VHS archive to DVD... i dunno shit

[zoranb]

PLZ DO NOT BE DISCOURIAGED BY THE LENGTH OF MY QUESTIONS!!
PLZ READ ON!! )

Heres my situation, i want to make DVDs out of my old VHS archive.
My PC has the following config.: Athlon 1ghz, 512RAM, 80+30GB HD,
WinXP sp1, Hercules 8500 128 LE, Firewire, RICOOH cdrw
and HITACHI DVDROM.
Theres also a lap top available at 2.4ghz P4, 40GB HD, Firewire,
USB2, DVD+CDRW, 256RAM.
Also i have a D8 SONY TRV 325E PAL camcorder.
And at work theres a Macintosh G4 with the SuperDrive (DVD-recorder).
So i think i have the solution of writing my videos on DVD there, but still
im not too sure that the MAC can write DVD videos that play on the pc DVDROMs successfully.
But one thing thats for sure is that i want to maintain maximum quality
from those old VHS tapes i have.
So here goes:

A. Is my computers configuration ok for not loosing any frames and in general not having any problems?

B. Can i use this Sony camcorder model (D8 SONY TRV 325E PAL) for the passthrough feature? Ive heard its output videos are mutch better than capturing from the VHSvideo using a capture card.

C. Someone mentioned that using the firewire port to transfer u get color washedout video, compared to the analogue capture from a capture card. Is that true?

D. I also dont know what application to use to capture the videos, i was told that ULEAD Media Studio Pro 7 is very good. But i have no tutorial for it. Does anyone have any tutorials or documentation that might help (the ones on this site are inadequate for my need to know?

E. While capturing, what are my options for the output video? Compressed uncompressed? Something else? And what are the advantages or disadvantages i think theres no editing ability for the compressed format.

F. How mutch space will i need for each 30min of continuous uncompressed video?

G. If theres anyone that can describe me in general terms the stages of how to make the capturing of VHS tapes and all the other stuff until i burn the final DVD (or SVCD or whatever for maintaining best quality) id really apreciate it.

[BKL]

A. If you are going to use the camcorder to convert from analog to DV, then either the laptop or the PC should be fast enough.
B. I am not familiar with your camcorder, but most Sony models will support pass-through. I use a Dazzle Hollywood DV-Bridge to covnert analog to DV to spare my Sony camcorder (Canopus makes a better product than the Dazzle unit!). Using the camcorder to convert to DV should give excellent performance with few, if any, dropped frames.
C. I haven't read anyhting about Firewire causing dark scenes, but I seem to experience this myself. Given the great quality of the video produced by using the analog to DV conversion process, I am still happy with the overall quality.
D. I use TMPGEnc to convert my DV to MPEG2 and I use Ulead DVD Movie Factory 2 to write my DVDs. Check Uleads site for trial versions of their software.
E./F. Using DV, you already have some compression. DV caps will require approximately 12.5G/hour of DV.
G. Check the Guide listings for good directions on this. As an aside, if you are using Ulead's newer products and the laptop, the CPU shpuld be fast enough to even let you capture straight to MPEG2 and require only about 2.5G/hour, although if you need to edit out commercials from your VHS tapes, you are probably better off going the full "capture in DV, edit and convert process". Hope this helps.

[dvnewbie]

Let me know if you find a way to make the passthrough work with the Sony camcorder. As I explained in another post in this forum, I find that every capture program I use causes the input to shift from the passthrough to the tape in the camcorder the moment I click "capture." I finally gave up and actually recorded the VHS tapes onto the tape in the camcorder, and then I could capture from the camcorder tape on the playback with no problem.

I've never noticed washed out colors or dark scenes with the firewire, but I have one warning. I have noticed colors that look dark and washed out when viewing a captured video on my computer, but found that when I burned the file onto a DVD and watched it on my television it looked great. I think it has something to do with the way the monitor programs work and the difference between the computer monitor and the television. If you do think your videos look bad, don't give up until you've seen them on a televison.

[dvnewbie]

One more tip. My computer came with a program called MyDVD. Most people on this board put it down because it doesn't have all the flexibility of the more advanced programs. However, for people like me (and maybe you) it works fine because of its ease of use. If all you are doing is transfering from a VHS without editing, it gives you one button to press and it does all the rest. I've been happy with the results. If you want to edit your videos, you'll need an editing program. I use Arcsoft Showbiz, also because it is simple and came with my computer.

