New ATI Tuner Card.

[satnav4]

But if you want to attract folks to address this point, instead of wading through the posts here that you object to, or find repetitive or obtuse, why don't you just simply start a thread like that?

Excellent point. Spacded has every right to get answers to his questions, and a new thread started by him might do the trick. My problem is his entry into this thread, with no ownership of the product, telling others how we should feel and what we should do. Perhaps if we all ignore him, he will go away.


Back to one of my questions:

Has anyone found that long recordings with Power Cinema are broken into smaller mpegs? Is there a setting to fix this?

In answer to my own question, it appears these may be chapter points. Unless I am reading this wrong, each of the 5 chapters uses about 2 gigs of space on the best setting. I will test some more. And I have been comparing the 150 encoding a 2 hour movie with a total of 2.1 gigs of space used.

S.

[grog]

When you go to DVD no MPEG file should be over 2GB.
This is actually a good thing for anyone who wants to burn content.

Greg

Excellent point. Spacded has every right to get answers to his questions, and a new thread started by him might do the trick. My problem is his entry into this thread, with no ownership of the product, telling others how we should feel and what we should do. Perhaps if we all ignore him, he will go away.


Back to one of my questions:

Has anyone found that long recordings with Power Cinema are broken into smaller mpegs? Is there a setting to fix this?

In answer to my own question, it appears these may be chapter points. Unless I am reading this wrong, each of the 5 chapters uses about 2 gigs of space on the best setting. I will test some more. And I have been comparing the 150 encoding a 2 hour movie with a total of 2.1 gigs of space used.

S.

[hrlslcbr]

You would have to author the files anyway, so it wouldn't matter if the source files exceed the 1GB limit (the authoring program should split the files before they are burnt to DVD).

[satnav4]

Bad news for Cyberlink lovers--if there are any out there. The program on "best" uses about 2 gigs of space for each 33 minutes. That's almost 8 gigs for a 2 hour movie! That's ridiculous! My Hauppauge 150 creates great results at 4.2 gigs for a 2 hour movie. That's a vbr set at about 4500 ave/6200 max. To do a fair comparison between the 550 and the 150 cards, I should almost double the bitrate on my Hauppauge captures. No wonder some people like the motion captures with the ATI--it is using an obnoxiously high bitrate. Set the 150 to 8000 cbr, and tell me if you see any differences.

Neat trick.

S.

[bubbaganoush]

If you look in Program Files\CyberLink\PowerCinema\Capture\Default_NTSC.prf, theres a whole bunch of settings in there...

Little warning though, I think I broke something because i think the video quality got worse I after I went poking around the PC 3.0 directory and registry... I might just be the channel, Its usually pretty crappy anyway...

Edit: Yah..it was just the channel...

Anyways heres an example of what is in the file..

=======================
 NTSC Record Profiles
=======================

&
<Class>=Record
<Name>=Good
<Description>=NTSC
<OutputType>=7
<VBitRate>=4000000
<VQualityLevel>=0
<VPictureSize>=0
<VPictureRate>=29.970
<VBPicture>=2
<VPPicture>=5
<VPicturePattern>=IBBPBBPBBPBBPBBP
<VPreProcessing>=0
<VResize>=1
<ALayer>=2
<AMode>=1
<ABitRate>=224
<SpeedQualityIndicator>=3
<VideoWidth>=720
<VideoHeight>=480
<VMinBitRate>=2500000
<VMaxBitRate>=6000000

&
<Class>=Record
<Name>=Better
<Description>=NTSC
<OutputType>=7
<VBitRate>=6000000
<VQualityLevel>=0
<VPictureSize>=0
<VPictureRate>=29.970
<VBPicture>=2
<VPPicture>=5
<VPicturePattern>=IBBPBBPBBPBBPBBP
<VPreProcessing>=0
<VResize>=1
<ALayer>=2
<AMode>=1
<ABitRate>=224
<SpeedQualityIndicator>=3
<VideoWidth>=720
<VideoHeight>=480
<VMinBitRate>=4000000
<VMaxBitRate>=8300000

