Newbie - Best Capture Settings?

G

Guest

I'm trying to convert Hi-8 video to DVD and have grown disappointed so far
with the results that I'm receiving when i author to DVD.

Here's my configuration
P4 2 ghz, ATI AIW 8500 card
I use Virtual Dub to capture the video
Tmpgenc to convert avi->mpg
and DVD Movie Factory to create the dvds

When I capture at 720*480, the fast-moving scenes (such as my son playing
soccer) are very "jaggy"
This is with and without using Huffyuv 2.1.1 compression - i'm not using
other compression schemes - and with viewing the AVI itself - not even
looking at what Tmpgenc does with the video

When I capture at 320*240, the "jaggieness" disappears but the images are
softer - in the AVI

So, to improve the quality of the video capture
1. Is the card the problem?
2. If not the card, what would be the best video capture settings to use?

Thanks
 
E

erratic

When I capture at 720*480, the fast-moving scenes (such as my son playing
soccer) are very "jaggy"
This is with and without using Huffyuv 2.1.1 compression - i'm not using
other compression schemes - and with viewing the AVI itself - not even
looking at what Tmpgenc does with the video
Click to expand...

That's how interlaced video looks on a monitor. Don't worry about it,
you won't see those jaggies on your TV.
http://nickyguides.digital-digest.com/interlace.htm
http://www.inwards.com/~dbb/interlace_myths.html
When I capture at 320*240, the "jaggieness" disappears but the images are
softer - in the AVI
Click to expand...

That's because 320x240 is not interlaced. But keep the high resolution.
Use TMPGEnc's project wizard to encode the AVI to DVD MPEG-2 format. It
should look fine on your TV.
 
E

erratic

Thanks for the reply
I used Vdub to capture the avi
- now the question is about interlacing
i could use the filter/deinterlace setting in vdub - when i do this, the
pictures 'smooth' out.
i've also tried to use the 'interlace' function in tmpgenc but it doesn't
seem the to change the video image...

Note, i go the next step, author it to dvd and view it on a tv rather than a
pc monitor to confirm my findings...
Click to expand...

Don't deinterlace your video. You won't see those horizontal lines on
your TV. Just ignore them when you're previewing the video on your
monitor. If you deinterlace your AVI file, you'll get worse motion
clarity on your TV.
http://www.geocities.com/victorfilmgroup/vidfilm1.htm
erratic, you've been a huge help so far -
using vdub & tmpgenc (w/hufyuv compression yuy2) what other configuration
settings would you recommend?
Click to expand...

You're on the right track. If you convert your interlaced AVI files to
DVD MPEG-2 with TMPGEnc, I suggest you use the Project Wizard. It will
take care of most settings automatically. The field order is very
important when converting AVI to MPEG-2. TMPGEnc will determine the
correct field order automatically if you use the Project Wizard.

For fine tuning TMPGEnc's settings, read this:
http://dvd-hq.info/Compression.html
 
G

Guest

i'll review the fine tuning for vdub, but this is where i kind of started
i didn't deinterlace w/vdub (or change other setting with the exception of
compression)
i used the project wizard w/tmpgenc (didn't change a thing)
i authored w/dvd movie factory and played it on the tv, it looked awful

so what i'll do is review the doc, fine tune vdub
As for Tmpgenc/project wizard
For the first panel, I should
- select DVD/NTSC/ CBR MPEG-1 Layer II Audio (MP2) - correct? or should i
use VBR or PCM audio?
on the next panel,
- select AVI file,
- Select Video type as "Interlace" rather than "Non-Interlace",
- Then either Top or Bottom field first (?)
- Aspect ratio 4:3 525 Line (NTSC...)
- content of video - Video Movie
on the subsequent panel - filter settings,
- don't select anything? or go to the Other settings? then Advanced
settings and select the filters? There's quite a few like "Source Range",
"Inverse Telecine", etc

in reading the earlier message,
http://nickyguides.digital-digest.com/interlace.htm it mentions Bobbing vs.
Blending... but I don't see where I could do bobbing

Thanks so much for your assistance - I appreciate your support.
 
