Is my system fast enough to capture MPEG-2?

[sep]

I'm adding an ATI TV Wonder Pro w/Remote to my Server/Workstation. I'd like to know if the existing hardware is adiquate to transfer 8mm/VHS to MPEG-2 (DVD).

P3 850Mhz
512MB RAM
120 ATA100 7200RPM hd (ATA33 Controler)

TIA,
-JC

 

[Jeff7181]

Since nobody has answered... I would think it should be fine... although I've never done any MPEG-2 capturing like that, so I don't really know.

 

[oldfart]

I'm sure rbv5 will be here to answer sooner or later. I'm not that familiar with the TV Wonder. Doing real time MPEG2 capture with good quality is pretty intensive. To do it via software takes a lot of CPU power (more than you have). I think the ATi does real time HW encoding, but again, I'm not that sure. I do all my video capture via firewire in DV format, then convert to MPEG2 after I edit things up.

 

[beatle]

I'm not sure about ATI, but my Asus TV Tuner has mpeg2 hardware assisted capture and it ran well on my tbird @ 1266. I believe CPU usage was above 80% though. I did capture @ 640x480 and a relatively high bitrate (over a gig an hour), so you might be ok depending on how much the ATI helps out and how high of a bitrate you'll be using.

 

[rbV5]

It should be able to handle MPEG-2 encoding on the fly. My "media junior" rig in my sig captures without dropping frames using the "DVD high" preset in MMC. The AIW 7500 is a software encoder (likewise the TV Wonder pro, and also beatle's ASUS tuner IIRC) so it will be demanding on your rig. However, VHS is low resolution, so you can get away with lower settings. I will tell you though, that of all the video stuff I do, transfering VHS to MPEG-2 is the biggest PITA for a number of reasons.

think the ATi does real time HW encoding

You have to have an R3xx AIW for HW "assisted" encoding, all prior AIW/VIVO ATI cards, and all TV Wonder cards are totally software encoder solutions.

 

[sep]

Originally posted by: rbV5
It should be able to handle MPEG-2 encoding on the fly. My "media junior" rig in my sig captures without dropping frames using the "DVD high" preset in MMC. The AIW 7500 is a software encoder (likewise the TV Wonder pro, and also beatle's ASUS tuner IIRC) so it will be demanding on your rig. However, VHS is low resolution, so you can get away with lower settings. I will tell you though, that of all the video stuff I do, transfering VHS to MPEG-2 is the biggest PITA for a number of reasons.

think the ATi does real time HW encoding

You have to have an R3xx AIW for HW "assisted" encoding, all prior AIW/VIVO ATI cards, and all TV Wonder cards are totally software encoder solutions.

Do you recommend me putting this in my P4 3.06 rig? I didn't want because I don't want my rig taken up all the time. I go 32 8mm and 20 VHS tapes to convert to DVD. Okay...what about a P4 2.2 Celeron with 512MB?

Can you give me some more tips for converting these?

Thanks all,
-JC

 

[oldfart]

Originally posted by: sep

Originally posted by: rbV5
It should be able to handle MPEG-2 encoding on the fly. My "media junior" rig in my sig captures without dropping frames using the "DVD high" preset in MMC. The AIW 7500 is a software encoder (likewise the TV Wonder pro, and also beatle's ASUS tuner IIRC) so it will be demanding on your rig. However, VHS is low resolution, so you can get away with lower settings. I will tell you though, that of all the video stuff I do, transfering VHS to MPEG-2 is the biggest PITA for a number of reasons.

think the ATi does real time HW encoding

You have to have an R3xx AIW for HW "assisted" encoding, all prior AIW/VIVO ATI cards, and all TV Wonder cards are totally software encoder solutions.

Do you recommend me putting this in my P4 3.06 rig? I didn't want because I don't want my rig taken up all the time. I go 32 8mm and 20 VHS tapes to convert to DVD. Okay...what about a P4 2.2 Celeron with 512MB?

Can you give me some more tips for converting these?

Thanks all,
-JC

I'll give you my $.02. I converted ~ 25 8mm to at that time, SCVD since DVD-R drives were still very expensive. Now I burn DVD disks and it is much easier. I dont personally like analog capture. File size, sync problems, capturecompression...just didn't like it. I bought a DV Camcorder (needed a new one anyway) which has analog yo digital passthrough conversion. Plug the analog in, it comes out the other side on the firewire.

Here is what you can do if you haven't bought that ATi card yet or can return it.

PINNACLE MovieBox DV IEEE 1394 Video Capture Device . This device does the same thing. Converts the analog inputs to a DV 1394 firewire output. You will have an AVI capture that is in DV format 720 x 480 res. It comes with Pinnacle Studio 8 which is a very easy to use, but powerful capture/editing/chapter/menu and author tool. After you capture and do your editing, it will convert to the finished format which in your case would be a DVD format.

