Help with TV capture (mplayer/brooktree/audigy)

[Steve O'Hara-Smith]

On Sat, 23 Apr 2005 03:38:26 -0300
Mario Sergio Fujikawa Ferreira <lioux at FreeBSD.org> wrote:

> 	I'just tried using VCR's RCA<->RCA cable I had lying around.
> They are good grade custom made. Image improvement was not noticeable :(

	OK scratch that idea.

> > 	Well I was hoping you could use an input that didn't require sync
> > separation. Other than that the tweaks Jacob Meuser suggested are well
> > worth trying.
> 
> 	Well, if you think it is worth it. I'll order tomorrow
> custom made 3 ways shielded cabling with "gold" platet male RCA
> connectors. 1 for video and 2 for stereo audio (L/R).

	I wouldn't bother I've never noticed any improvement with cables
like that - except to the vendors bank balance :)

> 	I am still having choking effetcs and, despite, the improvement that I can now record with audigy2;
> I have no idea how to tell mplayer to use the proper device :)
> 
> 	I tried using adevice but it complained hardly

	For watching TV I usually tell mplayer not to do the audio
(-noaudio IIRC - I'm not at my box) and just set the mixer controls so
that I can hear it. For recording TV I use ffmpeg.

	As for the issue of signals - last I checked mplayer had
similar grab code to ffmpeg to catch overdue signals. Try a recording
with ffmpeg - if it's much better then something bad has happened to
the mplayer grab code. If you get a lot of SLEPT messages on stderr
then that will be a sure sign of poor sync detection.
 
> 	I have a sample video using the following options. Let me
> know what you think. In case you wonder about copyright issues.

	I'll watch it tonight - I'm at work now. The video bitrate
seems very low.

> It's just part of the "you should buy SKY cable, their informercial
> channel" and it's a 10 secs sample...  shouldn't be an issue. If

	I'd be very surprised if that were an issue, but IANAL.