DVD from TV

fosko wrote on 5/18/2004, 1:07 PM
I have a Hauppege (sp) USB video capture device to record from TV. I want to record my fav TV shows (24 on FOX) and write to DVD. I have many saved now and when I play them on Media Player... they look,sound great. But I went to write one last week to DVD for the first time..
First...I edited it in VEGAS to remove commercials.. file length was 43 minutes....
Next... I had to convert it to the MPG for DVD (I think it's MPG 2 ?..but I've been out of the loop for a bit and dont remember.). Should I have just captured it in MPG 2 ?

Then...When I played it on my home DVD player.. it looked very grainy. and the video and audio was slightly out of sync.

Any suggestions ??

What's the best setting to record in and should I have to convert it ?? Why would it lose sync ?

I have another question about another project.. but I'll post it seperate;y so as not to confise the answers.

THANKS !!!!!!!!!!!

Comments

Jsnkc wrote on 5/18/2004, 1:22 PM
I would assume since it's a USB capture card that it is capturing a MPEG-1 file or at best a compressed AVI file at 320X240 since that's about all the transfer speed USB can handle.

If you're starting out with either of these file types, and you then edit them and then re-render them out to MPEG-2 you will lose a LOT of quality. You're best to start out with a AVI-DV file at 720X480, then edit and convert to MPEG-2. I know this probably won't help what you've already recorded, but you might want to look into a diffrent capture card if the one you have won't capture a AVI-DV file format and you want to continie recording like this.
fosko wrote on 5/18/2004, 1:28 PM
Well, this card can be set to capture on MPEG 1 ot MPEG 2 I had it set on MPEG1 for some reason. Do you think if I set it to record MPEG2 instead of converting it later I'll have better quality ?? but if so.. I'm assuming also a larger file ?

THanks
bStro wrote on 5/18/2004, 1:40 PM
Jsnkc wrote:

I would assume since it's a USB capture card that it is capturing a MPEG-1 file or at best a compressed AVI file at 320X240 since that's about all the transfer speed USB can handle.

Not true. [Addendum: Okay, it turns out that's how he had it set, but that's not how it has to be.]

I don't know what fosko is using, but I have an , which captures MPEG2 at 720x480 through a USB 2.0 interface. I set it to encode at 5Mb/s, though it can go higher. (Website says up to 15Mb/s, but I rarely need anything over 8Mb/s.)

Obviously, quality is not perfect, but it's decent. And it could never be confused with MPEG1. (Just the same, I've discovered I have an easier time and better quality by using an internal TV tuner for programs/movies on TV that I know I'm going to want to put on DVD.)

Rob
Jsnkc wrote on 5/18/2004, 1:42 PM
MPEG-2 will give you better quality and larger file size, I would have to reccomend that you don't edit it and then re-encode it to MPEG-2 again or you will still lose a lot of quality.
bStro wrote on 5/18/2004, 1:49 PM
Yes, setting it for MPEG2 will result in better quality than MPEG1. I imagine your device's sofware can also be set to record at different bit rates? (Check your manual.) If it lets you choose VBR (variable bit rate), use it. This will give you better quality and, in some cases, a smaller file size. Otherwise, you'll probably want to use a bit rate (aka data rate) of about 4Mb/second or 5Mb/second. The former is more likely to give you enough space on a DVD for two episodes (post commercial removal). I'd say the latter, but "24" probably has a lot of action in it.

And yes, MPEG2 will result in a larger file. But by the time you burn to DVD, it's going to be an MPEG2 file anyhow, so you might as well start with that in the first place.

What capture device are you using? As Jason (I think that's his name -- apologies if I'm wrong) said, capturing to AVI would be better if your device will do it. This is even larger than MPEG2, but it is more suitable for editing in Vegas. Although Vegas can edit MPEG files, it was not designed to.

Rob
dvdude wrote on 5/18/2004, 1:53 PM
Perhaps you'd be better of with a cuts-only tool that keeps it MPEG? I think TMPGEnc can do that.
bStro wrote on 5/18/2004, 1:56 PM
Also... I don't know what your budget is like, but if you plan to do this regular, you may want to invest in one of Womble Multimedia's programs. They're more suited for editing MPEG files. Almost no loss in quality and much faster render time (since they doesn't re-encode the entire file). If I start with a one hour MPEG2 file, edit out 18 minutes of commercials, and output to a new file, the render takes about three minutes.

How long does it take in Vegas? ;-)

I used to do this in Vegas, so I know how long, but I'm curious what your results were? Now, understand, this isn't a slight on Vegas AT ALL. It's just that editing MPEGs is not its jurisdiction.

Rob
fosko wrote on 5/18/2004, 2:43 PM
(trying to remember everything so I can address them at one time)
To tell you the truth... I'm not sure how long it t akes to render becasue not I just set it and go to bed. I'd say anywhere between 3-8 hours.

My device is USB and my PC is not USB 2 ...so ..I'm capturing everhting USB 1. THis has been fine so far becasue I've been just watching them on my PC.

And now it's coming back to me why I set the default to MPEG1. It was before I got my DVD burner. I was putting them on CD for a freind to watch on MediaPlayer... so... I needed a smaller file size. MPEG1 was coming out to @500 megs after commercials. I don't remember what the MPEG2 was.. but it was over a gig.. much too big to write to CD.

Of course now I could squeeze a lot more in leaving it MPEG1 and fitting about 8 eposides on a DVD..but then I could only watch on the PC Media Player.

I'll save tonights episode MPEG2 and see how it goes.

I havn't had a chance to check out the site.. but I will tonight..

THANKS...
jester700 wrote on 5/18/2004, 7:01 PM
USB 1.1 claims 12Mb/s, but you're doing well if you get half that on sustained throughput. I had the ADS IDVD and the first Hauppauge PVR-USB (Both USB 1.1). Yeah - 6 Mb/s, though on my laptop I could only do 5.5 without occasional frame drops (you can hack the profiles to allow this rate). The Hauppauge had slightly better vid in MPEG2, and MUCH better in MPEG1 (VCD), BUT... It captured audio at 44.1k only. To get to 48k for DVD use required a software SRC that is hidden (it says "multiplexing" or some such, never mentioning sample rate). This takes a while, and sounds less than great. This is why I kept the IDVD and returned the Hauppauge, though for realtime MPEG2 now I use Hauppauge's PCI card with no sample rate issues. The IDVD would cap at whatever rate your sound card can - it muxes this and it's capped vid in software. Yes, cheesy, and many have sync issues, but I didn't.

I don't know what improvements were made in the USB2.0 versions, but I THINK I looked at the Hauppauge and was disappointed to find it STILL wasn't 48k friendly.