How to capture VHS video tape video into .mpeg format?

[wilbasket23]

Hei guys
i have a lot of VHS video tapes at home. I seems that some of them begin to wear off. I want to convert those VHS video tapes into digital format so i can convert them into different format. But, i have no clue on how to do it. Can any one show me. I heard people saying that i can buy a TV turnr card and connect it to the VCR and capture the video. Is it true we can do that. I also hear ppl say to buy a Video Card with VIVO functionality so can capture video is it true also. By the way, what is VIVO? Please help me

[FulciLives]

Hello

Well unless you can afford the spare time to research and learn all that there is then I would say that the easiest thing for you might be to just buy a stand alone DVD recorder. The most popular models right now are those made by Panasonic. The cheapest one is around $400

If you have a lot of VHS videos you want to back up it will be MUCH quicker and easier to do it that way.

However, you can get just as good ... if not better results ... with video capture on a computer but there is much you need to learn and the process can take a long time. Not just the learning part but the conversion part. Most capture cards record the video and audio in a format that must then be converted to the DVD format and it is this conversion that can take very long. I'm talking a bare minimum of 2 to 3 times the length of your capture (so a 2 hour capture would take 4 to 6 hours to convert and that is on a VERY fast computer).

There are many guides on this site as well as the very popular DOOM9 website. Everything you need to know ... more or less ... can be found on these two websites.

but first you need to decide if you want to go with a stand alone DVD recorder or a computer burner or a combination of the two.

My favorite approach is this ... do the recording on a stand alone that uses the DVD-RAM format (the Panasonic units do) and then import that DVD-RAM into your computer to do any editing (usually you are just doing simple "trims" such as cutting out TV commercials or trimming the start and end of your recordings) then make a nice DVD-R or DVD+R with your computer burner (which can then of course feature custom made menu designs and chapter points etc.). The nice thing about this method is not only is it fast and flexable but you don't need a super fast computer.

If you go this way then you are looking at around $400 or more for the stand alone recorder and then another $150 or more for the computer burner plus if you buy a computer burner that doesn't support DVD-RAM (very few do) you will need a $50 DVD-ROM/DVD-RAM reader.

So your bare minimum investment is at least $550 (assuming you already have the computer) but this method will be very quick while at the same time giving you flexability such as the ability to edit and create custom DVD discs.

If you want to go the computer capture way then you can get away with a lot less money. One of the best computer capture cards is the Canopus ADVC-100 and it is around $250 to $300 and should work with just about any decent speed computer that has FireWire inputs (and if not then a FireWire PCI card is rather cheap) but you will have to do the conversion thing which takes, as I've said, a long time and if your computer is on the slow side it will be THAT much longer.

So I guess it boils down to budget and of course how much or how often you will be doing it (do you have 100 tapes that need converted or 1,000 tapes and is it important to you to record TV shows onto DVD etc.)

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
VIVO stands for a comptuer VIDEO card that has both Vido In and Video Out. So this means you can record to your computer using such a video card (ATI often calls this type of design ALL-IN-WONDER while other companies will say VIVO). Then there are capture cards that do NOT replace your main video card but are there merely to capture video. Most only offer video in but some do video in and out. Most record to a format that needs to be converted for use in making a DVD while a few can capture to a format that is compatible with DVD though most of the latter type either don't do as good a job or have problems with them. In the world of video computer capturing very few products work as well as they claim too! Therefore, if you decide to go the computer capture way, do yourself a favor and check into the Canopus ADVC-100 as it is one of the best capture cards that actually works like it should and is easy to use.

[bolta]

Hello,

Check out the "How To" section to the left of this message - specifically, the "Capture" item. There are some really good guides in there especially if you are new to capturing.

It also pays to have a look through the "newbie / general discussion" forum, as there are other people, like yourself, who are new to the whole capturing gig.

Once you've got set up with some hardware and software, then you can always come back to the forum and start posting specific questions.

Basically, you are looking at acquiring one piece of hardware (the capture card) and a piece of software (the capture program, like PowerVCRII or WinDVR). Something else to consider is that capturing directly to mpeg may not give you the quality you are after - a lot of people (myself included) prefer capturing to the AVI format and then converting to mpeg later on.

There are all sorts of options when it comes to filtering and converting etc that are covered in other sections of this web site - the main thing is "not to be discouraged" when you need to ask a question. Everyone started out as a newbie at some stage!.

Cheers,

B.

