Can I Video Capture?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Don
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Don

I have a Windows 7 Pro 64 box with 16 GIG of RAM and 8 core AMD
processor and nVidia card. And the machine has lots of disk space. I
also have a Motorola DCT 6416 PVR which has both component and HDMI
outputs.

I'd like to record live HD television or recorded content to my PC. Can
it be done? If so, What video capture device might you recommend to do
this? Are any of the Hauppauge audio/video capture devices suitable for
this task? Reason I ask is that many of them are readily available.

Thanks
 
I have a Windows 7 Pro 64 box with 16 GIG of RAM and 8 core AMD
processor and nVidia card. And the machine has lots of disk space. I
also have a Motorola DCT 6416 PVR which has both component and HDMI
outputs.

I'd like to record live HD television or recorded content to my PC. Can
it be done? If so, What video capture device might you recommend to do
this? Are any of the Hauppauge audio/video capture devices suitable for
this task? Reason I ask is that many of them are readily available.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Indeed, by all accounts.
 
Don said:
I have a Windows 7 Pro 64 box with 16 GIG of RAM and 8 core AMD
processor and nVidia card. And the machine has lots of disk space. I
also have a Motorola DCT 6416 PVR which has both component and HDMI
outputs.

I'd like to record live HD television or recorded content to my PC. Can
it be done? If so, What video capture device might you recommend to do
this? Are any of the Hauppauge audio/video capture devices suitable for
this task? Reason I ask is that many of them are readily available.

Thanks
Click to expand...

You want a device type which is rapidly disappearing.
Newegg even makes it hard to find on their site.

"AVerMedia AVerTV HD DVR C027 PCI-Express x1 Interface $89.99"
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815100049

The deal is, you can capture component (YPbPr) with one of
those. There is a dongle with coax connectors on it, which
plugs into one of the ports on the faceplate.

The device also accepts HDMI.

The United States has a law with DMCA in the name. It restricts
the capture of content. The companies making the cards and chips,
believe the law dictates that 1080i is the highest resolution
that can be captured. That means 1920x1080 cannot be captured
at full frame rate, as in progressive 1080p. Only the interleaved
1080i can be captured.

1920x1080 60Hz Progressive (illegal) =1080p60
1920x1080 60Hz Interleaves (OK) = 1080i60
1920x1080 30Hz Progressive (OK) <--- supported on second generation cards
when they figured out it was OK.
= 1080p30

For any card of this type that you purchase, you should
review a detailed list of capture modes. Do not trust them
to do the right thing! Some cards are missing important
capture options. (The menu on this page, will also offer other
"capture" products.)

http://avertv.avermedia.com/Product/ProductDetail.aspx?Id=528

* Input Signal：
o S-Video
o Composite (RCA)
o Component (YPbPr, 1080i/720p) <--- note lack of details (p30 available?)
o HDMI (1080i/720p)
o Analog Audio L/R
* Support resolution: 480i / 480p / 576i/ 576p/ 720p / 1080i (50/60 Hz)

The processing requirements on that page may be related to playback.
Let's hope they really do have a hardware compressor on the card.
A card with a compressor, should not need a powerful processor during
the capture phase.

There is a user manual. The user manual doesn't list the capture
resolutions.

http://avertv.avermedia.com/Upload/...arkCrystal_HD_Capture_Pro_MCS1.7.9_121210.pdf

I don't know what the resolution limit is on the analog component
capture inputs. Manufacturers have removed that from certain
devices, to make it harder to transfer stuff via analog. YPbPr
allows higher resolution than component or S-Video for example.
For example, the video card on my current computer, still has
the mini-DIN connector, and I could output YPbPr from there, to
another computer with one of those capture cards. Modern video
cards no long bother with the mini-DIN. I expect my video card
could put out a higher resolution, than one of those cards could
capture properly (fuzzy).

DMCA also limits things like HDCP support. If an HDMI output has
HDCP enabled (encryption), the capture card will see "snow" coming
from the HDMI input. Capture cards are not allowed to capture HDCP
properly. There are actually versions of the front end chips,
which accept HDCP keys, but it is illegal for the chip company
to sell those for usage in a capture card. It's OK to place
such chips inside the front end of a TV set, where the content
cannot be "stolen".

*******

It's particularly important, to read the reviews section for
cards like that. In some cases, they will mention a hack for
getting the card to run in a different mode. Read the Newegg
reviews, to determine what modes people could get from the card.

