Video Editing

kevinatkins · 03-18-2005, 09:19 AM

hi,

regarding the video quality, from the specs for your DVC-80, horizontal resolution looks to be about what you'd expect of VHS, so it won't be stunning, but should allow you to capture reasonable quality. that's certainly been my experience of the USB grabbers I've used, with both windows and linux. i've also found that captures tend to look worse on the computer monitor than they do when played back on a TV...

i have to admit that for my capture work, i now use a cheap PCI TV card, because with that I can capture at full DVD resolution and it does make a difference (even with low-res analogue video input).

Incidentally, your system specs are pretty much identical to mine - I've got a Pavilion 1.1GHz machine with 256MB RAM, and it works just about OK capturing full res; capturing at lower res is well within its capability, so you should be fine.. editing and transcoding the video takes forever though!

CrashedAgain · 03-18-2005, 09:46 AM

driver seems to have installed OK, now how do I capture from the VCR? Based on the readme I tried:

Code:

crashedagain@desktop:~$ xawtv -c /dev/video0
This is xawtv-3.94, running on Linux/i686 (2.6.8.1-kanotix-10)
v4l: timeout (got SIGALRM), hardware/driver problems?
ioctl: VIDIOCSYNC(int=0): Interrupted system call
ioctl: VIDIOCMCAPTURE(frame=0;height=48;width=64;format=15): Invalid argument
ioctl: VIDIOCMCAPTURE(frame=0;height=48;width=64;format=9): Invalid argument
ioctl: VIDIOCMCAPTURE(frame=0;height=48;width=64;format=4): Device or resourcebusy
ioctl: VIDIOCMCAPTURE(frame=0;height=48;width=64;format=5): Device or resourcebusy
ioctl: VIDIOCMCAPTURE(frame=0;height=48;width=64;format=3): Device or resourcebusy
ioctl: VIDIOCMCAPTURE(frame=0;height=48;width=64;format=1): Device or resourcebusy
ioctl: VIDIOCMCAPTURE(frame=0;height=48;width=64;format=13): Invalid argument
no way to get: 384x288 16 bit TrueColor (LE)
crashedagain@desktop:~$

kevinatkins · 03-18-2005, 02:18 PM

hi,

so driver built OK..

v4l setup may need fettling, and this is where i have to confess i'm not too confident. but as a starter, you might want to check -

- the x server v4l extension is loaded (check your xf86config / xorg.conf file to see that v4l is loaded);
- xv extension is operational (in a terminal, run 'xvinfo' - you should get a bunch of parameters returned if all is well).

regarding xv - this allows for resizing of the video picture using hardware acceleration on your graphics card. as far as i know, the feature is only properly supported on the 0.9.8 version of usbvision, so if you're running an earlier version (as i am), you'll end up with a small video window and xv won't work....

as for capturing / recording... you could try the following -

kino - really it's a dv editing application, but it is possible to capture from a v4l device. i've found it a bit flaky in v4l mode though..
cinelerra - heavyweight app, a resource hog. can be a bit unstable, too. but it's packed with features and can capture from v4l.
linux video studio - no longer actively maintained, but quite good.
zapping - gnome tv viewing application. later versions have recording capability, which is reasonable. but i've found it a bit unstable.
gv4l - basically a neat gui frontend for v4l recording capabilities of transcode. works quite well.

these are just some suggestions. as you might have gathered, video grabbing / editing is a bit hit and miss under linux.. i've persevered with it, basically because i no longer have windows on my machine. but, truthfully, windows is a far better platform at the moment... nevertheless, things are improving on the linux front, and it's still fun to play with what's out there now. and it won't cost a penny...

CrashedAgain · 03-18-2005, 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by kevinatkins
[B you might want to check -

- the x server v4l extension is loaded (check your xf86config / xorg.conf file to see that v4l is loaded);

I can't find any reference to v4l in any of the XF86 config files, what am I looking for? My kanotix setup should be similar to your ubuntu, both are knoppix spinoffs.

Quote:

- xv extension is operational (in a terminal, run 'xvinfo' - you should get a bunch of parameters returned if all is well).

