What software do I need to convert VHS to DVD?

[raccoonone]

I have a lot of VHSs that I would like to convert to DVDs, I looked through the Capture Card database and the Canopus ADVC110 sounded like it was a good device (feel free to recommend something cheaper, if it'll serve my needs). But what I don't understand is what software I need. I read a couple of guides and all of them say to use like 5 different programs. Can I just buy one program that will allow me to Capture, Edit and Encode the video? and then buy something like Nero to burn the DVD?

[Dr. DOS]

The capture card you choose should have a built in MPEG encoder ... that will capture your videos direct to DVD compliant MPEG files.

More than likely the capture device you choose will provide a decent capture tool. Some even offer a "Direct to Disk" function. Capture straight to DVD.

If you do capture to MPEG's the DVD authoring program you choose is up to you. Nero, ULead are a few that have performed well.

[solarfox]

Yes, there are all-in-ones that will let you do that. ULead Video Studio is one; ULead Media Studio Pro is another. (MSP is my own program of choice, due to its many advanced editing and post-production features, but at $300+ it's a little pricey for the average user. I believe they still offer a downloadable free trial from their site, though, where you can try it out for something like 15 or 30 days.)

However, the downside to most all-in-ones, especially the less-expensive consumer-level packages, is that they typically have only a limited set of features and options, and often aren't as good as the programs which focus specifically on one aspect of the process. Which approach is better depends on what you're trying to accomplish, how good (or bad) your source material is, and what final quality of output you find acceptable.

[raccoonone]

The capture card you choose should have a built in MPEG encoder ... that will capture your videos direct to DVD compliant MPEG files.

More than likely the capture device you choose will provide a decent capture tool. Some even offer a "Direct to Disk" function. Capture straight to DVD.

If you do capture to MPEG's the DVD authoring program you choose is up to you. Nero, ULead are a few that have performed well.

If I capture to MPEG I can't edit it though, right?

Re: solarfox, thanks. I don't need anything fancy. all I want to do is convert some home VHS and back-up some VHS that I own. basicly I just need to convert them to DVDs and add a menu for scene selection.

[loster]

simple cuts can be made with something like videoredo and mpeg video wizard dvd will do more complex effets

[raccoonone]

Thanks, I'll take a look at those. Oh ya, one other thing is that easy to use software would be a big plus, since my mom (who's not great with computers) will be doing most of the converting. I'll just be helping her get setup and learn how to use the software. Are any of those particularly newbie friendly?

[FulciLives]

Thanks, I'll take a look at those. Oh ya, one other thing is that easy to use software would be a big plus, since my mom (who's not great with computers) will be doing most of the converting. I'll just be helping her get setup and learn how to use the software. Are any of those particularly newbie friendly?

I suggest a stand alone DVD recorder ... nothing computer related will be as easy as this. For editing needs make sure you get a model that has a built-in HDD. I suggest the Pioneer DVR-640H-s although some think that the Toshiba RD-XS35 is a bit better but my personal first choice would be the Pioneer based on the fact that I have experience with it and can say that the quality of the unit is most excellent (also I think a bit easier to use than the Toshiba based on Toshiba owner user reports).

Only problem ... other than perhaps the price tag ... is that you may encounter some copy protection issues. Using a simple device such as this (CLICK HERE) should allow you to copy just about any commercial VHS video that does have copy protection.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[raccoonone]

I think I'd rather go with a capture device + software, I'm trying to keep to a budget of ~$300. Right now I'm looking at getting the ADVC110 and Ulead Video Studio

[FulciLives]

I think I'd rather go with a capture device + software, I'm trying to keep to a budget of ~$300. Right now I'm looking at getting the ADVC110 and Ulead Video Studio

What you have to realize is that the computer method can be very complicated especially if you are going to use the Canopus ADVC-110 as that only captures in DV AVI and then requires software MPEG-2 encoding.

It can be a very daunting process for a video newbie even if experienced with computers and if not experienced with computers ... it's a disaster.

Since you mentioned MOM I figured I'd give you the easy-to-do solution.

Both DVD recorders I mentioned are above the $300 mark but not by much. I think the Toshiba is around $325 whereas the Pioneer can be got for $350 or so. Since these models have a built-in HDD you really don't need anything more.