PS - VIVO stands for "video in, video out" and can refer to the way that some graphics cards (especially the nvidia geforce4 ti's) can accept a video signal coming into the card, and send a video signal out to another device such as a TV

[wilbasket23]

hei FulciLives

i just want to conver the VHS to mpeg1 VCD format. I don't need to convert into DVD does this process will take longs. I also hear that TV Tunner card can do the same things also is it true it can do the same things

[broadway]

You can use a TV card to capture to AVI then compress to MPEG1 to burn onto a CD to create a VCD. I do this myself. I use an AVerMedia Stereo Studio card. The card cost me about $50.

The "problem" with this is that it takes time as FulciLives points out. Do you have the time? If you have only a few VHS tapes, then this is probably the way to go.

If you have a lot of VHS tape, then it is more time-effective to go the DVD stand-alone recorder and DVD burner road.

[FulciLives]

Hello

Yes I have fooled around with both VCD and SVCD but the formats are crap for the most part (especially VCD).

It would be absolutly pointless to spend ALL the time it requires to capture and convert your VHS videos only to end up with a VCD. SVCD would actually look pretty nice but the darn format is so incompatible with so many DVD players that it almost isn't even a "real" format if you ask me. I mean even DVD players that support SVCD tend to not always work well with the format (based on how you encode it).

Just save up and buy yourself a DVD recorder even if you go the cheaper route of buying a computer DVD burner and a cheap capture card. You will get just as good a picture using half D1 resolution on a DVD as you will with a SVCD but at least you have a REAL DVD disc in the end that will have MANY less issues in terms of compatiblity.

So as far as I am concerned ... VCD is basically worthless ... SVCD is decent quality but the compatibality problems and it's future as a "format" make it worthless ... DVD is the way to go. If you are worried about encoding time then you can do half D1 resolution on DVD so instead of full D1 (720x480 NTSC / 720x576 PAL) you would use half D1 (352x480 NTSC / 720x576 PAL). As you can imagine half D1 encodes faster than full D1 and probably won't take much longer than doing a SVCD encoding.

In the end the image will be very good (after all VHS doesn't really need full D1 resolution) and you will have a DVD disc that is compatable and has a long life ahead of it.

Doing all this work for VCD/SVCD is crazy!!!

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

And don't give me that crap that a DVD burner is expensive and I can do it now if I stick with VCD or SVCD because you can get a very nice computer DVD burner for under $200 these days and if you need to save up your "old" VHS tapes are not going to deteriate to dust within the next few months or even the next year while you save up the money for it.

[broadway]

John,

What software do you use to edit the MPEG2 file that is on the DVD-RAM?
Also, you just take that DVD-RAM's content and copy it to your hard drive, right?
Will all DVD-ROM drives read DVD-RAM disks? Can you give me a current model so I know what to look for?

Thanks.

Your method sounds so super-easy; there must be a catch. I love it.
You really should set up a website telling everybody about this.

[txpharoah]

The guide in my signature may help you out.

[negon]

IF you just want to get it to MPEG1 and don't want to mess with all the other crap, I found Dazzle Digital Video Creator USB to be sufficient. I used it to backup home videos and stuff right to CD as raw MPEG. No need for VCD unless you want it playable on a DVD player, in which case you can burn to VCD and/or SVCD. More information on the dazzle can be found at http://www.dazzle.com/products/vidcr.html . Good luck!

[FulciLives]

John,

What software do you use to edit the MPEG2 file that is on the DVD-RAM?
Also, you just take that DVD-RAM's content and copy it to your hard drive, right?
Will all DVD-ROM drives read DVD-RAM disks? Can you give me a current model so I know what to look for?

Thanks.

Your method sounds so super-easy; there must be a catch. I love it.
You really should set up a website telling everybody about this.

PANASONIC has special software called MovieAlbum that will allow you to import the VRO and edit it and come out with a final mpg file that you can then use with your authoring software of choice. This method however will convert the original AC-3 audio (recorded by the DVD stand alone) to MP2 audio. You can also import the VRO directly into Ulead DVD MovieFactory 2 but again I think it might convert to MP2 and even if it doesn't you wouldn't be able to edit it. You can edit on the DVD-RAM but then when you import it into DVD Movie Factory 2 you will have a bunch of short mpg files (at the edit points) rather than one long single file. So it will pause on playback when it goes from one mpg clip to the next.

The best way is either use MovieAlbum (if you don't mind the AC-3 being converted to MP2) or you can edit and still keep the AC-3 using one of the following two methods:

1.) If you have a DVD-RAM with a built-in HDD capture to the HDD first ... edit there ... then transfer from the HDD to the DVD-RAM ... when you import the DVD-RAM into MF2 you will have one file. Just make sure you record to the HDD at the same speed you transfer to the DVD-RAM (for instance if you record to the HDD at the SP speed then you need to record to the DVD-RAM at the SP speed otherwise the Panasonic will re-encode the recording as it transfers it from the HDD to the DVD-RAM)

2.) If you don't have a stand alone DVD recorder with a built in HDD then just record straight to the DVD-RAM and without editing it copy it to the HDD of your computer. Rename it from filename.vro to filename.mpg then edit it with an MPEG2 editor. The only one that really does a good job without screwing anything up or doing any re-encoding is MPEG-VCR by WOMBLE MULTIMEDIA but it is somewhat expesive but if you want to edit on the computer and keep the AC-3 sound it is the only reliable choice.

