Mpeg2 settings question

[spup345]

Using a Hauppauge HVR-1850 for analog capture via S-video cable for video & component cable->stereo input for sound from my cable box (and ATI HD 3650 for display via DVI).

Besides setting the bitrate at the highest possible (DVD Standard Play @ 3.2gb/hr), I am trying to figure out if there is anything else that needs to be done to maximize the quality of the MPEG-2 recording.

Do the video & audio decoder filters directly determine the raw quality of the mpeg-2 file that SageTV creates? Or is it solely the bitrate you capture at and the hardware doing the capture? Is there anything else I should focus my research on this topic on (de-interlace, etc.?)?

I assume the renderer only deals with displaying the video on the computer and has nothing to do with the recording quality (mine displays fine, I think I'm using VMR9).

Maybe a list of the settings that directly affect Mpeg-2 recording quality would help. Then I can google for a while and come back with any questions I can't answer via research.

[Fuzzy]

Not much for you to really do. Setting the bitrate is about all you can do... All other things are based on the quality of the original signal, and the quality of the ADC and encoder on the capture card. The 1850 is probably as good an SD capture card you're going to find, so that part is pretty much sorted. About the only other thing you can do is to tweak on the color correction (which is done on the card prior to the encoding step) to make sure that nothing is out of bounds (too white or too black) as that will impair the encoder's ability to make a decent capture.

Decoder setting are just that, for decoding. They will have no effect on recording. They DO however, affect the quality of the playback, and no matter how good your recording is, if the playback is screwy, it won't be acceptable.

That said, even the Built-In SageTV decoders are more than adequate for SD MPEG-2.

[spup345]

Ok great, thanks.

I'm going to post in the hardware section a quick question about capture cards (specifically I just read a blurb somewhere about Canopus stuff being excellent and putting out DV instead of Mpeg2).

[Fuzzy]

I don't think the canopus stuff will work with Sage. At least not with the built-in DV encoder. Pretyt much sage is limited to MPEG2 or H.264 for recorded media.

really, if you are looking to improve your quality, it's time to move beyond S-Video 480i, and get something like the HD-PVR.