G

Guest

disregard my last email - i'll review the tuning of tmpgenc like you stated,
rather than vdub...

also, i know i asked this before, but i can't find the response -
if i select to stream type to ES vidoe only, how do i get the audio 1.
synched up with the video and 2. authored w/dvd moviefactory? i can't seem
to find how to do this
 
E

erratic

also, i know i asked this before, but i can't find the response -
if i select to stream type to ES vidoe only, how do i get the audio 1.
synched up with the video and 2. authored w/dvd moviefactory? i can't seem
to find how to do this
Click to expand...

AFAIK MovieFactory does not support elementary streams, so it's easier
to let TMPGEnc encode both audio and video. Do you have sync problems?
 
G

Guest

no synch problems - just reading the guide for configuring tmpgenc and it
recommends elementary streams
 
E

erratic

no synch problems - just reading the guide for configuring tmpgenc and it
recommends elementary streams
Click to expand...

That depends on your DVD autoring software. If your authoring software
doesn't support elementary streams and your DVD player supports MP2,
it's easier to simply make an MPEG-2 stream with video and (MP2) audio.
 
E

erratic

2 - no interlacing issues in looking at the video on tv, but the high-speed
action - as the video camera pans from side-to-side following the action,
the images seemed "jerky" as is images are skipped
Click to expand...

Interlaced video should not be jerky on your TV. It should be smoother
than deinterlaced video. But if the field order was set incorrectly it
will look very jerky/jittery whenever something moves. You have an ATI
AIW card like mine, so I'm pretty sure you have to select top field
first in TMPGEnc.

Jerky video can also be caused by dropped frames of course, but I assume
that's not the problem here. I use Virtual VCR for capturing, which is
the best program for reporting dropped frames accurately (but it needs
an NTFS partition because it doesn't split files).
http://virtualvcr.sourceforge.net/
On my TV everything looks just fine. I keep it interlaced and it's not
jerky at all.
 
E

erratic

I Dl'd virtualvcr, set it up for NTSC, added Huffyuv compression, encoded
with tmpgenc and authored w/dvdmf - and you know what?
no problems!
no jerkiness, no jaggy/interlace issues, nothing...
Click to expand...

Great. One last tip then: if you haven't done so already, configure
Virtual VCR to capture 48 kHz audio, not 44.1 kHz, to avoid an
unnecessary sampling rate conversion.
 
G

Guest

caught that
question though - tried to capture a 3+hr video - with vdub, this would be
about 33 gb, with vvcr, it ran out of space at 100gb and 3hr 10min - any
idea?
 
G

Guest

I shouldn't have spoke too soon...
So when I when to capture a full-length video, tmpgenc started to have
problems -
I have a home video that's about 3 1/2 hours long. the first time i went
to capture it, i ran out of disk space - but vvcr stopped with about 500 mb
left on the hd - the resulting file was about 100 gb - 3 1/4 hours - tmpgenc
hung up trying to read it - using the project wizard, it would attempt to
analyze the interlace order and hang at 9%.
I captured a 2 hour file (36 gb, 889 dropped frames) same thing...have any
ideas?
 
E

erratic

question though - tried to capture a 3+hr video - with vdub, this would be
about 33 gb, with vvcr, it ran out of space at 100gb and 3hr 10min - any
idea?
Click to expand...

You mentioned before that your VDub captures were jerky. Are you sure
you entered the correct frame rate for NTSC (29.97)? If I'm not mistaken
the default frame rate for VDub is 15 fps so you have to change it. Of
course 15 fps would cause jerky video and smaller files.
 
G

Guest

thanks - that's one thing i never set - yes - it was set to 15 - i'll try it
again at 29.97
as for vvcr - any idea why the avi files are so much larger? could huffyuv
not be working?
 
E

erratic

thanks - that's one thing i never set - yes - it was set to 15 - i'll try it
again at 29.97
as for vvcr - any idea why the avi files are so much larger? could huffyuv
not be working?
Click to expand...

VVCR works fine with Huffyuv, if it (VVCR) is configured correctly.
But if you use the same resolution and framerate in VirtualDub the files
should now be the same size.
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Similar Threads

Is it the Card? Is it the Software? 3
trying to capture analog video 3
Best Budget Capture Card 1
How do you capture to Divx using All-In-Wonder and MMC???? 3
Video Capture direct from VCR to DVD 2
*.vcr Capture Files 2
TV Capture Question 2
Question about Capture 2

Top