Analog Capture problems

[Muso]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Hi People!

I have a winfast 2000 analogue capture card, currently connected up to my
VHS video for archiving videotapes.

My computer is WinXP sp2, 1gig Ram, new 160gig HD, Pent IV 2.4gig. I have
Video Studio 7 SE that came with the capture card.

I have had no trouble capturing from the proprietary software (winfast PVR).
However I can't capture from Video Studio (video image looks awful, lots of
visual interference and the picture is not vertically centred).

Also, I have had trouble using Video Studio for editing ... I imagine it's
because I'm editing mpegs that there are problems? Playing back my edited
mpegs using Media Player shows random stuttering/jumping after each edit.
I'm trying to edit footage captured at PAL_DVD quality (ie mpeg2). (The raw
footage plays back fine in Media Player.)

What capture format should I be using? I tried wmv but that's not high
enough visual quality.

Any suggestions would be welcomed...

Mark.

 

[martin]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

"Muso" <muso@orchestra.com> wrote in message
news:wCjLd.13284$mo2.1038414@news.xtra.co.nz...
> Hi People!
>
> I have a winfast 2000 analogue capture card, currently connected up to my
> VHS video for archiving videotapes.
>
> My computer is WinXP sp2, 1gig Ram, new 160gig HD, Pent IV 2.4gig. I have
> Video Studio 7 SE that came with the capture card.
>
> I have had no trouble capturing from the proprietary software (winfast
> PVR). However I can't capture from Video Studio (video image looks awful,
> lots of visual interference and the picture is not vertically centred).
>
> Also, I have had trouble using Video Studio for editing ... I imagine it's
> because I'm editing mpegs that there are problems? Playing back my edited
> mpegs using Media Player shows random stuttering/jumping after each edit.
> I'm trying to edit footage captured at PAL_DVD quality (ie mpeg2). (The
> raw footage plays back fine in Media Player.)
>
> What capture format should I be using? I tried wmv but that's not high
> enough visual quality.
>
> Any suggestions would be welcomed...
>
> Mark.
>
>

I always capture to AVI format using the HUFFYUV lossless video codec.
Huffyuv codec gives you a compression ratio of roughly 2:1 to 4:1 depending
on your setup - but captured file sizes are still very large compared to an
equivalent capture using say MPEG or WMV format.
The huffyuv format AVI capture is ideal for pre-processing/editing and then
re-encoding to your desired final format - MPEG2 maybe.

Huffyuv codec is freeware from
http://neuron2.net/www.math.berkeley.edu/benrg/huffyuv.html

Also - what format are you capturing your audio to?
Capturing uncompressed (PCM) WAV format audio can reduce the amount of work
that is placed upon your CPU when capturing, and can be edited/processed and
then re-encoded to whatever format you require.

Martin.