Will this work?

[Theresa]

Hello all,
Ok, after much pouring over your collective brilliance, I am about to get out the credit card and start ordering what I need. I am attempting to capture VHS and convert to DVD. Please tell me if these components and software wil all play nice together.

VCR: JVC HR-S9800U
Software: Videowave
Editing: Videoredo
TBC: DateVideo TBC-1000
Capture Card: Canopus ADVC-50 (& download XP2 patch)
Author: TMPGEnc DVD Author Pro or VirtualDub(VOB)
codec: Huffyuv v2.1.1 CCE SP2 Patch v0.2.5

A hardrive dedicated to the project: 80 GB
capture resolution: 720 x 480

Any and all proven success or failures with above components or methods wil to very much appreciated.

TIA!

[steveryan]

The hardware looks fine to me if you really must go down the DV route. The hard drive may be a bit small though, i'd go with 200gb+. And you don't need the Huffy codec or Videoredo (it's a great tool but it edits MPEG), use Virtualdub for your editing when your Canopus has done it's stuff then convert to MPEG. I'd suggest Canopus Procoder for DV to MPEG, it's an excellent tool. Or... just buy the JVC, your TBC, TDA and a good DVD recorder with built in HD.

[Theresa]

I think it's painfully obvious I don't really know what I'm doing---this is the result of a great deal of reading, some of it contradictory. What 'route' would be better? I assumed I would be capturing in AVI then converting to MPEG2. I want to be able to edit these videos as they are getting rather old--some almost 10 years old--VHS-C. So, in what format should I capture? And what is 'TDA'? Sorry for my ignorance, but it's hereditary.
Thanks

[steveryan]

With the equipment and software you list this is what I would do (plus a few additions) -

1, Capture from JVC/Datavideo TBC/Canopus ADVC-50 using ScenalyzerLive

2, Load the AVI file into Virtualdub and edit as required, choose direct stream copy in video and audio then save the file. NB you could save the WAV file at this stage but for now this method should be easier for you.

3, Load the AVI file into Canopus Procoder, click source then add your AVI file. Click target then add, hit the CD/DVD tab and choose MPEG2-DVD-NTSC-MASTERING QUALITY. Depending on the length of your file you can adjust the bitrate (see www.videohelp.com/calc ) Hit the convert tab on the left then the convert tab at the bottom.

4, When Procoder has finished start TDA (TMPGEnc DVD Author) select new project then click add file and insert your newly made m2v video file, when you load the video file a box will pop up, under audio settings browse for your WAV file that Procoder created. Make your menu and click the output tab and hit Begin output.

5, TDA will create 2 folders - VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS, I use Recordnow Max to burn these but Nero would be fine.

6, After spending a lot of money on good equipment don't make the mistake of buying cheap media, stick with Taiyo Yuden or Verbatim. Decent cables will also help.

I'm no expert in capturing from a DV device but I think i've covered everything. Good luck

[yoda313]

, TDA will create 2 folders - VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS, I use Recordnow Max to burn these but Nero would be fine.

Actually you can burn straight from tda if you want it has a burning utility

[steveryan]

That's correct but I can't remember everything

[jimmalenko]

With the equipment and software you list this is what I would do (plus a few additions) -

1, Capture from JVC/Datavideo TBC/Canopus ADVC-50 using ScenalyzerLive

2, Load the AVI file into Virtualdub and edit as required, choose direct stream copy in video and audio then save the file. NB you could save the WAV file at this stage but for now this method should be easier for you.

3, Load the AVI file into Canopus Procoder, click source then add your AVI file. Click target then add, hit the CD/DVD tab and choose MPEG2-DVD-NTSC-MASTERING QUALITY. Depending on the length of your file you can adjust the bitrate (see www.videohelp.com/calc ) Hit the convert tab on the left then the convert tab at the bottom.

4, When Procoder has finished start TDA (TMPGEnc DVD Author) select new project then click add file and insert your newly made m2v video file, when you load the video file a box will pop up, under audio settings browse for your WAV file that Procoder created. Make your menu and click the output tab and hit Begin output.

5, TDA will create 2 folders - VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS, I use Recordnow Max to burn these but Nero would be fine.

6, After spending a lot of money on good equipment don't make the mistake of buying cheap media, stick with Taiyo Yuden or Verbatim. Decent cables will also help.

I'm no expert in capturing from a DV device but I think i've covered everything. Good luck

I like it.

I do basically the same thing, with my VCR via an ADVC-100 into scenalyzerlive, then I use this guide to edit as well as add a few filters using virtualdub and AVISynth. I then load this script into TMPGEnc Plus, and then use TMPGEnc DVD Author and Nero to finish the job.


@Theresa:

Firstly, my apologies for the long post, but there's so many areas to touch on that I'd be leaving you misinformed if I don't give you a bit of an overview of "the bigger picture", as it were. I was where you are about 15 months ago, with the dream to convert some VHS to DVD. FulciLives was good enough to hold my hand throughout my NOOB phase, and I can give the method he taught me four thumbs up.

