MPEG-2 video capture?

Todd Stout · 02-28-2004, 07:37 PM

After looking through some old posts in the "Computers and HTPC" area, I'm still a little confused about some aspects of video capture.

My main question:
Is capturing video directly to MPEG-2 format a function of your capture device or your capture software? I want to end up with MPEG-2 video and I hear that conversion from other video formats is quite time consuming.

I am leaning towards buying a Canopus ADVC-100 to use to capture quite a few old VHS tapes and a few of my old Laserdiscs in order to transfer them to DVD. I am also doing research on the various video editing and DVD authoring software packages and really don't know how elaborate I need to go with my software. I have been looking at Adobe Premier, Sony (Sonic Foundry) Vegas, as well as software from Pinnacle and Ulead and all have strengths and weaknesses. I am basically looking to capture analog video, edit it, author DVDs (I'd like to have AC-3 encoding capability), and then burn DVDs.

Once I get my tax refund, I am going to buy a new PC, a video capture device, and video editing and DVD authoring software so I am open to any suggestions you may have.

Thank you.

Rob Gillespie · 02-29-2004, 03:23 AM

You capture first, make any edits, encode into MPEG2, then author and burn the DVD.

I've got a Canopus ADVC-1394 which is very similar to the 100 except that it's an internal card and provides it's own Firewire interface.

The Canopus came with Video Vegas 3 LE which seems OK for video editing - but the only thing I used it for was to do permanent subtitles in the SW films so they would show in the film frame rather than below it.

Any splicing of the capture files (remember there's always more than one side so there will be gaps in the capture) I did using a freeware app called VirtualDub.

MPEG2 encoding was done using TMPGEnc. The audio was captured along with the video through the Canopus card, so once I stripped it out of the file (again using VirtualDub) I encoded it into Dolby Digital using another freeware app called BeSweet. DVD authoring done using DVD-Lab.

Todd Stout · 02-29-2004, 06:55 PM

Thank you for the reply Rob.

I was just hoping that I could avoid having to convert to MPEG-2 format but it sounds like for what I am going to be doing, that is unavoidable. The PC I am about to order should be up to the task of converting to MPEG-2 since I am going to get a 3.4 Ghz P4 with at least 1024MB of RAM and possibly even 2048MB. I as looking at the Athlon 64 processors as well but I have an important piece of software (ArcView 8.3) that I can't get full tech support for unless it's on an Intel based PC.

I am qualified for an educational discount on software so I am still checking out some of the editing and authoring packages. I am interested in the Adobe Video Collection as well as Vegas+DVD but haven't decided whether I not I am going to go with either of those yet. I will definately check out the software you mention in your post as well.

DaveB · 02-29-2004, 07:05 PM

My Radeon All-in-Wonder captures directly to MPEG2 in hardware and can noise-reduction filters, etc. if desired.

My favorite editing software is Adobe Premier. It's a bit pricey, and if you want to author fancy menus you'll need a program like After Effects.

David

Todd Stout · 03-01-2004, 11:46 AM

I am seriously considering Adobe Premier (and the entire Adobe Video Collection) since it works closely with Photoshop. I have been reading about a lot of people that have switched to Vegas+DVD after using Premier and liking Vegas better (check out the comments here for example). Of course this is making my decision more difficult. I'm in no big hurry though since it'll be several weeks before I see my tax refund check.

I was looking at one of my DTS laserdiscs yesterday and it made me wonder if there is a way to capture the DTS audio and burn that onto a DVD? It just seems to me that DTS used the standard PCM output on my laserdisc player so there must me a way to transfer that to DVD. I guess I could be wrong though.

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Rob Gillespie · 03-01-2004, 12:22 PM

Quote:

I was looking at one of my DTS laserdiscs yesterday and it made me wonder if there is a way to capture the DTS audio and burn that onto a DVD?

I don't believe so, at least not with consumer equipment.

The signal is identified as PCM but you have to remember that PCM on CD and LD was 44.1khz. On DVD, it's 48khz.

I have tried it. Captured digitally, resampled to 48khz (authoring program complained about 44.1) and then played - nothing. The signal is getting messed probably during the resampling.

Todd Stout · 03-01-2004, 12:59 PM

Oh well... It certainly would be nice to be able to transfer the DTS audio to DVD. Maybe someone in the future will be able to come up with a way to do this.

Ken Chan · 03-02-2004, 12:23 AM

Quote:

Captured digitally, resampled to 48khz

So you didn't get the harsh "random" noise? Did your receiver auto-detect it as PCM or DTS?

Quote:

(authoring program complained about 44.1)

Does the program recognize/support DTS?

Rob Gillespie · 03-02-2004, 07:27 AM

DTS from LD isn't recognised as DTS, it shows up as PCM. Only when it reaches a DTS decoder does it show up as DTS.

Quote:

So you didn't get the harsh "random" noise? Did your receiver auto-detect it as PCM or DTS?

No sound at all. At the time the signal was routing through an outboard DTS decoder which couldn't lock onto any signal at all.