Noobie findings - read if you're new to this stuff.

[joecav]

Hi all,

I have been frequenting this board for quite some time, learning alot about video capture, conversion, authoring and burning. My knowledge has increased to the point where I actually know what Im doing (for the most part) So thanks to everyone for your help.

What I wanted to share are my findings on all this video stuff, coming from someone starting with zero knowledge about it. Hopefully this will help some one else who is in the same shoes I was.

The first thing you should do is read the posts here and the guides and articles. They may not make much sense now, but you'll run into the issues discussed, believe me. You'll be glad you did read them when you do get into some trouble.

Why am I doing video capture? I am converting old VHS tapes to DVD and trying to preserve as much of the original source as possible. Most of these tapes are 2 and a half hours long. Pretty simple, huh? Well not for beginners. I ran into alot of problems. My machine is fast and roomy. P4 2.6c, 280GB HD space, 1 GB of fast RAM. I also have a Winfast TV2000xp Deluxe cap card. This still didn't preclude me from having a/v sync issues (see bleow)

Now onto my process. I started off capturing directly to MPEG, mainly because it was "easier". Less time devoted to the whole thing and it was pretty straight forward...capture, edit, author, burn. Well, the results flat out stunk. The picture quality was semi-ok, but EVERY file had A/V sync issues making it completely worthless. They were progressive (in sync at first and out of sync by 2 secs at the end) so I couldn't easily fix it. I was using the aforementioned Winfast TV200XP Deluxe cap card with the provided WinfastPVR software to capture my MPEGS using PicVideo's MJPEG compressor. This resulted in the poor quality caps. In the end I realized this was NOT saving me time at all because I was doing projects over and over again. (capturing the SAME 2 and a half hour VHS tape 3-4x is not my idea of fun)

The only way I escaped the dreaded A/V sync issues was to capture in AVI (DV AVI to be exact, I have a DV Cam with passthrough). I was then able to confidently trim out commercials without wreaking havok on the sync. If you don't have the setup I do, I would strongly recommend that you capture to AVI with whatever cap device you have. There is a debate over which is better, but I can't tell you more vigorously how much better my final product is with AVI compared to capturing to MPEG.

I convert the AVI using the MainConcept MPEG encoder thats in Premiere. Premiere is fantastic. All I do is open file, export, choose MC MPEG, check the settings (use the bit rate calc in the tools section) and let it fly. This also seemed to "smooth" out some of the snow or static older VHS tapes can have. The picture quality was super and I used no filters. Just about as good as the source. And, as I said, A/V still in sync. 95% of people here use TMPGenc to encode. I had alot of issues with file compatibility (it wouldn't open most of the files I captured) so I ditched it for MC MPEG in Premiere.

Once converted there are so many ways you can go with authoring, but I really like DVD Architect. It gives me alot of flexibility to produce the menus and layout that I want, as opposed to DVD Movie Factory 2. The downside of DVDA is that you need to have a muxed video file (with no audio) and have your WAV converted to AC-3 or else it re-encodes everything. Other than that, I love it. The motion menus with sound are really cool too.

Burning is a job for Nero. Never had a problem in the past with cd's so I figured it would do a good job with DVD's...and it did. Use what ever you feel most comfortable with.

In conclusion, I would like to say that I would have NEVER in a million years been able to do what I can do now without the knowledge and friendly help found here. I felt compelled to post something for others that may be struggling or stuck on something. Put another way, although I got all the help I needed on this board, I wish there was a post like this when I was having issues. I hope at least one person finds it useful. Thanks again everyone and sorry for the length!

Footnote - The Winfast TV2000XP Deluxe card may be better suited for capturing TV, I haven't tried that as yet. The results I got from capturing from my VCR directly to MPEG were lackluster at best. Your results may vary.

I mentioned some pretty expensive software and don't want you to think this is the only way to go. There are tons of great free programs available, check the TOOLS section. For good AVI captures, Virtual VCR works great for me, TEMPGenc is everybody's choice for an excellent free encoder. Authoring, well, that's up to you. I don't believe there are freeware Authoring programs, again check the TOOLS section. Burning, use whatever you like best. Nero isn't free, but it's well worth the money

[lordsmurf]

You failed to mention your capture card, and you failed to mention to hardware/softwre combination that gave poor MPEG capture results.

Video is very hardware and software specific.

[theDruid]

Good post joecav.

I would say, as lordsmurf has, that different people will have different experiences with different hardware & software.

There are lots of freeware programs out there which can do many of the jobs you describe (or cheaper alternatives to Premier etc..), and I would recommend that people have a bash with some of these, rather than spend a fortune before they know what they're doing.

In general, good work though!

cheers,
mcdruid.

[joecav]

Lord Smurf...I did mention what cap card I use...Winfast TV2000xp Deluxe. I will edit the post to reflect what I was doing to get poor MPEG captures.

[georges]

Good post joecav
I too am a noobie at this, starting with a brand new computer system designed with vid cap and conversion in mind. The learning curve is soooo steep and those folks out there thinking this is a simple hobby better think again. But with a little thought and ample time to learn this can be alot of fun. I agree with the previous poster. There are many different,methods, tools and software at your disposal so try things out before you buy if at all possible.
I took a slightly different track than you being heavily influenced by LordSmurf thoughts on the subject. I bought an ATI AIW card then tried the Womble edit software and the TMPGEnc package(demux and author) The ATI product took some tweaking at first but with a little help and many hours of work its up and running, capturing as I type(on another computer) The software I mentioned works great and is so easy to navigate. Just read the numerous guides posted up here on the left prior to downloading, then print them if you decide to try the products out. They have a 30 day free trial period. I plan on purchasing all of them.
One more thing and as anyone reading this is already aware of, this web site is invaluable. Without it and the links to a few other sites I'd still be in a fog. I plan on donating to the site as soon as I finish posting.
To all those folks who donate their time keeping this site and the forums going, thank you.
georges

[joecav]

I realize there are a multitude of ways to accomplish the same thing. I just wanted to post what works for me. Some people can use Virtual Dub, I can't. Some people can use TMPGeng, I can't....or couldn't at least.

When you're just starting out, the path of least resistence is going to be what most people choose; until the knowledge and confidence is there anyway.

[mmac911]

MainConcept gives me choppy MPEGs- don't know why. I have been more succesfuk with aare avi to dvd/vcd/svcd. Perhaps my computer just sucks?