Home Video record questions

[This_Idiot]

I'd still maintain that for the majority of hobbyists MPG or MPEG-2 is NOT the way to go for material that they want to edit at a later date. Even with an RT2000 you can only edit efficiently in I-frame mode (right Doc ?), which is a mile away from full IBP MPG-2.

If you are archiving for future editing, then my advice would be to either archive in Matrox MJPEG format (1/2 or 1/4 frame) using the lowest compression ratio that you can bear, or (if you have a fast machine) capture to full-frame using YUY2 and then convert to an editable soft codec for future compatibility. I'm still working on this, but I'm sure that Doc has previously recommended PicVideo.

[emann]

On the problem of archiving to MJPEG, I have a copy of Realtime Mainconcept MJPEG de/encoder which says it can decode Matrox MJPEG files. If this is true, then even if my matrox dies, I can still play the archived files. Right? Would PicVideo be able to read my Matrox MJPEG files?
Are we saying that the s/w MJPEG encoder (PicVideo) produces better quality compressing YUV than the Matrox h/w MJPEG encoder?

(sidebar: Given the same frame sizes/frame speed, if you set compression on MJPEG & MPEG2 to give the same data rate, which would produce higher quality?)

Doc, you said to use AVISynth to framserve from AVI-IO. I found the AVI_Synth page, but got very confused as to How to do it. Could you supply some info to help? Thanks.

[Dr Mordrid]

Yup, but it's now commercial at $18USD.

MPEG-2 can be edited if it starts out with high enough quality. MSPro6 interpolates it to I-frame on the timeline. You do have to use a fairly high quality setting when you first encode it though.

Of course most of our size concerns will go bye-bye once we all have DVD-R's

Dr. Mordrid


[This message has been edited by Dr Mordrid (edited 29 March 2001).]

[wkulecz]

What now comercial at US$18?

PicVideo plays back my few remaing MJPEG captures made with G200 Marvel. What it can't do is encode MJPEG that the G200 Marvel will play out the BOB.

--wally.

[AndrewDV]

Hi,

Yeah, it's $18 now. My guess is that it got too popular.

I'm not sure how different the G200 Marvel is to the G400 Marvel. From experience, the G400 Marvel can output any video through the BOB as long as DVDMax is used.

[Dr Mordrid]

Yup. PICVideo is now $18.

The diff between G200 & G400/G450 is that the dualhead cards DVDMax mode can play about anything to the vidout. That's sure worth the price of admission

BTW: did you guys notice they announced a G450 PCI dualhead card?

Dr. Mordrid

[AndrewDV]

Just in case (what the heck), I am going to mention that using a MPEG decoder card really enhances output for MPEG1 and MPEG2 files. Whenever I play a MPEG1/2 file (in any format), I use a Creative Labs Dxr3 decoder to send it out to TV or recorder.

I have read that others do not think hardware is necessary, but the results I get have convinced me. The difference in color and clarity is instantly recognized. What's even nicer is that there are 0 green flashes (a little MJPEG humor) :-{@

[windigo]

Hey Doctor do you have a website you might prescribe what i mean is do you have one with some of this information since im just starting to archive my vhs tapes to digital i would like to read more on dv editing and archiving and you seem to have answers to any question asked about dv editing with a matrox product

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MSI K7TPro2 Duron 750@900
256Ram G400DH32mb
Pioneer SCSI 16xDVD

[Dr Mordrid]

As far as creating the various forms of MPEG disks (VCD, SVCD and extended versions thereof) that can be played in DVD decks this one is very good:

http://www.vcdhelper.com

Very few pages are up for DVD authoring since the burners for those are just hitting the market.

Sites that support those into creating DivX disks (hacked M$ MPEG-4) are pretty common. This one has a lot of info and software;

http://www.divx-digest.com/index.html

As is Doom9's MPEG Palace;

http://go.to/doom9

The MPEG-4 pages trend towards "backing up" DVD's but the info and software can be used for other more legit purposes.

Dr. Mordrid



[This message has been edited by Dr Mordrid (edited 02 April 2001).]