Also, hardware manufacturers are deceptive bastards, and
they will change the chipset used on a card at the drop of
a hat. Looking at the picture of that card, I no longer
see an Analog Devices chip on the front end. Some other
chip is being used. And this may affect any hacks the
old card had.

So that's the kind of card you want. The manufacturers
are trying to shy away from "straight capture", and you
can find a number of products that only support "streaming",
to make straight capture more difficult.

Hope you get the card you want,

Paul
 
Paul said:
The United States has a law with DMCA in the name. It restricts
the capture of content. The companies making the cards and
chips, believe the law dictates that 1080i is the highest
resolution that can be captured.
Click to expand...

Is that from wikishit? Sounds strange, do you have a citation for
any of it? Are you suggesting that "restricting the capture of
content" is related to the highest resolution that can be
captured? Sounds like you're talking about two different things...
Capturing/copying copyrighted material and capturing material
based on its resolution???

Video capture cards have always been on the fringe of PC stuff.
I've shopped for them many times but never bought one. Nowadays,
with so much content coming via the Internet instead of TV, they
are even less important. I would suspect that as being a cause for
any decrease in availability. You know, there isn't any piece of
entertainment (software, movies, whatever) on earth you can't get
if you want it. We have entertainment coming out the wazoo these
days.

Every once in a while, I would like to record some streaming thing
from Netflix, but what's the point? It's not that good and it's
readily available elsewhere. I pay for Netflix mainly because I
want to be paying content providers something for their work.

What exactly can you do with a video capture card nowadays? If you
are a stud, you can capture cybersex with great looking babes and
upload it for the rest to gawk at. But besides that...
 
Paul <nospam needed.com> wrote:









Is that from wikishit? Sounds strange, do you have a citation for

any of it? Are you suggesting that "restricting the capture of

content" is related to the highest resolution that can be

captured? Sounds like you're talking about two different things...

Capturing/copying copyrighted material and capturing material

based on its resolution???
Click to expand...

Yes Dough, learn to read you meathead.
Video capture cards have always been on the fringe of PC stuff.

I've shopped for them many times but never bought one. Nowadays,

with so much content coming via the Internet instead of TV, they

are even less important. I would suspect that as being a cause for

any decrease in availability. You know, there isn't any piece of

entertainment (software, movies, whatever) on earth you can't get

if you want it. We have entertainment coming out the wazoo these

days.



Every once in a while, I would like to record some streaming thing

from Netflix, but what's the point? It's not that good and it's

readily available elsewhere. I pay for Netflix mainly because I

want to be paying content providers something for their work.



What exactly can you do with a video capture card nowadays? If you

are a stud, you can capture cybersex with great looking babes and

upload it for the rest to gawk at. But besides that...
Click to expand...


Maybe the OP wants to record some obscure program, like a cooking show, so they can review it later? Stupid, stupid Doe.

RL
 
John said:
Is that from wikishit? Sounds strange, do you have a citation for
any of it? Are you suggesting that "restricting the capture of
content" is related to the highest resolution that can be
captured? Sounds like you're talking about two different things...
Capturing/copying copyrighted material and capturing material
based on its resolution???

Video capture cards have always been on the fringe of PC stuff.
I've shopped for them many times but never bought one. Nowadays,
with so much content coming via the Internet instead of TV, they
are even less important. I would suspect that as being a cause for
any decrease in availability. You know, there isn't any piece of
entertainment (software, movies, whatever) on earth you can't get
if you want it. We have entertainment coming out the wazoo these
days.

Every once in a while, I would like to record some streaming thing
from Netflix, but what's the point? It's not that good and it's
readily available elsewhere. I pay for Netflix mainly because I
want to be paying content providers something for their work.

What exactly can you do with a video capture card nowadays? If you
are a stud, you can capture cybersex with great looking babes and
upload it for the rest to gawk at. But besides that...
Click to expand...

I'm saying DMCA has chilled the market for capture devices.
And 1080i60 or 1080p30 is the highest data capture rate
supported. Implying that 1080p60 (so-called HD) would be illegal.
If you presented a 1080p60 PCI Express capture card, in a crate
at Customs entering the United States, it would be confiscated.

I've never seen it spelled out in so many words. I don't
even have a copy of the DMCA text. All I can tell you is,
*all* the cards strictly adhere to the same limitation.

The Analog Devices front end chip comes in three versions.
The "damaged" one, with no HDCP keys in it, which was used
in the BlackMagic card (the first capture card of that type).
Plus two other versions which are restricted to manufacturers
such as TV set makers. The two other versions support higher
data rates and also have storage for keys, so you can
convert encrypted HDCP streams. Of course, in a TV they
don't capture, as much as convert data formats to something
the LCD panel can use.

