Newbie Capturing Questions?

[vcd4me]

I have a few questions and would like to know if someone could help me
I want to capture from tv, vcr, and dvd.

Well here they are:

1. Is there a site or Faq about capturing for newbies?I've been seaching the site and the termenology is confusing I need something to read over a few times.

2. What is the minimum speed cpu to capture with? All the guides say fast cpu required.

3. I have a ati all-in-wonder 128 pro 16mb.
Should I use the digial vcr with it or should I use another capture tool?

4. I see there is a lot of tweaking involved with the use of ati's digital vcr why is that?

Please a little help would be greatly appreciated.I have searched the site but need some guidance

Thnks in advance
VCD4ME

[M1dnight]

well first off would ya please post your damn specs with the post

ie comp and speed,
preferably HD size
your card [ with u gave btw]
i mean u ask about what speed is required if u gave your computer speed with it people couldve already suggested the possible best way to go
and if you gavet he hd and hd size, i would already know for example what not to suggest liek if your hd is 10 gigs capturing to avi is out of the question

half these questions dont get answered cuz people ask half questions with zero info


but anyway
first off www.vcdhelp.com thats the site that goes with this forum
heres a link http://www.vcdhelp.com/mjpeg.htm
go read it thuroughly it tells you step by step what to do....and it has pictures..u cant tell me u cant follow this guide ,
go read it , read it twice if ya need to

then if ya stil ldont get something about that guide ask it
as for terminoligy yes thats on the site to.. its on here somewhere try look trough the faq[always usefull] andt he links i forgot where i saw it.

and no u dont wanna use the software that came with it, unless its this mmc software opeople keep talkin about it seems to work for them

but anyway u can use virtual dub...its all in the link


as a last note.... it doesnt hurt to try somethin and see for yourself, i mean it depends on what it fast, i mean what ya wanan do?
and at what resolution...these are things ya can best discover for yourself, also every system is different...

ul know soon enough, like if ya have massive framedroips your prolyl to slow
i have an athlon xp 1.7 n it works liek a charm

to answer your question id think yad would need an 800-1000 mhz machine
for good results but you should really jsut see how yours does
Good luck!!

[vcd4me]

Thanks MIDNIGHT

Well you don't have to get mad at me

My first question was is there a faq about capturing. simply yes answer with a link would have been fine.Then I would have read it and actually attempted to use a guide.However if you don't know what some of the terms are then what are you supposed to do look search every little word up that would probably take weeks.

my specs aren't as important except fo what you answered in your last sentence 800-1000 mhz.If I had know that Iwouldn't have even made a post like this. I'm not mad at anyone like you are I'm simply asking what does fast processor actually mean My processor is not fast enough according to your answer.

What does this mean :[ with u gave btw] I told you what card I had but this was your reply. Well what does BTW mean.

I read that guide but I don't know what any of those terms mean if I know what they mean and I get in trouble at least I would be able to explain it for the next time rather than make a post that makes no sense. You think that is what I already wrote but again I need more info I'm not afraid to read but I don't want to spend weeks reading over everything on this subject I'm looking for a Faq about capturing.

That link to the guide gave me if I follow it ,It will work but why will it work what do all those word actually mean .

Then you wrote this:
"nd no u dont wanna use the software that came with it, unless its this mmc software opeople keep talkin about it seems to work for them"

That was the point of my final question what you said makes no sense the software thatcomes with the ATI is MMC and it has a lot of tweaking and a lot of problems how could you say that it sems to wrk for them when there are so many problems with it.

If you want to help people then go ahead and help them if youdon't then go about your business with out responding to what you basically said is a silly post.

So this is how you probaly should have done it without busting my chops

1. Is there a site or Faq about capturing for newbies?I've been seaching the site and the termenology is confusing I need something to read over a few times.
>answer Yes there is somewhere on this site

2.. What is the minimum speed cpu to capture with? All the guides say fast cpu required.
>aswer-at least 800 hhz

3. I have a ati all-in-wonder 128 pro 16mb.
Should I use the digial vcr with it or should I use another capture tool?
>answer- Use virtual dub that's a great place to start, and people are having a lot of issues with their ATi MMc programs, and virtual dub is easier to use.

4.Isee there is a lot of tweaking involved with the use of ati's digital vcr why is that?
.answer- I don't know

If you would have answered like that I wouldn't be so angry, and have gone on like this.

If you or anyone else wants to help
Here are my specs
400 mhz
40 GB hd western digital 7200 with 12 gigs for making(Mostly d/l)
mb- dual ultra dma 33

Thanks in advance
VCD4ME

[kyemeng]

Look at the left panel on How To Capture to VCR,TV,Cam,DV.
Very informative. A 400mhz computer might be a little slow, however I do believe that the hardisk will be a more important factor, try getting a 7200 rpm one if possible.

[Rich927]

Well, the way I see it, minimum speed is what you can afford. I have seen people capture using a Pentium 160. Don't get me wrong, speed is good. The faster the better. A good dedicated hard drive is helpful. memory helps too. lot of useful info on this site. Just be careful of the one's that tell you to throw money at a problem. A good program with proper doc's helps. I have two computers set up for video capture. Pent II 450 w/256meg memory. ATA100 20gig 7200rpm hard drive, firewire and USB LINX. Second computer PentIII 900 w/512meg memory ATA100 80 gig 7200rpm hard drive firewire. They both do very well.

