Problems with my captured footage.

thecrimsoncurse · Post by **thecrimsoncurse** » Sat Mar 29, 2003 4:20 pm

I just spent the last two days capturing footage from the game "Xenosaga". I used Dazzle External Hardware.

the files are all 720x480 at 29.97 fps and the file extension is .mpg

I'm a total noob when it comes to video editing and compression.
The files will load into premier but they are kinda choppy and are taking a long time to load( in Premier or any program i try to use to view the files.)

It may be that they are uncompressed. for example a 5 minute clip is close to 250 mb.

I can't open the files with TMPGEnc or virtualdub and I'm not sure where to proceed from here. The clips are useless in Premier since they are choppy and with the load time it would take ages to finish my video.

Any suggestions or guidance would be much appreciated.

and sorry if this has been asked before, but I'm kind of in a panic.

madmallard · Post by **madmallard** » Sat Mar 29, 2003 5:32 pm

mpge is compressed.

the file size is about right for the resolution/fps ou have set. it would be MUCH larger if it was uncompressed.

Compressed video files aren't good to edit with becasue the computer has to de-compress them. The computer has to stop, decode it, then play it out a preview window.

mpeg is an even messier compression because it isn't compressed one frame at a time. its compressed in groups of frames, which means the computer has to find the keyframe, then decompress it.

don't be too concerned with how it looks in a preview window, only care how it looks when you use the Dazzle to spit it back out. If that looks fine, then dont worry about anything.

as far as the other stuff, you normally can't open MPEG2 in Virtual dub, but why can't you open it in TMPG?

thecrimsoncurse · Post by **thecrimsoncurse** » Sat Mar 29, 2003 5:39 pm

ok I'm gonna recapture all of it...at what resolution should i do it? Also, do you suggest .avi over .mpg? lol...I'm just so confused.

thecrimsoncurse · Post by **thecrimsoncurse** » Sat Mar 29, 2003 5:42 pm

Also, does dazzle suck, cause i'm having a heck of a time...my dazzle product doesn't work with virtualdub either...

burntoast · Post by **burntoast** » Sat Mar 29, 2003 6:08 pm

i'm guessing that most of the AMV'ers here capture in avi, with a lossless codec called Huffyuv, which is available from here. the "pre-built DLL" is what u wanna download. this codec is also available in the AMVapp, so if u already have that, then u don't need to d/l Huffyuv by itself. a large hard drive would help if ur planning on capturing a lot. ur capturing program might not support Huffyuv though.. but nontheless, it's a good codec to use in Premiere.

i'm not too sure about resolution settings.. the Analog Video Capture part of AD & ErMaC's Guides might help u out on that.

madmallard · Post by **madmallard** » Sat Mar 29, 2003 8:03 pm

its not a question of the 'right' resolution.

.avi and .mpg are just extensions.

.avi can still be compressed. Be careful when talking about the 2.

it sounds to me like you really need to brush up on the guides around here. Go read them for some insight on what you're doing.

also, virtual dub can't see proprietary capture devices and it doesn't have an mpeg2 engine in it.

thecrimsoncurse · Post by **thecrimsoncurse** » Sat Mar 29, 2003 10:21 pm

ok so using videodub to capture my video, is the best way to go. right?
now can anyone suggest a good card that works well with videodub and Premier.
I just want to be able to capture the video at 720x480 and get it into Premier in the fewest steps.
Once I have it in Premier I know what I'm doing.
I'm capturing from my PS2, so i need an analog capture card right? Also is S-video or the yellow connector(sorry have no idea what its called) better to use?

So basically what is a good card to use through videodub at 720x480?

Kai Stromler · Post by **Kai Stromler** » Mon Mar 31, 2003 1:56 pm

Poor soul. I'm guessing you're using one of Dazzle's new USB rigs, because otherwise you'd have a 4.2x version of MovieStar and be using that instead of mucking about with nasssty Premiere.

The capture card that you have is just fine. You're capturing MPEG2 files, which can be used in Premiere via AviSynth in exactly the way the guides tell you how to work with DVD-ripped footage. It'll take a while, but you can produce rough-drafting versions in some quick-and-dirty .avi codec (besides Divx, Premiere hates it) using DVD2AVI directly from your captured files. These'll load faster and won't involve vectoring through AviSynth.

With regard to capture inputs, always, always go with S-video over composite when working with digital sources.

Good luck, and hope this helped,

--K

thecrimsoncurse · Post by **thecrimsoncurse** » Tue Apr 01, 2003 12:15 am

thanks Kai, you win the award for being most helpful.

Stoic · Post by **Stoic** » Tue Apr 01, 2003 9:29 am

Dazzle...

Ok here is my suggestion when it comes to Dazzle...

Since I have a Dazzle box too I know what it's like using it. When it comes to DVDs just rip. As for VHS...

Capture you audio, and your video seperatly... IT MAKES A HUGE DIFFERENCE! Then use a program to cut them together.

I have the cheap Dazzle Capture card (the 50 dollar one) It comes with Video Wave 4... That program is pretty good for captures. When I do a capture I always do uncompressed then compress it later. But then again I'm just too lazy and I usually like having 3 or 4 different Encodes of the same thing so... It's good having one source that can be encoded easily to other formats.