Another newbie needing advice

[Lewbie]

Just getting my feet wet in this area of video capturing. We all have to start somewhere. So you all will know my situation, I'll give a short list of the hardware I use: Dell 8100 (2001) Pen 4/1.3GHZ, 40GB HD 383mb RD RAM, 19" monitor, NEC 7900 CD Burner(2002) 32MB NVIDIA GForce2 MX video card, Santa Cruz (TB) sound card, THX surround sound speakers (5) OS- WinME

Video equipment: All 8mm Sony Camera, VCR all are analog. I started making videos long before the Hi8 and digital came on the scene. Dazzle Video Creator (1999)

Roxio CD Creator Plat. 5, Photoshop 6.0, Dazzle MovieStar (Just installed) many other graphics software, CoolEdit for music recording and editing.
Due to an extended period of medical problems I am just now getting around to serious effort of putting the hours and hours of video tape onto CD's for safe keeping.

I tried the Dazzle and the quality was not too good. After lots of question and forum reading, it was suggested I use a FireWire setup for better quality. I contacted several vendors and each suggested a different card, software, etc. I have read this forum a few times to help with the learning process so I decided to get some expert advice from those here on this board. One suggested the Pinnacle Studio Deluxe

http://www.computervideogear.com/digital_video_capture_card/pinnacle-studio-deluxe.htm

My real question is this: Since all of my video stuff is analog, is it possible to go to a Firewire setup and get the same results as if the source was digital? If this is possible and worthwhile, then all I need at this point is a
Firewire enabled PCI card?

Any help will be greatly appreciated
Lew[/list]

[MOVIEGEEK]

My father uses Pinnacle Studio and has had great results with his
Sony DV camera.Firewire produces the best results and the pci card is included with software.

[xiaNaix]

You can't capture analog video with a regular firewire DV card unless, of course, you've got a DV camera. ;)

I just purchased the Pinnacle Studio Deluxe setup and am still in the process of testing it. So far, here are my findings...

It captures analog video (VHS, etc.) in full DV resolution of 720x480 with no dropped frames! The resulting file looks FANTASTIC and can be easily edited by just about any of the programs out there. I definately notice better quality than with MJPEG capture cards like the DC10+

You can only use the Studio software to capture. None of the other programs (avi_io, VirtualDub, Premiere, etc.) will see the analog end of the capture card. I hope Pinnacle comes up with a solution for this, as it would be nice to use one of the other programs instead. I *think* it would work for DV connections but I don't have any way to test it. All my stuff is analog.

Because the resulting AVI file is in DV format, the audio cannot be changed from 48000 Hz. You'll have to use another program to convert to 44000 Hz if you want to be VCD/SVCD compliant.

It comes with a program called Pinnacle Express which can encode/burn VCD/SVCD but the results weren't that good. I recommend TMPGEnc, LSX, or CCE if you're looking to archive stuff to disc.

Like I said, I'm still messing with it but, so far, I've been pleased with the results. As with any capture card, it's quite a process to get from VHS to VCD/SVCD but I like the Pinnacle because of the high capture quality. The better your original capture, the better the resulting encode will look.

[Lewbie]

Hi and thanks for the info.
Do I understand you that your old tapes are analog and at some time
purchased a Digital Camcorder and you use IT as your source? Will a digital unit play the older analog? Right now, I have a feeling that I can't get there from here. Without spending a lot of cash. If I was younger I
could maybe justify going the digital route but not at my age. I do have a Sony digital camera I use for stills that I want to put into a slide show or send with email. Have you experimented with making slide shows with the Studio?

If and when you have time, give me a step by step, what hardware, software, you use to get those great transfers. My tapes has not started to deteriorated yet. Of course, I don't play them that much plus I take great pains to store them correctly.

Since this forum is down sometimes, you can email directly at
LewBiano@aol.com

Thanks for your time and help
Lew

[_e_]

To: xiaNaix

What slot did you put your Pinnacle card in? Does it matter what slot? I just ordered one for 235! I can't wait to get it.!!!