Digitizing video help needed

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.tivo (More info?)

Harvey wrote:
> I would like to build a box to convert svideo and composite video to a
> digital format for burning to a dvd. I have read a lot of this group, as
> well as other pages, but am still learning. I am uncertain at this point if
> I should get a cature card, such as the Hauppauge WinTV PVR-150, or perhaps
> one of the new USB converters, like the Plextor PX-AV100U.
>
> I would like to speed advantage of hardware encoding, if possible, but am
> having a difficult time figuring out which cards have it, or perhaps none of
> them have it in my price range - $100-150.
>
> Some questions:
>
> Does the Hauppauge card have hardware encoding? Is this the right card to
> get for my purposes? I have my Dirctivo, so don't really care about the PVR
> functions right now, though I may in the future.
>
> Is anybody using the Plextor PX-AV100U? Is it any good, or should I look at
> something else? It is about the only capture device I have found that will
> capture in MPEG 4. Is that important? I assume it gives higher quality video
> in smaller file sizes.
>
> The main impetus right now is to record saved programs from the Directivo,
> using the save to vcr function, so I would like to maintain the highest
> quality of video I can. Later, I would like to see about hacking the unit.
> From what I have read here, I should be able to transfer these files to my
> pc and burn them from there. Do I have this part right? There must be a
> program to convert from Tivo format to something more standard, right?
>
> Thank you all for any help/comments.
> Harvey

Not that there aren't smart people here but you may want to also post at
rec.video.desktop

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.tivo (More info?)

"Jim" <spidergawdnospam@comcast.net> wrote in message
newsan.2005.09.24.19.33.51.410551@comcast.net...
> On Sat, 24 Sep 2005 14:55:19 -0400, Harvey wrote:
>
>> Does the Hauppauge card have hardware encoding? Is this the right card to
>> get for my purposes? I have my Dirctivo, so don't really care about the
>> PVR
>> functions right now, though I may in the future.
>
> The PVR-150 has hardware encoding, but only the PVR-350 has hardware
> decoding. http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/compare_pvr.html
>
> I've not used one, and can't comment on performance.
>
> Jim

So this would mean that digitizing would be faster, but playback would be
just the same as playing a DVD now? I mean, if playback is fine now, I don't
think that I would be concerned about hardware decoding, right?

Thanks,
Harvey

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.tivo (More info?)

"Spider Dawg" <Spidergawdnospam@Comcast.net> wrote in message
news:slrndjbpoa.ajm.Spidergawdnospam@linux.site...
> On 2005-09-24, Harvey <here@there.com> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Jim
>>
>> So this would mean that digitizing would be faster, but playback would be
>> just the same as playing a DVD now? I mean, if playback is fine now, I
>> don't
>> think that I would be concerned about hardware decoding, right?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Harvey
>
> The encoding would be smoother, less dropped frames. The playback would
> be less taxing on the system. I'd imagine that for your stated purpose
> this wouldn't be as important as for one using the card for a PVR, which
> could be recording and playing back simultaneously.
>
> The 350 also has TV-out.
>
> Jim

Thanks!
Harvey