However if you decide you want to edit and re-author on the computer then you would only need TMPGEnc DVD Author as it can import from a DVD-RW and edit and author all in one software package. It is also very easy-to-use.

If you go with the Canopus ADVC-110 you need a program that can edit DV AVI and then a separate MPEG-2 DVD spec encoder and then separate DVD Authoring software and buring software and blah blah blah

In short it is a LONG list of software that is needed ... it is a multi-step process ... requires a lot of trail and error and learning to do new things ... it is very hard to do correctly especially for a computer newbie.

Unless you really want to do extensive editing (like moving things around and doing a lot of pacing type editing) and/or "special effects" like text and graphics overlayed on the video or whatnot ... well if you are going to do all that then the computer method is the way to go. Just don't expect it to be easy to do.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[raccoonone]

hmm, ok maybe I should rethink this. Will there be much difference in quality if I use one of those DVD Recorders vs. a capture device? And do they have any way to split the VHS into a new scene like every 15min. All I really need to do is turn the VHSs into DVDs with a new scene every ~15min so that navigation is easier.

Thanks for all the help guys, I really appreciate it.

[FulciLives]

hmm, ok maybe I should rethink this. Will there be much difference in quality if I use one of those DVD Recorders vs. a capture device? And do they have any way to split the VHS into a new scene like every 15min. All I really need to do is turn the VHSs into DVDs with a new scene every ~15min so that navigation is easier.

Thanks for all the help guys, I really appreciate it.

You can usually set chapters in increments of 5 minutes or 10 minutes or 15 minutes etc. and some let you put them in right where you want them to be i.e., you put it in manually. I know the Pioneer can work like that.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[lacywest]

... or you can try out a Panasonic DVD Recorder DMR-EH50

I have four of them and I am currently only using two of them ... the other two are ... just in case. One in my bedroom and one in my living room. My TV in my bedroom is a Panasonic 42" Plasma HD ... just got it a few weeks ago ... in Jan 2007

Very nice ... I am very pleased ... image looks just fine on my Sony 51" HI-DEF TV ... in my living room. They have a 100 GB Hard Drive in them ... not a 80 GB. I bought one at Circuit City and the other 3 on Ebay ... nothing has gone wrong with any of them.

http://reviews.cnet.com/Panasonic_DMR_EH50/4505-6463_7-31310134.html?tag=return

Here is one on EBAY ... I have no idea who this person is.

Starting bid: US $230.00

Buy It Now >>> price: US $265.00

http://cgi.ebay.com/Panasonic-DVD-Recorder-DMR-EH50_W0QQitemZ160081406854QQihZ006QQcat...em160081406854

[thecoalman]

What you have to realize is that the computer method can be very complicated especially if you are going to use the Canopus ADVC-110 as that only captures in DV AVI and then requires software MPEG-2 encoding.

It can be a very daunting process for a video newbie even if experienced with computers and if not experienced with computers ... it's a disaster.

I'd have to disagree with that, IMO opinion editing MPEG is a disaster waiting to happen for the Newbie. :P

Only benefit IMO with MPEG capture is speed. The canopus is excellent choice and if you want to archive the material DV-AVI is preferable to MPEG (this will require an extensive amount of harddrive space). The process using Video Studio is really not that hard at all, like any software there is alearning curve but it's fairly easy to use. About the only gripe I would have about VS is the limited authoring that it can do but for basic stuff it's more than enough.

[lacywest]

Using Canopus DV-AVI capture will eat up about 26 gigs for a 2 hour movie

[thecoalman]

Using Canopus DV-AVI capture will eat up about 26 gigs for a 2 hour movie

Yes but external harddrives aren't exactly really expensive and dropping in price all the time, if it's within someone's budget my advice would be to avoid capturing and archiving as MPEG.

[Marvingj]

raccoonone__ instead of getting Canopus ADVC110 why not ADVC300 employs advanced 3D Y/C separation, 3D noise reduction and Line Time Base Correction (LTBC) functions for perfect frame synchronization. Poor analog source video is filtered and stabilized prior to DV conversion. ADVC300 is also ideal for “cleaning” old analog video and output back to analog tape. Plus its only 100.00 difference. Can get one at Outpost.com 279.99. I would go with Sonic Foundry Vegas 4.0 +DVD( it has a learning Curve). A little expensive but under $ 450 for both & great looking Video..