Anyways when done just plop the mpeg file into your authoring software.

DONE

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[FulciLives]

IF you just want to get it to MPEG1 and don't want to mess with all the other crap, I found Dazzle Digital Video Creator USB to be sufficient. I used it to backup home videos and stuff right to CD as raw MPEG. No need for VCD unless you want it playable on a DVD player, in which case you can burn to VCD and/or SVCD. More information on the dazzle can be found at http://www.dazzle.com/products/vidcr.html . Good luck!

Sorry but most DAZZLE products are GARBAGE that usually suffer audio synch problems or worse ... especially at DVD resolutions which seem to be very taxing on USB type devices.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[Yorel]

Probably the simplest and cheapest option for him is the MSI TV@nywhere capture card. Under $100 Cdn. here in Canada. Installs in an empty PCI slot. Uses component, S-video, and coaxial cable. MSI's PVS is simple, easy to learn, and has the ability to varie the bitrate to allow longer time, though I always capped at the default VCD profile, giving me up to an hour and seven minutes on a CD. Most movies are on 2 CD's, many on 3 CD's, and a couple on 4 CD's (Once upon a Time in America - 3:55, Godfather Pt. 2 - 4:00)

If nothing else, it provides a cheap platform from which to learn.

[FulciLives]

Probably the simplest and cheapest option for him is the MSI TV@nywhere capture card. Under $100 Cdn. here in Canada. Installs in an empty PCI slot. Uses component, S-video, and coaxial cable. MSI's PVS is simple, easy to learn, and has the ability to varie the bitrate to allow longer time, though I always capped at the default VCD profile, giving me up to an hour and seven minutes on a CD. Most movies are on 2 CD's, many on 3 CD's, and a couple on 4 CD's (Once upon a Time in America - 3:55, Godfather Pt. 2 - 4:00)

If nothing else, it provides a cheap platform from which to learn.

I have read many posts from uses who have said that although the quality of the MSI capture card is better than your old school WinTV cards it still has a lot of problems with interference causing wavy line type distortion on a capture. It would seem from my reading that the best quality TV tuner type capture card is the FlyVideo line from LifeView.

Here is a link to a place that has them for sale:
http://store.yahoo.com/lifeview-usa/pcitvvidcapc.html
This is now the favorite TV tuner card over at the AVS FORUM board and those people are INSANE (in a good way) over quality.

Many of them tried the MSI and dropped it in favor of the LifeView FlyVideo TV tuner capture cards.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
I should point out that with most TV tuner cards it is best to first capture to AVI using either the HuffyUV or the MJPEG codec ... THEN convert it to your final format (be that VCD or DVD or DivX or whatever).

[Chordmeister]

Something else to consider is that capturing directly to mpeg may not give you the quality you are after - a lot of people (myself included) prefer capturing to the AVI format and then converting to mpeg later on.

When you say 'avi', do you mean uncompressed avi, or do you use huffyuv or some other lossless compression?

[lbeck]

2.) If you don't have a stand alone DVD recorder with a built in HDD then just record straight to the DVD-RAM and without editing it copy it to the HDD of your computer. Rename it from filename.vro to filename.mpg then edit it with an MPEG2 editor.

Hey, that sounds great. I'm going to try it.

I have the E-20 (no HDD) and also a Panasonic LF-D321 internal burner. I got on this forum looking for a way to edit my DVD-RAM discs, then record to -R to DVD-Video. I was thinking about going with Movie Factory 2 since it works with RAM. but then you say

DVD Movie Factory 2 you will have a bunch of short mpg files (at the edit points) rather than one long single file. So it will pause on playback when it goes from one mpg clip to the next.

I didn't realize that. My other reason for MF2 is to make spiffy menus, but I may forego that, especially if I can find some good freeware that will do the job of MPEG editing. Can you recommend any?

What I'd REALLY like to do is to take the resultant edited MPEG2 file and import it into Pinnacle Studio 8 video editing software. There I could make transitions, menus, etc. But I don't think S8 imports MPEG. I think that the S8 software may work with AVI, which would mean another conversion. I'll go to their website and see (their documention is about worthless).

Thanks for your discussion on the topic RAM -> DVD-Video, FulciLives. I'm excited about trying this out. Any further advice is appreciated.

