Fastest way to get from VHS to DVD?

[tendancer2000]

Probably a FAQ but didn't see anything after looking through a bunch of searches.

I have a pile of VHS tapes that I want to put on DVD without menus etc. Just put the DVD in and it plays.

Currently I capture using my datavideo dac-100 through a firewire card into Ulead's DVD Workshop to get an avi. I want to put a title screen on each tape so I edit it in Sonic Foundy's Video Factory and save it as another avi. Import the avi into DWS, make it the first play and I get a DVD.

It all works but it takes forever! 2 hrs of tape playing, one hour to make the new avi and now 4 hrs to burn the dvd. Video Factory said it could make the MPEG in about 3 hrs. So total processing time is about 7 hrs for a two hr tape.

There must be a better way.... I might leave off the title screen to save me an hour but still seems mighty slow. Or if I captured directly to MPEG? Not sure if the DAC-100 can do that though.

[Bob W]

I use NeoDVD Plus and capture at 1/2 DVD directly as DVD compliant mpeg2. Total time for a 100 minute movie to DVDR is about three hours using 2x media or less using 4x media (Includes a menu and chapter points).
http://www.mediostream.com/products/neodvdplus/index.html

[tendancer2000]

Well I took a look at neoDVDPlus and figured for $50 I couldn't go wrong. But I think I didn't take a close enough look.... I can preview my VHS tapes in their capture window but when I try and capture it says there is no tape or the tape has finished and refuses to capture anything.

Guess I'll look around and see if I can find a fix as when I tried the Direct To DVD using my digital camcorder it did seem pretty good; will cut my tape creation times down significantly.

[cactusjack310]

I am new to DVD burning but I'm wanting to do the same thing as tendancer2000 too; burn a DVD without menus. I capture video into my computer with Pinnacle Studio 8 and using a Canopus ADVC-100 capture card from my satillite box. Then I edit out all the commercials and stuff out and save the file as an .avi using Pinnacle Studio 8. Then I open up TMPGEnc to convert the .avi to mpeg 2, so it's compatable to burn to a DVD. Now where do I go from here? What programs do I need to burn to a DVD? This is probably in the FAQ somewhere but I could find anything because I really don't know what to look for. Any help is appreciated!

[Bob W]

Well I took a look at neoDVDPlus and figured for $50 I couldn't go wrong. But I think I didn't take a close enough look.... I can preview my VHS tapes in their capture window but when I try and capture it says there is no tape or the tape has finished and refuses to capture anything.

Guess I'll look around and see if I can find a fix as when I tried the Direct To DVD using my digital camcorder it did seem pretty good; will cut my tape creation times down significantly.

Hmmm I think you need to put in a capture time in the boxes to the right of the GUI in NeoDVD otherwise the capture time is zero. I just always enter a time of three hours and stop the capture manually.

[andkiich]

Cactus Jack,

You'll need a program to author the MPEG files TMPGENc creates into IFO, VOB, etc files, then some program to actually burn the DVD.

I use DVDComplete to create menus, chapter points and author the files, then use Nero to burn the DVD.

[Tommyknocker]

I would use Video Studio to capture from my encoder, then burn to a DVD.

[tendancer2000]

Well I took a look at neoDVDPlus and figured for $50 I couldn't go wrong. But I think I didn't take a close enough look.... I can preview my VHS tapes in their capture window but when I try and capture it says there is no tape or the tape has finished and refuses to capture anything.

Ok, I emailed tech support and they said that there is a known bug when trying to do analog -> dv -> PC and they are working on it. So no joy for me via this route until that is fixed. They do have a workaround if the capture box has a tape in it, didn't quite understand what they meant.

I did do a DVD from my Sony MiniDV and captured straight to DVD which was pretty neat. About 80 minutes total time including capture.

[cactusjack310]

Oh, so that's why I need an authorer. That's great because I already have Nero. Thanks alot, I'll check out DVDComplete! Also, I heard it's best to encode the audio and video track seperatly. Is that true? Anyone use any good programs for that? Thanks again!...

[txpharoah]

neodvd4 is okay, but not that great with encode quality, and the files it makes sometimes generate errors or do not come out to full DVD spec compliancy. Still a bit buggy. Future versions I hope are better, maybe with a few more options. It is VERY VERY limited in options.

If you are seriously impatient, and merely want to convert, you're a likely candidate to go buy yourself a standalone DVD recorder, and leave the computers to those with more time on their hands. Limited menus and all, but it'll convert just fine, and some of the players have TBC built-in to correct the signals. It is a real-time encode to final product, much like hooking up 2 VCRs to copy tapes.