[jameshgross]

raccoonone, I have converted over 200 VHS tapes to DVD using the following:
VCR --> Hauppauge Win PVR USB --> computer HD. Then edit with WOMBLE, author with
TMPGEnc DVD Author 1.6.
The reason that I use the Hauppauge product is because Hauppauge has a hardware MPEG encoder - this relieves the cpu of the task of running a SW encoder.
Hauppauge supplies a nice set of tools including WINTV2000 see their web site for more information.
Their new dual tuner HDTV PCI card looks very nice.
Lets us know what you decide to do.

[louthewiz]

I think using a dvd recorder is the easiest way.

[Bjs]

For under $100 , and mpeg1 / mpeg2 editing package , and newbie safe with much more feature's than other's :

This card ... dose not have the associated issue's other cards develope ... it works first time , all the time .

http://www.aver.com/2005home/product/videocapture/ezmakerpci/ezmakerpci.shtml

Pickup ulead videostudio 9 SE in ebay for less than $25.00 ... I said SE , not the full fledged one .

There you have a decent starter's package , with good quality capture (higher than some I could name) , and your current system / cpu will have no problem's with speed .

All you need is to throw a few rca cable's , one rca double joiner , and one rca to stereo minihead phone jack to connect vcr to pc capture device ... slap in the tape and record .

Then consider adding some of the better freeware for creativity ... most found here in the tool's section .

-------------------

The hauppauge win pvr usb retails in au for $349.00 ... nice , but no thanks

[FulciLives]

Well I guess my point is this ... if you want to do a lot of VHS to DVD without all of the "issues" and without the rather high "learning curve" then you simply cannot beat using a stand alone DVD recorder and if you get a model with a built-in HDD then really that is all you need ... computer not even really needed.

Even if you want to use the computer to re-author then again the stand alone DVD recorder makes the recording simple and easy-to-do. Record to a DVD-RW or DVD+RW and RIP it to the computer. Then use TMPGEnc DVD Author to create a custom menu and chapters and even edit if need be. Again a pretty simple and easy-to-use program. Also really the only thing you need on the computer (software wise) if you intend to re-author something from a stand alone DVD recorder.

Now I'm not saying that computer capture is crap ass ... but it does require a bit of skill ... especially if using something like the Canopus ADVC-110 which will require a software MPEG-2 DVD spec encoding after capture. In short the computer method is full of multiple steps with many pitfalls along the way. I don't see it as a good solution these days when quality stand alone DVD recorders exist. I mean sure there are some instances where one might favor the computer method but my point is this ... one of them is NOT ease-of-use LOL

I guess I should point out that not all stand alone DVD recorders are of equal value (i.e., quality). I mentioned the Pioneer and Toshiba models for a reason. They are both the cream of the crop.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[thecoalman]

... one of them is NOT ease-of-use LOL

The workflow for using Video Studio would be identical whether you are using DV-AVI or MPEG so the learning curve is the same, probably sligthly sharper for MPEG.... Having a quick look at TMPgenc DVD Author it doesn't appear to have any editing features at all which the op mentioned he wanted to do. So if the OP wants to edit the footage he still has to import it into an editor which brings up a host of issues if he's using MPEG as a source, most importantly making sure the video isn't being reencoded at the top of the list. So that pretty much leaves him with using VS anyway or getting an additonal native MPEG editor...

If you want to go right to disk and speed is your goal MPEG is great but otherwise it's not worth it.

I don't know what you mean by "issues" of capturing to DV-AVI, it's about as simple and straight forward as it can be. You plug the ADVC in and start capturing. Unless you have some absolute horrendous material you get a flawless capture each and every time, you would have to purposely screw it up for it to come out bad.

[FulciLives]

... one of them is NOT ease-of-use LOL

The workflow for using Video Studio would be identical whether you are using DV-AVI or MPEG so the learning curve is the same, probably sligthly sharper for MPEG.... Having a quick look at TMPgenc DVD Author it doesn't appear to have any editing features at all which the op mentioned he wanted to do. So if the OP wants to edit the footage he still has to import it into an editor which brings up a host of issues if he's using MPEG as a source, most importantly making sure the video isn't being reencoded at the top of the list. So that pretty much leaves him with using VS anyway or getting an additonal native MPEG editor...

