vhs to vcd question

[mud]

i just found my old Pinnacle PC TV Rave. its a TV tuner wherein i can connect my VCR and watch my VHS tapes.

are there any other programs to capture my VHS tapes into MPG format? i tried using the software that came with the hardware but totally clueless on how to make it work. pls advise. thanks! i'd prefer freeware programs

help!

[macleod]

if you are wanting a straight to mpg format, off the top of my head, I cannot think of any TRULY free software choices, only AVI ones, like virtualdub.

From my experience, the best cheap mpeg real time encoder is powervcrII, which you can get new on ebay for $10-15. Have you looked on the tools section on the left of this site for capture programs?

[fmctm1sw]

Look here.....

http://www.vcdhelp.com/mjpeg.htm

[Rigo]

there is no way to capture direct to mpeg,correct? because the guide above in the link tech how to capture to get an avi file,then need to be convert to mpeg...I don't think is possible to capture direct to mpeg,can someone add any comment?
thanks.

[fmctm1sw]

there is no way to capture direct to mpeg,correct? because the guide above in the link tech how to capture to get an avi file,then need to be convert to mpeg...

I think the concensus is that is the best way to do it. There are MPEG 1 encoders, both software and hardware. You can check out the software ones under the tools menu....

[macleod]

Rigo, in answer to your question again :

there is no way to capture direct to mpeg,correct?

was that powervcrII is a readtime software capture software. There are hardware ones (ads product).

You CAN capture directly to MPEG by using a product like powervcrII. I have a ATI TV wonder card (cheapy) and the software that comes with it captures directly to mpeg.


fmctm1sw's comment

I think the concensus is that is the best way to do it. There are MPEG 1 encoders, both software and hardware.

was right on the money. From the vast majority of people on the forum (my viewing of it anyway) was that you can capture realtime mpeg (depending on hardware,source, etc.), but that capturing in AVI and then converting will give you better results.

Me personally, I capture all of my TV shows and some VHS movies using powervcrII and the results are pretty decent (you can search through some of my previous posts to get the low down on that), but if you want to get better quality, go AVI and then reencode.

Short answer-powervcrII is a software based real time mpeg encoder.