Video capture from my VCR

[lizardfish]

Need some info on capturing video from my VCR to computer. Say from VCR to avi. Any recamendations for a video capture cards? Can I still use my AGP gaming card and use a PCI video capture card? Any suggestions on programs or software to use to do the capturing if softare dosen't come with the card?

[Gees]

When I read this after your other post a few minutes ago the best thing to tell you is to look in the Guides on this site for Capturing and Authoring.

You want to be doing quite a few things at once :c) but you need to go a step at a time.

Have a read and then if there's a particular question many people can help.

[pixel]

If you are planning on doing avi captures then re-encoding to your chosen format, any card will do. However, if you plan on starting to do MPEG captures, the card does matter; ATI all in wonders are given a lot of praise for this because it is not all dependant on the speed of your PC with these cards (they work with hybrid hardware and software encoding).

You should still be able to use your AGP gaming card and PCI capture card, although I think you may need to disable your AGP card when you wish to capture.

For doing plain old avi captures Virtualdub is free and generally considered pretty useful. As for other formats, eg. MPEG 2, the software that comes with the card is generally better for this as it is designed specifically for that card.

[ImaWeTodd]

I'd say slow down and know what you are trying to do before you spend a bunch of cash. These things only get cheaper and better, you know.

If you have for example, a goal of say putting 100+ old vhs onto dvd, and you don't care about the quality, then ask for a good method.

If you just want to learn capture, then read, read, read.


PS: You should probably tackle getting the video out (dvd,vcd,svcd,xcard divx) before you add a complicated way of getting video in.

[chrisa]

Hi. just been doing the same thing myself. For what its worth, here is my advice.

Forget internal cards. Buy Adaptec's VideOH box. This is a usb device that plugs into your pc, and your VCR.

This grabs the video signal and puts onto your pc as an AVI file.

You then need to convert to MPeg 1 (VCD) or Mpeg 2(SVCD). My suggestion for this is to use TMPEGenc.

Finally, I have found that best prog for burning to CD - with simple menus - is Nero Vision Express.

Hope you get on ok, and if you have any other questions on the above method, you can either post here, or email me direct. No problem.

[burnmaster2003]

I use Adaptec Video OH PCI capture card with Snazzi's Movie Mill software. Movie Mill is a free download and works perfectly with the card. With this card and Movie Mill you can capture your VCR signal in several formats. The card is a true DVD MPEG2 video capture device. To make a DVD movie, with menus, of your captured VCR tapes, I use Ulead Movie Factory, version 1 or 2. Just make sure you download and install all the available updates. Hope this helps.

[luvvbuzz]

i use winfast xp2000 deluxe capture card, it works brilliant. it captures mpeg 1 and mpeg2 and straight to dvd if you want it to. i dont have any probs with it, the capture software it comes with is very easy to use and gives great results. i use ulead mf2 to author my dvds though as its got some great menu options and stuff. also the winfast capture card have a built in radio reciever which lets listen to radio on your computer and capture it straight to wav form.

[lizardfish]

Many thanks for everyone's advice. I have found everything to be very useful. Although I do agree I really should learn to crawl before I walk. Perhaps I am getting a little a head of myself.

Thanks again to all.