MPEG-4/H.264 Encoding

[PCnut]

I am looking for a hardware based encoder for encoding inputs to MPEG-4/H.264. Would like to be able to capture HDTV, cable, and air signal TV and use this card to encode to MPEG-4/H.264 and save to hard drive of course. I have looked and can not find anything.

 

[flabbergasted]

I use software to compress video to h264 format. Using a core 2 duo E6300 overclocked to 3.15GHz it still takes me about 40 minutes per GB of video to convert. Using something like MainConcept, the conversion process uses both cores at about 90% utilization. I suspect that h264 is still evolving which would give any chip maker pause before manufacturing an h264 dedicated chip. Right this moment I'm converting some video to h264 format, I was also watching a movie in h264 at the same time. Both cores of the CPU were hitting 100% utilization. I guess unless we get a dedicated h264 capture card soon, I'll be in the market for a quad core CPU.

 

[Jodym2]

I have a ATI HD-Wonder It's able to do the recording of Over the air HD.

 

[PCnut]

But dont this card record in MPEG-2... IF it dose record in MPEG-4 can you use the card to encode MPEG-2 to MPEG-4??

 

[twolfe18]

i have an ati hdtv wonder as well, and it can record in BOTH mpeg2 and mpeg4, but the mpeg4 option sucks. it can only do mpeg4 ASP codecs, meaning you are pretty much limited to xvid. now because you are recording on the fly, it only does a 1 pass encode, and it just looks really crappy and is not very good at compressing. i mean, you can use it for just short term storage, but unless you are really pressed for hd space, you should just record in mpeg2 (which is like its native raw format).

if you want to do h264 encoding, you cant do that with a hardware chip, you have to do it by software after the fact. right now, h264 encoding is pretty complicated if you want to do it right, but the results are great.

depending on what you want to do, i would just stick with mpeg2. on the fly mpeg4 is not ready yet, and even when it will be, i suspect that it will be lower quality than software solutions.

 

[twolfe18]

i just noticed from your post that i think you wanted to know if the card can do hardware conversion after the fact from mpeg2 to mpeg4. the answer is yes, but not h264 mpeg4.

if you want to learn about h264 encoding, use MeGUI and check out doom9.org. there is much to learn!!