QUERY: new to recording from TV card.. woes :S

[kevingpo]

I own a Hauppauge DEC2000-T usb tv card. The software that comes with it is called DigitalTV and I like to record TV shows. The recorded file is in mpeg2. DigitalTV program can start, stop and pause recording.

I am wondering if anyone knows about the general issues of recording off a TV card, and whether the mpeg2 file gets messed up/corrupted when hitting the stop then start very fast, or when pausing a lot through a TV show.

Also, is there any special procedure I need to do if I want to convert these recorded mpeg2 TV shows into divx? I have already tried AutoGK & Dr. DivX but the resulting avi files have audio lagged by 2 seconds.

[anonymez]

whether the mpeg2 file gets messed up/corrupted when hitting the stop then start very fast, or when pausing a lot through a TV show.

nothing should happen-- but you'd best try it out yourself. a lot of factors can corrupt captures, like pc specs/load, low signal strength/interference, overheating, software/drivers, etc.

the most likely cause other than signal strength is hot air being blown from the graphics card. capture cards should always be placed in the pci slot furthest from the graphics card)

Also, is there any special procedure I need to do if I want to convert these recorded mpeg2 TV shows into divx?

nothing special-- same method for dvd-->divx; SD captures are dvd compliant. see dvd-->divx/xvid guides at http://www.divx-digest.com and http://www.doom9.org

[kevingpo]

Originally posted by cybertybo:

Originally posted by kevingpo:
I own a Hauppauge DEC2000-T usb tv card. The software that comes with it is called DigitalTV and I like to record TV shows. The recorded file is in mpeg2. DigitalTV program can start, stop and pause recording.

I have a similar capture card, they are very nice, but the included software does not have as many options as some GPL and free software stuff.

I am wondering if anyone knows about the general issues of recording off a TV card, and whether the mpeg2 file gets messed up/corrupted when hitting the stop then start very fast, or when pausing a lot through a TV show.

Frequent pausing will probably screw up the audio sync. (perfect audio sync is the holy grail of video capture)If you are trying to remove comercials there are better ways to do it.

Also, is there any special procedure I need to do if I want to convert these recorded mpeg2 TV shows into divx? I have already tried AutoGK & Dr. DivX but the resulting avi files have audio lagged by 2 seconds.

As I said before, audio sync is the Holy Grail of recording. Vdubmod has an Audio offset feature that can fix this, but it is a real pain to use. Your best bet is to record directly to DIvx. You will get a MUCH smaller file, better quality and no audio lag problems.

• Use the freeware program VirtualVCR to do the recording. (use VVCRS2 to schedule in advance)VirtualVCR has some really advanced audio-sync features, and a ton of filters and options to improve your recordings.
• Use the freeware program VirtualDub in 'direct stream' mode to remove the comercials. Select the start and end of each comercial and hit the delete key. When your all done, save the file with a new name.

Both of these programs are a litttle tough to set up, but I would be happy to give you whatever help you need.

Thanks man. I gotta try VirtualVCR. You saying that it can record directly to divx?

As for the 2 mpeg2 files, should I use Dr. Divx 2.0 beta 6 separately on both files, then use VirtualDubMod to join, or join before and encode after?

[kevingpo]

All this time I been thinking/wondering why AutoGK, Dr. DivX wouldn't work. Then I found this by google:

http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/board/showthread.php?t=2284

Looks like the dec2000-recording is tight/strict and makes invalid mpeg2 files? I have to gop-fix/resize my dec2000-recordings. Why? What is gop and why I have to de-gop my recordings before I can divx encode?

Wish Dr. Divx or AutoGK did this automatically. Anyway, was wondering which best programs can degop good? I heard ProjectX can, however when I tried using ProjectX I didn't know what to do, so hard. Any advice or tips?

[anonymez]

Frequent pausing will probably screw up the audio sync.

that's false-- if you get pauses or anything similar with dvb captures, something is wrong.

Use the freeware program VirtualDub in 'direct stream' mode to remove the comercials. Select the start and end of each comercial and hit the delete key. When your all done, save the file with a new name.

that's a really crappy method. cut with a frame accurate splitter like 'cuttermaran' or the best imho, 'videoredo'. vdub cannot cut mpeg-2 streams without encoding, and only does keyframes anyway

[anonymez]

I have to gop-fix/resize my dec2000-recordings.

the GOP is irrelevant here-- no need to fix anything. did you even read my first response? again, see dvd-->xvid/divx with 'gordian knot' guide at http://www.divx-digest.com

[nwg]

I have found numerous TV cards create invalid mpeg2 files. My Freecoom DVB-T creates mpegs which have strange GOP stucture and also I cannot fast forward or rewind. I use quickstream fix in Videoredo to sort that out. I have also seen the same thing with Hauppauge Nova DVB-T recordings.

I also have problems getting these mpegs onto DVD without a lip sync delay. It doesn't help that 4:3 channels in the UK (on Freeview gets transmitted at 544 x 576 instead of 720 x 576 which makes them non DVD compliant. These TV cards capture at the 544 x 576 resolution.

I found a program which is excellent. It is called AVOne Video converter. I can import the recorded mpegs and just burn a DVD. Both video and audio is perfect. I sometimes have to take out commercials as they switch between 4:3 and 16:9 in the recording. It has to be one or the other.

[anonymez]

somehow missed your post, nwg

My Freecoom DVB-T creates mpegs which have strange GOP stucture

iirc gop length is determined by the how the network broadcasts the stream-- can be ignored when encoding to mpeg4 (ch7 in oz is 18 frames per gop, while dvd is ofcourse 15. apparently they think using 18 allows them to be more "efficient" with the available bandwidth). its quite likely the software is the issue here; what are you using? signal strength?

Freeview gets transmitted at 544 x 576 instead of 720 x 576 which makes them non DVD compliant

wow too bad-- maybe i should stop bitching about the state of dvb in oz!

[nwg]

Some channels transmit in 544 x 576 (both 16:9 and 4:3) to save bitrate by lowering the resolution. I have juts found out that DVD LAB can work with these strange resolution whereas DVD Author cannot. It still complains about open GOP's. I also have to re-save the mpeg file in videoredo before using DVD LAB otherwise, I still get lip sync errors.

I have used the crappy software that came with the Freecom and at the moment I use ShowShifter. Both, record the raw mpeg stream as it is broadcasted.

BBC Channels are always 720 x 576 because they use a decent multiplex which allows them to use a high bitrate. However, DVD Author software can still complain about too high audio bitrate and create lip sync problems.

I have found it easier to just create a Data DVD with the mpeg on and let the DVD player play the raw mpeg.

[kevingpo]

Thanks guys, I liked using VideoReDo & MPEG Video MPEG Wizard... but now my 14 days trial for VideoReDo is up and can't continue to use free trail of MPEG Video Wizard.

I am now trying ProjectX to demux, then MPEG2Cutt (German program), then TMPGEnc simple mux to remux them together, and am back to where I used to be. ... fingers crossed