Transfering question..

[richdvd]

Hi all..

I need some opinions here on transferring some VHS tapes to DVD.
Is it better to capture directly to AVI on a PC and then convert to MPEG2 through software or would it be better to convert directly to MPEG2 through a Canopus hardware encoder.

Any suggestions?
Thanks!

[mastersmurfie]

Hi all..

I need some opinions here on transferring some VHS tapes to DVD.
Is it better to capture directly to AVI on a PC and then convert to MPEG2 through software or would it be better to convert directly to MPEG2 through a Canopus hardware encoder.

Any suggestions?
Thanks!

MY opinion...(which should by no means be taken as gospel...) capture direct to MPEG2...I have ZERO experience with Canopus...I use an OLD ATI AIW to capture vhs directly to MPEG2...then author to DVD...few problems here and there (mostly due to user error...with my settings and such...) but overall, good enough for me. I use lordsmurf's guides and get really good results.

On the other hand...if you're capturing something that needs to be edited, AVI is the way to go...(apparently, it's easier to edit AVI than it is to edit MPEGs--personally not had a problem editing MPEGs with Womble, but maybe that's just me...)

mastersmurfie

[redwudz]

I like using the Canopus ADVC-100 mainly because I never got the capture card method to work for me.

As far as 'better', that depends. Probably capturing to AVI with a capture card and encoding with something like TMPGEnc will get you the best quality, and will take the most time.

Mastersmurfies method is easy if you have a good capture card, a fast computer and a program that can encode on the fly.

I use the ADVC for converting VHS to DVD by transferring the DV into the Mainconcept encoder and encoding directly to MPEG2. Then I put it into TMPGEnc DVD Author and burn to DVD.

I don't need to edit. But editing is a lot easier with AVI files. (Editing may include noise filtering, color correction, etc., not just cutting and joining)

Your method may also depend on how many VHS tapes you have. I have about 60-70 old tapes and I don't have the time to do separate encoding. I can run them through the ADVC and Mainconcept at just a little slower than real time. The quality is about the same as the original tapes when I look at the finished DVD.

[richdvd]

Ok thanks guys!
I think I'll look for a hardware converter.
Do you think this one would be any good...

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=882297&Sku=P67-1104

It's made by Plextor and quite a bit cheaper than the Canopus

[iantri]

If you read the Specs part carefully, you'll see that it isn't actually a hardware encoder, it is merely capture hardware that does the encoding in software with WinDVD Creator. Since it claims to do this in real-time, the quality is probably so-so.

You'd get much better results from a CDN$50 Brooktree-based capture card with the encoding done using CCE or TMPGEnc in a 2-pass mode.

This is, of course, a slow and boring process, and you seem to want to do it fast (can't blame you) , get something like the Hauppage PVR-250. It is much more expensive solution, but isn't too bad.

Lowest price: CDN$179.

EDIT: You will, by the way, always have 100% perfect sync and no frame drops with this card, since it encodes and muxes both audio and video in the hardware.

[DVD_Ripper]

It is much faster to capture directly to a DVD compiant MPEG2 file (with MPEG1L2 or LPCM audio) vs an AVI and then convert

If you capture to AVI it takes a ton of time to convert the AVI to MPEG and you don't normally gain a ton of quality. (specially on old vhs tapes)

just my opinion....