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[sraymond]

Well, it's finally TDF time - so I'm forced yet again to subscribe to 150 channels of satellite programming just to get the single channel I need (OLN).  $50 for one channel is an awful lot, but it *IS* the Tour de France!

Rather than taping on VHS, I thought I'd give MC a shot.  I wonder what the target rate (kbps) for recording should be.  I'm playing with the XVID codec and I'm getting OK video at 800 kbps.  Unfortunately, I don't seem to get a reasonable audio bitrate - 350 kbps for 22KHz/8-bit/stereo seems an awful lot of the bandwidth.  I'm guessing this is a result of using an inefficient codec - PCM.

I'm shooting for 6 MB/min for both audio and video.  Using rough numbers, that's about 100 KBps or 800 Kbps.  I can sacrifrice some quality to get the video to about 700 kbps, but that only leaves 100 kbps for audio.  Does anyone think this is unreasonable?

Is there anyone getting better (i.e. more efficient) results for recording satellite TV than 6 MB/min?  Is there any way to use another audio codec besides PCM?

Thanks!

Scott-

[zevele10]

Another Tour De France head !!!!

WELCOME !
But we are a very very small number here.
Last year was Peloton from Austalia as well.

I'am lucky enought to have 3 french channels and Eurosport UK in the basis packtage [ around $25].

In France ,it is live on the national France 2 channel everyday.

When they give full stage -- from 11:AM to 5: PM- morning and news time is on France3 .
I do not have this channel ,so ,i use Eurosport UK.

The problem is that the really nice speaker  on Eurosport UK does not understand that much about the race.......

I did try to have Eurosport with the sound of and to stream the comments in french from Eurosportwebb.
But ,there is not synchronisation between the 2

[JimH]

Hi Scott,
Did you try the MC format?

I saw the Tour de France a couple days ago.  Or at least I could see the tops of the cars following each rider as they crossed the Seine in Paris.  Once I actually got a glimpse of a rider.  They really move fast.

Jim

[sraymond]

Zevele:  I love the Grand Tours (except La Vuelta - not sure why).  I do miss the Italian commentators; Ligget is quite lame!  This year OLN has dedicated quite a bit of their schedule to the tour.  I guess they think it will earn them some brand recognition or loyalty.  As you can imagine, I'm rooting for the Texan!

Jim:  What do you mean by MC format?  The JRiver codec doesn't let me change any options and the results are quite bloated (about 18 MB/min).  The audio alone is something like 1400 kbps - PCM uncompressed.

Everyone:  What is the best rates you've gotten with MC capture?

Scott-

[Yaobing]

The JRiver codec doesn't let me change any options and the results are quite bloated (about 18 MB/min).  The audio alone is something like 1400 kbps - PCM uncompressed.

Everyone:  What is the best rates you've gotten with MC capture?

Scott-

Scott,
JRiver video codec allows you to choose Quality setting. Quality ranges from 0 - 10. I have not tried figuring out the bit rate for different quality settings, but the video quality does not degrade too much if you choose a lower setting (well, you can experiment and see what setting is good for you).

For audio, you could try sacrificing some quality by choosing a lower sample rate.

[Yaobing]

Scott,

Another way to achieve the 6MB/min bit rate is to use Windows Media format (choose Space Saver option).

[sraymond]

For audio, you could try sacrificing some quality by choosing a lower sample rate

It's a shame that there's no way to use another codec besides PCM Uncompressed.  Is there any plans in the works to give us some *real* codecs for audio?

JRiver video codec allows you to choose Quality setting.

How do I configure the codec?  I can't "edit" any of the default profiles.

Thanks for the help!

Scott-

[Yaobing]

It's a shame that there's no way to use another codec besides PCM Uncompressed.  Is there any plans in the works to give us some *real* codecs for audio?

I probably should only say "maybe" at this point.

How do I configure the codec?  I can't "edit" any of the default profiles.

The pre-set profiles are not editable. You need to create custom profiles. If you are using non-JRiver codec, you must be using a custom profile already.

