On Tue, Oct 12, 2021 at 01:24:43AM +0200, Terje J. Hanssen via Cin wrote: > > Den 11.10.2021 22:41, skrev Marco Ciampa via Cin: > > Hello people, > > first time I'm writing here and not native English speaker. > > So forgive me if I'm not that good at expressing myself. > > > > That said I want to share the content of an article I read somewhere that > > (unfortunately) I do not remember anymore but I remember the guts of if > > and think it could be much useful for someone. > > > > The writer tested a lot of (not so) inexpensive PAL/NTSC USB and PCI > > converters and a few of expensive ones too. Suddenly he remembered that > > its Digital TV with PAL/NTSC input was _much_ better at displaying video > > that the video grabbers. To make a long story short he discovered that > > that was because of an internal analog to digital _and_ the FHD to HD > > digital downconverter that did the trick. The principle here is "always > > sample much more that what you want to obtain". > > > > The result is this: forget the explensive and inexpensive grabbers and > > buy: > > > > - one cheap HDMI to USB3 grabber (you can find models compatible with > > linux for ~10-20 euros / dollars) > > > > - one cheap PAL/NTSC (SCART) to HDMI converter (you can find models for > > ~10 euros/dollars) > > > > and that's all. It will also come handy for aquisition of video from > > reflex/mirrorless cameras and so on... > > > > Hope someone find this handy... > > > > -- > > > > Saluton, > > Marco Ciampa > > This looks like a captivating, simple solution, if and when everything work. > What I think I've read previous, is that playback of interlaced video looks > better on Televisions than on PC displays. > > 1. My TV has built-in ports for analog video playback (S-Video and > RCA/Phono), beside additional SCART and HDMI ports
Yes but unfortunately these are _inputs_ and cannot be used for conversion from analog video to digital video. The converter is _inside_ the TV and unfortunately, you cannot use it. But the thing is that chip is very inexpensive and you can find it in SCART to HDMI converters. > 2. If I understand your description right, the HDMI to USB3 grabber should > be used to record from a TV HDMI port to a Linux PC? No. The HDMI to USB3 must be feeded by a cheap (but effective) analog to digital converter. The thing is: the analog to digital converters _and_ the digital grabbers inside cheap pal/ntsc to usb2 are a crap. If you want a really good quality conversion you have to open wide your wallet and buy a really expensive grabber just to be sure that it has inside a good (but not so expensive in itself) analog to digital converter. ... or use a cheap external one like this (just an example): https://www.amazon.com/ZHIYUEN-Adapter-Universal-Converter-Consumption/dp/B07WTV8FGF and to capture use one of these: https://www.amazon.com/IPXOZO-Video-Capture-Card-USB/dp/B08YRWB7VD these are just examples, (I do not work for Amazon! ;-) I picked them randomly and they _SHOULD_ work, but I cannot be 100% sure, never tried those in particular... it is just to explain the principle of this method... that you should give it a go... it's not such a great expense. Please note that if you want a pass through usb video grabber (useful for example to grab games) you have to spend a bit (5xtimes!) more for a device with input _and_ real time output. > While my HDV camera supports HDMI video out, I wonder if TV HDMI ports do > that as I have really never tested it. The camera does output, the TV only INPUT. No luck. > (At least my HD PVRK could not record HDTV via the HDMI cable, only a > limited format from the antenna cable. Analog VCR could record SD video via > SCART or S-video adapter) Yes of course. > 3. If HDMI video out works, what type of digital signal is expected (format > uncompressed and chroma level?)? HDMI output works only through adapters, see above.. > And if works, it has to be recorded as compressed (lossless) on the Linux > PC? Among other 4:3 aspect ratio from analog SD video has to be taken care > of. One usually grabs with maximum quality one can afford and only _after_ grabbing thinks about compression. That is the way to preserve much of the original quality. -- Saluton, Marco Ciampa -- Cin mailing list [email protected] https://lists.cinelerra-gg.org/mailman/listinfo/cin