Code:

crashedagain@desktop:~$ xvinfo
X-Video Extension version 2.2
screen #0
  Adaptor #0: "I810 Video Overlay"
    number of ports: 1
    port base: 69
    operations supported: PutImage
    supported visuals:
      depth 16, visualID 0x23
      depth 16, visualID 0x24
      depth 16, visualID 0x25
      depth 16, visualID 0x26
      depth 16, visualID 0x27
      depth 16, visualID 0x28
      depth 16, visualID 0x29
      depth 16, visualID 0x2a
    number of attributes: 3
      "XV_COLORKEY" (range 0 to 16777215)
              client settable attribute
              client gettable attribute (current value is 2110)
      "XV_BRIGHTNESS" (range -128 to 127)
              client settable attribute
              client gettable attribute (current value is 0)
      "XV_CONTRAST" (range 0 to 255)
              client settable attribute
              client gettable attribute (current value is 64)
    maximum XvImage size: 1440 x 1080
    Number of image formats: 4
      id: 0x32595559 (YUY2)
        guid: 59555932-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71
        bits per pixel: 16
        number of planes: 1
        type: YUV (packed)
      id: 0x32315659 (YV12)
        guid: 59563132-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71
        bits per pixel: 12
        number of planes: 3
        type: YUV (planar)
      id: 0x30323449 (I420)
        guid: 49343230-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71
        bits per pixel: 12
        number of planes: 3
        type: YUV (planar)
      id: 0x59565955 (UYVY)
        guid: 55595659-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71
        bits per pixel: 16
        number of planes: 1
        type: YUV (packed)
crashedagain@desktop:~$

I tried kino...can't find where there are any choices of input . Cinelerra is not working yet. Just got linux video studio; it errors out something about not liking the sound driver. I can't get xawtv to work either, I think it won't initialize because it cannot get to the sound driver because arts is hogging the sound driver. gv4l also does not work, because it seems to use xawtv as a monitor.

xawtv does seem to recognize that there is a driver there though:

Code:

crashedagain@desktop:~$ xawtv -hwscan
This is xawtv-3.94, running on Linux/i686 (2.6.8.1-kanotix-10)
looking for available devices
port 69-69
    type : Xvideo, image scaler
    name : I810 Video Overlay

/dev/video0: OK                         ( -device /dev/video0 )
    type : v4l
    name : USBVision USB Video
    flags: overlay capture

crashedagain@desktop:~$

I think I'll try from a console login. with no KDE, won't get interference from arts.

tvphil · 03-18-2005, 08:59 PM

Reply to Crashed Again,

I understand, now that you have described your system.

Reply to Oldstinkyfish,

Let me know if the idea I mentioned, getting a Hauppauge PCI video card to get around the lack of drivers for the Dazzle usb capture is interesting to you. If you have the spare PCI slot that Crashed Again doesn't and you don't mind spending $80, it should help you achieve your goal fo editing and burning to DVD.Also, go back to my last posting and check the links about Kino, if you're interested.

CrashedAgain · 03-18-2005, 10:48 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by CrashedAgain
[B]I can't find any reference to v4l in any of the XF86 config files, what am I looking for? My kanotix setup should be similar to your ubuntu, both are knoppix spinoffs.

Fixed this. I now have (XF86Config-4)

Code:

Section "Module"
        Load  "ddc"  # ddc probing of monitor
 Load  "GLcore"
 Load  "dbe"
 Load  "dri"
 Load  "extmod"
 Load  "glx"
        Load  "bitmap" # bitmap-fonts
 Load  "speedo"
 Load  "type1"
 Load  "freetype"
 Load  "record"
 Load  "v4l"
# TouchPad not detected
EndSection

but still no input from the Dazzle.

CrashedAgain · 03-24-2005, 08:57 PM

I've given up on the Dazzle & installed a Leadtek TV2000 Expert card which seems to work OK the modules cx88xx, cx8800, tda 9887 modules.
xawtv seems to indicate some problem with v4l though and while xawtv plays the video with sound OK, I cannot record sound. Recording "Microsoft avi (RIFF) format" (which I think should result in a single .avi file with the sound embedded in the .avi) results in a silent video.
Attempting to record separate .avi & .wav files results in an .avi that won't play & a silent .wav file.
Here is the console from recording as a single .avi file:

Code:

crashedagain@desktop:~$ xawtv -c /dev/video0
This is xawtv-3.94, running on Linux/i686 (2.6.8.1-kanotix-10)
/dev/video0 [v4l2]: no overlay support
v4l-conf had some trouble, trying to continue anyway
v4l2: waiting for a free buffer
rate: queueing frame twice (2)
rate: queueing frame twice (2)
rate: queueing frame twice (2)
rate: queueing frame twice (3)
ioctl: VIDIOC_DQBUF(index=0;type=VIDEO_CAPTURE;bytesused=0;flags=0x0 [];field=ANY;;timecode.type=0;timecode.flags=0;timecode.frames=0;timecode.seconds=0;timecode.minutes=0;timecode.hours=0;timecode.userbits="";sequence=0;memory=unknown): Interrupted system call
crashedagain@desktop:~$

So, I guess my specific questions are
1) What's with 'v4l-conf had some trouble'? What trouble & how to fix it? I have run v4l-conf several times, there doesn't seem to be any 'options'to try.
2) Why no overlay support? and what difference will this make?
3) Why won't xawtv record sound? Where is the config file for xawtv?
4) What other recording apps could I try?