Click Add button to add a new (custom) profile. You will be guided through a few simple steps. In the first step you can choose a name for the profile, and you should choose AVI for format. In the second step choose JRiver Video Codec and select a Quality. You will also need to choose 320 x 240 video size in order to achieve the low bitrate that you are looking for. PCM Audio settings are chosen here too. In the last step, just accept defaults.

[sraymond]

[In the second step choose JRiver Video Codec and select a Quality./quote]

Strange...  JRiver Video Codec isn't an option.  I also note that when recording using the default JRiver Codec, AVICodec tells me the video is "Video : 1 Mb, 2420 Kbps, 31.750 fps, res. 320*240 (4:3),  DX50 = OpenDivx V5, supported".  Yet, I don't see OpenDivx V5 as an installed codec with in Device Manager.

Any ideas?

-Scott

Media Center Registered 9.1.210 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center\

Microsoft Windows XP  Workstation 5.1 Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)
AMD Athlon 1673 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 523 MB, Free - 151 MB

Internet Explorer: 6.0.2800.1106 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.82 (xpsp1.020828-1920) / Shlwapi.dll: 6.00.2800.1106 (xpsp1.020828-1920) / Shell32.dll: 6.00.2800.1145 (xpsp2.021108-1929) / wnaspi32.dll: 4.71 (0001) , ASPI for Win32         DLL, Copyright © 1989-2002 Adaptec, Inc. / Aspi32.sys: 4.71 (0001)

Ripping /   Drive F:   Copy mode:ModeBurstBigBuffer   CD Type:Auto   Read speed:Max
 Drive G:   Copy mode:ModeBurstBigBuffer   CD Type:Auto   Read speed:Max
 Drive H:   Copy mode:ModeBurstBigBuffer   CD Type:Auto   Read speed:Max
 Drive I:   Copy mode:ModeBurstBigBuffer   CD Type:Auto   Read speed:Max
 Drive J:   Copy mode:ModeBurstBigBuffer   CD Type:Auto   Read speed:Max
 Digital playback: Yes /  Use YADB: Yes /  Get cover art: No /  Calc replay gain: Yes /  Copy volume: 32767
 Eject after ripping: No /  Play sound after ripping: No  

Burning /  Drive G: ATAPI    CD-RW 52X24        Addr: 2:1:0  Speed:4  MaxSpeed:52  Use MJ Engine:Yes
 Test mode: No /  Eject after writing: Yes /  Direct decoding: Yes /  Write CD-Text: No
 Use playback settings: No /  Normalization: None

[Yaobing]

Strange...  JRiver Video Codec isn't an option.  I also note that when recording using the default JRiver Codec, AVICodec tells me the video is "Video : 1 Mb, 2420 Kbps, 31.750 fps, res. 320*240 (4:3),  DX50 = OpenDivx V5, supported".  Yet, I don't see OpenDivx V5 as an installed codec with in Device Manager.

You are having the same problem that a few other users have experienced. For some reason the JRiver video encoder and decoder are not properly registered during installation. When the program can not find JRiver Video codec, it tries to find a few other codecs, including Divx.

To fix it, run the following commands:

regsvr32 C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center\TV\MJVideoEncoder.ax

and

regsvr32 C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center\TV\MJVideoDecoder.ax

Yet, I don't see OpenDivx V5 as an installed codec with in Device Manager.

The name appearing in Device Manager may be different from the name my program retrieves. At least you do have DivX on your machine, but may be just named differently. Also some DirectShow codec filters do not appear in Device Manager. On my machine, DivX shows up under "Video Codecs" in Device Manager as "DivX 5.0 Codec", but it is known as "DivX 5.0.2 Codec" in MC - not a big difference here, but at least some.

[sraymond]

Yaobing,

As I've grown accustomed to, your advice is always exceptionally timely and effective.  Thanks for keeping with tradition!

Everything works fine now.

Is the JRiver Codec better than DivX or XVID?  I'm guessing it's MPEG4 based...

Scott-

[JimH]

It's not based on anything else.  We wrote it from scratch.

[sraymond]

It's not based on anything else.  We wrote it from scratch.

Cool...  do you thinks its better or worse than MPEG4?  Is it tailored for captured video?

Scott-

[JimH]

I´m not sure about quality.  I think they are close.

We did it because we could find anything fast enough and affordable to license.