CANOPUS and Other Products

klaatu wrote on 5/23/2003, 3:17 PM
HI ALL !!!

being new to this forum, I was wondering if anyone could tell me of any good capture cards or conversion boxes for capturing video, along with their general experiences with the different brands. I have pretty much ruled-out Pinnacle due to many people telling me about their almost "non-existant" support. My goal is to take analog HI-8 video/PCM audio, send it thru a Farojouda line tripler/quadrupler to have around 1080i resolution, bring it into Vegas 4.0c at 720x480 @ 29.97 fps, edit it with basic dissolves, realtime color/luminance correction, and basic titles ( static, not moving ), and then output to DVD with DVD Architect v1.0c ( or another program...I'll take suggestions ), or to a standalone DVD recovder ( RGB from video card out to the Recorder) at the maximum bitrate of 9.8 Meg/per second. I don't know if any of the capture cards/boxes will give me what I need, and also will I need a dedicated hardware card to perform the realtime effects I need, or can dual AMD MP2000+'s along with a Western Digital WD2000JB RAID 5 array ( 400 useable Gig ) handle the job ??? Does more memory help to buffer the video clips during capture ????

Here are the specs that I need:

* Capture MPEG-2 or MJPEG video at 4:2:2.
* Have a constant data capture rate of at least 5 to 10 Meg/per second.
* Run on Win2000 Pro or WinXP Pro.
* Have Composite, and S-Video Inputs. ( Also any that have Component inputs ).
* PCI Slot if its a capture card.......USB v2.0 or Firewire if its a conversion box.
* Quality of the picture is of the utmost importance - NO PIXELATION at 720x480 at 29.97 fps on Playback or Recording !!!
* $ 1,000 or less


Also, Has anyone seen/tried/or have the Canopus:

* MPEG Pro Emr
* ACEDVio
* MVR1000

I was considering possibly the above three, but I don't know anything about Canopus.

Thanks in advance !!!!
----- BRIAN -----

Comments

Former user wrote on 5/23/2003, 3:30 PM
Please educate me on the value of upsampling thru the Faroujda only to go back to 720 x 480 resolution? Do you gain anything, or just introduce another path?

Dave T2
Chienworks wrote on 5/23/2003, 3:36 PM
I'm curious about Dave's question as well.

I'll also point out that if you're serious about using MPEG for your source, you may want to look elsewhere besides Vegas. Vegas will do the job fine, but it takes a long time for it to decompress each frame as needed and recompress to whatever output format you've selected. If you're really serious about quality, go for uncompressed instead of MPEG. Heck, even DV is 30Mbps which beats the 5 to 10Mbps you're looking for. It just seems to me that if you're that concerned about quality, using such a heavily compressed source is a bad way to start.
Jsnkc wrote on 5/23/2003, 3:45 PM
He obviously isn't that concerned about quality if he is using Hi-8.
thrillcat wrote on 5/24/2003, 1:36 PM
Check out the Datavideo DAC-2. It doesn't automatically compress to mpeg2 (captures as .avi), but it does have component inputs. I picked up a brand new one on ebay for $430 + shipping. I edit as .avi and don't compress until I'm ready to burn to DVD.
daves2 wrote on 5/24/2003, 2:21 PM
how does the Datavideo DAC-2 compare to the canopus advc-100 ($289 @ B&H Photo)? I am not the expert that you guys are but I have the advc100 & everyone seems to rave about it's ability to lock the audio to the video (has component in/out & connects to the pc via firewire).
videoman69 wrote on 5/24/2003, 4:17 PM
My goal is to take analog HI-8 video/PCM audio
Here is your first problem! Doing what you want to do is about the worst
way to do it. I understand if you might have hours of Hi-8 already.
Go get a decent DV camcorder first then dub using s-video to a DV format first.
Then go DV into Vegas. All those paths will only degrade what is already a poor
video signal with Hi-8.

Chienworks wrote on 5/25/2003, 8:01 AM
In my opinion, good Hi-8 footage compares well to DV. Since Hi-8 isn't sampled 4:1:1 it doesn't show any of the chroma motion pixellation that Klaatu wants to avoid. So, in that respect, he is on to something here. On the other hand, Hi-8 does show some chroma bleed anyway even if it is analog. I just think that the pixellation and artifacts he'll get with MPEG will be at least as bad as DV, and MPEG offers so many editing disadvantages that it's not a good choice.
wri7913 wrote on 5/25/2003, 8:20 PM
Brian -

I use Canopus ADVC-100 to capture video to the hard drive. It works great and with no dropped frames.

I am currently looking into the MPEG Pro EMR for DV to MPEG-2 Real-time encoding.

If you are bringing in video to edit, I strongly recommend doing so as DV format (which ADVC-100 does wonderfully). After you are finished with edits and FX's, you can then encode to MPEG-1, MPEG-2 or some other formats (real audio, .mov, WMV). For the encoding process, I think this is where MPEG Pro EMR will accelerate the process and its $499 (not out yet either).

http://www.esbuy.com has some good package deals for picking up a DVD Burner and capture devices along with the MPEG encoders.
klaatu wrote on 5/27/2003, 3:34 PM
Thanks to all who replied !!!

To answer some of your questions......

1) My HI-8 unit is a CANON L2 Pro. It doesn't have DV in/out, so therefore I must bring video in thru analog ( to whatever encoding format - I was currently expermenting with HUFF YUV ), however, here in lies the problem. I need to get the video in quick enough ( 5-10 Meg/per second ) and into a format which will be as lossless as possible; again, I'll take suggestions as to which codec, capture box, or converter will work to give me the best source to start with.

2) I have no choice as to the HI-8 quailty. The clips have been shot over a period of 10 years on various broadcast equipment and are irreplaceable. However, I can use the Farojouda to boost that quality to that of HDTV resolution.

3) as for the use of the Farojouda.....Yes, while it seems pointless to boost resolution up to 1080i and then only output at 720x480 @29.97 fps, This is only the best way to display the footage for most people's TV's at the moment. HDTV will not be in most peoples homes for probally the next 3-5 years, at which time, I may decide to master the production onto the upcomming "BLUE-HD" discs being created by PIONEER, or the "FLOURSECENT MULTILAYER DISC ( FMD )" being created by CONSTELLATION-3D. These discs hold 27 Gig and 1 Terrabyte Respectively. If all goes well you'll all see a production model "BLUE-HD" player by the end of 2003.

THANKS !!!!

----- BRIAN -----