VCR: JVC HR-S9800U

Sounds good.

Software: Videowave

I haven't heard of this. FWIW, when I was learning the craft, I found that ScenalyzerLive was constantly revered as one of the better softwares with ADVC devices. WinDV or DVIO are other relatively popular choices for "capturing" to DV.

Editing: Videoredo

VideoRedo is for editing MPEG. The ADVC devices output DV-AVI be default, and AVI is easier to edit (especially DV-AVI, since every frame is an I-frame which means that you can cut at exact frames) without having to worry about any re-encoding around your cuts, or not being able to be frame-accurate. Virtualdub (or any of its variants) will most likely do just fine for editing - especially just "top n tailing" (cutting the start and end junk off caps) or removing commercials, etc etc and is free. It's only when you need transitions that you need to look beyond virtualdub IMO.

TBC: DateVideo TBC-1000

I've heard good things about these. Personally I haven't seen a need for a standalone TBC, but I'm led to believe that really poor footage can benefit greatly from one of these. Other alternatives include VCRs that have built-in TBCs.

Capture Card: Canopus ADVC-50 (& download XP2 patch)

I've got the 100, and I love it to death. I'm not sure if it's the 50 or the 55, but one of them does not have locked audio - I'd make sure that the one you're getting does, as it will make audio sync problems a thing of the past.

Author: TMPGEnc DVD Author Pro or VirtualDub(VOB)

TMPGEnc DVD Author is a good choice for learning. You can do most of the basic things and it's pretty easy to pick up. Once you've learnt the ropes you could look at DVD-lab, which gives you far more creative control, but is a bit harder to learn. Virtualdub is editing software, and cannot author.

codec: Huffyuv v2.1.1 CCE SP2 Patch v0.2.5
A hardrive dedicated to the project: 80 GB

You're not going to be able to store a helluva lot of video (source) on this. I'd consider using a DV codec instead (Panasonic DV Codec is as good as any), which should play well with scenalyzerLive or even WinDV, and will be easier to work with for the reasons stated above. You should be able to store a touch under 6 hours of source material if using DV with an 80GB drive.

capture resolution: 720 x 480

The ADVC devices output this, so no problems there. You may find that you can get away with resizing to 352 x 480 (Half D1) when you encode to MPEG with little to no visible difference, which means you can use lower bitrates, which means you can fit more onto a DVD. This is something you might look at experimenting with once you get your rig set up. If you go the AVISynth script route, you just need to add one more line into your script so that your encoder receives the video already resized.

A "top n tail" script, resized to Half D1, the heaviest Convolution3D noise removal applied and converted to RGB for TMPGEnc Plus could be as "simple" as the following:

avisource("D:\Capture0001.avi") 
Trim(7638,140300)
SeparateFields() 
odd=SelectOdd.Convolution3D (0, 32, 128, 16, 64, 10, 0) 
evn=SelectEven.Convolution3D (0, 32, 128, 16, 64, 10, 0)
Interleave(evn,odd) 
Weave()
LanczosResize(352,480)
ConvertToRGB(interlaced=true)

While all this scripting, and a myriad of different programs and procedures can be very daunting, once you pick it up you pretty much use the same "formula" every time, making minor tweaks here and there depending on your source, and what you want to outcome to be. Hopefully I haven't scared you away

[Theresa]

steveryan, yoda313 & jimmalenko
Wow. I mean, WOW! Thank you very much for taking the time and interest to explain this in such detail. I'm almost scared away, but not quite! You have really cleared up some confusion about the whole process and fear over getting the wrong components. I will be a frequent pest on this forum, so I hope you all throw me the lifepreserver when I'm flailing around. The scripting, YIKES! I'm clueless there.

"A "top n tail" script, resized to Half D1, the heaviest Convolution3D noise removal applied and converted to RGB for TMPGEnc Plus could be as "simple" as the following: "


Could I trouble you a little at what point in the process do I do this? I would like to do my homework now, so that I know I have enough gray matter to pull it off.
Thank you for all your help! Now where is that credit card . . .?

[jimmalenko]

Please note that I'm not professing the way I do it to be ultimately the best way, but it certainly gives me good results so a grain of salt as always ...


OK, now that we've given you a taste, and you haven't run off kicking and screaming , let's take a step backwards for a second. In general terms, the process is as follows:

1. Capture
2. Edit
3. Encode
4. Author
5. Burn

The whole process is truly as "simple" as that in a nutshell.


1. Capture - This is the process of getting your VHS footage onto your PC. This is where I use ScenalyzerLive, and it creates a DV-AVI file that is approximately 13.2GB per hour.