If you want to go right to disk and speed is your goal MPEG is great but otherwise it's not worth it.

What ?!?!?!

First of all TMPGEnc DVD Author supports editing. It does it very well in fact. No re-encoding will happen (other than at the edit points which all MPEG editors do ... even MPEG-VCR and VideoRedo). Granted I don't know everything there is to know about video but MPEG-2 DVD spec encoding is pretty basic and TMPGEnc DVD Author is very popular around here so even if you don't use it yourself ... well for someone that has been around as long as you ... this should be common knowledge.

So your comments about using TMPGEnc DVD Author are wrong making everything you said above incorrect i.e., not valid.

I don't know what you mean by "issues" of capturing to DV-AVI, it's about as simple and straight forward as it can be. You plug the ADVC in and start capturing. Unless you have some absolute horrendous material you get a flawless capture each and every time, you would have to purposely screw it up for it to come out bad.

Sure it is easy to capture to DV AVI using the Canopus ADVC-110 but what about after that? First you have to edit so you need a decent DV AVI editor. Then you need to learn to demux so you can deal with the audio separately (assuming you want AC-3 instead of PCM WAV which is almost a given). Then you have to learn the in's and out's of software MPEG-2 DVD spec encoders before you can finally put it all together in a DVD Authoring software.

Is it easy? Well not for some if not many of us who deem this our hobby if you will but for the average person ... especially someone without a "high" degree of computer literacy ... well the computer method can be hard to "master". It doesn't help that many software programs don't work as well as they could or should not to mention how so many of the hardware capture devices are shit to begin with (with the Canopus ADVC-110 being one of the best I know but still many hardware capture devices are garbage).

Maybe I'm not giving enough credit to raccoonone and/or his mother but it is hard to argue that my method is hard or lacking in quality. If anything it is easy to do and with a good stand alone DVD recorder will yield excellent quality. To top it off it will be MUCH faster than the computer method.

Granted there are a lot of pluses to using DV AVI when it comes to "advanced editing" and manipulation of the image with filters and special effects and what-not but the process has many pitfalls in order to get things "just right" and even when you know what you are doing it is a LONG process. It does give you more options and depending on what you are doing you can eek out a bit more quality perhaps but the learning curve is severe and not everyone wants to deal with it OR they end up taking "short cuts" that hurt the quality ... in which case why bother to do the computer method at all?

Let us not forget that in the end it boils down to this:

Thanks, I'll take a look at those. Oh ya, one other thing is that easy to use software would be a big plus, since my mom (who's not great with computers) will be doing most of the converting. I'll just be helping her get setup and learn how to use the software. Are any of those particularly newbie friendly?

The emphasis above it my own to illustrate why I am making the recommendation that I am.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[thecoalman]

Sure it is easy to capture to DV AVI using the Canopus ADVC-110 but what about after that? First you have to edit so you need a decent DV AVI editor. Then you need to learn to demux so you can deal with the audio separately (assuming you want AC-3 instead of PCM WAV which is almost a given). Then you have to learn the in's and out's of software MPEG-2 DVD spec encoders before you can finally put it all together in a DVD Authoring software.

I think what it comes down to is neither of us famialiar with the other product... As I said it doesn't appear that it did, I just took a quick look. Anyhow moving onto your statement above it is:

incorrect i.e., not valid.

At least as far as the Ulead products are concerned, for the newbie it's quite simple and once they learn it's has many advanced editing features they can take advantage of. Anyhow using VS the basic workflow would be something like this:

1. Capture
2. Import the footage to the timeline regardless of format.
3. Make your edits and add transitions etc.
4. Create you menus and burn to disc.

The MPEG settings can be determined either right at the start or changed at any time. Either using a preset for the newbie or whatever custom settings you want. On a side note VS will even allow you to export non-compliant MPEG files if you wanted but it won't allow you to use it for a DVD for the obvious reasons. AC3 is not an issue because it has native AC3 encoding. It does use a version of Mainconcepts encoder so the results are quite good.

Using VS in combination with the ADVC or practically any video source for that matter would have no more of learning curve than anything else, I would suggest less. It's set up to guide you through the process. Step 1, step 2 etc. It is quite easy to use, you should download the trial and give it a try. I think you might be quite suprised at the features it has and how easy it is to use.