Need to take a vhs movie and convert it to vcd - NEWBIE QUES

[dborden]

Ok guys im totally new at this. I have a P4 with a plain old video card(i assume I need a new video card???)

I have some home movies made on an older non digital video camera that are now on regular vhs video tapes. I have a vcr. How do I convert my vhs video tapes to vcd on a cd using my computer and a vcr??? Any recomendations on a decent video card to do this? And how does the audio get transfered? Does the video card handle that too or do I need a special sound card for that as well. Can you recommend a program to capture the movie?? I can use nero to burn the vcd I believe. Thanks guys for your help!

[Anonymous65]

There are several guides listed on the left side of this page, but in a nutshell, this is what you do:

You need a capture card. You can go with a cheap WinTV model for $50, it will do the trick.

You use your normal sound card to record the audio, and the video goes into the video capture card. You can also capture from channel 3 from the VCD directly into the capture card, but the video and audio quality will suffer. Use the audio and video outputs on the back of the VCD for best quality.

Download some shareware software. Get a copy of Virtualdub and Tmpgenc. You should also get a copy of a mjpeg codec. It will take you a bit to get used to how the programs work, they don't have a beginners interface.

Now, start to capture and find out how fast your PC is. For VCD creation, you should be captuing at 352x480 or 352x240 is your PC is slow. Also play with the compressor like mjpeg to find your best settings.

Next, convert the AVI file to VCD mpeg-1. Use Tmpgenc for best results, or another VCD encoder like the one already in Nero. The last staep is to burn the file to a blank disk with a program like Nero that has the correct template for burning a VCD. A VCD is not simply a CD-ROM with a mpeg file on it.

These are the basic steps. You do need to have some knowledge and knowhow to get it all correct. It is easy when you know how to do it, but very hard if you have no clue!