Upgraded to HD Capture! Woohoo!

werp121 · **Joined:** Sun Aug 22, 2004 3:49 pm **Posts:** 515

I got a Hauppauge HD PVR recently and it's quite amazing. Quality is great, it uses little CPU power, and files sizes are quite manageable (just bought a 1TB hard drive too). I've heard people have had stability issues with it, but mine's been pretty solid. It's the newer version with vents on the bottom, plus I keep it on top of my PC case which has a 160mm fan on top. The air coming out from the top fan is pretty cool and hits the vents on the bottom of the HD PVR. Over heating shouldn't be a problem. It's taken me a while to find a good setup for editing files, but I finally found a program that seems perfect. Anyone with am HD PVR needs to download the latest beta of Video Redo now. You get a nice interface and lossless, frame perfect cuts. And it's currently free to boot! I'm sure it works with other file types as well so give it a try. Anyone looking for an HD capture setup should definitely consider this combo.

rocky741 · **Posted:** Wed Jun 09, 2010 7:48 pm

Congrats! Can't wait to see some of your work. :Kool

Kevin77 · **Posted:** Fri Jun 11, 2010 10:42 am

It's a great capture device, and yes VideoRedo TV Suite h.264 is the best editing software for it. It's pricey, but well worth it. Here's a link to the VR forum with a download link if anyone wants to try it.

http://www.videoredo.net/msgBoard/showt ... hp?t=17563

mikieb · **Joined:** Mon Jul 03, 2006 10:08 am **Posts:** 1754

What do you guys use to get screen caps? I've been using VLC's snapshot tool, but they turn out like crap...any suggestions? I've got the HD PVR and it's KILLER! THe caps need work though...suggestions would be great!

Kevin77 · **Posted:** Sat Jul 24, 2010 6:16 pm

Why does VLC turn out like crap? Are you not deinterlacing 1080i?

The software bundle it came with should have a program that plays back and has stills capabilities. It's called Arcsoft Total Media Theater. That's really the best software I've found for making stills, but the only downside is there is no frame advance. You can alsouse Media Player Classic Home Cinema (or other versions). If you can't get it to play back use got the settings and add the Arcsoft Video Decoder, and set it to preferred over default. It should play back the h.264 vids perfectly.

mikieb · **Joined:** Mon Jul 03, 2006 10:08 am **Posts:** 1754

You'll see what I mean by looking at the caps here...they just don't look sharp like everyone else's HD caps...

http://public.fotki.com/pbmikey/ginger- ... er-zee-17/

Kevin77 · **Posted:** Sat Jul 24, 2010 6:48 pm

Hmmm....when you play the video does it have the pixelation? If it does what bitrate do you have the HDPVR at? I recommend going full blast 13.5Mbps if you're not.

mikieb · **Joined:** Mon Jul 03, 2006 10:08 am **Posts:** 1754

When I play it back, there is no pixellation. Only when I cap. I'll try slamming the bitrate up...it's at 9mb now.

mikieb · **Joined:** Mon Jul 03, 2006 10:08 am **Posts:** 1754

Check it out...

I downloaded a .ts codec for Windows Media Player, started using Fraps screen cap utility and it works so much better. It's a lot faster as well. Check out the differences.

These caps were taken with Fraps on Windows Media Player - http://public.fotki.com/pbmikey/ginger- ... ger-zee-18

These caps were taken with VLC's built in screen cap utility on VLC - http://public.fotki.com/pbmikey/ginger- ... ger-zee-17

rocky741 · **Posted:** Sat Jul 24, 2010 9:26 pm

WOW! Big difference there! :shock:

What is the link to Fraps? :hum

Kevin77 · **Posted:** Sat Jul 24, 2010 9:27 pm

Do what works, and what's easiest. Looks like you've figured a method out. :Kool

Chris · **Joined:** Wed Nov 05, 2008 1:55 am **Posts:** 2092

There's apparently a glitch in VLC 1.1.0 that causes pixelation with JPEG HD snapshots. Here's an example when I cap with VLC's snapshot feature:

The issue was being discussed a few weeks ago on VideoLan's forums (here: http://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=78143), but the bug hasn't been fixed yet. I've even tried the nightly builds of VLC and the bug is still there too. I think I read on another post that it has something to do with a small buffer for JPEG HD snapshots. The caps turn out just fine if you go to tools > preferences > video > format and change it to PNG in the drop down menu, but the file sizes are huge (typically 600-800KB in JPEG and over 2MB in PNG)!

rocky741 · **Posted:** Sat Jul 24, 2010 9:32 pm

Kevin77 wrote:

Do what works, and what's easiest. Looks like you've figured a method out. :Kool

I should have also said that in my previous post. I echo Kev's comments!

Kevin77 · **Posted:** Sat Jul 24, 2010 9:33 pm

Good info Chris. Yeah, never cap in .jpg on the fly anyways with any software. Choose .png or .bmp, then compress .jpg. Irfanview is good freeware that converts. :Kool

ResplendentRegina · **Joined:** Sun Nov 25, 2007 6:54 pm **Posts:** 1525

Kevin77 wrote:

Good info Chris. Yeah, never cap in .jpg on the fly anyways with any software. Choose .png or .bmp, then compress .jpg. Irfanview is good freeware that converts. :Kool

Agreed. jpeg is crap. Your file size will be bigger with png or bmp but when you convert to jpeg it will reduce it. And pretty much keep the same quality.....pretty much ha ha.

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Upgraded to HD Capture! Woohoo!

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