etc."

Hey, who is anyway ;)
Seriously, I am using about 1500 aliases (roughly) for my bash shell, and most of those things are just shortcuts.
For the rest i store the info like options and examples in a mini faq locally. I dont know many really remember all mencoder options (some certainly do!), for the rest... i just look up what options are there to be used.





"I am just about ready to give up on attempting capturing my VHS collection to DivX. "
I am curious, how do you plan to do it? I still have a big VHS collection of about 100 of those fat cassettes, and i want to remove them, into XviD or Matroska.

[gkar]

I am curious, how do you plan to do it? I still have a big VHS collection of about 100 of those fat cassettes, and i want to remove them, into XviD or Matroska.

Originally, in WinXP I was going to capture>edit (using VirtualDubMod)>burn to DVD in Divx format inside Matroska container with chapters for each programme start.

Then, when unable to capture due to system config conflicts, in Win98SE: capture> edit & join (max. 4GB file size)(VirtualDubMod)>burn -as above.

Now, capture using Linux to fat32 HDD> edit & burn as above.

Two more things required:

patience & time; lots of it ;-)

[DaveQB]

FAT32 HDD will give you file size limits i believe.

Just use a HDD in ext3, there the limit isnt there as Razorblade200 said above.

Ext3 is like NTFS
ext2 is like FAT32

[MrTibs]

What is everyone using to capture in Linux?

What lossless codec should I use?

[Razorblade2000]

I used to use mencoder + libavcodec (mpeg 2 or mpeg 4 at high bitrates)

[DaveQB]

I have given mencoder a go. Looks pretty efficient and fast.
The problem is it doesn't capture audio. I have spent a few hours searching arouding and reading the man but nothing I have tried resolved this issue.

G4vl is the only tool I have that works. But it only captures in compressed audio, so sync issues :(

I still have to use Windows if I want a good, high bit-rate capture.

[DaveQB]

Originally posted by MrTibs

What lossless codec should I use?

MJPEG is a good one, although technically a lossy codec, @ 20 (or 2000) its much like huffy

Its generally always an option in the tools i have tried, in contrast to huffy

[MrTibs]

I've done some poking around and found this link. It seems to cover most of what I'm asking.

http://www.spinics.net/lists/vfl/msg10851.html