vhs to dvd help please

[stool]

i have a winfast tv capture card a dvd burner heaps of leads and a p4 wh
at is the best way to go about captureing ,converting (if needed)

and what format and res do i capture in

thanks people

[housepig]

stool -

check in the How To: section under Capture.

I have good results capturing .avis with iuVCR at 720x480, Huffyuv codec, encoding with TMPGenc to NTSC dvd standard mpeg, and authoring with DVD Lab.

but there are a wide range of opinions on what capturing software, encoders, capture resolution and authoring software to use. Other people will come along and tell you something completely different.

bottom line will be to try what you can get your hands on, find the combination of software that balances the output you want and the time and effort you want to put in.

[willy_annand]

I agree with 2 1/2 out of three of housepig's suggestions.


1. I capture using Huffy codec, but I capture with AVI_IO.

2. I convert to MPEG2 using TMPGEnc, depending on what I want to do, sometimes in Full DVD format (2 hours per DVD), sometimes in Half-D1 format (4 hours per DVD).

3. I author and burn with DVD-Lab. Their customization is amazing. Read about Switched-Motion Menus, they are great.

[housepig]

willy proves my point.

I capture with iuVCR because Virtualdub doesn't like my card, and of all the other capture apps I've tried, iuVCR was the first one that gave me really good audio sync, consistently, across long captures.

obviously willy has better results on his system with AVI-IO.

trail and error... and what works great on my system might not work great on yours (or willys!)

and while we're on the subject, what is "great" to me might not be for you, or willy, or DJrumpy... we all have different thresholds of what is acceptable, what is gorgeous...

[willy_annand]

obviously willy has better results on his system with AVI-IO.

Very true HP, I have a Videum 1000+ capture card and even though it is only about a year old, Winnov still uses the VFW driver model. There are no WDM drivers available.

Therefore I believe that iuVCR would not work for me as I believe it looks for WDM drivers.

Correct me if I am wrong HP.

[DJRumpy]

If your brand new to all of this, definately check out the GUIDES section. If you don't, you won't even know what questions to ask. Do yourself a favor, and become at least minimally aware of what your doing. Once you've done that, I would then start in the TOOLS section, with Capture software. You may find that you like the software that came with your card. To each his own. Be sure to try them all, as almost all of them will let you try before you buy, and a few are even free.

As far as your video codec, if you can capture with a lossless video codec like Huffman, then your results will look better in the end, but be aware, it will take lots of drive space (say easily 20+GB). If you cannot manage Huffman due to a small hard drive, then look at capturing in Xvid (look in the CODECS section of TOOLS for more info). It's free, and will give you excellent quality with a moderate amount of bitate. XviD capturing is not an option for slower processors. Look at XviD if Huffman isn't an option, and you own a fast P4.

I would also capture at 720x480 (720x576 PAL), so no, or minimal resizing is necessary. For AVI editors, you should look at VirtualDub, as it will give you a good GUI to start with, that's not entirely overwhelming. It's also a standard tool that most here can help you with.

For MPEG encoders, I would look at CCE, TMPGenc, and Main Concept. All three of these have their strengths, and their probably the 3 most popular encoders, so lots of help if you need it. Find one that suits your style. Last but not least, if you get stuck, frustrated, etc, just come back and post. Tons of people on here who will be willing to help.

[stool]

thanks for all your help
i do understand the basics of it but..........
when i use tmpg to convert my captured image to dvd format i do not end up with vob files witch im used to, so i can then burn with nero and play on stand alone player

thanks again

[DJRumpy]

That's because TMPGenc creates only the MPEG file. To create the VOB files your used to seeing, you need to use a DVD Authoring program, like DVD It, TMPGenc DVD Author, SpruceUp, DVD Maestro, MyDVD, etc. Any of these will create the necessary files.

If your low on cash, you can check out IFOEdit (see the TOOLS section). It will also create the VOB, and IFO/BUP files you need to burn a DVD. Just be aware that is isn't as user friendly

[stool]

thanks a lot dj , ihave one more problem every thing seems to work fine on dvd player except the end result is not as good quality as the original vhs the res seems lower almost blurey , any ideas to improve quality

[DJRumpy]

There are lots of things you can do to improve your quality. Can you give me an idea as to what bitrate you used to encode your files, what encoder, what encoding method (CBR/VBR/CQ), and what filtering/pre-editing you did on your captures from VHS before encoding them.

[stool]

dj
i used winfast tv 2000xp capture program
bitrate was 4000 mpeg2 codec 720x576 25frames cvbs capture mode

could not have got this far without u dj

[lordsmurf]

Some of the info in my guide might help you in understanding the basics. At least give it a quick browse.

[DJRumpy]

If your happy with the output, then you should be able to burn those directly to DVD (assuming your audio is 48Khz). If you want to clean them up a bit, you should use a good temporal smoother, or 2-D filter. You can do this with VirtualDub, or AVISynth.

Just be aware that you will take a slight loss in quality, since your essentailly re-encoding your MPEG. If you have the capability, I would capture using Huffman, rather than MPEG-2 if you want to filter (clean) your video before burning. If you happy with it, then just burn it right to DVD using any authoring software.