HDVSplit - viable alternative for capturing?

Christian de Godzinsky wrote on 2/2/2009, 10:36 AM

Hi,

Since ther Sony HDV capture function is just a piece of crap (the end of clips are incorrect by a couple of frames, and the audio is missing for about 6 frames at the ends) - I am forced to find other alternatives:

Many recommend the HDVSplit program. However, many questions arise:

- Is the latest version 0.77 beta?
- Does it work reliably on Vista 64 bit?

I have tried it now for a couple of times and it gives me trouble. When the capture works, then it works as a charm. But today (my second test day), the capture just stops anywhere and anytime. I have checked both the source material and the firewire connvection (capturing fromat HC1E). Everything is OK. Nothing installed or removed in between.

What is the problem? Can you trust such an application that is BETA, and seems to be an quite old release?

IIt also gives me one ERROR:
"HDVSPlit can't find MPEG1 audio decoder. Try to install and configure ffdshow. Audio is turned off."

Should I be concerned if I just don't bother to listen to the audio during capture... ?

Any comments - all are appreciated

Christian

PS: For SONY, how can the HDV capture be in a PRO software still dysfunctional? Are you ever going to fix this stupid error? You should deserve the "Pro" suffix by acting accordingly. Such an error has been recognized by SCS a zillion times but still no fix??? Unbelieable to have to use some other application just for such a BASIC task as for capturing....

Comments

Cliff Etzel wrote on 2/2/2009, 11:19 AM

HDVSplit is working fine for me on either either 64 bit XP Pro or Vista 64.

It is my default capture utility for Vegas - never had a single issue with it. You can even specify HDVSplit to be your default capture utility in your options menu in Vegas Pro. I usually capture first with out scene detecting my footage, then run HDVSplit on the full m2t file to do scene detection - once I've done that, I never have had issues with Red frames, audio drop outs etc.

**Edit: I work with SONY HC7's so this may be a reason why I have no issues working with HDVSplit, which is surprising since I've never gotten the SONY capture utility to work right for me - you'd think a SONY camera working with SONY capture software would be a perfect fit - at least for me, it's not**

HTH,

Cliff Etzel - Solo Video Journalist
bluprojekt | solo video journalism blog

jabloomf1230 wrote on 2/2/2009, 11:23 AM

Whether HDVSplit works reliably or not, is a function of the specific OS AVC driver that supports your camcorder. HDVSplit was only tested with a limited number of camcorders and OSes. The software has not been updated in a long time and many new camcorders have appeared on the market. That said, basically HDVSplit either works for a given OS and camcorder or it's unsuitably erratic.

Also, that MPEG1 "error" does not affect the capture in any material way. And you might make things worse for your whole system, by installing ffdshow. But then again, my motto is, "The less extraneous codecs, the better."

The only Firewire capture software that I have found to be reliable is Cineform's HDLink and sometimes, even HDLink can also expose problems in your system's hardware/software configuration. The next best capture option for the PC seems to be Adobe Premiere. Vegas 8.0c's built-in HDV option, comes in third, but everyone's experience is as varied as the makeup of their computers.

Lou van Wijhe wrote on 2/2/2009, 12:11 PM

Christian,

If you are in PAL-country and can understand German, I may have an alternative.

Lou

jazzmaster wrote on 2/2/2009, 3:00 PM

I got hammerd by bunch of guys on this list for complaing about Sony having a bug (which Sony admitted) in 8.1 as to capturing in HD. HDSplit has not worked for me at all. But what does work is loading 8.0c and capturing in HD. It gives me a preview picture and does a nice job. Then I just import it into 8.1 and edit. This has been a good workaround for me.

Evidently, we are not supposed to rip Sony on this forum.

LReavis wrote on 2/2/2009, 3:14 PM

I never was able to get Vegas 7 or 8 capture to work with my 2 Sony HC1s on my Asus P5B, so I've been using HDVsplit for about 2 years now. Never one problem, even with preview on. I also use it on an old laptop, but I turn off preview or at least make preview a very small window (that laptop was cheap even when new, with a slow Celeron CPU).

On the other hand, it never worked on my old P4 on an Intel 865 motherboard; but Vegas 6 capture worked fine. (I also experimented with Vegas 7d - as I recall it worked OK too). So it depends upon ???

