DVB-S Pure Digital Capture [Archive]

Frenchy

10-25-2008, 01:01 AM

Since I'm disappointed with some of the S-video capture quality.
Sometime next year I want to get a DVB-S card,
I know with my setup i'd need to split the Satellite cable and buy an Irdeto CAM to accept my Smartcard.

Anyone else got anymore info on DVB-S capture, as I only have basic knowledge of it.

BHead

10-25-2008, 07:49 AM

I know a guy that runs a TV station called TRN TV in Britain, and he has worked with DVB-S for who knows how long. I suggest you send him a message on MSN @ msn@iandoh.co.uk. His name is Ian Doherty. That's my 2 cents.

Frenchy

10-27-2008, 03:15 AM

Yeah hmm not as sure as I was the other day since I got an Xvid encoding from a huffy yuv capture and it still isn't anything special.

Maybe Channel [v]'s bitrate is too low :(

BHead

10-27-2008, 02:36 PM

Yeah hmm not as sure as I was the other day since I got an Xvid encoding from a huffy yuv capture and it still isn't anything special.

Maybe Channel [v]'s bitrate is too low :(

Mostly the case, my Analog TV rips in NTSC don't look all that great either in 640x480 XviD.

crash

10-27-2008, 05:17 PM

Mostly the case, my Analog TV rips in NTSC don't look all that great either in 640x480 XviD.

Well of course, as people like us both who rip using composite video definitely gets shitty picture. :yahoo:

BHead

10-27-2008, 07:55 PM

Well of course, as people like us both who rip using composite video definitely gets shitty picture. :yahoo:

My brother and I are thinking about putting our "Holiday" money (as to not offend any non-Christians.) together and buying a big HDTV to put in our basement. Maybe if we are lucky it will force my parents to upgrade to Digital Cable and then I will get HD. :)

crash

10-27-2008, 11:48 PM

My brother and I are thinking about putting our "Holiday" money (as to not offend any non-Christians.) together and buying a big HDTV to put in our basement. Maybe if we are lucky it will force my parents to upgrade to Digital Cable and then I will get HD. :)

Sweet. I have a 37 incher sitting in my living room, looks damn good with HD channels. But the con is there isn't many HD chans here yet. I'm sure u guys have more, like one called Palladia, a HD music chan which I think would be damn good for XviDs. :D

BHead

10-28-2008, 03:23 PM

Sweet. I have a 37 incher sitting in my living room, looks damn good with HD channels. But the con is there isn't many HD chans here yet. I'm sure u guys have more, like one called Palladia, a HD music chan which I think would be damn good for XviDs. :D

It used to be called MHD over here in the states, Music High Definition, it played some pretty great live acts until it was call Palladia. I don't see it carried yet by any of our providers because MTV HD, VH1 HD, and CMT HD replaced it which are all the stations that worked on MHD.

crash

10-28-2008, 05:14 PM

It used to be called MHD over here in the states, Music High Definition, it played some pretty great live acts until it was call Palladia. I don't see it carried yet by any of our providers because MTV HD, VH1 HD, and CMT HD replaced it which are all the stations that worked on MHD.

Oh. Well anyways, you may wanna start capping again if u get any of those channels. Would b nice to have more XviDs around. :D

BHead

11-01-2008, 06:51 AM

Oh. Well anyways, you may wanna start capping again if u get any of those channels. Would b nice to have more XviDs around. :D

Well the best Desktop computer I have only has PCI slots, not PCI-E. So the capping card I would have to get for it would be pretty low compared to what everyone else uses here on VP. Plus I would have to get a whole other cable box to put in the room next to it which is like another $10 a month.

crash

11-01-2008, 08:44 AM

Well the best Desktop computer I have only has PCI slots, not PCI-E. So the capping card I would have to get for it would be pretty low compared to what everyone else uses here on VP. Plus I would have to get a whole other cable box to put in the room next to it which is like another $10 a month.

I see. Well just so u know, there are good USB capture 'sticks' around for yr laptop. :D Yeah sometimes the box may be far from the pc, which makes it even harder.

BHead

11-01-2008, 10:34 AM

I see. Well just so u know, there are good USB capture 'sticks' around for yr laptop. :D Yeah sometimes the box may be far from the pc, which makes it even harder.

I am not aware of any HDMI or Component USB video input sticks. Hopefully with the release of USB3 sometime next year, they will be able to start making them.

EDIT: Just found this:

http://blackmagic-design.com/products/videorecorder/

Looks promising! Maybe I should get it!

EDIT 2: Just realized it's only meant for SD video... :(

crash

11-01-2008, 11:16 AM

Looks promising! Maybe I should get it!

