Need suggestions for alternate capturing

[rubberpix]

I've been capturing via Firewire from my STB for 8 or 9 years now and I'm getting a bit tired of all the work that goes into creating flawless clips. (record, watch to make sure it didn't get a graphical glitch, re-record if it did and watch that, etc.)

I've used several other cards over the years to capture and none have produced the quality that my current setup has. Sure the file sizes are horrendously large, but I'm ok with that. Hauppauge's Colossus, ATI's All-in-wonder back when the Radeon first made it's appearance and another cheapy card that ended up being free after rebate are the cards I've had previously and just today I purchased a TiVo hoping it would be my answer to my capping woes. Little did I know that just because I can capture most channels via Firewire off my Comcast DVR doesn't mean their cablecard would do the same. I still don't have that card working properly yet so time will only tell if I'll be able to download and edit ANY channels other than OTA.

Now my question to any that see this. What capture cards/devices should I look into that won't produce lines in the picture (like the Colossus had w/component cables) and will keep the quality as if I was watching it right off the cable box? If it has HDMI, it must also be usable with my cable box which the Colossus couldn't handle doing.

The problem I'm having with Firewire was stated above, I'd get glitches in the video just as if the signal got interrupted on rare occasions. I'm using CapDVHS to capture the video. Is there a better program, maybe one that doesn't mess up that might make my life easier if the capture card search doesn't work out?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Andy

[KeithAbbott]

I've had my share of problems with the Colossus, but lines in the picture has not been one of them.

Have you checked out this thread: http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=58515

[Fonceur]

Have you tried simply running your recordings through a program to fix them? Something like VideoReDo "quick stream fix" or such?

[rubberpix]

I checked out that thread before I went to bed, but it wasn't around last year when I had the Colossus. That looks like it would be perfect if Fonceur's suggestion isn't better. The only problem I have with capturing via Firewire is having to ALWAYS watch what I record in order to make sure everything captured correctly and for some shows having to sit through 10 minutes of show can take over an hour to correctly capture. I'll try using VideoReDo today and see if that works, however I never knew programs like that existed.

Here's a picture of something I capped that has the lines in it for reference. Maybe someone can tell me how to get rid of these types of lines because it happens even when it's just hooked up to the tv this way. It's why I use HDMI only.
http://home.comcast.net/~jdkeicudnem...es/example.jpg


I tried VideoReDo to fix my caps and they don't actually do anything other than create another .ts that is less than 1k in size. I did however really like the editing function of it so I'll be using that to prune the beginning and ends, so thanks for that!

Andy

[KeithAbbott]

Originally Posted by rubberpix

Here's a picture of something I capped that has the lines in it for reference. Maybe someone can tell me how to get rid of these types of lines because it happens even when it's just hooked up to the tv this way. It's why I use HDMI only.
http://home.comcast.net/~jdkeicudnem...es/example.jpg

Maybe the component output on your STB is bad? If your cable provider supplies your STB, I think I would have them swap for a different unit.

[rubberpix]

I can test that out easily by hooking up my new xbox 360 via component cables to my other tv and then hooking up the dvr (this tv is my monitor and only has HDMI, DVI and VGA).

If they both produce the same quality picture and the problem lies in my current layout with my electronic devices causing interference with the component cables, is there anything I can do to remove that without taking apart everything?

Andy

[KeithAbbott]

I think you are getting way ahead of yourself. Start by verifying that the component outputs on your STB are OK by connecting it directly to the component inputs on a TV set. If the lines are still there, you know the problem lies in the STB, and get the STB fixed or replaced. If the lines are not there, you've at least eliminated the STB from being the problem, and can proceed down the signal path to try to determine the source of the problem. It is possible that you may have a bad Colossus card.

BTW, are you even a SageTV user? This forum is primarily intended for SageTV users...

[rubberpix]

I apologize for posting here even though I'm not a SageTV user, but up until yesterday when I was searching this site after finding the post about Tim Moore's firewire driver discussion, I didn't even realize SageTV was a product and not a forum for discussing all things capturing related. I just figured after reading all these posts in the hardware section (of which it was the only forum subsection I'd been in) that if anyone could help suggest to me a good card, it would be the people here.

If I should leave, just say so and I'll be gone.

Andy

[Beefcake550]

You could check out my other thread @ http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=58515

and try using the HDMI input of the HD-PVR instead....