Questions on file size, audio sync, and another HDD...

[BlizZ]

I am thinking about purchasing the LEADTEK WINFAST "DELUXE" TV2000XP TV/FM MULTIMEDIA CARD and a DVD burner. I would want to capture VHS home movies that will look decent on DVD. My PC specs are as follows:
ASUS A7N8X Deluxe rev2.00 motherboard
- w/ Onboard Realtek/Nvidia sound
AMD Athlon XP 2500+ (1.83ghz stock) processor
Western Digital 80 GB SE HDD - 8MB Cache (60GB Free)
Windows XP Home Edition w/ Service Pack 1 (NTFS file format)
1GB Kingston HyperX PC2700 (DDR 333) RAM
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro

2 things I have found out through perusing the forums are that: 1.) You shouldn't capture video on the hard drive that Windows is installed on, and 2.) Captured MPEGS/AVIs can be HUGE.

Which brings me to my questions:

1-My motherboard (ASUS A7N8X Deluxe rev. 2.00) is a good motherboard. The onboard sound has surround sound capabilities, too. Will using this particular motheboard's onboard sound while capturing likely result in audio sync problems?

2-How many gigs per hour would capturing a VHS take? I know it depends on resolution, but I don't know what resolution I should even use. I'm confused when it comes to how much space it would take to capture MPEG II's/AVI. I know you can encode it later and make it smaller, but I don't know if you can make it smaller BEFORE recording. I've seen some drastically varying numbers thrown around. With this particular TV card, can anyone explain/and give me a ballpark figure on how many gigs per hour of footage I'd have in average quality, or whatever quality I have to capture in?

3-If I did indeed need to get another hard drive, either due to file sizes or because Windows is installed on my current hard drive, how large would I need? Would 120GB be enough if it is used strictly for video capture/encoding? How much captured footage would 120GB hold? Is that a comfortable size? Are we talking several hours here or just a couple (or not even)? Some of the VHS tapes I'm looking to capture are quite long (4-5 hours)

Basically I'm trying to figure out what I'd need if I wanted to transfer these tapes with little to no problems (audio sync, frame loss, etc.)

Thanks for all your help.

[akrako1]

my .$.02

I do plenty of video conversion/encoding and don't use a very large hdd. I went for speed instead. I picked up an 18GB 10,000RPM SCSI HDD for under $300, and that's all I use. While I would suggest the 36GB size if you can afford it, I find 18GB to be enough. I use a USB InstantDVD converter to bring in my video. At it's highest quality, a 2hr movie is just over 4GB. That leaves plenty of room for encoding/coversion. Though it might come in handy, I can't see needing 100+ GB to end up with a 4.7GB DVD! BTW, using a 10K RPM SCSI hard drive is a dream! When you're dealing with huge files, you can clearly see the difference.

[BlizZ]

Thanks for your reply. One question: If I'm capturing VHS video through the TV tuner card, it will only be like 2GB an hour then? I'd been led to believe that it would be much, much more space-consuming. Also as far as the HDD drive I really can't afford a 10,000 RPM one, as a 120GB 7200 RPM one is only like $100.

[cooel]

2Gb per hour is about the size of full screen MPEG2 codec recording. If you use an AVI codec it will be much larger. For example, file size of DV AVI from a camcorder is 13.5Gb per hour. The codec you use ( if the capture card allows a choice) depends if you want to edit or not. It is much easier to edit in AVI format than MPEG2, though very basic cutting can be performed on an MPEG2. I use a 120Gb 7200 RPM second hard drive for video and have no problems with it.

[BlizZ]

Is that 2 gb an hour after encoding or before? I'm quite confused because I've been told that in AVI format a 51 second capture is 1.5 gigabytes. But it seems like you're saying I can record MPEG2 at 2 gigabytes an HOUR. I don't need the AVI quality, nor the versatility to do complex editing. I just need something that's burnable (and maybe to put chapter stops in).

I'm a complete newbie so this is probably a real basic question that I'm making insanely complicated... To simplify, let's say I want roughly VHS quality with the Winfast TV card mentioned above. JUST TO CAPTURE to MPEG2 at a decent quality before encoding or anything else, how much space would I be looking at per hour?

[cooel]

Sorry, but I do not know the Winfast TV card specs, but with my ATI all in wonder card I can choose to capture in AVI or MPEG2. Your card may be able to do the same, you would have to check. The size of 2Gb per hour for MPEG2 is the size you get for good quality if you can capture directly to MPEG2. If your card can only capture in AVI format, then the file size will be very large, it depends on the quality settings you use. You can convert a AVI file to MPEG2 with many software programes.

Putting chapter stops in is not an issue with the capture process, that comes later in the Authoring process. To author to DVD you will need the file to be an MPEG2 type.

[BlizZ]

Ok, cool, thanks. Yeah, the card I'm getting says it can capture in MPEG1, MPEG2, and MPEG4. I appreciate all your help -- you're really doing me a huge favor. One last question. Now that I know I can capture at least decent quality video in a reasonable amount of space, I have another question:

Is it likely I'll have problems capturing to the same hard drive that Windows XP is installed on? I've heard that it isn't the best solution but is it worth $100 to buy a new hard drive for? Or is the difference negligible?

Thanks alot.

[cooel]

Yes, you are more than likely to have problems with just one hard drive. It is asking a lot of one hard drive to both run the computer, run the software programme, and capture a large file all at the same time. You could of course try it first but I do think you would run into problems. I had problems on my computer before I installed a second hard drive. You might be lucky ?