No Capture MPEG2 or AVI - MPEG4 & WMV work OK

[coffee for one]

Thanks to all who contribute! High praise to vidoman for the tutorial on preferences.

Nature of the problem

I am capturing video from VHS for editing, then copy to DVD. (Yes, the card captures to MPEG2 format with the original software provided by HP. I am looking for something better.) Browsing here for a couple of days, I have determined that my capture card always formats with the Lower Field First, by checking the properties of files captured with other software. Virus protection is disabled during capture, no other programs running.

VS 10 captures video on my setup in WMV and MPEG4 without issue, but it crashes every time trying to capture in MPEG2 or AVI formats. The failure sequence is:

1. Select Capture at the top of the screen.
2. Select the camera icon to capture video from an external device.
3. Change Field Order box opens.
4. The progress graph runs quickly to 50% and freezes.
5. VS 10 is unresponsive from this point forward. I close the program with the end task button.

What devices are involved and their mode of connection?

The capture card is an HP P/N 5188-4214, manufactured by ASUS using a Conexant CX 25843 audio video mixed signal decoder and a CS23416-22 MPEG II A/V encoder. This card must use cxf2 codec when capturing. The card is connected to a VCR with composite video and audio cable. The capture card is used to capture audio data.

Project Settings

NTSC drop frame (29.97 fps)
MPEG files
24 bits, 720 x 480, 29.97 fps
Lower Field First
(DVD-NTSC), 4:3

Error Codes
No error code, the software just stops.

I am using the VS 10 trial and really like the product, however capture is a big part of my project. Please help me make this work.

[jchunter]

I could not find capture products with those numbers. I suspect they are part numbers that are printed on the board.

Your Field Order of Lower Field First is almost certainly wrong for capturing analog video from a VCR. Use Upper Field First. Your other properties seem correct. What is your video bitrate?

If your HP software captures in DVD-compliant with the correct field order (Upper Field First), I would use that and edit in Video Studio. When you say you want "better" capture, I suspect that what you have captured with the HP software is as good as it gets because you already have a serious picture quality limitation in the VCR and in the composite video connection.

BTW, don't get sidetracked with WMV or Mpeg4 because you need Mpeg2 to make DVDs.

Edit: Another thought for capturing from Video Studio - select the NTSC-DVD capture template (or PAL-DVD if you are in that region), rather then Mpeg2.

[coffee for one]

You are right about the Conexant numbers, they are a line of component products supplied to manufacturers.

The bit rate is the default variable and 7500.

I set the field order to Upper Field First in Preferences and Project Properties. DVD is selected as the capture mode. It tried to reset the field order at capture start and locked up at 50% progress.

Thanks for the advice on MPEG 4.

As to software and better capture, the suppled software doesn't allow adjustment of picture color, contrast, etc. before capture and I have a couple of OLD tapes that the color correction and deinterlacing that Ulead performs makes a huge difference in the final result.

Any other ideas to make the work are greatly apprreciated.

[DVDDoug]

...the card captures to MPEG2 format with the original software...

Your capture card probably has a hardware MPEG encoder (and maybe a WMV encoder). If there's no way to bypass that encoder, you're stuck with MPEG. (This is the case with my Haupauge card.)

For analog capture, you will generally get the best results using the special capture software that came with your capture device. Once you have a digital video file on your hard drive, you can use whatever software you want for editing & DVD authoring.

The trick with MPEG-2 is to use the "correct" bitrate. Use a bitrate high enough for good quality, but not so high that you have to re-code at a lower bitrate to fit the program on an DVD. (MPEG is "lossy" compression, and you loose some quality/detail every time you encode.)

...from VHS for editing...

NOTE- MPEGs are not meant to be edited. Any "real" editing such as transitions, overlay-text, color filtering, etc., requires that the MPEG be de-coded and re-coded. This results in some quality loss (sometimes not noticable at high bitrates). Worse, some of us have ended-up with corrupted MPEGs that cause strange problems including the dreaded "lip-sync" problem. Some users never get these problems, but if it happens, it will drive you nuts!

[coffee for one]

Doug, Thanks for taking the time to reply. I have captured in MPEG2, converted to AVI, edited, made a DVD. It is a long process. I am, as most, looking for a shorter path.

[maddrummer3301]

.

[DVDDoug]

The files on all dvd's are Mpeg2.

If you capture in Mpeg2 then by all means stay with Mpeg2.

Yes... Except in those cases where your MPEGs get corrupted during the editing process....

[Ken Berry]

I don't at all want to re-open the debate about editing mpegs (retro me, Satanas!! ) But IMHO it simply does not make sense to capture in mpeg-2 and then convert it to AVI for editing, and then convert it back to mpeg-2 for burning to DVD. That is two forced recodes and the ensuing loss of quality this entails. Capturing and editing in mpeg-2 format will normally only involve one recode. And yes, I hear you in advance, saying 'if it works...'!!

[jchunter]

Ken,
Bon avis, Kimo Sabe. Je suis bien d'accord.

[coffee for one]

All, Thanks for your input. The video filters have disappeared from VS10 and no refreshing or unloading / reloading will restore them. I am bidding VS10 farewell and adding it to my list of products with great potential that simply do not perform.