&
<Class>=Record
<Name>=Best
<Description>=NTSC
<OutputType>=7
<VBitRate>=8000000
<VQualityLevel>=0
<VPictureSize>=0
<VPictureRate>=29.970
<VBPicture>=2
<VPPicture>=5
<VPicturePattern>=IBBPBBPBBPBBPBBP
<VPreProcessing>=0
<VResize>=1
<ALayer>=2
<AMode>=1
<ABitRate>=224
<SpeedQualityIndicator>=3
<VideoWidth>=720
<VideoHeight>=480
<VMinBitRate>=4000000
<VMaxBitRate>=8300000

=======================
 NTSC Replay Profiles    ( Name : [Max][Min] )
=======================

&
<Class>=Replay
<Name>=0099900000
<Description>=NTSC
<OutputType>=7
<VBitRate>=4000000
<VQualityLevel>=0
<VPictureSize>=0
<VPictureRate>=29.970
<VBPicture>=2
<VPPicture>=5
<VPicturePattern>=IBBPBBPBBPBBPBBP
<VPreProcessing>=0
<VResize>=1
<ALayer>=2
<AMode>=1
<ABitRate>=224
<SpeedQualityIndicator>=0
<VideoWidth>=720
<VideoHeight>=480

&
<Class>=Replay
<Name>=1000001000
<Description>=NTSC
<OutputType>=7
<VBitRate>=8000000
<VQualityLevel>=0
<VPictureSize>=0
<VPictureRate>=29.970
<VBPicture>=2
<VPPicture>=5
<VPicturePattern>=IBBPBBPBBPBBPBBP
<VPreProcessing>=0
<VResize>=1
<ALayer>=2
<AMode>=1
<ABitRate>=224
<SpeedQualityIndicator>=1
<VideoWidth>=720
<VideoHeight>=480

Theres also a PAL and PAL_M file.

[hrlslcbr]

Oh, I never thought we could change so many options with THAT program.

Michael: Do you know what would happen if a progressive source is used as an input (i.e. connecting a progressive scan DVD player with the green component cable to get a black and white picture), can it damage the card?


Cheers.

[satnav4]

If you look in Program Files\CyberLink\PowerCinema\Capture\Default_NTSC.prf, theres a whole bunch of settings in there...

Little warning though, I think I broke something because i think the video quality got worse I after I went poking around the PC 3.0 directory and registry... I might just be the channel, Its usually pretty crappy anyway...

Edit: Yah..it was just the channel...

Anyways heres an example of what is in the file..

How about that for an educated guess on my part? So on "Best", the Cyberlink software encodes at an incredibly high 8000 kbs. It won't take any time to fill up your hard drives at that pace. If you want to do a fair comparison with a Hauppauge 150, set the 150 at 8000 kbs---see if you have any problem with your motion captures. Better yet, set the 550 on the "Better" setting and set the 150 at 6000 kbs, 8300 max, and see how many of you on the 550 bandwagon like your fast motion captures. It seems all the comparisons between the 150 and 550 have been "Apples and Oranges" thanks to Cyberlink's hidden settings.

Thanks Bubba for helping explain why some just love their 550 fast motion captures. More bitrate will beat less bitrate almost every time.

Bubba, have you tried to edit the config file to adjust the rates? What is the trick to opening that file? I get a strange dialogue box when I select open.

S.

[bubbaganoush]

Not yet...I dont know much about those settings...suggest me some and ill try them out.

[satnav4]

Not yet...I dont know much about those settings...suggest me some and ill try them out.

Set the target at 4500, leave the low where it is, reduce the upper from 8300 to 6200 or so. This should get you a 2 hour recording in the 4.2-4.4 gig range to fit on a standard dvd. At about 2.1 gig an hour, TV shows will look great without eating the hard drive. Please save a copy of the file before editing.

S.

