I am using a Hauppauge external USB2 box to capture on my laptop and then I use dvd x maker to author the DVD. So far I have only used the DVD extra long play quality settings, which gives me about 1.2GB per 45 minutes. The results look very good to me. When I start copying my DV tapes I guess that I will use the standard DVD setting. The win TV device supports up to MPEG2 12.0MBit/sec (CBR) whatever that means!!
You can not use 12mb sec mpeg2 for DVD"s...DVD Supports a Max of 9.8mb Sec, This is the Max allowed Data Rate allowed for DVD But far to high of a bitrate to use...CBR stands For "Constant Bit Rate" as Opposed to "VBR" which is "Variable Bit Rate" ..CBR is when the Data Rate in the File stays at a constant Level no matter what the Video Complexity is, this Method Produces Quite Big File Sizes.."VBR" has a Variable bitrate which means that the bitrate changes depending on the Complexity of the Image , VBR is the Better method because it gives just as good or better quality as CBR but with much Smaller File Sizes...For DVD Capture you should be able to get a Good Quality image without haveing a Super Huge File size if you used a bitrate of about 6000kbs which will give you about 95 minutes of DVD Video ona DVD-R....Is there something you could do Better??? Well there is allways something that can be improved on...I personally wouldn"t use an External Hardware USB Encoder device but since you are useing a Laptop you are Pretty stuch with an external Device, You get Better Performance and Quality from a High end Internal device on a PC as opposed to a Laptop But that is Basicly because it is cheaper to use a PC and it can Hold more Hardware and it has Better available Hardware...But for the setup you have I"m sure it will Work out Fine..I would also Use something better than DVD X Maker as it is a very Low end Program...good luck
Thank you for taking the time to reply. It was very helpful. What program is popular for those in the know?
I do have another question though. I capture VHS through the USB box, which is fine, but when it comes to my DV camcorder, I have the choice of firewire card on my PC and some sort of sotware MPEG2 coding, or the composite connection on the USB2 box and hardware capture to MPEG2 on that. Which is the better(higher quality for the same filesize)option?
Hi,For DVD Authoring which is Just Putting your Captured or encoded Mpeg2 DVD Files on to DVD with Chapters and Menu"s, I use a Program called DVD-lab which has a Lot of Cool features and is Qute easy to use ,But for more complex DVD"s use Might use something like "Sonic DVD producer" or "Sonic ReelDVD" for my authoring Program....For captureing Directly to Mpeg without useing Hardware encodeing the best Quality I have gotten was useing a program called "InterVideo WinDVR 3.0" it would be the best Program if you wanted to capture from your DV Camera Via Firewire port directly to Mpeg2 for DVD ,It will even Capture your Audio directly to Dolby digital AC3....You would get the best Quality though captureing directly to DV AVI with your CamCorder Via firewire Port then did your editing within a good DV editing Program Like Vegas Video 4 which you could also use to capture the DV Footage ,After Captureing your DV Footage and editing the Footage the way you want it you should Render the Project as a DV AVI file then use a High Quality mpeg encoder to encode it to Mpeg2 for DVD and then use a DVD authoring Program to create the DVD..If you were useing Vegas you could also render your Project directly to Mpeg2 for DVD and render the audio to Dolby digital cuz Vegas Video 4 has a High Quality Mpeg2 encoder and a Dolby Digital AC3 encoder...Cheers
I?m interested in buying a Hauppauge external USB2 box but I can't find out whether it?s compatible with both PAL and NTSC or it?s a single standard device.
Does anybody know more about that?
Whatever you do DONT buy a Hauppague USB Capture device ,It was the very First Device I ever bought and it was also the worse device I ever bought..Most USB Devices Just aren"t Very good unless you get one of the Very High end ones Like one of the Canopus USB Hardware Mpeg2 encoders but they are close to $300 ...Either Spend the Money to get a Very High end USB Capture device or get a PCI Device of some sort.....Cheers
Thanks for the info!
What?s about Pinnacle Moviebox USB? I?ve checked Canopus but it looks like they make boards for Desktops. I travel all the time between Europe and the US, so I would like to have USB external device for my laptop and also both PAL and NTSC.
Well as it goes Most USB Boxes Suck even the Pinnacle ones...there are firewire Boxes that are Much better but they do not encode to Mpeg then encode to DV and are for Analogue to Digital video Conversion, but the Quality is Supurb But if you are Traveling with it what are you going to use it for ?? TV?? Well good Luck , If you are Only going it to watch TV then you might as well get the cheapest thing you can Buy because you will never get very good Quality reception with a Antenna......
Actually I?m looking to copy video tapes on my computer or burn them on CD?s. It?s much easier to carry them and I?ll avoid PAL to NTSC/NTSC to PAL conversion. I have been doing this for quite some time and I pay between $20 and $30 for any single tape plus the fact quality gets lower after any conversion. You see, I don?t even think about making professional videos, so that's why I'm nor ready to spend so much money for something fancy. If it?s watchable I can live with that.
If you had to choose between Hauppage and Pinnalce what would be your choice?
Well If you want to do Analogue Digital conversions and want to be able to Capture in NTSC and PAL(Pal Tapes have to be Captured to PAL and NTSC Tapes have to be Captured to NTSC or your Video will Look Strange and Jumpy) Then something like the ADVC-100 would be Perfect ,as it is an external Box that Plugs into your PC Via Firewire and delivers profecinal Level Quality at Full Resolution and is Compatible with all Major editing program that can capture from firewire, They run about $250...
