analog capture settings on rt.x100

[deathmonkey]

Hello again, all.

I have finally gotten my new system set up and my RT.X100 installed. I played with it for a few hours last night, and I wonder if anyone here can give some advice that could likely save me many hours of testing.

I need to transfer footage from VHS into Premiere for editing, and eventually to DVD. My system is fairly beefy (details below), and I have separate 7200RPM capture and export drives, so it should be able to handle anything I throw at it. My single overriding concern is getting the absolute best quality capture (and therefore final product) possible. (I was getting some slight pixelation on my tests last night, and it seemed to happen no matter format I exported to, so I believe that it is my source files that are at fault -- I only captured once for testing purposes -- but I wouldn't bet the film on it.) I have enough dedicated hard drive space, and can wait hours for rendering if necessary. So....

....what are the ideal settings for composite VHS capture?

There are many variables, and I apologize that I cannot now remember what all I used, but if someone can just advise the absolute best-possible, largest-file, longest-rendering settings under ideal conditions, I would be much obliged.

I recall being uncertain about resolution (do I capture at 720xwhatever, or lower since it's eventually going to TV anyway?), and file capture format, and file output format, and tight vs loose tracking, etc etc.

Ok, longwinded question, but could be very shortwinded answer, yes yes?

Thanks to all for reading.

--jim

System details:
Asus P4P800 SE, 800 MHz FSB
P4 Prescott 2.8
1 gig 400 MHz DDR
2x Seagate 7200 RPM EIDI drives (A/V:200 gig, export:80 gig)
Sony DRU 700 DVD burner
Matrox RT.X100
Premiere Pro 1.5, Encore DVD 1.5
Windows XP SP1

And the initial source is average quality VHS video of the fast-action (read: kungfu movie) persuasion, played from an above-average consumer-level VCR through composite inputs.

[Dr Mordrid]

You didn't say what format/software you're capturing to/with, so I'll presume you're capturing to DVD compliant MPEG using the RT.X100's capture interface.

The plain truth of the matter is that realtime MPEG capture doesn't produce as high a quality as capturing to another format then encoding with a non-realtime encoder. This is epecially true for the RT.X100's Ligos realtime capture/encoging engine.

Preferred methods;

1. Capture to DV, editing as usual then exporting using Premiere's built-in MainConcept MPEG encoder instead of the realtime Ligos export engine.

The MainConcept encoder has controls that allow you to up the MPEG encoding quality, intra-DC precision, set half-pel search, up the motion search mode level, motion vectors and the other fine-tuning controls that are essential for sports/high motion video.

This encoder takes longer than the Ligos MPEG engine, but will produce higher quality in the end if properly set up.

Here's a 430k .PDF explaing MainConcepts advanced settings and how to use 'em;

http://digitalvideo.8m.net/mc-adv-doc.zip

The exact interface may differ a bit from this .PDF as they move the settings around from version to version, but you should be able to figure it out.

2. If #1 still produces blocky capture (DV does sometimes have a problem with high motion subject matter because its bitrate is on the low side) then try capturing to another format with the VfW capture drivers and either the VirtualDUB (free) or AVI_IO capture tool.

In the VfW capture software the capture codec should be something like the Morgan MJPeg softcodec. Morgan MJPeg can do higher quality than DV, its colorspace is less quantized and its relatively cheap.

The VfW engine should be set to 720x480 and use the RGB capture method, not YUV. I'd probably use a bitrate of ~5000 kbps for sports.

Just be prepared not to have realtime editing on the timeline since the RT.X100 doesn't support it with anything but DV. As such the project settings should be set up to use the capture codec as the timeline format.

The next step would again be to encode the project to DVD compliant MPEG using Premiere's built-in MainConcept encoder.

Dr. Mordrid

[deathmonkey]

Thanks, Doc M. I'm capturing using the RT.X100 breakout device and Premiere. I have only what came with the RT.X. If there's another capture program I should be using, I haven't found it yet.

I'll try your suggestions, and if I have any further problems I'll be sure to post from home, when I can be clearer about the settings.

I do have one other quick question, though: I recall there being two DV capture formats. Something like DVCAM and DVC-PRO. There was definitely a pro involved. Anyway, what's the difference, and which one do you mean when you say "capture to DV?"

Thanks again.

--jim

[Dr Mordrid]

DVC-Pro is a tape format designed by Panasonic for high end use and doesn't apply to consumer DV cams.

Its version of the DV signal is most often the same DV25 (25 mbps bitrate in a single channel) used in consumer devices, but it can also use DV50 (50 mbps bitrate; 25 mbps in each of two channels) and DV100 (100 mbps for HD; 25 mbps in each of four channels).

For a coplete set of physical specs for the different DV tape formats check this site;

http://www.adamwilt.com/DV-tech.html

Dr. Mordrid

[deathmonkey]

Hi again. Can someone help me find this "MainConcept MPEG Encoder" of which Doc M speaks? His post says it is "Premiere's built-in" encoder, but I can't find it anywhere. At least, not these advanced settings. If I do File->Edit->Adobe Media Encoder and select MPEG2-DVD, then it identifies itself as MainConcept -- but that's it. There are no advanced settings as described; in fact, there are no alterable settings at all. I can't seem to find it anywhere as an optional installation, either.

Thanks.

--jim

[deathmonkey]

Hello all. My previous post notwithstanding, what I am most concerned with is getting the best initial capture possible from VHS. When I open the capture window, and then click on the "Settings" tab and the "Edit" button under capture settings, I am faced with a few options.

