inexpenisve video capture card for ld player

[whitelighter]

Hello -
I recently acquired a laserdisc which I would like to rip onto my hard drive, rather than transfer it to a dvd, but I've never done this before. I do know I need a video capture card, but if the laserdisc has copyright protection, would this even be possible? I'd like to find this out before investing in a capture card, but I'm not sure how to tell. It is the extended version of "Dead Poets Society". I'd also hate to spend alot of money on a card since I need it primarily just for this one movie (but who knows, I may come across some other rare ld's I want to rip). I found this used video capture card on amazon that's pretty cheap, but don't want to buy it if it's just a piece of junk: http://www.amazon.com/Pinnacle-135STDDVN-Systems-Studio-DV/dp/B00001OPIZ/ref=sr_1_1?ie...3268147&sr=1-1 . If anyone can give me some advice I'd appreciate it, though I'm basically an amateur at this sort of thing and am not familiar with alot of technical terms. I have a Pioneer LD-V4000. Thanks.

[wulf109]

This might be an easier choice.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815153009

[vhelp]

I thought you had a lot of discs to do, but since this boards baloons only capture the first 255 chars, I only read so much before I assume and started typing away a bunch of stuff. So, i'll spare you that, and only say this much..

Since you're only doing one disc, just find something dirt cheap and be done with it. Perhaps something hardware like hauppauge mpeg-2 pvr-250/350 cards. This is film, so you may be able to restore back to 24p rather then the 30i it is in when you capture it. An ivtc application may help increase your results.

Don't worry about copy protection on laserdiscs, they don't exist for that medium.

-vhelp 5370

[yoda313]

Don't worry about copy protection on laserdiscs, they don't exist for that medium.

Are you sure they don't employ macrovision at all? I don't have any experience with laserdisc personally but I'd be suprised if they didn't have that much of a deterrent on it.

[16mmJunkie]

Don't worry about copy protection on laserdiscs, they don't exist for that medium.

Are you sure they don't employ macrovision at all? I don't have any experience with laserdisc personally but I'd be suprised if they didn't have that much of a deterrent on it.

No Laserdisc had Macrovision, as that part of the vertical blanking interval (which is where Macrovision exists) is used for other purposes on laserdiscs (to control the player with automatic "pause" and "play"commands).


If the Light ain't Bright, It ain't Right!!

[edDV]

Are you trying to do a high quality capture?

Laserdisc is native composite. The quality you get will depend on the NTSC to YUV decoder in the capture device.

If you just want an average transfer, name your budget.

[whitelighter]

Ok, thanks, that helps alot. The one Wulf suggested looks like a good choice - it got reasonably good reviews. Guess I might as well check the used bookstore for other rare ld's too while I'm at it - it'd be a shame to use it for only one.

[Noahtuck]

Don't worry about copy protection on laserdiscs, they don't exist for that medium.

Are you sure they don't employ macrovision at all? I don't have any experience with laserdisc personally but I'd be suprised if they didn't have that much of a deterrent on it.

Yep, that was one nice thing about LD's back in the day, no copy protection
I still pick up LD's that were never released on DVD to transfer to DVD, or version's they changed and screwed up when they finally did release them on DVD.

I remember going into retail video stores to pick up LD's and they would have aisles & aisles of Laser Disc's, and they were not cheap like DVD's are today!!

[whitelighter]

Well, I got a Diamond VC500 Video Capture Card since I have several more ld's now. I'm an amateur at this so much of the technical terminology is greek to me. The card came with red, yellow, and white cords attached to it. I plugged them into the corresponding cords hooked to the ld player There was another cord attached to the card which I couldn't find a matching port for on the ld player. When I pressed the record button , I was promped on the screen to select one of several formats, but didn't know which to use so I selected the default. When I played back what I recorded, I just got a black screen. If anyone assit me in layman's I'd really appreciate it.

[edDV]

Well, I got a Diamond VC500 Video Capture Card since I have several more ld's now. I'm an amateur at this so much of the technical terminology is greek to me. The card came with red, yellow, and white cords attached to it. I plugged them into the corresponding cords hooked to the ld player There was another cord attached to the card which I couldn't find a matching port for on the ld player. When I pressed the record button , I was promped on the screen to select one of several formats, but didn't know which to use so I selected the default. When I played back what I recorded, I just got a black screen. If anyone assit me in layman's I'd really appreciate it.

What were the record format choices?

That device hardware encodes to MPeg2 or MPeg4. Max quality shoul be MPeg2 @ >8000 Kbps. Try that first. Then try MPeg2 at lower bit rates (e.g. 4800 Kbps would put 2 hours on a DVD), then try MPeg 4 at around 3000 Kbps and compare. A standard DVD requires MPeg2. See https://www.videohelp.com/dvd

[whitelighter]

OK, thanks. The choices are: DVD, SVCD, VCD, MG4, avi, wmv, wma, mp3. If I understand you correctly, MG4 is the best choice of these. Under the video tab it give several options for video format: NTCS_M, NTCS_M_J, PAL_BDHIG, PAL_M, PAL_N, SECAM_BDGHK, SECAM_L, plus there are two choices for output source: Composite and S-video.

If anyone could tell me which to select in any of the categories I'd really appreciate it.

Last night when I tried this it seemed to take forever. Does anyone have a general idea how long this should take? Also, before I try this, I want to be sure there's no danger of erasing what's on the LD.

[RWANDREWS]

Is is impossible to erase anything on a LD.

bob A

[edDV]

DVD needs to be MPeg2.

You are in the USA right?

If so, choose DVD, NTSC-M and composite. There should be another setting for quality or bit rate.

[whitelighter]

Yes I'm in the U.S. Ok, I think I have it on the correct settings (I'm saving it as a wp4 since I want it as a file, not a dvd). Just a couple more things -
- Recording seems to be taking forever. Does anyone know approximately how long it takes?
- What does the counter at the bottom of the screen mean? It can't be the length of video in minutes that's been recorded.
- Does it matter if the ld player is on or off during this?
- Does the card capture both sides of the ld or do I have to turn it over to get side 2?

Thanks for walking me thru this. Hopefully I'll get the hang of this soon.

[usually_quiet]

The capture has to be done while the laser disc is playing. If it is a 2 sided disc you have to stop, turn over the disc and play the other side. The minimum time required equals the duration of the movie plus enough time to flip the disc and start up again.

Whatever video format you choose, you are going to need to edit the capture to remove unwanted parts of the recording, and possibly join two pieces together for a double-sided laser disc.

MPEG-2 is still a good format for capture even if you aren't going to make a DVD. There are several good, inexpensive or free tools for working with MPEG-2 video.

MPEG-4 files are smaller but not as many tools are available to edit it. AviDemux is one, though I have never tried it. I only work with MPEG-2 video because that is the format used for my recorded TV shows, and I do put some of them on DVD.