Recording Laserdisc to DVD recommendations...

[Sonnie Parker]

Hello...

I have about 40 laserdisc that I would like to record to DVD, mainly to be able to take my LD player out of my home theater system.

Researching this has mostly confused me. There seems to be so much information overload about capture cards, dvd burners, and software. A search here in reference to my topic didn't seem to provide me with much guidance although I've read where many people have converted their LD's to DVD.

My LD player is a Sony MDP-600 which does not have RF out for AC-3. It does have an audio optical digital out and an s-video out. I figure I'll be using Dolby Pro-Logic II since most of my LD's are Digital Sound. I don't recall any being DTS.

My home DVD player is a Toshiba SD-4700 which will play DVD-R and DVD+R and DVD+R/W per the compatibility list I've reviewed.

I have a Dell computer... 1.7Mhz Proc. / 512mb RAM and it doesn't appear that I'll have enough room with only 25GB of free space on my harddrive. Adding a harddrive shouldn't be a problem.

My video card is an NVIDIA GeForce2 MX/MX400. I have "Legacy Video Capture Devices" located under Sound in my Device Manager. Not understanding much about these devices I'm not sure what I have will help me get the job done.

I am looking for recommendations for what I will need to maintain at least the quality of video on the LD's and get them recorded to DVD?

I appreciate any guidance.

Thanks,

Sonnie Parker

[housepig]

a couple of things...

it's going to come down to how much you want to spend to do it - if you have a budget of $50, you're going to get different recommendations than if you have a budget of $500.

it also depends on how much time and effort you want to devote to it. I tend to capture LD in avi format and convert after the fact, because with my capture card I get better quality that way. but this takes more time and more hard drive space.

If you get a capture card that can capture nice quality direct to mpeg-2, you can fit a couple of hours of dvd-quality material on your existing hard disc, and still have room for authoring.

I would set a budget, check out the capture cards and see what fits in your price range, then check the ratings and the user feedback on those cards. Decide if you want to capture direct to dvd format, or if you want to capture in avi and encode later (better if you have to edit your footage).

[Sonnie Parker]

Hmmm... budget... a good point.

I guess I should remember that I'll probably only use this set up for converting my LD's and then it's over with. I don't believe I'd use it for much else.

Most of these LD's I could replace by simply purchasing the DVD's and end up spending about $700 or so and end up getting anamorphic widescreen and 5.1. However a few titles are not available on DVD.

Maybe I should take a harder look at the titles and see if it's worth it.

[housepig]

well, it's $700 for the replacement dvd's, or $300 for a burner - $100 for a capture card - $130 for software = $530 to get them converted.

your figures may differ - I use the following:

- Aver EZDVDmaker card = $50
- iuVCR for capture = $25 (or Virtual VCR = free)
- TMPG to encode = $50
- DVD Lab to author = $80.
- Nero to burn (came with an old cd writer = free)
- Sony DRU 500AX = $375 when I bought it, probably $250 now)

the intangibles - I have VHS tapes as well as laserdiscs that I've converted. I enjoy the process - making menus, designing the dvd navigation, etc. I can also burn data backups with the dvd burner.

if none of that matters, spend the $700 on new dvd's, and have the laserdiscs that aren't out yet transferred by paying someone like me with the gear and the interest in doing it...

[CHAOS]

I have transfered many laser discs now with my panasonic e30, but i have only done titles that are not out on dvd and will prob not ever end up on dvd. if you don't have enough to justify transfering to dvd i would just keep the ld player, my ld player is a dvd/ld combo player & even though i will prob. watch more dvd's & the ones i tranfered to dvd, i will still keep it in place, even though i don't use it to watch dvd's (strictly for ld's) it's just easier throughout the house or friends to be able to take a dvd to watch then a 12" optical disc

Here is what i use,
pioneer dvd/ld - s-video cable -> panasonic e30 standalone on dvd-ram/dvd-r

dvd-ram/dvd-r to hard drive on pc.

use TMPGEnc DVD Author to do everything, allows .mpg's, .vob's & .vro's to be imported, even in the same project together, editing, chaptering, cusom motion menus, allows the original DD ac3 audio recorded from the panny to pass right through, re-authors & will burn to dvdr. no guides or month to figure out how to use, the easiest program with the most options to learn of all the programs i have tried. All in one program!!

Burn back to a dvd+r or dvd-r with a dvd burner in pc.

using the s-video out/inputs have resulted in perfect transfers.

