What is needed?

[Just_trying]

I am sorry to be so uninformed, please bear with me. I am not sure of what I need, however, what I want to do is to take videos that I have and put them on CD's, possibly CD, or even just put them on my computer. I also have some 'digital' tapes take by a camcorder that I would like to do the same thing with.

I want to have quality video pictures, or let's say the copy should be as good as the original, or with very, very little distortion.

I have looked around it appears that I need a caputre card and possibly some software. I have found internal and external and USB 2.0 'items' that appear to be able to do the job. However, I just do not know. The 'coolest' item is the USB 2.0. It connects to the PC with the USB and connects up to the vcr or whatever on the other end. It has a small (very small) box in the middle, which apparently does the 'conversion'. Again, I don't know.

Can anyone give advice if what is needed is just a capture card?
What is important to get quality pics?
Has anyone heard of the USB item I mentioned above?
What is important in a format?

If the above can be verified and answered, I'll do some research on 'the best' ones out there (for me) and let you all know how things turn out.

Thanks in advance.

[Nilfennasion]

I want to have quality video pictures, or let's say the copy should be as good as the original, or with very, very little distortion.

If that is the case, then forget about CD and go to DVD±R. MPEG-2 allows far more flexible compression. No compression codec in existence will allow the video you put on the disc to be exactly the same as before it was encoded, but MPEG-2 can be carefully encoded so that your eyes can't tell the difference. Only DVD supports MPEG-2 (unless you're willing to limit yourself to 15 minutes per disc and major standalone player incompatibility).

[ZippyP.]

I am not sure of what I need, however, what I want to do is to take videos that I have and put them on CD's, possibly CD, or even just put them on my computer. I also have some 'digital' tapes take by a camcorder that I would like to do the same thing with.

What format are your videos? VHS tapes, computer files or ???

What do you want to do with the finished product? Play them just on your PC or on a DVD player? Is your DVD player VCD or SVCD compatible?

Does your camcorder have a firewire port? Does your PC?

Do you want to edit your videos? Add sound, titles and other effects?

Once we know what you have and what you want then we can suggest a solution. USB capture is generally not "high quality," and may not be necessary in your case.

As Nilfennasion suggested, a DVD is a likely what you want to produce. It can play on a PC and most DVD players and you can get 2 hours of high quality video on a disk, even more with some fine tuning.

@Nilfennasion - SVCD is mpeg2 as well and is pretty good quality, better than VHS. 45 mins or so on a disk.

[Just_trying]

Thanks for the quick reply. It sounds like MPEG-2 is what I need to have the same quality. So, whatever I need it has to be able to do that. I do see that you have placed 'carefully encoded' in the response, so I am guessing that there are many parameters that I can mess with. I will turst that this moment that the 'default' will be the sandard and go from there. I take it that the quality and format will go together with this. Meaning that with the MPEG-2 quality, the format would have to be that too. I suppose format and quality are about the same. Great quality = MPEG-2 and less than great quality = something else. OK Good start. Thank you.

Now, I believe I still need a capture card, and one that will do the MPEG-2 'stuff'.

And, has anyone heard of, dealt with the USB item I mentioned.

Thanks again.

[Tommyknocker]

I want to have quality video pictures, or let's say the copy should be as good as the original, or with very, very little distortion.

If that is the case, then forget about CD and go to DVD±R. MPEG-2 allows far more flexible compression. No compression codec in existence will allow the video you put on the disc to be exactly the same as before it was encoded, but MPEG-2 can be carefully encoded so that your eyes can't tell the difference. Only DVD supports MPEG-2 (unless you're willing to limit yourself to 15 minutes per disc and major standalone player incompatibility).

You were really on a roll until you made an error with MPEG-2. Remember, SVCDs are created on CD-R(W)s and must be MPEG-2 as well.

[Just_trying]

One more thing is the picture - I would want it to go full screen, so would the resolution come into the equation at all?

Sorry I forgot that.

[Just_trying]

ok, to answer those questions (Remember, I do not know that much about all this):


Q. What format are your videos? VHS tapes, computer files or ???
A. Unknown. I have a camcorder and put the tape in and took the vid. A friend took some of them and put them on VHS. I wan to put them to my computer and/or CD or DVE. It looks like a DVD will be the final media. No computer files, the computer is where I may want them to be.

Q. Does your camcorder have a firewire port? Does your PC?
A. Unknown. Not sure what firewire is. As far as I can tell, there is only the 'normal' 'things' on the computer - serial port, parall port, and USB ports. Other things that I purchased too, like a modem and NIC.

Q. Do you want to edit your videos? Add sound, titles and other effects?
A. Not necessarily. If the product that I purchase allows that fine.

I hope that helps. I see that the USB is probably not recomended. That is fine - it was just something that looked pretty neat, and heck, if it worked well, why not. From what I am seeing, it appears that the capture card will cost around $100-200. I trust that sound correct to most.

It does sound like the most important piece of this puzzle is that whatever I get, it must do MPEG-2. (and SVCD is the same as MPEG-2)

Again, thanks for all the info.

[ZippyP.]

Since you say that you have "digital" tapes then I assume that you have a DV camcorder. Most DV camcorders have a firewire output which will enable you to directly transfer the footage to your PC. You will need to install a firewire card into your pc to make this possible, they are cheap to buy. This is the preferred way to get the video onto your PC as it is relatively easy and there is no quality loss due to conversion. DV will take up 13 GB of disk space per hour of video. Once you have the video in your pc you can convert it into any format that you wish. Mpeg2 if you want to burn a DVD, or one of the other avi types if you only want to make it smaller and only view it on a pc. You will need a DVD writer to burn DVD's, and most will come with some sort of software.

[Just_trying]

Well, not exactly. The 'digital' because that is what it is called. I never understood why because it is not on DVD or CD, it is a tape. As far as I knew, if it is on tape, it is not digital. Again, that is what they car it. It is a Sony camcorder and the type is something like 8HI.

Is firewire what I should get vs a capture card?
What would be the advantage?

Thanks again.

[fmctm1sw]

Here's an Take a picture of it and post it here. My neighbor has a DV camcorder with tapes.

[Tommyknocker]

Again, that is what they car it. It is a Sony camcorder and the type is something like 8HI.

Sounds like Hi8.

[Marvingj]

8mm & Hi 8 is analog.....Super 8 is digital. LordSmurf has a nice website that is very informative. I think its www.Digitalfaq.com??

[Nilfennasion]

I will still stand by most of what I said. Putting video onto a disc that is 700 MB or less just doesn't make sense when you're aiming to preserve as much video quality as is possible. I had no idea of the specifications for SVCD, and having no interest in the format, I just made the assumption.

[underwurlde]

Hello!

Erm, why is this post irritating me?

Please mate, help us to help you! Go & tell us EXACTLY what camera you have. While doing that RTFM and tell us what outputs the camera can deliver.

"As far as I knew, if it is on tape, it is not digital. " = complete & utter bollocks.

"The 'coolest' item is the USB 2.0. It connects to the PC with the USB and connects up to the vcr or whatever on the other end. It has a small (very small) box in the middle, which apparently does the 'conversion'." - Model name / number / website WOULD be more helpful!

Whatever


Andy