[vcd4me]

Now where getting somewhere thank youy both.

kyemeng- I do have a 7200 HD. and I did read those guides but still I don't understand some of the technical words. That's why I am asking for help.

Rich927- Ok you say You can do it with your 450mhz.
Is the quality ok?
I read about frames dropped does this happen using your 450mhz?
What program would you suggest for my first capture?

Thank again you guys
VCD4ME

[M1dnight]

first off i aint gettin mad at nobody

a few things.... u asked for a guide i gave you a link,
i cant undertsand how anybody can have any possible trouble understanding it.
it tells you step by step what to do, and they even have pictures with it.
never the less i gave u the link, question answered

fast processor, so what do you expect? that theres a qualification chart... have at least this amount of mhz or you can not capture
theres a reason they say fast computer...cuz they cant really say.
whatever is fast enough to get it done...well that is ''fast'', it all depends.

it ment, ''witch u gave by the way''

angry? dont be...doesnt feel good, and is bad for your health.

as for telling me what to do, i think il decide on that.

tho i must agree after re-readin it.... it was sorta harsh and uncalled for.
it seems most of your questions have been answered by now so i have no business here

as for the program to start with... virtual dub,just follow the settings written in the guide.
still tihnk theres terminoligy somewhere on this site as i remember using it.

[Rich927]

Nope. I don't have problem with dropped frames. I turn off all unecessary programs like firewalls, virus checkers, screensavers, hardware, etc... I think having a good hard drive is a key factor. Virtualdub is a good program. you might want to try Ulead's Videostudio 6 trial(look at tools). it's a fully operational program. I also change my video card setting to 16 bit. This saves resources. I have done Video capture with a Pentium 160 with no dropped frames at 640X480 and 320X240 resolution. However, I do my editing/rendering on a faster computer.

[vcd4me]

THANKS again RICH,

I tried it but I keep getting scrambled picture using ati.
I know its a macrovision thing but I downloaded a patch (for ati) and I've had no luck.

I then tried virtual dub but I got an errror saying know capture drivers.
Any suggestions I know you said you like Vdub, and I've used vdub for converting avi to wav and have had no audio problems.Also does vdub ignore the macrovision or do I have to download a patch or something.

THanks in advance
VCD4ME

[Royann]

I've been coming to this site now for about three months, the terminology can be confusing, I continue to read even if I only come up with a little info that will help me at any one sitting. I'm running a compaq 500 mhz, 17 gig with windows 98 se. and as of last week just finally cut my first VCD and DVD disks and actually had them work. It's been a long process of trial and error combined with conflicting info on this site.

quality was good concidering much of the video came from an old camcorder in the first place, transferred to VHS then to disk last week. Can't get quality when its not there to start with.

M1Dnight, I can understand you may be getting frustrated with so many newbies asking questions that might be very obvious to you already but at one point you too were a newbie and I wish you would keep that in mind , how you would have appreciated someone telling you to "post your damn specs" I will agree, from my own experience that much of figuring this out is trial and error on the part of the individual user to see what works for them, exspecially when it comes to new technology such as end users creating dvd formats.(the point I'm at)

Vcd4me.....it does take weeks to get through some of this material, as I stated earlier, I've been coming to this site for 3 months and still get frustrated when something is discussed I don't understand. At that point its best for me to take in what I can then experment on my own, I've been through several software programs and capture devices til I found one I'm comfortable with and in my own opinion thats 50% of the battle, not whats good, or whats best but what does what YOU want it to and what you are comfortable in useing.

I don't think I'll be able to understand all that's discussed here for quite sometime. Good luck 8)

Royann

[vcd4me]

I appreciate your post and coments,

Here is what I'm trying to find out and I am just looking for some advice or site regaurding capturing that after all was my first question.

Take this site fo example if you go to the FAQ page you will learn a lot of interesting info about VCD. Which by the way is great!. I mean that is what this site is for teaching people about vcds.

So my main question Is there a site about capturing?

In order for me to full understand how to capture I need to know what the terms mean.

I could tell you how to rebuild a jetski but would that mean you would know what does what. Without truly understanding what your doing, you can't solve some of the problems you might run into.YEA sure you could email me every ten minutes and we could trouble shoot it.This may b a bad example but it's the only other hobby I have right now.

THAKS AGAIN FOR YOUR HELP
VCD4ME

[Royann]

I'll help the best I can here, as far as the terminology part, I would try an on line computer dictionary or net lingo site that will give you dictionary format definitions, try http://www.geek.com/glossary/glossary_search.htm

As far as vcd help with capturing try doing a net search for a general topic like "VCD Capturing" there seam to be many sites offering help. Will probably take some time to see what each site has to offer. everything from vcd , to svcd, to editing and encoding. Good luck :D

Royann

[mrtristan]

I usually do a websearch, using google, when I encounter terms that I don't understand.

It takes a few minutes, but some kind of useful information eventually turns up.

As far as a specific place to look, I haven't found it yet, either.

[vcd4me]

Thanks fo your advice MRTRISTAN
I'll try anything at this point

[vcd4me]

I found a very informative site I haven't completly read it all yet but here it is for anyone else intrested
www.videoguys.com