Computer too slow, or bad software?

[shannonb]

Hi,
I am very new at this and could use some help. I am trying to convert some VHS tapes to VCDs with chapters. I don't need anything spectacular, and high quality is not necessary. I bought a Dazzle DV 80 capture card (despite the bad reviews on this site) because it sounded like it would work for what I needed. I am able to capture video and audio fine on my computer using the included software (videoWave 4), but when I try to convert it to an MPEG using the "produce" command, it tells me that I don't have enough memory. I have a Pentium II processor with 192 MB RAM and 7.46 GB hard disk space. More than half of that disk space is free.

My question is how much space do these MPEGs take up? (I was only trying to convert about 30s of video as a trial run, and couldn't even do that). I was wondering if I truly didn't have enough space (or enough power in my computer) or if it was crappy software that was included (one of the complaints on the review board).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, so I know whether I need to return the capture card and get a better one, or get a better computer!

Thanks,
Shannon

[bugster]

Try taking the .avi file output from your capture and convert to mpeg with TmpGenc. Its a bit slow but has low memory requirements and can produce great quality. Get it from the tools section on the left.