Andrew J. Rozsa wrote:
> One of them was used to capture DICOM video images so it had some nice
> video-capture cards (if you can use a couple of PXC200L-02 cards - input
> is via a BNC terminal, let me know - I"ll send them to you as means of
> thanking you for taking the time to hand-hold me). So I stripped them to
> their motherboards, gave my old Dell XPS to my son who has been coveting
> it anyway, and started this project. Been needing to "upgrade" for about
> a year, but I couldn't justify the expense. Boosted the RAM to 1GB and
> the extra CPU and bus speed gives me what I need for the next 2 years.
> But, I really am enjoying this a lot, so I figure I will be cleaning up
> the space behind the writing desk and putting in a workbench within
> weeks, if not days. I am also learning to convert analog video to
> digital (tapes, film, etc. to DVD), so I am having more fun than any man
> deserves. :-D I am starting to learn Dreamweaver (learned some nasty
> lessons using prefab templates), so I almost feel tempted to never go to
> work ever again, 'cept I also like work. Funny thing is that my
> 20-year-old Honors student son (dig this, Math major) comes to his daddy
> to help him with his computer "problems." Love it!!
Glad your having fun!
...
Ah, video capture... IMO, there's only 2 good ways to do this.
1) Direct to MPEG2. Gets you a fairly easy to work with format, but is
really best for very clean source material. You won't want to try and
run extensive filters on this format. Hauppague PCI cards are good for
this (I generally capture at 8000kbits/sec for video and PCM audio). I
use my Hauppauges for OTA recording (a PVR using SageTV) and to capture
output from my game PC (running at 1024x768, scaled down to the 720x480
of the MPEG2 when captured).
It's handy to be able to capture video off the game PC. Since I do map
design, it allows me to observe a game in progress and go back and
review the tape later. Other then that it's for amusement value, such
as being able to go back and show someone how game X looked. I've also
used it to work up strategy/walkthroughs for single-player games.
The other advantage of direct-to-MPEG2 is no audio sync issues. OTOH,
you're generally stuck with the CBR bitrate (not as "tight" as VBR), but
you can convert the PCM audio to AC3 and save a lot of space. Some
programs like TMPEnc DVD Author will automatically convert 2-channel PCM
to AC3 as you author the disk. So there's no extra step required to go
from source video to DVD.
MPEG2 is generally light on the CPU as well. You can probably author a
DVD in under an hour on most PCs from the last 3 years.
(You could make an extra step and re-compress the video, but that will
degrade it even more. Plus that will take hours and hours of CPU time.
With MPEG2 capture, you should capture directly to your final bitrate,
or use DV format and re-convert later.)
MPEG2 is around 3GB/hour at max-bitrate, but could be down around
2GB/hour at 6000kbits/sec and 256kbits/sec AC3. Cost is also reasonable
(figure $75 for a good PCI Hauppague card, plus about $100-$120 for a
good DVD authoring software along with AC3 conversion).
2) Direct to DV video. Also immune to the audio sync issues. However,
you'll2) Direct to DV format. Use an external firewire box like the
ADVC-100 (by Canopus). This gives you a source that can be moderately
filtered.
Downside is that you have to convert to MPEG2 prior to authoring a DVD,
which takes time. Especially if you're running filters in TMPEnc
Express. My dual-CPU Opteron 246 (2x2GHz) takes about 8-12 hours per
hour of source material to do encoding and filtering.
Nonetheless, it's a good option for degraded VHS captures where I need
to filter as much as possible. Plus I can convert to a VBR MPEG2 and
gain about 10% more compression without losing video quality.
Allow 13GB/hour of source, and triple that if you're going to do
filtering. Cost for the ADVC units is $200-$400, but you get excellent
quality. You'll also need some sort of conversion software ($100).
3) Direct to HuffYUV using an analog capture card. Not recommended for
the faint of heart. Audio sync issues will drive you up the wall,
unless you *never* install/uninstall software or codecs. You have to be
extremely paranoid and keep "good" drive images that can be restored.
Been there, done that... bought the Canopus ADVC-100.
...
Of course, there's also the smart way to do it with clean video. Get a
set-top DVD recorder. You can always scarf the MPEG2 VOBs off of the
disk later, do a little nip-n-tuck (scene cutting), and re-author using
a DVD authoring program.
Desktop recorders are in the $100-$200 range now? Definitely the least
expensive method.
...
Hardware-wise, you'll want multiple hard drives, backup routines a
modest amount of memory, and all the CPU power you can afford. My setup is:
(2) Opteron 246 CPUs (2GHz, single-core) w/ 3GB of RAM
(3) hard drives (250-500GB)
- primary drive that gets synchronized (via Second Copy) to the mirror
drive daily (or as needed)
- mirror drive (copy of primary drive)
- trash/scratch drive
By copying stuff from the primary to the mirror on demand (or daily),
I'm protected against data loss. Plus I can use the mirror drive files
as "source" and write the target to the primary drive. That keeps the
spindles from fighting doing both reads/writes.
Second Copy moves "deleted" files from the primary drive to the trash
drive. So if I delete something by accident (or change it), I can pull
the trashed version back off the trash/scratch drive. Other then that
it's a good place to put temp folders, swap file, etc. This drive is
optional for all but the most paranoid. You could also make the backup
drive about 50% larger then the primary drive instead of using a
dedicated drive.
...
At some point (maybe once the quad-core CPUs are available and push
dual-core prices down), I plan on upgrading my dual-CPU Opteron to a
dual-CPU dual-core Opteron system. Trying to at least double my
performance if not triple so that encoding jobs go quicker.
PCBUILD's List Owners:
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Drew Dunn<[log in to unmask]>
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