[jonaslasky]

Bad news for Cyberlink lovers--if there are any out there. The program on "best" uses about 2 gigs of space for each 33 minutes. That's almost 8 gigs for a 2 hour movie! That's ridiculous! My Hauppauge 150 creates great results at 4.2 gigs for a 2 hour movie. That's a vbr set at about 4500 ave/6200 max. To do a fair comparison between the 550 and the 150 cards, I should almost double the bitrate on my Hauppauge captures. No wonder some people like the motion captures with the ATI--it is using an obnoxiously high bitrate. Set the 150 to 8000 cbr, and tell me if you see any differences.

Neat trick.

S.

Hey Satnav... I know you haven't been able to use BetondTV.... but it does allow you to fine tune all these settings via a web browser interface. I just got an e-mail from Snapstream today offering a 20 dollar discount on BeyondTV. Along with the offer they showed me how to tweak all those settings. While that was nice... I do wonder why they don't just make all that apparent to everyone, instead of hiding it.

In any case I still prefer VirtualVCR's controls and encoding options. It puts out really beautiful video (if you manage to get it to work). It's very easy to see that video from VirtualVCR is superior to BeyondTV's. The clips I encoded at 2 mbps. DviX format looked pretty good... at 4 mbps... it looked very sharp. I wish I could get it to access audio from the Theater 550.

Jonas

[satnav4]

Hey Satnav... I know you haven't been able to use BetondTV.... but it does allow you to fine tune all these settings via a web browser interface. I just got an e-mail from Snapstream today offering a 20 dollar discount on BeyondTV. Along with the offer they showed me how to tweak all those settings. While that was nice... I do wonder why they don't just make all that apparent to everyone, instead of hiding it.

In any case I still prefer VirtualVCR's controls and encoding options. It puts out really beautiful video (if you manage to get it to work). It's very easy to see that video from VirtualVCR is superior to BeyondTV's. The clips I encoded at 2 mbps. DviX format looked pretty good... at 4 mbps... it looked very sharp. I wish I could get it to access audio from the Theater 550.

Jonas

Thanks for the heads up. I haven't been lucky enough to get the email. Perhaps when my trial ends they will be kind enough to extend the offer. Have you sprung for BTV yet? If not, did the offer come at the end of your trial period?

S.

[thatdude90210]

Thanks Bubba for helping explain why some just love their 550 fast motion captures. More bitrate will beat less bitrate almost every time.

Nope, doesn't explain it yet. My own comparisons were with Powercinema at "better" and my pvr250 on Sage tv setting at "best." The 550 pro was better at high motion sports.

Another guy at htpcnews forum compared his pvr 150 to the 550 pro both using mce 2005 pc (link), not powercinema.

[backlund]

Nope, doesn't explain it yet. My own comparisons were with Powercinema at "better" and my pvr250 on Sage tv setting at "best." The 550 pro was better at high motion sports.

Another guy at htpcnews forum compared his pvr 150 to the 550 pro both using mce 2005 pc (link), not powercinema.

That was me. I still stand by it. The 550 kicks @ss for high motion content like sports games. If they can just clear up the picture a bit via sharpness controls, we should have a heck of a great card on our hands.

[satnav4]

Nope, doesn't explain it yet. My own comparisons were with Powercinema at "better" and my pvr250 on Sage tv setting at "best." The 550 pro was better at high motion sports.

Another guy at htpcnews forum compared his pvr 150 to the 550 pro both using mce 2005 pc (link), not powercinema.

What is Sage's "Best" bitrate setting? I just did a comparison of the 150 and the 550 at the same 4000 kbs bitrate, and they looked similar, although the 550 was softer and the 150 was whiter. They both looked the same with motion. When I have some time, I will test at 6000 kbs--which is probably where you need to record sports in any event. 4000 kbs is a bit too low.

S.

[thatdude90210]

What is Sage's "Best" bitrate setting?

It's 6000 kbs.

[blakev]

That's almost 8 gigs for a 2 hour movie!

You know, they might have been thinking about dual layer DVD media becoming the de facto DVD media standard: once the price per disk comes down of course.