Interesting, Leadtek is going to offer a PCI-E card able to capture HDMI video. It also features hardware mpeg2 and h264 compression.

prototype pic

Quote from hyntty :

Looks interesting. So you have the VH screen cap driver and VLC. And that's it?

Yes, only these two tools are enough. Or if you're familiar with WME (Windows Media Encoder) you can use this instead of VLC, as it's less prone to errors.

Quote from hyntty :

I'm tempted to try: How do you create teh bloody stream in the first place and I presume this doesn't compress the video into a streamable format (=windows media, meaning streamable via internet)?

VLC comes with an option to not only view Video coming from VHS (or other media source), but also to recompress and publish as network stream. That's very similar to WME.

I've somehow managed to initiate and record stream using VHS and VLC 0.8.6h on a single PC (VHS panel must be invoked manually using VHS Config proggy). It basically works but require a lot of patience while configuring SW and in global it is oversensitive to factors like window size, capture & compression settings and so on. Things can easily go wrong, therefore probably a no go for serious broadcast.

Out of curiosity here's a short sample capture (32MB). It's a midres h264@1mbit and screwed up audio track. File must be played via VLC and it takes a few sec till picture kicks in :o

Quote from haelje :

this device driver worked very well for me, i had the forst working streams with that and windows media encoder. unfortunally VLC is not working with it, perhaps because i'm using vista64.

Yep there seem to be a bug in VLC which prevents you from opening VHS configuration panel. It's unrelated to OS. Unstable nightly builds of VLC pre-0.9 are improved in this regard, but the downside is they're ehm... unstable. I couldn't get anything but crashes from VLC+VHS. What a pity, h264 streaming options looked promising.

You may take a look at MS Expression Encoder trial that comes as successor of old good WME.

Quote from hyntty :

Question: If I happen to have an extra computer, how do I capture the output from the other machine?

I can't see how could one capture uncompromised digital DVI/HDMI video on the other PC without specialized and expensive HW, unfortunatelly. So not much choices left really.

1) Old school analog TV-out => analog TV-in => SW frame grabber provides you with crippled video quality by design. Cheap and easy though. Maybe PC controlled DV-cam could be used on the target end.

2) Stream soft compressed (DV, MPEG2 hispeed) or lossless (huffyuv, lagarith) video over network from PC1 to PC2 for further processing. That shouldn't be very CPU hungry. Finding working, stable and free tools might be tough task.

Alternatively to native WME Screen capture you can use free VH Screen Capture Driver which comes with some nice handy options.

Nevertheless a realy fast PC is a must, otherwise you're resorted to very low resolutions and dropped frames every now and then. I've experimented with Q6600 and got some acceptable results, but nothing special. Furthermore WME 32-bit can't use more than two CPU cores.

Audio is painless unlike video. Just record Stereo Mix straight from your card, no loopback needed.

Or if you still don't fully trust your previously compromised Windows installation and have a bit of courage, you could alternatively boot up some Linux live CD and purchase your S2 licence from in there.

Unlike others I am convinced it should be possible.

There's tons of other applications that somehow manage to output sound regardless being focused. And yes they utilize DirectSound as well. To name a few - Winamp, media players, tv tuner apps etc. Don't have idea how it needs to be done technically though.

1) Use XP inbuild DiskCleanup to erase all restore points except the very recent one. Or alternatively switch off System Restore completely if you don't need it. Then enjoy recovered free space
2) FYI: Defragmentation won't give you any extra bits of free space.

Norton Ghost and Acronis True Image both did good job for me. I have managed to migrate system partitions on PATA -> PATA and SATA -> SATA fashion. You would met problem while migrating Windows from PATA -> SATA and vice versa, but that's different story.

Hiren's or Digiwiz miniPE boot cds could help you a lot as these are loaded with suitable tools and works out of box.

Expectable but still a very neat gift. Thank you.

I would love to watch, but the stream is currently down.

Anyway good luck to drivers and organizers

Another RL example of tire flex
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUSZPMl5JsI

Thanks for the small change

Too late - at that very moment the self-extracting EXE file is gone, I am afraid.

It would be nice to have an option telling whether patch installer downloaded via autoupdate shall be erased (current behavior) or left in filesystem for later use.

