How to make a simple process complex and unworkable

[mikesbytes]

My sister buys a USB capture device (EasyCAP) which also comes with Ulead. Loads the driver, loads Ulead, connects the old video8 camcorder and trys to capture.

After a serious amount of effort which I won't waffle on about the process is;
1. open ulead
2. select capture device
3. select options and change audio to usb device
4. capture as AVI


Which of course creates a rather big file.


So the next step is to burn it to a DVD. With Ulead software for the life of me I can't see how to actually make it burn to a dvd disk. Then I try movie maker, which is what Win7 prompts me for when I insert a blank disk. It burns the file no problem to the disk, but it has the following problems;
1. the video image is overlaid with todays data and 'play back' or something
2. there is no audio


What a heap of effort to do what an end user wants;
1. capture video
2. burn a DVD
even better if its one step 'push play and walk away'

[DB83]

Doesn't your version of Ulead have a 'Share' option at the top of the screen ?

Easier tho to use avstodvd to author the disk - the conversion of your avi will take a little time - and imgburn to burn the files to disk. Ulead can do this but not the best at it.

[Bjs]

Ulead ... what is applications name

I think (not used it in a few years) in video studio 8/9 there's a last tab up top called share which gives you options as share type ... pc playback, cd / dvd.

[mikesbytes]

Thanks for the software suggestions. I've also received a suggestion for this software http://download.cnet.com/Ulead-Burn-Now/3000-2646_4-10337414.html

The Ulead software doesn't say what version it is.... seriously, most applications have it under help or in a option called 'about'

Did a test run of recording a 90 minute tape. The end result was a 248Gb file that doesn't work. So it would seem that it recorded for about 6 hours and then crashed without finalising the file. So next test is to set a kitchen timer to 90min and manually stop capture when it beeps at me.

[DB83]

Go back to the Ulead program that came with the EasyCap. Change the capture format (the drop-down) from AVI to DVD. Capture again. You then have a mpeg file somewhat smaller than your avi. That still needs to be authored before you can burn it.

No obvious reason tho why avstodvd should not convert that avi and author the files.

AFAIK Ulead Burn Now is just that. It burns your files to a disk. It does no authouring to dvd.

[Bjs]

Genuine easycap install disc package should list on the back the ulead version ... mines v10se

[mikesbytes]

Genuine easycap install disc package should list on the back the ulead version ... mines v10se

Bingo

Ulead Video Studio 9.0 che perm ette di montare video in modo divertente

Everything is in Spanish? wonder where she brought it? She lives in New Zealand

[mikesbytes]

Go back to the Ulead program that came with the EasyCap. Change the capture format (the drop-down) from AVI to DVD. Capture again. You then have a mpeg file somewhat smaller than your avi. That still needs to be authored before you can burn it.

No obvious reason tho why avstodvd should not convert that avi and author the files.

AFAIK Ulead Burn Now is just that. It burns your files to a disk. It does no authouring to dvd.

The DVD option has worked, though the fault of defaulting to the wrong audio input is still there and needs to be manually changed each time. I captured an entire tape and it was only about 1.5Gb. There was a quality issue when the motion was fast, but it seems to be a good strategy to get a backup done.

[2Bdecided]

I captured an entire tape and it was only about 1.5Gb. There was a quality issue when the motion was fast

That's probably because the bitrate is far too low, or you've wrecked the interlacing. Try at a much higher bitrate: about 8Mbps / 4GB per hour, i.e. about one hour per disc.


Cheers,
David.