It's just like, virtually every analog or digital chip
capable of capturing content, is equipped with Macrovision.
Even if the firmware conveniently forgets to act on it.
Plenty of devices adhere to a bunch of standards, with
the software letting them down when you need it. (Things
like working Closed Captioning on TV tuners - the chips
have it, but no firmware or driver programs it.)

Paul
 
Is that from wikishit? Sounds strange, do you have a citation for
any of it? Are you suggesting that "restricting the capture of
content" is related to the highest resolution that can be
captured? Sounds like you're talking about two different things...
Capturing/copying copyrighted material and capturing material
based on its resolution???

Video capture cards have always been on the fringe of PC stuff.
I've shopped for them many times but never bought one. Nowadays,
with so much content coming via the Internet instead of TV, they
are even less important. I would suspect that as being a cause for
any decrease in availability. You know, there isn't any piece of
entertainment (software, movies, whatever) on earth you can't get
if you want it. We have entertainment coming out the wazoo these
days.

Every once in a while, I would like to record some streaming thing
from Netflix, but what's the point? It's not that good and it's
readily available elsewhere. I pay for Netflix mainly because I
want to be paying content providers something for their work.

What exactly can you do with a video capture card nowadays? If you
are a stud, you can capture cybersex with great looking babes and
upload it for the rest to gawk at. But besides that...
Click to expand...

If you can basically see it on a monitor, that there's no proprietary
or stunted little middlemen-boxes involved in other than an publicly
ascertainable aerial broadcast, you've a likely source-capture.
Fringe...capture boards aren't really more fringe than anything else
about computers;- only thing perhaps fringe is beyond a capacity for
other than a BestBuy store-bought and supported computer, kind of like
a support layer for a dedicated Netflic or Roku box, say;- most people
know how, or can call up for instructions on how to insert a plug into
a router/modem. Everything available, PCI-wise, is less available
with MB manufacturers shutting down on available slots;- of course we
really do need more dual-slotted graphic MBs for $500US video arrays.
I've only run with PCI video capture, learning a fair amount about,
albeit now dated, as a matter of fact. (Sic: read hence post-USB2 and
bloody awful cutting-edge, fringe USB3.) Hmmm...if you've got
entertainment coming out you wazoo, maybe you should back off;- you
should realize by now that senility has a statistical correlation to
broadcast-related derangements; ...tch, tch -- [thusly] I pay because
I support the general scheme of patently commercially content: Exactly
what we need more of: approvals on patent applications. Me, I used to
capture broadcasts to edit out the commercials. A stunning feat of
extreme prejudice, I thought, until they started boxing in broadcast
content with simultaneous commercial insanity oozing out from pixels,
dilated with obscenity, imposed on top of the programme encode, all
improper like. Alas, it's back to literature from books, for the
wasteland of American culture is replete, completely enshrouded within
a putrid veneer of commercial exploitation. Enjoy.

-
Each takes according to his abilities, as each gives in return. -Karl
Marx
 
I've always considered TV capture cards to be on the fringe of PC
stuff. I've never really had a good use for one. Television isn't
the mainstream source of video these days, making them even
further out on the fringe. Again... What are they good for?
In English, Flasherly.
 
I've always considered TV capture cards to be on the fringe of PC
stuff. I've never really had a good use for one. Television isn't
the mainstream source of video these days, making them even
further out on the fringe. Again... What are they good for?
In English, Flasherly.
Click to expand...

The first half of the post is fine. Reread it. Capture cards are
fringe only if you want them to be, can't understand encoding, or
haven't the time to dick with them;- I've 4, 5 HDTV aerial broadcasts
I pick up, locally off antenna, running nothing but films, and two
education-content channels with 6 channels between them. When I did
encode captures, however, it was CRTs and no HDTV. Never had them,
although I'm reading Verizon and Comcast apparently are coming on
strong, though, say $80 monthly for just video content and excluding
additional fees for INET, so there's actually larger segments electing
now to opt out for aerial reception and other alternatives to that
hegemony. Next the two will be dividing up the country's bandwidth
for streaming speeds for the haves and have-nots. (A high court
decision passed this month.) Maybe, like Obama Care, with the
have-nots carrying the brunt of those $80 monthly fees at lower
disproportionate speeds for subsidizing what the haves then may reap
from such as exclusive content clubs and faster plans for a newer,
improved, and industrialized version of the WWW.
 
