Replay Media Catcher 4.0 - downloads stop premarurely

[stucbrown]

Thanks for all the info and testing. Over last night I was able to fully record another opera of 2:22 length (2.54 GB file size). From overture to bows.

I again used my old RMC 3.11 version. It did start and stop 5 times, creating 5 different files of different sizes. The starts overlapped by about 10 minutes. Knowing how long the piece is supposed to be, I calculated the correct file size. Of course it was the largest file that was the right one. I deleted the others.

I did not change any parameters to make it work. There are a handful of plugins already there. I am not sure what they are.

Further attempts at using 4.1.6 still failed at about 2.1 GB.

They should study the earlier version to see what they did right, or what they changed.

The English subtitles still do not record, but I am thinking they come in a separate stream. They are visible on my monitor as the piece plays. Probably the screen capture program would do the job there, but too hard to set up.

[Jeff Lenney]

Correct! Sub-titles are a seperate file and can only be recorded with a Screen Capture program such as Replay Video Capture

[stucbrown]

One more comment - I did a synchronized side by side comparison of the same material recorded by 3.11 and 4.1.6, on the same wide screen.

I could see no difference in quality, shading, focus, etc. I was concerned that the new version may yield better results, but happy that my use, now, of the older version will still give me what I want.

Glad i didn't uninstall 3.11 untill they get 4 fixed.

[stucbrown]

I just realized that there is another 4 upgrade to 4.2.1 from 4.1.6. Will this solve my not full download problem?

[stucbrown]

Ok - I answered my own question by actually trying to record the same opera I have been using as a test case, with the newer RMC 4.2.1.

It does not stop prematurely. The whole 2 3/4 hour opera was there.

BUT, the file size was surprisingly small. 1GB for the RMC4.2.1, vs 2.95 GB for the RMC3.11. About one third of the size. Certainly something must have been sacrificed in the quality of the recording by compressing.

I repeated my previous side by side test. The picture for the smaller file quality is fuzzier. Very subtle just watching it on my computer. But when I convert to dvd to watch on my full size TV, it will make a difference.

So they solved the problem by compressing the material. Is there any adjustment?? Any way to say, I don't care how big the file is or many dvd disks it consumes, I want the best quality that was transmitted??

I will probably just stick with the 3.11 versions.

[stream-recorder.com]

If you don't convert with RMC automatically, it doesn't compress anything. It downloads/captures the stream that you start watching. If a server sends a lower quality stream to your PC, you can't record a higher quality stream with RMC automatically.

[stucbrown]

The setting is always - Do Not Convert

I repeated the experiment again, downloading the same material using both 3.11 and 4.2.1 (not together). Both captured the full opera, but on simultaneous, synchronized playback, side by side, the 3.11 playback picture quality was clearly better than the 4.2.1 playback.

The 4.2.1 file size is 1/3 of the 3.11. If I set the flv player to x1 picture size, the 4.2.1 is about 1/4 the size of the 3.11. It is like with a digital still camera that has an 8 Mpxl rating, then take a pic. Then set it for 4 Mpxl and take the same pic. You will have a smaller file, but a grainier picture when you enlarge it.

I also compared a shortened 4.1.6 with the "fixed" 4.2.1 playback. Same result.

So the fix was to somehow get rid of 2/3s of the picture material so that the file would fit into ....?? But sacrificed the picture quality.

A subtle difference on the computer screen, but will look much worse on the full size tv screen.

[demotester]

i cant reproduce your results if i dont know the testpage url (video link!).
also run mediainfo (http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net/en ---> the GUI version download) on your 2 files to report differences between the FLV-videos. maybe the opera site streams in different qualities and RMC4 happened to catch/download only the low-quality video version. Just to give you a primitive example, the Victorias Secret video is streamed in 5 different bitrates (resolutions):
http://www.tv.com/wall/10501826/vict...e?tag=10501826

(Dont try to download the Victorias Secret. Its naughty! )

[stucbrown]

Thanks for the link to MediaInfo. I do not understand much of what is on the analysis, but I do know that the resolution between the 2 different files were 2 to 1. The better video pic from 3.11 was 1280x720. The worse video pic from 2.4.1 was 640x360. So I stand by my claim that they "fixed" the file size problem by downloading less digital information, rather than opening up the maximum buffer or file size, or whatever they may be limiting.

Thanks also for the VicSecret link.

[demotester]

did you say opera?
you're not watching medici.tv, are you? (in their terms of agreement they disallow the download of their streams. understandably.)

you cant tell us your testpage url (video link!)?