[dcsos]

SURE the PANASONIC home setop recorder records AC3 but can't you select another format to go right to the DVD RAM?

The Major problem the readers will have is reading the DVD-RAM disc in a COMPUTER to get the files on board..
TRY INSTEAD RECORDING to the WASTE-ONCE format (DVD-R)

and look into this for $40 or $50
does all the conversion as well as "MOVIE ALBUM" program
http://www.softarch.com/us/press/GVWindowsApr802.html

[lbeck]

SURE the PANASONIC home setop recorder records AC3 but can't you select another format to go right to the DVD RAM?

The Major problem the readers will have is reading the DVD-RAM disc in a COMPUTER to get the files on board..
TRY INSTEAD RECORDING to the WASTE-ONCE format (DVD-R)

First - What is AC3? I'm not familiar with this.

What I'm wanting to do is RAM -> DVD-Video, not the other way around.

Also, I can get the DVD-RAM into the computer as a .vro file. I have no problem getting the files "on board."

Finally, what do you mean by the WASTE-ONCE format (DVD-R)?? I'm not wanting to waste anything, especially $5 DVD-R blanks.

[bolta]

Hey there Chordmeister. . .

When you say 'avi', do you mean uncompressed avi, or do you use huffyuv or some other lossless compression?

I use the MJPEG codec, at either quality 18 (for crappy VHS tapes) or quality 19 (for good broadcast TV captures. The difference is basically because if the quality ain't there to begin with, filters will only clean the VHS capture up so much and the quality of 18 gives me that much more room for looooong captures (4-6 hour tapes played in "long play" mode).

Cheers,

B.

[dcsos]

How do you get the files on board (ON THE COMPUTER HARD DRIVE)?
My friends have had to use what I flippantly referred to as Waste Once(DVD-R)
because they couldn't read a DVD RAM on the computer and had to waste one blank to transfer the files!

[lbeck]

How do you get the files on board (ON THE COMPUTER HARD DRIVE)?
My friends have had to use what I flippantly referred to as Waste Once(DVD-R)
because they couldn't read a DVD RAM on the computer and had to waste one blank to transfer the files!

Easy to get it in -- Just drag-and-drop either the entire folder or individual .vro file which contains the movie. Maybe what you're missing is that you need something that reads DVD-RAM. I have the Panasonic LF-D321 that does this. Otherwise, I guess you would need to burn a -R if all you have is DVD-ROM.

However, this misses the entire point of what I'm trying to do, as explained above. I'm trying to edit the .vro (already on my HDD) and produce an edited DVD-Video. I can do this with .vob, but not .vro.

[dcsos]

However, this misses the entire point of what I'm trying to do, as explained above. I'm trying to edit the .vro (already on my HDD) and produce an edited DVD-Video. I can do this with .vob, but not .vro.

OK if you choose to ignore what I thought was an on-topic response ...
I already fixed my syntax error (waste-once what was I thinking?)
are we not discussing HOW TO EDIT .VRO FILES?...
did you even click on the link I posted?
from SOFT ARCH WEBSITE

Recorded video files dropped on to the GreatVideo!™ Converter utility, are de-multiplexed, decompressed from MPEG-2 “.VRO” format video files, and converted to any QuicktTme™ video format the user selects. The converted files can be used by any third party application that supports any of the 21 QuickTime video file formats, or played by the QuickTime Movie Player for Windows utility. Sound tracks recorded in PCM and MPEG1 Layer 2 are automatically synchronized for immediate playback. The software can also quickly erase the disk so that it can be immediately re-used in the camcorder or video recorder.

[lbeck]

are we not discussing HOW TO EDIT .VRO FILES?...

Yep. Guess we're cought up in the miscommunication thing.

When you asked how do "you" get the files... I assumed you meant me, not the general you. I had already explained how I got the files on my HDD.

Yes, I did click on the URL you posted. The cited company is asking $79 for the software. I think that I can accomplish my objectives with the plethora of other software/freeware in my collection. If not, I'll likely go with MovieFactory 2 ($49) that would accomplish the specific objectives that I'm dealing with.

Actually, I played around with the VRO files last night and I think that I can get mpg software to recognize it by simply changing the filename extension to .mpg. Windows media player opens it as a MPEG file. Studio 8 accepts it and begins a process called "detecting scenes." Unfortunately, I chose a rather large .vro (about 1 GB) and S8 got hung towards the end. I think that this may be a fault in S8, which isn't very robust, and not because of the vro conversion. I'll play around with the idea some more and see what happens.

FulciLives Thanks for your hints/helps on this.

Lee

[dcsos]

Damn it was only $40.00 when they first had it

They've doubled the rate ! Sorry

cited company is asking $79