I had uninstalled ffdshow over a year ago when I found it was messing up Camtasia. But doing so never resulted in an error message from HDVsplit . . .

blink3times wrote on 2/2/2009, 3:18 PM

I use HDVsplit exclusively now (on Vista 64). The vegas capture utility has too many problems. However I have found HDVsplit to be on occasion a bit finicky. What I do is capture with no scene split and preview, audio off.

After the tape is captured I will then use the scene split utility to split the captured file. I also use the date/time clip label system as well. I find that when I do it this way I get a perfect capture every time.

Christian de Godzinsky wrote on 2/3/2009, 4:20 AM

Hi all,

Mos grateful for all the valuable comments.

Lou:
Yes I am in a PAL country (Finland) and can READ German not fluently but I manage. What SW did you have in mind?

I am capturing from a HC1 (that is on the list of compatible cams in the HDVSplit dokumentation).

No one answered this: is the 0.77 Beta the latest version available???

I have not yet tried to capture the whole tape at once, and then split the file into separate files (clips). Did not even know that it is possible.

Is the reason for recommending this - that HDVSplit does not work reliably when scene detection is in use during capturing from the CAM? Or what?

I'm on Vista 64 bit Ultimate and ASUS P5E3 Deluxe mobo.

Again, Vegas HDV capture has never worked properly, the end of the clips have always serious errors. It cannot be wrong to talk about this serious error still neglected by SCS.

Some of my work can include more than 1000 short clips that just needs to be rearranged on the timeline. Imagine the time I spend clipping every "***forbidden f-word***" clip, just to be able to use them. It makes me insane. Therefore I must find a viable alternative, since it seems SCS will never fix this. Nice to hear Blink that HDVSplit works for you on Vista 64. Maybe I have to try your options to see if it helps...

Cheers,

Christian

farss wrote on 2/3/2009, 4:36 AM

In all fairness to SCS:
Once you understand the nature of HDV you'll understand why splitting scenes is problematic. Other NLEs get around the problem in various ways but they are workarounds, some of which are not even letting you edit HDV natively.

Bob.

blink3times wrote on 2/3/2009, 5:26 AM

"No one answered this: is the 0.77 Beta the latest version available???"
Yes.

"I have not yet tried to capture the whole tape at once, and then split the file into separate files (clips). Did not even know that it is possible.

With HDVsplit it is quite possible to scene split AFTER the capture... one of the great things about HDVsplit that Vegas capture can not do... that along with using the time/date metadata info to label the clips (which I will go on to convert to a subtitle title track so that time/date can be seen for any clip when subtitle button on your remote is pushed).

I find that HDVsplit will drop frames when capturing/scene splitting at the same time. I get no frame drop at all when capturing the tape whole first. It only takes an extra 6 or seven minutes to scene split after the fact so on the whole I find it much more reliable.

blink3times wrote on 2/3/2009, 5:32 AM

"Once you understand the nature of HDV you'll understand why splitting scenes is problematic."

That's not an excuse. They could easily do what others do (HDVsplit, Cineform Neo....) and that is provide a method to scene split AFTER the capture.

There's simply no other word for Vegas capture.... other than weak

Christian de Godzinsky wrote on 2/3/2009, 6:05 AM

I fully agree that capturing HDV mpeg2 material ca be problematic. However, the level of how "difficult" something is to do, cannot be the reason for not implementing a function, or a feature in video editing software. Or in ANY software. Has never been at the company I work for. Many more difficult things happens in Vegas all the time. AND - SCS has implemented the HDV capture, and it is weak - mildly put.

On the other hand, I don't quite understand why capturing HDV material to separate files can be that complex...

Think of what happens in the CAM during recording. Every scene supposedly ends with the last frame of a GOP group of frames. And the CAM starts the next clip with a master frame (the first of a GOP group). Why is it so difficult to split here between? Don't tell me that the cam continues the GOP serier with a new recording, forcing it to read in all the previous frames and calculate the next frame accordingly. I would not believe that. Or does anyone know for sure?

As Blink mentions, many other softwares do the splitting correctly. Even HDVSplit. Should not be a big issue for SCS to fix it, unless they already have put all eggs in the AVCHD basket... Hopefully not. Even if the tape is slowly dying, there are still piles of tapes that needs to be processed, now, and in the future.

Christian