capturing and converting vhs to dvd

[cygnus]

Hi,

I'm sorry if this has been discussed a billion times on this forum - I've tried looking through the forums but there is so much information that I am getting confused.

I am trying to find the best way to capture vhs and convert to dvd.

I can capture just fine with my pinnacle and studio 8, but I am reading everywhere that virtualdub is best for capture - problem is it doesn't recognise my capture device, even though I have installed the appropriate wrapper.

Is there anyway I can achieve my goal to put vhs on dvd? Also, are there any decent tutorials out there which will help me convert the avi file (which incidentally I cannot even open up in virtualdub!) so that I can then burn everything to dvd?

TIA

[overloaded_ide]

Yes for almost everything!

Look in the guides section. You should find much more info there than I could type

I don't know your setup, but there is a guide for almost everything!

[cygnus]

Hi,

I've found the guides - so basically I can just capture with the pinnacle studio 8 and then convert to mpeg2 with tmpgenc, then burn to dvd with nero, am I right?

What about the capture issue with virtualdub, do I even need to bother with it?

My system info is on my profile.

Thanks.

[housepig]

the main reasons you're going to see a lot about Virtualdub is because it's a powerful, fast, versitle and FREE program - it's an essential part of the toolkit, I use it a lot.

I don't use it for capturing, though, because it doesn't like my card.

I would say that if you are happy with the quality and settings you get with your Pinnacle software, keep using it. Grab a copy of Virtualdub anyway, because at some point you're going to want to grab a frame as an image, or do some fine editing, or reencode, or strip out a wav file, and it's like having a Swiss Army knife - it'll do a hell of a lot.

[cygnus]

Another problem I am having with virtualdub is that I can't import any avi file that I have captured using the pinnacle studio 8.

I have tried to update studio 8 from the pinnacle site, but then during the instal, it says it can't open up a dekko file (or something of that nature) and the whole thing quits, so I can't even update the pinnacle software, if that is possibly causing the problem!

[overloaded_ide]

Yep first thing you'll have to do is the capture
Look for guides and info about using your capture device.
I don't have your type, I use ATI AIW so I can't help on your capture card.
But look to see what kind of settings you have available and in the guides to see which you need to use.

The next step depends really how you captured the file and what you want to do. If you have an AVI, you need a program to open it if you want to edit it.

If you want to go straight to DVD without editing, other than maybe cutting comercails, you need to convert the AVI to a mpeg2 file.
Tmpgenc Plus seems to be what most people like for this.

Once you have your mpeg2 file you then need a program to author it into a DVD. DVD's contain 2 folders AUDIO_TS (normally empty) and VIDEO_TS ( contains files .bup .ifo .vobs) Your authoring program makes these for you. I like Tmpgenc DVD author myself, though there are many others.

Myself I am happy with the results I am getting with my method.
I skip the AVI stuff all together! Perhaps you can too, perhaps not?

I capture directly to mpeg2 with my ATI AIW 7500, then I open that mpeg2 file with Tmpgenc DVD Author. There I cut anything I want to get rid of, add chapters, create menu's and let the program make the files to the hard drive.

I use Power DVD to watch the DVD on the hard Drive to make sure it's how I want it (if I did fancy stuff like motion menus).
Then I use the burner in Tmpgenc DVD author to burn the disk, or sometimes I burn with nero (not often).

My DVDs look the same as the tapes did, in some ways they seem to look better even. Of course the old saying of garbage in garbage out somewhat applies! VHS in, VHS quality out, though you can do various things to it, you never really get better than your source.

If you are doing AVI captures you have a few extra steps to get up to where I start, but you may get better results in the end, though I am quite happy with mine.

[pijetro]

Can I take a correct guess that you're capturing (transferring) a DV source??

If the answer is "Yes", then you'll have problems with Vdub, as it won't recognize your capture device. Along with that, you'll need to install a codec (search Panasonic DV), to view the .AVI in Vdub. As it was mentioned above, if you're not dropping frames, then it shouldn't matter what capture software you're using. If you can, try to capture in DV type 2 wherever possible....

Good luck......