a couple of newbie questions

fonque · Post by **fonque** » Mon Aug 11, 2003 4:43 pm

this would be my first post here, but i have only made 3 AMV's which were ok, i am not trained in this stuff and i have been using and old all-in-wonder card for capturing.
My question is what is a good quality codec to use for capturing clips? Im not worrying about space because i have an 80 gig drive and a 60 gig drive.

Also any advice on places i should read up would be a great help, im new to AMV's and i dont know a whole lot about whats out there, Ive been using a copy of ulead video that came with my video card. And i think the 3 videos i made came out ok.

Oh, i dont have a dvd-rom drive which is very soon to change, but i would capture clips from a dvd player plugged into my video card. But i had a lot of problems with the copyright thing makeing the clips repeat frams after 30 seconds.
Is there a way around that, or will i have to deal with the same problem from a dvd-rom drive?

Nurd · Post by **Nurd** » Mon Aug 11, 2003 5:28 pm

I've not had any problem with Macrovision copyright encoding on my DVDs, the DVD ripping program I use has a function to disable it if it should happen to run across it. I'm sure you could find similar software to adjust for it in your current configuration as well.

Peace,

Nurd

FurryCurry · Post by **FurryCurry** » Mon Aug 11, 2003 6:46 pm

Read This Guide.

Nurd · Post by **Nurd** » Mon Aug 11, 2003 8:54 pm

God I love that, there's a guide for damn near anything.

Nurd

fonque · Post by **fonque** » Wed Aug 13, 2003 12:29 pm

ok, so i read the guide, and it get pretty complicated as im not that experienced with this. Alot of stuff i just flat out didnt understand.

Ok so from what i get from the guide is that if i have the space, when gather clips i should encode in huffyuv? btw, most of my clips are from analog sources.

And while editing, what would be a good codec to use for preview i couldnt figure that one out.

And for the final product i would just try different codec's and see what comes out the best looking on my tv.

so far so good?
Also i was completely lost on anything that had to do with that avi synth.

turboneko · Post by **turboneko** » Wed Aug 13, 2003 1:26 pm

If you want an easier alternative to the DVD ripping & avisynth method then you are probably better off using huffyuv all over the place.

I'd suggest to capture, edit and render the final product using huffyuv. After you have the final video, then you can follow just the part of the guide that explains how to encode in XviD (it's a step by step guide so it's shouldn't be too difficult).

About the problem of the clips repeating let me guess: you have an ATI card

I had the exact same problem... and there is not much you can do about it (if you want to stay analog) but get one of those analog macrovision remover boxes. The other path would imply digitally ripping the DVD with a DVD-ROM drive.

Hope this helps... post again if you have more questions

FurryCurry · Post by **FurryCurry** » Wed Aug 13, 2003 2:16 pm

Yes, I should have clarified the ATI/Macrovision point.

Macrovision is that thing on commercial tapes, and also stuck in on DVD players, that stops you from making VHS copies of those tapes or DVDs.

ATI, not wanting to get in trouble for helping piracy, adds a "feature" into their video capture drivers that detects macrovision, and causes the problem you're having, to stop people from copying tapes & dvds.

Buying a DVD drive for your computer will be cheaper or the same price as buying a macrovision remover, and you'll have a great advantage in terms of getting a straight pure digital rip, and it's a lot faster than capturing, too.

I know the guide's confusing, I had to read it at least four times to even begin to understand the avisynth stuff, and as many more to become the least bit comfortable with the process.

It can be done, and getting it to work right is a very rewarding feeling.

fonque · Post by **fonque** » Wed Aug 13, 2003 3:06 pm

alright, i can try the dvd thing, and yes i have an ati card. And i was planning on buying the new ati radeon all in wonder 9700 (i think thats the new number)

but are there any other good reliable cards i can look into? that have the same flexibility of the ati card with out the macrovision problem?

also when i first got my ati capture card, it was before macrovision had been incorporated into their cards. Once i downloaded the first updated driver and tried capturing from a dvd. i was never able to get an analogue capture again if it was any longer than 30 sec.

that card made capturing monkey work.

FurryCurry · Post by **FurryCurry** » Wed Aug 13, 2003 3:24 pm

The Hauppage WinTV card seems to be popular.

Perhaps buying a non-AIW card, and one of those might be your most cost effective solution.

If you're not already sick to death of guides, here's one that explains capturing using that card and virtualdub.

fonque · Post by **fonque** » Wed Aug 13, 2003 4:20 pm

man i like this group you all actually answer questions :p

there are alot of bad forums online, that dont answer "newbie" questions, but everyone is a newbie at some point