I've always considered TV capture cards to be on the fringe of PC

stuff. I've never really had a good use for one. Television isn't

the mainstream source of video these days, making them even

further out on the fringe. Again... What are they good for?

In English, Flasherly.
Click to expand...

Shutup you fool. Spoon feeding a meathead like you Dough is a hopeless task. The Pillsbury Doe boy and/or Homer Simpson have more sense than the nonsense you spew.

RL
 
There isn't any entertainment that I can't get, none.

Other people might see it differently if they enjoy keeping
multimedia on their systems. I feel no need to do so, it's
downloading and streaming everywhere. It's like a flood.
 
There isn't any entertainment that I can't get, none.

Other people might see it differently if they enjoy keeping
multimedia on their systems. I feel no need to do so, it's
downloading and streaming everywhere. It's like a flood.
Click to expand...

Nothing you can't get, none. You can can the happy-shit type.
None is a categorical imperative, such as you won't pull this (in any
likelihood) off the cuff: Casanova di Federico (Fellini 1976)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074291/

Keeping it, sure, and that's really pushing it: Out of those channels
provided, during the course of a month, if skewed somewhat off bases
for watching Casanova last week, how many film titles actually will I
find were I recording/encoding...1 or 2 a month if that? (There is
certainly, to be sure, a greater composite of vintage b&w titles I
haven't much tow with, at all -- Bogart, John Wayne and what else may
pass by similar censorious measures.) Not that I wouldn't keep a
library, of sorts, of films (just not books that are treated entirely
differently);- nor, particularly, need I feel unduly stupefied with
one, if not then two films a month (additive qualities do tend to be
imperatively cumulative for my purposes on such 'MM' systems);- nor is
it that I am not familiar with what passes by for film titles these
days: post-circa from a lost art apparently practised during a deluge
of ostensible creativity, as accorded publicly a Golden Age of
Hollywood, dated to the last century within a confine of its 80's.
 
Flasherly said:
Nothing you can't get, none. You can can the happy-shit type.
None is a categorical imperative, such as you won't pull this
(in any likelihood) off the cuff: Casanova di Federico (Fellini
1976) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074291/
Click to expand...

That took about 30 seconds. It's streaming on Netflix.

Don't be silly, Flasherly.
Just kidding!

To each his own. I see no reason for having multimedia on my
computer. And since media hardly comes from TV these days, there
is even less reason for a video capture card.

If I need a golden oldie fix, I had YouTube for an hour or so.
Complete relief. We are awash in entertainment nowadays.
 
That took about 30 seconds. It's streaming on Netflix.
Click to expand...

Netflix does have one of the biggest libraries of flics out there.
Might have been more difficult without that subscription.
And since media hardly comes from TV these days, there
is even less reason for a video capture card.
Click to expand...
y
Nope, even the TV will do it all if it's smart, and if that's all
that's wanted.
If I need a golden oldie fix, I had YouTube for an hour or so.
Complete relief. We are awash in entertainment nowadays.
Click to expand...

I don't even need to be coherent around capture media. Leave in on
and doze on the couch or turn it off sometimes after sleeping in the
bed. A contemptuous familiarity, of sorts. Neither the greatest, a
40" Sceptre I had recently shipped in on sale for $250, but I'm
getting used to its splotchy blacks (my former NEC was slightly better
at transposing even if lacking decent encodes);- what I do like is it
running at an average 35-watt consumption. The power inverter boards
in LCDs I hear are failure-prone, but, thankfully, there's no more
necessity actually to need spend money, I'm ashamed to admit I dropped
in the NEC (on a half-price sale, at that). The NEC failed in 5
years, which sucks the hair right off brown donkey balls (I'm typing
at you on a Syntax 32" LCD w/HDTV tuner approaching 10 years' use).
The Sceptre needs fail in 2 years to equate at that price at parity,
whereas I expect at least 3, but practically 4, 5 years based on a
solid reputation behind Sceptre. I also plan to treat it with
impunity, leaving it on whenever while continuing to use a $1 power
strip to turn it with cursory abruptness off. Yeah, we're awash
alright, just at better prices for dropping off apparently
design-factored, broken merchandise -- questionably more on par to a
27" form factor in CRT offerings, more apt to last 10 years -- if not
simply in nearly as heavy LCDs prematurely behind the Salvation Army,
in the middle of urbanity in a deepening night of amply allotted
probationers in waiting for the sun to rise and piss on them, once
more, in all its golden hues. Some things just don't seem to change
that much;. . .But, please, don't let me distract you.
 
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