[Bold is what I am currently using]
Capture:
DV/IEEE1394, AVI or M2v
Audio Settings: [irrelevant]
If I hit the Proc Amps button, I get the scope window, which I would love to learn how to use. Can anybody point me to a tutorial for that?
A/V inputs button:
source is composite (not optional for me)
Source Type: Consumer-quality or Broadcast-quality
VCR Tracking: Tight or Loose
Format: DV/DVCAM or DVCPro (I think this was adequately explained already.)
Video Rendering:
There are settings for Compressor Type, Color Depth and Conifgure, but I cannot change any of them.
Default Sequence:
[All irrelevant]
General:
The first half of the settings cannot be changed, and the second half appears to all be irrelevant. There is, however, a Playback Settings button:
The only thing here that looks like it could have any relevance are the Chroma Filtering an Interpolation options, but I don't imagine that could cause my pixelation problem.

So, after all this it looks like the only thing that could possible have any relevance (other than the capture format, which I believe is a non-issue, AVI being the best) is the Loose or Tight tracking setting. But again, not likely to cause pixelation.

So, my question to anyone: is there something I'm missing? Is there another, better way to capture altogether that I don't know about? I've looked at the Matrox Tools capture software, but it seems less powerful. Did I spend a grand to capture pixelated video? Or will the pixelation completely disappear on my low-resolution TV? Help?

Thanks again to all for even reading this far.

--jim

[Elie]

No you are not missing, again what you have to do is launch Premiere in Matrox DV/DVCAM mode which you did, and capture your analog footage after you have configured Premiere to Composite or Y/C imput.

Then you would instert your footage to timeline and edit then export to what ever format you want.

Regards,
Elie

[smitty]

Are you monitoring the video output on a NTSC monitor or TV?
In most cases viewing it on the computer monitor will show some artifacts that wont be there on TV. Just something to consider
smitty

[Dr Mordrid]

Originally posted by deathmonkey
If I do File->Edit->Adobe Media Encoder and select MPEG2-DVD, then it identifies itself as MainConcept -- but that's it. There are no advanced settings as described; in fact, there are no alterable settings at all. I can't seem to find it anywhere as an optional installation, either.

Thanks.

--jim

First select DVD Mpeg-2, let the settings update then select generic MPEG-2. The settings *should* stick. Once there they appear look for the "Summary" window and click on the "Video" heading. Most of the advanced settings should show up. The motion settings don't in my build, but I've mailed MainConcept to see how to enable them. Clicking on the "Audio" heading will give you some extra choices there as well.

Dr. Mordrid

[deathmonkey]

Smitty --
I did one DVD burn test and found that most of it goes away on TV, but there is still some noticeable. So I'm just trying to get the best possible starting point. And then there's also the possible eventuality of this being viewed on an HD-TV.
Anyway, thanks for pointing that out.

DM --
I will try looking for those settings as you describe when I get home tonight. Thanks.

--jim

[deathmonkey]

the answer

Ok, I have found the answer. I managed to capture analog VHS video using only my Matrox RT.X100 and included software, and output to both VHS tape and DVD with superb quality. Here is how I did it:

Start a new project.
Click on the Custom Settings tab
Ensure that under "General," editing mode is "Matrox RT.X," timebase is 29.97, and display is 30FPS drop-frame (I think this is all default).
Under "Capture," select Matrox AVI. Click "A/V Inputs," and select Composite. I used Consumer-quality source, and I found no visible difference between Tight and Looser tracking (except file size (Looser files are significantly larger)). Click "Format" and select DV/DVCAM.
Under "Video Rendering" I selected Matrox DV/DVCAM.
"Default Sequence" settings are irrelevant.

Click Ok and press F5. With your VHS source connected to the breakout connector, press play on your VCR. You should see the image in the Premiere capture window. Click the Record button. Recording should commence, and given that all your hardware is up to par, you should record with no dropped frames. (The only frames I ever dropped were from the snow in between shots.)

Now you can edit as you like. I tested the quality of my capture by immediately reversing the connection from my breakout cable into my VCR and simply playing the raw captured clip from the timeline with my VCR recording the output. Back in my living room, the new tape looked indistinguishable from the original source tape.

Now for rendering. File->Export->Matrox Realtime Export to Disk: select DV/DVCAM (.avi) as the format. This will generate a relatively large AVI file. Another method is File->Export->Movie. Click the settings button and ensure that "File Type" is Matrox RT.X and "Compressor" is Matrox DV/DVCAM. This will generate a file IDENTICAL to the previous method. In my test, however, it rendered significantly faster.

At this point, I tested the files by playing them at full-screen in various media players. Digital artifacting was obvious, mostly in jagged, pixelated edges and fast-motion echo. While this caused me to momentarily lose conifdence (and ultimately is the reason this thread began) I say to you now: do not fret. This only happens at the higher resolution of your computer monitor. When viewed at the lower resolution of your television, this file will look flawless. But if you want it on a DVD, it will have to be compressed into a DVD-compliant format. Here is how I did that:

I'm sure there are other ways, probably within Premiere, but this is what I did:
Import the rendered AVI file into Encore. Instruct Encore to transcode the file for DVD production. (I used my Encore manual, pg 5: Creating a Simple DVD from Start to Finish tutorial to quickly put together the DVD.) I produced test segments with every transcoding option, and found that NTSC DV High Quality 7 MB VBR 2 pass and NTSC DV High Quality 8 MB CBR 1 pass were both apparently flawless when viewed from the DVD on my television. I don't know what any of it means, but 8MB CBR 1 pass generated a file slightly larger (13 meg vs 12 meg) than 7MB VBR 2 pass.

So, the short version:
Capture using DV/DVCAM.
Output to an uncompressed AVI.
Do not fret when this file looks bad at full-screen monitor resolution.
Transcode with Encore into 7 or 8 MB format.
Done and done.

I sincerely hope all this helps someone else, eventually.

And thank you to everyone who helped me out along the path of discovery.

--jim