Homebrew PVR - Intermediate Progress
With the birth of my daughter Ava last week time is running short... so I've taken the dreaded Windows shortcut till I can get the remaining parts ordered. I purchased a V-Stream USB2800 Xpert DVD Maker video capture card from newegg for $50. It was cheap enough and supported MPEG 2 video with stereo audio encoding (44.1 or 48Khz). I didn't think it would work on Linux (it didn't) but I figured it would be ok on WinXP for capturing some VCDs (320x240) of Ava for the grand parents (it did).
Even though the USB2800 technically supports 720x480 mpeg capture, the encoding is done all in software and the USB 2.0 interface significantly restricts the video capture bandwidth (6-8 mb/s variable bitrate (VBR) is required for DVD quality captures). I believe a hardware encoder simliar to the ones used in the Haupguage WinTV 250 PVR cards would produce better quality videos. After several test runs I've determined I'm better off capturing at a lower VCD resolution for the USB interface (320x240 at 1.1mb/s).
The software bundled with the USB2800 includes custom DVR software, TV Tuner/Recorder, an MPEG encoder, video editor, and VCD/SVCD/DVD burning software. CyberLink PowerProducer 2 was also bundled with the product ($39 value). The features were simple and straighforward to use. The video editors lacked forward/reverse scan capabilities, which are absolutely necessary to do a good job on the video editing and cutting process.
I had forgotten how easy and intuitive commercial Windows software can be! Just install, click and go. Of course, you then have no idea what else is going on "under the covers" and the options were extremely limited (ie, no 320x480 capture options!). Regardless it was a painful reminder that Video (support) for Linux is probably 2 years behind windows (ie, 321 Studios DVDXMaker). But I do have faith that open source support will catch up (in probably less than 2 years, too). All in all it was a great learning experince and worth the $50. It gave me my first hands on experience with video capture and a feel for software features to look for. I still want to capture an hour of TV this week (ST Enterprise on Wednesday) Then I'll probably try to resale the DVD Maker on EBAY.
With the birth of my daughter Ava last week time is running short... so I've taken the dreaded Windows shortcut till I can get the remaining parts ordered. I purchased a V-Stream USB2800 Xpert DVD Maker video capture card from newegg for $50. It was cheap enough and supported MPEG 2 video with stereo audio encoding (44.1 or 48Khz). I didn't think it would work on Linux (it didn't) but I figured it would be ok on WinXP for capturing some VCDs (320x240) of Ava for the grand parents (it did).
Even though the USB2800 technically supports 720x480 mpeg capture, the encoding is done all in software and the USB 2.0 interface significantly restricts the video capture bandwidth (6-8 mb/s variable bitrate (VBR) is required for DVD quality captures). I believe a hardware encoder simliar to the ones used in the Haupguage WinTV 250 PVR cards would produce better quality videos. After several test runs I've determined I'm better off capturing at a lower VCD resolution for the USB interface (320x240 at 1.1mb/s).
The software bundled with the USB2800 includes custom DVR software, TV Tuner/Recorder, an MPEG encoder, video editor, and VCD/SVCD/DVD burning software. CyberLink PowerProducer 2 was also bundled with the product ($39 value). The features were simple and straighforward to use. The video editors lacked forward/reverse scan capabilities, which are absolutely necessary to do a good job on the video editing and cutting process.
I had forgotten how easy and intuitive commercial Windows software can be! Just install, click and go. Of course, you then have no idea what else is going on "under the covers" and the options were extremely limited (ie, no 320x480 capture options!). Regardless it was a painful reminder that Video (support) for Linux is probably 2 years behind windows (ie, 321 Studios DVDXMaker). But I do have faith that open source support will catch up (in probably less than 2 years, too). All in all it was a great learning experince and worth the $50. It gave me my first hands on experience with video capture and a feel for software features to look for. I still want to capture an hour of TV this week (ST Enterprise on Wednesday) Then I'll probably try to resale the DVD Maker on EBAY.
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