Noob with many problems...Overscan, No audio, Interlaced/Progressive

[gilamran2]

Hi,
I've decided to move my old VHS tapes to DVD. I want to BEST quality possible.
I bought a capture device that hooks to the USB and thought that it would be as easy as pressing "Go!" :P

http://www.avermedia.com/avertv/Product/ProductDetail.aspx?Id=188

well the problems that I have goes like this:
* With the EZMaker USB, I've also got the "Power Producer" with that I saw really really bad picture this was because I can't change it to PAL...
* so I tried capturing using Microsoft MovieMaker... and there I saw that the PAL_D was the best option... but no audio... HUH!?
AND the video had this overscan, that I don't know how to get rid of...
* so I got VirtualDub, and there I found also the PAL_D and an option to enable the audio... but the picture was with lines... (Interlaced/Progressive thing)
anyway, the captured video was dropping frames HARD!.

problems: Overscan (Allways), No audio (Some software), Interlaced/Progressive (VirtualDub)

For the god of all noobs! H-E-L-P

Thanks.

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[guns1inger]

Overscan will be the same as you would get from watching your VHS tape on your TV normally. The only way around this is to resize your images down and add borders around the edges. Not worth it, and you will probably find it reveals head switching noise at the bottom of the frame if you do.

VHS is interlaced, and if you are going to put it on DVD, it should remain interlaced.

[Bjs]

Welcome gilamran2

There are other products capable of connecting to the device, such as ulead video studio, and nero express, but you need to fill in the computer profile so we can get an idea of speed, and os in use.

Belarc advisor can help find computer details > http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

The product that should have come with it doesn't do a bad job, just basic, and has those settings for determining pal or nstc setup, do not rely on other products being able to change these values ... use the software that came with the device to manage this.

Forget using vitualdub or any version when it comes down to this device, you'll regret it.

Separate the video and audio from the play back unit
Send video to capture device only
Send audio to line-in on pc sound device, and enable it as recording preference device

From here you'll get the clearest picture possible from the device
Kill all non essential running task's so more resources are available to system during recording
Do not use the system while recording is in progress
Other usb devices could interfere, best they be disconnected during recording

[Baldrick]

I changed your topic subject. Please just don't use noob with many problems as it doesn't say anything.

[gilamran2]

Thanks guys,
The idea of putting the audio via another cable sounds a good workaround! And I guess that I'll use it.

So I'll use MS MovieMaker to capture the video, while getting the audio from the pc input... but what about the overscan? If I'll burn the DVD like that I would see these bottom lines shaking...

I'll go now and burn an example just to see how it looks on the TV...

Thanks again
Gil.

[guns1inger]

On most TVs you won't see the head switching noise (shaking bottom lines), however if you do want to get rid of them, the best way is to put a black bar over them

[gilamran2]

OK, back with the results

I've captured about 30 sec. of Video and Audio.
The audio came from the PC input.

I burned the movie to a DVD and saw it on the TV. it look quite good I must say, so overscan!!! even when you can see it when playing it on the computer...

Now there are two problems with the audio:
* The incoming audio is mono, and I don't need, stereo. so the movie is getting the audio from only one channel... making sound come only from one speaker (AND wasting some DVD space)

* The audio has this very high-pitch static noise... it is very loud, can I filter the audio? or am I getting the sound in some wrong way that is making the audio sound sooo bad?


Thanks for all you help
Gil

[guns1inger]

Mono audio is easily fixed in something like Audacity. You might also be able to filter out some of the noise, however if this static is being introduced during capturing you should try to resolve the issue at that point, rather than filtering afterwards. Filtering wont get rid of it.

[gilamran2]

with VirtualDub I don't this static noise...
It appeared when I used the workaround for getting audio... (Using the PC input audio)
so there's something wrong in the way that I'm doing it... getting the audio from the PC input might not be the right path for fixing this problem...

any other suggestions?

[guns1inger]

Are you using the line in or the mic in ?

if you are using the mic in, make sure you don't have microphone boost on (it is often on by default) which adds 20% to the input gain.

[gilamran2]

ok, found the problem, yea it was the boost & the cable itself..

well so one thing left, how do I get the to tweak the audio of a movie?
I want to make it on both channel (Mono -> Stereo) and clean it a little bit...

hooo and yea one more thing, I saw that there are about 20-30 formats...
how can I know which one will fit best to my needs?
I don't want to burn 30 DVDs with all the options and pick the right one...
Are there any recommendations? for moving VHS PAL to DVD (or XVID).

Thanks