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  1. I need a Windows 7 (not Mac) substitute for the Sony Click to DVD software I’ve been using to capture, edit, author, and burn DVDs. My 7-year-old PC has finally died.

    I’ve been capturing video from VHS tapes of TV sports broadcasts by connecting a VCR and TBC to my TV capture card via composite inputs or S-Video. I need simple software that won't bog me down or introduce audio/video out-of-sync errors. I don’t want to demux, attempt to clean up the video beyond what might happen automatically during capturing, or add special effects. The reason Video ReDo won't work here is that each DVD requires a lot of cutting and pasting.

    My needs and wants are:

    #1, absolutely essential: Drag-and-drop editing capability, or something similar. Here’s an explanation of what I do:

    Assume 3 captured files (A, B, and C); an actual DVD would typically use 10-20. I cut unwanted video from each file, split up the remaining video (A1, A2, A3, etc.) so I can reposition the segments, and create up to 70 so chapter breaks.

    Source A cuts result in: A1A2A3A4A5A6A7A8…
    Source B cuts result in: B1B2B3B4B5B6B7B8…
    Source C cuts result in: C1C2C3C4C5C6C7C8…

    Output Chapters after Repositioning: C1A1C2 A2C3A4 A5C4 B1C5 B2C6B7…..

    The DVD plays straight through, but individual chapters are accessible via the “Next chapter” button on the DVD-player remote.

    #2, highly desirable: Display of each chapter on menu screens, ideally with a static thumbnail I select from that chapter’s video as well as a text label. The text label is more important than the thumbnail.

    #3, highly desirable: A single program that will capture from VHS tape, edit, author, and burn (compressing to fit up to about 135 minutes on a standard DVD)—or at least edit/author/burn, in which case what should I use to capture?

    #4, desirable: Ability to add what Click to DVD calls “Titles” at the beginning of individual chapters--text that appears before the chapter video (on a solid background) or on top of the video at the beginning of the chapter. I’m used to tweaking font size and color but if there’s not a basic template to modify, I’d have to do without.

    Any suggestions for reliable software that would meet at least my essential requirement? I don’t want to settle on the details of a replacement PC without being pretty sure of the software I will use, and I don’t have a computer to which I can download trial software at the moment. I’m currently leaning toward the Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250 card if it is compatible with the editing software.

    Thanks for reading this long post!
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  2. Windows Movie Maker will do some of what you want and it's free.
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  3. Member
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    All-in-one capture/edit/DVD author software is no longer popular. Capturing from PC devices is generally done as a separate step these days. Adding support for every possible capture device to one piece of software is too difficult.

    I have heard good things about TMPGEnc Authoring Works 5, which can edit and author, but capture seems to be limited to DV and HDV transfer from a camera.
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  4. Member hech54's Avatar
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    Look into Magix stuff. I use it to capture, then I just ignore all of the other edit and burn stuff(that you are looking for).
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  5. Thank you all for your comments.

    From the information on the companies' web sites, it appears there are several NLE options that allow cut-and-paste, so it may come down to which software is easiest to use and offers some or all of my nice-to-haves. I did try Windows Movie Maker a number of years ago, but my video and audio were out of sync, which made it unusable at that point. I guess that might have been a lack of compatibility between the software and the capture card on my old computer.

    Has anyone run into conflicts between the Hauppauge 1850 or 2250 tuner cards and one of these editors when working with non-HD video?

    Vegas Movie Studio 11 Platinum
    Nero Video 11
    Adobe Premier Elements 10
    Corel VideoStudio Pro X5 Ultimate
    Pinnacle Studio HD
    Magix Movie Edit Pro
    Cyberlink Power Director 10
    Womble Mpge Video Wizard
    Windows Movie Maker
    Last edited by acraven; 25th Jun 2012 at 14:38. Reason: Remove unintended underlining
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    Originally Posted by acraven View Post
    Thank you all for your comments.

    From the information on the companies' web sites, it appears there are several NLE options that allow cut-and-paste, so it may come down to which software is easiest to use and offers some or all of my nice-to-haves. I did try Windows Movie Maker a number of years ago, but my video and audio were out of sync, which made it unusable at that point. I guess that might have been a lack of compatibility between the software and the capture card on my old computer.

    Has anyone run into conflicts between the Hauppauge 1850 or 2250 tuner cards and one of these editors when working with non-HD video?

    Vegas Movie Studio 11 Platinum
    Nero Video 11
    Adobe Premier Elements 10
    Corel VideoStudio Pro X5 Ultimate
    Pinnacle Studio HD
    Magix Movie Edit Pro
    Cyberlink Power Director 10
    Womble Mpge Video Wizard
    Windows Movie Maker
    I don't have a Hauppauge 1850 or 2250, so I may be wrong, but I think they only do hardware encoding. Unfortunately, a lot of third-party capture software does not work with devices that only do hardware encoding. More third-party capture software works with devices that can use software for encoding.

    It's a driver issue. Unless it specifically includes support for the capture device, capture software doesn't know how to use the piece of the driver package that controls hardware encoding. ... but the capture software can often use its own encoder if the device can supply uncompressed video output.
    Last edited by usually_quiet; 25th Jun 2012 at 19:05.
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  7. Oh, that sounds bad, usually_quiet. It sounds as if I will need two different capture methods, then, the TV card for picking up TV shows I want to burn to DVD, and another method of capturing the old VHS tapes. What a pain! That's something else I'll have to research for each potential software editor.
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    Originally Posted by acraven View Post
    Oh, that sounds bad, usually_quiet. It sounds as if I will need two different capture methods, then, the TV card for picking up TV shows I want to burn to DVD, and another method of capturing the old VHS tapes. What a pain! That's something else I'll have to research for each potential software editor.
    Cyberlink PowerDirector looks like your best option among the programs listed for use with either of the Hauppauge TV tuner cards you mentioned. I found one thread on Cyberlink's forum that indicated PowerDirector could be used to capture from the the Hauppauge HVR 1850 although it appears capture settings are limited. http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/18638.page;jsessionid=04004877986D1D01987FC33DABFDFCAD Cyberlink PowerDirector is primarily an editor, not DVD authoring software. It only mentions burning DVD and Blu-ray. At best, it will provide only basic authoring functionality for DVD or Blu-Ray. PowerProducer is Cyberlinks Blu-Ray and DVD authoring software, but it only includes a simple editor.

    Pinnacle's software mentions their capture devices as compatible, but no others. Their capture devices use software encoding.

    Magix's software is known to work with devices that use software encoding, but I could find no information regarding the two Hauppauge cards you are considering.

    Nero doesn't get much praise at VideoHelp.

    I can't find any indication as to whether Corel Video Studio 5 will or won't work with Hauppauge capture devices that use hardware encoding.

    I wouldn't recommend Microsoft's Windows Movie Maker unless you want a WMV file as output.

    MPEG Video Wizard DVD 5.0 doesn't allow direct capture. It only works with files captured using other programs

    Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum and Adobe Premier Elements only mention file transfer from DV and HDV cameras.
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  9. PowerDirector sounds like a real posibility, then. I'll see what info I can find on it tomorrow. I'm grateful for your help in pointing me in the right direction, usually_quiet; the amount of information out there is overwhelming when you lack the technical background to separate what's pertinent from what isn't.
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