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CAPTURE GUIDES -> Capturing MPEG with any capture card
This guide is the result of countless attempts at finding affordable software that can software capture MPEG with
acceptable results. There are TWO methods.
METHOD 1: It requires two programs: the commercial software Power VCR II and the freeware
PVAstrumento.Not using both programs may result in poor results. PowerVCR alone is known to have severe
audio sync problems. PVAstrumento will realign the audio and eliminate these problems.PowerVCR does not
report dropped video frames if any occur, and it will record audio regardless of video drops. The 44.1hz audio is
also given an incorrect 48hz ID tag. PVASstrumento fixes these problems on the final file. For best results, follow
all steps of the guide, without deviation.
METHOD 2: This is the MainConcept Encoder 1.4.x method using the capture utility. Coming soon.
Note: If you have an ATI AIW/VIVO, Hauppauge PVR250/350, Matrox or Canopus MPEG cards, please use the
software that came with the card. While this guide will provide decent results, it cannot compete with the high
caliber hardware/software combination on that equipment. This guide is not meant for you.
The competition
Before beginning the guide, it is important to list all the competing methods tried, as well as the reasons why
those methods failed. Some of them quite miserably.
1. MainConcept PVR. Not to be confused with MainConcept Encoder 1.4.x. This software is a perfect example of
trash software that should still be in R&D and not yet released, not even as a beta test release. It refuses to
work with many cards, and is very fickle, often crashing at startup. Avoid this software for now. Go ahead and
try it (demo from www.mainconcept.com) but do not go in with high hopes. It's also a CPU hog that will run slow
even on the fastest Intel P4 systems (tested on Intel P4 1.8Ghz with 1GB RDRAM).
2. WinDVR a.k.a. WinDVD Recorder. This piece of software gets the award for "worst MPEG software". It
captures x480 resolutions with blended de-interlacing, causing ghost-like images to form during movements. It
does the normal drop-field de-interlace method on x240 resolution captures. There is no way to make it
interlace, not even with hacks or registry edits. Options are limited and quality is mediocre at best. The CPU load
is not too high, but judging from the output quality, the quality was sacrificed to maintain the low resource
usage. The "DVD quality" MPEG-2 encodes look like VCD quality at best. It also has extreme macroblocking on
scene changes. Does not have Half-D1 352x480 option.
3. ATI MultiMedia Center (ATI MMC). This is one of the best pieces of MPEG software around. However, it
only works with ATI cards, and even then it only looks best when used on the hardware-assisted ATI cards. For
non-ATI cards, it will not function, maybe not even install. There are hacks that can force the installation of the
MMC software on non-ATI systems, but the capture function will not work with non-ATI cards. Excellent
software, but for ATI cards only.
4. Snapstream PVR, BeyondTV3, SageTV and Showshifter. Although the programs are made and
marketed by different companies, they seem to look and function almost the same. It's uncanny. These
programs provide many options, but all them function poorly. It was also crash-happy on the 3 machines it was
tested on. The MPEG quality left much to be desired. It seems to be Divx- and AVI-centric, not really for MPEG
capturing. Does not have Half-D1 352x480 option. They are often praised for PVR abilities, not really for quality.
DigitalFAQ.com values quality above all else.
5. NanoDVR. A small program with small results. It is based on VFW capturing, and uses a VFW bridge internally
for newer WDM cards. The program has bugs, glitches, crashes, and the demo told me it was expired the very
first time it was attempted to be installed. Has almost no options, and appears to be de-interlaced capture.
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6. VirtualDub, Windows Media Maker, iuVCR, VirtualVCR and others. These are "bad" for MPEG capture
because they cannot capture MPEG. These are AVI capture programs. While some codec may be able to change
this fact, it will assuredly give dismal results.
Method 1, Step 1: PowerVCR IIcustom installation
Go ahead and install PowerVCR II like any other program. Follow the instructions and reboot as required.
Registry Editor. After installing the software, it is time to customize the setup for PowerVCR II. You must edit
the registry so PowerVCR will give better results than what it does by default.
Goto START -> RUN -> and type "regedit" -> then click OK
Warning !! Be very careful !! Do not stray from this guide !! The registry is the code area of Windows that
controls how the system and its software operates. The Registry Editor is part of Windows that let's users make
custom changes. Making the wrong changes could damage your system. As long as you follow this guide without
deviation, you should be fine.
Making the registry changes. Once the Registry Editor launches, it will pop up a windows that many
computer users will find confusing. The + boxes expand the tree of code.
- Expand the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE tree.
- Expand the SOFTWARE tree
- Expand the CYBERLINK tree.
- Expand the POWERVCR II tree.
Your registry will have a LOT more trees in it. This image has been cropped to show just what you need. The
registry is alphabetically sorted, so you should have no troubles finding the trees.
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Click on the POWERVCR II tree so it becomes highlighted. When this is done, the window on the right will reveal
the coding for POWER VCR II. Some of this will be changed.
Restore interlace - PART I
- Find the LiveDeinterlace key and double-click on it to bring up the editing box.
- Change the value to 00 00 00 00
Change maximum allowed filesize
- Find the MaxRecSizeMB key and double-click on it to bring up the editing box.
- Change the input to DECIMAL and change value to 3990 if running Windows 95, 95 or ME. Change to 8000 if
running Windows NT, 2000, XP.
Restore interlace - PART II
- Find the RecDeinterlace key and double-click on it to bring up the editing box.
- Change the value to 00 00 00 00
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Add 352x480 Half-D1 recording resolution
- Find the AllVideoSize key and double-click on it to bring up the editing box.
- Add 352 x 480# to the end of the file. Be sure to use spaces exactly as shown.