Don't need much hard drive space even though the panny seems to record at a high video bitrate,

this video is 1hr 22min long and is only 2.73gb the reason the file is smaller with a high bitrate is because the panny records the audio in DD ac3.
Which also leaves alot of room yet for any extras from the ld or whatever you might want to add.

panasonic e30 (or other dvd recorder) avg. $400.00 (picked up mine at best buy for $250.00 and have seen others there go for $250.00-$300.00)

TMPGEnc DVD Author = $70.00 (worth every cent!! better & easier than most famous $200.00-$400.00 programs i have tried, any program i have tried!!)

dvd"+" or "-"r burner = ( saw one this week at best buy for $129.99 after rebate)

toshiba SD-M1712 dvd-rom = $40.00 (reads "-" "+" & "ram", which ram will allow you to re-write 100's if not 1000's of times!!)

[Sonnie Parker]

Now that's a thought. Paying someone else to convert the ones I can't find on DVD.

What would you charge for an LD that could be fitted on 1 DVD-R disk.

For example: Pink Floyd - Delicate Sound of Thunder

Is is possible to convert this from 4:3 to 16:9?

[CHAOS]

Is is possible to convert this from 4:3 to 16:9?

It would not be a ture 16:9, you would have to cut off some of the top & bottom of the video to make it look like a 16:9.

For example: Pink Floyd - Delicate Sound of Thunder

They don't have that on dvd ? i would even like that for my collection

[andkiich]

I've done dozens of LD to DVD conversions. If you have a good player and a good capture card, then the DVD will look just like the LD.

All the other suggestions were good and should be considered. I've seen some places on the 'net that charge anywhere from 30 - 150 dollars to do VHS conversions to DVD.

[RWANDREWS]

I have converted about 50 LDs to DVD-r using the following system.

CANOPUS ADVC-100 to capture as AVI $290
DVD Movie Factory for capture SW only 50
TMPGEnc to encode 60
TMPGEnc Author to create menus 60
BESweet to compress audio to AC3 FREE
IMGTool to make ISO file FREE
DVDDecrypter to burn FREE

NO problems WHATSOEVER to make excellent DVDs the equal of your LD. Great for VHS also. YOu could use other programs as well, but 1 highly desireable feature of TMPGEnc Author is the ability to use AC3 audio, with re-encoding. Its menu creation features have been updated, and are very good.

You CANNOT use AC3 sound directly for a number of hardware & software reasons. If it's a music disc like FLOYD , use PCM audio anyway for better than DVD sound .

Although expensive, remember you have a system that can impirt ANY analog source, such as Hi8mm, VHS, Beta, etc. and archive them as DVD. This is money well spent.

[Sonnie Parker]

I can't hardly believe more Pink Floyd DVD's are not available myself.

I only know of 2: The Wall and Dark Side of the Moon although the latter is more of a documentary than a concert.

Then there's the David Gilmour DVD that is awesome!


I'll just have to keep reading this forum and learning. LOTS of stuff to learn. Once I learn more about these different softwares and hardwares I think I'll be able to make a more logical decision.

Who knows what I might later be interested in recording to DVD.

Is it legal to copy TV to DVD for my own pleasure. I've still got some older movies on my PVR that I might would be interested in recording to DVD, although the quality is not that great from satellite.


I wonder too how motivated I can get myself to learn everything I'll need to learn to do it right.

[Vejita-sama]

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=102812

Take a look a this (long running) tread. It's a discussion of the best way to transer the Star Wars CAV LD set to DVD.

[CHAOS]

I have converted about 50 LDs to DVD-r using the following system.

CANOPUS ADVC-100 to capture as AVI $290
DVD Movie Factory for capture SW only 50
TMPGEnc to encode 60
TMPGEnc Author to create menus 60
BESweet to compress audio to AC3 FREE
IMGTool to make ISO file FREE
DVDDecrypter to burn FREE

NO problems WHATSOEVER to make excellent DVDs the equal of your LD. Great for VHS also. YOu could use other programs as well, but 1 highly desireable feature of TMPGEnc Author is the ability to use AC3 audio, with re-encoding. Its menu creation features have been updated, and are very good.

You CANNOT use AC3 sound directly for a number of hardware & software reasons. If it's a music disc like FLOYD , use PCM audio anyway for better than DVD sound .

Although expensive, remember you have a system that can impirt ANY analog source, such as Hi8mm, VHS, Beta, etc. and archive them as DVD. This is money well spent.