[darkstar127]

PLZ DO NOT BE DISCOURIAGED BY THE LENGTH OF MY QUESTIONS!!
PLZ READ ON!! )

Heres my situation, i want to make DVDs out of my old VHS archive.
My PC has the following config.: Athlon 1ghz, 512RAM, 80+30GB HD,
WinXP sp1, Hercules 8500 128 LE, Firewire, RICOOH cdrw
and HITACHI DVDROM.
Theres also a lap top available at 2.4ghz P4, 40GB HD, Firewire,
USB2, DVD+CDRW, 256RAM.
Also i have a D8 SONY TRV 325E PAL camcorder.
And at work theres a Macintosh G4 with the SuperDrive (DVD-recorder).
So i think i have the solution of writing my videos on DVD there, but still
im not too sure that the MAC can write DVD videos that play on the pc DVDROMs successfully.
But one thing thats for sure is that i want to maintain maximum quality
from those old VHS tapes i have.
So here goes:

A. Is my computers configuration ok for not loosing any frames and in general not having any problems?

B. Can i use this Sony camcorder model (D8 SONY TRV 325E PAL) for the passthrough feature? Ive heard its output videos are mutch better than capturing from the VHSvideo using a capture card.

C. Someone mentioned that using the firewire port to transfer u get color washedout video, compared to the analogue capture from a capture card. Is that true?

D. I also dont know what application to use to capture the videos, i was told that ULEAD Media Studio Pro 7 is very good. But i have no tutorial for it. Does anyone have any tutorials or documentation that might help (the ones on this site are inadequate for my need to know?

E. While capturing, what are my options for the output video? Compressed uncompressed? Something else? And what are the advantages or disadvantages i think theres no editing ability for the compressed format.

F. How mutch space will i need for each 30min of continuous uncompressed video?

G. If theres anyone that can describe me in general terms the stages of how to make the capturing of VHS tapes and all the other stuff until i burn the final DVD (or SVCD or whatever for maintaining best quality) id really apreciate it.

For capturing the VHS to the computer, I use something from Canpus called ADVC-100. If you look on this board for capture devices and top user rated, its right there and with reason. Its one of the best capture devices out there. I hooked it up to my S-VHS via composite and S-Video cables. I captured the files to the hard drive and then use Vegas Video for editing and converting to DVD format. Once in DVD format, I use DVD architect to setup the VHS the way I want it to look on the DVD, then burn it.

My specs
Athlon XP 2100
512 mb Ram
2 - 80 GB hard drives raided 0+1 (drive is like 160GB drive after raid)
Firewire port
ADVC-100 (to capture video)
S-VHS (use a higher quality VHS device for better quality captures.)
DVD-R Pioneer 4X burner DVR-A05
DVD player to test out DVD's

[pijetro]

A) Your 'puter should be adequate. I'd firstly blame your tapes, cables and VCR for frame drops.

B) If you have a composite cable out, then most likely, there's passthrough. Not true about the capture cards' quality. It depends on the card, codec, and/or resolution you capture with. I'll put my ATI 64mb VIVO against any DV converter.

C) 'Dunno

D) Read their help files. I could have sworn they had a wizard that assists you as you go along?

E) Why do you concern with output video while capturing?? What are you getting at??

F) Depends on your resolution. When capping in YUY2 colourspace raw at 352x480, I get about 1.5 hours for 50gigs. You can do the math...For longer tapes I use Huffy codec, and get 3.5 hours for 50gigs.

G) If you're doing passthrough, then you're compression is already set (DV by the way).Use DVio, or Scenelyzer to capture.
If you're using a cap card, then I suggest using 352x480, with uncompressed YUY2 colourspace.
IF that's not realistic, then use Huffy compression (Its' native colourspace is YUY2 also).

If you wanna go through Ulead, then put all your transitions and effects, and output as an
MPG file..Use that same .MPG to authour with DVDLab..I personally burn with Nero Express. Works fine for me.
As far as quality goes, that depends on how much you wanna fit on the disk. You'll need the bitrate calculator in the tools section <<. The advantage of capping at 352x480, is that it takes advantage of the lower bitrates when encoding for .MPG.
I find that anything below 4500 kbits/s takes a shit kicking. You should get 1.5 hours of
excellent quality of video if you use compressed audio within your final .MPG..

Zivio!!!!!!