How Many Users Have Gotten A "GOOD" Video Capture?

[oka]

I am just curious of how many video enthusiasts have really gotten a good video capture to the computer. I use a DVR (Digital Video Recorder) from my DishNetwork, I record just perfect vide (when I watch them on my TV) but after capturing, the video quality changes.

What is the "BEST" way to capture a video to the PC just like it is from the DVR? I use AverMedia UltraTV 1500 MCE which has its own processor on the card.

I would like to have a statistic of video capture users and the capture equipment they are using. There has to be a way I don't have to capture a video and then change its video quality settings before editing and rendering. Or should I blame VideoStudio 9, my capture card, or the computer itself?

Up till now, I still have not being able to produce a DVD that is the same or almost as good as the video on the DVR. THERE HAS TO BE A SOLUTIO TO THIS WITHOUT SPENDING A FORTUNE ON EQUIPMENTS.

Please help. Thanks.

[THoff]

I frequently transfer recordings from my DirecTV Tivo to my PC so I can edit them and burn DVDs.

Because this is a customized version of the Tivo hardware and software, the tools for networking and file transfers that work with the regular Tivos won't work, and my only option is capturing the analog output.

I handle that using a Canopus ADVC-300, and the results I'm getting are excellent. No dropped frames (even when capturing using a P4M 1.5GHz laptop with a 4200RPM drive), no out-of-sync audio, and quality as good as the original recording. I capture to my laptop in my bedroom, copy the file to my video editing PC in my office, and then edit and transcode to MPEG2. Transcoding to 8000KBps CBR MPEG2 with 256Kbps AC3 audio happens at a rate of about 1.5x (40 minutes to encode one hour).

[jchunter]

Video Studio 9 captures perfectly every time, DV, Mpeg2, or high defintion video because I always use the Recommended Procedure in the top sticky post. I mostly do mainstream operations, which include capturing video from camcorders and producing video files and DVDs.

When I deviate from this well known path, I do so with great caution, managing video and audio properties at every step of the process.

You are working with video from a DVR and therefore are at it's mercy. The first thing that you have to do is find out its video file properties. For example, does it originate as analog or digital? These properties will determine all its visual characteristics and determine whether it can be edited by Video Studio.

If you intend to burn your project to DVD, your final target MUST be Mpeg2 along with other properties that are listed in the Recommended Procedure. If you are interested in speed and quality I recommend that you maintain this format through all stages of the workflow.

[DVDDoug]

You should be able to get a "good" capture, but there are several obstacles to getting a perfect capture... You should be able to get better than VHS-quality. But, if you are a critical viewer with a plasma TV, you might not be satisfied with the results.

I believe your DVR (supplied by DishNetwork?) is recording the direct-digital broadcast. Therefore, the delayed/re-played "data" is identical to the original broadcast. They do not want you to have access to this pure digital data/signal.... they don't want you editing or distributing it. If you want a perfect recording, you have to use their hardware.

Your capture card appears to be MPEG only. The trick is to capture at a high-quality (high bitrate) DVD compatible setting, and then don't re-code when you burn to DVD.

The DishNetwork signal is digital. You are doing a digital-to-analog-to-digital conversion. There will always be some quality loss with this process, and additional quality loss with each MPEG-2 encode cycle.

The digital broadcast is probably MPEG-2, but it is probably not DVD compatible. It probably has a higher bitrate, and a different resolution. So, even if you can capture the original MPEG-2 broadcast, it has to be re-coded for DVD. MPEG-2 is lossy, so there is always some quality loss when it's re-coded (even without the intermediate analog step).

[Doverwhite]

DVDDoug Wrote above

"Your capture card appears to be MPEG only. The trick is to capture at a high-quality (high bitrate) DVD compatible setting, and then don't re-code when you burn to DVD. "

I often capture from DVD and have had quality issues. Are you suggesting that in this case one should not re-code to mpeg2 but to proceed straight to burn from the project contrary to the Sticky. I tried this a few times when I first got ULead VS9 but could not get it to work?

[THoff]

Videostudio will not import from CSS-encrypted DVDs. If you try it with a non-commercial DVD (like those produced by Videostudio itself), it will work. Another possible obstacle is region coding, which could prevent you from accessing a disk intended for the US if you are in Europe.

If the DVD you tried it with but failed to import is not CSS-encrypted or region-locked, then copy the .VOB files from the DVD to your hard disk and rename them to .MPG, because the VOB files are container files for MPEG-encoded data.

[oka]

With all the replies on my question, I should NOT have a "perfect" captured video file. I will accept the results of my video files. I just thought of something. I capture with the S-Video and RCA connections, which should not give me a much better quality captured file. My card only has these connectors.

THOFF
You use Canopus ADVC-300. Do you capture with the S-Video and RCA conntectors? I went on the internet to view the Canopus ADVC-300 hardware and found out it also have the above connectors as well as FireWire and USB connectors. So which one do you use?

[THoff]

The ADVC-300 does not have USB support, it is a DV device like a DV deck or DV camcorder -- a IEEE 1394a (Firewire 400) cable is the only way to connect it to your computer.

As a DV device, it also does not require any drivers -- you plug it into your PC or Mac and use the drivers built into the OS.

The ADVC-300 has both RCA (Composite) and S-Video inputs (as well as DV passthrough), and my DirectTV Tivo has S-Video output, so I use that to get the best quality under the circumstances. However, I have also used the ADVC-300 to convert analog VHS videos in my office using a 27" Toshiba TV/VCR/DVD combination unit that only has composite output. S-Video is definitely the way to go if available because it keeps the chroma and luminance signals separate.

[sjj1805]

I am a firm believer that when you capture from a TV card you will find that the TV card has its own capture software. That software was specifically tweaked to work with that TV card and so should provide the best results.
Think of using other capture software such as Ulead as being generic software.
Once captured you then use the Ulead software to do your editing and authoring. The picture quality from my Hauppauge TV card captured via WinTV2000 (specific to the Hauppauge Card) produces a capture as good as the original broadcast.
When connecting devices such as a satelite receiver or VHS player to the TV card you get better quality if you use RCA / SCART or Svideo connections rather than a standard co-axial cable.

[maddrummer3301]

>>>I am a firm believer that when you capture from a TV card you will find
>>>that the TV card has its own capture software. That software was >>>specifically tweaked to work with that TV card and so should provide the >>>best results.

Absolutely, unless you have a poor capture card and software.
I can capture until the harddrive runs out of space with the analog All-In-Wonder card using their software. Dvd compliant etc.

I can't say the same for ulead, nero, windvdrecorder or any other programs.
For short captures of about an hour the ulead software works nice.

To the poster:
In my opinion real-Time encoding gives very good results at CBR(Constant Bit-Rate). Your device is only single passing/encoding the video anyway. If you use variable bit rate the gain in disk space is not that great. You never stated your machine specs or you capture settings.
You may capturing Frame-based and not be knowing it.
You should make a custom template from the timeline & use that template or modify it in the capturing module.
Analog capturing in VS is "Upper_Field_First" -> Field B.
Import your videos into the timeline that you say aren't that great looking.
Right-Click on them and look at the "Properties". You should see Upper_Field_ -> Field B. Not framebased or nothing.
Also, capture using Dolby or mpeg audio so the stream can use a higher video_bit_rate for better quality. I wouldn't capture Lpcm. You can, but then use CBR at least 7000+. This files will be larger.

I would use the capturing software that comes with the device and import the "DVD-Compliant" videos into VS9.

Hope this helps,

MD