VHS to DVD part II

[cesarin]

ok its almost ready, next week i will have my new pc done, and of course i will start or at least try to capture all my vhs collection to dvd, ive read, and read and i think (or hope) i got what i takes to do that... but (as always) there is a little problem i havent been able to solve... ive seen the guides posted in here about how to do the whole proces of converting vhs to dvd and for what i saw none of them are specific (yes, im slow...)
so would anyone here please tell me what should i do after i got my pc in front of me... i mean, i need a little details about what should i do first, the order of the process, capture,editing,convert,author,burn (hope its correct) i got some guides but they wont be as specifics as others, so i guess the question is, am i missing something here? (of course you idiot ), well if you think you understand what i need and you have the time, then please do it but do it the babysteps way well thxx and i hope to hear from you soon...

[pijetro]

Are you getting an upgrade to your current specs?? If not, then you'll need a dedicated capture device that turns your VHS material, into digitized information for your computer to read..

Check on the left hand side for capture cards. Most people on the forum rave about Canopus advc-100...

That was step 1):

capture,editing,convert,author,burn (hope its correct)

Yep, so far, so good, now keep on reading . If you get into specific problems, then write back

Good luck!!!

[jimmalenko]

capture,editing,convert,author,burn

That's it.

[rhegedus]

What capture hardware will you have?

[cesarin]

Are you getting an upgrade to your current specs?? If not, then you'll need a dedicated capture device that turns your VHS material, into digitized information for your computer to read..

Check on the left hand side for capture cards. Most people on the forum rave about Canopus advc-100...

That was step 1):

capture,editing,convert,author,burn (hope its correct)

Yep, so far, so good, now keep on reading . If you get into specific problems, then write back

Good luck!!!

well thxx for answer and no, im not getting an upgrade of my machine, im actually working in my sisters, next week ill have my own: P IV: 3.4Ghz,MOBO asus, 2Gb ram, 2 HD 200Gb each, and someone mentioned the Hauppauge PVR-250 or PVR-350 cards series for capturing, i know theyre expensive but ive been saving money and dont mind paying good money for good stuff... aniway if i run into problems (im sure i will) i call you back!!!!

bye bye take care

[cesarin]

capture,editing,convert,author,burn

That's it.

thxxx

[FulciLives]

You might want to consider the Canopus ADVC-100 rather than the WinTV PVR-250/350

The Canopus ADVC-100 gives you more control in the long run.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[cesarin]

You might want to consider the Canopus ADVC-100 rather than the WinTV PVR-250/350

The Canopus ADVC-100 gives you more control in the long run.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

yeah ok but what you mean by long run???????

[FulciLives]

Well the WinTV PVR capture cards can ONLY do direct to MPEG-1/MPEG-2 encoding.

So you can't do a proper multi-pass VBR software encode ... editing becomes tricky ... all sorts of "issues".

With the Canopus ADVC-100 you capture direct to DV AVI format. Editing is VERY simple. You can then do a software MPEG-1/MPEG-2 encode using filters to help clean up the image. With longer material you can do a proper multi-pass VBR encode.

In short a capture device that captures to AVI format is easier to deal with in terms of editing and cleaning up the picture not to mention you have better control of the MPEG encoding via software such as TMPGEnc or CINEMA CRAFT ENCODER aka CCE BASIC

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[cesarin]

Well the WinTV PVR capture cards can ONLY do direct to MPEG-1/MPEG-2 encoding.

So you can't do a proper multi-pass VBR software encode ... editing becomes tricky ... all sorts of "issues".

With the Canopus ADVC-100 you capture direct to DV AVI format. Editing is VERY simple. You can then do a software MPEG-1/MPEG-2 encode using filters to help clean up the image. With longer material you can do a proper multi-pass VBR encode.

In short a capture device that captures to AVI format is easier to deal with in terms of editing and cleaning up the picture not to mention you have better control of the MPEG encoding via software such as TMPGEnc or CINEMA CRAFT ENCODER aka CCE BASIC

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

ok ill buy the Canopus ADVC-100 then...


thxx for the tip

[rhegedus]

I was going to suggest the Canopus as well, as I have one myself.

For beautiful captures with no frame loss of sync issues it has to be top of anyone's list of capture hardware.

However, if you like your life simple and don't want to worry about the finer points of encoding (or paying for the software), or would like a bit more for your money than an anolgue to digital converter, then maybe a Hauppauge would suite you more - you could use it to capture vide to mpeg1 or mpeg2 when needed and use it to watch TV on your PC if you want to when you're not capturing.