EDIT 2: Just realized it's only meant for SD video... :(

:lmao: Cheer up. Im sure you can find another one soon. :D

BHead

11-01-2008, 12:47 PM

:lmao: Cheer up. Im sure you can find another one soon. :D

Maybe I should get it and see how a 1080i HD source looks on it. It would probably look pretty good on it, if resized to SD.

crash

11-01-2008, 05:40 PM

Maybe I should get it and see how a 1080i HD source looks on it. It would probably look pretty good on it, if resized to SD.

Nah I think I'd rather get a proper HD capture stick, as HD image won't look good when capturing with SD settings.

BHead

11-02-2008, 06:11 AM

Nah I think I'd rather get a proper HD capture stick, as HD image won't look good when capturing with SD settings.

If you record it at 1.5MB/sec like their website displays, that's about like what 12mbps? That would be some pretty high quality SD footage.

crash

11-02-2008, 07:58 AM

If you record it at 1.5MB/sec like their website displays, that's about like what 12mbps? That would be some pretty high quality SD footage.

Haha it could well be a typing error, they put MByte instead of Mbit. Yeah if its really 12mbps you could do damn good XviDs. Do consider getting it. :D

BHead

11-02-2008, 03:13 PM

Haha it could well be a typing error, they put MByte instead of Mbit. Yeah if its really 12mbps you could do damn good XviDs. Do consider getting it. :D

I'll look into it if I have the money. It will be another 2 months though if I do get it. I gotta get Digital Cable with HD first. :lick:

crash

11-02-2008, 06:30 PM

I'll look into it if I have the money. It will be another 2 months though if I do get it. I gotta get Digital Cable with HD first. :lick:

In the meanwhile, you might wanna look around for better deals, like products from its competitor. That's what i'll do when buying an electronical product. Don't just stick to one.

BHead

11-02-2008, 08:51 PM

In the meanwhile, you might wanna look around for better deals, like products from its competitor. That's what i'll do when buying an electronical product. Don't just stick to one.

Well there's a problem there. This is USB stick is one-of-a-kind as of right now so there aren't really any competitors. :p

crash

11-03-2008, 02:05 AM

Well there's a problem there. This is USB stick is one-of-a-kind as of right now so there aren't really any competitors. :p

Actually there are other ones. These are some links:

http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_hdpvr.html
http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSite/us/Products/Consumer+Products/PCTV+Tuners/PCTV+Flash_TV+Stick/PCTV+HD+Ultimate+Stick.htm

BHead

11-03-2008, 03:15 PM

Actually there are other ones. These are some links:

http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_hdpvr.html
http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSite/us/Products/Consumer+Products/PCTV+Tuners/PCTV+Flash_TV+Stick/PCTV+HD+Ultimate+Stick.htm

I actually bought the Pinnacle one a year ago from today ironically. Sadly though it's HD capabilities are only OTA (Over The Air) and since there aren't many music shows on those... I just decided to return it, considering I already have a Hauppauge HDTV stick that does the same exact thing, just better.

The Hauppauge HD PVR box looks promising, although unless you somehow connect it to your computer with the odd looking USB port, I don't see how you can manage to get the recordings to your computer in the source file it recorded it in. Plus it's $245. :eek:

crash

11-03-2008, 04:22 PM

I actually bought the Pinnacle one a year ago from today ironically. Sadly though it's HD capabilities are only OTA (Over The Air) and since there aren't many music shows on those... I just decided to return it, considering I already have a Hauppauge HDTV stick that does the same exact thing, just better.

The Hauppauge HD PVR box looks promising, although unless you somehow connect it to your computer with the odd looking USB port, I don't see how you can manage to get the recordings to your computer in the source file it recorded it in. Plus it's $245. :eek:

Of course it has a USB port. Which storage device in today's times don't have a USB port? About the price, yeah its kinda high. Ah well I guess you just save up for that BlackMagic stick. :p

BHead

11-03-2008, 07:39 PM

Of course it has a USB port. Which storage device in today's times don't have a USB port? About the price, yeah its kinda high. Ah well I guess you just save up for that BlackMagic stick. :p

Well the USB port is funky shaped, looks like one of those type that you would connect to a router for a storage link.

The Hauppauge one looks nice because it can record in 1080i H.264 format, which would be nice. The BlackMagic stick looks a little on the SD side and I may want to avoid that.

crash

11-04-2008, 01:40 AM

Well the USB port is funky shaped, looks like one of those type that you would connect to a router for a storage link.

The Hauppauge one looks nice because it can record in 1080i H.264 format, which would be nice. The BlackMagic stick looks a little on the SD side and I may want to avoid that.

:lmao: Yeah it's just a type of USB connector (type B). The other side of the USB cable will be the standard USB connector. Read more here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB#Types_of_USB_connector).

