Non-Starter needs capture hardware advice and opinions

[Bisbee]

So. I want to back up my VHS library to DVD. That is ALL I want to do with this stuff, I am not creating or editing; these are typical vcr commercial movies I have purchased. Step 1: capture.

1. What hardware to do you recommend? I want something REALLY SIMPLE. I do not want to go inside my PC, I wouldn't know a cooling fan from a motherboard. I would like something that's not too costly, altho if it turns out a camcorder was the answer, i guess I could live with that. Has anyone had experience with the ADS capture boxes, which ones work best?

2. When VHS is captured into a PC, what format are the files? Does it depend on the capture device? All the tech advice I've found seems to omit that rather important fact.

3. If I buy a box, will it give me a clean copy, or the kind of mess you get when you do a vcr-to-vcr copy? If it's a mess, what software do i need to clean it up?

TIA in advance for any moron-friendly advice you can give.

[Capmaster]

So. I want to back up my VHS library to DVD. That is ALL I want to do with this stuff, I am not creating or editing; these are typical vcr commercial movies I have purchased. Step 1: capture.

1. What hardware to do you recommend? I want something REALLY SIMPLE. I do not want to go inside my PC, I wouldn't know a cooling fan from a motherboard. I would like something that's not too costly, altho if it turns out a camcorder was the answer, i guess I could live with that. Has anyone had experience with the ADS capture boxes, which ones work best?

2. When VHS is captured into a PC, what format are the files? Does it depend on the capture device? All the tech advice I've found seems to omit that rather important fact.

3. If I buy a box, will it give me a clean copy, or the kind of mess you get when you do a vcr-to-vcr copy? If it's a mess, what software do i need to clean it up?

TIA in advance for any moron-friendly advice you can give.

1) Get yourself a USB capture box. Check the "Capture Cards" section on the left of this page. Hauppauge WinTV PVR-USB2 is a good choice and is simple to use.
2) If you're transferring many commercial VHS tapes relying solely on a standalone recorder probably isn't the best choice. They don't defeat copy-protection.
3) Don't buy an ADS capture box. Try something by Pinnacle, Canopus, Hauppauge, Dazzle or Snazzi.
4) The captured files will be MPEG-2 with a file extension of .MPG. Almost all analog-to-digital capture cards capture in this format. This is the standard format for DVD and SVCD. I recommend capturing at full D1 DVD-compliant 720 x 480 (NTSC), 704 x 480 (NTSC), 720 x 576 (PAL) or 704 x 576 (PAL). The capture app that comes with your card will have this as a template. Use the NTSC if you're in the US, Canada, Japan, SOuth America, etc. and PAL for most all other countries. Capture VBR with a starting setting for bitrate of about 5 Mbps average, 6.5 Mbps peak. Do this until you get comfortable with changing your settings to allow for recording time (the higher the bitrate, the less recording time you can fit on one disc). Capture your audio in MPEG-1 Layer 2 or AC3 audio. Avoid LPCM (uncompressed).
5) VCR-to-VCR copying is another animal. You don't want to attempt that without a good Timebase Corrector (TBC). In fact, a TBC is a good idea for capturing off VHS to avoid lip-sync problems.
6) No such thing as a stupid question. It's far worse to struggle with something unnecessarily when there's someone who can help you out
7) This should be the first step - Read the how-to guides on this site. Check the left edge of the screen near the top.
8) Once you capture to a .MPG file you need to "author" the files. This is the process of multiplexing the audio/video into files with .VOB, .IFO and .BUP extensions. These are the files your set-top DVD player recognizes. Once these are generated you can either burn usually with the authoring application or get a third-party app like Nero and burn your files to the DVD as a "DVD-Video" disc.

[Bisbee]

Thank you, capmaster! Excellent starting advice. I'll admit I'm cheap - the one person who reviewed the $50 Kworld Xpert DVD Maker USB 2.0 seemed very happy with it - do you have an opinion on this one?

[Capmaster]

Thank you, capmaster! Excellent starting advice. I'll admit I'm cheap - the one person who reviewed the $50 Kworld Xpert DVD Maker USB 2.0 seemed very happy with it - do you have an opinion on this one?

I don't know about that particular model. I do know that the hardware is much less expensive now for someone starting out. When I started my capturing project 2 years ago it was still a pretty fringe hobby. We had to rely on forums like this one to just get started. A typical capture card/box then was easily $400 for a basic one. Now this function is built into many graphics adapters, and the LSI chipsets they use in these devices are much more sophisticated and capable.

[snafu099]

"3) Don't buy an ADS capture box. Try something by Pinnacle, Canopus, Hauppauge, Dazzle or Snazzi. "

I have the ADS usb InstantDvd-2 device and highly recommend it for simplicity, quality and ease of use.
http://www.adstech.com

Using the bundled Ulead MovieFactory-2 se can not get much simplier, purchased to achive 800 vhs to dvd, currently at 350+ and working. NOTE! this recommendation is only for IDVD-2 or IDVD + DV devices.

[tonx]

spend a bit more & get a DVD RECORDER.
you'll never look back you tight arse.nuf said

[spectroelectro]

A DVD recorder is a very good suggestion. Alternatively, you could buy a Canopus ADVC-100 or DataVideo DAC-100 and a truly gigantor hard drive (at least 200 gigs), capture 5 to 6 hours of VHS per night, then queue it up to batch convert it to MPEG-2 overnight. Then burn DVDs from it.
The Hauppauge PVR-250 or PVR-350 has also gotten some very good reviews, though there are some reported problems with certain VIA mobo chipsets with the 250/350.
The simplest solution by far? DVD recorder. Also most expensive and not the best video quality.
Next simlpest? Canopus or DataVideo. That will burn up a lot of time authoring DVDs, however.
Hauppsauge only recommended if you know to debug hardware installation problems on your computer.

[SaSi]

Don't forget to buy a Macrovision defeater dongle. They usually come in a form of SCART Male - SCART Female with their own power supply. Commercial VHS tapes will most likely have Macrovision. I tried to capture a couple those both with an ASUS VIVO card and with a Pinnacle PCTV USB and Macrovision inhibits that.