It all depends on how much you plan on capturing - if it's just for a few items then I'd consider something that you could also use afterwards. If you plan on capturing a lot and doing all the learning that goes with editing and authoring, then I'd go for the Canopus.

[FulciLives]

I was going to suggest the Canopus as well, as I have one myself.

For beautiful captures with no frame loss of sync issues it has to be top of anyone's list of capture hardware.

However, if you like your life simple and don't want to worry about the finer points of encoding (or paying for the software), or would like a bit more for your money than an anolgue to digital converter, then maybe a Hauppauge would suite you more - you could use it to capture vide to mpeg1 or mpeg2 when needed and use it to watch TV on your PC if you want to when you're not capturing.

It all depends on how much you plan on capturing - if it's just for a few items then I'd consider something that you could also use afterwards. If you plan on capturing a lot and doing all the learning that goes with editing and authoring, then I'd go for the Canopus.

He said he wanted to convert his VHS collection to DVD so that is why I suggested the Canopus since it seems more suited for that task.

Do you agree?

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[rhegedus]

I don't recall disagreeing -I just gave an honest view of the pros and cons of each piece of hardware.

The choice depends on how big the collection is, wouldn't you agree?

[nelson133]

I have had my Canopus ADVC for about a year and am well pleased with it. As said above, I recommend using a capture program such as WinDV to get AVI files and then work on them from there. The output will depend on the software you use to covert the AVI files to DVD. I have found that generally speed and quality don't go together. Nyah Levi

[Phantom Of The Opera]

@cesarin:

There is no one "right" answer to your question. There are many alternatives for you to choose from, depending on how much fine control you want over the process. IMO if you want simple hassle-free conversion of any analog video source to DVD format, use a standalone DVD recorerder. The Daytek unit costs no more than the Canopus ADVC-100, and judging from some of the posts on other threads here, does a fine job.

OTOH if you want fine control of all stages of the process, fancy editing, cutting, picking chapter points etc. go with the AVD DV capture option, but be prepared to do a lot of learning and spend a lot of time doing it.

In any case, this forum will likely prove invaluable to you.

In summary: first ask yourself this question (and make sure you get an answer ) : How much do I want to trade off ease of use for elaborate control?

[FulciLives]

I don't recall disagreeing -I just gave an honest view of the pros and cons of each piece of hardware.

The choice depends on how big the collection is, wouldn't you agree?

No I didn't mean to imply that you were disagreeing I just wanted someone else to agree with me that with VHS it is probably bettre to use the Canopus ADVC-100 than a direct to MPEG capture solution.

That's all

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[pijetro]

Fulcilives wrote:

I just wanted someone else to agree with me that with VHS it is probably bettre to use the Canopus ADVC-100 than a direct to MPEG capture solution.

Absolutely. I found that after all my kids VHSC tapes were all backed up to the best possible quality, then the next progression would be to get some spice into your videos...

That's why the ADVC-100 is so good. Most editing softwares work with the DV format that this capture card spits out, therefore you can create imaginative clips. Unfortunately, if you go the MPEG capture route, this is much more difficult, if not impossible....

Good luck!!!

[rhegedus]

I don't recall disagreeing -I just gave an honest view of the pros and cons of each piece of hardware.

The choice depends on how big the collection is, wouldn't you agree?

No I didn't mean to imply that you were disagreeing I just wanted someone else to agree with me that with VHS it is probably bettre to use the Canopus ADVC-100 than a direct to MPEG capture solution.

Yeah, I know what you're saying.

I'm just a bit hesitant to recommend a £250 (I paid this about 18 months ago and prices haven't dropped) piece of kit that may not be used much more than a few dozen times.

I agree that for editing purposes, DV whups mpeg - no contest. But since this would be just for VHS capture, there isn't much editing involved, mpeg would do - just set the bit-rate according to the length of the film and capture. Trimming the start and finish should be easy. This is, after all, what all AIW capture card users do.

If your planning on using the ADVC long-term, £ for £ you won't find a better piece of kit to capture VHS.

[cesarin]

well guys thank you very much to all of you for the help and tips, now i find myself centered and i think i know what i want, i wont go for the external device becasue i find it expensive for the task i want, i am perfeccionist but in this case i am on a new level of high tech... maybe if i learn how to do this and with very good results i could use some money to get the external device (forgot the name), but for the moment ill go with a not so expensive card... but it was really really helpful all you wrote i hope we could keep a contac beyond this forum, and dont worry first problem i got... youll be the firsts to know it...

ps: if i succed (wich i hope) you will also know!!!

thanks again to all...