WinTV PVR150 and Movie factory 6

mfmcphil · Post by **mfmcphil** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 4:16 pm

Could anyone tell me if the full version of MF6 works with the WinTV PVR150. I tried the TBYB version but it could not capture, I am using VISTA

Many thanks

etech6355 · Post by **etech6355** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 4:51 pm

It's usually suggested to use the software win2000 or wintv to record video using the PVR150. Then import the videos into MF6 to work with them & create a dvd.

MF6 can capture from the PVR150 but because the card is hardware based you have to create a custom template to use for capturing. The custom template needs to be compatible with the hardware encoder setttings on the card.
For example you can only capture Mpeg Audio.
If I use MF6 to capture on the PVR150 using XP-SP2 I usually create a custom template for 4:3, 6000kbs, UFF, Mpeg audio 224kbs & 90% Quality.
Then in the capturing module you apply this template to capture with as the format.

Does hauppauge supply Vista drivers for the PVR150?

mfmcphil · Post by **mfmcphil** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 5:45 pm

Many thanks etech6355

And Yes Hauppauge supply Vista drivers for the PVR150

etech6355 · Post by **etech6355** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 7:44 pm

You may want to capture the video using the Hauppauge software. Using MF6 you have to create this custom template outside of the capturing module (in the timeline). Then go into the capture module and apply the custom template you previously created for the format.
The Hauppauge software is much easier to use because it's designed for that card.

Then you import the videos into MF6.
When I capture with the Hauppauge software I set GOP's = 6 and mpeg audio to 224kbs. Seems alittle easier to edit them.

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 8:47 pm

etech6355 wrote:....When I capture with the Hauppauge software I set GOP's = 6 and mpeg audio to 224kbs. Seems alittle easier to edit them.

John, I must give that a try!!

Manzano808 · Post by **Manzano808** » Thu May 17, 2007 8:09 am

etech6355 wrote:When I capture with the Hauppauge software I set GOP's = 6 and mpeg audio to 224kbs. Seems alittle easier to edit them.

Sorry to bother... but could you tell me what is a "GOP" and what reducing this number does? I too would like to try, but I'd like to know what it's about.

Thanks etech6355!

P.S. As a last resort to my Hauppauge/Ulead endeavors i tried trial of MF6+ but got that blank screen when trying to access capturing devices. The blank screen just remains and nothing happens. Saw a post about that where he (yikes) reformatted and reinstalled and it was ok. I won't do anything that drastic. Had varied luck with VS11 (see VS forum) so I finally give up and will learn WinTV.

Thanks for all your Great help!

DVDDoug · Post by **DVDDoug** » Thu May 17, 2007 10:28 pm

GOP means "Group Of Pictures", and it's related to MPEG compression. A GOP starts with a I-Frame, which is essentially a new picture. It is then followed by B-Frames or P-Frames, which (as best I understand it) just contain the frame-to frame "differences". So if there is one moving object on the screen, the B and P frames only need the data for the moving object. The software uses the "old" unchanged parts of the picture from the I-Frame, as the remaining GOP frames are displayed.

This is one of the basic ideas behind compression. i.e. The blue sky doesn't change, so we don't need to keep re-sending the sky-data 30 times per second! The other key to compression is the fact that all (or most) of the "sky pixels" are the same color. So, we don't need to store/send/brodcast half-a-million identical blue pixels to generate that part of the image. We can use one pixel and a little more data to define the area where it's repeated.

In general, increasing the I-Frames means less-compression. But, there are other factors involved in compression and the actual compressed file-size is calculated from the bitrate and the playing time. ...The encoding software will do whatever it takes to squeeze the file down to the specified bitrate. So, if you notice any degredation after decreasing the GOPs, try increasing the bitrate.

Typically, GOPs are 15 frames so you get a new I-Frame about twice a second ...with 29.97 Frame-Per-Second NTSC video. Ulead sometimes has trouble with MPEG editing. You can get all kinds of weird problems, including the "lip sync" problems that inspired my signature/tagline below.

Reducing the GOPs (more frequent I-Frames) seems to help.

Here's a little technical reference I found.

P.S. I have a Hauppauge card and I always use the Hauppauge WinTV software for the capture step. It works great!