Hey RWANDREWS
You lost me on the "ability to use AC3 audio, with re-encoding." What re-encoding ? if you use the source from a panasonic recorder the audio is in ac3 and does not re-encode in TMPGEnc DVD Author , it just passes through.
& the reason i like TMPGEnc DVD Author so much is it is basically the only program i need to do everything, all in one program!!! if you import from the satndalone recorder, you don't have to re-encode anything with TMPGEnc , i do use TMPGEnc sometimes but ONLY for making short video clips for background video on the menus, but TMPGEnc DVD Author makes it's own motion menus if yiou want to just use a still for the background.
& it will be nice when the new standalones come out with digital in & come down to a halfway good price range ($400.00)
And yes, they do come out looking as good as the original LD
A standalone is the best thing i have ever bought!!!

& you never know what you might want to put on dvd, including tv shows, if you are using them in you own home, what is the differance ? you could just as easily record them to vhs!!! just a different medium..... how many shows have you recorded on vhs

[Sonnie Parker]

Yep, we use to do a lot of recording on VHS... now though we don't even own a VCR. When our last one broke we never replaced it. Makes sense it would be no different to record to VHS or DVD.

Thank all of you for all the helpful info and links. When I first decided to consider transferring my LD's to DVD I didn't have even a remotely small clue as to where to start. A search on Yahoo led me here. A wealth of information about DVD recording. I had no idea it was as involving as it is.

I should be more excited about the possibilities of learning how to do all this. I seem to always have been before, especially when it comes to HT (Home Theater) stuff. This relates to HT in a pretty big way for me. I even wrote a BFD Comprehensive Setup Guide for my fellow HT enthusiast. It was a steep learning curve for me but it was fun... just like this could end up being.

Some of you may be familiar with the htguide forum which I am a member. If you ever want to discuss HT stuff. We also have a excellent Club Rotel for Rotel owners.

[Bob W]

I recorded my laserdiscs to DVD-R using my Panasonic E50 recorder with wonderful results. This works the best and it's all done in real time so it's much faster than using a capture card and the quality is better than any capture card is going to be IMO.

[Sonnie Parker]

I've probably read reasoning for this somewhere but if I get a stand-a-lone DVD set top and record to it then why do I need to record to my hard drive and re-record to another DVD?

Keep in mind I don't have an RF output on my LD player so I can't get AC-3, right?

Why couldn't I just use the original DVD media I record to the first time?

[housepig]

if you want custom menus & more commercial-looking dvd options, your abilities to do those on a settop recorder are rather limited.

so you would import the captures from the settop disc onto your computer, make new menus, chapters etc. and make a new disc.

basically you'd be using your settop as a capture and encode tool.

[CHAOS]

if you want custom menus & more commercial-looking dvd options, your abilities to do those on a settop recorder are rather limited.

so you would import the captures from the settop disc onto your computer, make new menus, chapters etc. and make a new disc.

basically you'd be using your settop as a capture and encode tool.

Also A good reason to use DVD-RAM as you can rewrite on it ALOT.
Have heard even more times than RW's, 100's if not 1000's of times. i have went over 100 with a ram disc and still no problems. I even picked up acouple of extra fuji ram disc's for $6.00ea., cheap enough to have some extras on hand considering the amount of times you can re-write on them.

[Dr_Layne]

I can't hardly believe more Pink Floyd DVD's are not available myself.

I only know of 2: The Wall and Dark Side of the Moon although the latter is more of a documentary than a concert.

Then there's the David Gilmour DVD that is awesome!

Pink Floyd and related dvds:

The Wall
Dark Side Of The Moon
David Gilmour In Concert
Roger Waters In The Flesh
Roger Waters The Wall Live In Berlin
Live At Pompeii (released almost everywhere except the USA which is due in October I believe).
More (Pink Floyd Soundtrack)
La Vallee (Pink Floyd Soundtrack)
Magrite (Roger Waters Soundtrack)
Knebworth 1990 (Pink Floyd set edited to two songs)
Syd's First Trip

The following are in the works I believe:
PULSE
London 66-67

Others I'd love to see released on DVD:
La Carrera Panamericana
Delicate Sound of Thunder
The Body (Roger Waters and Ron Geesin soundtrack)
Fractals: The Colours of Infinity (David Gilmour Soundtrack)
The Final Cut Video EP
The KAOS Video EP
Zabriskie Point (Pink Floyd has three songs on the soundtrack)
La Marge (soft core porn movie with Sylvia Krystel and has SOYCD for one scene)
Pink Floyd's David Gilmour (Hammersmith Odeon 1994-04-30)
Tonight Let's Make Love In London (Full movie from which London 66-67 is taken from)

Steve

[CHAOS]

Yeah,
I found delicate sound of thunder dvd on e-bay but they are imports, did'nt really look to see what region they were ?