And yeah I think the PVR will be a better choice. Well, gotta save up for it then. :D

BHead

11-04-2008, 02:00 PM

:lmao: Yeah it's just a type of USB connector (type B). The other side of the USB cable will be the standard USB connector. Read more here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB#Types_of_USB_connector).

And yeah I think the PVR will be a better choice. Well, gotta save up for it then. :D

Well I sure feel stupid now.

We shall see crash, I will have to see how much money I have after I try to get the HDTV that I want. If this PVR box looks and works good, who knows maybe I can resurrect the Videopimp HD project that I started a few months ago.'

It's gonna be at least 2 or 3 months before I could even get the box though.

crash

11-04-2008, 04:26 PM

Well I sure feel stupid now.

We shall see crash, I will have to see how much money I have after I try to get the HDTV that I want. If this PVR box looks and works good, who knows maybe I can resurrect the Videopimp HD project that I started a few months ago.'

It's gonna be at least 2 or 3 months before I could even get the box though.

Yeah well its good to finally have American HD videos coming out, especially live stuff, which doesn't air anywhere else.

BHead

11-04-2008, 07:17 PM

Yeah well its good to finally have American HD videos coming out, especially live stuff, which doesn't air anywhere else.

I don't know what HD channels I can get with my local HD service though, I hope they have some good ones coming soon. Also, I can record some 720p videos and either keep them in their H.264 format or encode them to a Matroska .mkv container.

crash

11-04-2008, 09:57 PM

I don't know what HD channels I can get with my local HD service though, I hope they have some good ones coming soon. Also, I can record some 720p videos and either keep them in their H.264 format or encode them to a Matroska .mkv container.

The popular format is usually H.264 vids being encoded to .mkv with AAC audio. I think it has higher quality than XviD like that for the same filesize.

BHead

11-05-2008, 02:27 PM

The popular format is usually H.264 vids being encoded to .mkv with AAC audio. I think it has higher quality than XviD like that for the same filesize.

Matroska compresses at a higher quality then XviD does, correct, and the filesize is just about the same, if not tiny bit smaller. Technically it's called "muxing" together instead of encoding I think. Don't know for sure though.

Frenchy

01-29-2009, 01:20 AM

tbullet

01-29-2009, 12:54 PM

Ok to take this back onto the subject,
I'm looking for a DVB-S card again,
Since I know I can set it up now.
I have Austar which has a CAM for capture cards (Irdeto I/II CAM)
Foxtel isn't compatible with any CAM's which I find funny.

Anyway It would make all my rips from Channel V etc much much better.

I'm looking for a cheap card with a CI module and is cheap too :D
Since the CAM cost's another $100,
and another $30-50 for cabling.

before i bought my card (pinnacle Sat Pro PCI), I had bought a skystar HD, with the aim of buying CI-Slot to see encrypted channels (MTV package).
I tried the card in my pc but I did not like the recording formats. that's the reason i switch to the pinnacle, because it has better recording formats (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DVB, DivX).

you don't have much choice, because many are not compatible with the CI-Slot. i only know Skystar HD or AZUREWAVE (which are the same board but with different brand). the price is around $100.

in my opinion I think you do well in exchange for your Austar because you will notice differences when you record from tv. I also had a system similar to yours but six months ago decided to invest on a card with DVB-S and was the best I have. :D

In conclusion, you should take into account whether you want a card that makes you enconding while you recording or a card you write in a different format, but there must be software that converts this format.
I hope I have helped and if you have any questions I try to explain the best I can.:D

Serch

01-29-2009, 04:14 PM

Another option is to get phoenix programmer/card reader instead of ci-slot+cam module, you just have to check if there is a working plugin for the encryption system your provider is using so that it could read keys of the card and decode the signal.

tbullet, recording formats are independent in each software (it doesn't matter what card you're using, to my opinion skystar hd is better then any pinnacle card) it might have been that it did save your files in .ts beacuse that's the only format it can capture of dvb-s2 hd material.
Skystar HD and TT S2-3200 are clones of each other, however Skystar HD 2 (not skystar 2) is different card then the other two. You will find most programs working with Skystar HD/Skystar HD2/TT S2-3200 im not sure about others as they aren't that popular.

tbullet

01-29-2009, 07:38 PM

thanks Serch. :D
I could not remember what skystar HD 2 recording format were, but as you mention, saves files in. ts.
I also share your view that the skystar is better than the pinnacle, I have recently thought to come back to buy the skystar hd 2 + CI-Slot.
but I have a doubt: with the recorded file. ts, can i transform into DivX or VCD or SVCD, without losing quality?

off topic: Since 2007 i record rock am ring concerts and I have seen your recordings and, if you don't mind, I would be very grateful to know how you usually record (which card you have and which formart you record).:p