New Capture Setup Recommendations?

[funsoul]

Hi Folks,

I'm now running 2 machines. My primary multimedia machine (p4 1.4GHz) uses the g400-tv. This is the pc that I like to do high-quality captures on. Although there seem to be some quirks (like the fact that I still can't capture using huffyuv), I'm generally happy with the results.

The main pc (pIII 500) is basically my surf machine but I also use it for the quick and dirty direct to mpeg1/2 captures. I'm using an ATI Radeon for display (it's the one without video-in) and a Dazzle Video CreatorII for capture. The results are soso but I've got a problem that according to Dazzle will never be resolved. The issue is that I have a Digital8 camcorder that I'd like to not only capture from but also use for video conferencing. I installed a cheap firewire card but when I start any video conferencing application, the system replies that the video capture device is in use by another application (the Dazzle pos).

So...here's where I'm seeking your input and recommendations. I'd like the new setup to be able to do the following:
1) capture direct to mpeg1/2 (for quick n' dirty captures)
2) use my camcorder as a webcam for video conferencing
3) I need svhs i/o and firewire input (I guess this means that I'd need the new capture card to be able to support the firewire card as well)
4) it would be nice to have the ability to capture the big avi's as well

Part of the reason that I don't want to run the camcorder on the primary multimedia pc is that that pc is networked (with a dummy ip address). Many video conferencing applications don't seem to be able to handle this well (if at all).

Also...I'd like to stay in the under US$300 range.

So....any ideas?

Thanks a lot,
-funsoul

PS- I'm running win2k on both systems

[wkulecz]

I think the basic problem is video conferencing apps are VfW capture while DV over 1394 is WDM driver based. If your conferencing app can use WDM drivers but not the MSDV drivers, the Hauppauge WinTV/USB (~$70) should do a good job of letting you use your D8 cam for conferencing, but it'll be analog capture not over 1394.

I'd just buy a ~$50 USB "webcam" for video conferencing and be done with it, You likely don't have the outgoing bandwidth for anything much better to be worth the trouble.

For quick/n/dirty MPEG1/2 on a PIII-500 I think you'll need hardware assist which pretty much means Dazzle DVC-II or Hauppauge WinTV/PVR. Unfortunately over on rec.video.desktop nobody seems completely satisified by either of these, although both are in your price range.

Unless you need it right now, I'd wait and take a look at the <$200 Hauppauge WinTV/PVR-USB that should be out soon, as MPEG2 at 5-6 Kbps should be doable over USB and it'll be easy to move from machine to machine.

But for any of this stuff, buy only from a place that'll take it back as none of this "low cost" MPEG1/2 realtime hardware does a very good job of living up to the expectations created by the marketing departments.

Meet your firewire port needs with an ADS Pyro $50+ depending on software bundle.

--wally.

[funsoul]

HI Wally,

Thanks for your reply!

OK....since I've got a beauty camcorder I'd really like to use that. I'm on cablemodem so the speed is normally pretty good for pushing stuff out.

I'm actually thinking of picking up another g400-tv (I saw one over on yahoo for US$ 139) but wonder if I'd be able to capture direct to mpeg1 on the pIII 500. Any idea?

Another thought would be to get one of the new 450's and use it in the mmedia box (and move the old 400 to the PIII 500 machine).

Thanks again for the response.
-funsoul

[wkulecz]

I think software MPEG on a PIII-500 is wishful thinking if quality is of any concern at all. I ran some of these on my PIII-500 last year and quality stunk.

Realtime software MPEG encoding is in the "believe it when I see catagory" on any CPU, P4 included. I don't doubt it can be done in real time, I doubt it'll deliver the quality I consider adaquate. YMMV.

I've paid little attension to real time MPEG software encoders since then, perhaps there has been serious progress, but since software is pretty much non-returnable, I'm a very tough sell on stuff like this.

The Ligos realtime MPEG capture bundled with MSP6 "worked" on my PIII-500 but was worthless in terms of quality. I've not yet tried MSP6.5's realtime MPEG on my current PIII-850, given that MSP6.5 is nowhere near real time encoding DV to "NTSC-DVD" MPEG2 I've little intrest in trying the realtime stuff, but I am happy with MSP6.5 5500 Kbps VBR results so far.

I've seen OEM G450 eTV boards for about $190, give it a go and report back :-)

--wally.