Capture Card
Monday, 10 September 2007 16:00
What capture card? Although readers of this guide may already own a capture card, this topic is integral to the overall topic. And capture software depends entirely on the card that is selected. If you own a card that does not accomplish your goals, considering changing to a new card.
Something to keep in mind is: Can your card properly capture the format/resolution you are considering? Capture cards are preset to capture a certain resolution, and then internally processes/resizes the video, as asked for by the software. The hardware is also hardwired to output a certain video format (AVI or MPEG) and then any changes to this are done completely in software. Your goal should be to identify the native card resolution, the output format, and then use that knowledge to your advantage.
For the purpose of this guide, there are essentially FIVE TYPES of capture cards:
| Card type: | Example: | About: | Pros: | Cons: | ATI AIW
capture cards | ATI All In Wonder | Multi-purpose card. Hybrid hardware-software MPEG encoding, can capture either AVI or MPEG in high quality. Native 704x480 chipset | Can be found for $50 used or about $100-300 new, depending on model of the graphics engine. Comes with free ATI MMC capture software. Can capture pretty much any DVD-Video resolution at top quality. | Not easy to setup, 1.5Ghz or faster CPU is suggested for best experience | MPEG
only
cards | Hauppauge PVR-250, Canopus MPEG Pro | MPEG hardware encoders, cannot do any AVI encodes | Excellent MPEG quality, can capture at pretty much any resolution. Often has specialized chipsets and capture software | Cannot do AVI | AVI
only
cards | BT8x8 chipset cards, cheap cards, from companies like AVerMedia. Also ATI"s non-AIW cards. | Often based on Brooktree BT8x8 chips or Conexant version. MPEG capturing can only be accomplished with pure software methods. | Cheap, often in the $50 price range, always under $100. | Old technology, AVI only. Poor quality on medium and low resolutions. Odd native res in the capture chips may cause aspect ratios to be wrong. Audio sync errors are common. Uses generic software. | NLE
capture cards | Canopus DVstorm, Matrox RT.X100 | Studio grade professional capture cards. Output format and hardware varies from card to card. | Realtime effects in editing software like Edius or Premiere. Extremely high quality at everything it does. Specialized codecs, chipsets and software | Expensive, often $1000 or more. | DV
capture
devices | Canopus ADVC-100, DataVideo DAC-100, video camera pass-through | DV only, 720x480 only, footage is converted inside the device, then transferred via firewire to the computer. Not really a capture "card" but more like a capture "device" | Idiot-proof and not susceptible to audio sync problems. Provides decent quality with minimal work. | Cannot do MPEG. DV colorspace is often harmful to analog color quality, especially if converting VHS to DVD. Few options, minimal control. |
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Capture Software
Monday, 10 September 2007 16:00
A capture card is only as good as the capture software. Remember to select a capture software does not harm the incoming signal, but rather encodes or transfers it as needed. Capture software often has the ability to both filters and re-encode the video to the desired codec or MPEG format. Much like capture cards, the quality of software varies greatly, from excellent to complete rubbish. Your goal is to use software that complements your card, in the pursuit of high quality video captures.
| Capture software | Pros | Cons | | ATI Multimedia Center (ATI MMC) | Excellent quality video encodes, has a nice video clean-up filter called "VideoSoap", free software designed explicitly to work with ATI cards. ATI MMC 7.7, 8.7 and 9.02 are the most stable versions. | Only works with ATI cards, and even then, only well with "AIW" version cards. Can be difficult to install, uninstall or update. | | VirtualDub | Often referred to as the quintessential video capture tool. Is able to capture (and encode) video using any number of free filter plug-ins and codecs. Excellent tool, excellent quality. Free. | Not the easiest tool to use, many options. Cannot capture MPEG natively, MPEG via codecs yields poor quality. Does not work with every card. | | iuVCR | Decent tool, works well with certain BT8x8 cards known for having sync trouble. | Inversely, often known to cause sync errors on cards that otherwise act fine with VirtualVCR or VirtualDub. Limited resolution options. Can be crash-prone. | | WinTV2000 | Excellent quality video softare, works only with Hauppauge capture cards. Sort of like ATI MMC for Hauppauge. | Only works well with the hardware MPEG encoder boards, not the cheap AVI cards. | | VirtualVCR | Free. Decent tool, works well with several cards. Tends to keep audio sync really well. | Not as versatile and advanced as VirtualDub, does not work with every card. | | Adobe Premiere | Directly capture to the NLE timeline | Limited options as compared to dedicated capture software, prone to crash | | Final Cut Pro | Directly capture to the NLE timeline | Limited options as compared to dedicated capture software | | Mediostream neoDVD | Idiot-proof | Expensive, mediocre quality, total lack of control over bit-rate and resolution, resulting in bloated files. A cheap all-in-one direct-to-DVD capture tool. | | Intervideo WinDVD Recorder, WinDVR | None | Forces a blended de-interlace on all captures, blocky quality, any resolution below 720x480 is almost all macroblocks. Few options, in terms of settings (bitrate, res, audio, etc). | | Cyberlink PowerVCR | Though it comes default with a forced blend deinterlace, it can be hacked to allow interlaced MPEG captures and add resolutions. Has a handful of basic video/audio options | Not super-high-quality MPEG encodes, about on par with WinDVR, requires hacks to work decent, only really works well at 720x480 res. Has chronic issues with dropped video frames (not reported) which leads to audio sync errors. | | MainConcept 1.4 | Essentially the MPEG Encoder software in a capture mode, therefore has many options | Expensive, optimized for PAL, not NTSC. Quality of encodes is not always excellent. Will only drop video and not audio frames, causing sound sync errors. EXTREMELY DEMANDING on the CPU, even newer 2.0-3.0Ghz systems can have problems. | | MainConcept PVR | None.
Different from the MC 1.4 encoder. | Total trash. Crashes all the time, barely works. Beta-quality software that should have never left R&D. MainConcept tech support is totally worthless. | | Snapstream, Showshifter, BeyondTV, SageTV, GB-PVR, etc | PVR software, not really capture software. Works fine for turning a computer into a VCR with timer record functions. | Not the highest quality encoding, buggy, difficult to setup, and often works with only a few cards. For the purpose of this guide, these are not suitable software. | | Anything not listed here | Search google.com or videohelp.com for reviews on the software in question. | Anything not on this list is typically not listed for a purpose, often because the software is an all-in-one solution, low quality, or dedicated to a certain piece of hardware. |
Source
Monday, 10 September 2007 16:00
Before sitting down to capture or encode video, it is important to understand the source. What exactly is "source"? Source is the tv broadcasts, VHS tapes, video cameras, Internet downloads, etc. Every source has its own unique properties that must be understood in order to edit and convert it to a high-quality DVD.
Video is all about decisions. It is more art than science. Understanding your source will allow you to select proper encode/capture resolutions, the proper interlace settings, and proper color management techniques.
Several concepts are explained in this guide:
(1) Theory vs. application
(2) Analog sources
(3) Digital sources
(4) Interlace vs. Progressive vs. De-Interlace
(5) Black and white versus color
(6) Aspect ratio
(7) Colorspace compression
(8) Overscan, masking, cropping
(9) and some playback considerations
Read more...
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