2. Edit - This is where we start using the script. The guide by FulciLives assumes that you have already captured your material. So once you're done capturing, go to that guide. You create a basic script that will import your video into virtualdubmod, then you do your edits and save these edits (Trims) into the script. You can also add the extras like resizing, noise removal (and possibly other filters) into your basic script so that you can see the results these filters are going to have while you edit.

3. Encode - Once you have cut out everything you don't want, this takes your source AVI, applies all the instructions in your script to it, and spits out a DVD-compliant MPEG at the end.

4. Author - This takes your DVD-compliant MPEG file and turns it into IFO, BUP and VOB files, and also allows you to add menus, create chapters etc etc.

5. Burn - Hopefully this one is pretty obvious


The beauty of the script setup is that you can do things (apply filters) to your AVI, and instantly see the results of those filters without having to wait for hours for the thing to encode. You can even play the scripts with Windows Media Player !

So basically you say "take this AVI, do these things to it and then feed my editor and encoder with the end result" without having to save out all these changes you wish to make to a seperate file each time or anything.



Don't forget too that there's also a number of softwares that can possibly merge a lot of these steps into one - Ulead create a few products that can do everything, but my experience has proven that four programs to do four jobs seperately tends to do better than one program to do those same four jobs - "jack of all trades, master of none" is a quite common way of describing your NeroVision Express, Ulead VideoStudio, NeoDVD etc etc.

[Theresa]

jimmalenko,
I'm going to print this all out so that I can get it well in mind. Your explaination is really clarifying the process for me. You mention that after I capture, I 'create a basic script that will import my video into virtualdugmod'. Is that the script you wrote in your previous post? How will I know when to put this in, how to create it, etc? I think this is the main part of this where my brain hits a wall. I'm probably asking questions that are obvious, but I know I'm still out of my depth. Thanks again for walking me through this!

[jimmalenko]

Have a read of this guide:
https://www.videohelp.com/guides.php?guideid=643#643


I'm a bit lax to repeat all the info from the guide, as I think it explains everything really well, but the basic recipe is this:


The easiest way to create a script is to right-click on your desktop or anywhere in a Windows Explorer or My Computer window, and go to New > Text Document. Rename the document to script.avs, remembering that you will need file extensions showing (Windows Explorer > Tools > Folder Options > View, untick "Hide extensions for known filetypes"). Open this text file (should open in Notepad), and then paste the following:

avisource("D:\Capture0001.avi")

That's it !

That's your most basic of basic scripts. Obviously you need to replace D:\Capture0001.avi with the path to an AVI file. You can then save this script, and test opening the avs file with virtualdubmod, or even dragging and dropping it onto a Windows media Player shortcut and your AVI file should play.

[Theresa]

Thanks, yet again! I will follow through. It will be a couple of weeks before I get everything I need and get going. I'll post my results---hopefully it will be good news! I am very grateful for your help and advice. It's a big project I've taken years to start, so here goes!

[Theresa]

Oh, one more quick question. I currently have 512 of RAM. Will that be enough? I just bought another stick of 512 . . . should I install it?

[anitract]

I'd say yea, go for more ram. Though technically 512 would probably work, you are working with large large files (your AVIs) so more ram is certainly better.

That said, and I don't want to confuse you more here, make sure you weight the "time factor" fully. If you go with a AVI cap device (like it sounds like you want to do) you will be spending LOTS of CPU time encoding your files from AVI to mpeg2.

There are a lot of devices/cards that encode straight to mpeg2, so you may want to consider those if you want to cut back on the amount of time it takes to make a dvd. Many members here (myself included) go this route. I prefer it due to it being much much easier/simpler.

Now, if you are going to do heavy editing (meaning more than cutting, pasting, trimming), AVI is preferred as a more friendly format.

[nelson133]

I've been doing this stuff for a few years and you've got some good advice here. I would definately get the Canopus 100 box rather than the 50, It's something I bought early on and like jimmalenko I love mine. I use the TMPGe DVD Source Creator as an encoder and like it. You can use this to copy tv programs also. The audio lock is very important and with the 100 you get macrovision removal also. A TBC will also do this, but I see no need for one with the Canopus box. Nyah Levi

[Theresa]

Thank you all again, more than I can say. I have been so fearful of getting this project started, but more afraid of the mold growning on my tapes. Your generous advice will save irreplacable memories.
Anitract, thank you for the advice about capturing in MPEG2, which I have seriously considered. I have a huge number of tapes and some were put in my basement after a fire in my house, and then my basement flooded! What the fire didn't get, the water did. Although I dried them out right away and viewed a few of them to see if there was any damage, (didn't see any) I worry that I may have some restoration issues to deal with. I just want to be set up in such a way to handle that if it shows up.
And Nelson133, thanks for your advice about the Canopus 100--I haven't order the 50 yet, so I'll get that one instead.
Thank you all!! Hope you are still around when I'm yanking out chunks of hair as I try to get it all going!

[anitract]

heh Just remember: it's a neverending learning process. It can/will be frustrating, but the rewards pay off in the end. Good luck!