Which tv software can record analog channels directly into avi, wmv, etc?

[supra54088]

Hi.

May I know which tv software can record analog channels directly into avi, wmv, etc?

I'm using hauppauge tv tuner but their software allow mpeg recording only.

Thank you very much!

[sub]

Sorry, the software here (GBPVR and NPVR) also only recordings to MPEG formats. These formats make much more sense for TV than avi/wmv for a lot of reasons.

[supra54088]

Usually those tv softwares which can record in avi, wmv, etc, also do recording in mpeg too, so it's more flexible when I plan my recordings..

Mpeg2 recording isn't necessary if I don't make DVD-video, right?

While recording in xvid, divx, etc can save hdd space, good for me since I do a lot of recordings.
And since those portable media players support many formats now, I don't see the need to stick to mpeg only.

If cannot find a suitable software to use with my hauppauge tuner, then I will just have to get a avertv tuner which support multi-formats recording..

[sub]

Mpeg2 recording isn't necessary if I don't make DVD-video, right?

The reason most cards record MPEG2 these days is because they either have MPEG2 encoder hardware, or they doing digital TV (DVB-T etc) which are MPEG2 (or MPEG4) encoded prior to broadcast. It only makes sense to use these formats, because there is zero CPU overhead to dump the MPEG2 streams to disk. If you want to record in avi or wmv files, all the re-encoding needs to be done in software, which means decoding the original MPEG2 stream to raw video then encoding it with divx/xvid/wmv, in real time, which results in reduced quality, and a ton of extra CPU being required. Recording to .avi or .wmv files also means you cant watch your recordings while they're in progress.

You can always convert files later for copying to a portable media player, then you get to use better multiple pass encoding etc rather than the crappy re-encoding your get if it has to do it on the fly.

[supra54088]

Actually with current modern pc processing power, improved tv tuner, software and codecs, recording analog channels directly into other formats is no longer a problem like last time. By the way, I'm referring to analog channels recording, not digital channels recording.

Since my country have about 10 analog channels and only 3 dvb-t channels, I still have a lot of analog recording to do.

I have tried the avertv tuner at my friend's house and the recording quality is good.

I have also tried the tweaked leadtek pvr software with my hauppauge HVR1300 and PVR150, it is not as bad as you think. But due to the lack of audio line out source from both cards, I'm not able to connect to the line-in of my soundcard, so the recording has no sound..

If no choice, I'll just have to buy a avertv dual hybrid tuner pci-e II.

[ShiningDragon]

You should never underestimate the live capturing of analog material into a container like .avi / .wmv / .mkv with high compression codecs. Even today it's not an easy task to record audio / video and hold the synchronisation. Every access to the pc could disturb the recording and give a loss to frames.

Mhm, i just looked at AVerMedia Tech for the AVerTV Duo Hybrid PCI-E II. Where's the different to the other solutions? This card captures in MPEG-2. It is able to capture direct to .h264 with a MAX. resolution x 320 x 240 pixel! For this you'll need a Core 2 Duo E6600 (Single Tuner) or even a Core 2 Quad E6600 (Dual Tuner) to record. 4 Tasks... 4x 2.4 GHz... this is a lot of power for such a... crappy recording (to compare: i can record 6 simultanous movies with full PAL resolution (720 x 576 @ 25) and my Core 2 Quad is... idling with an 6x multiplicator).

I would just stay at MPEG-2 and transcode at a later time via 2-pass HQ encoding (already tried StaxRip?) into .h264 Profile. Yes, it takes a longer time. Yes, you have to do more steps. But: the results are worth the work.

But at least it's your decision. I can not see what should be better in direct recording to another container than mpeg.

You could buy an old hauppauge with BT878 or BT848 chipset and install it with VfW drivers. After this you could use VirtualDub for capturing with different VfW CoDecs (Huffman YUV, Xvid etc.).

[stustunz]

so you will go buy a new tuner card but not a bigger harddrive interesting

[supra54088]

so you will go buy a new tuner card but not a bigger harddrive interesting

if I get a bigger harddisk, I will still be limited to two recordings..
If I add in a dual hybrid tv tuner, I can record up to 4 channels..

[stustunz]

i guess your stuck on using compressed files so good luck finding what you need to accomplish this
im to lazy and buying a bigger hard drive is a much easier solution they are cheap these days