Few questions about miniDV (*might* be n00b)

[madman_xxx]

(Aw God, I can finally post!)

Hello,

I bought my SONY DCR-HC22E camcorder few days ago. Ofcourse I did some recording, playing, testing, encoding... But few things are still on my mind:

1) How can I _just view_ the recording on my PC in full-screen with sound and 50fps (let's say 25fps is enough - I know how interlace works: 100fps.com :D)? MediaPlayerClassic has an option "Open device". It works, but without sound, and 25fps.

2) My i.Link port is (as the producer says) bidirectional. How can record some video back to camcorder?

...And few things I noticed:
- My cam's codec is quite sophisticated: it plays at 50fps, but "Video Renderer" shows only 25fps... When I do step-play (frame by frame) it proceeds by 2 frames. And the video appears to be in full-height... Interesting...
- Encoding and playing back can be very annoying: I use xvid with interlacing option enabled. Everything would be fine, but the motion really sucks :/ But when the image is interlaced, the framerate can be *artificially* doubled, by progressive scan (only during encoding) or putting monitor into interlace mode (during playback). Unfortunately my video driver (ATi x800XL) does something weird with image and the single video-frames don't flicker (but if you take a snapshot and view it they will!). Similiar issue was in the analog capturing (?) forum two years ago... Unfortunately without any practical solutions... But I found one on my own :P I do SeparateFields() with AVISynth, play it in (put your favorite player with "don't keep aspect ratio" option) with doubled height and monitor in interlace mode. It even works :)

[Mug Funky]

try ffdshow - it'll play back interlaced Xvid with your video card doing a bob-deinterlace the same way it plays back interlaced DV (and it can be set to decode both).

don't turn your monitor onto interlaced mode... you might never get it back (my old geforce 1 is like that - by abusing "advanced timings" somehow 100hz mode got stuck on interlace mode, but it's 1024x1536, 50hz now and is ugly as sin. to get 100hz progressive i had to hack 85hz to go to 100, and i can't get that back now either)

the 50fps playback you're getting with the DV codec is just a hardware bob as above. the reason it shows as 25fps and advances 2 fields at a time is that the bobbing is done in the video-card, so directshow has no information on what's being done.

[madman_xxx]

Thanks for reply.
So ffdshow can do SeparateFields() and ForceAspectRatio at the same time? Cool :D Do I need some specific ffdshow version? Special setup?

I put my GeForce2MX card into interlace mode, now Radeon X800XL without problems... Who knows, sh*t happens :P

Still, my two questions are unanswered... Does it mean I should use "search"? :P

Ah, yeah, I know how to record back to camcorder... (Pinnacle studio), but still - how to watch it on PC in fullscreen with sound?

[bobcat56458]

Madman_xxx: Here is a post that I recently posted on camcorderinfo.com. It may have some information, and links you can use for fullscreen playback.

“You can watch your DV tapes from the camcorder with audio fullscreen. You can even capture directly from your camcorders lens live without having a tape in the DV cam to your computers hard drive using a Firewire cable between them. Using the free programs “CaptureFlux” which is in beta version 3.0, (go to his English pages if you want an English version) and is made by a guy named Paul Glagla At: http://paul.glagla.free.fr and AmCap which has been updated to version 9.06 by a guy named Noel Danjou at: http://www.noeld.com/programs.asp?cat=video#AMCap CaptureFlux allows you to do the direct from the lens\live\realtime DV type 1 or 2 AVI capture to hard drive and even include the Date & Time data overlaid to your video. It can also do time-laps Direct capture from the camcorders lens, of lets say 1 Bitmap, or JPEG photo, per minute from your live camcorder. AMCap is an old application that has been updated by Noel to allow capturing to an uncompressed AVI, or Windows Media Video (WMV). With AMCap you can watch TV if you have a TV tuner video card also. Both programs work fullscreen with audio. You MUST have a Firewire card (or built in Firewire port), and Firewire cable to use these programs. They do not replace software like “WinDV” (also free) for streaming (capturing) a DV tape from your DV camcorder to your computers hard drive.”

[madman_xxx]

CaptureFlux rox! :)

A fine utility, but I already found some bugs, even in readme :P I'll email the author right away.
:thanks:

[madman_xxx]

Oh yeah, and ffdshow...

I installed alpha (20041012). It has few options of deinterlacing, "FramerateDoubler" among them. Using it causes framerate doubling, but doesn't work like bob-then-VerticallyStretch. It works as on the TV - shows fields (1 frame shown= 1 field) at 50 fps... Can ffdshow do Bob (SeparateFields() )?

Ah yeah, one more: Can ffdshow work as "Video Renderer"? I mean can it be used for every played video, not only with selected codecs?

[bobcat56458]

madman_xxx: What bugs have you noticed with CaptureFlux? On my computer it will not open the program unless I have the camcorder turned on and connected by firewire, and I have to close the program before I shut off the camcorder or it locks up my computer. I emailed the author about these bugs but I never received a reply. I really like the program, hope he get the bugs worked out as it’s the only program that lets you capture (stream) live DV, and view it fullscreen with audio I know of without dropping any frames.

[madman_xxx]

madman_xxx: What bugs have you noticed with CaptureFlux? On my computer it will not open the program unless I have the camcorder turned on and connected by firewire, and I have to close the program before I shut off the camcorder or it locks up my computer. I emailed the author about these bugs but I never received a reply. I really like the program, hope he get the bugs worked out as it’s the only program that lets you capture (stream) live DV, and view it fullscreen with audio I know of without dropping any frames.
I noticed the same bug (very annoying!), but I don't remember others :) I can't check outbox (at work). Ah yeah - the english readme sux :/... And I don't know if it's playing with 32kHz sound or 48kHz (my cam supports both and the recordings are 48kHz).

Anyway, author could do few improvements... Especially doubleclick for fullscreen!

[bobcat56458]

madman_xxx, It plays and captures at 48kHz I tested this because I need that sample rate for burning DVD's. Here are some comments I emailed the author when I also told about it's bugs, letting him know how I utilize CaptureFlux and enjoy it.
"I’m able to use my camcorder to the computer to monitor (with sound) a live DV video stream. I have a 33-foot Firewire cable (made by Unibrain) and I’m able to monitor the action outside my home on a lake in real time. I’m also able to capture the DV stream as I monitor and lesson to it in stereo with the video fullscreen on my computers two monitors, and 5 TV sets throughout my home without dropping any frames. I can control the capture functions by the use of a RF wireless keyboard that has a range of about 50 feet. I can control the pan and zoom on the camcorder by using the supplied camcorder remotes (using IR repeaters), and a Sunpack AP-200W Auto Pan/Tilt Head with remote, mounted on a tripod."

[whwhwhwh9]

I used DV gate, bundled with Sony notebook, to capture TV program directly to hard disk as DV AVI. (I'm pretty sure DV gate is not free though.)
I will definitely check out CaptureFlux later.
Can AmCap give you DV AVI output?

[bobcat56458]

whwhwhwh9: "Can AmCap give you DV AVI output?" No it cannot, but CaptureFlux can.