Now expand the HKEY_CURRENT_USER tree and repeat the process !!! These changes must be made in
both locations for the hacks to properly work. After making all these changes, you are finished with the
installation process. Now reboot the computer (required for Windows 65/98/ME ... may not be necessary for
NT/2000/XP). After it restarts, open up PowerVCR II.
Method 1, Step2: PowerVCR IIcapture settings
When PowerVCR II first opens, the viewing screen is a bit large. Some systems may not like having a preview of
that size. Click the lower right corner, and resize to about two-thirds or half the original size (it will resize to
recording size later on when you begin to record).
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Above: The important items are in the pink boxes. The top left is the Cyberlink menu, with PowerVCR capture as
the top item. The preview window (shown in blue) is where the video will be. The pick-axe icon on the bottom
left is the setting control panels. The red dot on the far right is the RECORD button. These are your basic
controls.
Click the pick-axe to enter the CONTROL PANELS ...
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Above: Select your video capture card and your input source. Select the sound card and then select the audio
source, normally LINE IN. Set both audio setting to the same connection so you can hear what you're recording.
Above: This is where you can alter your video quality settings. PLEASE NOTE! A video will look "muddy"
(meaning less contrast) on a PC monitor as compared to a tv set because the PC uses a RGB 0-255 colorspace
while the tv uses a YUV 16-235 colorspace. These are best left untouched, except in situation where the video
needs to be corrected.
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Leave in OVERLAY mode for most cards on most systems. This is what affects how you see your video in the
preview window. The wrong option will often make the program crash.
Above: The presets that come with this program, much like every capture program, are not very good. Click
NEW and we'll now take advantage of the hacks that were implemented in the registry. Your new profile will
appear in the USER DEFINED area when added (it can be EDITED or DELETED with those buttons later). Do not
alter the INSTRUCTION SET for any reason. This info is pulled from your CPU.
Above: Name the new profile (PROFILE NAME tab, not shown) and then move on to the VIDEO tab. Set the
encoding format to MPEG-2 and the video size to the newly-added 352x480 resolution. For this example, a
bitrate of 4000k is being used. Follow the BITRATE chart on the AVI vs MPEG guide for normal use.
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Above: This program uses MPEG Layer II audio for capturing. A bitrate of 256k-384k is suggested. For almost all
situations, the richness and adequate bitrate of 256k is perfect. The audio mode will depend on your soundcard
(true STEREO audio card used here).
Above: The ADVANCED tab has advanced MPEG control. Leave it at HIGH QUALITY (this program is already
imperfect as it is, the HIGH SPEED option is a bit blocky). The IPB settings are optimal at 2B/4P or 2B/3P but can
be 1B/2P for less demand on the CPU (as shown here). Never use I-FRAME only as that is not a DVD-spec MPEG
file.
Click OK and you're now done setting up the new custom capturing profile.
It will go back to the SYSTEM SETTINGS control panels...
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Above: Be sure it is set to record both AUDIO AND VIDEO. Use the advanced options as you see fit. Intelligent
Noise Removal seems to works okay. Video Smoothing can be usefull too. The WORKING DIRECTORY is where
capture files will be automatically saved (preferably on a capture-only hard drive for best results).
The program should now be completely set up. Click OK to exit and return to the main program. Start the
video (which should show video and have audio) and then click the RED RECORD BUTTON to start recording.
PLEASE NOTE! If you a getting half-sized files (176x480) when using the 352x480 setting (or 368x480 files
when using the 720x480 setting), simply go add a double-sized setting in the registry. A 704x480 setting will
yield 352x480 files, as will a 1440x480 setting yield 720x480 files (though Full D1 is not really needed). Test
thoroughly before committing hours to a project.
Method 1, Step 3: PVAStrumento Corrections
Again, PowerVCR II 3.0 does not keep audio/video in sync very well. The files are often corrupt. The freeware
PVAStrumento will fix this. Click here to visit the download site (if this site if offline, please let us know using the
CONTACT US button at the top of this page). Download and install the program (it does not really matter which
version is used, thought this is still being tested).
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Above: Load your PowerVCRII-made MPEG file (... to open file). Click INFO to bring up the stream information.
It will show a 44.1hz audio file and your MPEG video file. Notice how the PTS is offset from the very first instant!
This program was made for DVB use, but offer MPEG correction as a side effect. This is the reason to use this
tool. Click SCAN to find the errors in the file.
Click DEMUX...
Above: Change the file location (as needed) by using the (...) marks by BASENAME. Change the EXTENSIONS of
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the new files to have VIDEO as .M2V and audio as .MP2. There will be no AC3 file, that is not used on this guide
(PowerVCRII captures MPEG Layer II audio). Leave all other settings at defaults.
Click START and then let it make the corrected files. The end.
NOTE: If the final files look/sound butchered, try again with another version of PVAStrumento. Each version has
it's own set of bugs and problems. Software v2030 is often suggested as the best one to use.
Method 2, Step 1: MainConcept
Coming soon.
Most people needing this guide have already gone the budget route on the hardware and would consider this to
be expensive software. If this kind of funding is available, a better hardware/software combination can be
bought (ATI cards, Hauppauge cards). Next, MC is inconsistent on results from one system to the next. The
capture function is very demanding on CPU and tends to work with USB/Firewire/DV devices best. Internal
PCI/AGP cards are often hampered by poor performance and dropped frames. This software provides excellent
quality, if it will cooperate with your computer system. It likes to crash a lot too, so be prepared for that.
Closing thoughts
Unlike the ATI guides, this guide is not guaranteed to work on all systems, although it may work quite often. Feel
free to ask questions or report problems, but know that there is little more that can be suggested. Using a
cheapo video card is not the way to go when both quality matters and live MPEG capture is desired.
GUIDE COPYRIGHT 2004 DIGITALFAQ.COM - visit www.dvdguides.org for more guides
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