Encoding and Authering Questions

[chromeh]

Dear all,

Please do not mind giving me any information about my questions below. I would be very appreciated of it. The situation is to encode Beta Cam to MPG, and to auther and edit the MPG.

1. What style of encoding is better? (software randering or hardware encoding?)

2. Please sugget which hardware or software you would choose.

(please forgive my poor expression in English, and feel free to contact me by: chromeh@hotmail.com)

[ormonde]

1. Hardware encoding would be the most stable. (Less of a chance that you will drop frames when capturing)

2. There are a plethora of cards and devices on the market. If you decide on an external device, make sure it is either Firewire or USB 2 compatible. I personally use an Adaptec VideOh AVC-2210 external device. (Firewire/USB 2) So far, it has served me well for capturing from old VHS tape. Most cards/devices are bundled with software packages for capturing and or authoring to DVD. Again, you have to experiment to find what works best for you.

[shiny#3]

in opposite of ormonde I use a software based solution to capture.

the capturing quality provided , depends on your system.

what is essential is a lot of hard disk space and a quite fast
cpu and a decent grahpiccard. and of course a tv card or a gcard
with video in.

I personally still use Virtualdub Mod to capture
and I directly use The Divx pro codec to store my vids.
(at veryhigh bitrate ---> 1400kbits and plus)
afterwards I use either the CCE or TMPEG to convert them into the format that I need.