Dr Mordrid - RT2000 question

[Jkun]

Having reasearched the current alternatives for MPEG2 hw encoding, I had to come to the conclusion the all **** : Dazzle DVCII, WinTV PVR, Sigma's DVR etc.

I know the RT2000 doesn't capture directly to IBP VBR MPEG2, but only to I-frame or DV.

Does it however also work with YUV & HuffYUV?

Can you then compress that YUV file to VBR MPEG2, and is this then hardware accelerated or purely a software codec?

Thx,
J-kun

[Dr Mordrid]

Sez who it can't capture IBP?

With the 3.0 drivers (now in public beta and well along in development) you can capture both MPEG-2 I-frame and IBP. Both are captured in an *.avi wrapper, but this can be removed quickly (very quickly) using the RT2K's media converter. Once an IBP is unwrapped you can use 'em as you please in other software. You can capture IBP at up to 8 mbits/s and can set the IBP GOPs as well.

As far as using HuffYUV and other such stuff they are pretty much unncessary as MPEG-2 I-frame is high enough in quality for bluescreening and such. DV is also upsampled to 4:4:4:4 RGBA making it much better for compositing purposes.

Dr. Mordrid

[Jkun]

Ooh, now this sounds interesting :-)

The reason I was interested in HuffYUV is that for re-encoding to MPEG2, I-frame isn't good enough (re-encoding enhances artefacts)

Please tell me much more about the new 3.0 drivers! The IBP grab, is it VBR?

thx!
J-kun

[Dr Mordrid]

Last first....

The IBP capture has two settings: DVD compliant and custom

DVD compliant

IBP structure of 15/3

CBR or VBR using 2 - 8 mbits/s

Custom

IBP structure 1-15/1 or 3

CBR or VBR using 2-15 mbits/s

In practical terms it's best, however, to capture MPEG-2 I-Frame with the RT-2000 then export as MPEG-2 IBP. MPEG-2 I-frame captures can be performed at up to 25 mbits/s. This assures that any edits and added effects are done with the highest quality. The IBP export options are the same as the above.

Now for the new features. ABCDV.com has a rundown on most of them;

http://www.abcdv.com/editing/matrox/...ouncement.html

Now take this into account:

New purchasers get the full version of Premiere 6.0 in the bundle. Since the going price for an RT-2000 is ~950USD and Premiere 6.0 retails for $500-600 street....you get the idea.

Drooling yet?

Dr. Mordrid



[This message has been edited by Dr Mordrid (edited 01 March 2001).]

[KuroNeko]

Drooling? Not really... I live in Europe and the price of the RT2000 has gone up a nice $150 in the past months, it now stands at over $1400.

US dealers aren't allowed to export the RT2000 either (but I believe the US version is NTSC only anyway)

Neko

[KuroNeko]

BTW, Dr Mordrid, do you have a high speed internet connection?

I was wondering if - in case you do - you'd be willing to make a demo file of the transcoding from DV to MPEG2 DVD compliant.

At this site you can find the DV file : Test.avi at http://www.tecoltd.com/enctest/enctest.htm

They did a lot of encoder tests and I am really curious how the new drivers & RT2000 stack up against the competition...

Please note that this demo file is large! 80 MB and it is in PAL.

If I can return the favour in any way, please let me know.

Neko

[Dr Mordrid]

I do and I'll check it out, but the file listed is in PAL while I'm using NTSC. I'll see what I can do. Also that site is about 20 times slower than my connection so it'll take a while to D/L it.

Dr. Mordrid



[This message has been edited by Dr Mordrid (edited 01 March 2001).]

[Dr Mordrid]

Can't use that test file dude. I'm guessing it requires the Canopus codec. That can't be installed on the RT-2000 without disabling its own codecs. I'll try converting it and report back later.

Dr. Mordrid


[This message has been edited by Dr Mordrid (edited 01 March 2001).]

[KuroNeko]

Thanks much already!!

Did you already DL it or did you read about the Canopus problem?

I could transcode it to YUV and burn it on a CD and send it to you if you like?

Neko

[Dr Mordrid]

That's OK. I got the Canopus reader codec and installed it without any negative effect to the RT2000 codecs.

My next step will be to export the IBP file at full quality in the 3.0 drivers from Windows2000.

I already have the bitrate viewer.

Dr. Mordrid



[This message has been edited by Dr Mordrid (edited 02 March 2001).]

[Jkun]

Dr Mordrid,

thanks for all the info. The website at www.matrox.com isn't very clear on the capabilities.

I checked into the rt2000 prices, and they are indeed hideous. Matrox is adding 50% to the prices for European customers :-(

At that price level they're getting clobbered by the DV500, and even the new Canopus cards.

Is the PAL/NTSC card also available in the US, where could I find it? I know people there who could buy it for me.

J-kun

[KuroNeko]

Doc,

any news, about your RT2000 being able to handle that PAL file? If it's no go, don't worry, I'm already very pleased to have the complete info on the RT2000; I'll ask around for owner of PAL RT2000

[edit] rats, keep forgetting asking about this: Dr Mordrid, can I use HuffYUV with the Rt2000, if forever which reason I'd like to do this? Or is it MPEG2/DV only?

Neko

[This message has been edited by KuroNeko (edited 03 March 2001).]

[Jkun]

bump ^^

[Dr Mordrid]

I did run the analyzer on it.

At no point did the Q overrun the data rate for either CBR or VBR, or even come close to it.

I'm mailing you my graphs for 8mbps IBP clips.

Dr. Mordrid

[Jkun]

Dr Mordrid,

what settings can you influence with realtime direct MPEG2 IBP and with transcoding a file to IBP?

I'm especially interested if you can set min/max/average bitrates.

How long does a file transcode take? Is it RT or slower?

J-kun