VHS capture ->DVD thread #1851. Please advise.

[zod]

You guessed it, I need to transfer a batch of homemade VHS tapes to DVD. I'm pretty tech savy, but cost is most definitely an issue.

I've got a decent computer (2.4ghz, plenty of HD space, only 256mb memory). I don't have a DVD-burner, nor do I have firewire ports. I have a non-hifi VCR. I may be able to get my hands on Premiere if I need to do any editing.

I won't be needing to do much editing, nor do I expect to in the future. I pretty much need to do a transfer, maybe put in a few chapters and titles, and maybe print out a cover or something. Quality is, of course, important.

For my purposes, should I go with something like the the HP dc5000, which I believe has been discountinued? I've seen them refurbished at eCost for $99.

Should I go with a cheap cature card, like a Pinnacle Studio AV/DV v9 (which i've seen poor reviews for) for $50 or so? Or maybe the AVerMedia UltraTV Media Center PCI 500 for $100 or the cheaper AVerMedia DVD EZMaker PC for $30?

I've also read that people like the Hauppauge cards, though they're more expensive.

The capture solutions would mean that I'd need to spend $40-$50 on a DVD-Burner as well.

What option do you guys think is best for my purposes?

[redwudz]

I think your money would be better invested by getting a regular DVD burner and even a cheap card like the AverMedia than that HP setup.

If you want a little better card, scout around on Ebay and look for an older ATI capture card. You might check Lord Smurf's site for capture info:

http://digitalfaq.com/

The Hauppauge cards are good, but a little pricey for what you are looking for.

Quality wise, you need something that can transfer the VHS to your computer with decent quality. If you have a friend that will loan you a DV camcorder with pass through for a couple of days and you purchase an inexpensive Firewire card, that will be fairly good.

Just a few ideas, maybe others will volunteer more. Unfortunately, if you want quality and very low cost, it's not easy.

[davideck]

How much is your time worth?
Trying to save money might be very frustrating if you're also interested in quality.

I would recommend a good VCR, a DataVideo TBC, and a good capture device. I'm really happy with the Hauppauge PVR-250. Pioneer DVD Drives (retail) usually come with reasonable Ulead software (VideoStudio and MovieFactory). Add one to the mix and you're all set.

Otherwise, you could easily spend a lot of time and effort only to realize that you should have spent the money upfront; but by then you'll have missed all the fun.

You did ask for advice...

[anitract]

I really like the qaulity of my ATI AIW caps from VHS. That said, I don't think I'd like my caps as much if I didn't have a prosumer JVC VCR (that is, IF I EVER GET IT BACK FROM BEING REPAIRED @#(#*(@()*@#()*).



What I'm getting at is that if quality is very important to you, you'll need more than just a good cap. card.

[SatStorm]

The cheap / fast way: Buy a DVD Standalone recorder (cost: 100 - 600 euros)

The PC Fast way: Buy any BT8xx based card and combine it with mainconcet 1.5 (or later). (cost: around 200 euros)

The PC slow way: Buy any capture card made in 2005. Learn how to capture / filter / encode / author / burn. (cost: 50 - 100 euros)

The PC best way: Buy a DV converter. Learn how to capture / filter / encode / author / burn. (cost: 200 - 300 euros)

The alternative PC Fast way: Buy a hardware mpeg 2 capture card. Learn how to capture / author / burn. (cost: 100 - 200 euros)

I can't think any other alternatives....

[kidmegabit]

I realize this is a bit late but I saw no mention by anyone about the amount of RAM inside your computer. For capturing and editing you're going to need more than 256mb. Most video editors will tell you, at least 512. I've got 1gb of that in my computer, so does a lot of my friends who do video capture.

[TBoneit]

I'd say go for a DVD recorder when you can buy them as low as $99.99 U.S. However I'd suggest buying one with a Hard Drive as the'll give more control and overall better results. Then It becomes play the VHS in real time, Edit, add chapters, title and burn... Maybe 30 to 60 minute more depending on the speed of the recorders drive and the media you feed it.

Much more time effective than going the computer route just less control over menus and such. Edit: by time effective you could spend a day per tape using the computer route, That's why I bought a Pioneer 531.

Plus in the computer you can apply filters to improve the result, OTOH the Pioneer 531, for example, allows much tweaking before capturing, dark leve, white level, amount of color, tint of color, sharpness etc. $300+ tho.

[SatStorm]

@kidmegabit: With a athlon xp 1700 and 128MB ram, running w2k, I'm able to capture / edit and encode without any problems to mpeg 2 and mpeg 1.

RAM is good, but beyond 512MB I don't think that helps that much...

[kidmegabit]

Maybe for W2k 128 is fine but XP itself would and have eaten that much for lunch. XP likes its RAM, and I've seen computers come in my shop with only that much and only have 19mb left for other things/programs.

[lordsmurf]

If you run Windows XP and want a tip top performance, get 1GB of RAM. Anything beyond that generally goes unused. Most RAM activity on my Win XP systems is in the 300-800 range, no more, no less.

[Torrential]

If you run Windows XP and want a tip top performance, get 1GB of RAM. Anything beyond that generally goes unused. Most RAM activity on my Win XP systems is in the 300-800 range, no more, no less.

I agree. 1GB is the absolute minimum for XP to run smoothly, 512 might work for small things, but for heavy duty go 1GB.

EDIT: If you need to get a DVD Burner as well, I suggest you get a cheap ATI Capture-Only card, such as the ATI TV Wonder Pro (I used to have that-great card). Get a DVD Burner and if you can, upgrade your RAM to atleast 512. The ATI Card can capture MPEG and AVI, so if your source is noisy you can capture in AVI format, and use a noise filter, such as TMPGEnc's filter.

[SatStorm]

Yet another reason NOT to use winXP then!

I always suggest win2K for our hobbie. And you can buy second hand w2k really - really cheap those days!!!

[lordsmurf]

I had Windows 2000 until software started to demand XP. I still don't see why they did that. Adobe is the main criminal here.

[SatStorm]

Officially, windows 2000 stop being supported by M$ earlier this year. The reason is that M$ has a internal rule not to support software older than 5 years.
Seems like adobe rushed and followed...

I want to see M$ next year, when winXP turn 5 years old....

[saggitarius]

I agree. 1GB is the absolute minimum for XP to run smoothly, 512 might work for small things, but for heavy duty go 1GB.

Been using XP Pro with only 512 MB DDR400 ram on my Athlon3200 for QUALITY captures for almost 2 yrs now. Using a WinFast TV Tuner card for that too, using Huffy codec.

The only thing you really need is HUGE hard drive space, capturing VHS can take up alot of space, especially if you neeed to heavily edit your footage. My VHS captures take 30G for 1 hour of tape (capturing at 640x480 with Huffy codec and PCM stereo Audio 48K, AVI final output) , I then use TMPGEnc to compress and convert to SVCD spec. Gets that 30G down to just over 1G. I then feed 4 or 5 of these into DVDLab, create a DVD with menus. As long as I don't go too much over the 5G mark, I will also run the final product thru DVDShrink, just to make it all fit. Think of SP LP and EP on VHS tapes and apply that to DVD. I am creating an EP DVD!!! If what I am capturing is high action, I will lower my compression and only get two movies at best.

Good luck with your project.