Computer Speed and DVD Capture

Isenfolme · Post by **Isenfolme** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 9:31 am

I'm using a Pentium 4, 2.40Ghz processor with 256MB of RAM. I realise I need a ton more RAM, which I'm working on, but I've got a general capture question.

I tried capturing footage off a R2 DVD the other day, and the result wasn't nearly the kind of quality I was hoping for. There was a lot of macroblocking and blurring going on, for example. I was wondering whether the processor speed and amount of RAM actually made a difference to the quality of footage that I can capture. If I were to upgrade and try getting the footage off the same DVD again, will I get a different (i.e. better) result?

Scintilla · Post by **Scintilla** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 11:45 am

If you are <i>ripping</i> the DVD footage, then video quality won't be affected by your CPU/RAM specs, because it's just decrypting and copying the data.

Isenfolme · Post by **Isenfolme** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 12:02 pm

Argh. Still got to get the technical language down. Yup, I meant I'm ripping the data. Ok, that's good to know - the state of the footage must just be due to the crappy quality of the R2 PAL DVD that I'm using. *sigh* Thank heaven for AviSynth.

Cheers, Scintilla!

Scintilla · Post by **Scintilla** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 12:11 pm

Oh, it's PAL? I suppose that would explain it -- I think that, when most people around here (including myself) hear "R2 DVD", they assume "Japanese".

Isenfolme · Post by **Isenfolme** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 12:31 pm

I wish. I've got a couple of Japanese R2s, but being British, the majority of my DVD collection is made up of R2 PALs. For some reason that seems to go hand in hand with a decline in video quality, or at least that's the impression I'm getting. Note to self: must import R1s in future...

Melanchthon · Post by **Melanchthon** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 4:41 pm

Obligatory EADFAG link. That page (indirectly) explains the reason for the quality drop between NTSC and PAL.

I've started getting R1 discs instead of PAL, partly because of quality issues but mostly because they tend to be cheaper and there are some titles that are either unavailable in PAL or more difficult to get hold of. The only drawbacks are the length of delivery (a minor gripe) and occasional jerkiness when I watch the DVDs on a TV screen, which I believe is due to the hardware being unable to handle NTSC properly.

One caveat though-- I'm not sure what the current status of import DVDs is when it comes to customs (I recently had a $100+ order from deepdiscountdvds and I didn't think to check the box to see whether it had been inspected), but be careful if you plan to import any adult anime.