#Need VHS-capture util.
6 messages in this thread
Hello everybody,
I just joined your forum in search of a 1) program 2) format with which we, at
the University of Leiden, the Netherlands, can create video's on CD-Rom or
Laserdiscs for a medical database. We need a program that can capture
video-recordings for like up to 15 seconds. We also need TV-quality…. We
tried MOV and AVI, but the quality is just to poor and the images get to jumpy.
We work with NEC 5FG monitors so resolution has to be better than with those
formats.
I imagined there must be something better, since we do have feature films on
CD-Rom…. What do they use to capture that? Does anybody know? Does anybody
have any bright idears?
We are getting lost in the heap of format that are available: MOV, GL, AVI etc
etc… There must be a format which makes tvquality video on a PC possible….
Thanks for your help!
Henk ter Linde
J.H.,
You will want a capture device that can capture video at resolutions of 640×400
or greater and at speeds of 1/60th per second. One popular (standalone) device
that can achieve this is the Digital Processing Systems Personal Animation
Recorder (PAR) card combined with their Time Base Corrector (TBC-4).
After you have the video captured you can post-process the data to get it into
just about any digital format that you should require for multi-media
distribution or edit it back out to tape for analog distribution.
-John
J.H:
Try MPEG. That will require additional hardware, but that's the trade off.
TV-quality and CD-ROM are almost a contradiction with software. Why? Data
rates. CD-ROMs can only move so much data at a time. Quality video images
require more than that.
There are three things that determine quality video: picture size, frame rate,
and color depth/image quality. If you limit the data, as CD-ROM does, you have
to compromise in at least one of those areas. You can go 1/4 screen, that
reduces data rates by 4x. Reduce the frame rate, 15 fps rather than 30 fps (or
in your case 25 fps PAL down to 12-15 fps.) Or compress. If you compress you
lose your TV quality.
MPEG uses hardware to assist so it has a better chance of good quality. Be
careful, though, you can do MPEG compression yourself, but you'll likely get
much better quality if you send footage to a service bureau that can take the
time and has the resources to do it well.
Jeff Sauer
Hi Jeff,
Thanks for the feedback. You tell me:
> but you'll likely get much better quality if you send footage to a service
bureau that can take the time and has the resources to do it well.<
The problem here is that we would like to aquire a program to do the above. We
work from a large mainfram Univ-computer, so space or computer requirements are
hardly a problem. Money is also of a secondary nature.
We expect to process something like 10 to 15 minutes a day, devided into 10-15
sec. fragments. If we have to send that to an external bureau we go bankrupt
and it takes too long.
So if you know what program(s) these service bureaus use or can get me the
number of such a bureau (have never heard from it in Europe) so I can find out
myself, I'd be gratefull!!
Thank for your effort,
Henk
JH:
As I understand it, service bureaus, the good ones anyway, are using often
times proprietary software encoding systems. So I don't know where to direct
you.
I'm curious myself and will try to do some more research.
Jeff Sauer
Hi Jeff,
Thanks for the effort! Hope you have a nice Easter and am looking forward to
the results of your inquiry!
Greetings,
Henk