And the more CPU power, the better!

 

[lifeguard1999]

I used an ATI TV-Wonder on a 700 MHz system and was able to capture to MPEG-2. It should work for you as well.

 

[rbV5]

Can you give me some more tips for converting these?

DVDRhelp is a great place to start. IMHO, if you need to transfer the tapes and haven't purchased the hardware yet(and don't need a TV Tuner), take a good look at oldfart's recommendation. I've had a little time with a Sony TRV-9<-- I think) and I was very impressed with the analog to digital conversion, and working with DV in an editor is a dream compared to MPEG. Analog capture can be daunting, but VHS is particularly troublesome...I've never figured out a single, simple workflow that would work for my tapes without having to take some serious time to get the settings right to get an acceptable quality for nearly every single tape. With the camcorder, it was literally hook the VCR to the camcorder, connect the firewire, and "copy" it right into Premiere to edit....hard part done. From there, encoding is painless...just a little time consuming(that doesn't require you to babysit the process), if I hadn't already blown my toy budget for the year...I'd have one today, and thats how I'd be doing it.

If you need to go the analog capture card route, you can still get just as good results...it just takes more effort. Realistically, the initial rig specs you offered will handle the job. A faster rig will speed up editing and especially encoding times, but you can encode overnight or whatever.

In any event, I'll offer any help I can give you...good luck!

 

[oldfart]

Yup, analog capture is a PITA. Since you have so many tapes to convert, a firewire based A->D conversion capture device would save you a lot of grief.

 

[sep]

Originally posted by: rbV5

Can you give me some more tips for converting these?

DVDRhelp is a great place to start. IMHO, if you need to transfer the tapes and haven't purchased the hardware yet(and don't need a TV Tuner), take a good look at oldfart's recommendation. I've had a little time with a Sony TRV-9<-- I think) and I was very impressed with the analog to digital conversion, and working with DV in an editor is a dream compared to MPEG. Analog capture can be daunting, but VHS is particularly troublesome...I've never figured out a single, simple workflow that would work for my tapes without having to take some serious time to get the settings right to get an acceptable quality for nearly every single tape. With the camcorder, it was literally hook the VCR to the camcorder, connect the firewire, and "copy" it right into Premiere to edit....hard part done. From there, encoding is painless...just a little time consuming(that doesn't require you to babysit the process), if I hadn't already blown my toy budget for the year...I'd have one today, and thats how I'd be doing it.

If you need to go the analog capture card route, you can still get just as good results...it just takes more effort. Realistically, the initial rig specs you offered will handle the job. A faster rig will speed up editing and especially encoding times, but you can encode overnight or whatever.

In any event, I'll offer any help I can give you...good luck!

:Q Wait...so your saying if I borrowed a camcorder that's DV and has RCA in and Firewire out I can just pass thru the camcorder to my firewire connection?

Also are you saying that the limited processing power shouldn't hurt the quality, just the time to complete?

Thanks for (guys) all your help...I do appricate it...I do and my fam does to.
-JC

 

[oldfart]

Wait...so your saying if I borrowed a camcorder that's DV and has RCA in and Firewire out I can just pass thru the camcorder to my firewire connection?

Not all camcorders have this feature. You will have to get the model and find out.

 

[rbV5]

Also are you saying that the limited processing power shouldn't hurt the quality, just the time to complete?

As long as you aren't dropping frames with the settings that you need for a good capture. As far as editing/encoding, a faster CPU will only do it faster...not better, provided its powerful enough to encode at all.

 

[newtond]

imo it would be cheaper and faster to encode your tapes into mpeg-1. 8mm vhs resolution is equivalent to VCD (240 lines), so mpeg-2 would be a waste.

 

[oldfart]

He is putting them on DVD. DVD=MPEG2

 

[newtond]

yes i know that. maybe i wasn't clear, i meant encode into MPEG-1 and burn onto a CD-R as a VCD. skip DVD's and MPEG-2 altogether, because it's simply not needed. 8mm VHS resolution only contains 240 lines, whereas ntsc DVD has 480. VHS won't look any better when encoded in MPEG-2 vs. MPEG-1. CD-R's are cheaper, VCD quality is same as VHS, less encoding time, etc etc

 

[oldfart]

I've done VCD and SVCD from 8mm (about 25 of them). VCD looks like cr@p IMHO. Its not the res, its the low 1150 bitrate. SVCD with a 2500 bitrate looks considerably better. A friend of mine did the same with VHS and came to the same conclusion. Since he obviously has a DVD burner, there is no need to do (S)VCD.