Capture Questions - Capturing through Camcorder

[Mixer2000]

Ok I have been reading this site for a few days now and I have also been trying some things on my own and have decided to post and ask for all of your advice.....Here is my deal

I only have 25GB of space right now. This may change in the future but that is what I have for now

I am capturing at the moment mainly VHS tapes

I do not need to edit video except to add chapters and things of that nature which I will care for in TMPG DVD Author.

I am Capturing with a Canon ZR 70 Camcorder and capturing directly to MPEG is not a problem (actually it's prefered due to space) being as I do not need AVI for editing

My ultimate goal is to be able to capture 90 Minute-120 Minutes of VHS tape (or more if possible) to one DVD-R while keeping very close to the original VHS quality. What is the best tool to use for this. I used WinDVD Recorder to capture straight to MPG based on some things I have read here. I used the DVD profile (in the recording panel) and got no sound in my end video. I then switched to PC MPEG profile and captured one minute of video and the sound seems to be there. I even went as far as to make a DVD Folder and opened it successfully using several DVD author programs and it appeared to be there with sound. Will this quality be good enough for what I am trying to achieve. If not what else can you suggest.

Also does anyone know what the resolution of the MPG that WinDVD Recorder uses with the PC MPEG profile selected.

[handyguy]

On left side of screen is a column with answers for capturing. You might try some of their ideas.

[FOO]

It is unlikely that a capture directly to MPEG will be very
good quality. We assume here that you are using a Firewire
input from the camera. DV is coming in and a software MPEG2encoder
has to encode at faster than real time.
It is up to you . I can't see it , does it look OK to you ?

Raw DV is 13 Gig/hour. You could get an hour and encode
separately.

[Mixer2000]

handyguy,

I have read a whole bunch, almost all in fact. Problem is there doesn't seem to be a lot about direct MPEG capturing and what is there isn't very detailed. I would love to use Virtual Dub but due to my space limitation it doesnt seem possible and because I am capturing Videotapes it seems like it would be overkill to use it.

If you know of a specific article that helps my end solution I would appreciate it.

[Mixer2000]

FOO,

I am uising Firewire with the Canon. It looks ok to me but the sound seemed jittery. After reading some things here I was under the impression that capturing to MPEG was a good solution for those that were low on space and not needing to edit much. Was I wrong to assume this guys?

[DaveS]

Mixer2000 -

- what speed is your processor? (MS Word - Help/About/System Info, or I think there's a way to see it in the Win XP control panel, but I am not on my XP machine so I can't tell you that right now)

- do you have only one hard drive (e.g. your 25gig free is on your C drive)? Do you know what speed it is (or how old it is?) (probably 5400 RPM or 7200 RPM).

Maybe there are others who can make recommendations w/o the above; this I think would help fill in the picture of what you have & therefore what might work on your pc.

[Mixer2000]

DaveS,

It is either a 2.2 or 2.4Ghz. Can't remember right off the top of my head and I am not in front of it. I have one hard drives with two partitions. The C partitition (system) has about 8GB and the D drive (that I use for my data) is the one with 25GB free. I think it is a 5400. Hope this provides the extra info needed.

[Mixer2000]

As an alternative could I capture, let's say using the DV AVI capture and then use DVD Shrink if it is over 4.37 when completely encoded and transfered to DVD Folder format? or will the quality loss be significant?

[lordsmurf]

I hate WinDVR as a software. It captures deinterlaced, and quality tends to be full of macroblocks. It is also buggy on some systems, and sounds can be one of them.

I'd suggest a trial of MainConcept 1.4 from www.mainconcept.com. If it works, buy it, and use that. I've heard excellent results come from using it with external capture devices. It is an MPEG encoder and capture software that is brand new.

[Mixer2000]

Lorssmurf,

Thanks. I will certainly try that out. If anyone has any other ideas I would surely appreciate it as I am still search for an alternative. Hopefully this Mainconcept will work out.

I tried Dazzle and it crashed after encoding the file. I am now trying to encode thaty same AVI with TPMG hopefully it will end up being a burnable file. I had an hour of video to test with so I figured I would give it a try.

[Mixer2000]

Lordsmurf.

Sorry for the misspelling on your name. Anyway I was just reading the advanced settings PDF for the Main Concpt MPEG encoder. You are getting positive results from this tool so I wondered if you were using the default settings or spmthing tweaked. If tweaked would you mond posting your setting changes here? Thanks.

[lordsmurf]

Lordsmurf. Sorry for the misspelling on your name. Anyway I was just reading the advanced settings PDF for the Main Concpt MPEG encoder. You are getting positive results from this tool so I wondered if you were using the default settings or spmthing tweaked. If tweaked would you mond posting your setting changes here? Thanks.

My results were actually pretty poor, with numerous dropped frames, but that's due to my internal card.

Many are reporting that internal captures are uncooperative, while external methods work great with it.

You're using an external method.

I'd say to try it with default settings. If it fails, post questions in the capture forum.

Though frames dropped (like 33% of them) the encode quality was very nice. BJ_M had great results. Find him.

[alenhard]

I'd also suggest getting a bigger hard drive! You aren't going to get very far with what you have now.

[Mixer2000]

Will an external USB drive work well for capturing and encoding. I might be able to get access to a 120GB drive of this type for some time to get all my capturing done

[lordsmurf]

Will an external USB drive work well for capturing and encoding. I might be able to get access to a 120GB drive of this type for some time to get all my capturing done

My USB 1.1 one sure wouldn't. Maybe 2.0 one would, not sure.