Hint for those in need of patch installer:
1) Perform autoupdate as usual.
2) Right after that recover patch installer (i.e. LFS_PATCH_X30_TO_X32.exe) from LFS folder using unerase tool.

Except of that I am enjoying x32 version a lot, well done

Well then she has not much to lose, so it's likely the right time for uncautious gamble. Just suggest her to download & install recovery SW of your choice and let it cast the magic

Be it for instance:
"Recover My Files"
"O&O Unerase"
"R-Studio"
"GetDataBack"
etc.


All of listed are commercial tools though. It all depends on the value of vanished files

If you´re sure the files are gone (deleted!, not moved somewhere else) and were located on system drive:

Rule 1 - Power off PC asap
Rule 2 - Don´t attempt to boot from drive until rescue procedure is done
Rule 3 - Attach HDD to other computer (or use bootable rescue-CD)
Rule 4 - Run tools like R-Studio, GetDataBack, Unerase to recover your lost files (use more tools to get as much files recovered as possible)
Rule 5 - Recover lost files onto other HDD (avoid writing anything onto original drive)

The point is - never ever try to boot from the original drive, or even install software (even recovery) on it as it will irreversibly reduce chances of later successful recovery.

Well here we go. My favourite HD quality movies.

Australasian League GTR 2007 Series by Chaz
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?t=32924
(Awesome camera and quality, 1280x720, 50FPS, 1.1GB)

Welcome To Live For Speed by Unokeva
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?t=25183
(Excellent editing, 1024x768 60FPS, 360MB)

Cardo Racing Octavia Cup - Summary by Felix
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?t=19019
(HQ currently down, but i could reupload it in case of interest, 1280x720, 30FPS, 170MB)

"The_Fun_of_Racing_hi_res.avi" by GVR team/Kaynd
(Entertaining, though a bit blocky in certain scenes, 1024x768, 60FPS, 231MB)

If you find HD movies comparable with those listed, let me know please

Last edited by TV[cz], Mon 12 Nov 2007, 22:56.

What an achievement!

With respect to 1.1GB HQ version - excellent and the best looking video to date! Perfectly smooth (60fps) and thanks to resolution and bitrate (up to 30mbit at peak) the level of detail is simply amazing. Loved the camera work and overlays.

Very recommended to qualitophiles

Check with your bank personell whether card is enabled for internet/online/international payments. If payment via protx doesn't work with your card/bank for whatever reason, try PayPal or MoneyBookers methods. You can even pay using MoneyBookers without need of card.

Quote from Iron :

I liked his other movies but link is dead and I don't want to spoil it by the crap quality of youtube, anyone willing to put it up somewhere please?

upped to EasyShare

Exciting racing moments, genuine engine and ambient lfs sounds mixed with fitting music altogether packed to very atmospheric and nicely flowing video gem, 9.5/10.

Last edited by TV[cz], Sat 22 Sep 2007, 18:41.

Amazing teaser, can't stop playing it over and over again

Technical note: I would have compressed audio a little bit to compromise file size.

Well done man!

Here's a video summary of Norbert's coverage on Eurosport. Enjoy watching.
http://w13.easy-share.com/2762001.html

EDIT: The same clip with selectable hun/cze/eng audio commentary inbuilt.
http://w13.easy-share.com/2769401.html

Last edited by TV[cz], Sun 5 Aug 2007, 17:42. Reason : alternative link

Quote from Greboth :

We need a recording of you saying the same thing to see how alike it really is

Oops, in fact she's saying the same sentence in attached wav recording Yes for me the voices are similar to certain degree in style and intonation.

You will need two separate LFS folders/installations I am afraid. One for XP, other for Vista. Follow this scheme and you're safe (2 unlocks needed, one per OS). Both folder can coexist on one HDD even on one partition.

I'd consider sharing single LFS folder between two dual boot systems as risky with regard to locking troubles (big blocker) and filesystem access rights (avoidable). Unlock it once under XP then reboot into Vista and find your S2 locked again (and vice versa). Licence unlocking apparently seems to be somewhat a) HW specific and b) OS specific (licence key or whatsever). At least it behaved like that around S2 U/V version (examined by me in the past).